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Isaiah 29
1Woe to you, O Ariel, the city of Ariel where David camped! Year upon year let your festivals recur.
2And I will constrain Ariel, and there will be mourning and lamentation; she will be like an altar hearth before Me.
3I will camp in a circle around you; I will besiege you with towers and set up siege works against you.
4You will be brought low, you will speak from the ground, and out of the dust your words will be muffled. Your voice will be like a spirit from the ground; your speech will whisper out of the dust.
5But your many foes will be like fine dust, the multitude of the ruthless like blowing chaff. Then suddenly, in an instant,
6you will be visited by the LORD of Hosts with thunder and earthquake and loud noise, with windstorm and tempest and consuming flame of fire.
7All the many nations going out to battle against Ariel—even all who war against her, laying siege and attacking her—will be like a dream, like a vision in the night,
8as when a hungry man dreams he is eating, then awakens still hungry; as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking, then awakens faint and parched. So will it be for all the many nations who go to battle against Mount Zion.
9Stop and be astonished; blind yourselves and be sightless; be drunk, but not with wine; stagger, but not from strong drink.
10For the LORD has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep. He has shut your eyes, O prophets; He has covered your heads, O seers.
11And the entire vision will be to you like the words sealed in a scroll. If it is handed to someone to read, he will say, “I cannot, because it is sealed.”
12Or if the scroll is handed to one unable to read, he will say, “I cannot read.”
13Therefore the Lord said: “These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men.
14Therefore I will again confound these people with wonder upon wonder. The wisdom of the wise will vanish, and the intelligence of the intelligent will be hidden.”
15Woe to those who dig deep to hide their plans from the LORD. In darkness they do their works and say, “Who sees us, and who will know?”
16You have turned things upside down, as if the potter were regarded as clay. Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, “He did not make me”? Can the pottery say of the potter, “He has no understanding”?
17In a very short time, will not Lebanon become an orchard, and the orchard seem like a forest?
18On that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of the deep darkness the eyes of the blind will see.
19The humble will increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
20For the ruthless will vanish, the mockers will disappear, and all who look for evil will be cut down—
21those who indict a man with a word, who ensnare the mediator at the gate, and who with false charges deprive the innocent of justice.
22Therefore the LORD who redeemed Abraham says of the house of Jacob: “No longer will Jacob be ashamed and no more will his face grow pale.
23For when he sees his children around him, the work of My hands, they will honor My name, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and they will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24Then the wayward in spirit will come to understanding, and those who grumble will accept instruction.”
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Ariel: A Symbolical Name for Jerusalem Isaiah 29:1, 2, 7
Woe to you, O Ariel, the city of Ariel where David camped! Year upon year let your festivals recur. / And I will constrain Ariel, and there will be mourning and lamentation; she will be like an altar hearth before Me. / All the many nations going out to battle against Ariel—even all who war against her, laying siege and attacking her—will be like a dream, like a vision in the night,
Armies: Employed in Besieging Cities Isaiah 29:3
I will camp in a circle around you; I will besiege you with towers and set up siege works against you.
Armies: March in Ranks: Fortifications Isaiah 29:3
I will camp in a circle around you; I will besiege you with towers and set up siege works against you.
Backsliders: Return of Isaiah 29:24
Then the wayward in spirit will come to understanding, and those who grumble will accept instruction.”
Blasphemy: General Scriptures Concerning Isaiah 29:15, 16
Woe to those who dig deep to hide their plans from the LORD. In darkness they do their works and say, “Who sees us, and who will know?” / You have turned things upside down, as if the potter were regarded as clay. Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, “He did not make me”? Can the pottery say of the potter, “He has no understanding”?
Blindness: Spiritual Isaiah 29:10–12
For the LORD has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep. He has shut your eyes, O prophets; He has covered your heads, O seers. / And the entire vision will be to you like the words sealed in a scroll. If it is handed to someone to read, he will say, “I cannot, because it is sealed.” / Or if the scroll is handed to one unable to read, he will say, “I cannot read.”
Books: Often Sealed Isaiah 29:11
And the entire vision will be to you like the words sealed in a scroll. If it is handed to someone to read, he will say, “I cannot, because it is sealed.”
Character of Saints: Meek Isaiah 29:19
The humble will increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.
Character of the Unrenewed Heart: Far from God Isaiah 29:13
Therefore the Lord said: “These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men.
Character of the Wicked: Hypocritical Isaiah 29:13
Therefore the Lord said: “These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men.
Christian Minister: False and Corrupt Isaiah 29:10, 11
For the LORD has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep. He has shut your eyes, O prophets; He has covered your heads, O seers. / And the entire vision will be to you like the words sealed in a scroll. If it is handed to someone to read, he will say, “I cannot, because it is sealed.”
