mh_parser/vol_split/23 - Isaiah/Chapter 34.xml

<div2 id="Is.xxxv" n="xxxv" next="Is.xxxvi" prev="Is.xxxiv" progress="13.01%" title="Chapter XXXIV">
<h2 id="Is.xxxv-p0.1">I S A I A H.</h2>
<h3 id="Is.xxxv-p0.2">CHAP. XXXIV.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Is.xxxv-p1" shownumber="no">In this chapter we have the fatal doom of all the
nations that are enemies to God's church and people, though Edom
only is mentioned, because of the old enmity of Esau to Jacob,
which was typical, as much as that more ancient enmity of Cain to
Abel, and flowed from the original enmity of the serpent to the
seed of the woman. It is probable that this prophecy had its
accomplishment in the great desolations made by the Assyrian army
first, or rather by Nebuchadnezzar's army some time after, among
those nations that were neighbours to Israel and had been in some
way or other injurious to them. That mighty conqueror took a pride
in shedding blood, and laying countries waste, and therein, quite
beyond his design, he was fulfilling what God here threatened
against his and his people's enemies. But we have reason to think
it is intended as a denunciation of the wrath of God against all
those who fight against the interests of his kingdom among men,
that it has its frequent accomplishment in the havoc made by the
wars of the nations and other desolating judgments, and will have
its full accomplishment in the final dissolution of all things at
the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. Here is, I. A
demand of universal attention, <scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.1" parsed="|Isa|34|1|0|0" passage="Isa 34:1">ver.
1</scripRef>. II. A direful scene of blood and confusion presented,
<scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.2-Isa.34.7" parsed="|Isa|34|2|34|7" passage="Isa 34:2-7">ver. 2-7</scripRef>. III. The reason
given for these judgments, <scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.8" parsed="|Isa|34|8|0|0" passage="Isa 34:8">ver.
8</scripRef>. IV. The continuance of this desolation, the country
being made like the lake of Sodom (<scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.9-Isa.34.10" parsed="|Isa|34|9|34|10" passage="Isa 34:9,10">ver. 9, 10</scripRef>), and the cities abandoned to
wild beasts and melancholy fowls, <scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.11-Isa.34.15" parsed="|Isa|34|11|34|15" passage="Isa 34:11-15">ver. 11-15</scripRef>. V. The solemn ratification of
all this, <scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.16-Isa.34.17" parsed="|Isa|34|16|34|17" passage="Isa 34:16,17">ver. 16, 17</scripRef>.
Let us hear, and fear.</p>
<scripCom id="Is.xxxv-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34" parsed="|Isa|34|0|0|0" passage="Isa 34" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Is.xxxv-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.1-Isa.34.8" parsed="|Isa|34|1|34|8" passage="Isa 34:1-8" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.xxxv-p1.9">
<h4 id="Is.xxxv-p1.10">Threatenings against God's
Enemies. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xxxv-p1.11">b. c.</span> 720.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.xxxv-p2" shownumber="no">1 Come near, ye nations, to hear; and hearken,
ye people: let the earth hear, and all that is therein; the world,
and all things that come forth of it.   2 For the indignation
of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xxxv-p2.1">Lord</span> <i>is</i> upon all
nations, and <i>his</i> fury upon all their armies: he hath utterly
destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter.   3
Their slain also shall be cast out, and their stink shall come up
out of their carcases, and the mountains shall be melted with their
blood.   4 And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and
the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their
host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as
a falling <i>fig</i> from the fig tree.   5 For my sword shall
be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and
upon the people of my curse, to judgment.   6 The sword of the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xxxv-p2.2">Lord</span> is filled with blood, it is
made fat with fatness, <i>and</i> with the blood of lambs and
goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xxxv-p2.3">Lord</span> hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great
slaughter in the land of Idumea.   7 And the unicorns shall
come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their
land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with
fatness.   8 For <i>it is</i> the day of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xxxv-p2.4">Lord</span>'s vengeance, <i>and</i> the year of
recompences for the controversy of Zion.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xxxv-p3" shownumber="no">Here we have a prophecy, as elsewhere we
have a history, of the wars of the Lord, which we are sure are all
both righteous and successful. This world, as it is his creature,
he does good to; but as it is in the interest of Satan, who is
called <i>the god of this world,</i> he fights against it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xxxv-p4" shownumber="no">I. Here is the trumpet sounded and the war
proclaimed, <scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.1" parsed="|Isa|34|1|0|0" passage="Isa 34:1"><i>v.</i> 1</scripRef>.
