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简体中文
英語原文
This chapter is an abridgment of the foregoing chapter; the heads of it are much the same. Here is, I. A woe to those who, when the Assyrian army invaded them, trusted to the Egyptians, and not to God, for succour, Isa 31:1-3. II. Assurance given of the care God would take of Jerusalem in that time of danger and distress, Isa 31:4,5. III. A call to repentance and reformation, Isa 31:6,7. IV. A prediction of the fall of the Assyrian army, and the fright which the Assyrian king should thereby be put into, Isa 31:8,9.
1-5
Confidence in Egypt Reproved (720 BC)
简体中文
投靠埃及受责备（公元前720年）
¹ 祸哉！那些下埃及求帮助的！他们因仗赖马匹，倚靠众多的车辆，并倚靠甚强壮的马兵，却不仰望以色列的圣者，也不求问耶和华！ ² 其实耶和华有智慧，他必降灾祸，并不反悔自己的话；他必兴起攻击那作恶之家，又攻击那作罪孽人之帮助的。 ³ 埃及人不过是人，并不是神；他们的马不过是血肉，并不是灵。耶和华一伸手，那帮助人的必绊跌，那受帮助的也必跌倒，都一同败亡。 ⁴ 耶和华对我如此说：狮子和少壮狮子护食咆哮，就是唤许多牧人来攻击它，它因他们的声音也不惊惶，也不因他们的喧哗退缩；照样，万军之耶和华必降临，为锡安山，为它的冈陵争战。 ⁵ 鸟雀怎样展翅覆雏，万军之耶和华也要照样保护耶路撒冷；他必保护拯救，越过去保全它。
这是连续四章以「祸哉」开头的最后一章；这些祸哉都是对在自称属神的百姓中所发现的罪人说的——对以法莲的酒徒（赛 28:1）、对亚利伊勒（赛 29:1）、对悖逆的儿女（赛 30:1），此处又对那些下埃及求帮助的；因为人若轻看神的律法，他与教会的关系不能保守他免受神圣的祸哉。请看，
一、此处所责备的罪是什么（赛 31:1）。1. 偶像化埃及人，向他们谄媚，仿佛那些以埃及人为朋友盟友的百姓才是有福的。他们每逢急难就下埃及求帮助，仿佛侍奉假神的在天上更有势力，在地上更易亨通，比那又真又活之神的仆人更有把握。吸引他们到埃及的是：埃及人有许多战车可供他们使用，又有人强马壮的骑兵；他们若能从那里召一支大军到他们的麾下，就以为自己能应付亚述王和他那众多的军队。他们的列王本被禁止增添车马，又被告知倚靠车马是愚妄的（诗 20:7）；但他们自以为比他们的圣经更有智慧。2. 藐视以色列的神：他们不仰望以色列的圣者，仿佛他在这次患难中不值一提。他们不求问他，不寻求他的恩宠，也毫不殷勤地要使他为友。
二、这罪的极大荒谬与愚妄。1. 他们轻忽了那一位——他们若不愿向他寄望，就当怕他。他们不求问耶和华，不向他仰求，然而他也有智慧（赛 31:2）。他们如此殷勤地要将埃及人拉入盟约，因为埃及人以谋略之民著称；难道神不也是智慧的吗？那与他们同在的无限智慧，岂不胜过埃及一切的谋略？他们费尽辛劳下到埃及——一段乏味的旅程——其实他们本可以借仰望天上得着更好的指教、更好的帮助，却不肯。但他们若不肯求神的智慧为他们行事，就必发现它作他们的反对。他是智慧的——智慧到一个地步他们不能胜过，他必降灾祸在那如此冒犯他的人身上。他不像人那样收回自己的话（因人是反复无常、愚昧无知的），他必兴起攻击那作恶之家——就是这群下埃及去的人；神必照他所说的话使他们羞愧，并反对他们想要从那作罪孽之人所带来的帮助。有人认为埃及人将敬拜埃及的神作为与他们结盟的一个条件，他们竟同意了，所以他们既被称为作恶的，又被称为作罪孽的。2. 他们所信靠的，无力帮助他们，不久也必如此显明（赛 31:3）。让他们知道，他们所大大倚靠的埃及人，不过是人，并不是神。 正如人知道自己不过是人是好的（诗 9:20），我们也当思想我们所爱所信的不过也是人。所以他们没有神就一无所能，不能违背神，与神相比也算不得什么。他们是人，所以反复无常、愚昧无知、会变易、会死亡，今日在这里，明日就消逝；他们是人，所以我们不可视他们为神——以他们为我们的盼望和倚靠，期望在他们身上得着那唯有在神里面才能找着的；他们不是神，他们不能为我们行神所能行、并必为我们行的事——只要我们信他。