ISAIAH 29 COMMENTARY

EDITED BY GLENN PEASE

Woe to Davids City

1 Woe to you, Ariel, Ariel,

the city where David settled!

Add year to year

and let your cycle of festivals go on.

1.BARNES, Wo - (compare the note at Isa_18:1).

To Ariel - There can be no doubt that Jerusalem is here intended. The declaration that it was the city where David dwelt, as well as the entire scope of the prophecy, proves this. But still, it is not quiet clear why the city is here called Ariel. The margin reads, O Ariel, that is, the lion of

God. The word ( 'ary'el) is compounded of two words, and is usually supposed to be

made up of 'ary, a lion, and 'el, God; and if this interpretation is correct, it is equivalent to a strong, mighty, fierce lion - where the word God is used to denote greatness in the same way as the lofty cedars of Lebanon are called cedars of God; that is, lofty cedars. The lion is an emblem of strength, and a strong lion is an emblem of a mighty warrior or hero.

2Sa_23:20 : He slew two lion-like 'ary'el men of Moab 1Ch_11:22. This use of the word to denote a hero is common in Arabic (see Bachart, Hieroz., i. 3. 1).

If this be the sense in which it is used here, then it is applied to Jerusalem under the image of a hero, and particularly as the place which was distinguished under David as the capital of a kingdom that was so celebrated for its triumphs in war. The word Ariel is, however, used in another sense in the Scriptures, to denote an altar Eze_43:15-16, where in the Hebrew the word is Ariel. This name is given to the altar, Bachart supposes (Hieroz., i. 3. 1), because the altar of burnt-offering devours as it were the sacrifices as a lion devours its prey. Gesenius, however, has suggested another reason why the word is given to the altar, since he says that the

word 'ary is the same as one used in Arabic to denote a fire-hearth, and that the altar was so called because it was the place of perpetual burnt-offering. The name Ariel, is, doubtless, given in Ezekiel to an altar; and it may be given here to Jerusalem because it was the place of the altar, or of the public worship of God. The Chaldee renders it, Wo to the altar, the altar which was constructed in the city where David dwelt. It seems to me that this view better suits the connection, and particularly Isa_29:2 (see Note), than to suppose that the name is given to Jerusalem because it was like a lion. If this be the true interpretation, then it is so called because

Jerusalem was the place of the burnt-offering, or of the public worship of God; the place where the fire, as on a hearth, continually burned on the altar.

The city where David dwelt - David took the hill of Zion from the Jebusites, and made it the capital of his kingdom 2Sa_5:6-9. Lowth renders this, The city which David besieged. So

the Septuagint: Epolemese; and so the Vulgate, Expugnavit. The word chanah properly means to encamp, to pitch ones tent Gen_26:17, to station oneself. It is also used in the sense of encamping against anyone, that is, to make war upon or to attack (see Isa_29:3, and Psa_27:3; 2Sa_12:28); and Jerome and others have supposed that it has this meaning here in accordance with the interpretation of the Septuagint and the Vulgate. But the more correct idea is probably that in our translation, that David pitched his tent there; that is, that he made it his dwelling-place.

Add ye year to year - That is, go on year after year, suffer one year to glide on after another in the course which you are pursuing. This seems to be used ironically, and to denote that they were going on one year after another in the observance of the feasts; walking the round of external ceremonies as if the fact that David had dwelt there, and that that was the place of the great altar of worship, constituted perfect security. One of the sins charged on them in this chapter was formality and heartlessness in their devotions Isa_29:13, and this seems to be referred to here.

Let them kill sacrifices - Margin, Cut off the heads. The word here rendered kill ( na

qaph) may mean to smite; to hew; to cut down Isa_10:34; Job_19:26. But it has also another signification which better accords with this place. It denotes to make a circle, to revolve; to go round a place Jos_6:3, Jos_6:11; to surround 1Ki_7:24; 2Ki_6:14; Psa_17:9; Psa_22:17;

Psa_88:18. The word rendered sacrifices ( chagiym) may mean a sacrifice Exo_23:18; Psa_118:27; Mal_2:3, but it more commonly and properly denotes feasts or festivals Exo_10:9; Exo_12:14; Lev_23:39; Deu_16:10, Deu_16:16; 1Ki_8:2, 1Ki_8:65; 2Ch_7:8-9; Neh_8:14; Hos_2:11, Hos_2:13. Here the sense is, let the festivals go round; that is, let them revolve as it were in a perpetual, unmeaning circle, until the judgments due to such heartless service shall come upon you. The whole address is evidently ironical, and designed to denote that all their service was an unvarying repetition of heartless forms.

2. CLARKE, Ariel - That Jerusalem is here called by this name is very certain: but the reason of this name, and the meaning of it as applied to Jerusalem, is very obscure and doubtful. Some, with the Chaldee, suppose it to be taken from the hearth of the great altar of burnt-offerings which Ezekiel plainly calls by the same name, and that Jerusalem is here considered as

the seat of the fire of God, * ur*el which should issue from thence to consume his enemies:

compare Isa_31:9. Some, according to the common derivation of the word, * ari*el, the lion of God, or the strong lion, suppose it to signify the strength of the place, by which it was enabled

to resist and overcome all its enemies. *****4**,**,*

****. Procop. in loc. There are other explanations of this name given: but none that seems to be perfectly satisfactory. - Lowth.

From Eze_43:15, we learn that Ari-el was the name of the altar of burnt-offerings, put here for the city itself in which that altar was. In the second verse it is said, I will distress Ari-el, and it shall be unto me as Ari-el. The first Ari-el here seems to mean Jerusalem, which should be distressed by the Assyrians: the second Ari-el seems to mean the altar of burntofferings. But why

is it said, Ari-el shall be unto me as Ari-el? As the altar of burntofferings was surrounded daily by the victims which were offered: so the walls of Jerusalem shall be surrounded by the dead bodies of those who had rebelled against the Lord, and who should be victims to his justice. The translation of Bishop Lowth appears to embrace both meanings: I will bring distress upon Ari-el; and it shall be to me as the hearth of the great altar.

Add ye year to year - Ironically. Go on year after year, keep your solemn feasts; yet know, that God will punish you for your hypocritical worship, consisting of mere form destitute of true piety. Probably delivered at the time of some great feast, when they were thus employed.

3. GILL, Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt,.... Many Jewish writers by "Ariel" understand the altar of burnt offerings; and so the Targum, "woe, altar, altar, which was built in the city where David dwelt;'' and so it is called in Eze_43:15 it signifies "the lion of God"; and the reason why it is so called, the Jews say (i), is, because the fire lay upon it in the form of a lion; but rather the reason is, because it devoured the sacrifices that were laid upon it, as a lion does its prey; though others of them interpret it of the temple, which they say was built like a lion, narrow behind and broad before (k); but it seems better to understand it of the city of Jerusalem, in which David encamped, as the word (l) signifies; or "encamped against", as some; which he besieged, and took from the Jebusites, and fortified, and dwelt in; and which may be so called from its strength and fortifications, natural and artificial, and from its being the chief city of Judah, called a lion, Gen_49:9 whose standard had a lion on it, and from whence came the Messiah, the Lion of the tribe of Judah; or rather from its cruelty in shedding the blood of the prophets, and was, as the Lord says, as a lion unto him that cried against him, Jer_12:8 and so the words may be considered as of one calling to Jerusalem, and lamenting over it, as Christ did, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets", &c. Mat_23:37 and the mention of David's name, and of his dwelling in it, is not only to point out what city is meant, and the greatness and glory of it; but to show that this would not secure it from ruin and destruction (m): add ye year to year; which some understand of two precise years, at the end of which Jerusalem should be besieged by the army of Sennacherib; but that is not here meant. Cocceius thinks that large measure of time is meant, that one year is the length of time from David's dwelling in Jerusalem to the Babylonish captivity; and the other year from the time of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah to the destruction by the Romans, which is more likely; but rather the sense is, go on from year to year in your security and vain confidence; or keep your yearly feasts, and offer your yearly sacrifices; as follows: let them kill sacrifices; the daily and yearly sacrifices; let the people bring them, and the priests offer them, for the time is coming when an end will be put to them; "the feasts shall be cut off": so the words may be rendered; the festivals shall cease, and be no more observed; and so the Targum, "the festivities shall cease;'' or, feasts being put for lambs, so in Psa_118:27 as Ben Melech observes, the sense is, their heads should be cut off (n).

(i) Yoma apud Jarchi in loc. (k) T. Bab. Middot, fol. 37. 1. (l) "castrametatus est", Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius; "castra habuit", Piscator. (m) The words are rendered by Noldius, "woe to Ariel, to Ariel: to the city in which David encamped"; and he observes, that some supply the copulative "and; woe to Ariel, and to the city", &c.; So making them distinct, which seems best to agree with the accents, and may respect the destruction both of their ecclesiastic and civil state; the temple being designed by "Ariel", and "Jerusalem" by the city. See Concord. Ebr. Part. p.

