Bible Commentaries

Isaiah 25:1 O LORD, thou [art] my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful [things; thy] counsels of old [are] faithfulness [and] truth.

Ver. 1. O Lord, thou art my God.] Sunt verba fidelium in regno Christi, saith Piscator. These are the words of the subjects of Christ’s kingdom, who in the end of the former chapter are called his ancients or elders. See Revelation 4:4. But that of Oecolampadius I like better: More suo in iubilum et hymnum erumpit propheta. The prophet, as his manner is, breaketh forth into a joyful jubilation; and being ravished, and as it were rapt beyond himself with the consideration of such marvellous things, he first maketh a stop or breathing, and then sweetly celebrateth God’s power, truth, justice, and mercy; the naked heart of it were seen, as it were in an anatomy, in the sending of his Son, and the benefits thereby; concerning which the apostles afterwards discoursing more plainly and plentifully, do yet make use of some passages in this chapter, as is to be seen. [1 Corinthians 15:51-57 Revelation 7:10-17; Revelation 21:24-27]

Thou art my God.] So to say ex animo is the very pith of true faith; the property whereof is to individuate God, and appropriate him to itself.

I will exalt thee.] This we do when we bless and praise him for his blessings. But what a mercy is it of so great a Majesty that he should count himself thus exalted and magnified by such worthless worms as we are! And how should this excite and edge us to so holy a service!

For thou least done wonderful things.] In the world’s creation, but especially in the Church’s preservation.

Thy counsels of old.] Thy promises and threatenings are all fulfilled and verified; they are faithful and firm.

Isaiah 25:2 For thou hast made of a city an heap; [of] a defenced city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be built.

Ver. 2. For thou hast made of a city an heap.] Babylonem intelligit, say some. Narratur eversio urbis Romae, say others; the ruin of Rome is here foretold; which is therefore also, say they, called a palace of strangers; ^(a) because Antichrist with his adherents reigneth there. Jerome saith the Jews understand it to be Rome, which shall be in the end destroyed, and then their poor nation shall be relieved. {as Isaiah 25:4} It may be so.

Isaiah 25:3 Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee, the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee.

Ver. 3. Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee.] Will they nill they, they shall confess, as Julian did, that thou art too hard for them, and that thy Church is invincible. Thus God wringeth out of the mouth of the wicked a confession of his praises, and a counterfeit subjection. [Isaiah 60:14]

Isaiah 25:4 For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones [is] as a storm [against] the wall.

Ver. 4. For thou hast been a strength to the poor,] &c. That is, thou hast protected thy poor people from the persecution of the Antichristian rout, saith Piscator. Great is God’s mercy in succouring his oppressed ones. This is here set forth by a double comparison: first,

A refuge from the storm, a shadow ^(a) from the heat, &c.] Where the Church’s enemies are compared to raging waters, that bear down all before them; God to a place of refuge to fly unto. Secondly,

Isaiah 25:5 Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; [even] the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.

Ver. 5. As the heat in a dry place.] Where the insolonce of these strangers from the life of God, the Antichristian rabble, the stir and ado they make, is resembled to a heat and drought that doth parch and scorch the godly; God’s protection of his to a thick shadow.

The branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.] Some read the text thus: As the heat is abated with a thick shadow, so the song or chanting of the terrible ones was abased. Others the whole verse thus: As the heat in a drought, thou hast brought down the stir of the strangers; heat, I say, with the shadow of a cloud; which (heat) did answer (a life) to the branches of the terrible ones. That is, say they, served well their turn, and was most commodious for the wicked, who think their branches spread and flourish when the godly are scorched with calamities.

Isaiah 25:6 And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined.

Ver. 6. And in this mountain,] i.e., In the Church, [Isaiah 2:2] God’s court, [Isaiah 24:23] as the table stood in the sanctuary.

Shall the Lord of hosts make.] Instead of that tree of life in paradise. See Revelation 2:7.