Church: Prophecies Concerning Prosperity of Isaiah 29:18–24
On that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of the deep darkness the eyes of the blind will see. / The humble will increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men will rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. / For the ruthless will vanish, the mockers will disappear, and all who look for evil will be cut down—
Clay used by Potter Isaiah 29:16
You have turned things upside down, as if the potter were regarded as clay. Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, “He did not make me”? Can the pottery say of the potter, “He has no understanding”?
Commandments of Men Isaiah 29:13
Therefore the Lord said: “These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men.
David: King of Israel: Makes Conquest of Jerusalem Isaiah 29:1
Woe to you, O Ariel, the city of Ariel where David camped! Year upon year let your festivals recur.
Deafness of Moral Insensibility Isaiah 29:18
On that day the deaf will hear the words of the scroll, and out of the deep darkness the eyes of the blind will see.
Dream: Delusive Isaiah 29:7, 8
All the many nations going out to battle against Ariel—even all who war against her, laying siege and attacking her—will be like a dream, like a vision in the night, / as when a hungry man dreams he is eating, then awakens still hungry; as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking, then awakens faint and parched. So will it be for all the many nations who go to battle against Mount Zion.
Dreams: Enemies of the Church Isaiah 29:7, 8
All the many nations going out to battle against Ariel—even all who war against her, laying siege and attacking her—will be like a dream, like a vision in the night, / as when a hungry man dreams he is eating, then awakens still hungry; as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking, then awakens faint and parched. So will it be for all the many nations who go to battle against Mount Zion.
Dreams: Often by Imaginary Isaiah 29:8
as when a hungry man dreams he is eating, then awakens still hungry; as when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking, then awakens faint and parched. So will it be for all the many nations who go to battle against Mount Zion.
Earthquakes: As Judgments Isaiah 29:6
you will be visited by the LORD of Hosts with thunder and earthquake and loud noise, with windstorm and tempest and consuming flame of fire.
Earthquakes: The Judgments of God Isaiah 29:6
you will be visited by the LORD of Hosts with thunder and earthquake and loud noise, with windstorm and tempest and consuming flame of fire.
Egypt: As a Power Was: Treacherous Isaiah 29:6, 7
you will be visited by the LORD of Hosts with thunder and earthquake and loud noise, with windstorm and tempest and consuming flame of fire. / All the many nations going out to battle against Ariel—even all who war against her, laying siege and attacking her—will be like a dream, like a vision in the night,
Fear of God: Reverence Isaiah 29:13, 23
Therefore the Lord said: “These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is but rules taught by men. / For when he sees his children around him, the work of My hands, they will honor My name, they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and they will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
Forests: (A Fruitful Field Turned Into) of the Jews Rejected by God Isaiah 29:17
In a very short time, will not Lebanon become an orchard, and the orchard seem like a forest?
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Isaiah 29:1-24 Coming Invasion of Jerusalem: Its Failure: Unbelief of the
Jews. This chapter opens the series of prophecies as to the invasion of Judea under Sennacherib, and its deliverance.
Isaiah 29:1 Verse 1
Ariel--Jerusalem; Ariel means "Lion of God," that is, city rendered by God invincible: the lion is emblem of a mighty hero (2Sa 23:20). Otherwise "Hearth of God," that is, place where the altar-fire continually burns to God (Isa 31:9; Eze 43:15, 16). add ... year to year--ironically; suffer one year after another to glide on in the round of formal, heartless "sacrifices." Rather, "add yet another year" to the one just closed [Maurer]. Let a year elapse and a little more (Isa 32:10, Margin). let ... kill sacrifices--rather, "let the beasts (of another year) go round" [Maurer]; that is, after the completion of a year "I will distress Ariel."
Isaiah 29:2 Verse 2
Yet--rather, "Then." heaviness ... sorrow--rather, preserving the Hebrew paronomasia, "groaning" and "moaning." as Ariel--either, "the city shall be as a lion of God," that is, it shall emerge from its dangers unvanquished; or "it shall be as the altar of burnt offering," consuming with fire the besiegers (Isa 29:6; Isa 30:30; 31:9; Le 10:2); or best, as Isa 29:3 continues the threat, and the promise of deliverance does not come till Isa 29:4, "it shall be like a hearth of burning," that is, a scene of devastation by fire [G. V. Smith]. The prophecy, probably, contemplates ultimately, besides the affliction and deliverance in Sennacherib's time, the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome, the dispersion of the Jews, their restoration, the destruction of the enemies that besiege the city (Zec 14:2), and the final glory of Israel (Isa 29:17-24).