All nations must hear and hearken, not only because what God is
about to do is well worthy their remark (as <scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.33.13" parsed="|Isa|33|13|0|0" passage="Isa 33:13"><i>ch.</i> xxxiii. 13</scripRef>), but because they are
all concerned in it; it is with them that God has a quarrel; it is
against them that God is coming forth in wrath. Let them all take
notice that the great God is angry with them; his indignation is
upon all nations, and therefore let all nations come near to hear.
<i>The trumpet is blown in the city</i> (<scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p4.3" osisRef="Bible:Amos.3.6" parsed="|Amos|3|6|0|0" passage="Am 3:6">Amos iii. 6</scripRef>), <i>and the watchmen on the walls
cry, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p4.4" osisRef="Bible:Jer.6.17" parsed="|Jer|6|17|0|0" passage="Jer 6:17">Jer. vi. 17</scripRef>. <i>Let the earth hear, and the
fulness thereof, for it is the Lord's</i> (<scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p4.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.24.1" parsed="|Ps|24|1|0|0" passage="Ps 24:1">Ps. xxiv. 1</scripRef>) and ought to hearken to its Maker
and Master. The world must hear, and <i>all things that come forth
of it,</i> the children of men, that are of the earth earthy, come
out of it, and must return to it; or the inanimate products of the
earth are called to, as more likely to hearken than sinners, whose
hearts are hardened against the calls of God. <i>Hear, O you
mountains! the Lord's controversy,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p4.6" osisRef="Bible:Mic.6.2" parsed="|Mic|6|2|0|0" passage="Mic 6:2">Micah vi. 2</scripRef>. It is so just a controversy that
all the world may be safely appealed to concerning the equity of
it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xxxv-p5" shownumber="no">II. Here is the manifesto published,
setting forth,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xxxv-p6" shownumber="no">1. Whom he makes war against (<scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.2" parsed="|Isa|34|2|0|0" passage="Isa 34:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>): <i>The indignation of
the Lord is upon all nations;</i> they are all in confederacy
against God and religion, all in the interests of the devil, and
therefore he is angry with them all, even with all the nations that
forget him. He has long <i>suffered all nations to walk in their
own ways</i> (<scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Acts.14.16" parsed="|Acts|14|16|0|0" passage="Ac 14:16">Acts xiv.