183. No. 842. (n) * "agni excervicabuntur", Montanus; "excidentur", Vatablus; "jugulentur", Munster.

4. HENRY, That it is Jerusalem which is here called Ariel is agreed, for that was the city where David dwelt; that part of it which was called Zion was in a particular manner the city of David, in which both the temple and the palace were. But why it is so called is very uncertain: probably the name and the reason were then well known. Cities, as well as persons, get surnames and nicknames. Ariel signifies the lion of God, or the strong lion: as the lion is king among beasts, so was Jerusalem among the cities, giving law to all about her; it was the city of the great King (Psa_48:1, Psa_48:2); it was the head-city of Judah, who is called a lion's whelp (Gen_49:9) and whose ensign was a lion; and he that is the lion of the tribe of Judah was the glory of it. Jerusalem was a terror sometimes to the neighbouring nations, and, while she was a righteous city, was bold as a lion. Some make Ariel to signify the altar of burnt-offerings, which devoured the beasts offered in sacrifice as the lion does his prey. Woe to that altar in the city where David dwelt; that was destroyed with the temple by the Chaldeans. I rather take it as a woe to Jerusalem, Jerusalem; it is repeated here, as it is Mat_23:37, that it might be the more awakening. Here is,

I. The distress of Jerusalem foretold. Though Jerusalem be a strong city, as a lion, though a holy

city, as a lion of God, yet, if iniquity be found there, woe be to it. It was the city where David

dwelt; it was he that brought that to it which was its glory, and which made it a type of the

gospel church, and his dwelling in it was typical of Christ's residence in his church. This

mentioned as an aggravation of Jerusalem's sin, that in it were set both the testimony of Israel

and the thrones of the house of David. 1. Let Jerusalem know that her external performance of

religious services will not serve as an exemption from the judgments of God (Isa_29:1): Add

year to year; go on in the road of your annual feasts, let all your males appear there three times

a year before the Lord, and none empty, according to the law and custom, and let them never

miss any of these solemnities: let them kill the sacrifices, as they used to do; but, as long as their

lives are unreformed and their hearts unhumbled, let them not think thus to pacify an offended

God and to turn away his wrath. Note, Hypocrites may be found in a constant track of devout

exercises, and treading around in them, and with these they may flatter themselves, but can

never please God nor make their peace with him. 2. Let her know that God is coming forth

against her in displeasure, that she shall be visited of the Lord of hosts (Isa_29:6); her sins shall

be enquired into and punished: God will reckon for them with terrible judgments, with the

frightful alarms and rueful desolations of war, which shall be like thunder and earthquakes,

storms and tempests, and devouring fire, especially upon the account of the great noise. When

a foreign enemy was not in the borders, but in the bowels of their country, roaring and ravaging,

and laying all waste (especially such an army as that of the Assyrians, whose commanders being

so very insolent, as appears by the conduct of Rabshakeh, the common soldiers, no doubt, were

much more rude), they might see the Lord of those hosts visiting them with thunder and storm.

Yet, this being here said to be a great noise, perhaps it is intimated that they shall be worse

frightened than hurt. Particularly

5. JAMISON, Isa_29:1-24. Coming invasion of Jerusalem: Its failure: Unbelief of the Jews.

This chapter opens the series of prophecies as to the invasion of Judea under Sennacherib, and its deliverance.

Ariel Jerusalem; Ariel means Lion of God, that is, city rendered by God invincible: the lion is emblem of a mighty hero (2Sa_23:20). Otherwise Hearth of God, that is, place where the altar-fire continually burns to God (Isa_31:9; Eze_43:15, Eze_43:16).

add ... year to year ironically; suffer one year after another to glide on in the round of formal, heartless sacrifices. Rather, add yet another year to the one just closed [Maurer]. Let a year elapse and a little more (Isa_32:10, Margin). let ... kill sacrifices rather, let the beasts (of another year) go round [Maurer]; that is,

after the completion of a year I will distress Ariel.

6. K&D 1-4, The prophecy here passes from the fall of Samaria, the crown of flowers (Isa_28:1-4), to its formal parallel. Jerusalem takes its place by the side of Samaria, the crown of

flowers, and under the emblem of a hearth of God. 'Ar'el might, indeed, mean a lion of God. It occurs in this sense as the name of certain Moabitish heroes (2Sa_23:20; 1Ch_11:22), and Isaiah

himself used the shorter form for the heroes of Judah (Isa_33:7). But as D (God's heart,

interchanged with **htiw*degna, God's height) is the name given in Eze_43:15-16, to the altar of burnt-offering in the new temple, and as Isaiah could not say anything more characteristic of Jerusalem, than that Jehovah had a fire and hearth there (Isa_31:9); and, moreover, as Jerusalem the city and community within the city would have been compared to a lioness rather

than a lion, we take *D in the sense of ara Dei (from J, to burn). The prophet commences in his own peculiar way with a grand summary introduction, which passes in a few gigantic strides over the whole course from threatening to promise. Isa_29:1 Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the castle where David pitched his tent! Add year to year, let the feasts revolve: then I distress Ariel, and there is groaning and moaning; and so she proves herself to me as Ariel. By the fact that David fixed his headquarters in Jerusalem, and then brought the sacred ark thither, Jerusalem became a hearth of God. Within a single year, after only one more round of feasts (to be interpreted according to Isa_32:10, and probably spoken at the passover), Jehovah would make

Jerusalem a besieged city, full of sighs (vahatsqoth, perf. cons., with the tone upon the

ultimate); but she becomes to me like an Arel, i.e., being qualified through me, she will prove herself a hearth of God, by consuming the foes like a furnace, or by their meeting with their

destruction at Jerusalem, like wood piled up on the altar and then consumed in flame. The prophecy has thus passed over the whole ground in a few majestic words. It now starts from the

very beginning again, and first of all expands the hoi. Isa_29:3, Isa_29:4 And I encamp in a circle round about thee, and surround thee with watch-posts, and erect tortoises against thee. And when brought down thou wilt speak from out of the ground, and thy speaking will sound low out of the dust; and thy voice cometh up like that of a demon from the ground, and thy speaking will whisper out of the dust. It would have to go so far with Ariel first of all, that it would be besieged by a hostile force, and would lie upon the ground in the greatest extremity, and then would whisper with a ghostlike softness, like a dying man, or like a spirit without flesh

and bones. Kaddur signifies sphaera, orbis, as in Isa_22:18 and in the Talmud (from kadar = ka

thar; cf., kudur in the name Nabu-kudur-ussur, Nebo protect the crown, ), and is used here

poetically for . Jerome renders it quasi sphaeram (from dur, orbis). S (from , ) might

signify firmly planted (Luzzatto, immobilmente; compare shuth, Isa_2:7); but according to the

parallel it signifies a military post, like S, . Metsuroth (from matsor, Deu_20:20) are

instruments of siege, the nature of which can only be determined conjecturally. On 'obh, see Isa_8:19;

(Note: The 'akkuubh mentioned there is equivalent to anbub, Arab. a knot on a reed stalk, then that part of such a reed which comes between two knots, then the reed stalk itself; root

, to rise up, swell, or become convex without and concave within (Fl.). It is possible that it

would be better to trace 'obh back to this radical and primary meaning of what is hollow (and therefore has a dull sound), whether used in the sense of a leather-bag, or applied to a spirit of incantation, and the possessor of such a spirit.)

there is no necessity to take it as standing for baal*'obh.

7. PULPIT, A WARNING TO JERUSALEM. Expostulation is followed by threats. The prophet is

aware that all his preaching to the authorities in Jerusalem (Isa_28:14-22) will be of no avail, and that

their adoption of measures directly antagonistic to the commands of God will bring on the very evil which

they are seeking to avert, and cause Jerusalem to be actually besieged by her enemies. In the present

passage he distinctly announces the siege, and declares that it will commence within a year.

Isa_29:1

Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! "Ariel' is clearly a mystic name for Jerusalem, parallel to

"Sheshach" as a name for Babylon (Jer_25:26) and "'Ir-ha-heres" as a name for Heliopolis (Isa_19:18). It

is generally explained as equivalent to Art-El, "lion of God;" but Delitzsch suggests the meaning of "hearth

of God," or "altar of God," a signification which "Ariel" seems to have in Eze_43:15, Eze_43:16. But there

is no evidence that "Ariel" was ever employed in this sense before the time of Ezekiel. Etymologically,

"Ariel" can only mean "lion of God," and the name would in this sense be sufficiently descriptive of the

Jewish capital, which had always hitherto been a sort of champion of Jehovaha warrior fighting his

battles with a lion's courage and fierceness. Dwelt; literally, pitched his tentan expression recalling the

old tent-life of the Hebrews. And ye year to year; rather, a year to a year; i.e. the coming year to the

present one. The intention is to date the commencement of the siege. It will fall within the year next

ensuing. Let them kill sacrifices. The best modern authorities translate, "Let the feasts run their

round" (Kay, Cheyne, Delitzsch); i.e. let there be one more round of the annual festival-times, and then let

the enemy march in and commence the siege.

