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<center><h1>Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary
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[<A HREF="MHC00000.HTM">Table of Contents</A>]<BR>
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Matthew Henry<BR><I>Commentary on the Whole Bible</I> (1712)
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<!-- (Begin Body) -->
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<CENTER>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+3><B>I S A I A H.</B></FONT>
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<BR>
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<BR><FONT SIZE=+2>CHAP. XXIV.</FONT>
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<HR SIZE=1 WIDTH=50>
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</CENTER>
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<FONT SIZE=-1>
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<P>
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It is agreed that here begins a new sermon, which is continued to the
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end of
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:1-27:13">chap. xxvii.</A>
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And in it the prophet, according to the directions he had received,
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does, in many precious promises, "say to the righteous, It shall be
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well with them;" and, in many dreadful threatenings, he says, "Woe to
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the wicked, it shall be ill with them"
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+3:10,11"><I>ch.</I> iii. 10, 11</A>);
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and these are interwoven, that they may illustrate each other. This
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chapter is mostly threatening; and, as the judgments threatened are
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very sore and grievous ones, so the people threatened with those
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judgments are very many. It is not the burden of any particular city or
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kingdom, as those before, but the burden of the whole earth. The word
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indeed signifies only the land, because our own land is commonly to us
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as all the earth. But it is here explained by another word that is not
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so confined; it is the world
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:4">ver. 4</A>);
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so that it must at least take in a whole neighbourhood of nations.
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1. Some think (and very probably) that it is a prophecy of the great
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havoc that Sennacherib and his Assyrian army should now shortly make of
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many of the nations in that part of the world.
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2. Others make it to point at the like devastations which, about 100
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years afterwards, Nebuchadnezzar and his armies should make in the same
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countries, going from one kingdom to another, not only to conquer them,
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but to ruin them and lay them waste; for that was the method which
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those eastern nations took in their wars. The promises that are mixed
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with the threatenings are intended for the support and comfort of the
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people of God in those very calamitous times. And, since here are no
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particular nations names either by whom or on whom those desolations
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should be brought, I see not but it may refer to both these events.
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Nay, the scripture has many fulfillings, and we ought to give it its
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full latitude; and therefore I incline to think that the prophet, from
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those and the like instances which he had a particular eye to, designs
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here to represent in general the calamitous state of mankind, and the
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many miseries which human life is liable to, especially those that
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attend the wars of the nations. Surely the prophets were sent, not
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only to foretel particular events, but to form the minds of men to
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virtue and piety, and for that end their prophecies were written and
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preserved even for our learning, and therefore ought not to be looked
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upon as of private interpretation. Now since a thorough conviction of
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the vanity of the world, and its insufficiency to make us happy, will
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go far towards bringing us to God, and drawing out our affections
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towards another world, the prophet here shows what vexation of spirit
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we must expect to meet with in these things, that we may never take up
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our rest in them, nor promise ourselves satisfaction any where short of
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the enjoyment of God. In this chapter we have,
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I. A threatening of desolating judgments for sin
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:1-12">ver. 1-12</A>),
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to which is added an assurance that in the midst of them good people
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should be comforted,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:13-15">ver. 13-15</A>.
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II. A further threatening of the like desolations
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:16-22">ver. 16-22</A>),
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to which is added an assurance that in the midst of all God should be
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glorified.</P>
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</FONT>
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<A NAME="Isa24_1"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa24_2"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa24_3"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa24_4"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa24_5"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa24_6"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa24_7"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa24_8"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa24_9"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa24_10"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa24_11"> </A>
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<A NAME="Isa24_12"> </A>
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<A NAME="Sec1"> </A>
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<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
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<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>General Desolation Announced.</I></FONT></TD>
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<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 718.</TD></TR>
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<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
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</TABLE>
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<P>
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<FONT SIZE=+1>1 Behold, the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> maketh the earth empty, and maketh it waste,
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and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad the inhabitants
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thereof.
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2 And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as
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with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with
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her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the
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lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with
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the giver of usury to him.
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3 The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for
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the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> hath spoken this word.
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4 The earth mourneth <I>and</I> fadeth away, the world languisheth
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<I>and</I> fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish.
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5 The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof;
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because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance,
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broken the everlasting covenant.
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6 Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that
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dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the
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earth are burned, and few men left.
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7 The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all the
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merry-hearted do sigh.
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8 The mirth of tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice
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endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth.
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9 They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be
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bitter to them that drink it.
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10 The city of confusion is broken down: every house is shut
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up, that no man may come in.
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11 <I>There is</I> a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is
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darkened, the mirth of the land is gone.
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12 In the city is left desolation, and the gate is smitten with
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destruction.
