서론
無題
简体中文
英語原文
The prophecy of this chapter seems to relate (as that in the foregoing chapter) to the approaching danger of Jerusalem and desolations of Judah by Sennacherib's invasion. Here is, I. A just reproof to those who, in that distress, trusted to the Egyptians for help, and were all in a hurry to fetch succours from Egypt, Isa 30:1-7. II. A terrible threatening against those who slighted the good advice which God by his prophets gave them for the repose of their minds in that distress, assuring them that whatever became of others the judgment would certainly overtake them, Isa 30:8-17. III. A gracious promise to those who trusted in God, that they should not only see through the trouble, but should see happy days after it, times of joy and reformation, plenty of the means of grace, and therewith plenty of outward good things and increasing joys and triumphs (Isa 30:18-26), and many of these promises are very applicable to gospel grace. IV. A prophecy of the total rout and ruin of the Assyrian army, which should be an occasion of great joy and an introduction to those happy times, Isa 30:27-33.
1-7
The Foolish Confidence of Judah (720 BC)
简体中文
犹大愚妄的倚靠（公元前720年）
¹ 耶和华说：「祸哉！这悖逆的儿女。他们设谋，却不由于我；结盟，却不由于我的灵，以致罪上加罪。 ² 起身下埃及去，并没有求问我；要靠法老的力量坚固自己，要投靠在埃及的荫下！」 ³ 所以，法老的力量必作你们的羞愧；投靠在埃及荫下的，必致惭愧。 ⁴ 他们的首领已在琐安，他们的使臣到了哈内斯。 ⁵ 他们必因那不利于他们的民蒙羞；那民不但毫无帮助，毫无益处，反使他们受羞愧，受凌辱。 ⁶ 论南方牲畜的默示：他们把财物驮在驴驹的脊背上，将宝物驮在骆驼的肉鞍上，经过艰难困苦之地，就是公狮、母狮、蝮蛇、火焰的飞龙所出之地，往那无益于他们的民那里去。 ⁷ 埃及的帮助是徒然虚空的；所以我称她为『坐而不动的拉哈伯』。
犹太百姓常常如此犯罪、如此愚妄：当一边的邻邦欺凌他们时，他们不从另一边的邻邦求救，反倒仰望神、专心倚靠他。他们为抵挡以色列人，曾向亚兰人求救（代下 16:2,3）；为抵挡亚兰人，又向亚述人求救（王下 16:7）；为抵挡亚述人，他们此时又向埃及人求救——拉伯沙基正是为此责备他们（王下 18:21）。请看，
一、他们的罪在此如何描述，其中有什么惹神发怒之处。当他们看见自己在危险患难中：1. 他们不肯求问神。他们要凭己意行事，不与神商议，尽管他们借着乌陵或先知有现成可靠的求问途径。他们对自己计谋的精明如此自信，以致以为求问神谕是多余的；不但如此，他们也不愿把事情摆到那个地步：「他们彼此设谋，互相商议；却不求问我的谋略，更遑论听从我的指教。他们结盟」（他们以为可以借这样那样的庇护所保全自己，可以遮蔽他们免受风暴的暴力），「却不由于我的灵」——不是神借他的灵在他先知口中所指示的那种，「因此那遮盖必太短小，是谎言的避难所。」 2. 他们不能信靠神。他们不以有神站在他们一边为足，也毫不殷勤地要使他为友，反倒在法老的力量里坚固自己；他们以为他是个有力的盟友，毫不怀疑既有他相助，就能与亚述人抗衡。埃及的荫下（那不过是阴影）就是他们所披戴的遮盖。
二、这罪的恶毒之处。1. 这表明他们是悖逆的儿女；神在此以这名号宣告他们的祸哉（赛 30:1）。按信仰说，他们是神的儿女；但他们既不信任他，就公义地被定为悖逆；因为我们若不信赖神的护理，实际上就是脱离了他的治理。2. 他们罪上加罪。是罪使他们陷入患难；那时他们非但不悔改，反而更加得罪耶和华（代下 28:22）。他们既曾滥用神向他们所施的怜悯，将其当作私欲的燃料，如今也滥用他们的苦难，以之为不信任神的借口；这样他们以恶加恶，罪上加罪；如此行的人，既加重自己的锁链，神也公义地使他们的灾祸奇特可畏。使他们罪加重的乃是：（1）他们为要确保埃及人为盟友而费了那么多的力气：他们起身下埃及去——上上下下地寻找通到那里的好路；但他们并没有求问我——从来没有想过神是否允许、是否喜悦。（2）他们为此所费如此浩大（赛 30:6）。他们把南方的牲畜（从埃及带来的马，埃及在犹大之南）驮上他们的财物——如同受惊之人常以为在何处都比在自己所在之处更安全。或者他们将财物送到那里，作为贿赂给法老的朝臣，要拉拢他们到自己这边，或作他们军队的军饷。神原可白白地帮助他们；但他们若要埃及人的帮助，就必出极大的代价，他们似乎也情愿如此。这样花去的财物，必带来坏账。他们将家产带到埃及，经过（也可这样读）一个困苦艰难之地——那片横亘在迦南与埃及之间的广阔荒凉旷野，有狮子、有火焰的蛇（申 8:15）。他们竟冒险穿过那危险的旷野，将一切所有带到埃及。或者也可指埃及本身——它对以色列曾为奴役之家，因此是困苦艰难之地，且多产猛兽毒蛇。请看离弃神的人所陷入的危险，以及人为追求属肉体的倚靠和对受造之物的期望，所情愿冒的危险。
三、这事的后果。1. 埃及人必接待他们的使臣，必以极高的礼遇对待他们，乐与他们谈判（赛 30:4）：他们的首领已在琐安——在法老设在琐安的朝廷里，蒙王接见；王鼓励他们仰赖他的友谊和他所要差遣的援助。但 2. 埃及人不能如他们所期望：他们不能有助于他们（赛 30:5）。因为神说：他们不能有助于他们（赛 30:6）——一切受造之物对我们不过（也不多过）神所要它成为的。他们当供给的军兵来不及集结；或集结之后不堪作战，他们也不肯在这次出阵中动用他们的老兵；或行军路途遥远，在有需要时赶不到；或埃及人对以色列并不真心，倒因某事某因暗中倾向亚述人：埃及的帮助是徒然虚空的（赛 30:7）；他们不但不帮助，反而拦阻伤害。所以 3. 这些如今对埃及人如此倾心的人，至终必以他们为耻，以对他们一切所望所靠为耻（赛 30:3）：「法老的力量，你们所夸耀的，必作你们的羞愧；你们四围的邻舍必责备你们，你们自己也必因投靠它的愚妄而自责。埃及的荫下，那翅膀遮荫之地*（赛 18:1），你们所信靠的，必作你们的惭愧；它不但使你们失望，成为你们羞愧的缘由，更必削弱你们一切别的支持，成为你们遭祸的缘由。」* 后来神为这一件事（因埃及人对以色列行事诡诈，作他们芦苇的杖，结 29:6,7）而威胁要毁灭埃及。以色列那些如此殷勤求结盟的君臣使臣，到了他们中间，必看见他们那么多的软弱——或更准确说是卑鄙——以致他们都因那不能帮助、不能有益于他们，反成为羞辱和凌辱的民而蒙羞（赛 30:5）。倚靠神——他的大能、护理和应许——的人，从不因所盼望的蒙羞；但凡将信心放在任何受造之物上的，迟早必发现它成为他们的羞辱。神是真实的，可以信靠；人都是虚谎的，当存戒备。造物主是万古的磐石，受造之物是折断的芦苇。我们对人的期望不能太小，对神的期望不能太大。
四、这一切的应用（赛 30:7）：「所以论到这事」——他们这个计谋——「我曾这样说过。」我已将它宣告出来，叫众人都留意。我已像恳切的人那样强调这事。「他们的力量在乎安然静坐」——谦卑地倚靠神和他的良善，安静地顺服他的旨意，而不是四处奔波，大费周章地向这个那个受造之物求帮助。我们若在患难之日安然静坐，盼望并安静等候耶和华的拯救，只采用合法正常的方法保全自己，这就作我们灵魂事奉和受苦的力量，也必为我们求得神圣的帮助。我们以血肉为膀臂时，就削弱了自己，惹神收回他自己——因为那时我们的心就离开了耶和华。当我们因向受造之物求助而疲惫时，必发现复兴自己最好的方法，就是安息在造物主里面。我在这里，愿他凭自己的意旨待我。
英語原文
The Foolish Confidence of Judah (720 BC)
¹ Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin:
² That walk to go down into Egypt, and have not asked at my mouth; to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt!
³ Therefore shall the strength of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt your confusion.
⁴ For his princes were at Zoan, and his ambassadors came to Hanes.
⁵ They were all ashamed of a people that could not profit them, nor be a help nor profit, but a shame, and also a reproach.
⁶ The burden of the beasts of the south: into the land of trouble and anguish, from whence come the young and old lion, the viper and fiery flying serpent, they will carry their riches upon the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures upon the bunches of camels, to a people that shall not profit them.
⁷ For the Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose: therefore have I cried concerning this, Their strength is to sit still.
It was often the fault and folly of the people of the Jews that, when they were insulted by their neighbours on one side, they sought for succour from their neighbours on the other side, instead of looking up to God and putting their confidence in him. Against the Israelites they sought to the Syrians, 2Ch 16:2,3. Against the Syrians they sought to the Assyrians, 2Ki 16:7. Against the Assyrians they here sought to the Egyptians, and Rabshakeh upbraided them with so doing, 2Ki 18:21. Now observe here,
I. How this sin of theirs is described, and what there was in it that was provoking to God. When they saw themselves in danger and distress, 1. They would not consult God. They would do things of their own heads, and not advise with God, though they had a ready and certain way of doing it by Urim or prophets. They were so confident of the prudence of their own measures that they thought it needless to consult the oracle; nay, they were not willing to put it to that issue: "They take counsel among themselves, and one from another; but they do not ask counsel, much less will they take counsel, of me. They cover with a covering" (they think to secure themselves with one shelter or other, which may serve to cover them from the violence of the storm), "but not of my Spirit" (not such as God by his Spirit, in the mouth of his prophets, directed them to), "and therefore it will prove too short a covering, and a refuge of lies." 2. They could not confide in God. They did not think it enough to have God on their side, nor were they at all solicitous to make him their friend, but they strengthened themselves in the strength of Pharaoh; they thought him a powerful ally, and doubted not but to be able to cope with the Assyrian while they had him for them. The shadow of Egypt (and it was but a shadow) was the covering in which they wrapped themselves.