8. CALVIN, 1.This appears to be another discourse, in which Isaiah threatens the city of Jerusalem.

He calls it (251) because the chief defense of the city was in the (252) for although the citizens relied

on other bulwarks, of which they had great abundance, still they placed more reliance on the Temple

(Jer_7:4) and the altar than on the other defences. While they thought that they were invincible in power

and resources, they considered their strongest and most invincible fortress to consist in their being

defended by the protection of God. They concluded that God was with them, so long as they enjoyed the

altar and the sacrifices. Some think that the temple is here called from the resemblance which it bore to

the shape of a lion, being broader in front and narrower behind; but I think it better to take it simply as

denoting Altar, since Ezekiel also (Eze_43:15) gives it this name. This prediction is indeed directed

against the whole city, but we must look at the design of the Prophet; for he intended to strip the Jews of

their foolish confidence in imagining that God would assist them, so long as the altar and the sacrifices

could remain, in which they falsely gloried, and thought that they had fully discharged their duty, though

their conduct was base and detestable.

The city where David dwelt. He now proceeds to the city, which he dignifies with the commendation of its

high rank, on the ground of having been formerly inhabited by David, but intending, by this admission, to

scatter the smoke of their vanity. Some understand by it the lesser Jerusalem, that is, the inner city, which

also was surrounded by a wall; for there was a sort of two-fold Jerusalem, because it had increased, and

had extended its walls beyond where they originally stood; but I think that this passage must be

understood to relate to the whole city. He mentions David, because they gloried in his name, and boasted

that the blessing of God continually dwelt in his palace; for the Lord had promised that kingdom of David

would be for ever. (2Sa_7:13; Psa_89:37.)

Hence we may infer how absurdly the Papists, in the present day, consider the Church to be bound to

Peter chair, as if God could nowhere find a habitation in the whole world but in the See of Rome. We do

not now dispute whether Peter was Bishop of the Church of Rome or not; but though we should admit

that this is fully proved, was any promise made to Rome such as was made to Jerusalem? is my rest for

ever: here will I dwell, for I have chosen it. (Psa_132:14.) And if even this were granted, do not we see

what Isaiah declares about Jerusalem? That God is driven from it, when there is no room for doctrine,

when the worship of God is corrupted. What then shall be said of Rome, which has no testimony? Can

she boast of anything in preference to Jerusalem? If God pronounces a curse on the most holy city, which

he had chosen in an especial manner, what must we say of the rest, who have overturned his holy laws

and all godly institutions.

Add year to year. This was added by the Prophet, because the Jews thought that they had escaped

punishment, when any delay was granted to them. Wicked men think that God has made a truce with

them, when they see no destruction close at hand; and therefore they promise to themselves unceasing

prosperity, so long as the Lord permits them to enjoy peace and quietness. In opposition to this

assurance of their safety the Prophet threatens that, though they continue to sacrifices, (253) and

though they renew them year by year, still the Lord will execute his vengeance. We ought to learn from

this, that, when the Lord delays to punish and to take vengeance, we ought not, on that account, to seize

the occasion for delaying our repentance; for although he spares and bears with us for a time, our sin is

not therefore blotted out, nor have we any reason to promise that we shall make a truce with him. Let us

not then abuse his patience, but let us be more eager to obtain pardon.

(251) Il l Ariel, c dire, autel de Dieu; calls it Ariel, that is, Altar of God.

FT509 with the Chaldee, suppose it to be taken from the hearth of the great altar of burnt-offerings, which

Ezekiel plainly calls by the same name; and that Jerusalem is here considered as the seat of the fire of

God, la (r ,) which should issue from thence to consume his enemies. Compare chap. Isa_31:9.

Some, according to the common derivation of the word, (r,) the lion of God, or the strong lion,

suppose it to signify the strength of the place, by which it was enabled to resist and overcome all its

enemies. Lowth. interprets it the altar of the Lord, and Ezekiel also (Eze_43:15) gives it this name. It

is so called, on account of the fire of God, which couched like (r,) a lion on the altar. Our Rabbins

explain (r) to denote the temple of Jerusalem, which was narrow behind, and broad in front.

Jarchi. greater part of interpreters are agreed, that (r) compounded of (r) and (l,)

denotes the lion of God, or, as Castalio renders it, The Lion God. But they differ in explaining the

application of this name to Jerusalem. Rosenm. meaning of the Prophet, in my opinion, is, that will

make Jerusalem the heart of his anger, which shall consume not only the enemies but the obstinate

rebellious Jews. This meaning is elegant and emphatic, and agrees well with the wisdom of the prophet

Isaiah. Ariel is here taken, in its true signification, not for the altar, but for the hearth of the altar, as in

Ezekiel. The import of the name lies here. The hearth of the altar sustained the symbol of the most holy

and pure will of God, by which all the sacrifices offered to God must be tried; and to this applies the

justice of God, burning like a fire, and consuming the sinner, if no atonement be found. Jerusalem would

become the theater of the divine judgments. Vitringa. foresees that the city will, in a short time, be

besieged by a very numerous army of the Assyrians, and will be reduced to straits, and yet will not be

vanquished by those multitudes, but, like a lion, will rise by divine power out of the severest encounters.

Doederlein

FT510 Instead of them kill sacrifices, Vitringa rendering, in which he has been followed by Lowth, Stock,

and Alexander, is, the feasts revolve. Ed

FT511 Symmachus, on whom Montfaucon bestows the exaggerated commendation of having adhered

closely to the Hebrew text, wherever it differed from the Septuagint, renders the clause,

, which has been closely followed by Jerome version, Et erit tristis ac

moerens; she shall be sad and sorrowful. Ed

FT512 In both cases there are two synonyms, (th v,) which are derived from the same

root. This peculiarity is imitated by the version of Symmachus quoted above, ,

and by that of Vitringa, (m et m, who remarks: is somewhat unusual to bring together words of the

same termination and derived from the same root, but in this instance it produces an agreeable echo,

which convinces me that it must have been frequently employed in poetical writings. Ed

FT513 Que les ennemis feront en Jerusalem; the enemies shall make in Jerusalem.

FT514 a circle of tents. , (k,) like a Dowar; so the Arabs call a circular village of tents, such as they

still live in. Stock

FT515 Qu parleront bas, et comme du creux de la terre; they will speak low, and as out of the heart

of the earth.

FT516 from the dust thou shalt chirp thy words, or, utter a feeble, stridulous sound, such as the vulgar

supposed to be the voice of a ghost. This sound was imitated by necromancers, who had also the art of

pitching their voice in such a manner as to make it appear to proceed out of the ground, or from what

place they chose. Stock

FT517 The Septuagint renders it, , as the

small dust from the wheel shall be the multitude of the wicked. Here it is necessary to attend to the

distinction between and Ed

FT518 The military forces of Sennacherib, which shall be fuel for the fire, and shall be reduced to powder.

Jarchi

FT519 shall be destroyed by the pestilential blast Simoom, whose effects are instantaneous. Thevenot

describes this wind with all the circumstances here enumerated, with thunder and lightning, insufferable

heat, and a whirlwind of sand. By such an of Jehovah, as it is called below, (Isa_37:36,) was the host of

Assyria destroyed. Stock

FT520 a dream, when one thinks that he sees, and yet does not in reality see, so shall be the multitude of

nations; they will indeed think that they are subduing the city of Jerusalem, but they shall be disappointed

of that hope, they shall not succeed in it. Jarchi

FT521 The comparison is elegant and beautiful in the highest degree, well wrought up, and perfectly suited

to the end proposed: the image is extremely natural, but not obvious; it appeals to our inward feelings, not

to our outward senses, and is applied to an event in its concomitant circumstances exactly similar, but in

its nature totally different. For beauty and ingenuity it may fairly come in competition with one of the most

elegant of Virgil, (greatly improved from Homer, Iliad, 22:199,) where he has applied to a different

purpose, but not so happily, the same image of the ineffectual working of imagination in a dream. Virg.

12:908. Lucretius expresses the very same image with Isaiah, (iv. 1091.) Lowth

FT522 ye out, and cry, or, Take your pleasure and riot. Eng. Ver. yourselves and stare around.

Stock. Lowth rendering resembles this, but is somewhat paraphrastic, stare with a look of stupid

surprise. Professor Alexander comes nearer that of Calvin, merry and blind! Ed

FT523 prophets, and your rulers (Heb. heads). Eng. Ver. Our translators very correctly state that the

literal meaning of (r) is, heads. Calvin treats it as an adjective, principal seers. Ed

9. BI, Ariel

The simplest meaning of Ariel is lion of God; but it also signifies hearth of God when derived from another root. In the former sense it comes to mean a hero, as in 2Sa_23:20; Isa_33:7;and in the latter it occurs in Eze_43:15-16 for the brazen hearth of the great altar of burnt offerings, thence

commonly called the brazen, though the rest of it was of stone. There is no doubt that Jerusalem is pointed out by this enigmatical name; and the immediate context, as well as the expression in Isa_31:9 Jehovah, whose fire is in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalemmakes it probable that Isaiah intended to involve both meanings in the word, as though he had said, Woe to the city of heroes, woe to the city of sacrifices: it shall now be put to the test what God and what man think as to both. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)

Jerusalem, the lion of God

David, that lion of God, had first encamped against Jerusalem, and then made it the abode of his royal house, and the capital of his kingdom; so that it became itself an Ariel, the lion of God, in the land (Gen_49:9-10). (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)

Jerusalem, the hearth of God

By Davids pitching his camp and then bringing the sacred ark there, Jerusalem became Gods hearth. (F. Delitzsch.)

