Naturally, wherever the fire is, there is also the altar. There the sacrifices were offered, the feasts were held, and there the Day of Atonement was celebrated, etc. Most significantly of all, it was there that the Great Sacrifice, that of Christ himself upon the cross, was offered. The date of the crisis mentioned here "evidently belongs to the very eve of Sennacherib's invasion of Judah in B.
Beginning in Isaiah , the prophet promised relief from "the siege"; but, as Kidner noted, "The gathering of the nations See Zechariah and the spectacular signs of Isaiah suggest a still greater struggle.
This is not a reference to the fall and depopulation of Jerusalem, but rather, it means, "Jerusalem was to be brought to abject humiliation and extremity of supplication. The fulfillment of this came in Sennacherib's insulting taunts of Hezekiah when his siege began, even offering Hezekiah two thousand horsemen, provided that Hezekiah would supply two thousand men who could ride them! All of these Assyrian taunts were heard by the citizens and not by the king only.
The humiliation must indeed have been acute. Wo - compare the note at Isaiah To Ariel - There can be no doubt that Jerusalem is here intended. The declaration that it was the city where David dwelt, as well as the entire scope of the prophecy, proves this. If this be the sense in which it is used here, then it is applied to Jerusalem under the image of a hero, and particularly as the place which was distinguished under David as the capital of a kingdom that was so celebrated for its triumphs in war.
If this be the true interpretation, then it is so called because Jerusalem was the place of the burnt-offering, or of the public worship of God; the place where the fire, as on a hearth, continually burned on the altar. The city where David dwelt - David took the hill of Zion from the Jebusites, and made it the capital of his kingdom 2 Samuel But the more correct idea is probably that in our translation, that David pitched his tent there; that is, that he made it his dwelling-place.
But it has also another signification which better accords with this place. It denotes to make a circle, to revolve; to go round a place Joshua , Joshua ; to surround 1 Kings ; 2 Kings ; Psalms ; Psalms ; Psalms The whole address is evidently ironical, and designed to denote that all their service was an unvarying repetition of heartless forms.
This appears to be another discourse, in which Isaiah threatens the city of Jerusalem. While they thought that they were invincible in power and resources, they considered their strongest and most invincible fortress to consist in their being defended by the protection of God.
They concluded that God was with them, so long as they enjoyed the altar and the sacrifices. This prediction is indeed directed against the whole city, but we must look at the design of the Prophet; for he intended to strip the Jews of their foolish confidence in imagining that God would assist them, so long as the altar and the sacrifices could remain, in which they falsely gloried, and thought that they had fully discharged their duty, though their conduct was base and detestable.
The city where David dwelt. He now proceeds to the city, which he dignifies with the commendation of its high rank, on the ground of having been formerly inhabited by David, but intending, by this admission, to scatter the smoke of their vanity.
Some understand by it the lesser Jerusalem, that is, the inner city, which also was surrounded by a wall; for there was a sort of two-fold Jerusalem, because it had increased, and had extended its walls beyond where they originally stood; but I think that this passage must be understood to relate to the whole city. We do not now dispute whether Peter was Bishop of the Church of Rome or not; but though we should admit that this is fully proved, was any promise made to Rome such as was made to Jerusalem?
And if even this were granted, do not we see what Isaiah declares about Jerusalem? That God is driven from it, when there is no room for doctrine, when the worship of God is corrupted. What then shall be said of Rome, which has no testimony?
Can she boast of anything in preference to Jerusalem? If God pronounces a curse on the most holy city, which he had chosen in an especial manner, what must we say of the rest, who have overturned his holy laws and all godly institutions. Add year to year. This was added by the Prophet, because the Jews thought that they had escaped punishment, when any delay was granted to them. Wicked men think that God has made a truce with them, when they see no destruction close at hand; and therefore they promise to themselves unceasing prosperity, so long as the Lord permits them to enjoy peace and quietness.
We ought to learn from this, that, when the Lord delays to punish and to take vengeance, we ought not, on that account, to seize the occasion for delaying our repentance; for although he spares and bears with us for a time, our sin is not therefore blotted out, nor have we any reason to promise that we shall make a truce with him. Let us not then abuse his patience, but let us be more eager to obtain pardon.