Unto all people,] i.e., To the elect among all people, for reprobates are not worthy. [Matthew 22:8 Revelation 3:4]

A feast ^(a) of fat things.] The very best of the best. "Fat things, and marrow of fatness; wines," and the most refined; so that "the meek shall eat and be satisfied"; [Psalms 22:16] "Their soul shall delight itself in fatness." [Isaiah 55:2] In the life to come, especially where there shall be solidum huius convivii complementum ac plena perfruitio. Meanwhile the saints have here, at the Lord’s table especially, their dainties and junketting dishes, their celestial viands and most precious provisions: "fat things marrowed," as the Hebrew word is; not only full of marrow, but picked, as it were, and culled out of the heart of marrow. Wine, ^(b) first, in "the lees," that keepeth the smell, taste, and vigour, vinum cos, as they call it; {as Jeremiah 48:11} next, of "the finest and the best," such as at Lovain they call vinum theologicum, because the divines there, as also the Sorbonists at Paris, drink much of it. Jesus Christ, in his ordinances and graces, is all this, and much more. [Proverbs 9:2 Matthew 22:2] And yet men had rather, as swine, feed on swill and husks, ^(c) than on these incomparable delicacies.

Isaiah 25:7 And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.

Ver. 7. And he will destroy in this mountain, &c.] Absorbebit velum faciei, id est, faciem veli. Christ came "a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on him should not abide in darkness." [John 12:46] Faith freeth from blindness; we no sooner taste of the bread of life by faith, but the veil of ignorance, which naturally covereth all flesh, is torn; and men are suddenly brought "out of darkness into a marvellous light." [1 Peter 2:9] This is the first eulogy and noble commendation of the doctrine of the gospel, light. There follow two more, viz., life and joy spiritual, [Isaiah 35:6] which is the life of that life. [Isaiah 25:8]

Isaiah 25:8 He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken [it].

Ver. 8. He will swallow up death in victory.] As the fire swalloweth the fuel, or as Moses’ serpent swallowed up the sorcerers’ serpents. The kisses of Christ’s mouth have sucked out the sting of death from a justified believer; so that his heart doth live for ever, {as Psalms 22:6} and if so, then in death itself; which made Cyprian receive the sentence of death with a Deo gratias; as did also Bradford, and many more martyrs; accounting the days of their death their birthdays, and welcoming them accordingly. Jerome insults over death as disarmed and devoured: Illius morte tu mortua es: devorasti, et devorata es, &c. Ever since death ran through the veins of Jesus Christ, who is life essential, it is destroyed or swallowed up; like as the bee dieth when she hath left her sting in the wound. ^(a) Hence St Paul doth so crow over death, and, as it were, called it craven. [1 Corinthians 15:55-57]

And the Lord God will wipe away.] A metaphor from a mother.

And the rebuke of his people.] Or, The reproach, their afflictions and persecutions, for which the world reproacheth them.

Isaiah 25:9 And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this [is] our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this [is] the LORD we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

Ver. 9. Lo, this is our God,] sc., Jesus Christ, our sole Saviour, who is God blessed for ever, and our God by a specialty. Wait for him, for he waiteth to be gracious. [Isaiah 30:18]

Isaiah 25:10 For in this mountain shall the hand of the LORD rest, and Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill.

Ver. 10. For in this mountain.] In the Church. {as Isaiah 25:6-7}

Shall the hand of the Lord rest,] i.e., Settle for their safeguard.

And Moab shall be trodden down,] i.e., Contumax quisque et perversus hostis Dei et Ecclesiae. ^(a) Piscator thinketh Papists are here meant by these Moabites, who were nearly allied to God’s Israel, but ardeliones, bitter and brutish enemies, skilful only to destroy. {as Ezekiel 21:31}

As straw for the dunghill.] Or, As straw in Madmenah. [Jeremiah 48:2] God will make a hand of all his people’s adversaries, as is here and in the following verses set forth by three several metaphors.

Isaiah 25:11 And he shall spread forth his hands in the midst of them, as he that swimmeth spreadeth forth [his hands] to swim: and he shall bring down their pride together with the spoils of their hands.

Ver. 11. And he shall spread forth his hands, &c., ] i.e., He shall destroy them with greatest facility. The motion in swimming is easy, not strong; for strong strokes in the water would rather sink than support. Vatablus refers this to Christ stretching out his hands upon the cross, whereby he overcame Satan and his imps.

Together with the spoils.] Or, Wiles of his hands, i.e., his wealth gotten by wrench and wile, as we say.

Isaiah 25:12 And the fortress of the high fort of thy walls shall he bring down, lay low, [and] bring to the ground, [even] to the dust.

Ver. 12. Shall he bring down, &c.] To show that there is no strength against the Lord, the true πτολιπορθος.