Ariel

The Rabbins combine the two explanations of the Hebrew word by supposing that the altar was itself called the lion of God, because it devoured the victims like a lion, or because the fire on it had the appearance of a lion, or because the altar (or the temple) was in shape like a lion, that is, narrow behind and broad in front. (J. A. Alexander.)

Ariel

In either case applied as a symbol of hope. But she shall be unto Me as an Ariel, i.e., in the extremity of her need I will enable her to verify her name (Cheyne). (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)

Woe to Ariel

After the vicissitudes of 300 years, and in the midst of present dangers, the people of Jerusalem were still confident in the strength of their lion of God, and year by year came up to the public festivals to lay their accustomed offerings on the altar of God; though with little remembrance that it was not in the altar and the city, but in Jehovah Himself, that David put trust, and found his strength. Therefore Jehovah will bring Ariel low; the proud roar of the lion shall be changed for the weak, stridulous voice, which the art of the ventriloquising necromancer brings out of the ground; and the enemies of Jehovah shall be sacrificed and consumed on the hearth of this altar. First, His spiritual enemies among the Jews themselves, but afterwards the heathen oppressors of His people; and the lion shall recover his God-derived strength; and thus, both in adversity and in success, it shall be unto Me as Ariel. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)

Woe to Ariel

The prophet has a very startling message to deliver: that God will besiege His own city, the city of David! Before God can make her in truth His own, make her verify her name, He will have to beleaguer and reduce her. For so novel and startling an intimation the prophet pleads a precedent: City which David himself beleaguered. Once before in thy history, ere the first time thou wast made Gods own hearth, thou hadst to be besieged. As then, so now. Before thou canst again be a true Ari-El I must beleaguer thee like David. This reading and interpretation gives to the enigma a reason and a force which it does not otherwise possess. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)

The city where David dwelt

We consider it every way remarkable that David should be mentioned in connection with the woe about to be uttered. If it had been, Woe unto Ariel, the city where flagrant sins are committed, the city which is overrun with idols, and filled with all kinds of abomination, we should have seen at once the force of the sentence, and must have felt the wrath warranted by the alleged crimes. But why bring it as a chief accusation against Jerusalemindeed, as the only charge that was to justify God in pouring out His vengeancethat it was the city where David had dwelt? We can hardly think that the definition is meant as nothing more than a statement of fact. David had long been dead; strange changes had occurred, and it would be making the essential term too insignificant to suppose it to contain only a historical reference to an assertion that no one doubted, but which is quite unconnected with the present message from God. We must rather believe that the city is characterised, where David dwelt, in order to show that it deserved the woe about to be denounced. This is evidently mentioned as aggravating the guiltiness of the city. (H. Melvill, B. D.)

Good men increase the responsibility of a community

We seem warranted in concluding that, its having been made eminent by the piety of the servants of God, by their zeal for God, and by their earnestness in preserving the purity of their worship, entails a weighty responsibility on a city or country; so that if, in any after time, that city or country degenerate in godliness, and become, by its sins, obnoxious to vengeance, it will be one of the heaviest items in the charge brought against it, that it was dwelt in by saints so distinguished. (H. Melvill, B. D.)

National mercies

I. THE CONNECTION BETWEEN THE WOE OF JERUSALEM AND JERUSALEM BEING THE CITY WHERE DAVID DWELT. There are other considerations, over and above the general one of the responsibility fastened on a people by the having had a king of extraordinary piety, which go to the explaining why the woe upon Jerusalem should be followed by a reference to David. David was eminent as a prophet of the Lord; he had been commissioned to announce, in sundry most remarkable predictions, the Messiah, of whom, in many respects, he was, moreover, an illustrious type. It was true, there had been others of whom the prophet might think. There is a peculiar appositeness in the reference to David, because his writings were the very best adapted to the fixing themselves on the popular mind. These writings were the national anthems; they were the songs to be chanted in those daily and annual solemnities which belonged to the Jews in their political as much as in their religious capacity, in which the princes were associated with the priests, so that the civil was hardly to be distinguished from the

ecclesiastic. So beloved as David was of God, he must have bequeathed a blessing to the nation: for righteous kings, like righteous fathers, entail good on a nation. Indeed, it is evident, from other parts of Isaiah, that the memory of David was still a tower of strength at Jerusalem, so that, for his sake, was evil averted from the city. When Sennacherib and his hosts encamped against the city, and the heart of Hezekiah was dismayed, it was in terms such as these that God addressed Israel, I will defend this city, to save it for Mine own sake, and for My servant Davids sake. Was it not like telling the Jews that they were no longer to be borne with for the sake of David, to pronounce, Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt? Was it not declaring, that the period was drawing to a close, during which the conservatism of the monarchs piety could be felt? The prophet might be considered as showing both how just and how terrible those judgments would be. He showed their justice, because the having had amongst them such a king and prophet as David, made the Jews inexcusable in their wickedness: he showed their severity, because it was the city of David which God was about to punish.

II. MAKE AN APPLICATION OF THE SUBJECT. We pass at once to the Reformation, and substitute the reformers for David, and England for Ariel. We must consider what it was that the reformers did for us; from what they delivered us; and in what they instructed us. (H. Melvill, B. D.)

Ariel

It will be to Me as an Ariel (Isa_29:2), i.e., through My help it will prove itself a hearth of God, consuming its enemies like a fiery furnace, or these enemies finding destruction in Jerusalem, like wood heaped on an altar and set ablaze. (F. Delitzsch.)

Love and chastisement

The Lord has never spared the elect. Election gives Him rights of discipline. We may inflict punishment upon those who are ours, when we may not lay the hand of chastisement upon those who do not belong to us. Love has its own law court. (J. Parker, D. D.)

Add ye year to year; let the feasts come round (R.V.)

Links in a golden chain (from R.V.)

Speaking of the gay temper of the Greeks, Quinet describes them as a people who count their years by their games. In a more serious spirit the Jews counted their years by their religious festivals, We have a Christian year whose festivals celebrate the great events in the life of our Lord. We are adding year to year, the feasts come and go, and it behoves us to inquire what we are doing with them, what they are doing for us.

I. THERE IS AN UNSATISFACTORY WAY OF SPENDING THE YEARS. The implied complaint of the text is that the inhabitants of Jerusalem failed to benefit by their recurring privileges, and that the lapse of time brought them nearer to destruction. The trumpet of the new year in vain called them to a new life; the day of atonement passed leaving them with uncancelled sin; the Feast of Tabernacles and that of Pentecost awoke in them no love, constrained them to no obedience to the Giver of the harvest. Is this not true of thousands of those over whom pass the festivals of the Christian year? They are, indeed, all the worse for the lengthening days and multiplying Opportunities.

II. THERE IS A TRUE WAY OF SPENDING THE YEARS, and that is in enjoying and improving this life in the fear of God and in the light of eternity. Victor Hugo speaks of an old man as a thinking ruin. Paul the aged was such a ruin, and he had something grand to think about. (W. L. Watkinson.)

10. EBC, ORATIONS ON THE EGYPTIAN INTRIGUES AND ORACLES ON FOREIGN NATIONS

705-702 B.C.

Isaiah:

29 About 703

30 A little later

31 A little later

32:1-8 Later

32:9-20 Date uncertain

-----------------

14:28-21 736-702

23 About 703

WE now enter the prophecies of Isaiahs old age, those which he published after 705, when his ministry had lasted for at least thirty-five years. They cover the years between 705, the date of Sennacheribs accession to the Assyrian throne, and 701, when his army suddenly disappeared from before Jerusalem.

They fall into three groups:-

1. Chapters 29-32., dealing with Jewish politics while Sennacherib is still far from Palestine, 704-702, and having Egypt for their chief interest, Assyria lowering in the background.

2. Chapters 14:28-21 and 23, a group of oracles on foreign nations, threatened, like Judah, by Assyria.

3. Chapters 1, 22, and 33, and the historical narrative in 36, and 37., dealing with Sennacheribs invasion of Judah and siege of Jerusalem in 701; Egypt and every foreign nation now fallen out of sight, and the storm about the Holy City too thick for the prophet to see beyond his immediate neighbourhood.

The first and second of these groups-orations on the intrigues with Egypt and oracles on the foreign nations-delivered while Sennacherib was still far from Syria, form the subject of this Third Book of our exposition.

The prophecies on the siege of Jerusalem are sufficiently numerous and distinctive to be put by themselves, along with their appendix (38, 39), in our Fourth Book.

Isaiah 29:1-24

ARIEL, ARIEL

ABOUT 703 B.C.

IN 705 Sargon, King of Assyria, was murdered, and Sennacherib, his second son, succeeded him. Before the new ruler mounted the throne, the vast empire, which his father had consolidated, broke into rebellion, and down to the borders of Egypt cities and tribes declared themselves again independent. Sennacherib attacked his problem with Assyrian promptitude. There were two forces, to subdue which at the beginning made the reduction of the rest certain: Assyrias vassal kingdom and future rival for the supremacy of the world, Babylon; and her present rival, Egypt. Sennacherib marched on Babylon first.