Isaiah 29:3 Verse 3
I--Jehovah, acting through the Assyrian, &c., His instruments (Isa 10:5). mount--an artificial mound formed to out-top high walls (Isa 37:33); else a station, namely, of warriors, for the siege. round about--not fully realized under Sennacherib, but in the Roman siege (Lu 19:43; 21:20). forts--siege-towers (De 20:20).
Isaiah 29:4 Verse 4
Jerusalem shall be as a captive, humbled to the dust. Her voice shall come from the earth as that of the spirit-charmers or necromancers (Isa 8:19), faint and shrill, as the voice of the dead was supposed to be. Ventriloquism was doubtless the trick caused to make the voice appear to come from the earth (Isa 19:3). An appropriate retribution that Jerusalem, which consulted necromancers, should be made like them!
Isaiah 29:5 Verse 5
Moreover--rather, "Yet"; yet in this extremity help shall come, and the enemy be scattered. strangers--foreign enemies, invaders (Isa 25:2). it shall be--namely, the destruction of the enemy. at an instant--in a moment (Isa 30:23).
Isaiah 29:6 Verse 6
Thou--the Assyrian army. thunder, &c.--not literally, in the case of the Assyrians (Isa 37:36); but figuratively for an awful judgment (Isa 30:30; 28:17). The ulterior fulfilment, in the case of the Jews' foes in the last days, may be more literal (see as to "earthquake," Zec 14:4).
Isaiah 29:7 Verse 7
munition--fortress.
Isaiah 29:8 Verse 8
Their disappointment in the very height of their confident expectation of taking Jerusalem shall be as great as that of the hungry man who in a dream fancies he eats, but awakes to hunger still (Ps 73:20); their dream shall be dissipated on the fatal morning (Isa 37:36). soul--simply his appetite: he is still thirsty.
Isaiah 29:9 Verse 9
Stay--rather, "Be astounded"; expressing the stupid and amazed incredulity with which the Jews received Isaiah's announcement. wonder--The second imperative, as often (Isa 8:9), is a threat; the first is a simple declaration of a fact, "Be astounded, since you choose to be so, at the prophecy, soon you will be amazed at the sight of the actual event" [Maurer]. cry ... out ... cry--rather, "Be ye blinded (since you choose to be so, though the light shines all round you), and soon ye shall be blinded" in good earnest to your sorrow [Maurer], (Isa 6:9, 10). not with wine--but with spiritual paralysis (Isa 51:17, 21). ye ... they--The change from speaking to, to speaking of them, intimates that the prophet turns away from them to a greater distance, because of their stupid unbelief.
Isaiah 29:10 Verse 10
Jehovah gives them up judicially to their own hardness of heart (compare Zec 14:13). Quoted by Paul, with variations from the Septuagint, Ro 11:8. See Isa 6:10; Ps 69:23. eyes; the prophets, &c.--rather, "hath closed your eyes, the prophets; and your heads (Margin; see also Isa 3:2), the seers, He hath covered." The Orientals cover the head to sleep; thus "covered" is parallel to "closed your eyes" (Jud 4:19). Covering the face was also preparatory to execution (Es 7:8). This cannot apply to the time when Isaiah himself prophesied, but to subsequent times.
Isaiah 29:11 Verse 11
of all--rather, "the whole vision." "Vision" is the same here as "revelation," or "law"; in Isa 28:15, the same Hebrew word is translated, "covenant" [Maurer]. sealed--(Isa 8:16), God seals up the truth so that even the learned, because they lack believing docility, cannot discern it (Mt 13:10-17; 11:25). Prophecy remained comparatively a sealed volume (Da 12:4, 9), until Jesus, who "alone is worthy," "opened the seals" (Re 5:1-5, 9; 6:1).
Isaiah 29:12 Verse 12
The unlearned succeed no better than the learned, not from want of human learning, as they fancy, but from not having the teaching of God (Isa 54:13; Jer 31:34; Joh 6:45; 1Co 2:7-10; 1Jo 2:20).
Isaiah 29:13 Verse 13
precept of men--instead of the precepts of God, given by His prophets; also worship external, and by rule, not heartfelt as God requires (Joh 4:24). Compare Christ's quotation of this verse from the Septuagint.
Isaiah 29:14 Verse 14
(Hab 1:5; Ac 13:41). The "marvellous work" is one of unparalleled vengeance on the hypocrites: compare "strange work," Isa 28:21. The judgment, too, will visit the wise in that respect in which they most pride themselves; their wisdom shall be hid, that is, shall no longer appear, so as to help the nation in its distress (compare 1Co 1:19).