16</scripRef>), but now he will no longer keep silence. As they
have all had the benefit of his patience, so they must all expect
now to feel his resentments. <i>His fury is</i> in a special manner
<i>upon all their armies,</i> (1.) Because with them they have done
mischief to the people of God; those are they that have made bloody
work with them, and therefore they must be sure to have blood given
them to drink. (2.) Because with them they hope to make their part
good against the justice and power of God they trust to them as
their defence, and therefore on them, in the first place, God's
fury will come. Armies before God's fury are but as dry stubble
before a consuming fire, though ever so numerous and
courageous.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xxxv-p7" shownumber="no">2. Whom he makes war for, and what are the
grounds and reasons of the war (<scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.8" parsed="|Isa|34|8|0|0" passage="Isa 34:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>): <i>It is the day of the Lord's
vengeance,</i> and he it is <i>to whom vengeance belongs,</i> and
who is never <i>unrighteous in taking vengeance,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Rom.3.5" parsed="|Rom|3|5|0|0" passage="Ro 3:5">Rom. iii. 5</scripRef>. As there is a day of the
Lord's patience, so there will be a day of his vengeance; for,
though he bear long, he will not bear always. It is <i>the year of
recompences for the controversy of Zion.</i> Zion is the holy city,
the city of our solemnities, a type and figure of the church of God
in the world. Zion has a just quarrel with her neighbours for the
wrongs they have done her, for all their treacherous and barbarous
usage of her, profaning her holy things, laying waste her palaces,
and slaying her sons. She has left it to God to plead her cause,
and he will do so when the time, even the set time, to favour Zion
shall have come; then he will recompense to her persecutors and
oppressors all the mischiefs they have done her. The controversy
will be decided, that Zion has been wronged, and therein Zion's God
has been himself abused. Judgment will be given upon this decision,
and execution done. Note, There is a time prefixed in the divine
counsels for the deliverance of the church and the destruction of
her enemies, a year of the redeemed, which will come, <i>a year of
recompences for the controversy of Zion;</i> and we must patiently
wait till then, and <i>judge nothing before the time.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xxxv-p8" shownumber="no">III. Here are the operations of the war,
and the methods of it, settled, with an infallible assurance of
success. 1. The sword of the Lord is <i>bathed in heaven;</i> this
is all the preparation here made for the war, <scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.5" parsed="|Isa|34|5|0|0" passage="Isa 34:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. It may probably allude to some
custom they had then of bathing their swords in some liquor or
other, to harden them or brighten them; it is the same with the
furbishing of it, that it may glitter, <scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p8.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.21.9-Ezek.21.11" parsed="|Ezek|21|9|21|11" passage="Eze 21:9-11">Ezek. xxi. 9-11</scripRef>. God's sword is bathed in
heaven, in his counsel and decree, in his justice and power, and
then there is not standing before it. 2. <i>It shall come down.</i>
What he has determined shall without fail be put in execution. It
shall come down from heaven, and the higher the place is, whence it
comes, the heavier will it fall. It will come down <i>upon Idumea,
the people of God's curse,</i> the people that lie under his curse
and are by it doomed to destruction. Miserable, for ever miserable,
are those that have by their sins made themselves the people of
God's curse; for the sword of the Lord will infallibly attend the
curse of the Lord and execute the sentences of it; and those whom
he curses are cursed indeed. It shall come down <i>to judgment,</i>
to execute judgment upon sinners. Note, God's sword of war is
always a sword of justice. It is observed of him out of whose mouth
goeth the sharp sword that <i>in righteousness he doth judge and
make war,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p8.3" osisRef="Bible:Rev.19.11 Bible:Rev.19.15" parsed="|Rev|19|11|0|0;|Rev|19|15|0|0" passage="Re 19:11,15">Rev. xix. 11,
15</scripRef>. 3. The nations and their armies shall be given up to
the sword (<scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p8.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.2" parsed="|Isa|34|2|0|0" passage="Isa 34:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>):
<i>God has delivered them to the slaughter,</i> and then they
cannot deliver themselves, nor can all the friends they have
deliver them from it. Those only are slain whom God delivers to the
slaughter, for the keys of death are in his hand; and, in
delivering them to the slaughter, he has <i>utterly destroyed</i>
them; their destruction is as sure, when God has doomed them to it,
as if they were destroyed already, utterly destroyed. God has, in
effect, delivered all the cruel enemies of his church to the
slaughter by that word (<scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p8.5" osisRef="Bible:Rev.13.10" parsed="|Rev|13|10|0|0" passage="Re 13:10">Rev. xiii.
10</scripRef>), <i>He that kills with the sword must be killed by
the sword,</i> for the Lord is righteous. 4. Pursuant to the
sentence, a terrible slaughter shall be made among them (<scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p8.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.6" parsed="|Isa|34|6|0|0" passage="Isa 34:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>): <i>The sword of the
Lord,</i> when it comes down with commission, does vast execution;
it <i>is filled,</i> satiated, surfeited, <i>with blood,</i> the
blood of the slain, and <i>made fat with their fatness.</i> When
the day of God's abused mercy and patience is over the sword of his
justice gives no quarter, spares none. Men have by sin lost the
honour of the human nature and made themselves like the beasts that
perish; they are therefore justly denied the compassion and respect
that are owing to the human nature and killed as beasts, and no
more is made of slaying an army of men than of butchering a flock
of lambs or goats and feeding on the fat of the kidneys of rams.