While he did so the smaller States prepared to resist him. Too small to rely on their own resources, they looked to Egypt, and among others who sought help in that quarter was Judah. There had always been, as we have seen, an Egyptian party among the politicians of Jerusalem; and Assyrias difficulties now naturally increased its influence. Most of the prophecies in chapters 29-32 are forward to condemn the alliance with Egypt and the irreligious politics of which it was the fruit.

At the beginning, however, other facts claim Isaiahs attention. After the first excitement, consequent on the threats of Sennacherib, the politicians do not seem to have been specially active. Sennacherib found the reduction of Babylon a harder task than he expected, and in the end it turned out to be three years before he was free to march upon Syria. As one winter after another left the work of the Assyrian army in Mesopotamia still unfinished, the political tension in Judah must have relaxed. The Government-for King Hezekiah seems at last to have been brought round to believe in Egypt-pursued their negotiations no longer with that decision and real patriotism, which the sense of near danger rouses in even the most selfish and mistaken of politicians, but rather with the heedlessness of principle, the desire to show their own cleverness, and the passion for intrigue which run riot among statesmen, when danger is near enough to give an excuse for doing something, but too far away to oblige anything to be done in earnest. Into this false ease, and the meaningless, faithless politics, which swarmed in it, Isaiah hurled his strong prophecy of chapter 29. Before he exposes in chapters 30 and 31 the folly of trusting to Egypt in the hour of danger, he has here the prior task of proving that hour to be near and very terrible. It is but one instance of the ignorance and fickleness of the people, that their prophet has first to rouse them to a sense of their peril, and then to restrain their excitement under it from rushing headlong for help to Egypt.

Chapter 29 is an obscure oracle, but its obscurity is designed. Isaiah was dealing with a people in whom political security and religious formalism had stifled both reason and conscience. He sought to rouse them by a startling message in a mysterious form. He addressed the city by an enigma:-

"Ho! Ari-El, Ari-El! City David beleaguered! Add year to a year, let the feasts run their round, then will I bring straitness upon Ari-El, and there shall be moaning and bemoaning, and yet she shall be unto Me as art Ari-El"

The general bearing of this enigma became plain enough after the sore siege and sudden deliverance of Jerusalem in 701. But we are unable to make out one or two of its points. "Ari-El" may mean either "The Lion" of 2Sa_23:20, or "The Hearth of God". (Eze_43:15-16) If the same sense is to be given to the four utterances of the name, then "Gods-Lion" suits better the description of Isa_29:4 : but "Gods-Hearth" seems suggested by the feminine pronoun in Isa_29:1, and is a conception to which Isaiah returns in this same group of prophecies. (Isa_31:9) It is possible that this ambiguity was part of the prophets design: but if he uses the name in both senses, some of the force of his enigma is lost to us. In any case, however, we get a picturesque form for a plain meaning. In a year after the present year is out, says Isaiah, God Himself will straiten the city, whose inhabitants are now so careless, and she shall be full of

mourning and lamentation. Nevertheless in the end she shall be a true Ari-El: be it a true "Gods-Lion," victor and hero; or a true "Gods-Hearth," His own inviolable shrine and sanctuary.

The next few verses (Isa_29:3-8) expand this warning. In plain words, Jerusalem is to undergo a siege. God Himself shall "encamp against thee-round about" reads our English version, but more probably, as with the change of a letter, the Septuagint reads it-"like David." If we take this second reading, the reference to David in the enigma itself (Isa_29:1) becomes clear. The prophet has a very startling message to deliver: that God will besiege His own city, the city of David! Before God can make her in truth His own, make her verify her name, He will have to beleaguer and reduce her. For so novel and startling an intimation the prophet pleads a precedent: "City which David himself beleaguered! Once before in thy history, ere the first time thou wast made Gods own hearth, thou hadst to be besieged. As then, so now. Be-before thou canst again be a true Ari-El I must beleaguer thee like David." This reading and interpretation gives to the enigma a reason and a force which it does not otherwise possess.

Jerusalem, then, shall be reduced to the very dust, and whine and whimper in it (like a sick lion, if this be the figure the prophet is pursuing), when suddenly it is "the surge of" her foes-literally "thy strangers"-whom the prophet sees as "small dust, and as passing chaff shall the surge of tyrants be; yea, it shall be in the twinkling of an eye, suddenly. From Jehovah of hosts shall she be visited with thunder and with earthquake and a great, noise, -storm-wind, and tempest and the flame of fire devouring. And it shall be as a dream, a vision of the night, the surge of all the nations that war against Ariel, yea all that war against her and her stronghold, and they that press in upon her. And it shall be as if the hungry had been dreaming, and lo! he was eating; but he hath awaked, and his soul is empty; and as if the thirsty had been dreaming, and lo! he was drinking; but he hath awaked, and lo! he is faint, and his soul is ravenous: thus shall be the surge of all the nations that war against Mount Zion." Now that is a very definite prediction, and in its essentials was fulfilled. In the end Jerusalem was invested by Sennacherib, and reduced to sore straits, when very suddenly-it would appear from other records, in a single night-the beleaguering force disappeared. This actually happened; and although the main business of a prophet, as we now clearly understand, was not to predict definite events, yet, since the result here predicted was one on which Isaiah staked his prophetic reputation and pledged the honour of Jehovah and the continuance of the true religion among men, it will be profitable for us to look at it for a little.

Isaiah foretells a great event and some details. The event is a double one: the reduction of Jerusalem to the direst straits by siege and her deliverance by the sudden disappearance of the besieging army. The details are that the siege will take place after a year (though the prophets statement of time is perhaps too vague to be treated as a prediction), and that the deliverance will come as a great natural convulsion-thunder, earthquake, and fire-which it certainly did not do. The double event, however, stripped of these details, did essentially happen.

Now it is plain that any one with a considerable knowledge of the world at that day must easily have been able to assert the probability of a siege of Jerusalem by the mixed nations who composed Sennacheribs armies. Isaiahs orations are full of proofs of his close acquaintance with the peoples of the world, and Assyria, who was above them. Moreover, his political advice, given at certain crises of Judahs history, was conspicuous not only for its religiousness, but for what eve should call its "worldly wisdom": it was vindicated by events. Isaiah, however, would not have understood the distinction we have just made. To him political prudence was part of religion. "The Lord of hosts is for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them that turn back the battle to the gate." Knowledge of men, experience of nations, the mental strength which never forgets history, and is quick to mark new movements as they rise, Isaiah would have called the direct inspiration of God. And it was certainly these qualities

in this Hebrew, which provided him with the materials for his prediction of the siege of Jerusalem.

But it has not been found that such talents by themselves enable statesmen calmly to face the future, or clearly to predict it. Such knowledge of the past, such vigilance for the present, by themselves only embarrass, and often deceive. They are the materials for prediction, but a ruling principle is required to arrange them. A general may have a strong and well-drilled force under him, and a miserably weak foe in front; but if the sun is not going to rise tomorrow, if the laws of nature are not going to hold, his familiarity with his soldiers and expertness in handling them will not give him confidence to offer battle. He takes certain principles for granted, and on these his soldiers become of use to him, and he makes his venture Even so Isaiah handled his mass of information by the grasp which he had of certain principles, and his facts fell clear into order before his confident eyes. He believed in the real government of God. "I also saw the Lord sitting, high and; lifted up." He felt that God had even this Assyria in His hands. He knew that all Gods ends were righteousness, and he was still of the conviction that Judah for her wickedness required punishment at the Lords hands. Grant these convictions to him in the superhuman strength in which he tells us he was conscious of receiving them from God, and it is easy to see how Isaiah could not help predicting a speedy siege of Jerusalem, how he already beheld the valleys around her bristling with barbarian spears.

The prediction of the sudden raising of this siege was the equally natural corollary to another religious conviction, which held the prophet with as much intensity as that which possessed him with the need of Judahs punishment. Isaiah never slacked his hold on the truth that in the end God would save Zion, and keep her for Himself. Through whatever destruction, a root and remnant of the Jewish people must survive. Zion is impregnable because God is in her, and because her inviolateness is necessary for the continuance of true religion in the world. Therefore as confident as his prediction of the siege of Jerusalem is Isaiahs prediction of her delivery. And while the prophet wraps the fact in vague circumstance, while he masks, as it were, his ignorance of how in detail it will actually take place by calling up a great natural convulsion; yet he makes it abundantly clear - as, with his religious convictions and his knowledge of the Assyrian power, he cannot help doing-that the deliverance will be unexpected and unexplainable by the natural circumstances of the Jews themselves, that it will be evident as the immediate deed of God.

It is well for us to understand this. We shall get rid of the mechanical idea of prophecy, according to which prophets made exact predictions of fact by some particular and purely official endowment. We shall feel that prediction of this kind was due to the most unmistakable inspiration, the influence upon the prophets knowledge of affairs of two powerful religious convictions, for which he himself was strongly sure that he had the warrant of the Spirit of God.

Into the easy, selfish politics of Jerusalem, then, Isaiah sent this thunderbolt, this definite prediction: that in a year or more Jerusalem would be besieged and reduced to the direst straits. He tells us that it simply dazed the people. They were like men suddenly startled from sleep, who are too stupid to read a message pushed into their hands (Isa_29:9-12).