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</FONT></P>
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<P>
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It is a very dark and melancholy scene that this prophecy presents to
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our view; turn our eyes which way we will, every thing looks dismal.
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The threatened desolations are here described in a great variety of
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expressions to the same purport, and all aggravating.</P>
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<P>
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I. The earth is stripped of all its ornaments and looks as if it were
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taken off its basis; it is made <I>empty and waste</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>),
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as if it
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were reduced to its first chaos, <I>Tohu</I> and <I>Bohu,</I> nothing
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but confusion and emptiness again
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+1:2">Gen. i. 2</A>),
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<I>without form and void.</I> It is true earth sometimes signifies the
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<I>land,</I> and so the same word <I>eretz</I> is here translated
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>):
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<I>The land shall be utterly emptied and utterly spoiled;</I> but I see
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not why it should not there, as well as
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>,
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be translated <I>the earth;</I> for most commonly, if not always, where
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it signifies some one particular land it has something joined to it, or
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at least not far from it, which does so appropriate it; as the land (or
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earth) of Egypt, or Canaan, or this land, or ours, or yours, or the
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like. It might indeed refer to some particular country, and an
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ambiguous word might be used to warrant such an application; for it is
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good to apply to ourselves, and our own hands, what the scripture says
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in general of the vanity and vexation of spirit that attend all things
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here below; but it should seem designed to speak what often happens to
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many countries, and will do while the world stands, and what may, we
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know not how soon, happen to our own, and what is the general character
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of all earthly things: they are empty of all solid comfort and
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satisfaction; a little thing makes them waste. We often see numerous
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families, and plentiful estates, utterly emptied and utterly spoiled,
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by one judgment or other, or perhaps only by a gradual and insensible
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decay. Sin has turned the earth <I>upside down;</I> the earth has
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become quite a different thing to man from what it was when God made it
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to be his habitation. Sin has also <I>scattered abroad the inhabitants
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thereof.</I> The rebellion at Babel was the occasion of the dispersion
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there. How many ways are there in which the inhabitants both of towns
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and of private houses are scattered abroad, so that near relations and
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old neighbours know nothing of one another! To the same purport is
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>.
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<I>The earth mourns, and fades away;</I> it disappoints those that
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placed their happiness in it and raised their expectations high from
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it, and proves not what they promised themselves it would be.
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<I>The</I> whole <I>world languishes and fades away,</I> as hastening
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towards a dissolution. It is, at the best, like a flower, which withers
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in the hands of those that please themselves too much with it, and lay
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it in their bosoms. And, as the earth itself grows old, so those that
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dwell therein are desolate; men carry crazy sickly bodies along with
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them, are often solitary, and confined by affliction,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
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When the earth languishes, and is not so fruitful as it used to be,
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then those that dwell therein, that make it their home, and rest, and
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portion, are desolate; whereas those that by faith dwell in God can
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rejoice in him even when the fir-tree does not blossom. If we look
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abroad, and see in how many places pestilences and burning fevers rage,
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and what multitudes are swept away by them in a little time, so that
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sometimes the living scarcely suffice to bury the dead, perhaps we
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shall understand what the prophet means when he says, <I>The
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inhabitants of the earth are burned,</I> or consumed, some by one
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disease, others by another, and there are but <I>few men left,</I> in
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comparison. Note, The world we live in is a world of disappointment, a
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vale of tears, and a dying world; and the children of men in it are but
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of few days, and full of trouble.</P>
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<P>
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II. It is God that brings all these calamities upon the earth. <I>The
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Lord</I> that made the earth, and made it fruitful and beautiful, for
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the service and comfort of man, now <I>makes it empty and waste</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:1"><I>v.</I> 1</A>),
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for its Creator is and will be its Judge; he has an incontestable right
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to pass sentence upon it and an irresistible power to execute that
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sentence. It is <I>the Lord</I> that <I>has spoken this word,</I> and
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he will do the work
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:3"><I>v.</I> 3</A>);
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it is his curse that has <I>devoured the earth</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>),
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the general curse which sin brought upon <I>the ground for man's
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sake</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ge+3:17">Gen. iii. 17</A>),
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and all the particular curses which families and countries bring upon
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themselves by their enormous wickedness. See the power of God's curse,
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how it makes all empty and lays all waste; those whom he curses are
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cursed indeed.</P>
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<P>
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III. Persons of all ranks and conditions shall share in these
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calamities
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:2"><I>v.</I> 2</A>):
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<I>It shall be as with the people, so with the priest,</I> &c. This is
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true of many of the common calamities of human life; all are subject to
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the same diseases of body, sorrows of mind, afflictions in relations,
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and the like. There is one event to those of very different stations;
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time and chance happen to them all. It is in a special manner true of
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the destroying judgments which God sometimes brings upon sinful
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nations; when he pleases he can make them universal, so that none shall
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escape them or be exempt from them; whether men have little or much,
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they shall lose it all. Those of the meaner rank smart first by famine;
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but those of the higher rank go first into captivity, while the poor of
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the land are left. It shall be all alike,
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1. With high and low: <I>As with the people, so with the priest,</I> or
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prince. The dignity of magistrates and ministers, and the respect and
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reverence due to both, shall not secure them. <I>The faces of elders
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are not honoured,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=La+5:12">Lam. v. 12</A>.
