1The Word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem: 2And it shall come to pass in the end times, that the mountain of the house of Jehovah shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. 3And many people shall go and say, Come and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob. And He will teach us His ways, and we will walk in His paths. For out of Zion the Law shall go forth, and the Word of Jehovah from Jerusalem. 4And He shall judge among the nations and shall rebuke many people. And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, nor shall they learn war anymore. 5O house of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of Jehovah. 6For You have forsaken Your people, the house of Jacob, because they have been consecrated from the east, and are fortunetellers like the Philistines, and they clap hands in worship with children of foreigners. 7Their land is also filled with silver and gold. There is no end to their treasures. And their land is full of horses, neither is there any end to their chariots. 8Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made. 9People prostrate themselves, men bow low; therefore You do not forgive them. 10Enter into the rock and hide in the dust from the terror of Jehovah, and from the glory of His majesty. 11The lofty eyes of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down; but Jehovah, He alone, shall be exalted in that day. 12For the day of Jehovah of Hosts shall come upon all the proud and lofty ones, and upon all that is lifted up; and it shall be brought low; 13and upon all the cedars of Lebanon, high and lifted up; and upon all the oaks of Bashan; 14and upon all the high mountains; and upon all the lifted up hills; 15and upon every tall tower; and upon every fortified wall; 16and upon all the ships of Tarshish; and upon all desirable craft. 17And the pride of man shall be bowed down; and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; and Jehovah alone shall be exalted in that day. 18And the idols shall completely pass away. 19And they shall go into the caves of the rocks, and into the holes of the earth, for the terror of Jehovah, and from the glory of His majesty; when He rises up to make the earth tremble. 20In that day a man shall throw his idols of silver and gold, which they made each man to bow down to, to the moles and to the bats; 21to go into the crevices of the rocks, and into the clefts of the cliffs, from the terror of Jehovah, and from the glory of His majesty; when He rises up to make the earth tremble. 22Leave off from such a man, whose breath is in his nostril; for how is he to be accounted?
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 (Isa. 2:1-22)
The inscription.
The word--the revelation.
2 Same as
Mic 4:1. As Micah prophesied in Jotham's reign, and Isaiah in Uzziah's, Micah rests on Isaiah, whom he confirms: not vice versa. HENGSTENBERG on slight grounds makes
Mic 4:1 the original.
last days--that is, Messiah's: especially the days yet to come, to which all prophecy hastens, when "the house of the God of Jacob," namely, at Jerusalem, shall be the center to which the converted nations shall flock together (
Matt 13:32;
Luke 2:31-
Luke 2:32;
Acts 1:6-
Acts 1:7); where "the kingdom" of Israel is regarded as certain and the time alone uncertain (
Ps 68:15-
Ps 68:16;
Ps 72:8,
Ps 72:11).
mountain of the Lord's house . . . in the top, &c.--the temple on Mount Moriah: type of the Gospel, beginning at Jerusalem, and, like an object set on the highest hill, made so conspicuous that all nations are attracted to it.
flow--as a broad stream (
Isa 66:12).
3 If the curse foretold against Israel has been literally fulfilled, so shall the promised blessing be literal. We Gentiles must not, while giving them the curse, deny them their peculiar blessing by spiritualizing it. The Holy Ghost shall be poured out for a general conversion then (
Jer 50:5;
Zech 8:21,
Zech 8:23;
Joel 2:28).
from Jerusalem-- (
Luke 24:47) an earnest of the future relations of Jerusalem to Christendom (
Rom 11:12,
Rom 11:15).
4 judge--as a sovereign umpire, settling all controversies (compare
Isa 11:4). LOWTH translates "work," "conviction."
plowshares--in the East resembling a short sword (
Isa 9:6-
Isa 9:7;
Zech 9:10).
5 The connection is: As Israel's high destiny is to be a blessing to all nations (
Gen 12:3), let Israel's children walk worthy of it (
Eph 5:8).
6 Therefore--rather, "For": reasons why there is the more need of the exhortation in
Isa 2:5.
thou--transition to Jehovah: such rapid transitions are natural, when the mind is full of a subject.
replenished--rather, filled, namely, with the superstitions of the East, Syria, and Chaldea.
soothsayers--forbidden (
Deut 18:10-
Deut 18:14).
Philistines--southwest of Palestine: antithesis to "the east."
please themselves--rather, join hands with, that is, enter into alliances, matrimonial and national: forbidden (
Exod 23:32;
Neh 13:23, &c.).