Then Isaiah gives Gods own explanation of this stupidity. The cause of it is simply religious formalism. "This people draw nigh unto Me with their mouth, and with their lips do they honour Me, but their heart is far from Me, and their fear of Me is a mere commandment of men, a thing learned by rote." This was what Israel called religion-bare ritual and doctrine, a round of sacrifices and prayers in adherence to the tradition of the fathers. But in life they never thought of God. It did not occur to these citizens of Jerusalem that He cared about their politics, their conduct of justice, or their discussions and bargains with one another. Of these they said, taking their own way, "Who seeth us, and who knoweth us?" Only in the Temple did they feel Gods fear, and there merely in imitation of one another. None had an original vision of God in real

life; they learned other mens thoughts about Him, and took other mens words upon their lips, while their heart was far away. In fact, speaking words and listening to words had wearied the spirit and stifled the conscience of them.

For such a disposition Isaiah says there is only one cure. It is a new edition of his old gospel, that God speaks to us in facts, not forms. Worship and a lifeless doctrine have demoralised this people. God shall make Himself so felt in real life that even their dull senses shall not be able to mistake Him. "Therefore, behold, I am proceeding to work marvellously upon this people, a marvellous work and a wonder! and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the cleverness of their clever ones shall be obscured." This is not the promise of what we call a miracle. It is a historical event on the same theatre as the politicians are showing their cleverness, but it shall put them all to shame, and by its force make the dullest feel that Gods own hand is in it. What the people had ceased to attribute to Jehovah was ordinary intelligence; they had virtually said, "He hath no understanding." The "marvellous work," therefore, which He threatens shall be a work of wisdom, not some convulsion of nature to cow their spirits, but a wonderful political result, that shall shame their conceit of cleverness, and teach them reverence for the will and skill of God. Are the politicians trying to change the surface of the world, thinking that they "are turning things upside down," and supposing that they can keep God out of account: "Who seeth us, and who knoweth us?" God Himself is the real Arranger and Politician. He will turn things upside down! Compared with their attempt, how vast His results shall be! As if the whole surface of the earth were altered, "Lebanon changed into garden-land, and garden-land counted as forest!" But this, of course, is metaphor. The intent of the miracle is to show that God hath understanding; therefore it must be a work, the prudence and intellectual force of which politicians can appreciate, and it shall take place in their politics. But not for mere astonishments sake is the "wonder" to be done. For blessing and morality shall it be: to cure the deaf and blind; to give to the meek and the poor a new joy; to confound the tyrant and the scorner; to make Israel worthy of God and her own great fathers. "Therefore thus saith Jehovah to the house of Jacob, He that redeemed Abraham: Not now ashamed shall Jacob be, and not now shall his countenance blanch." So unworthy hitherto have this stupid people been of so great ancestors! "But now when his (Jacobs) children behold the work of My hand in the midst of him, they shall hallow My name, yea, they shall hallow the Holy One of Jacob, and the God of Israel shall they make their fear. They also that err in spirit shall know understanding, and they that are unsettled shall learn to accept doctrine." Such is the meaning of this strong chapter.

It is instructive in two ways.

First, it very clearly declares Isaiahs view of the method of Gods revelation. Isaiah says nothing of the Temple, the Shechinah, the Altar, or the Scripture; but he points out how much the exclusive confinement of religion to forms and texts has deadened the hearts of his countrymen towards God. In your real life, he says to them, you are to seek, and you shall find, Him. There He is evident in miracles, -not physical interruptions and convulsions, but social mercies and moral providences. The quickening of conscience, the dispersion of ignorance, poor men awakening to the fact that God is with them, the overthrow of the social tyrant, historys plain refutation of the atheist, the growth of civic justice and charity-In these, said the Hebrew prophet to the Old Testament believer, Behold your God!

Wherefore, secondly, we also are to look for God in events and deeds. We are to know that nothing can compensate us for the loss of the open vision of Gods working in history and in life about us, -not ecstasy of worship nor orthodoxy of doctrine. To confine our religion to these latter things is to become dull towards God even in them, and to forget Him everywhere else. And this is a fault of our day, just as it was of Isaiahs. So much of our fear of God is conventional, orthodox, and not original, a trick caught from mens words or fashions, not a part of ourselves, nor won, like all that is real in us, from contact with real life. In our politics, in our

conduct with men, in the struggle of our own hearts for knowledge and for temperance, and in service-there we are to learn to fear God. But there, and wherever else we are busy, self comes too much in the way; we are fascinated with our own cleverness; we ignore God, saying, "Who seeth us? Who knoweth us?" We get to expect Him only in the Temple and on the Sabbath, and then only to influence our emotions. But it is in deeds, and where we feel life most real, that we are to look for Him. He makes Himself evident to us by wonderful works.

For these He has given us three theatres-the Bible, our countrys history, and for each man his own life.

We have to take the Bible, and especially the life of Christ, and to tell ourselves that these wonderful events did really take place. In Christ God did dwell; by Christ He spoke to man; man was converted, redeemed, sanctified, beyond all doubt. These were real events. To be convinced of their reality were worth a hundred prayers.

Then let us follow the example of the Hebrew prophets, and search the history of our own people for the realities of God. Carlyle says in a note to Cromwells fourth speech to Parliament, that "the Bible of every nation is its own history." This note is drawn from Carlyle by Cromwells frequent insistence, that we must ever be turning from forms and rituals to study Gods will and ways in history. And that speech of Cromwell is perhaps the best sermon ever delivered on the subject of this chapter. For he said: "What are all our histories but God manifesting Himself, that He hath shaken, and tumbled down and trampled upon everything that He hath not planted!" And again, speaking of our own history, he said to the House of Commons: "We are a people with the stamp of God upon uswhose appearances and providences among us were not to be outmatched by any story." Truly this is national religion:-the reverential acknowledgment of Gods hand in history; the admiration and effort of moral progress; the stirring of conscience when we see wrong; the expectation, when evil abounds, that God will bring justice and purity to us if we labour with Him for them.

But for each man there is the final duty of turning to himself.

"My soul repairs its fault

When, sharpening senses hebetude,

She turns on my own life! So viewed,

No mere motes breadth but teems immense

With witnessings of providence:

And woe to me if when I look

Upon that record, the sole book

Unsealed to me, I take no heed

Of any warning that I read!"

2 Yet I will besiege Ariel;

she will mourn and lament,

she will be to me like an altar hearth.[a]

1.BARNES, Yet I will distress Ariel - The reference here is doubtless to the siege which God says Isa_29:3 he would bring upon the guilty and formal city.

And there shall be heaviness and sorrow - This was true of the city in the siege of Sennacherib, to which this probably refers. Though the city was delivered in a sudden and remarkable manner (see the note at Isa_29:7-8), yet it was also true that it was reduced to great distress (see Isa. 36; 37)

And it shall be unto me as Ariel - This phrase shows that in Isa_29:1 Jerusalem is called Ariel, because it contained the great altar, and was the place of sacrifice. The word Ariel here is to be understood in the sense of the hearth of the great altar; and the meaning is, I will indeed make Jerusalem like the great altar; I will make it the burning place of wrath where my enemies shall be consumed as if they were on the altar of burnt sacrifice. Thus in Isa_30:9, it is said of Yahweh that his fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem. This is a strong expression, denoting the calamity that was approaching; and though the main reference in this whole passage is to the distress that would come upon them in the invasion of Sennacherib, yet there is no impropriety in supposing that there was presented to the mind of the prophet in vision the image of the total ruin that would come yet upon the city by the Chaldeans - when the temple, the palaces, and the dwellings of the magnificent city of David would be in flames, and like a vast blazing altar consuming that which was laid upon it.

2. CLARKE, There shall be heaviness and sorrow There shall be continual mourning and sorrow - Instead of your present joy and festivity.

And it shall be unto me as Ariel And it shall be unto me as the hearth of the great altar - That is, it shall be the seat of the fire of God; which shall issue from thence to consume his enemies. See note on Isa_29:1 (note). Or, perhaps, all on flame; as it was when taken by the Chaldeans; or covered with carcasses and blood, as when taken by the Romans: an intimation of which more distant events, though not immediate subjects of the prophecy, may perhaps be given in this obscure passage.

3. GILL, Yet I will distress Ariel,.... Or "straiten" it, by causing it to be besieged; and this he would do, notwithstanding their yearly sacrifices, and their observance of their solemn feasts, and other ceremonies of the law, in which they placed their confidence, and neglected weightier matters: and there shall be heaviness and sorrow; on account of the siege; by reason of the devastations of the enemy without, made on all the cities and towns in Judea round about; and because of the famine and bloodshed in the city:

and it shall be unto me as Ariel; the whole city shall be as the altar; as that was covered with the blood and carcasses of slain beasts, so this with the blood and carcasses of men; and so the Targum, "and I will distress the city where the altar is, and it shall be desolate and empty; and it shall be surrounded before me with the blood of the slain, as the altar is surrounded with the blood of the holy sacrifices on a solemn feast day all around;''

4. PULPIT, Yet will I distress Ariel; rather, and then will I distress Ariel. The sense runs on from the

preceding verse. There shall be heaviness and sorrow. Mr. Cheyne's "moaning and bemoaning"

represents the Hebrew play upon words better. The natural consequence of the siege would be a

constant cry of woe. And it shall be unto me as Ariel. It would be better to translate, "Yet she shall be

unto me as Ariel." The meaning is that, though distressed and straitened, Jerusalem shall still through all

be able by God's help to answer to her name of "Ariel"to behave as a lien when attacked by the

hunters.

