Commentari biblici

Isa 25:1-12.

CONTINUATION OF THE TWENTY-FOURTH CHAPTER. THANKSGIVING FOR THE OVERTHROW OF THE APOSTATE FACTION, AND THE SETTING UP OF JEHOVAH'S THRONE ON ZION.

The restoration from Babylon and re-establishment of the theocracy was a type and pledge of this.

1. wonderful--

(Isa 9:6).

counsels of old--

(Isa 42:9; 46:10).

Purposes planned long ago; here, as to the deliverance of His people.

truth--Hebrew, Amen; covenant-keeping, faithful to promises; the peculiar characteristic of Jesus

(Re 3:14).

2. a city . . . heap--Babylon, type of the seat of Antichrist, to be destroyed in the last days (compare

Jer 51:37, with Re 18:1-24,

followed, as here, by the song of the saints' thanksgiving in

Re 19:1-21).

"Heaps" is a graphic picture of Babylon and Nineveh as they now are.

palace--Babylon regarded, on account of its splendor, as a vast palace. But MAURER translates, "a citadel."

of strangers--foreigners, whose capital pre-eminently Babylon was, the metropolis of the pagan world. "Aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise"

(Isa 29:5; Eph 2:12;

see in contrast,

Joe 3:17).

never be built--

(Isa 13:19, 20,

&c.).

3. strong people--This cannot apply to the Jews; but other nations on which Babylon had exercised its cruelty

(Isa 14:12)

shall worship Jehovah, awed by the judgment inflicted on Babylon

(Isa 23:18).

city--not Babylon, which shall then be destroyed, but collectively for the cities of the surrounding nations.

4. the poor . . . needy--the Jews, exiles from their country

(Isa 26:6; 41:17).

heat--calamity

(Isa 4:6; 32:2).

blast--that is, wrath.

storm--a tempest of rain, a winter flood, rushing against and overthrowing the wall of a house.

5. Translate, "As the heat in a dry land (is brought down by the shadow of a cloud, so) thou shalt bring down the tumult (the shout of triumph over their enemies) of strangers (foreigners); and as the heat by the shadow of the cloud (is brought low), so the branch (the offspring) of the terrible ones shall be brought low." PARKHURST translates the Hebrew for "branch," the exulting song. JEROME translates the last clause, "And as when the heat burns under a cloud, thou shalt make the branch of the terrible ones to wither"; the branch withering even under the friendly shade of a cloud typifies the wicked brought to ruin, not for want of natural means of prosperity, but by the immediate act of God.

6. in this mountain--Zion: Messiah's kingdom was to begin, and is to have its central seat hereafter, at Jerusalem, as the common country of "all nations"

(Isa 2:2,

&c.).

all people--

(Isa 56:7; Da 7:14; Lu 2:10).

feast--image of felicity

(Ps 22:26, 27; Mt 8:11; Lu 14:15; Re 19:9;

compare

Ps 36:8; 87:1-7).

fat things--delicacies; the rich mercies of God in Christ

(Isa 55:2; Jer 31:14; Job 36:16).

wines on the lees--wine which has been long kept on the lees; that is, the oldest and most generous wine

(Jer 48:11).

marrow--the choicest dainties

(Ps 63:5).

well refined--cleared of all dregs.

7. face of . . . covering--image from mourning, in which it was usual to cover the face with a veil

(2Sa 15:30).

"Face of covering," that is, the covering itself; as in

Job 41:13,

"the face of his garment," the garment itself. The covering or veil is the mist of ignorance as to a future state, and the way to eternal life, which enveloped the nations

(Eph 4:18)

and the unbelieving Jew

(2Co 3:15).

The Jew, however, is first to be converted before the conversion of "all nations"; for it is "in this mountain," namely, Zion, that the latter are to have the veil taken off

(Ps 102:13, 15, 16, 21, 22; Ro 11:12).

8. Quoted in

1Co 15:54,

in support of the resurrection.

swallow up . . . in victory--completely and permanently "abolish"

(2Ti 1:10; Re 20:14; 21:4;

compare

Ge 2:17; 3:22).

rebuke--(Compare

Mr 8:38; Heb 11:26).