II. What was the evil of this sin. 1. It bespoke them rebellious children; and a woe is here denounced against them under that character, Isa 30:1. They were, in profession, God's children; but, not trusting in him, they were justly stigmatized as rebellious; for, if we distrust God's providence, we do in effect withdraw ourselves from our allegiance. 2. They added sin to sin. It was sin that brought them into distress; and then, instead of repenting, they trespassed yet more against the Lord, 2Ch 28:22. And those that had abused God's mercies to them, making them the fuel of their lusts, abused their afflictions too, making them an excuse for their distrust of God; and so they make bad worse, and add sin to sin; and those that do so, as they make their own chain heavy, so it is just with God to make their plagues wonderful. Now that which aggravated their sin was, (1.) That they took so much pains to secure the Egyptians for their allies: They walk to go down to Egypt, travel up and down to find an advantageous road thither; but they have not asked at my mouth, never considered whether God would allow and approve of it or no. (2.) That they were at such a vast expense to do it, Isa 30:6. They load the beasts of the south (horses fetched from Egypt, which lay south from Judea) with their riches, fancying, as it is common with people in a fright, that they were safer any where than where they were. Or they sent their riches thither as bribes to Pharaoh's courtiers, to engage them in their interests, or as pay for their army. God would have helped them gratis; but, if they will have help from the Egyptians, they must pay dearly for it, and they seem willing to do so. The riches that are so spent will turn to a bad account. They carried their effects to Egypt through a land (so it may be read) of trouble and anguish, that vast howling wilderness which lay between Canaan and Egypt, whence come the lion and fiery serpent, De 8:15. They would venture through that dangerous wilderness, to bring what they had to Egypt. Or it may be meant of Egypt itself, which had been to Israel a house of bondage and therefore a land of trouble and anguish, and which abounded in ravenous and venomous creatures. See what dangers men run into that forsake God, and what dangers they will run into in pursuance of their carnal confidences and their expectations from the creature.
III. What would be the consequence of it. 1. The Egyptians would receive their ambassadors, would address them very respectfully, and be willing to treat with them (Isa 30:4): His princes were at Zoan, at Pharaoh's court there, and had their audience of the king, who encouraged them to depend upon his friendship and the succours he would send them. But, 2. They would not answer their expectation: They could not profit them, Isa 30:5. For God says, They shall not profit them (Isa 30:6), and every creature is that to us (and no more) which he makes it to be. The forces they were to furnish them with could not be raised in time; or, when they were raised, they were not fit for service, and they would not venture any of their veteran troops in the expedition; or the march was so long that they could not come up when they had occasion for them; or the Egyptians would not be cordial to Israel, but would secretly incline to the Assyrians, upon some account or other: The Egyptians shall help in vain, and to no purpose, Isa 30:7. They shall hinder and hurt, instead of helping. And therefore, 3. These people, that were now so fond of the Egyptians, would at length be ashamed of them, and of all their expectations from them and confidence in them (Isa 30:3): "The strength of Pharaoh, which was your pride, shall be your shame; all your neighbours will upbraid you, and you will upbraid yourselves, with your folly in trusting to it. And the shadow of Egypt, that land shadowing with wings (Isa 18:1), which was your confidence, shall be your confusion; it will not only disappoint you, and be the matter of your shame, but it will weaken all your other supports, and be an occasion of mischief to you." God afterwards threatens the ruin of Egypt for this very thing, because they had dealt treacherously with Israel and been a staff of a reed to them, Eze 29:6,7. The princes and ambassadors of Israel, who were so forward to court an alliance with them, when they come among them shall see so much of their weakness, or rather of their baseness, that they shall all be ashamed of a people that could not be a help or profit to them, but a shame and reproach, Isa 30:5. Those that trust in God, in his power, providence, and promise, are never made ashamed of their hope; but those that put confidence in any creature will sooner or later find it a reproach to them. God is true, and may be trusted, but every man a liar, and must be suspected. The Creator is a rock of ages, the creature a broken reed. We cannot expect too little from man nor too much from God.
IV. The use and application of all this (Isa 30:7): "Therefore have I cried concerning this matter, this project of theirs. I have published it, that all might take notice of it. I have pressed it as one in earnest. Their strength is to sit still, in a humble dependence upon God and his goodness and a quiet submission to his will, and not to wander about and put themselves to great trouble to seek help from this and the other creature." If we sit still in a day of distress, hoping and quietly waiting for the salvation of the Lord, and using only lawful regular methods for our own preservation, this will be the strength of our souls both for services and sufferings, and it will engage divine strength for us. We weaken ourselves, and provoke God to withdraw from us, when we make flesh our arm, for then our hearts depart from the Lord. When we have tired ourselves by seeking for help from creatures we shall find it the best way of recruiting ourselves to repose in the Creator. Here I am, let him do with me as he pleases.
8-17
Doom of Incorrigible Sinners (720 BC)
简体中文
不可救药之罪人的厄运（公元前720年）
⁸ 「现今你去，在他们面前将这话刻在版上，记在书上，以便传留后世，直到永永远远；
⁹ 因为他们是悖逆的百姓、说谎的儿女、不肯听从耶和华训诲的儿女；
¹⁰ 他们对先见说：『不要说预言』；对先知说：『不要向我们讲正直的话，要向我们说柔和的话、讲虚幻的事。
¹¹ 你们要离开正道，转离直路，在我们面前不要再提以色列的圣者。』
¹² 所以以色列的圣者如此说：『因为你们藐视这训诲的话，倚赖欺压和乖戾，以此为可靠；
¹³ 所以这罪孽在你们身上，好像高墙忽然凸出、快要倒塌的破口，顷刻之间忽然塌下。
¹⁴ 他必照样将它全然拆毁，好像匠人打碎瓦器，毫不顾惜；甚至在碎破之中，也找不出一块碎片用来从炉中取火、从池中打水。』
¹⁵ 主耶和华以色列的圣者如此说：『你们得救在乎归回安息，你们得力在乎平静安稳。』你们竟不肯。
¹⁶ 你们却说：『不然，我们要骑马奔逃。』所以你们必奔逃。又说：『我们要骑快马。』所以追逼你们的也必飞快。
¹⁷ 一人叱喝，必令千人逃跑；五人叱喝，你们都必逃跑；直到所剩下的，好像山顶的旗杆、冈上的标旗。』