Nay, the sword of the Lord shall not only dispatch the lambs and
goats, the infantry of their armies, the poor common soldiers, but
(<scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p8.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.7" parsed="|Isa|34|7|0|0" passage="Isa 34:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>) <i>the
unicorns</i> too <i>shall</i> be made to <i>come down with them,
and the bullocks with the bulls,</i> though they are ever so proud,
and strong, and fierce (<i>the great men, and the mighty men, and
the chief captains</i> <scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p8.8" osisRef="Bible:Rev.6.15" parsed="|Rev|6|15|0|0" passage="Re 6:15">Rev. vi.
15</scripRef>), the sword of the Lord will make as easy a prey of
as of the lambs and the goats. The greatest of men are nothing
before the wrath of the great God. See what bloody work will be
made: <i>The land shall be soaked with blood,</i> as with the rain
that comes often upon it and in great abundance; <i>and their
dust,</i> their dry and barren land, shall be <i>made fat with the
fatness</i> of men slain in their full strength, as with manure.
Nay even <i>the mountains,</i> which are hard and rocky, <i>shall
be melted with their blood,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p8.9" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.3" parsed="|Isa|34|3|0|0" passage="Isa 34:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>. These expressions are
hyperbolical (as St. John's vision of <i>blood to the
horse-bridles,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p8.10" osisRef="Bible:Rev.14.20" parsed="|Rev|14|20|0|0" passage="Re 14:20">Rev. xiv.
20</scripRef>), and are made use of because they sound very
dreadful to sense (it makes us even shiver to think of such
abundance of human gore), and are therefore proper to express the
terror of God's wrath, which is dreadful beyond conception and
expression. See what work sin and wrath make even in this world,
and think how much more terrible the wrath to come is, which will
bring down the unicorns themselves to the bars of the pit. 5. This
great slaughter will be a great sacrifice to the justice of God
(<scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p8.11" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.6" parsed="|Isa|34|6|0|0" passage="Isa 34:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>): <i>The Lord
has a sacrifice in Bozrah;</i> there it is that the great Redeemer
has his <i>garments dyed with blood,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p8.12" osisRef="Bible:Isa.63.1" parsed="|Isa|63|1|0|0" passage="Isa 63:1"><i>ch.</i> lxiii. 1</scripRef>. Sacrifices were intended
for the honour of God, to make it appear that he hates sin and
demands satisfaction for it, and that nothing but blood will make
atonement; and for these ends the slaughter is made, that in it
<i>the wrath of God may be revealed from heaven against all the
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men,</i> especially their
ungodly unrighteous enmity to his people, which was the sin that
the Edomites were notoriously guilty of. In great sacrifices
abundance of beasts were killed, hecatombs offered, and their blood
poured out before the altar; and so will it be in this day of the
Lord's vengeance. And thus would the whole earth have been soaked
with the blood of sinners if Jesus Christ, the great propitiation,
had not shed his blood for us; but those who reject him, and will
not make a covenant with God by that sacrifice, will themselves
fall as victims to divine wrath. Damned sinners are everlasting
sacrifices, <scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p8.13" osisRef="Bible:Mark.9.48-Mark.9.49" parsed="|Mark|9|48|9|49" passage="Mk 9:48,49">Mark ix. 48,
49</scripRef>. Those that sacrifice not (which is the character of
the ungodly, <scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p8.14" osisRef="Bible:Eccl.9.2" parsed="|Eccl|9|2|0|0" passage="Ec 9:2">Eccl. ix. 2</scripRef>)
must be sacrificed. 6. These slain shall be detestable to mankind,
and shall be as much their loathing as ever they were their terror
(<scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p8.15" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.3" parsed="|Isa|34|3|0|0" passage="Isa 34:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>): <i>They
shall be cast out,</i> and none shall pay them the respect of a
decent burial; but <i>their stink shall come up out of their
carcases,</i> that all people by the odious smell, as well as by
the ghastly sight, may be made to conceive an indignation against
sin and a dread of the wrath of God. They lie unburied, that they
may remain monuments of divine justice. 7. The effect and
consequence of this slaughter shall be universal confusion and
desolation, as if the whole frame of nature were dissolved and
melted down (<scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p8.16" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.4" parsed="|Isa|34|4|0|0" passage="Isa 34:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>):
<i>All the host of heaven shall pine and waste away</i> (so the
word is); the sun shall be darkened, and the moon look black, or be
turned into blood; <i>the heavens</i> themselves <i>shall be rolled
together as a scroll</i> or parchment when we have done with it,
and lay it by, or as when it is shrivelled up by the heat of the
fire. The stars shall fall as the leaves in autumn; all the beauty,
joy, and comfort, of the vanquished nation shall be lost and done
away, magistracy and government shall be abolished, and all
dominion and rule, but that of the sword of war, shall fall.