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The priests had been as corrupt and wicked as the people; and, if their
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character served not to restrain them from sin, how can they expect it
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should serve to secure them from judgments? In both it is <I>like
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people, like priest,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+4:8,9">Hosea iv. 8, 9</A>.
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2. With bond and free: <I>As with the servant, so with his master; as
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with the maid, so with her mistress.</I> They have all corrupted their
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way, and therefore will all be made miserable when the earth is made
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waste.
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3. With rich and poor. Those that have money before-hand, that are
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purchasing, and letting out money to interest, will fare no better than
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those that are so impoverished that they are forced to sell their
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estates and take up money at interest. There are judgments short of
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the great day of judgment in which rich and poor meet together. Let not
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those that are advanced in the world set their inferiors at too great a
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distance, because they know not how soon they may be set upon a level
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with them. <I>The rich man's wealth is his strong city</I> in his own
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conceit; but it does not always prove so.</P>
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<P>
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IV. It is sin that brings these calamities upon the earth. The earth is
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made empty, and fades away, because it <I>is defiled under the
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inhabitants thereof</I>
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:5"><I>v.</I> 5</A>);
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it is polluted by the sins of men, and therefore it is made desolate by
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the judgments of God. Such is the filthy nature of sin that it defiles
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the earth itself under the sinful inhabitants thereof, and it is
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rendered unpleasant in the eyes of God and good men. See
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Le+18:25,27,28">Lev. xviii. 25, 27, 28</A>.
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Blood, in particular, defiles the land,
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Nu+35:33">Num. xxxv. 33</A>.
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The earth never spues out its inhabitants till they have first defiled
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it by their sins. Why, what have they done?
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1. They have transgressed the laws of their creation, not answered the
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ends of it. The bonds of the law of nature have been broken by them,
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and they have cast from them the cords of their obligations to the God
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of nature.
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2. <I>They have changed the ordinances</I> of revealed religion, those
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of them that have had the benefit of that. <I>They have neglected the
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ordinances</I> (so some read it), and have made no conscience of
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observing them. They have passed over the laws, in the commission of
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sin, and have passed by the ordinance, in the omission of duty.
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3. Herein they have <I>broken the everlasting covenant,</I> which is a
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perpetual bond and will be to those that keep it a perpetual blessing.
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It is God's wonderful condescension that he is pleased to deal with men
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in a covenant-way, to do them good, and thereby oblige them to do him
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service. Even those that had no benefit by God's covenant with Abraham
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had benefit by his covenant with Noah and his sons, which is called
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<I>an everlasting covenant,</I> his covenant with day and night; but
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they observe not the precepts of the sons of Noah, they acknowledge not
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God's goodness in the day and night, nor study to make him any grateful
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returns, and so break the everlasting covenant and defeat the gracious
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designs and intentions of it.</P>
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<P>
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V. These judgments shall humble men's pride and mar their mirth. When
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the earth is made empty,
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1. It is a great mortification to men's pride
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:4"><I>v.</I> 4</A>):
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<I>The haughty people of the earth do languish;</I> for they have lost
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that which supported their pride, and for which they magnified
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themselves. As for those that have held their heads highest, God can
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make them hang the head.
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2. It is a great damp to men's jollity. This is enlarged upon much
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(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:7-9"><I>v.</I> 7-9</A>):
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<I>All the merry-hearted do sigh.</I> Such is the nature of carnal
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mirth, it is but <I>as the crackling of thorns under a pot,</I>
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<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+7:6">Eccl. vii. 6</A>.