此处：一、序言十分可畏。先知不仅要传讲这话，还要把它写下来（赛30:8）——「刻在版上」，为要挂起来，公之于众；他要小心地「记在书上」，不是记在可能遗失或撕裂的散页上，而是「记在书上」，为后代保存——「永久记念」——作为对这个邪恶之世代的持续见证；让它存留，不仅给紧接着的后代，而且存到永永远远，只要世界存续；它必如此，因为圣经的书卷无疑必继续存留，被人诵读，直到末时。让它写下来：1. 为使当代之人羞愧——他们不肯在话被传讲之时听见留意。让它写下来，免得失传；他们的儿女虽然不愿，却可从中得益。2. 为在神即将降与他们的一切审判上显明神的公义；人若不知道他们何等败坏、何等惹动神，以及在他们落到这极端之前神用了何等公平的手段待他们，便会受试探以为神对他们太苛刻、太严厉。3. 为警告别人不可效法他们所行的，免得遭遇他们所遭遇的。这是为最远之处、最远之世代的人的警戒而设的，就是「这些事写在经上，正是警戒我们这末世的人」（林前10:11）。神的牧者不仅传讲，也当写作，这是有益的；因为那写下来的，得以长存。
二、对亵渎败坏的犹太人的品格描述，十分可悲。他若要照他们的本相来描绘，就必这样写论到他们（我们确知他并没有对他们作假见证，也没有把他们说得比实际更坏，因为神的审判是照真理的）：「这是悖逆的百姓」（赛30:9）。就我们所知，犹太人那时是世上唯一口称信仰神的百姓，然而他们中许多人却是悖逆的百姓。1. 他们违背自己的良心和所立的约：「他们是『说谎的儿女』，不肯兑现自己所说的话，应许得好，却一事无成」；当神与他们立约之时，曾说：「他们诚然是我的百姓，不肯说谎的儿女」（赛63:8）；结果却不然。2. 他们违背神的权柄：「他们是『不肯听从耶和华训诲的儿女』，不留心听，却要随己意而行，任凭神自己说什么反对的话。」
三、对他们所提的控告极为严厉，所判的刑罚极为可畏。他们在此被控两件事，并为这两件事宣判了判决——一个可怕的判决：——
- 他们禁止先知奉神的名向他们说话，诚实地对待他们。
(1) 他们的罪在此被描述（赛30:10、11）。他们极力反对先知，阻拦他们传讲，或至少阻拦他们在传讲中坦诚相待，对先知讥讽欺压，以致他们实际上等于「对先见说：『不要说预言。』」他们有光，却爱黑暗。他们中间有先见，本是他们的特权，他们却尽力要弄瞎先见的眼睛——他们中间有先知，他们却尽力要封住先知的口；因为先知在他们恶道上使他们痛苦（启11:10）。那些使好牧者静默、不喜悦好讲道的人，理当地被算为、被称为「背叛神的人」。请看先知讲道中哪些事使他们觉得受冒犯。[1] 先知指出他们的过错，警告他们因罪而有的痛苦和危险，他们不能忍受。先知必须向他们说柔和的话，必须在他们的罪中奉承他们，说他们行得好，他们所过的生活并无害处、并无危险。一件事无论何等正直真实，若不柔和，他们就不肯听。但若合乎他们对自己所存的好看法，并能巩固这看法，那么无论它何等虚假、何等是骗局，他们也要请人如此向他们预言。那愿意被欺骗的，理当被欺骗。[2] 先知阻挡他们在罪的追逐中，如同巴兰路上的天使那样挡在他们路上，手中抽出神怒气的剑；使他们不能不存恐惧前行。他们却视之为大冒犯。他们随心所好的顽梗前行之时，对先知说：「『你们要离开正道，转离直路。』你们在我们的路上作什么？不能让我们随心所欲吗？」那些叫忠实的劝戒者让开的人，他们的心已完全定意行恶。「不要再说了，你为何要受责打呢？」（代下25:16）。[3] 先知不断地向他们讲论以色列的圣者——他何等是罪的仇敌，他必何等严厉地与罪人算账；这是他们所不能忍受听见的。这事的本身和其中的表达，对他们都太严肃了；所以先知若要向他们说话，他们就要讲定条件——不可称神为「以色列的圣者」；因为神的圣洁正是恶人最畏惧的属性。你们那不关痛痒的长篇大论，不要再带这「国家式的」开场白（这是怀特（White）先生所给的称呼）来烦我们了。那些不能忍受被吓出罪来的人，有理由惧怕在罪中灭亡。
(2) 那么为他们所判的刑罚是什么呢？我们在赛30:12、13看见。[1] 谁在他们身上下判决：「以色列的圣者如此说。」先知特意用了他们尤其反感的那个神的称呼。忠实的牧者不会因那些能唤醒罪人的表达令人不悦，就被拦阻不用。我们必须告诉人，神是「以色列的圣者」，他们也必如此发现他——无论他们肯听不肯听。[2] 刑罚的根据：「因为他们藐视这训诲的话」——或泛指先知对他们所说的一切话，或特指宣告神是「以色列的圣者」的这话：「他们藐视这话，既不以此为当敬畏的，也不以此为当盼望的；他们宁可『倚赖欺压和乖戾』——倚赖他们用欺诈暴力所得的财富和势力，或倚赖他们为自身安全所采取的、违背神和他旨意的罪恶手段——也不愿欠『以色列的圣者』的情。他们倚靠这些，所以他们跌倒原是公道的。」[3] 所判的刑罚：「『这罪孽在你们身上，好像高墙……快要倒塌的破口。』你们所倚靠的这些，必如同建在沙土上的房子，风暴来时必倒塌，把建造的人埋在废墟之中。你们对神那本可建造其上的话语的藐视，必使你们所信靠的一切别的事物如同向外凸出的墙——若有重物压在上面，就必塌下来；不，往往连它自己的重量也承不住。」他们如此招来的毁灭必是，「第一」，出人意外的毁灭：「破口必忽然塌下」，在他们想不到之时——这使它更可怕——在他们没有预备、毫无防备之时——这使它更致命。「第二」，全然的毁灭——普遍而无可挽回：「你们和你们所信靠的一切，必不仅如窑匠的泥土那样软弱（赛29:16），更『好像匠人打碎的瓦器那样』被打碎。那拿铁杖的必打破它（诗2:9），他必不顾惜——毫无顾念，也不留心保存或保全它的任何一部分。瓦器一旦破碎到不堪使用，就任它被摔碎、被碾碎，碎得连一块足以用来取一点『火或水』的碎片都不剩」——这两样是我们日常所需用的，穷人通常用破瓦器的一片来取。他们必不仅如「歪斜的墙」（诗62:3），更如破碎的杯子或玻璃——毫无用处，再也不能复原。
- 他们轻看神所赐恩慈的指引——不仅关乎如何保全自己、使自己安全，更关乎如何安定自己、使自己安逸；他们偏要走自己的路（赛30:15-17）。请看，
(1) 神为他们所定的得救和得力的方法。那位认识他们、知道什么对他们合适、又愿他们得福的神，给他们开了这处方；这处方也向我们众人推荐。[1] 我们要得蒙拯救脱离各样灾祸的恶——脱离灾祸的试探、脱离灾祸的咒诅（这才是灾祸中唯一的恶事）吗？必须「在归回安息」中——归回神，以他为安息之所而安息。让我们从已经偏离的恶道上归回，在神和本分的道上安息定居，这才是得救之道。「从下埃及去的计策中归回，在神的旨意中满足安息，然后你可以把你的安全交托给他。『在归回』（在你们内心和生活的彻底归正中）『安息』（在你们全然顺服神、以他为乐之中）『你们必得救』。」[2] 我们要得着力量去行所当行的、担所当担的吗？必须「在平静安稳」中——我们必须借着持续倚靠神、倚靠他的大能和良善，保守我们的灵平静安宁；我们必须带着圣洁的安静退回自己里面，压制一切烦乱激荡的激情，维持心中的平安。我们必须带着圣洁的信靠倚靠神——信他能随己意行事，也必为他的百姓行最好的事。这便是我们的力量；它必以圣洁的勇敢激励我们，使我们能轻松勇敢地度过一切可能遇见的艰难。
(2) 他们对这处方的轻视；他们不肯听从神的指教，尽管这指教如此有益于他们自己。那些不肯请神作医生的人，理当地死于自己的病症。我们若不肯顺服他，无疑是自己的仇敌。他们连所开的方法都不肯一试：「『但你们说，不』（赛30:16），我们不安定自己，因为『我们要骑马奔逃』，『我们要骑快马』，我们要东奔西跑，招揽外来的援助。」他们自以为比神更有智慧，以为自己比他更知道什么是于自己有益的。当西拿基立攻取犹大一切坚固城之时，那些悖逆的儿女不肯受劝安静坐稳，耐心等候神为他们出来，正如他末了奇妙地所作的那样；他们偏要自己设法保命，因而使自己暴露在更大的危险之中。
(3) 为此在他们身上所判的刑罚。他们的罪必成为他们的刑罚：「你们要奔逃，所以『你们必奔逃』；你们要全速奔逃，所以追赶你们的人也必全速。」狗最爱追着骑快的人吠叫。征服者保护那些安静坐着的，却追击那些逃遁的；所以他们指望借以自救的那个计策，反而公道地成了他们的毁灭，最有罪的人受害最深。赛30:17预言：[1] 他们必轻易被剪除；他们必因自己的恐惧——又因逃遁而加增的恐惧——如此丧胆，以致敌人中一人就能击败他们千人，五人就能使全军溃逃——若不是「他们的磐石卖了他们」（申32:30），这绝不可能。[2] 他们必普遍被剪除，只有这里那里一人能在僻静之处单独逃脱，并且留下来如同示众的标记，「好像山顶的旗杆」——警戒别人避免同样的罪行和肉体的倚靠。
英語原文
Doom of Incorrigible Sinners (720 BC)
⁸ Now go, write it before them in a table, and note it in a book, that it may be for the time to come for ever and ever:
⁹ That this is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of the LORD:
¹⁰ Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
¹¹ Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
¹² Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon:
¹³ Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.
¹⁴ And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters' vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit.
¹⁵ For thus saith the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.
¹⁶ But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift.
¹⁷ One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on a hill.
Here, I. The preface is very awful. The prophet must not only preach this, but he must write it (Isa 30:8), write it in a table, to be hung up and exposed to public view; he must carefully note it, not in loose papers which might be lost or torn, but in a book, to be preserved for posterity, in perpetuam rei memoriam—for a standing testimony against this wicked generation; let it remain not only to the next succeeding ages, but for ever and ever, while the world stands; and so it shall, for the book of the scriptures no doubt, shall continue, and be read, to the end of time. Let it be written, 1. To shame the men of the present age, who would not hear and heed it when it was spoken. Let it be written, that it may not be lost; their children may profit by it, though they will not. 2. To justify God in the judgments he was about to ring upon them; people will be tempted to think he was too hard upon them, and over-severe, unless they know how very bad they were, how very provoking, and what fair means God tried with them before he brought it to this extremity. 3. For warning to others not to do as they did, lest they should fare as they fared. It is designed for admonition to those of the remotest place and age, even those upon whom the ends of the world have come, 1Co 10:11. It may be of use for God's ministers not only to preach, but to write; for that which is written remains.
II. The character given of the profane and wicked Jews is very sad. He must, if he will draw them in their own colours, write this concerning them (and we are sure he does not bear false witness against them, nor make them worse than they were, for the judgment of God is according to truth), That this is a rebellious people, Isa 30:9. The Jews were, for aught we know, the only professing people God had then in the world, and yet many of them were a rebellious people. 1. They rebelled against their own convictions and covenants: "They are lying children, that will not stand to what they say, that promise fair, but perform nothing;" when he took them into covenant with himself he said of them, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie (Isa 63:8); but they proved otherwise. 2. They rebelled against the divine authority: "They are children that will not hear the law of the Lord, nor heed it, but will do as they have a mind, let God himself say what he will to the contrary."