Conquerors, in those times, affected to lay waste the countries
they conquered; and such a complete desolation is here described by
such figurative expressions as will yet have a literal and full
accomplishment in the dissolution of all things at the end of time,
of which last day of judgment the judgments which God does now
sometimes remarkably execute on sinful nations are figures,
earnests, and forerunners; and by these we should be awakened to
think of that, for which reason these expressions are used here and
<scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p8.17" osisRef="Bible:Rev.6.12-Rev.6.13" parsed="|Rev|6|12|6|13" passage="Re 6:12,13">Rev. vi. 12, 13</scripRef>. But they
are used without a metaphor, <scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p8.18" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.3.10" parsed="|2Pet|3|10|0|0" passage="2Pe 3:10">2 Pet.
iii. 10</scripRef>, where we are told that <i>the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise and the earth shall be burnt
up.</i></p>
</div><scripCom id="Is.xxxv-p8.19" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.9-Isa.34.17" parsed="|Isa|34|9|34|17" passage="Isa 34:9-17" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.xxxv-p8.20">
<h4 id="Is.xxxv-p8.21">Threatenings against God's
Enemies. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xxxv-p8.22">b. c.</span> 720.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Is.xxxv-p9" shownumber="no">9 And the streams thereof shall be turned into
pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof
shall become burning pitch.   10 It shall not be quenched
night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from
generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass
through it for ever and ever.   11 But the cormorant and the
bittern shall possess it; the owl also and the raven shall dwell in
it: and he shall stretch out upon it the line of confusion, and the
stones of emptiness.   12 They shall call the nobles thereof
to the kingdom, but none <i>shall be</i> there, and all her princes
shall be nothing.   13 And thorns shall come up in her
palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it
shall be a habitation of dragons, <i>and</i> a court for owls.
  14 The wild beasts of the desert shall also meet with the
wild beasts of the island, and the satyr shall cry to his fellow;
the screech owl also shall rest there, and find for herself a place
of rest.   15 There shall the great owl make her nest, and
lay, and hatch, and gather under her shadow: there shall the
vultures also be gathered, every one with her mate.   16 Seek
ye out of the book of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xxxv-p9.1">Lord</span>, and
read: no one of these shall fail, none shall want her mate: for my
mouth it hath commanded, and his spirit it hath gathered them.