Isaiah 29:15 Verse 15
seek deep to hide--rather, "That seek to hide deeply," &c. (compare Isa 30:1, 2). The reference is to the secret plan which many of the Jewish nobles had of seeking Egyptian aid against Assyria, contrary to the advice of Isaiah. At the same time the hypocrite in general is described, who, under a plausible exterior, tries to hide his real character, not only from men, but even from God.
Isaiah 29:16 Verse 16
Rather, "Ah! your perverseness! just as if the potter should be esteemed as the clay!" [Maurer]. Or, "Ye invert (turn upside down) the order of things, putting yourselves instead of God," and vice versa, just as if the potter should be esteemed as the clay [Horsley], (Isa 45:9; 64:8).
Isaiah 29:17 Verse 17
turned--as contrasted with your "turnings of things upside down" (Isa 29:16), there shall be other and better turnings or revolutions; the outpouring of the Spirit in the latter days (Isa 32:15); first on the Jews; which shall be followed by their national restoration (see on Isa 29:2; Zec 12:10) then on the Gentiles (Joe 2:28). fruitful field--literally, "a Carmel" (see on Isa 10:18). The moral change in the Jewish nation shall be as great as if the wooded Lebanon were to become a fruitful field, and vice versa. Compare Mt 11:12, Greek: "the kingdom of heaven forces itself," as it were, on man's acceptance; instead of men having to seek Messiah, as they had John, in a desert, He presents Himself before them with loving invitations; thus men's hearts, once a moral desert, are reclaimed so as to bear fruits of righteousness: vice versa, the ungodly who seemed prosperous, both in the moral and literal sense, shall be exhibited in their real barrenness.
Isaiah 29:18 Verse 18
deaf ... blind--(Compare Mt 11:5). The spiritually blind, &c., are chiefly meant; "the book," as Revelation is called pre-eminently, shall be no longer "sealed," as is described (Isa 29:11), but the most unintelligent shall hear and see (Isa 35:5).
Isaiah 29:19 Verse 19
meek--rather, the afflicted godly: the idea is, virtuous suffering (Isa 61:1; Ps 25:9; 37:11) [Barnes]. poor among men--that is, the poorest of men, namely, the pious poor. rejoice--when they see their oppressors punished (Isa 29:20, 21), and Jehovah exhibited as their protector and rewarder (Isa 29:22-24; Isa 41:17; Jas 2:5).
Isaiah 29:20 Verse 20
terrible--namely, the persecutors among the Jewish nobles. scorner--(Isa 28:14, 22). watch for--not only commit iniquity, but watch for opportunities of committing it, and make it their whole study (see Mic 2:1; Mt 26:59; 27:1).
Isaiah 29:21 Verse 21
Rather, "Who make a man guilty in his cause" [Gesenius], that is, unjustly condemn him. "A man" is in the Hebrew a poor man, upon whom such unjust condemnations might be practiced with more impunity than on the rich; compare Isa 29:19, "the meek ... the poor." him that reproveth--rather, "pleadeth"; one who has a suit at issue. gate--the place of concourse in a city, where courts of justice were held (Ru 4:11; Pr 31:23; Am 5:10, 12). just--one who has a just cause; or, Jesus Christ, "the Just One" [Horsley]. for a thing of naught--rather, "through falsehood," "by a decision that is null in justice" [Barnes]. Compare as to Christ, Pr 28:21; Mt 26:15; Ac 3:13, 14; 8:33.
Isaiah 29:22 Verse 22
Join "saith ... concerning the house of Jacob." redeemed--out of Ur, a land of idolaters (Jos 24:3). not now--After the moral revolution described (Isa 29:17), the children of Jacob shall no longer give cause to their forefathers to blush for them. wax pale--with shame and disappointment at the wicked degeneracy of his posterity, and fear as to their punishment.
Isaiah 29:23 Verse 23
But--rather, "For." he--Jacob. work of mine hands--spiritually, as well as physically (Isa 19:25; 60:21; Eph 2:10). By Jehovah's agency Israel shall be cleansed of its corruptions, and shall consist wholly of pious men (Isa 54:13, 14; 2:1; 60:21). midst of him--that is, his land. Or else "His children" are the Gentiles adopted among the Israelites, his lineal descendants (Ro 9:26; Eph 3:6) [Horsley].
Isaiah 29:24 Verse 24
They ... that erred--(Isa 28:7). learn doctrine--rather, "shall receive discipline" or "instruction." "Murmuring" was the characteristic of Israel's rebellion against God (Ex 16:8; Ps 106:25). This shall be so no more. Chastisements, and, in Horsley's view, the piety of the Gentiles provoking the Jews to holy jealousy (Ro 11:11, 14), shall then produce the desired effect.