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Great laughters commonly end in a sigh. Those that make the world their
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chief joy cannot rejoice ever more. When God sends his judgments into
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the earth he designs thereby to make those serious that were wholly
|
|
addicted to their pleasures. <I>Let your laughter be turned into
|
|
mourning.</I> When the earth is emptied the <I>noise of those that
|
|
rejoice in it ends.</I> Carnal joy is a noisy thing; but the noise of
|
|
it will soon be at an end, and the end of it is heaviness. Two things
|
|
are made use of to excite and express vain mirth, and the jovial crew
|
|
is here deprived of both:--
|
|
|
|
(1.) Drinking: <I>The new wine mourns;</I> it has grown sour for want
|
|
of drinking; for, how proper soever it may be for the heavy heart
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+31:6">Prov. xxxi. 6</A>),
|
|
|
|
it does not relish to them as it does to the merry-hearted. <I>The vine
|
|
languishes,</I> and gives little hopes of a vintage, and therefore
|
|
<I>the merry-hearted do sigh;</I> for they know no other gladness than
|
|
that of their corn, and wine, and oil increasing
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+4:7">Ps. iv. 7</A>),
|
|
|
|
and, if you <I>destroy their vines and their fig-trees, you make all
|
|
their mirth to cease,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ho+2:11,12">Hosea ii. 11, 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
<I>They shall not</I> now <I>drink wine with a song</I> and with
|
|
huzzas, as they used to, but rather drink it with a sigh; nay,
|
|
<I>Strong drink shall be bitter to those that drink it,</I> because
|
|
they cannot but mingle their tears with it; or, through sickness, they
|
|
have lost the relish of it. God has many ways to embitter wine and
|
|
strong drink to those that love them and have the highest gust of them:
|
|
distemper of body, anguish of mind, the ruin of the estate or country,
|
|
will make the strong drink bitter and all the delights of sense
|
|
tasteless and insipid.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Music: <I>The mirth of tabrets ceases, and the joy of the
|
|
harp,</I> which used to be at their feasts,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+5:12"><I>ch.</I> v. 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
The captives in Babylon hang their harps on the willow trees. In short,
|
|
<I>All joy is darkened;</I> there is not a pleasant look to be seen,
|
|
nor has any one power to force a smile; all <I>the mirth of the land is
|
|
gone</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:11"><I>v.</I> 11</A>);
|
|
|
|
and, if it was that mirth which Solomon calls <I>madness,</I> there is
|
|
no great loss of it.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
VI. The cities will in a particular manner feel from these desolations
|
|
of the country
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:10"><I>v.</I> 10</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>The city of confusion is broken, is broken down</I> (so we read it);
|
|
it lies exposed to invading powers, not only by the breaking down of
|
|
its walls, but by the confusion that the inhabitants are in. <I>Every
|
|
house is shut up,</I> perhaps by reason of the plague, which has burned
|
|
or consumed the inhabitants, so that there are <I>few men left,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
Houses infected are usually shut up that no man may come in. Or they
|
|
are shut up because they are deserted and uninhabited. <I>There is a
|
|
crying for wine,</I> that is, for the spoiling of the vintage, so that
|
|
there is likely to be no wine. <I>In the city,</I> in Jerusalem itself,
|
|
that had been so much frequented, there shall be left nothing but
|
|
<I>desolation;</I> grass shall grow in the streets, and <I>the gate is
|
|
smitten with destruction</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:12"><I>v.</I> 12</A>);
|
|
|
|
all that used to pass and repass through the gate are smitten, and all
|
|
the strength of the city is cut off. How soon can God make a city of
|
|
order a city of confusion, and then it will soon be a city of
|
|
desolation!</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Isa24_13"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa24_14"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa24_15"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec2"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Hope in the End.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 718.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>13 When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the
|
|
people, <I>there shall be</I> as the shaking of an olive tree, <I>and</I>
|
|
as the gleaning grapes when the vintage is done.
|
|
14 They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the
|
|
majesty of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT>, they shall cry aloud from the sea.
|
|
15 Wherefore glorify ye the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> in the fires, <I>even</I> the name
|
|
of the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> God of Israel in the isles of the sea.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
Here is mercy remembered in the midst of wrath. In Judah and Jerusalem,
|
|
and the neighbouring countries, when they are overrun by the enemy,
|
|
Sennacherib or Nebuchadnezzar, there shall be a remnant preserved from
|
|
the general ruin, and it shall be a devout and pious remnant. And this
|
|
method God usually observes when his judgments are abroad; he does not
|
|
make a full end,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+6:13"><I>ch.</I> vi. 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
Or we may take it thus: Though the greatest part of mankind have all
|
|
their comfort ruined by the emptying of the earth, and the making of
|
|
that desolate, yet there are some few who understand their interests
|
|
better, who have laid up their treasure in heaven and not in things
|
|
below, and therefore can keep up their comfort and joy in God even
|
|
<I>when the earth mourns and fades away.</I> Observe,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. The small number of this remnant,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:13"><I>v.</I> 13</A>.