所以我们不可轻忽他，去寻求他们；不可为着折断的芦苇丢弃万古的磐石，不可为着破裂的池子丢弃活水的泉源。埃及人确有强壮的马；但那是血肉，并不是灵，所以无论多么强壮，长途行军也会疲惫不堪、不堪使用，或在战场上受伤被杀，把骑它的人丢在那里任人践踏。人人都知道这事——埃及人不是神，他们的马不是灵；但向他们求助的人却不思想这事，否则就不会如此信靠他们。罪人虽被最浅显自明的真理定为愚妄——这些真理他们不能否认，却不肯相信。3. 他们必与所信靠的埃及人一同败亡（赛 31:3）。耶和华只要伸手，他何等轻易、何等有效地就使他们因信靠埃及而羞愧，使埃及人因鼓励他们信靠而羞愧；因为那帮助人的和那受帮助的必一同跌倒，他们彼此的盟约必成为他们共同的败亡。埃及人不久就要受清算，正如论埃及的默示（赛 19:1-25）所表明的，那时那些逃到他们那里求荫庇求救援的人必与他们一同倒下；因为没有人能逃脱神的审判。罪患追逐罪人；我们若将任何受造之物当作偶像，神就公义地使那受造之物成为我们的鞭笞。4. 他们把神的工从神手中夺过来。他们装作非常关心保全耶路撒冷，主张与埃及结盟；当别人不肯附从他们的计谋时，他们借口自保，亲自下到埃及去。如今先知在此告诉他们：耶路撒冷无须埃及的帮助就要被保全，那些留在那里的人，当那些逃到埃及的人灭亡时，必得安全。耶路撒冷是在神的保护之下，所以无需将它置于埃及的保护之下。但我们对神的全能所存的实践上的不信，正是我们一切从神偏离到受造之物的罪恶根源。先知告诉他们，他是亲耳从神口中听见的：耶和华对我如此说。 他们可以信靠这话：（1）神必如护食咆哮的狮子那样勇敢地显现，抵挡耶路撒冷的仇敌（赛 31:4）。狮子出来攫取猎物时，有许多牧人出来攻击它；因为邻舍见人命财产危急时，理当彼此帮助。这些牧人不敢靠近狮子；他们所能做的不过是喧嚷，他们想借此把它吓走。但它理会吗？不：它不因他们的声音惊惶，也不屑为那喧嚷稍动，无论是放弃猎物，或在攫取猎物时比本来更多加匆忙。万军之耶和华也要照样降临，为锡安山争战——以这样不可动摇、不可吓退的决心，绝不为任何敌挡所动；他必如狮子撕碎羔羊那样轻易、无可抵挡地毁灭亚述大军。无论谁起来反对神，都不过像一群可怜愚蠢的牧人对狮子叫嚷——狮子不屑理他们，更不为他们改变步伐。有这样保护者的人，当然不必下埃及求帮助。（2）神必如鸟覆雏那样温柔地显现，为耶路撒冷的朋友效力（赛 31:5）。神早已愿意 要招聚耶路撒冷，如同母鸡把小鸡聚集在翅膀底下（太 23:37）；但那些信靠埃及的人不肯被招聚。鸟雀怎样飞到自己的巢——见巢被攻击，尽速赶回，绕着巢焦急地盘旋，覆在雏鸟之上保护它们、驱散攻击者——万军之耶和华也要照样保护耶路撒冷，存着这样的怜悯和柔情。正如鹰在雏鸟遇险时搅动它们，将它们背在翅膀上，耶和华如此领以色列出埃及（申 32:11,12）；他如今对他们仍怀着那时同样的温柔关切，所以他们不必再逃到埃及求荫庇。他保护拯救，越过去保全它——他必保护，确保它持续安全，不暂时保护最终又抛弃，而是保护使它不落入仇敌手中。我为自己的缘故，又为我仆人大卫的缘故，必保护拯救这城（赛 37:35）。越过去保全它——「越过去」一词只在此处和出 12:12,23,27 用过，论及灭命天使击杀埃及人一切头生时越过以色列人的房屋——本处正指那故事。亚述大军要被一位灭命天使击溃，他虽本该毁灭，却越过耶路撒冷，只拔剑攻击围城者。他们必因瘟疫被杀，被围困的人却无一感染。这样他必再次越过他百姓的房屋，保守他们平安。
英語原文
Confidence in Egypt Reproved (720 BC)
¹ Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!
² Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not call back his words: but will arise against the house of the evildoers, and against the help of them that work iniquity.
³ Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.
⁴ For thus hath the LORD spoken unto me, Like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them: so shall the LORD of hosts come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof.
⁵ As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it.