5. JAMISON, Yet rather, Then.

heaviness ... sorrow rather, preserving the Hebrew paronomasia, groaning and moaning.

as Ariel either, the city shall be as a lion of God, that is, it shall emerge from its dangers unvanquished; or it shall be as the altar of burnt offering, consuming with fire the besiegers (Isa_29:6; Isa_30:30; Isa_31:9; Lev_10:2); or best, as Isa_29:3 continues the threat, and the promise of deliverance does not come till Isa_29:4, it shall be like a hearth of burning, that is, a scene of devastation by fire [G. V. Smith]. The prophecy, probably, contemplates ultimately, besides the affliction and deliverance in Sennacheribs time, the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome, the dispersion of the Jews, their restoration, the destruction of the enemies that besiege the city (Zec_14:2), and the final glory of Israel (Isa_29:17-24).

6. CALVIN, 2.But I will bring Ariel into distress. I think that (vau) should here be taken for a

disjunctive conjunction: yet I will execute my judgments and take vengeance, though, by delaying them

for a time, it may seem as if I had forgiven. He next threatens that he will give them grief andmourning,

instead of the joy of the festivals. (n) is viewed by some as an adjective, (254) but improperly; for it

is used in the same manner by Jeremiah. (255) (Lam_2:5.) He declares that the Lord will reduce that city

to straits, that the Jews might know that they had to contend with God, and not with men, and that, though

the war was carried on by the Assyrians, still they might perceive that God was their leader.

And it shall be to me as Ariel. This clause would not apply to the Temple alone; for he means that

everything shall be made bloody by the slaughter which shall take place at Jerusalem; (256) and therefore

he compares it to an on which victims of all kinds are slain, in the same manner as wicked men

destined for slaughter are frequently compared to a sacrifice. In short, by alluding here to the word he

says, that the whole city shall be Ariel, because it shall overflow with the blood of the slain. Hence it is

evident that the outward profession of worship, ceremonies, and the outward demonstrations of the favor

of God, are of no avail, unless we sincerely obey him. By an ironical expression he tells hypocrites, (who

with an impure heart present sacrifices of beasts to God, as if they were the offerings fitted to appease his

anger,) that their labor is fruitless, and that, since they had profaned the Temple and the Altar, it was

impossible to offer a proper sacrifice to God without slaying victims throughout the whole city, as if he had

said, will be carnage in every part. He makes use of the word figuratively, to denote the violent

slaughter of those who refused to offer themselves willingly to God.

3 I will encamp against you on all sides;

I will encircle you with towers

and set up my siege works against you.

1.BARNES, And I will camp against thee - That is, I will cause an army to pitch their tents there for a siege. God regards the armies which he would employ as under his control, and speaks of them as if he would do it himself (see the note at Isa_10:5).

Round about - ( kadur). As in a circle; that is, he would encompass or encircle the city.

The word used here dur in Isa_22:18, means a ball, but here it evidently means a circle; and the sense is, that the army of the besiegers would encompass the city. A similar form of expression occurs in regard to Jerusalem in Luk_19:43 : For the days shall come upon thee,

than thine enemies shall cast a trench ( charaka - a rampart, a mound) about thee

soi against thee), and compass thee round * perikuklosousi se, encircle thee). So also Luk_21:20. The Septuagint renders this, I will encompass thee as David did;

evidently reading it as if it were kadud; and Lowth observes that two manuscripts thus read it, and he himself adopts it. But the authority for correcting the Hebrew text in this way is not sufficient, nor is it necessary. The idea in the present reading is a clear one, and evidently means that the armies of Sennacherib would encompass the city.

With a mount - A rampart; a fortification. Or, rather, perhaps, the word mutsab means a

post, a military station, from yatsab, to place, to station. The word in this form occurs

nowhere else in the Scriptures, but the word matsab occurs in 1Sa_13:23; 1Sa_14:1, 1Sa_14:4; 2Sa_23:14, in the sense of a military post, or garrison.

I will rise forts - That is, ramparts, such as were usually thrown up against a besieged city,

meaning that it should be subjected to the regular process of a siege. The Septuagint reads,

Purgou; Towers; and so also two manuscripts by changing the Hebrew letter (d) into the

Hebrew letter (r). But there is no necessity for altering the Hebrew text. Lowth prefers the reading of the Septuagint.

2. CLARKE, And I will camp against thee round about And I will encamp

against thee like David - For caddur, some kind of military engine, kedavid, like David, is the reading of the Septuagint, two MSS. of Kennicotts, if not two more: but though Bishop Lowth adopts this reading, I think it harsh and unnecessary.

3. GILL, And I will camp against thee round about,.... Or as a "ball" or "globe" (o); a camp all around; the Lord is said to do that which the enemy should do, because it was by his will, and according to his order, and which he would succeed and prosper, and therefore the prophecy of it is the more terrible; and it might be concluded that it would certainly be fulfilled, as it was; see Luk_19:43, and will lay siege against thee with a mount: raised up for soldiers to get up upon, and cast their arrows into the city from, and scale the walls; Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it a wooden tower. This cannot be understood of Sennacherib's siege, for he was not suffered to raise a bank against the city, nor shoot an arrow into it, Isa_37:33 but well agrees with the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans, as related by Josephus (p): and I will raise forts against thee; from whence to batter the city; the Romans had their battering rams.

4. HENRY, Jerusalem shall be besieged, straitly besieged. He does not say, I will destroy Ariel, but I will distress Ariel; and she is therefore brought into distress, that, being thereby awakened to repent and reform, she may not be brought to destruction. I will (Isa_29:3) encamp against thee round about. It was the enemy's army that encamped against it; but God says that he will do it, for they are his hand, he does it by them. God had often and long, by a host of angels, encamped for them round about them for their protection and deliverance; but now he was turned to be their enemy and fought against them. The siege laid against them was of his laying, and the forts raised against them were of his raising. Note, When men fight against us we must, in them, see God contending with us. (2.) She shall be in grief to see the country laid waste and all the fenced cities of Judah in the enemies' hand: There shall be heaviness and sorrow (Isa_29:2), mourning and lamentation - so these two words are sometimes rendered. Those that are most merry and jovial are commonly, when they come to be in distress, most overwhelmed with heaviness and sorrow; their laughter is then turned into mourning. All Jerusalem shall then be unto me as Ariel, as the altar, with fire upon it and slain victims about it: so it was when Jerusalem was destroyed by the Chaldeans; and many, no doubt, were slain

when it was besieged by the Assyrians. the whole city shall be an altar, in which sinners, falling by the judgments that are abroad, shall be as victims to divine justice. Or thus: - There shall be heaviness and sorrow; they shall repent, and reform, and return to God, and then it shall be to me as Ariel. Jerusalem shall be like itself, shall become to me a Jerusalem again, a holy city, Isa_1:26. (3.) She shall be humbled, and mortified, and made submissive (Isa_29:4): Thou shalt be brought down from the height of arrogancy and insolence to which thou hast arrived: the proud looks and the proud language shall be brought down by one humbling providence after another. Those that despise God's judgments shall be humbled by them; for the proudest sinners shall either bend or break before him. They had talked big, had lifted up the horn on high, and had spoken with a stiff neck (Psa_75:5); but now thou shalt speak out of the ground, out of the dust, as one that has a familiar spirit, whispering out of the dust. This intimates, [1.] That they should be faint and feeble, not able to speak up, nor to say all they would say; but as those who are sick, or whose spirits are ready to fail, their speech shall be low and interrupted. [2.] That they should be fearful, and in consternation, forced to speak low as being afraid lest their enemies should overhear them and take advantage against them. [3.] That they should be tame, and obliged to submit to the conquerors. When Hezekiah submitted to the king of Assyria, saying, I have offended, that which thou puttest on me I will bear (2Ki_18:14), then his speech was low, out of the dust. God can make those to crouch that have been most daring, and quite dispirit them.

5. JAMISON, I Jehovah, acting through the Assyrian, etc., His instruments (Isa_10:5).

mount an artificial mound formed to out-top high walls (Isa_37:33); else a station, namely, of warriors, for the siege.

round about not fully realized under Sennacherib, but in the Roman siege (Luk_19:43; Luk_21:20).

forts siege-towers (Deu_20:20).

6. PULPIT, I will camp against thee round about; i.e. "I will bring armed men against thee who shall

encamp around the entire circuit of thy walls." There was small chance of forcing an entrance into

Jerusalem on any side except the north; but, order to distress and harass her, an enemy with numerous

forces would dispose them all round the walls, thus preventing all ingress or egress (see Luk_19:43). And

+ lay siege against thee with a mount; or, with a mound. Artificial mounds were raised up against the

walls of cities by the Assyrians, as a foundation from which to work their battering rams with greater

advantage against the upper and weaker portion of the defenses. And + raise forts against

thee. "Forts" were usually movable, and accompanied the battering-ram for its better protection. Archers

in the forts cleared the walls of their defenders, while the ram was employed in making a breach.

