1In that day this song shall be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; He sets up salvation as our walls and bulwarks. 2Open the gates, that the righteous nation, keeping faithfulness, may enter in. 3You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You; because he trusts in You. 4Trust in Jehovah forever; for in YAH JEHOVAH is everlasting strength. 5For He brings down those who dwell on high; He lays low the lofty city; He lays it low, even to the ground; He brings it down to the dust. 6The foot shall trample it, the feet of the poor and the steps of the weak. 7The way of the just is equity; O Upright One, You weigh the path of the just. 8Yea, in the way of Your judgments, O Jehovah, we have waited for You; for the desire of our soul is Your name and the remembrance of You. 9With my soul I have desired You in the night; yea, with my spirit within me I will seek You early; for when Your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness. 10Let favor be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness he will deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of Jehovah. 11Jehovah, when Your hand is lifted up, they will not see; but they shall see and be ashamed for their envy toward the people. Yes, the fire of Your enemies shall devour them. 12Jehovah, You will establish peace for us; for You have also done all our works in us. 13O Jehovah our God, masters besides You have had the rule over us; but by You only will we make mention of Your name. 14Those who are dead do not live; spirits of the dead do not rise. Therefore You have punished and destroyed them, and made all memory of them to perish. 15You have increased the nation, O Jehovah, You have increased the nation; You are glorified; You have extended it to the ends of the earth. 16Jehovah, in trouble they have visited You; they have poured out a prayer when Your chastening was upon them. 17As a woman with child draws near to giving birth, she writhes and cries out in her pangs; so have we been in Your sight, O Jehovah. 18We have conceived; we have writhed in pain; but we have given birth (as it were) to wind. We have not produced any salvation in the earth; nor have the inhabitants of the world fallen out in birth. 19Your dead ones shall live, together with My dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in the dust; for your dew is as the dew of the light, and the earth shall cast out the dead. 20Come, my people, enter into your rooms and shut your doors behind you; hide (as it were) for a few moments, until the indignation has passed. 21For behold, Jehovah comes out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 CONNECTED WITH THE TWENTY-FOURTH AND TWENTY-FIFTH CHAPTERS. SONG OF PRAISE OF ISRAEL AFTER BEING RESTORED TO THEIR OWN LAND. (Isa. 26:1-21)
strong city--Jerusalem, strong in Jehovah's protection: type of the new Jerusalem (
Ps 48:1-
Ps 48:3), contrasted with the overthrow of the ungodly foe (
Isa 26:4-
Isa 26:7,
Isa 26:12-
Isa 26:14;
Rev 22:2,
Rev 22:10-
Rev 22:12, &c.).
salvation . . . walls-- (
Isa 60:18;
Jer 3:23;
Zech 2:5). MAURER translates, "Jehovah makes His help serve as walls" (
Isa 33:20-
Isa 33:21, &c.).
bulwarks--the trench with the antemural earthworks exterior to the wall.
2 Address of the returning people to the gates of Jerusalem (type of the heavenly city,
Heb 12:22); (
Ps 24:7,
Ps 24:9;
Ps 118:19). Antitypically (
Rev 22:14;
Rev 21:25,
Rev 21:27).
righteous nation--that had not apostatized during the captivity. HORSLEY translates, "The nation of the Just One," namely, the Jews.
3 mind . . . stayed-- (
Ps 112:7-
Ps 112:8). Jesus can create "perfect peace" within thy mind, though storms of trial rage without (
Isa 57:19;
Mark 4:39); as a city kept securely by a strong garrison within, though besieged without (so
Phil 4:7). "Keep," literally, "guard as with a garrison." HORSLEY translates, (God's) workmanship (the Hebrew does not probably mean "mind," but "a thing formed,"
Eph 2:10), so constantly "supported"; or else "formed and supported (by Thee) Thou shalt preserve (it, namely, the righteous nation) in perpetual peace."
4 Lord JEHOVAH--Hebrew, Jah, Jehovah. The union of the two names expresses in the highest degree God's unchanging love and power (compare
Ps 68:4). This passage, and
Isa 12:2;
Exod 6:3;
Ps 83:18, are the four in which the English Version retains the JEHOVAH of the original. MAURER translates, "For JAH (the eternal unchangeable One,
Exod 3:14) is JEHOVAH, the rock of ages" (compare
Isa 45:17;
Deut 32:15;
1Sam 2:2).
5 lofty city--Babylon; representative of the stronghold of the foes of God's people in all ages (
Isa 25:2,
Isa 25:12;
Isa 13:14).
6 poor-- (
Isa 25:4), the once afflicted Jewish captives. "Foot shall tread," is figurative for exulting in the fall of God's enemies (
Rev 18:20).
7 uprightness--rather, "is direct," that is, is directed by God to a prosperous issue, however many be their afflictions in the meantime (as in the case of the Jewish exiles); the context requires this sense (
Ps 34:19;
Pro 3:6;
Pro 11:5), [MAURER]: thus "way" means God's dealings with the righteous (
Ps 37:23).
most upright-- (
Deut 32:4).
dost weigh-- (
1Sam 2:3;
Pro 5:21). Rather, "thou dost make plain and level" [MAURER], removing all obstacles (
Isa 40:3-
Isa 40:4).
8 way of thy judgments--We have waited for Thy proceeding to punish the enemy (
Isa 26:9-
Isa 26:10) [MAURER]. HORSLEY translates
Isa 26:7-
Isa 26:8, "The path of the Just One is perfectly even; an even road Thou wilt level for the Just One, even the path of Thy laws, O Jehovah. We have expected Thee."
name . . . remembrance--the manifested character of God by which He would be remembered (
Isa 64:5;
Exod 3:15).