7 gold--forbidden to be heaped together (
Deut 17:17). Solomon disobeyed (
1Kgs 10:21,
1Kgs 10:27).
horses . . . chariots--forbidden (
Deut 17:16). But Solomon disobeyed (
1Kgs 20:26). Horses could be used effectively for war in the plains of Egypt; not so in the hilly Judea. God designed there should be as wide as possible a distinction between Israel and the Egyptians. He would have His people wholly dependent on Him, rather than on the ordinary means of warfare (
Ps 20:7). Also horses were connected with idolatry (
2Kgs 23:11); hence His objection: so the transition to "idols" (
Isa 2:8) is natural.
8 (
Hos 8:4). Not so much public idolatry, which was not sanctioned in Uzziah's and Jotham's reign, but (see
2Kgs 15:4,
2Kgs 15:35) as private.
9 mean--in rank: not morally base: opposed to "the great man." The former is in Hebrew, Adam, the latter, ish.
boweth--namely, to idols. All ranks were idolaters.
forgive . . . not--a threat expressed by an imperative. Isaiah so identifies himself with God's will, that he prays for that which he knows God purposes. So
Rev 18:6.
10 Poetical form of expressing that, such were their sins, they would be obliged by God's judgments to seek a hiding-place from His wrath (
Rev 6:15-
Rev 6:16).
dust--equivalent to "caves of the earth," or dust (
Isa 2:19).
for fear, &c.--literally, "from the face of the terror of the Lord."
11 lofty looks--literally, "eyes of pride" (
Ps 18:27).
humbled--by calamities. God will so vindicate His honor "in that day" of judgments, that none else "shall be exalted" (
Zech 14:9).
12 Man has had many days: "the day of the Lord" shall come at last, beginning with judgment, a never-ending day in which God shall be "all in all" (
1Cor 15:28;
2Pet 3:10).
every--not merely person, as English Version explains it, but every thing on which the nation prided itself.
13 cedars . . . oaks--image for haughty nobles and princes (
Amos 2:9;
Zech 11:1-
Zech 11:2; compare
Rev 19:18-
Rev 19:21).
Bashan--east of Jordan, north of the river Jabbok, famous for fine oaks, pasture, and cattle. Perhaps in "oaks" there is reference to their idolatry (
Isa 1:29).
14 high . . . hills--referring to the "high places" on which sacrifices were unlawfully offered, even in Uzziah's (equivalent to Azariah) reign (
2Kgs 15:4). Also, places of strength, fastnesses in which they trusted, rather than in God; so
15 tower . . . wall--Towers were often made on the walls of cities.
fenced--strongly fortified.
16 Tarshish--Tartessus in southwest Spain, at the mouth of the Guadalquivir, near Gibraltar. It includes the adjoining region: a Phśnician colony; hence its connection with Palestine and the Bible (
2Chr 9:21). The name was also used in a wide sense for the farthest west, as our West Indies (
Isa 66:19;
Ps 48:7;
Ps 72:10). "Ships of Tarshish" became a phrase for richly laden and far-voyaging vessels. The judgment shall be on all that minister to man's luxury (compare
Rev 18:17-
Rev 18:19).
pictures--ordered to be destroyed (
Num 33:52). Still to be seen on the walls of Nineveh's palaces. It is remarkable that whereas all other ancient civilized nations, Egypt, Assyria, Greece, Rome, have left monuments in the fine arts, Judea, while rising immeasurably above them in the possession of "the living oracles," has left none of the former. The fine arts, as in modern Rome, were so often associated with polytheism, that God required His people in this, as in other respects, to be separate from the nations (
Deut 4:15-
Deut 4:18). But Vulgate translation is perhaps better, "All that is beautiful to the sight"; not only paintings, but all luxurious ornaments. One comprehensive word for all that goes before (compare
Rev 18:12,
Rev 18:14,
Rev 18:16).
17 Repeated from
Isa 2:11, for emphatic confirmation.
18 idols--literally, "vain things," "nothings" (
1Cor 8:4). Fulfilled to the letter. Before the Babylonian captivity the Jews were most prone to idolatry; in no instance, ever since. For the future fulfilment, see
Zech 13:2;
Rev 13:15;
Rev 19:20.
19 The fulfilment answers exactly to the threat (
Isa 2:10).
they--the idol-worshippers.
caves--abounding in Judea, a hilly country; hiding-places in times of alarm (
1Sam 13:6).
shake . . . earth--and the heavens also (
Heb 12:26). Figure for severe and universal judgments.
20 moles--Others translate "mice." The sense is, under ground, in darkness.
bats--unclean birds (
Lev 11:19), living amidst tenantless ruins (
Rev 11:13).
22 The high ones (
Isa 2:11,
Isa 2:13) on whom the people trust, shall be "brought low" (
Isa 3:2); therefore "cease from" depending on them, instead of on the Lord (
Ps 146:3-
Ps 146:5).