III. The charge drawn up against them is very high and the sentence passed upon them very dreadful. Two things they here stand charged with, and their doom is read for both, a fearful doom:—
1. They forbade the prophets to speak to them in God's name, and to deal faithfully with them.
(1.) This their sin is described, Isa 30:10,11. They set themselves so violently against the prophets to hinder them from preaching, or at least from dealing plainly with them in their preaching, did so banter them and browbeat them, that they did in effect say to the seers, See not. They had the light, but they loved darkness rather. It was their privilege that they had seers among them, but they did what they could to put out their eyes—that they had prophets among them, but they did what they could to stop their mouths; for they tormented them in their wicked ways, Re 11:10. Those that silence good ministers, and discountenance good preaching, are justly counted, and called, rebels against God. See what it was in the prophets' preaching with which they found themselves aggrieved. [1.] The prophets told them of their faults, and warned them of their misery and danger by reason of sin, and they could not bear that. They must speak to them smooth things, must flatter them in their sins, and say that they did well, and there was no harm, no peril, in the course of life they lived in. Let a thing be ever so right and true, if it be not smooth, they will not hear it. But if it be agreeable to the good opinion they have of themselves, and will confirm them in that, though it be ever so false and ever so great a cheat upon them, they will have it prophesied to them. Those deserve to be deceived that desire to be so. [2.] The prophets stopped them in their sinful pursuits, and stood in their way like the angel in Balaam's road, with the sword of God's wrath drawn in their hand; so that they could not proceed without terror. And this they took as a great insult. When they went on frowardly in the way of their hearts they said to the prophets, "Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the paths. What do you do in our way? Cannot you let us alone to do as we please?" Those have their hearts fully set in them to do evil that bid their faithful monitors to stand out of their way. Forbear, why shouldst thou be smitten? 2Ch 25:16. [3.] The prophets were continually telling them of the Holy One of Israel, what an enemy he is to sin ad how severely he will reckon with sinners; and this they could not endure to hear of. Both the thing itself and the expression of it were too serious for them; and therefore, if the prophets will speak to them, they will make it their bargain that they shall not call God the Holy One of Israel; for God's holiness is that attribute which wicked people most of all dread. Let us no more be troubled with that state-preface (as Mr. White calls it) to your impertinent harangues. Those have reason to fear perishing in their sins that cannot bear to be frightened out of them.
(2.) Now what is the doom passed upon them for this? We have it, Isa 30:12,13. Observe, [1.] Who it is that gives judgment upon them: Thus saith the Holy One of Israel. That title of God which they particularly excepted against the prophet makes use of. Faithful ministers will not be driven from using such expressions as are proper to awaken sinners, though they be displeasing. We must tell men that God is the Holy One of Israel, and so they shall find him, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear. [2.] What the ground of the judgment is: Because they despise this word—wither, in general, every word that the prophets said to them, or this word in particular, which declares God to be the Holy One of Israel: "they despise this, and will neither make it their fear, to stand in awe of it, nor make it their hope, to put any confidence in it; but, rather than they will be beholden to the Holy One of Israel, they will trust in oppression and perverseness, in the wealth they have got and the interest they have made by fraud and violence, or in the sinful methods they have taken for their own security, in contradiction to God and his will. On these they lean, and therefore it is just that they should fall." [3.] What the judgment is that is passed upon them: "This iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall. This confidence of yours will be like a house built upon the sand, which will fall in the storm and bury the builder in the ruins of it. Your contempt of that word of God which you might build upon will make every thing else you trust like a wall that bulges out, which, if any weight be laid upon it, comes down, nay, which often sinks with its own weight." The ruin they would hereby bring upon themselves should be, First, A surprising ruin: The breaking shall come suddenly, at an instant, when they do not expect it, which will make it the more frightful, and when they are not prepared or provided for it, which will make it the more fatal. Secondly, An utter ruin, universal and irreparable: "Your and all your confidences shall be not only weak as the potter's clay (Isa 29:16), but broken to pieces as the potter's vessel. He that has the rod of iron shall break it (Ps 2:9) and he shall not spare, shall not have any regard to it, nor be in care to preserve or keep whole any part of it. But, when once it is broken so as to be unfit for use, let it be dashed, let it be crushed, all to pieces, so that there may not remain one sherd big enough to take up a little fire or water"—two things we have daily need of, and which poor people commonly fetch in a piece of a broken pitcher. They shall not only be as a bowing wall (Ps 62:3), but as a broken mug or glass, which is good for nothing, nor can ever be made whole again.
2. They slighted the gracious directions God gave them, not only how to secure themselves and make themselves safe, but how to compose themselves and make themselves easy; they would take their own way, Isa 30:15-17. Observe here,
(1.) The method God put them into for salvation and strength. The God that knew them, and knew what was proper for them, and desired their welfare, gave them this prescription; and it is recommended to us all. [1.] Would we be saved from the evil of every calamity, guarded against the temptation of it and secured from the curse of it, which are the only evil things in it? It must be in returning and rest, in returning to God and reposing in him as our rest. Let us return from our evil ways, into which we have gone aside, and rest and settle in the way of God and duty, and that is the way to be saved. "Return from this project of going down to Egypt, and rest satisfied in the will of God, and then you may trust him with your safety. In returning (in the thorough reformation of your hearts and lives) and in rest (in an entire submission of your souls to God and a complacency in him) you shall be saved." [2.] Would we be strengthened to do what is required of us and to bear what is laid upon us? It must be in quietness and in confidence; we must keep our spirits calm and sedate by a continual dependence upon God, and his power and goodness; we must retire into ourselves with a holy quietness, suppressing all turbulent and tumultuous passions, and keeping the peace in our own minds. And we must rely upon God with a holy confidence that he can do what he will and will do what is best for his people. And this will be our strength; it will inspire us with such a holy fortitude as will carry us with ease and courage through all the difficulties we may meet with.