|
|
|
|
When all goes to ruin <I>there shall be as the shaking of an
|
|
olive-tree, and the gleaning grapes,</I> here and there one who shall
|
|
escape the common calamity (as Noah and his family when the old world
|
|
was drowned), that shall be able to sit down upon a heap of the ruins
|
|
of all their creature comforts, and even then rejoice in the Lord
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hab+3:16-18">Hab. iii. 16-18</A>),
|
|
|
|
who, when all faces gather blackness, can lift up their heads with joy,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Lu+21:26,28">Luke xxi. 26, 28</A>.
|
|
|
|
These few are dispersed, and at a distance from each other, like the
|
|
gleanings of the olive-tree; and they are concealed, hid under the
|
|
leaves. The Lord only knows those that are his; the world does not.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. The great devotion of this remnant, which is the greater for their
|
|
having so narrowly escaped this great destruction
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:14"><I>v.</I> 14</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>They shall lift up their voice; they shall sing.</I>
|
|
|
|
1. They shall sing for joy in their deliverance. When the mirth of
|
|
carnal worldlings ceases the joy of the saints is as lively as ever;
|
|
when the merry-hearted do sigh because the vine languishes the
|
|
upright-hearted do sing because the covenant of grace, the fountain of
|
|
their comforts and the foundation of their hopes, never fails. Those
|
|
that rejoice in the Lord can rejoice in tribulation, and by faith may
|
|
be in triumphs when all about them are in tears.
|
|
|
|
2. They shall sing to the glory and praise of God, shall sing not only
|
|
for the mercy but <I>for the majesty of the Lord.</I> Their songs are
|
|
awful and serious, and in their spiritual joys they have a reverend
|
|
regard to the greatness of God, and keep at a humble distance when they
|
|
attend him with their praises. The majesty of the Lord, which is matter
|
|
of terror to wicked people, furnishes the saints with songs of praise.
|
|
They shall sing for the magnificence, or transcendent excellency, of
|
|
the Lord, shown both in his judgments and in his mercies; for we must
|
|
sing, and sing unto him, of both,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+101:1">Ps. ci. 1</A>.
|
|
|
|
Those who have made, or are making, their escape from the land (that
|
|
being emptied and made desolate) to the sea and the isles of the sea,
|
|
shall thence cry aloud; their dispersion shall help to spread the
|
|
knowledge of God, and they shall make even remote shores to ring with
|
|
his praises. It is much for the honour of God if those who fear him
|
|
rejoice in him, and praise him, even in the most melancholy times.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
III. Their holy zeal to excite others to the same devotion
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:15"><I>v.</I> 15</A>);
|
|
|
|
they encourage their fellow-sufferers to do likewise.
|
|
|
|
1. Those who are <I>in the fires,</I> in the furnace of affliction,
|
|
those fires by which the <I>inhabitants of the earth are burned,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:6"><I>v.</I> 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
Or in the valleys, the low, dark, dirty places.
|
|
|
|
2. Those who are <I>in the isles of the sea,</I> whither they are
|
|
banished, or are forced to flee for shelter, and hide themselves remote
|
|
from all their friends. They went <I>through fire and water</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+66:12">Ps. lxvi. 12</A>);
|
|
|
|
yet in both let them glorify the Lord, and glory him as the Lord God of
|
|
Israel. Those who through grace can glory in tribulation ought to
|
|
glorify God in tribulation, and give him thanks for their comforts,
|
|
which abound as their afflictions do abound. We must in every fire,
|
|
even the hottest, in every isle, even the remotest, keep up our good
|
|
thoughts of God. When, though he slay us, yet we trust in him--when,
|
|
though for his sake we are killed all the day long, yet none of these
|
|
things move us--then we glorify the Lord in the fires. Thus the three
|
|
children, and the martyrs that sang at the stake.</P>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Isa24_16"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa24_17"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa24_18"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa24_19"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa24_20"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa24_21"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa24_22"> </A>
|
|
<A NAME="Isa24_23"> </A>
|
|
|
|
<A NAME="Sec3"> </A>
|
|
<TABLE WIDTH="100%" BORDER=0>
|
|
<TR><TD><FONT SIZE=+1><I>Encouraging Prospects; Degeneracy Predicted.</I></FONT></TD>
|
|
<TD ALIGN=RIGHT><FONT SIZE=-1>B. C.</FONT> 718.</TD></TR>
|
|
<TR><TD COLSPAN=2><HR SIZE=1></TD></TR>
|
|
</TABLE>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
<FONT SIZE=+1>16 From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs,
|
|
<I>even</I> glory to the righteous. But I said, My leanness, my
|
|
leanness, woe unto me! the treacherous dealers have dealt
|
|
treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very
|
|
treacherously.