This is the last of four chapters together that begin with woe; and they are all woes to the sinners that were found among the professing people of God, to the drunkards of Ephraim (Isa 28:1), to Ariel (Isa 29:1), to the rebellious children (Isa 30:1), and here to those that go down to Egypt for help; for men's relation to the church will not secure them from divine woes if they live in contempt of divine laws. Observe,
I. What the sin was that is here reproved, Isa 31:1. 1. Idolizing the Egyptians, and making court to them, as if happy were the people that had the Egyptians for their friends and allies. They go down to Egypt for help in every exigence, as if the worshippers of false gods had a better interest in heaven and were more likely to have success of earth than the servants of the living and true God. That which invited them to Egypt was that the Egyptians had many chariots to accommodate them with, and horses and horsemen that were strong; and, if they could get a good body of forces thence into their service, they would think themselves able to deal with the king of Assyria and his numerous army. Their kings were forbidden to multiply horses and chariots, and were told of the folly of trusting to them (Ps 20:7); but they think themselves wiser than their Bible. 2. Slighting the God of Israel: They look not to the Holy One of Israel, as if he were not worth taking notice of in this distress. They advise not with him, seek not his favour, nor are in any care to make him their friend.
II. The gross absurdity and folly of this sin. 1. They neglected one whom, if they would not hope in him, they had reason to fear. They do not seek the Lord, nor make their application to him, yet he also is wise, Isa 31:2. They are solicitous to get the Egyptians into an alliance with them, because they have the reputation of a politic people; and is not God wise too? and would not infinite wisdom, engaged on their side, stand them in more stead than all the policies of Egypt? They are at the pains of going down to Egypt, a tedious journey, when they might have had better advice, and better help, by looking up to heaven, and would not. But, if they will not court God's wisdom to act for them, they shall find it act against them. He is wise, too wise for them to outwit, and he will bring evil upon those who thus affront him. He will not call back his words as men do (because they are fickle and foolish), but he will arise against the house of the evil-doers, this cabal of them that go down to Egypt; God will appear to their confusion, according to the word that he has spoken, and will oppose the help they think to bring in from the workers of iniquity. Some think the Egyptians made it one condition of their coming into an alliance with him that they should worship the gods of Egypt, and they consented to it, and therefore they are both called evil-doers and workers of iniquity. 2. They trusted to those who were unable to help them and would soon appear to be so, Isa 31:3. Let them know that the Egyptians, whom they depend so much upon, are men and not God. As it is good for men to know themselves to be but men (Ps 9:20), so it is good for us to consider that those we love and trust to are but men. They therefore can do nothing without God, nothing against him, nothing in comparison with him. They are men, and therefore fickle and foolish, mutable and mortal, here to day and gone to morrow; they are men, and therefore let us not make gods of them, by making them our hope and confidence, and expecting that in them which is to be found in God only; they are not God, they cannot do that for us which God can do, and will, if we trust in him. Let us not then neglect him, to seek to them; let us not forsake the rock of ages for broken reeds, nor the fountain of living waters for broken cisterns. The Egyptians indeed have horses that are very strong; but they are flesh, and not spirit, and therefore, strong as they are, they may be wearied with a long march, and become unserviceable, or be wounded and slain in battle, and leave their riders to be ridden over. Every one knows this, that the Egyptians are not God and their horses are not spirit; but those that seek to them for help do not consider it, else they would not put such confidence in them. Sinners may be convicted of folly by the plainest and most self-evident truths, which they cannot deny, but will not believe. 