(2.) The contempt they put upon this prescription; they would not take God's counsel, though it was so much for their own good. And justly will those die of their disease that will not take God for their physician. We are certainly enemies to ourselves if we will not be subjects to him. They would not so much as try the method prescribed: "But you said, No (Isa 30:16), we will not compose ourselves, for we will flee upon horses and we will ride upon the swift; we will hurry hither and thither to fetch in foreign aids." They think themselves wiser than God, and that they know what is good for themselves better than he does. When Sennacherib took all the fenced cities of Judah, those rebellious children would not be persuaded to sit still and patiently to expect God's appearing for them, as he did wonderfully at last; but they would shift for their own safety, and thereby they exposed themselves to so much the more danger.
(3.) The sentence passed upon them for this. Their sin shall be their punishment: "You will flee, and therefore you shall flee; you will be upon the full speed, and therefore so shall those be that pursue you." The dogs are most apt to run barking after him that rides fast. The conquerors protected those that sat still, but pursued those that made their escape; and so that very project by which they hoped to save themselves was justly their ruin and the most guilty suffered most. It is foretold, Isa 30:17, [1.] That they should be easily cut off; they should be so dispirited with their own fears, increased by their flight, that one of the enemy should defeat a thousand of them, and five put an army to flight, which could never be unless their Rock had sold them De 32:30. [2.] That they should be generally cut off, and only here and there one should escape alone in a solitary place, and be left for a spectacle too, as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, a warning to others to avoid the like sinful courses and carnal confidences.
18-26
Promises (720 BC)
简体中文
应许（公元前720年）
¹⁸ 耶和华必然等候，要施恩给你们；必然兴起，好怜悯你们。因为耶和华是公平的神；凡等候他的都是有福的。 ¹⁹ 百姓必在锡安、在耶路撒冷居住；你必不再哭泣。主必因你哀求的声音施恩给你；他听见的时候就必应允你。 ²⁰ 主虽然以艰难给你当饼，以困苦给你当水，你的教师却不再隐藏，你眼必看见你的教师。 ²¹ 你或向左或向右，你必听见后边有声音说：「这是正路，要行在其间。」 ²² 你雕刻偶像所包的银子和铸造偶像所镀的金子，你要玷污、要抛弃，好像污秽之物，对偶像说：「去吧！」 ²³ 你将种子撒在地里，主必降下雨在其中；地所出的粮必丰盛肥美。到那日，你的牲畜必在宽阔的草场吃草。 ²⁴ 耕地的牛和驴驹必吃加盐的料，这料是用木锹和杈子扬净的。 ²⁵ 在大行杀戮的日子，高台倒塌的时候，各高山冈陵必有川流河涌。 ²⁶ 当耶和华缠裹他百姓的损处、医治他民鞭伤之日的光，月光必像日光，日光必加七倍，像七个日的光一样。
上一段结尾的话（「你们将被遗弃，如同山上的旗杆」）有人理解为应许：他们中必有余民蒙怜悯被保留下来，作为恩典的记号；在此先知告诉他们，这些灾祸之后将有美好的时日临到。本段头一句话也可作对比来读：「虽然如此，耶和华仍要等候，好施恩给你们。」先知既已指出那些以埃及为倚靠的人必因埃及蒙羞，在此便指出那些安坐不动、唯以神为倚靠的人必从中得着安慰。在时世极艰难之际，神的百姓可得安慰的是——「最终一切必都安好」；当我们对恶人说「祸患必临到你」时，敬畏神的人却必得福。
一、神必向他们施恩，怜悯他们。这是一切美善的根基。我们若蒙神喜悦，得他怜悯，就必按我们受苦的日子得着安慰。
1. 为他们存留的怜悯，是用极其动人的话语表达出来的。（1）「他必等候施恩」（赛30:18）；他必等候你们归向他、寻求他的面，然后便预备好以怜悯迎接你们。他必等候，好在那最合宜、最妥当的时机成就这事——当此事最能使他得荣耀之时，当这怜悯临到你们最觉惊喜之时。他必不断地以恩惠追随你们，不放过任何施恩的机会。（2）「他必奋起拯救你们，他必被高举」，必「从圣所兴起」（亚2:13），好以非凡的大能与良善为你们显现；「他如此被高举」，即他要荣耀自己的名。这正是他向百姓施怜悯时所要达成的目标。（3）「他必大大施恩」（赛30:19），且这是因祷告而施的恩，使他的慈爱加倍地亲切：「他必因你哀求的声音施恩给你」——那是你急需之时的呼声，当其最为迫切；那是你祷告的呼声，当其最为恳切。「他听见的时候」，无需多言；头一句话他便应允你，说：『我在这里。』这样他真是大大施恩了。具体而言，〔1〕那些产业被扰、不得安然享用的人，必再次安静享用。危险过去之后，「百姓必在锡安、在耶路撒冷居住」，如素来所行的；他们必安然居住，脱离灾祸的惧怕。〔2〕那些满眼泪水的人必大有欢喜的理由，不再哭泣；而住在锡安圣城的人，必在那里找到足够拭去眼中眼泪的一切。
2. 这一切建立在两大真理之上：（1）「耶和华是公平的神」；在他一切护理的安排中，他既智慧又公义，忠于自己的话语，顾惜他的百姓。他若管教儿女，也必「按公平」管教（耶10:24），适度而有分寸，顾念他们的本体。我们尚且以为可以放心将自己交托给一个有判断力的人，何况我们岂不更当将自己的道路交托给这位公平的神呢？（2）因此，凡「等候他」的人都是有福的——他们不仅以祷告等候他，更以盼望等候他；不愿用任何不正当的手段把自己从困境中解救出来，也不愿抢先实现自己的拯救，而是耐心期望神按自己的方式和时候为他们显现。因为神无限智慧，所以凡将自己的案件交托给他的人，才是真正有福的。
二、他们必不再缺乏恩典的途径，赛30:20、21。此处：1. 假定在他们得着这次拯救之后，仍可能陷入窘迫与患难。上文已应许（赛30:19）他们「必不再哭泣」，神也必「向他们施恩」；然而此处却默认，神可能赐他们「以艰难当饼、以困苦当水」——囚犯的口粮（王上22:27），粗劣的食物，正如穷人所用。一样灾祸过去，我们不知另一灾祸何时就接踵而至；我们也许在神的恩惠中有分，也有足以止住眼泪的安慰，却仍可能被赐下艰难之饼可吃、困苦之水可喝。所以我们不可凭眼前所见判断爱与恨。2. 应许他们的眼睛必「看见他们的教师」，即他们中间必有忠心的教师，他们也必有心尊重教师，不再像从前那样轻忽；这样他们就更能与艰难之饼、困苦之水和解。清教徒前辈中有一句俗语：「黑面包加上福音，就是好饭食。」饥荒之饼远不及神话语的饥荒那样大的灾祸（摩8:11、12）。看来他们的教师曾被赶到角落里（大概在亚哈斯作王时被迫为安全而四处躲藏），但今后必不再如此。「真理不寻角落隐藏」（Veritas non quærit angulos）。然而真理的教师有时确会被驱入角落藏身；教会处于这种光景便是悲惨——当那头戴十二星冠冕的妇人被迫逃入旷野之时（启12:6），当先知被「五十人藏在一个洞里」之时（王上18:4）。但神必找到一个时候，把教师们从角落里重新召出，安置他们于庄严肃穆的聚会中，使这些聚会「看见自己的教师」，「全堂的人都目不转睛地看他」（路4:20）。而且因他们受了相当一段时间的约束，这归回就更加令人喜悦，如黑暗中之光、死亡中之生。对一切爱神、爱自己灵魂的人而言，忠心教师从角落里的归回——尤其是伴随着「他们必不再被赶到角落里」的应许——乃是任何拯救中最令人悦纳的部分，其中所含的安慰足以使艰难之饼和困苦之水都变为甘甜。但这还不是全部：3. 应许他们不仅得着公开事奉的益处，也必得着私下个别劝诫与指教的益处（赛30:21）：「你必听见后边有声音」，如同人看见旅客走错了路，就在他身后呼唤。请注意：（1）这声音从何处来——「从你身后」，从一位你看不见、却看见你的人而来。「你的眼睛看见你的教师；但这一位却是看不见的教师，就是你自己的良心，如今必因神的恩典被唤醒，尽它的职分。」（2）这声音说什么：「这是正路，要行在其间。」当你疑惑之时，良心必指引你当尽本分的道路；当你懈怠轻忽之时，良心必在这条路上激励你。」正如神没有为自己留下见证，他也没有任凭我们缺少指引道路的向导。（3）这声音的合时：它必「在你或向左或向右之时」临到。我们极易走错路；左右两旁都有岔路，且那些路被踏得平整、看似正直，很容易被误当作正路。左右都有偏差，即美德两侧的极端偏差；那试探者正忙碌地引诱我们进入旁径。此时若有忠心牧者或朋友的特别劝戒，或良心的责备与神灵的感动，使我们归正、拦阻我们走错，那便是很有福的了。（4）这声音的功效：「这话不仅被说出，你的耳朵也必听见」；从前神「一次、两次」说话，你「却不理会」（伯33:14），如今你必留意倾听这些隐密的低语，以顺服的耳来听。神若赐我们的不仅是话语，更是能听的耳；不仅是恩典的途径，更是善用这些途径的心，我们就有理由说：他向我们大大施恩，也有理由盼望他还要为我们存留更大的怜悯。
三、他们必得医治脱离偶像崇拜，必与他们的偶像决裂，永不再与之和好，赛30:22。神为他们所行的拯救必使他们确信：单单事奉他既合乎本分，也合乎他们的利益；他们必承认，正如他们的灾祸是因拜偶像而加在他们身上，灾祸的挪去也是以他们不再重蹈偶像崇拜为条件。这也是他们看见教师、听见身后之言的美好果效；由此便可显明他们因所享受的恩典途径而得了益处——他们必断绝那最钟爱的罪。请注意：1. 从前他们在使徒性背叛的日子，对偶像何等愚妄地疯狂。拜偶像的人被说是「为偶像颠狂」（耶50:38），如痴如醉地贪恋偶像。他们有「银子打的雕刻偶像」、「金子铸造的偶像」，虽然金子本无需涂饰，他们却在其上加上覆盖与装饰；他们不惜耗费地尊荣偶像。2. 如今在悔改的日子，他们对偶像怀着何等（若可如此说）明智的疯狂，生发出何等圣洁的愤慨。他们不仅贬黜偶像的像，更涂毁其面；不仅涂毁其面，更玷污其形；他们不仅损坏其形状，更在敬虔的激愤中抛弃其所铸的金银，尽管那些金银本身贵重、可作善用。他们心里不愿用这些作任何贵重的器皿。偶像所披的华美衣饰，他们当作污秽之布抛弃——这布使摸它的人「不洁净到晚上」（利15:23）。须知，对一切真正悔改的人而言，罪已成为极其可憎；他们厌恶罪，也因罪而厌恶自己；他们把罪抛到粪堆——那是它最合宜之处，不，乃是抛到十字架上，因为他们把肉体钉在十字架上；他们对罪的呼声是：「钉他十字架！钉他十字架！」他们对它说：「去吧！」（Abi hinc in malam rem）。他们决意不再容让罪。他们把一切犯罪的时机和试探尽可能地远远推开，即使那些如同右眼或右手一般宝贵；他们也像以法莲那样抗议说（何14:8）：「我与偶像还有什么关涉呢？」这话大概在许多具体的人身上应验了——耶路撒冷从西拿基立大军手中蒙拯救之时，他们便认识到自己拜偶像的愚妄，因而弃绝了它。这话也在犹太全国从巴比伦被掳归回之时应验，因为此后他们一直憎恶偶像；这话也每日在灵魂归主的事上成就——靠着神圣恩典的大能，人从属灵的偶像崇拜转向对神的敬畏与爱慕。凡归附主的，必须弃绝每一项罪，并对它说：「去吧！」
四、那时神必赐他们各样美物丰盈。当神赐他们教师，他们又把心献给神，开始寻求神的国和他的义，那时「这一切都要加给你们了」（太6:33）。当百姓被带领来赞美神，「那时地就要交出土产，神，就是我们的神，要赐福与我们」（诗67:5、6）。此处接续说：「你们既抛弃了偶像，神就必赐下你们种子的雨」，赛30:23。当我们以尽本分之路归向神，他必以恩惠迎接我们。1. 神必赐你们种子的雨，就是浇灌你们所撒之种的雨，正在其需要之时，恰如其分，不多不少。请注意：人的勤劳与神的赐福如何共同成就我们今世生活所享受的美物：「你要撒在地里」，这是你的本分；然后「神必赐你种子的雨」，这是他的作为。属灵的果子也是如此；我们必须在自己的心上劳苦，然后等候神赐恩典。2. 地的出产必丰富美好，样样都是上品；必「肥又肥」，极其肥美、极其美好，「肥美丰盛」（如我们所读），又好又足。你们的地必真的成为迦南；西拿基立被击败之后，靠着神特别的赐福，确实如此（赛37:30）。神如此补还他们因那场毁坏所受的损失。3. 不仅耕地，连牧场也必格外肥沃：「牲畜必在宽阔的草场吃草」；放牧的牲畜必有充足的空间，而为耕种而喂养、耕地用的牛驴——既然劳作就更需喂养得好——「必吃加盐的料」。谷物不再照例带着糠秕喂给它们，好让饲料更经久，它们必得着上好洁净、适于人用的谷物，是「用杈子扬净的」。连牲畜也必在这丰盛中有分；它们理当如此，因为它们也与人因罪而招致的地之咒诅的重担一同叹息。4. 连那些素来贫瘠的山顶也必因天雨得充分浇灌，以致其上有「江河溪流」，并从那里流下山谷（赛30:25），而这事发生在「大行杀戮之日」——就是耶和华的使者在亚述营中所行的大杀戮，「他们为围攻耶路撒冷而筑的塔楼和攻城工事，既军队被杀，便自然倒塌」。这话很可能在字面上应验了，大约在那支军队被剪除的同时，神也怜悯那地降下了非同寻常的雨水。
五、这一切的结果，必为神的百姓带来非凡的安慰与喜乐，赛30:26。光必增加；即知识必加增（当预言应验之时，它们必被完全明白），或更恰当地说，是得胜：为义人所撒种之喜乐的光，此时必大大加增地发旺。「月光必像日光」，月光变得与日光一般明亮强烈；「日光」也按比例加增，「如同七日的光」；每个人都必比寻常更加喜乐，面容更加愉悦。在亚述大军覆灭之时，「当耶和华缠裹他百姓的损处」，不仅救他们免受进一步的伤害，更医治他们因这次入侵所受的创伤，补还他们一切的损失——犹大和耶路撒冷必因此有喜乐的大涨潮。他们曾陷入极大的困境，曾绝望得无以复加，而拯救又如此突然，这一切都必大大增添他们的喜乐。许多人将此十分贴切地应用在福音带给坐在黑暗中之人的光上——这光远超旧约之光，如同日光远超月光，并且宣告「医好伤心的人，缠裹他们的损处」。
英語原文
Promises (720 BC)
¹⁸ And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of judgment: blessed are all they that wait for him.