|
|
17 Fear, and the pit, and the snare, <I>are</I> upon thee, O
|
|
inhabitant of the earth.
|
|
18 And it shall come to pass, <I>that</I> he who fleeth from the
|
|
noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up
|
|
out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the
|
|
windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth
|
|
do shake.
|
|
19 The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean
|
|
dissolved, the earth is moved exceedingly.
|
|
20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall
|
|
be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof shall be
|
|
heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again.
|
|
21 And it shall come to pass in that day, <I>that</I> the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> shall
|
|
punish the host of the high ones <I>that are</I> on high, and the
|
|
kings of the earth upon the earth.
|
|
22 And they shall be gathered together, <I>as</I> prisoners are
|
|
gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and
|
|
after many days shall they be visited.
|
|
23 Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when
|
|
the L<FONT SIZE=-1><B>ORD</B></FONT> of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem,
|
|
and before his ancients gloriously.
|
|
</FONT></P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
These verses, as those before, plainly speak,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
I. Comfort to saints. They may be driven, by the common calamities of
|
|
the places where they live, into <I>the uttermost parts of the
|
|
earth,</I> or perhaps they are forced thither for their religion; but
|
|
there they are singing, not sighing. Thence have we heard songs, and it
|
|
is a comfort to us to hear them, to hear that good people carry their
|
|
religion along with them even to the most distant regions, to hear that
|
|
God visits them there and gives encouragement to hope that he will
|
|
gather them thence,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+30:4">Deut. xxx. 4</A>.
|
|
|
|
And this is their song, <I>even glory to the righteous:</I> the word is
|
|
singular, and may refer to <I>the righteous God,</I> who is just in all
|
|
he has brought upon us. This is glorifying the Lord in the fires. Or
|
|
the meaning may be, "These songs redound to the glory or beauty of the
|
|
righteous that sing them." We do the greatest honour imaginable to
|
|
ourselves when we employ ourselves in honouring and glorifying God.
|
|
This may have reference to the sending of the gospel to the uttermost
|
|
parts of the earth, as far as this island of ours, in the days of the
|
|
Messiah, the glad tidings of which are echoed back in songs heard
|
|
thence, from churches planted there, even glory to the righteous God,
|
|
agreeing with the angels' song, <I>Glory be to God in the highest,</I>
|
|
and glory to all righteous men; for the work of redemption was ordained
|
|
before the world for our glory.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
II. Terror to sinners. The prophet, having comforted himself and others
|
|
with the prospect of a saved remnant, returns to lament the miseries he
|
|
saw breaking in like a mighty torrent upon the earth: "<I>But I said,
|
|
My leanness! my leanness! woe unto me!</I> The very thought of it frets
|
|
me, and makes me lean,"
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>.
|
|
|
|
He foresees,</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
1. The prevalency of sin, that iniquity should abound
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:16"><I>v.</I> 16</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>The treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously;</I> this is itself
|
|
a judgment, and that which provokes God to bring other judgments.
|
|
|
|
(1.) Men are false to one another; there is no faith in man, but a
|
|
universal dishonesty. Truth, that sacred bond of society, has departed,
|
|
and there is nothing but treachery in men's dealings. See
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+9:1,2">Jer. ix. 1, 2</A>.
|
|
|
|
(2.) They are all false to their God; as to him, and their covenant
|
|
with him, the children of men are all treacherous dealers, and have
|
|
dealt very treacherously with their God, in departing from their
|
|
allegiance to him. This is the original, and this the aggravation, of
|
|
the sin of the world; and, when men have been false to their God, how
|
|
should they be true to any other?</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
2. The prevalency of wrath and judgment for that sin.
|
|
|
|
(2.) The inhabitants of the earth will be pursued from time to time,
|
|
from place to place, by one mischief or other
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:17,18"><I>v.</I> 17, 18</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>Fear, and the pit, and the snare</I> (fear of the pit and the snare)
|
|
are upon them wherever they are; for the sons of men know not what evil
|
|
they may suddenly be snared in,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ec+9:12">Eccl. ix. 12</A>.
|
|
|
|
These three words seem to be chosen for the sake of an elegant
|
|
paranomasia, or, as we now scornfully call it, a jungle of words:
|
|
<I>Pachad,</I> and <I>Pachath,</I> and <I>Pach;</I> but the meaning is
|
|
plain
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:18"><I>v.</I> 18</A>),
|
|
|
|
that <I>evil pursues sinners</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Pr+13:21">Prov. xiii. 21</A>),
|
|
|
|
that the curse shall overtake the disobedient
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=De+28:15">Deut. xxviii. 15</A>),
|
|
|
|
that those who are secure because they have escaped one judgment know
|
|
not how soon another may arrest them. What this prophet threatens all
|
|
the inhabitants of the earth with another makes part of the judgment of
|
|
Moab,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+48:43">Jer. xlviii. 43, 44</A>.