  17 And he hath cast the lot for them, and his hand hath
divided it unto them by line: they shall possess it for ever, from
generation to generation shall they dwell therein.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xxxv-p10" shownumber="no">This prophecy looks very black, but surely
it looks so further than upon Edom and Bozrah. 1. It describes the
melancholy changes that are often made by the divine Providence, in
countries, cities, palaces, and families. Places that have
flourished and been much frequented strangely go to decay. We know
not where to find the places where many great towns, celebrated in
history, once stood. Fruitful countries, in process of time, are
turned into barrenness, and pompous populous cities into ruinous
heaps. Old decayed castles look frightful, and their ruins are
almost as much dreaded as ever their garrisons were. 2. It
describes the destroying judgments which are the effects of God's
wrath and the just punishment of those that are enemies to his
people, which God will inflict when <i>the year of the redeemed has
come,</i> and <i>the year of recompences for the controversy of
Zion.</i> Those that aim to ruin the church can never do that, but
will infallibly ruin themselves. 3. It describes the final
desolation of this wicked world, which is <i>reserved unto fire at
the day of judgment,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:2Pet.3.7" parsed="|2Pet|3|7|0|0" passage="2Pe 3:7">2 Pet. iii.
7</scripRef>. The earth itself, when it, and all the works that are
therein, shall be burnt up, will (for aught I know) be turned into
a hell to all those that set their affections on earthly things.
However, this prophecy shows us what will be the lot of the
<i>generation of God's curse.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xxxv-p11" shownumber="no">I. The country shall become like the lake
of Sodom, <scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.9-Isa.34.10" parsed="|Isa|34|9|34|10" passage="Isa 34:9,10"><i>v.</i> 9,
10</scripRef>. <i>The streams thereof,</i> that both watered the
land and pleased and refreshed the inhabitants, <i>shall</i> now
<i>be turned into pitch,</i> shall be congealed, shall look black,
and shall move slowly, or not at all. <i>Their floods to lazy
streams of pitch shall turn;</i> so Sir <i>R. Blackmore. The dust
thereof shall be turned into brimstone;</i> so combustible has sin
made their land that it shall take fire at the first spark of God's
wrath struck upon it; and, when it has taken fire, it shall become
burning pitch; the fire shall be universal, not a house, or town,
on fire, but a whole country; and it shall not be in the power of
any to suppress or extinguish it. It shall burn continually, burn
perpetually, and <i>shall not be quenched night nor day.</i> The
torment of those in hell, or that have a hell within them in their
own consciences, is without interruption; the <i>smoke of this fire
goes up for ever.</i> As long as there are provoking sinners on
earth, <i>from one generation to another,</i> an increase of sinful
men, to <i>augment the fierce anger of the Lord</i> (<scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.14" parsed="|Num|32|14|0|0" passage="Nu 32:14">Num. xxxii. 14</scripRef>), there will be a
righteous God in heaven to punish them for it. And as long as a
people keep up a succession of sinners God will have a succession
of plagues for them; nor will any that fall under the wrath of God
be ever able to recover themselves. It will be found, how light
soever men make of it, that it is a <i>fearful thing to fall into
the hands of the living God.</i> If the land be doomed to
destruction, none shall pass through it, but travellers will choose
rather to go a great way about than come within the smell of
it.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xxxv-p12" shownumber="no">II. The cities shall become like old
decayed houses, which, being deserted by the owners, look very
frightful, being commonly possessed by beasts of prey or birds of
ill omen. See how dismally the palaces of the enemy look; the
description is peculiarly elegant and fine. 1. God shall mark them
for ruin and destruction. <i>He shall stretch out upon Bozrah the
line of confusion with the stones</i> or plummets <i>of
emptiness,</i> <scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.11" parsed="|Isa|34|11|0|0" passage="Isa 34:11"><i>v.</i>
11</scripRef>. This intimates the equity of the sentence passed
upon it; it is given according to the rules of justice and the
exact agreeableness of the execution with the sentence; the
destruction is not wrought at random, but by line and level. The
confusion and emptiness that shall overspread the face of the whole
country shall be like that of the whole earth when it was <i>Tohu
and Bohu</i> (the very words here used)—<i>without form and
void.</i> <scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.1.2" parsed="|Gen|1|2|0|0" passage="Ge 1:2">Gen. i. 2</scripRef>. Sin will
