Bible Commentaries

The Coming Judgment and Establishment of Jehovah's Kingdom

The subject is the overthrow of a power hostile to God's people, with a description of the deliverance of the Jews and their future glory. The hostile power is not named, and the tone of the whole prophecy is so general that it is impossible to assign it to any occasion. With the anticipated overthrow of the enemy the prophet associates in thought Jehovah's final judgment of the world. Most modern scholars assign this whole section to a date later than the age of Isaiah, urging that (a) Isaiah's time does not afford a suitable occasion, (b) the literary style is unlike Isaiah's, and (c) some of the thoughts are characteristic of a later age, e.g. the conception of guardian spirits of earthly kingdoms (Isaiah 24:21), and the anticipation of a resurrection of God's people from the dead (Isaiah 26:19). In these particulars the section exhibits affinity with the book of Daniel (Daniel 10:13; Daniel 12:1-2). The wide and general expressions used in these chapters make it easier to apply the important spiritual teaching contained in them to God's people in every age.

Isaiah 24:1-12. The imminent judgment caused by man's guilt.

13-15. The result—the remnant praise Jehovah.

16-23. The judgments that precede the establishment of Jehovah's kingdom.

Isaiah 25:1-5. The hymn of those delivered when Jehovah's kingdom is set up.

6-8. The blessings of which Zion shall then be the centre.

9-12. The thanksgiving of the redeemed for the fall of Moab.

Isaiah 26:1-4. Another hymn of the redeemed.

5, 6. The ground of this thanks-giving,. the overthrow of the hostile city.

7-14. Jehovah's judgments teach the world righteousness and destroy oppression.

15-21. The wonderful revival of God's people.

Isaiah 27:1-6. Jehovah's care for His people.

7-11. Their sufferings are due to their own sin and folly.

12, 13. But restoration awaits them.

2. All class distinctions are obliterated and confused.

5. Defiled] i.e. desecrated by bloodshed (Numbers 35:33). Everlasting covenant] The phrase seems to allude to Genesis 9:16, the covenant with Noah and his sons. The bloodshed, upon which the great world-empires were founded, was a violation of this primitive covenant.

7-9. The meaning is that every form of enjoyment has ceased.

10. Confusion] or, 'chaos' (Genesis 1:2), so called because of the desolation awaiting it. No man, etc.] the entrance being blocked with ruins,

11. Crying for, etc.] i.e. 'because of wine, the vintage having failed (Joel 1:5).

13. When.. people] RY 'For.. peoples.' Omit 'there shall be.'

14. They] i.e. the escaped remnant, figuratively described in Isaiah 24:13 : cp. Isaiah 17:6. The majesty] as shown in their deliverance. They shall cry.. from the sea] i.e. the dispersed remnant shall raise their cry of praise from the far West. The sea, as usual, denotes the Mediterranean.

15. Fires] RV 'east.' Songs of praise arise both in E. and W. (the isles).

16. Glory, etc.] i.e. splendid is the lot of the righteous. My leanness, etc.] RV 'I pine away, I pine away, woe is me! 'Songs of joy are premature; the barbariair has yet to complete the desolation.

17f. The desolation yet to come.

18. Windows, etc.] a judgment like the deluge (Genesis 7:11).

20. Removed, etc.] RV 'moved to and fro like a hut.'

21. Host, etc.] i.e. the guardian spirits of the nations (Daniel 10:13; Daniel 12:1), who are responsible for their respective nations, and whose fate is bound up with theirs.

22. Visited] i.e. favourably, and set free.

23. The prophet has passed in thought to the final convulsion of nature, and the manifestation of Jehovah's kingdom in all its glory.