|
|
|
|
But it is a common instance of the calamitous state of human life that
|
|
when we seek to avoid one mischief we fall into a worse, and that the
|
|
end of one trouble is often the beginning of another; so that we are
|
|
least safe when we are most secure.
|
|
|
|
(2.) The earth itself will be shaken to pieces. It will be literally so
|
|
at last, when all <I>the works therein shall be burnt up;</I> and it is
|
|
often figuratively so before that period. <I>The windows from on high
|
|
are open</I> to pour down wrath, as in the universal deluge. <I>Upon
|
|
the wicked God shall rain snares</I>
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Ps+11:6">Ps. xi. 6</A>);
|
|
|
|
and, the fountains of the great deep being broken up, <I>the
|
|
foundations of the earth do shake</I> of course, the frame of nature is
|
|
unhinged, and all is in confusion. See how elegantly this is expressed
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:19,20"><I>v.</I> 19, 20</A>):
|
|
|
|
<I>The earth is utterly broken down; it is clean dissolved; it is moved
|
|
exceedingly,</I> moved out of its place. <I>God shakes heaven and
|
|
earth,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Hag+2:6">Hag. ii. 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
See the misery of those who lay up their treasure in the things of the
|
|
earth and mind those things; they place their confidence in that which
|
|
will shortly be <I>utterly broken down and dissolved. The earth shall
|
|
reel to and fro like a drunkard;</I> so unsteady, so uncertain, are all
|
|
the motions of these things. Worldly men dwell in it as in a palace, as
|
|
in a castle, as in an impregnable tower; but <I>it shall be removed
|
|
like a cottage,</I> so easily, so suddenly, and with so little loss to
|
|
the great landlord. The pulling down of the earth will be but like the
|
|
pulling down of <I>a cottage,</I> which the country is willing to be
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|
rid of, because it does but harbour beggars; and therefore no care is
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|
taken to rebuild it: It <I>shall fall, and not rise again;</I> but
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|
there shall be new heavens and a new earth, in which shall dwell
|
|
nothing but righteousness. But what is it that shakes the earth thus
|
|
and sinks it? It is the transgression thereof that shall be heavy upon
|
|
it. Note, Sin is a burden to the whole creation; it is a heavy burden,
|
|
a burden under which it groans now and will sink at last. Sin is the
|
|
ruin of states, and kingdoms, and families; they fall under the weight
|
|
of that <I>talent of lead,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Zec+5:7,8">Zech. v. 7, 8</A>.
|
|
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(3.) God will have a particular controversy with the kings and great
|
|
men of the earth
|
|
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|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>):
|
|
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<I>He will punish the host of the high ones.</I> Hosts of princes are
|
|
no more before God than hosts of common men; what can a host of high
|
|
ones do with their combined force when the Most High, the Lord of
|
|
hosts, contends with them to abase their height, and scatter their
|
|
hosts, and break all their confederacies? The high ones, that are on
|
|
high, that are puffed up with their height and grandeur, that think
|
|
themselves so high that they are out of the reach of any danger, God
|
|
will visit upon them all their pride and cruelty, with which they have
|
|
oppressed and injured their neighbours and subjects, and it shall now
|
|
return upon their own heads. <I>The kings of the earth</I> shall now be
|
|
reckoned with <I>upon the earth,</I> to show that verily there is a God
|
|
that judges in the earth and will render to the proudest of kings
|
|
according to the fruit of their doings. Let those that are trampled
|
|
upon by the high ones of the earth comfort themselves with this, that
|
|
though they cannot, dare not, must not, resist them, yet there is a God
|
|
that will call them to an account, that will triumph over them upon
|
|
their own dunghill: for the earth they are kings of is in the eye of
|
|
God no better. This is general only. It is particularly foretold
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:22"><I>v.</I> 22</A>)
|
|
|
|
that they shall be <I>gathered together as prisoners,</I> convicted
|
|
condemned prisoners, are <I>gathered in the pit,</I> or dungeon, and
|
|
there they shall <I>be shut up</I> under close confinement. The kings
|
|
and high ones, who took all possible liberty themselves, and took a
|
|
pride and pleasure in shutting up others, shall now be themselves shut
|
|
up. Let not the free man glory in his freedom, any more than the strong
|
|
man in his strength, for he knows not what restraints he is reserved
|
|
for. But <I>after many days they shall be visited,</I> either,
|
|
|
|
[1.] They shall be visited in wrath; it is the same word, in another
|
|
form, that is used
|
|
|
|
(<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:21"><I>v.</I> 21</A>),
|
|
|
|
<I>the Lord shall punish</I> them; they shall be reserved to the day of
|
|
execution, as condemned prisoners are, and as fallen angels are
|
|
<I>reserved in chains of darkness to the judgment of the great day,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jude+1:6">Jude 6</A>.