soon turn a paradise into a chaos, and sully the beauty of the
whole creation. When there is confusion there will soon be
emptiness; but both are appointed by the governor of the world, and
in exact proportions. 2. Their great men shall be all cut off, and
none of them shall dare to appear (<scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.12" parsed="|Isa|34|12|0|0" passage="Isa 34:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>): <i>They shall call the nobles
of the kingdom</i> to take care of the arduous affairs which lie
before them, but none shall be there to take this ruin under their
hand, and all her princes, having the sad tidings brought them,
shall be nothing, shall be at their wits' end, and not be able to
stand them in stead, to shelter them from destruction.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xxxv-p13" shownumber="no">III. Even the houses of state, and those of
strength, shall become as wildernesses (<scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.13" parsed="|Isa|34|13|0|0" passage="Isa 34:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>); not only grass shall grow,
but <i>thorns shall come up, in her palaces, nettles and brambles
in the fortresses thereof,</i> and there shall be none to cut them
up or tread them down. We sometimes see ruined buildings thus
overgrown with rubbish. It intimates that the place shall not only
be uninhabited and unfrequented where a full court used to be kept,
but that it shall be under the curse of God; for thorns and
thistles were the production of the curse, <scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Gen.3.18" parsed="|Gen|3|18|0|0" passage="Ge 3:18">Gen. iii. 18</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xxxv-p14" shownumber="no">IV. They shall become the residence and
rendezvous of fearful frightful beasts and birds, which usually
frequent such melancholy places, because there they may be
undisturbed, and, when they are frightened thither, they help to
frighten men thence. This circumstance of the desolation, being apt
to strike a horror upon the mind, is much enlarged upon here,
<scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.11" parsed="|Isa|34|11|0|0" passage="Isa 34:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. <i>The
cormorant shall possess it,</i> or the pelican, which affects to be
solitary (<scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.102.6" parsed="|Ps|102|6|0|0" passage="Ps 102:6">Ps. cii. 6</scripRef>); and
<i>the bittern,</i> which makes a hideous noise, <i>the owl,</i> a
melancholy bird, <i>the raven,</i> a bird of prey, invited by the
dead carcases, shall dwell there (<i>with all the ill-boding
monsters of the air,</i> Sir <i>R. B.</i>), all the unclean birds,
which were not for the service of man, <scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p14.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.13" parsed="|Isa|34|13|0|0" passage="Isa 34:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>. <i>It shall be a habitation
for dragons,</i> which are poisonous and hurtful.</p>
<verse id="Is.xxxv-p14.4" type="stanza">
<l class="t2" id="Is.xxxv-p14.5">And in their lofty rooms of state,</l>
<l class="t2" id="Is.xxxv-p14.6">Where cringing sycophants did wait,</l>
<l class="t1" id="Is.xxxv-p14.7">Dragons shall hiss and hungry wolves shall howl;</l>
<l class="t2" id="Is.xxxv-p14.8">In courts before by mighty lords
possess'd</l>
<l class="t2" id="Is.xxxv-p14.9">The serpent shall erect his speckled
crest,</l>
<l class="t2" id="Is.xxxv-p14.10">Or fold his circling spires to rest.</l>
</verse>
<attr id="Is.xxxv-p14.11"><span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xxxv-p14.12">Sir R.
Blackmore</span>.</attr>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xxxv-p15" shownumber="no">That which was a court for princes shall
now be a court for owls or ostriches, <scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.14" parsed="|Isa|34|14|0|0" passage="Isa 34:14"><i>v.</i> 14</scripRef>. <i>The wild beasts of the
desert,</i> the dry and sandy country, shall meet, as it were by
appointment, with the wild beasts of the island, the wet marshy
country, and shall regale themselves with such a perfect desolation
as they shall find there.</p>
<verse id="Is.xxxv-p15.2" type="stanza">
<l class="t1" id="Is.xxxv-p15.3">Leopards, and all the rav'ning brotherhoods</l>
<l class="t1" id="Is.xxxv-p15.4">That range the plains, or lurk in woods,</l>
<l class="t1" id="Is.xxxv-p15.5">Each other shall invite to come,</l>
<l class="t1" id="Is.xxxv-p15.6">And make this wilder place their home.</l>
<l class="t1" id="Is.xxxv-p15.7">Fierce beasts of every frightful shape and size</l>
<l class="t1" id="Is.xxxv-p15.8">Shall settle here their bloody colonies.</l>
</verse>
<attr id="Is.xxxv-p15.9"><span class="smallcaps" id="Is.xxxv-p15.10">Sir R.
