1O Jehovah, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will praise Your name; for You have done wonders; Your counsels of old are steadfast faithfulness. 2For You have made a city into a heap; a fortified city into a ruin; a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be rebuilt. 3Therefore the strong people glorify You; the city of the ruthless nations shall fear You. 4For You are a refuge to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm, a shade from the heat, when the blast of the ruthless ones is like a storm against the wall. 5You shall subdue the roaring of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud. The shouting of the terrible ones shall be pruned away. 6And on this mountain Jehovah of Hosts will make a feast of fatness for all the people, a feast of the dregs of wine, of fat things full of marrow, of the dregs of refined wine. 7And He will destroy on this mountain the surface of the covering wrapped over all people, and the veil that is woven over all nations. 8He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from all faces. And He will take away from all the earth the rebuke of His people. For Jehovah has spoken. 9And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God. We have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is Jehovah; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation. 10For the hand of Jehovah shall rest on this mountain, and Moab shall be trampled under Him, even as straw is trampled in the water of a dung pit. 11And He shall spread out His hands in their midst, as he who swims strokes to swim. And He will bring down their pride along with the deceit of their hands. 12And the fortress of the high fort of your walls He will lay low, bring down to the ground, to the dust.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 CONTINUATION OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH CHAPTER. THANKSGIVING FOR THE OVERTHROW OF THE APOSTATE FACTION, AND THE SETTING UP OF JEHOVAH'S THRONE ON ZION. (
Isa 25:1-
Isa 25:12)
wonderful-- (
Isa 9:6).
counsels of old-- (
Isa 42:9;
Isa 46:10). Purposes planned long ago; here, as to the deliverance of His people.
truth--Hebrew, Amen; covenant-keeping, faithful to promises; the peculiar characteristic of Jesus (
Rev 3:14).
2 a city . . . heap--Babylon, type of the seat of Antichrist, to be destroyed in the last days (compare
Jer 51:37, with Rev. 18:1-24, followed, as here, by the song of the saints' thanksgiving in Rev. 19:1-21). "Heaps" is a graphic picture of Babylon and Nineveh as they now are.
palace--Babylon regarded, on account of its splendor, as a vast palace. But MAURER translates, "a citadel."
of strangers--foreigners, whose capital pre-eminently Babylon was, the metropolis of the pagan world. "Aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise" (
Isa 29:5;
Eph 2:12; see in contrast,
Joel 3:17).
never be built-- (
Isa 13:19-
Isa 13:20, &c.).
3 strong people--This cannot apply to the Jews; but other nations on which Babylon had exercised its cruelty (
Isa 14:12) shall worship Jehovah, awed by the judgment inflicted on Babylon (
Isa 23:18).
city--not Babylon, which shall then be destroyed, but collectively for the cities of the surrounding nations.
4 the poor . . . needy--the Jews, exiles from their country (
Isa 26:6;
Isa 41:17).
heat--calamity (
Isa 4:6;
Isa 32:2).
blast--that is, wrath.
storm--a tempest of rain, a winter flood, rushing against and overthrowing the wall of a house.
5 Translate, "As the heat in a dry land (is brought down by the shadow of a cloud, so) thou shalt bring down the tumult (the shout of triumph over their enemies) of strangers (foreigners); and as the heat by the shadow of the cloud (is brought low), so the branch (the offspring) of the terrible ones shall be brought low." PARKHURST translates the Hebrew for "branch," the exulting song. JEROME translates the last clause, "And as when the heat burns under a cloud, thou shalt make the branch of the terrible ones to wither"; the branch withering even under the friendly shade of a cloud typifies the wicked brought to ruin, not for want of natural means of prosperity, but by the immediate act of God.