Compare chap. Isaiah But they differ in explaining the application of this name to Jerusalem. Ariel is here taken, in its true signification, not for the altar, but for the hearth of the altar, as in Ezekiel. The import of the name lies here. The hearth of the altar sustained the symbol of the most holy and pure will of God, by which all the sacrifices offered to God must be tried; and to this applies the justice of God, burning like a fire, and consuming the sinner, if no atonement be found.
Jerusalem would become the theater of the divine judgments. This sound was imitated by necromancers, who had also the art of pitching their voice in such a manner as to make it appear to proceed out of the ground, or from what place they chose.
FT The military forces of Sennacherib, which shall be fuel for the fire, and shall be reduced to powder. Thevenot describes this wind with all the circumstances here enumerated, with thunder and lightning, insufferable heat, and a whirlwind of sand. FT The comparison is elegant and beautiful in the highest degree, well wrought up, and perfectly suited to the end proposed: the image is extremely natural, but not obvious; it appeals to our inward feelings, not to our outward senses, and is applied to an event in its concomitant circumstances exactly similar, but in its nature totally different.
For beauty and ingenuity it may fairly come in competition with one of the most elegant of Virgil, greatly improved from Homer, Iliad, , where he has applied to a different purpose, but not so happily, the same image of the ineffectual working of imagination in a dream. Lucretius expresses the very same image with Isaiah, iv. Chapter 29 Chapter 29, the woe unto Jerusalem. Ariel means the lion of God. It is one of the names for Jerusalem. Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, [the lion of God] the city where David dwelt!
Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel.
I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee Isaiah For thou shalt be brought down, and thou shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust Isaiah ,.
Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away. Thou will be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with a storm and a tempest, and the flame of the devouring fire.
And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision. It shall even be as when an hungry man dreams, and he dreams that he is eating; and then he wakes up, and his soul is still empty: or as when a thirsty man is dreaming, and he dreams that he's getting a drink of water; but he wakes up, and his soul still is faint, and he has appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.
Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.
For the LORD hath poured upon them the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered Isaiah And so the lethargy, the spiritual blindness that has overcome the people.
Here they are living in the shadow of the coming judgment but blind to the fact, even as is much the case today. The world is living really under the shadow of this great judgment of God. And yet they seem to be so blind to it. For God said,. Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and the works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us?
Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not?
Here Isaiah shows again in this figure of the potter and the clay how that it is so ridiculous for man, the clay, to say to the potter, "He didn't make me. I evolved. How can you look at the human body and say that God doesn't have any understanding? The intricate system of the human body, the bloodstream, and just take that alone, the heart and the bloodstream.
And how can you say that God has no understanding? The nervous system and its functions, the brain and the messages that it codes and sends and so forth and decodes. And how can you say that God has no understanding or that God didn't make me?
And yet here we listen to these little bits of intellectual clay boasting against God, against the Creator. All Rights Reserved. Download our mobile app for on-the-go access to the Jewish Virtual Library. Category » Jewish Concepts. Angels and Angelology. Articles of Faith. Assignment of Debt. Barrenness and Fertility. Bigamy and Polygamy.
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Conflict of Opinion. Creation and Cosmogony in the Bible. Cynics and Cynicism. Death and Mourning. Door and Doorpost. Would the prophet that God might raise up over your city be comforting and speak gently to the people, or would he bring a word of correction and warning? If you are sent into a particular city, or into a relationship with a neighbor and you are rejected, what is to be your response? We tend not to think this way. We have been taught that spiritual matters and an individual consideration and that there is no broader application in terms of the mind of God or the will of God toward a nation or a larger group.
This rebuking or addressing whole cities was not just something the old testament prophets indulged in but Jesus Himself as well: [Mat KJV] 20 Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: 21 Woe unto thee, Chorazin!
Again, we tend not to think this way because in our Western world view we exclude cities and nations from accountability to God and make it a strictly personal and individual matter. We are taught in our religious culture how an individual establishes a proper response to God but how about an entire city or a nation?
How does a nation, or a city, your city get right with God? What would the repentance of a city look like? When Jesus instructed His disciples regarding their apostolic mission He assigned them not just to reach out to individuals but to confront whole nations with the claims of Christ: [Mat KJV] 14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
How do you teach or disciple a city? The very nature of our society excludes even the platform that would make this possible. To reach a city with anything other than an anemic religious message is impossible without radical signs, miracles and wonders.
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