Blackmore</span>.</attr>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xxxv-p16" shownumber="no"><i>The satyr shall cry to his fellow</i> to
go with him to this desert place, or, being there, they shall
please themselves that they have found such an agreeable
habitation. There shall <i>the screech-owl rest,</i> a night-bird
and an ominous one. <i>The great owl shall there make her nest</i>
(<scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.15" parsed="|Isa|34|15|0|0" passage="Isa 34:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>) <i>and lay
and hatch;</i> the breed of them shall be kept up to provide heirs
for this desolate place. <i>The vultures</i> which feast on
carcases, <i>shall be gathered there, every one with his mate.</i>
Now observe, 1. How the places which men have deserted, and keep at
a distance from, are proper receptacles for other animals, which
the providence of God takes care of, and will not neglect. 2. Whom
those resemble that are morose, unsociable, and unconversable, and
affect a melancholy retirement; they are like these solitary
creatures that take delight in desolations. 3. What a dismal change
sin makes; it turns a fruitful land into barrenness, a frequented
city into a wilderness.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Is.xxxv-p17" shownumber="no">V. Here is an assurance given of the full
accomplishment of this prediction, even to the most minute
circumstance of it (<scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p17.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.34.16-Isa.34.17" parsed="|Isa|34|16|34|17" passage="Isa 34:16,17"><i>v.</i> 16,
17</scripRef>): "<i>Seek you out of the book of the Lord and
read.</i> When this destruction comes compare the event with the
prediction, and you will find it to answer exactly." Note, The book
of the prophets is the book of the Lord, and we ought to consult it
and converse with it as of divine origin and authority. We must not
only read it, but see out of it, search into it, turn first to one
text and then to another and compare them together. Abundance of
useful knowledge might thus be extracted, by a diligent search, out
of the scriptures, which cannot be got by a superficial reading of
them. When you have read the prediction out of the book of the Lord
then observe, 1. That according to what you have read so you see;
<i>not one of these shall fail,</i> either beast or fowl: and, it
being foretold that they shall possess it <i>from generation to
generation,</i> in order to that, that the species may be
propagated, <i>none shall want her mate;</i> these marks of
desolation shall be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the land.
2. That God's mouth having commanded this direful muster <i>his
Spirit shall gather them,</i> as the creatures by instinct were
gathered to Adam to be named and to Noah to be housed. What God's
word has appointed his Spirit will effect and bring about, for no
word of God shall fall to the ground. The word of God's promise
shall in like manner be accomplished by the operations of the
Spirit. 3. That there is an exact order and proportion observed in
the accomplishment of this threatening: <i>He has cast the lot</i>
for these birds and beasts, so that each one shall know his place
as readily as if it were marked by line. See the like, <scripRef id="Is.xxxv-p17.2" osisRef="Bible:Joel.2.7-Joel.2.8" parsed="|Joel|2|7|2|8" passage="Joe 2:7,8">Joel ii. 7, 8</scripRef>, <i>They shall not
break their ranks, neither shall one thrust another.</i> The
soothsayers among the heathen foretold events by the flight of
birds, as if the fate of men depended on them. But here we find
that the flight of birds is under the direction of the God of
Israel: <i>he has cast the lot for them.</i> 4. That the desolation
shall be perpetual: <i>They shall possess it for ever.</i> God's
Jerusalem may be laid in ruins; but Jerusalem of old recovered
itself out of its ruins, till it gave place to the gospel
Jerusalem, which may be brought low, but shall be rebuilt, and
shall continue till it give place to the heavenly Jerusalem. But
the enemies of the church shall be for ever desolate, shall be
punished with an everlasting destruction.</p>
</div></div2>