¹⁹ For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem: thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it, he will answer thee.
²⁰ And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity, and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner any more, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers:
²¹ And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left.
²² Ye shall defile also the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the ornament of thy molten images of gold: thou shalt cast them away as a menstruous cloth; thou shalt say unto it, Get thee hence.
²³ Then shall he give the rain of thy seed, that thou shalt sow the ground withal; and bread of the increase of the earth, and it shall be fat and plenteous: in that day shall thy cattle feed in large pastures.
²⁴ The oxen likewise and the young asses that ear the ground shall eat clean provender, which hath been winnowed with the shovel and with the fan.
²⁵ And there shall be upon every high mountain, and upon every high hill, rivers and streams of waters in the day of the great slaughter, when the towers fall.
²⁶ Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the LORD bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound.
The closing words of the foregoing paragraph (You shall be left as a beacon upon a mountain) some understand as a promise that a remnant of them should be reserved as monuments of mercy; and here the prophet tells them what good times should succeed these calamities. Or the first words in this paragraph may be read by way of antithesis, Notwithstanding this, yet will the Lord wait that he may be gracious. The prophet, having shown that those who made Egypt their confidence would be ashamed of it, here shows that those who sat still and made God alone their confidence would have the comfort of it. It is matter of comfort to the people of God, when the times are very bad, that all will be well yet, well with those that fear God, when we say to the wicked, It shall be ill with you.
I. God will be gracious to them and will have mercy on them. This is the foundation of all good. If we find favour with God, and he have mercy upon us, we shall have comfort according to the time that we have been afflicted.
1. The mercy in store for them is very affectingly expressed. (1.) "He will wait to be gracious (Isa 30:18); he will wait till you return to him and seek his face, and then he will be ready to meet you with mercy. He will wait, that he may do it in the best and fittest time, when it will be most for his glory, when it will come to you with the most pleasing surprise. He will continually follow you with his favours, and not let slip any opportunity of being gracious to you." (2.) "He will stir up himself to deliver you, will be exalted, will be raised up out of his holy habitation (Zec 2:13), that he may appear for you in more than ordinary instances of power and goodness; and thus he will be exalted, that is, he will glorify his own name. This is what he aims at in having mercy on his people." (3.) He will be very gracious (Isa 30:19), and this in answer to prayer, which makes his kindness doubly kind: "He will be gracious to thee, at the voice of thy cry, the cry of thy necessity, when that is most urgent—the cry of thy prayer, when that is most fervent. When he shall hear it, there needs no more; at the first word he will answer thee, and say, Here I am." Herein he is very gracious indeed. In particular, [1.] Those who were disturbed in the possession of their estates shall again enjoy them quietly. When the danger is over the people shall dwell in Zion, at Jerusalem, as they used to do; they shall dwell safely, free from the fear of evil. [2.] Those who were all in tears shall have cause to rejoice, and shall weep no more; and those who dwell in Zion, the holy city, will find enough there to wipe away tears from their eyes.
2. This is grounded upon two great truths: (1.) That the Lord is a God of judgment; he is both wise and just in all the disposals of his providence, true to his word and tender of his people. If he correct his children, it is with judgment (Jer 10:24), with moderation and discretion, considering their frame. We think we may safely refer ourselves to a man of judgment; and shall we not commit our way to a God of judgment? (2.) That therefore all those are blessed who wait for him, who not only wait on him with their prayers, but wait for him with their hopes, who will not take any indirect course to extricate themselves out of their straits, or anticipate their deliverance, but patiently expect God's appearances for them in his own way and time. Because God is infinitely wise, those are truly happy who refer their cause to him.
II. They shall not again know the want of the means of grace, Isa 30:20,21. Here, 1. It is supposed that they might be brought into straits and troubles after this deliverance was wrought for them. It was promised (Isa 30:19), that they should weep no more and that God would be gracious to them; and yet here it is taken for granted that God may give them the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, prisoners' fare (1Ki 22:27), coarse and sorry food, such as the poor use. When one trouble is over we know not how soon another may succeed; and we may have an interest in the favour of God, and such consolations as are sufficient to prohibit weeping, and yet may have bread of adversity given us to eat and water of affliction to drink. Let us therefore not judge of love or hatred by what is before us. 2. It is promised that their eyes should see their teachers, that is, that they should have faithful teachers among them, and should have hearts to regard them and not slight them as they had done; and then they might the better be reconciled to the bread of adversity and the water of affliction. It was a common saying among the old Puritans, Brown bread and the gospel are good fare. A famine of bread is not so great a judgment as a famine of the word of God, Am 8:11,12. It seems that their teachers had been removed into corners (probably being forced to shift for their safety in the reign of Ahaz), but it shall be so no more. Veritas non quærit angulos—Truth seeks no corners for concealment. But the teachers of truth may sometimes be driven into corners for shelter; and it goes ill with the church when it is so, when the woman with her crown of twelve stars is forced to flee into the wilderness (Re 12:6), when the prophets are hidden by fifty in a cave, 1Ki 18:4. But God will find a time to call the teachers out of their corners again, and to replace them in their solemn assemblies, which shall see their own teachers, the eyes of all the synagogue being fastened on them, Lu 4:20. And it will be the more pleasing because of the restraint they have been for some time under, as light out of darkness, as life from the dead. To all that love God and their own souls this return of faithful teachers out of their corners, especially with a promise that they shall not be removed into corners any more, is the most acceptable part of any deliverance, and has comfort enough in it to sweeten even the bread of adversity and the water of affliction. But this is not all: 3. It is promised that they shall have the benefit, not only of the public ministry, but of private and particular admonition and advice (Isa 30:21): "Thy ears shall hear a word behind thee, calling after thee as a man calls after a traveller that he sees going out of his road." Observe, (1.) Whence this word shall come—from behind thee, from some one whom thou dost not see, but who sees thee. "Thy eyes see thy teachers; but this is a teacher out of sight, it is thy own conscience, which shall now by the grace of God be awakened to do its office." (2.) What the word shall be: "This is the way, walk you in it. When thou art doubting, conscience shall direct thee to the way of duty; when thou art dull and trifling, conscience shall quicken thee in that way." As God has not left himself without witness, so he has not left us without guides to show us our way. (3.) The seasonableness of this word: It shall come when you turn to the right hand or to the left. We are very apt to miss our way; there are turnings on both hands, and those so tracked and seemingly straight that they may easily be mistaken for the right way. There are right-hand and left-hand errors, extremes on each side virtue; the tempter is busy courting us into the by-paths. It is happy then if by the particular counsels of a faithful minister or friend, or the checks of conscience and the strivings of God's Spirit, we be set right and prevented from going wrong. (4.) The success of this word: "It shall not only be spoken, but thy ears shall hear it; whereas God has formerly spoken once, yea, twice, and thou hast not perceived it (Job 33:14), now thou shalt listen attentively to these secret whispers, and hear them with an obedient ear." If God gives us not only the word, but the hearing ear, not only the means of grace, but a heart to make a good use of those means, we have reason to say, He is very gracious to us, and reason to hope he has yet further mercy in store for us.
III. They shall be cured of their idolatry, shall fall out with their idols, and never be reconciled to them again, Isa 30:22. The deliverance God shall work for them shall convince them that it is their interest, as well as duty, to serve him only; and they shall own that, as their trouble was brought upon them for their idolatries, so it was removed upon condition that they should not return to them. This is also the good effect of their seeing their teachers and hearing the word behind them; by this it shall appear that they are the better for the means of grace they enjoy—they shall break off from their best-beloved sin. Observe, 1. How foolishly mad they had formerly been upon their idols, in the day of their apostasy. Idolaters are said to be mad upon their idols (Jer 50:38), doatingly fond of them. They had graven images of silver, and molten images of gold, and, though gold needs no painting, they had coverings and ornaments on these; they spared no cost in doing honour to their idols. 2. How wisely mad (if I may so speak) they now were at their idols, what a holy indignation they conceived against them in the day of their repentance. They not only degraded their images, but defaced them, not only defaced them, but defiled them; they not only spoiled the shape of them, but in a pious fury threw away the gold and silver they were made of, though otherwise valuable and convertible to a good use. They could not find in their hearts to make any vessel of honour of them. The rich clothes wherewith their images were dressed up they cast away as a filthy cloth which rendered those that touched it unclean until the evening, Le 15:23. Note, To all true penitents sin has become very odious; they loathe it, and loathe themselves because of it; they cast it away to the dunghill, the fittest place for it, nay, to the cross, for they crucify the flesh; their cry against it is, Crucify it, crucify it. They say unto it, Abi hinc in malam rem—Get thee hence. They are resolved never to harbour it any more. They put as far from as they can all the occasions of sin and temptations to it, though they are as a right eye or a right hand, and protest against it as Ephraim did (Ho 14:8), What have I to do any more with idols? Probably this was fulfilled in many particular persons, who, by the deliverance of Jerusalem from Sennacherib's army, were convinced of the folly of their idolatry and forsook it. It was fulfilled in the body of the Jewish nation at their return from their captivity in Babylon, for they abhorred idols ever after; and it is accomplished daily in the conversion of souls, by the power of divine grace, from spiritual idolatry to the fear and love of God. Those that join themselves to the Lord must abandon every sin, and say unto it, Get thee hence.