|
|
|
|
Let this account for the delays of divine vengeance; sentence is not
|
|
executed speedily, because execution-day has not yet come, and perhaps
|
|
will not come till after many days; but it is certain that the wicked
|
|
is reserved for the day of destruction, and is therefore preserved in
|
|
the mean time, but <I>shall be brought forth to the day of wrath,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Job+21:30">Job xxi. 30</A>.
|
|
|
|
Let us therefore judge nothing before the time.
|
|
|
|
[2.] They shall be visited in mercy, and be discharged from their
|
|
imprisonment, and shall again obtain, if not their dignity, yet their
|
|
liberty. Nebuchadnezzar, in his conquests, made many kings and princes
|
|
his captives, and kept them in the dungeon in Babylon, and, among the
|
|
rest, Jehoiachin King of Judah; but after many days, when
|
|
Nebuchadnezzar's head was laid, his son visited them, and granted (as
|
|
should seem) some reviving to them all in their bondage; for it is made
|
|
an instance of his particular kindness to Jehoiachin that he <I>set his
|
|
throne above the throne of the rest of the kings that were with
|
|
him,</I>
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Jer+52:32">Jer. lii. 32</A>.
|
|
|
|
If we apply this to the general state of mankind, it imports a
|
|
revolution of conditions; those that were high are punished, those that
|
|
were punished are relieved, after many days, that none in this world
|
|
may be secure though their condition be ever so prosperous, nor any
|
|
despair though their condition be ever so deplorable.</P>
|
|
|
|
<P>
|
|
|
|
3. Glory to God in all this,
|
|
|
|
<A HREF="http://bible.gospelcom.net/bible?version=KJV&passage=Isa+24:23"><I>v.</I> 23</A>.
|
|
|
|
When all this comes to pass, when the proud enemies of God's church are
|
|
humbled and brought down,
|
|
|
|
(1.) Then it shall appear, beyond contradiction, that the Lord reigns,
|
|
which is always true, but not always alike evident. When the kings of
|
|
the earth are punished for their tyranny and oppression, then it is
|
|
proclaimed and proved to all the world that God is King of kings--King
|
|
above them, by whom they are accountable--that he reigns as <I>Lord of
|
|
hosts,</I> of all hosts, of their hosts,--that he reigns <I>in Mount
|
|
Zion, and in Jerusalem,</I> in his church, for the honour and welfare
|
|
of that, pursuant to the promises on which that is founded, reigns in
|
|
his word and ordinances,--that he reigns <I>before his ancients,</I>
|
|
before all his saints, especially before his ministers, the elders of
|
|
his church, who have their eye upon all the out-goings of his power and
|
|
providence, and, in all these events, observe his hand. God's ancients,
|
|
the old disciples, the experienced Christians, that have often, when
|
|
they have been perplexed, gone into the sanctuary of God in Zion and
|
|
Jerusalem, and acquainted themselves with his manifestations of himself
|
|
there, shall see more than others of God's dominion and sovereignty in
|
|
these operations of his providence.
|
|
|
|
(2.) Then it shall appear, beyond comparison, that he reigns
|
|
<I>gloriously,</I> in such brightness and lustre that <I>the moon shall
|
|
be confounded and the sun ashamed,</I> as the smaller lights are
|
|
eclipsed and extinguished by the greater. Great men, who thought
|
|
themselves to have as bright a lustre and as vast a dominion as the sun
|
|
and moon, shall be ashamed when God appears above them, much more when
|
|
he appears against them. Then shall <I>their faces be filled with
|
|
shame,</I> that they may seek God's name. The eastern nations
|
|
worshipped the sun and moon; but, when God shall appear so gloriously
|
|
for his people against his and their enemies, all these pretended
|
|
deities shall be ashamed that ever they received the homage of their
|
|
deluded worshippers. The glory of the Creator infinitely outshines the
|
|
glory of the brightest creatures. In the great day, when the Judge of
|
|
heaven and earth shall shine forth in his glory, <I>the sun shall</I>
|
|
by his transcendent lustre <I>be turned into darkness and the moon into
|
|
blood.</I></P>
|
|
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