7.CALVIN, 3.And I will camp against thee round about. By the word (k) (257) he alludes to the

roundness of a ball; and the expression corresponds to one commonly used, (Je l, shall surround it.

Thus he shews that all means of escape will be cut off.

And will lay siege against thee. This alludes to another method of invading the city; for either attacks are

made at various points, or there is a regular siege. He confirms the doctrine of the former verse, and

shews that this war will be carried on under God direction, and that the Assyrians, though they are

hurried on by their passions and by the lust of power, will undertake nothing but by the command of God.

He reckoned it to be of great importance to carry full conviction to the minds of the Jews, that all the evils

which befell them were sent by God, that they might thus be led to enter into an examination of their

crimes. As this doctrine is often found in the Scriptures, it ought to be the more carefully impressed on our

minds; for it is not without good reason that it is so frequently repeated and inculcated by the Holy Spirit.

4 Brought low, you will speak from the ground;

your speech will mumble out of the dust.

Your voice will come ghostlike from the earth;

out of the dust your speech will whisper.

1.BARNES, And shalt speak out of the ground - (see the note at Isa_8:19). The sense here is, that Jerusalem, that had been accustomed to pride itself on its strength I would be greatly humbled and subdued. Its loud and lofty tone would be changed. It would use the suppressed language of fear and alarm as if it spoke from the dust, or in a shrill small voice, like the pretended conversers with the dead.

And thy speech shall whisper out of the dust - Margin, Peep, or Chirp, (see the note at Isa_8:19).

2. CLARKE, And thy speech shall be low out of the dust And from out of the dust thou shalt utter a feeble speech - That the souls of the dead uttered a feeble stridulous sound, very different from the natural human voice, was a popular notion among the heathens as well as among the Jews. This appears from several passages of their poets; Homer, Virgil, Horace. The pretenders to the art of necromancy, who were chiefly women, had an art of speaking with a feigned voice, so as to deceive those who applied to them, by making them believe that it was the voice of the ghost. They had a way of uttering sounds, as if they were formed, not by the organs of speech, but deep in the chest, or in the belly; and were thence

called , ventriloqui: they could make the voice seem to come from beneath the ground, from a distant part, in another direction, and not from themselves; the better to impose

upon those who consulted them. *******,*e**

********. Psellus De Daemonibus, apud Bochart, 1 p. 731. These people studiously acquire, and affect on purpose, this sort of obscure sound; that by the uncertainty of the voice they may the better escape being detected in the cheat. From these arts of the necromancers the popular notion seems to have arisen, that the ghosts voice was a weak, stridulous, almost inarticulate sort of sound, very different from the speech of the living.

3. GILL, And thou shalt be brought down,.... To the ground, and laid level with it, even the city of Jerusalem, as it was by the Romans; and as it was predicted by Christ it would, Luk_19:44 though some understand this of the humbling of the inhabitants of it, by the appearance of Sennacherib's army before it, and of which they interpret the following clauses: and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust; which some explain of the submissive language of Hezekiah to Sennacherib, and of his messengers to Rabshakeh, 2Ki_18:14 as Aben Ezra and Kimchi; but it is expressive of the great famine in Jerusalem, at the time of its siege by the Romans, when the inhabitants were so reduced by it, as that they were scarce able to speak as to be heard, and could not stand upon their legs, but fell to the ground, and lay in the dust, uttering from thence their speech, with a faint and feeble voice: and thy voice shall be as one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust: or peep and chirp, as little birds, as Jarchi and Kimchi, as those did that had familiar spirits; and as the Heathen oracles were delivered, as if they came out of the bellies of those that spoke, or out of caves and hollow places in the earth; and this was in just retaliation to these people, who imitated such practices, and made use of such spirits; see Isa_8:19.

4. HENRY, She shall be humbled, and mortified, and made submissive (Isa_29:4): Thou shalt be brought down from the height of arrogancy and insolence to which thou hast arrived: the proud looks and the proud language shall be brought down by one humbling providence after another. Those that despise God's judgments shall be humbled by them; for the proudest sinners shall either bend or break before him. They had talked big, had lifted up the horn on high, and had spoken with a stiff neck (Psa_75:5); but now thou shalt speak out of the ground, out of the dust, as one that has a familiar spirit, whispering out of the dust. This intimates, [1.] That they should be faint and feeble, not able to speak up, nor to say all they would say; but as those who are sick, or whose spirits are ready to fail, their speech shall be low and interrupted. [2.] That they should be fearful, and in consternation, forced to speak low as being afraid lest their enemies should overhear them and take advantage against them. [3.] That they should be tame, and obliged to submit to the conquerors. When Hezekiah submitted to the king of Assyria, saying, I have offended, that which thou puttest on me I will bear (2Ki_18:14), then his speech was low, out of the dust. God can make those to crouch that have been most daring, and quite dispirit them.

5. JAMISON, Jerusalem shall be as a captive, humbled to the dust. Her voice shall come from the earth as that of the spirit-charmers or necromancers (Isa_8:19), faint and shrill, as the

voice of the dead was supposed to be. Ventriloquism was doubtless the trick caused to make the voice appear to come from the earth (Isa_19:3). An appropriate retribution that Jerusalem, which consulted necromancers, should be made like them!

6. PULPIT, Thy speech shall be low. The feeble cries of a people wasted and worn out by a long

siege are intended. These cries would resemble those which seemed to come out of the ground when a

necromancer professed to raise a ghost. The Hebrew 'ohv is used both of the necromancers (Le

19:31; Isa_20:6, etc.) and of the ghosts which they professed to raise (1Sa_28:7, 1Sa_28:8; 2Ki_20:6,

etc.). Here the "ghost" is spoken of. Thy speech shall whisper; literally, chirp (comp. Isa_8:19). The

word used occurs only in Isaiah.

7.CALVIN, 4.Then shalt thou be laid low. He describes scornfully that arrogance which led the Jews

to despise all threatenings and admonitions, so long as they enjoyed prosperity, as is customary with all

hypocrites. He says therefore, that, when their pride has been laid aside, they will afterwards be more

submissive; not that they will change their dispositions, but because shame will restrain that wantonness

in which they formerly indulged. We ought therefore to supply here an implied contrast. He addresses

those who were puffed up by ambition, carried their heads high, and despised every one, as if they had

not even been subject to God; for they ventured to curse and insult God himself, and to mock at his holy

word. pride, says Isaiah, be laid low, and this arrogance shall cease.

And thy voice shall be out of the ground. (258) What he had formerly said he expresses more fully by a

metaphor, that they will utter a low and confused noise as out of caverns. (259) The voice of those who

formerly were so haughty and fierce is compared by him to the speech of soothsayers, who, in giving

forth their oracles out of some deep and dark cave under ground, uttered some sort of confused

muttering; for they did not speak articulately, but whispered. He declares that these boasters ( )

shall resemble them. Some interpret this expression as if the Prophet meant that they will derive no

benefit from the chastisement; but the words do not convey this meaning, and he afterwards says that the

Jews will be brought to repentance. Yet he first strikes terror, in order to repress their insolence; for they

arrogantly and rebelliously scorned all the threatenings of the Prophet. By their being down, therefore,

he means nothing else than that they shall be covered with disgrace, so that they will not dare to utter, as

from a lofty place, their proud and idle boastings.

5 But your many enemies will become like fine dust,

the ruthless hordes like blown chaff.

Suddenly, in an instant,

1.BARNES, Moreover - These verses Isa_29:5, Isa_29:7-8 contain a beautiful description of the destruction of the army of Sennacherib. Though they had laid the plan of a regular siege; though the city, in itself, would not be able to hold out against them, and all was alarm and conscious imbecility within; yet in an instant the siege would be raised, and the advancing hosts of the Assyrians would all be gone.

The multitude of thy strangers - The multitude of the strangers that shall besiege thee; called thy strangers, because they besieged, or oppressed thee. The word strangers here, as elsewhere, means foreigners (see the note at Isa_1:7; compare Isa_2:6; Isa_5:17; Isa_14:1; Isa_25:2, Isa_25:5; Isa_29:5; Isa_60:10).

Shall be like small dust - Light, fine dust that is easily dissipated by the wind.

Of the terrible ones - Of the invading, besieging army, that is so much the object of dread.

As chaff that passeth away - (see the note at Isa_17:13). This image of chaff driven before the wind, to denote the sudden and entire discomfiture of enemies, is common in the Scriptures (see Job_21:18; Psa_1:4; Psa_35:5; Hos_13:13).

Yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly - The forces of Sennacherib were destroyed in a single night by the angel of the Lord (Isa_37:36; the note at Isa_10:12, Isa_10:28-34, note), and the siege of Jerusalem was of course immediately raised.

2. CLARKE, The multitude of thy strangers The multitude of the proud - For

zarayich, thy strangers, read zedim, the proud, according to the Septuagint; parallel to

and synonymous with aritsim, the terrible, in the next line: the resh was at first daleth in a MS. See note on Isa_25:2.

The fifth, sixth, and seventh verses contain an admirable description of the destruction of Sennacheribs army, with a beautiful variety of the most expressive and sublime i