IV. God will then give them plenty of all good things. When he gives them their teachers, and they give him their hearts, so that they begin to seek the kingdom of God and the righteousness thereof, then all other things shall be added to them Mt 6:33. And when the people are brought to praise God then shall the earth yield her increase, and with it God, even our own God, shall bless us, Ps 67:5,6. So it follows here: "When you shall have abandoned your idols, then shall God give the rain of your seed," Isa 30:23. When we return to God in a way of duty he will meet us with his favours. 1. God will give you rain of your seed, rain to water the seed you sow, just at the time that it calls for it, as much as it needs and no more. Observe, How man's industry and God's blessing concur to the good things we enjoy relating to the life that now is: Thou shalt sow the ground, that is thy part, and then God will give the rain of thy seed, that is his part. It is so in spiritual fruit; we must take pains with our hearts and then wait on God for his grace. 2. The increase of the earth shall be rich and good, and every thing the best of the kind; it shall be fat and fat, very fat and very good, fat and plenteous (so we read it), good and enough of it. Your land shall be Canaan indeed; it was remarkably so after the defeat of Sennacherib, by the special blessing of God, Isa 37:30. God would thus repair the losses they sustained by that devastation. 3. Not only the tillage, but the pasture-ground should be remarkably fruitful: The cattle shall feed in large pastures; those that are at grass shall have room enough, and the oxen and asses that are kept up for use, to ear the ground, which must be the better fed for their being worked, shall eat clean provender. The corn shall not be given them in the chaff as usual, to make it go the further, but they shall have good clean corn fit for man's use, being winnowed with the fan. The brute-creatures shall share in the abundance; it is fit they should, for they groan under the burden of the curse which man's sin has brought upon the earth. 4. Even the tops of the mountains, that used to be barren, shall be so well watered with the rain of heaven that there shall be rivers and streams there, and running down thence to the valleys (Isa 30:25), and this in the day of the great slaughter that should be made by the angel in the camp of the Assyrians, when the towers and batteries they had erected for the carrying on of the siege of Jerusalem, the army being slain, should fall of course. It is probable that this was fulfilled in the letter of it, and that about the same time that that army was cut off there were extraordinary rains in mercy to the land.
V. The effect of all this should be extraordinary comfort and joy to the people of God, Isa 30:26. Light shall increase; that is, knowledge shall increase (when the prophecies are accomplished they shall be fully understood) or rather triumph shall: the light of the joy that is sown for the righteous shall now come up with a great increase. The light of the moon shall become as bright and as strong as that of the sun, and that of the sun shall increase proportionably and be as the light of seven days; every one shall be much more cheerful and appear much more pleasant than usual. There shall be a high spring-tide of joy in Judah and Jerusalem, upon occasion of the ruin of the Assyrian army, when the Lord binds up the breach of his people, not only saves them from being further wounded, but heals the wounds that have been given them by this invasion and makes up all their losses. The great distress they were reduced to, their despair of relief, and the suddenness of their deliverance, would much augment their joy. This is not unfitly applied by many to the light which the gospel brought into the world to those that sat in darkness, which has far exceeded the Old-Testament light as that of the sun does that of the moon, and which proclaims healing to the broken-hearted, and the binding up of their wounds.
27-33
Judgments on Assyria (720 BC)
简体中文
对亚述的审判（公元前720年）
²⁷ 看哪，耶和华的名从远方来，他的怒气烧着，密云厚积在其中；他的嘴唇满有忿恨，他的舌头像吞灭的火。 ²⁸ 他的气如涨溢的河水，直涨到颈项，要用毁灭的筛子筛净列国；并且在百姓的腮颊上放使人错行的嚼环。 ²⁹ 你们必唱歌，像守圣节的夜间一样；心中欢乐，像人吹笛上耶和华的山，到以色列的磐石那里。 ³⁰ 耶和华必使人听他荣耀的声音，又显出他降下的膀臂和他怒气的忿恨，并吞灭的火焰与碎秸、暴风、冰雹。 ³¹ 亚述人必因耶和华的声音惊惶；他必用杖击打他。 ³² 凡经过耶和华所定根基之杖的地方，必有鼓瑟弹琴的声音；在争战振动之时，他必与它交战。 ³³ 原来陀斐特又深又宽，早已为王预备好了；其中堆的是火与许多木柴；耶和华的气如一股硫磺，使他点燃。
这段关于亚述大军覆灭的可畏预言，虽然对他们是威吓，对属神的以色列人却是应许的一部分——神不仅要因亚述人对属神以色列人所行的恶报应他们，更要使他们无力再作同样的恶，并阻止他们；而且这如今不久就要应验的预言，也将印证并确证那些要在末后才应验的前面的应许。此处有，
一、全能的神发怒，在烈怒中出来攻击亚述人。他在此被以他烈怒的一切大能和一切可畏来引介，赛30:27。「耶和华的名」——亚述人所藐视、所远远推开、仿佛他们不在其触及之内、它不能加害他们——「看哪，它从远方来」。一位奉耶和华之名而来的使者，从远如天庭之处而来。他是烈怒的使者，「他的怒气烧着」。神「的嘴唇满有忿恨」，恨恶拉伯沙基的亵渎——他把以色列的神与外邦的神相提并论；「他的舌头像吞灭的火」，因为他可以一句话把他骄傲的仇敌送到毁灭；他的气如涨溢的河水般有力，他必借此杀灭恶人（赛11:4）。他不像人那样——当人的怒气既无根据又无力之时，便加以压抑掩饰；他乃是在向那公然与他为敌的仇敌宣战之时，「使人听他荣耀的声音」（赛30:30）。他要彰显「他怒气的忿恨」——最高程度的烈怒；这必如「吞灭的火焰」，将它面前的一切卷去吞灭，带着「闪电」（或作驱散）、暴风和冰雹——这一切都是可畏的自然现象，因此表达出自然之大能神的可畏。
二、主这烈怒所行的执行。人常常在只能威吓、只能夸口之时发怒；但当神使人听见他荣耀的声音之时，那还不是全部：他也要「显出他降下的膀臂」（赛30:30）。他护理的作为必成就他话语的威吓。那「不愿看见他举起膀臂」（赛26:11）的人，必感受这膀臂的落下，并付代价发现其担子沉重（赛30:27）——重到他们不能承担，也不能抵挡，却必不可避免地沉沦、在其下被压碎。「谁知道他烈怒的权能」，或想象一位被得罪的神能作什么呢？此处为执行预备了五样：1. 此处有「涨溢的河水」，「直涨到颈项」，必完全淹没全军，只有西拿基立——大军的头——能保持在水面上而逃脱这一击，然而他仍被保留，为要在他的神尼斯洛的家中受另一击。亚述大军曾对犹大如同「涨溢的河水，直到颈项」（赛8:7、8），如今神烈怒的气也要如此对待它。2. 此处有「虚无的筛子」，神要借它筛净组成亚述大军的那些列国，赛30:28。大神能筛净列国，因为他们在他面前都如天平上的微尘；他要筛他们，不是要从其中筛出任何该被保留的，而是要使他们彼此相撞，使他们陷入极大的惊惶，至终把他们全部筛去；因为他们被筛所用的乃是虚无的筛子（什么都留不住），而他们都如糠秕。3. 此处有「嚼环」，神放在他们腮颊之中，要约束限制他们不去行他们所要行的恶，又要强迫他们违背自己的心意去成就他的旨意（赛10:7）。神特别指着西拿基立说（赛37:29），他要把钩子放在他的鼻子里，把嚼环放在他的嘴唇上。这是「使人错行的嚼环」，强迫他们采取那些必然毁灭他们自己和他们的利益、在其中他们必成为糊涂人的方法。神用一句话引导他的百姓进入正路（赛30:21），却用嚼环使他的仇敌头也不回地奔向自己的毁灭。4. 此处有「杖」和「棍」，就是「耶和华的声音」——他的话就此下令——亚述人必「被」之「惊惶」「击打」（赛30:31）。亚述人自己曾作神手中管教他百姓的杖，并击打过他们（赛10:5）。那不过是暂时的杖；但向亚述人所要出去的，乃是「有根基的杖」，必给出坚定的一击，必紧贴着他、击中要害，使他留下印记。这是有根基的杖，建立在仇敌所当得的报应和神的定旨之上。这是「所决定的毁灭」（赛10:23），因此无可逃避，无法走出其范围之外；凡有亚述人之处，它必经过，主必「把它加在他身上」，使它停留（赛30:32）。那些恒心与神为敌的人，其光景就是如此悲惨：「神的烈怒常在他们身上。」5. 此处有为他们所「安排」、所「预备」的「陀斐特」，赛30:33。毗连耶路撒冷的欣嫩子谷，被称为「陀斐特」。据推测，亚述的许多军团曾扎营在那谷中，并在那里被灭命的天使所杀；或者那些被杀之人的尸体在那里被焚烧。希西家「近来，从昨日」（原文如此）就「安排了它」；即（如有些人所说）他清除了其中所竖立的偶像——他们曾在那里焚烧儿女献与那些偶像——如此预备它作埋葬仇敌尸体的地方，「为亚述王」（即他的全军）「所预备」，那里有足够的燃料可以把他们全都烧尽；他们必被忽然而有效地消灭，如同火被一股不断的硫磺气流维持燃烧一般，因为神的气——他的话语和他的烈怒——对它正是如此。如今正如先知在前面的应许中，不知不觉地滑入福音之恩典与安慰的应许，照样此处，在威吓西拿基立大军覆灭之时，他也指向一切不肯悔改之罪人最终的、永远的毁灭。我们的救主称被定罪之人未来的痛苦为「地狱」（Gehenna），正是暗指欣嫩子谷；这为这话应用于那痛苦提供了一些支持，《启示录》中也常称之为「烧着火和硫磺的湖」。这地狱被说是「从古以来」为魔鬼和它的使者所预备的——为最大的罪人，为最骄傲的、自以为不必向任何人交代其言语行为的人所预备的；连君王也为它所预备。它「又深又宽」，足以容纳不敬虔的世界；「其中堆的是火与许多木柴」。神的烈怒是火，罪人使自己成为其燃料；「神的气」（他烈怒的大能）「点燃它」，并使它永远燃烧。参看赛66:24。所以「当战战兢兢，不可犯罪」。
三、这事要为神的百姓带来何等大的喜乐。亚述人的倾覆就是耶路撒冷的夸胜（赛30:29）：「你们必唱歌，像夜间的歌一样」——一首赞美诗，如同那些「夜间站在耶和华殿中」的人所唱的，向那「夜间赐下诗歌」的神唱荣耀之歌。这不是虚浮欢乐的歌，而是圣洁的歌，如同人以庄重敬虔的方式守圣节之时所唱的。我们在教会仇敌倾覆之事上的喜乐，必须是圣洁的喜乐，「心中欢乐，像人吹笛」（如先知门徒说预言之时所用之物，撒上10:5）「上耶和华的山」，在那里赞美「以色列的大能者」。不，凡神圣报应追赶亚述人之处，他们不仅无人哀悼而倒下，他们所有的邻舍还要「鼓瑟弹琴」伴随他们的倒下，欢喜看见神如何「在争战振动之中」——震动他们出世界那样的争战——与他们交战（赛30:32）；因为「恶人灭亡，人都欢呼」；智慧良善的人看见那些像亚述人一样公然向神挑战、践踏全人类之人的覆灭，便格外喜乐。
英語原文
Judgments on Assyria (720 BC)
²⁷ Behold, the name of the LORD cometh from far, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue as a devouring fire:
²⁸ And his breath, as an overflowing stream, shall reach to the midst of the neck, to sift the nations with the sieve of vanity: and there shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err.