6 in this mountain--Zion: Messiah's kingdom was to begin, and is to have its central seat hereafter, at Jerusalem, as the common country of "all nations" (
Isa 2:2, &c.).
all people-- (
Isa 56:7;
Dan 7:14;
Luke 2:10).
feast--image of felicity (
Ps 22:26-
Ps 22:27;
Matt 8:11;
Luke 14:15;
Rev 19:9; compare
Ps 36:8;
Ps 87:1-
Ps 87:7).
fat things--delicacies; the rich mercies of God in Christ (
Isa 55:2;
Jer 31:14;
Job 36:16).
wines on the lees--wine which has been long kept on the lees; that is, the oldest and most generous wine (
Jer 48:11).
marrow--the choicest dainties (
Ps 63:5).
well refined--cleared of all dregs.
7 face of . . . covering--image from mourning, in which it was usual to cover the face with a veil (
2Sam 15:30). "Face of covering," that is, the covering itself; as in
Job 41:13, "the face of his garment," the garment itself. The covering or veil is the mist of ignorance as to a future state, and the way to eternal life, which enveloped the nations (
Eph 4:18) and the unbelieving Jew (
2Cor 3:15). The Jew, however, is first to be converted before the conversion of "all nations"; for it is "in this mountain," namely, Zion, that the latter are to have the veil taken off (
Ps 102:13,
Ps 102:15-
Ps 102:16,
Ps 102:21-
Ps 102:22;
Rom 11:12).
8 Quoted in
1Cor 15:54, in support of the resurrection.
swallow up . . . in victory--completely and permanently "abolish" (
2Tim 1:10;
Rev 20:14;
Rev 21:4; compare
Gen 2:17;
Gen 3:22).
rebuke--(Compare
Mark 8:38;
Heb 11:26).
9 And it shall be said in that day, &c.--"After death has been swallowed up for ever, the people of God, who had been delivered from the hand of death, shall say to the Lord, Lo, this is our God, whom unbelievers regarded as only a man" [JEROME]. "The words are so moulded as to point us specially to the person of the Son of God, who 'saves' us; as He vouchsafed to Israel temporal saving, so to His elect He appears for the purpose of conferring eternal salvation" [VITRINGA]. The Jews, however, have a special share in the words, This is our God (see on
Isa 25:6).
we have waited--"Waited" is characteristic of God's people in all ages (
Gen 49:18;
Titus 2:13).
we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation--compare
Ps 118:24, which refers to the second coming of Jesus (compare
Ps 118:26, with
Luke 13:35).
10 rest--as its permanent protector; on "hand" in this sense; compare
Ezra 7:6,
Ezra 7:28.
Moab--while Israel is being protected, the foe is destroyed; Moab is the representative of all the foes of God's people.
under him--Rather, "in his own place" or "country" (
Exod 10:23;
Exod 16:29).
for the dunghill--Rather, "in the water of the dung heap," in which straw was trodden to make it manure (
Ps 83:10). HORSLEY translates either, "in the waters of Madmenah," namely, for the making of bricks; or as the Septuagint, "as the threshing-floor is trampled by the corn-drag" (see Margin;
Mic 4:11-
Mic 4:13).
11 he--Jehovah shall spread His hands to strike the foe on this side and on that, with as little effort as a swimmer spreads forth his arms to cleave a passage through the water [CALVIN]. (
Zech 5:3). LOWTH takes "he" as Moab, who, in danger of sinking, shall strain every nerve to save himself; but Jehovah (and "he") shall cause him to sink ("bring down the pride" of Moab,
Isa 16:6).
with the spoils of . . . hands--literally, "the craftily acquired spoils" of his (Moab's) hands [BARNES]. Moab's pride, as well as the sudden gripe of his hands (namely, whereby he tries to save himself from drowning) [LOWTH]. "Together with the joints of his hands," that is, though Moab struggle against Jehovah hand and foot [MAURER].
12 fortress--the strongholds of Moab, the representative of the foes of God's people [BARNES]. Babylon [MAURER]. The society of infidels represented as a city (
Rev 11:8).
As the overthrow of the apostate faction is described in the twenty-fifth chapter, so the peace of the faithful is here described under the image of a well-fortified city.