9 With, . . . soul . . . I--literally, "I . . . my soul," in apposition; the faithful Jews here speak individually. The overthrow of the foe and the restoration of the Jews are to follow upon prayer on the part of the latter and of all God's people (
Isa 62:1-
Isa 62:4,
Isa 62:6-
Isa 62:7;
Ps 102:13-
Ps 102:17).
in the night-- (
Ps 63:6;
Song 3:1).
world . . . learn . . . righteousness--the remnant left after judgments (
Ps 58:10-
Ps 58:11;
Zech 14:16).
10 uprightness--rather, as in
Isa 26:7, "prosperity," answering to "favor" in the parallelism, and in antithesis to "judgments in the earth" (
Isa 26:9); where prosperity attends the wicked as well as the just, "he will not learn righteousness," therefore judgments must be sent that he may "learn" it [MAURER].
11 lifted up--to punish the foes of God's people. They who will not see shall be made to "see" to their cost (
Isa 5:12).
their envy at the people--that is, "Thy people." LOWTH translates, "They shall see with confusion Thy zeal for Thy people."
fire of . . . enemies--that is, the fire to which Thine enemies are doomed (
Isa 9:18).
12 peace--God's favor, including all blessings, temporal and spiritual, opposed to their previous trials (
Ps 138:8).
13 other lords--temporal; heathen kings (
2Chr 12:8;
2Chr 28:5-6), Nebuchadnezzar, &c. Spiritual also, idols and lusts (
Rom 6:16-
Rom 6:18).
by thee only--It is due to Thee alone, that we again worship Thee as our Lord [MAURER]. "(We are) Thine only, we will celebrate Thy name" [HORSLEY]. The sanctifying effect of affliction (
Ps 71:16;
Ps 119:67,
Ps 119:71).
14 They--The "other lords" or tyrants (
Isa 26:13).
shall not live--namely, again.
deceased--Hebrew, "Rephaim"; powerless, in the land of shades (
Isa 14:9-
Isa 14:10).
therefore--that is, inasmuch as. Compare "therefore" (
Gen 18:5;
Gen 19:8).
15 hast--prophetical preterite (
Isa 9:3).
hast removed . . . far . . . ends of . . . earth--rather, "Thou hast extended far all the borders of the land" [VITRINGA].
16 visited--sought.
poured out-- (
Ps 62:8), as a vessel emptying out all its contents.
prayer--literally, "a whispered prayer," Margin, "a secret sighing" to God for help (compare
Jer 13:17;
Deut 8:16).
17 An image of anguish accompanied with expectation, to be followed by joy that will cause the anguish utterly to be forgotten. Zion, looking for deliverance, seemingly in vain, but really about to be gloriously saved (
Mic 4:9-
Mic 4:13;
Mic 5:1-
Mic 5:3;
John 16:21-
John 16:22).
18 brought forth wind--MICHAELIS explains this of the disease empneumatosis. Rather, "wind" is a figure for that which proves an abortive effort. The "we" is in antithesis to "Thy," "my" (
Isa 26:19), what we vainly attempt, God will accomplish.
not wrought . . . deliverance in . . . earth--literally, "the land (Judea) is not made security," that is, is not become a place of security from our enemies.
neither . . . world fallen--The "world" at large, is in antithesis to "the earth," that is, Judea. The world at enmity with the city of God has not been subdued. But MAURER explains "fallen," according to Arabic idiom, of the birth of a child, which is said to fall when being born; "inhabitants of the world (Israel,
Isa 24:4; not the world in general) are not yet born"; that is, the country as yet lies desolate, and is not yet populated.
19 In antithesis to
Isa 26:14, "They (Israel's foes) shall not live"; "Thy (Jehovah's) dead men (the Jews) shall live," that is, primarily, be restored, spiritually (
Isa 54:1-
Isa 54:3), civilly and nationally (
Isa 26:15); whereas Thy foes shall not; ultimately, and in the fullest scope of the prophecy, restored to life literally (
Ezek 37:1-
Ezek 37:14;
Dan 12:2).
together with my dead body--rather, "my dead body," or "bodies" (the Jewish nation personified, which had been spiritually and civilly dead; or the nation, as a parent, speaking of the bodies of her children individually, see on
Isa 26:9, "I," "My"): Jehovah's "dead" and "my dead" are one and the same [HORSLEY]. However, as Jesus is the antitype to Israel (
Matt 2:15), English Version gives a true sense, and one ultimately contemplated in the prophecy: Christ's dead body being raised again is the source of Jehovah's people (all, and especially believers, the spiritual Israelites) also being raised (
1Cor 15:20-22).
Awake-- (
Eph 5:14), spiritually.
in dust--prostate and dead, spiritually and nationally; also literally (
Isa 25:12;
Isa 47:1).
dew--which falls copiously in the East and supplies somewhat the lack of rain (
Hos 14:5).
cast out . . . dead--that is, shall bring them forth to life again.
20 enter . . . chambers--When God is about to take vengeance on the ungodly, the saints shall be shut in by Him in a place of safety, as Noah and his family were in the days of the flood (
Gen 7:16), and as Israel was commanded not to go out of doors on the night of the slaying of the Egyptian first-born (
Exod 12:22-
Exod 12:23;
Ps 31:20;
Ps 83:3). The saints are calmly and confidently to await the issue (
Exod 14:13-
Exod 14:14).
21 (
Mic 1:3;
Jude 1:14).
disclose . . . blood-- (
Gen 4:10-
Gen 4:11;
Job 16:18;
Ezek 24:7-
Ezek 24:8). All the innocent blood shed, and all other wrongs done, so long seemingly with impunity, shall then be avenged (
Rev 16:6).
At the time when Israel shall be delivered, and the ungodly nations punished, God shall punish also the great enemy of the Church.