²⁹ Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the mighty One of Israel.
³⁰ And the LORD shall cause his glorious voice to be heard, and shall show the lighting down of his arm, with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with scattering, and tempest, and hailstones.
³¹ For through the voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod.
³² And in every place where the grounded staff shall pass, which the LORD shall lay upon him, it shall be with tabrets and harps: and in battles of shaking will he fight with it.
³³ For Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he hath made it deep and large: the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the LORD, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.
This terrible prediction of the ruin of the Assyrian army, though it is a threatening to them, is part of the promise to the Israel of God, that God would not only punish the Assyrians for the mischief they had done to the Israel of God, but would disable and deter them from doing the like again; and this prediction, which would now shortly be accomplished, would ratify and confirm the foregoing promises, which should be accomplished in the latter days. Here is,
I. God Almighty angry, and coming forth in anger against the Assyrians. He is here introduced in all the power and all the terror of his wrath, Isa 30:27. The name of Jehovah, which the Assyrians disdain and set at a distance from them, as if they were out of its reach and it could do them no harm, behold, it comes from far. A messenger in the name of the Lord comes from as far off as heaven itself. He is a messenger of wrath, burning with his anger. God's lips are full of indignation at the blasphemy of Rabshakeh, who compared the God of Israel with the gods of the heathen; his tongue is as a devouring fire, for he can speak his proud enemies to ruin; his very breath comes with as much force as an overflowing stream, and with it he shall slay the wicked, Isa 11:4. He does not stifle or smother his resentments, as men do theirs when they are either causeless or impotent; but he shall cause his glorious voice to be heard when he proclaims war with an enemy that sets him at defiance, Isa 30:30. He shall display the indignation of his anger, anger in the highest degree; it shall be as the flame of a devouring fire, which carries and consumes all before it, with lightning or dissipation, and with tempest and hailstones, all which are the formidable phenomena of nature, and therefore expressive of the terror of the Almighty God of nature.
II. The execution done by this anger of the Lord. Men are often angry when they can only threaten and talk big; but when God causes his glorious voice to be heard that shall not be all: he will show the lighting down of his arm too, Isa 30:30. The operations of his providence shall accomplish the menaces of his word. Those that would not see the lifting up of his arm (Isa 26:11) shall feel the lighting down of it, and find, to their cost, that the burden thereof is heavy (Isa 30:27), so heavy that they cannot bear it, nor bear up against it, but must unavoidably sink and be crushed under it. Who knows the power of his anger or imagines what an offended God can do? Five things are here prepared for the execution:—1. Here is an overflowing stream, that shall reach to the midst of the neck, shall quite overwhelm the whole body of the army, and Sennacherib only, the head of it, shall keep above water and escape this stroke, while yet he is reserved for another in the house of Nisroch his god. The Assyrian army had been to Judah as an overflowing stream, reaching even to the neck (Isa 8:7,8), and now the breath of God's wrath will be so to it. 2. Here is a sieve of vanity, with which God would sift those nations of which the Assyrian army was composed, Isa 30:28. The great God can sift nations, for they are all before him as the small dust of the balance; he will sift them, not to gather out of them any that should be preserved, but so as to shake them one against another, put them into great consternation, and shake them all away at last; for it is a sieve of vanity (which retains nothing) that they are shaken with, and they are found all chaff. 3. Here is a bridle, which God has in their jaws, to curb and restrain them from doing the mischief they would do, and to force and constrain them to serve his purposes against their own will, Isa 10:7. God particularly says of Sennacherib (Isa 37:29) that he will put a hook in his nose and a bridle in his lips. It is a bridle causing them to err, forcing them to such methods as will certainly be destructive to themselves and their interest and in which they will be infatuated. God with a word guides his people into the right way (Isa 30:21), but with a bridle he turns his enemies headlong upon their own ruin. 4. Here is a rod and a staff, even the voice of the Lord, his word giving orders concerning it, with which the Assyrian shall be beaten down, Isa 30:31. The Assyrian had been himself a rod in God's hand for the chastising of his people, and had smitten them, Isa 10:5. That was a transient rod; but against the Assyrian shall go forth a grounded staff, that shall give a steady blow, shall stick close to him and strike home, so as to leave an impression upon him. It is a staff with a foundation, founded upon the enemies' deserts and God's determinate counsel. It is a consumption determined (Isa 10:23), and therefore there is no escaping it, no getting out of the reach of it; it shall pass in every place where an Assyrian is found, and the Lord shall lay it upon him, and cause it to rest, Isa 30:32. Such is the woeful case of those that persist in enmity to God: the wrath of God abides on them. 5. Here is Tophet ordained and prepared for them, Isa 30:33. The valley of the son of Hinnom, adjoining to Jerusalem, was called Tophet. In that valley, it is supposed, many of the Assyrian regiments lay encamped, and were there slain by the destroying angel; or there the bodies of those that were so slain were burned. Hezekiah had lately, and from yesterday (so the word is) ordained it; that is, say some, he had cleared it of the images that were set up in it, to which they there burnt their children, and so prepared it to be a receptacle for the dead bodies of their enemies, for the king of Assyria (that is, for his army) it is prepared, and there is fuel enough ready to burn them all; and they shall be consumed as suddenly and effectually as if the fire were kept burning by a continual stream of brimstone, for such the breath of the Lord, his word and his wrath, will be to it. Now as the prophet, in the foregoing promises, slides insensibly into the promises of gospel graces and comforts, so here, in the threatening of the ruin of Sennacherib's army, he points at the final and everlasting destruction of all impenitent sinners. Our Saviour calls the future misery of the damned Gehenna, in allusion to the valley of Hinnom, which gives some countenance to the applying of this to that misery, as also that in the Apocalypse it is so often called the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. This is said to be prepared of old for the devil and his angels, for the greatest of sinners, the proudest, and that think themselves not accountable to any for what they say and do; even for kings it is prepared. It is deep and large, sufficient to receive the world of the ungodly; the pile thereof is fire and much wood. God's wrath is the fire, and sinners make themselves fuel to it; and the breath of the Lord (the power of his anger) kindles it, and will keep it ever burning. See Isa 66:24. Wherefore stand in awe and sin not.
III. The great joy which this should occasion to the people of God. The Assyrian's fall is Jerusalem's triumph (Isa 30:29): You shall have a song as in the night, a psalm of praise such as those sing who by night stand in the house of the Lord, and sing to his glory who gives songs in the night. It shall not be a song of vain mirth, but a sacred song, such as was sung when a holy solemnity was kept in a grave and religious manner. Our joy in the fall of the church's enemies must be a holy joy, gladness of heart, as when one goes, with a pipe (such as the sons of the prophets used when they prophesied, 1Sa 10:5), to the mountain of the Lord, there to celebrate the praises of the Mighty One of Israel. Nay, in every place where the divine vengeance shall pursue the Assyrians they shall not only fall unlamented, but all their neighbours shall attend their fall with tabrets and harps, pleased to see how God, in battles of shaking, such as shake them out of the world, fights with them (Isa 30:32); for when the wicked perish there is shouting; and it is with a particular satisfaction that wise and good men see the ruin of those who, like the Assyrians, have insolently bidden defiance to God and trampled upon all mankind.
本章的预言似乎（与前一章的预言一样）论到耶路撒冷迫在眉睫的危险，以及犹大因西拿基立的入侵所受的荒废。内容如下：一、对那些在患难中倚靠埃及人求助、急忙要从埃及搬取救兵之人的公义责备（赛30:1-7）。二、对那些藐视神借先知所给、叫他们在患难中得享安息之善劝的人所发的可怕警告，向他们保证，无论别人结局如何，审判必追上他们（赛30:8-17）。三、向那些倚靠神的人所赐的宝贵应许：他们不仅必能看透这苦难，更要在它之后看见喜乐的日子——欢喜与改革的时候、蒙恩之具的丰盛，以及与之俱来的外在美物之丰盛和日渐加增的喜乐与凯歌（赛30:18-26）；这些应许中有许多极适用于福音的恩典。四、预言亚述大军的全军覆没，这必成为大喜乐的缘由，也是引进那些喜乐日子的开端（赛30:27-33）。