3. They would certainly be ruined with the Egyptians they trusted in, Isa 31:3. When the Lord does but stretch out his hand how easily, how effectually, will he make them ashamed of their confidence in Egypt, and the Egyptians ashamed of the encouragement they gave them to trust in them; for he that helps and he that is helped shall fall together, and their mutual alliance shall prove their joint ruin. The Egyptians were shortly to be reckoned with, as appears by the burden of Egypt (Isa 19:1-25), and then those who fled to them for shelter and succour should fall with them; for there is no escaping the judgments of God. Evil pursues sinners, and it is just with God to make that creature a scourge to us which we make an idol of. 4. They took God's work out of his hands. They pretended a great deal of care to preserve Jerusalem, in advising to an alliance with Egypt; and, when others would not fall in with their measures, they pleaded self preservation, and went to Egypt themselves. Now the prophet here tells them that Jerusalem should be preserved without aid from Egypt and that those who tarried there should be safe when those who fled to Egypt should be ruined. Jerusalem was under God's protection, and therefore there was no occasion to put it under the protection of Egypt. But a practical distrust of God's all-sufficiency is at the bottom of all our sinful departures from him to the creature. The prophet tells them he had it from God's own mouth: Thus hath the Lord spoken to me. They might depend upon it, (1.) That God would appear against Jerusalem's enemies with the boldness of a lion over his prey, Isa 31:4. When the lion comes out to seize his prey a multitude of shepherds come out against him; for it becomes neighbours to help one another when persons or goods are in danger. These shepherds dare not come near the lion; all they can do is to make a noise, and with that they think to frighten him off. But does he regard it? No: he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself so far as to be in the least moved by it either to quit his prey or to make any more haste than otherwise he would do in seizing it. Thus will the Lord of hosts come down to fight for Mount Zion, with such an unshaken undaunted resolution not to be moved by any opposition; and he will as easily and irresistibly destroy the Assyrian army as a lion tears a lamb in pieces. Whoever appear against God, they are but like a multitude of poor simple shepherds shouting at a lion, who scorns to take notice of them or so much as to alter his pace for them. Surely those that have such a protector need not go to Egypt for help. (2.) That God would appear for Jerusalem's friends with the tenderness of a bird over her young, Isa 31:5. God was ready to gather Jerusalem, as a hen gathers her brood under her wings (Mt 23:37); but those that trusted to the Egyptians would not be gathered. As birds flying to their nests with all possible speed, when they see them attacked, and fluttering about their nests with all possible concern, hovering over their young ones to protect them and drive away the assailants, with such compassion and affection will the Lord of hosts defend Jerusalem. As an eagle stirs up her young when they are in danger, takes them and bears them on her wings, so the Lord led Israel out of Egypt (De 32:11,12); and he has now the same tender concern for them that he had then, so that they need not flee into Egypt again for shelter. Defending, he will deliver it; he will so defend it as to secure the continuance of its safety, not defend it for a while and abandon it at last, but defend it so that it shall not fall into the enemies' hand. I will defend this city to save it, Isa 37:35. Passing over he will preserve it; the word for passing over is used in this sense only here and Ex 12:12,23,27, concerning the destroying angel's passing over the houses of the Israelites when he slew all the first-born of the Egyptians, to which story this passage refers. The Assyrian army was to be routed by a destroying angel, who should pass over Jerusalem, though that deserved to be destroyed, and draw his sword only against the besiegers. They shall be slain by the pestilence, but none of the besieged shall take the infection. Thus he will again pass over the houses of his people and secure them.
6-9
A Call to Repentance; Deliverance of Jerusalem (720 BC)
简体中文
悔改的呼召；耶路撒冷的拯救（公元前720年）
⁶ 以色列人哪，你们要深深地悖逆，转向那曾被你们深深悖逆的那位。
⁷ 到那日，各人必将他银的偶像、金的偶像，就是你们自己手所造、使你们陷入罪中的，都抛弃了。
⁸ 亚述人必倒在刀下，并不是人的刀；有刀，并不是凡人的刀，要吞灭他；他必从这刀前逃避，他的少年人必被惊惶。
⁹ 他的盘石必因惊吓逃跑，他的首领必因旗号惊惶。这是有火在锡安、有炉在耶路撒冷的耶和华说的。
这里解释了前文关于耶路撒冷得拯救的应许：她必先预备好得以拯救，然后拯救才为她成就；因为神就是以这方式施行拯救。
一、耶路撒冷必先被归正，如此她便脱离了墙内的仇敌（赛31:6、7）。此处有：1. 一个恩慈的悔改呼召。这是主在城中呼喊的声音，是杖的声音、刀的声音，以及先知解释这审判的声音：「你们转回吧——如今转回吧，从你们的恶道转向神，归向你们当尽忠的那位——『以色列人已深深地悖逆』了的那位，你们这些以色列人哪，已经远离的那位。」他提醒他们的出身和身世，他们是「以色列人」，因此对以色列的神负有可能想象中最高的本分——这既加重了他们远离他的罪，也鼓励他们归向他。「他们虽是后退的儿女，却仍是儿女；所以让他们归回，他们的后退必得医治。」「他们深深地悖逆」，自以为很有手段（「这些悖逆的人深自潜心」，何5:2）；但结局必要证明他们的悖逆是危险的。他们罪的污渍已深深渗入本性，不易除去，如古实人的黑肤。「他们深深地败坏了」（何9:9）；他们已深陷苦难之中，不易自拔；所以你们当赶紧归向神。2. 一个恩慈的应许，保证这呼召必有良好的成效（赛31:7）：「到那日，各人必将他的偶像抛弃」——顺服希西家的命令；而在亚述入侵使他们惊惶之前，许多人拒绝如此行。那使我们因罪而惊惶的恐惧，是有福的恐惧。(1) 这必是一次普遍的归正：各人都抛弃自己的偶像，先从自己的开始，再去拆毁别人的偶像——其实各人自己归正之后，也就无需再去拆毁别人的了。(2) 这必是一次彻底的归正；因为他们要丢弃拜偶像——他们所钟爱的罪——丢弃他们的「金银偶像」，就是他们最贪恋的偶像。许多人把自己的金银当作偶像，因爱这偶像就被引诱远离神；但那归向神的人，便从心中把那偶像丢弃，并在神呼召时乐意舍去。(3) 这必是出于正确原则的归正——是出于敬虔的原则，而非政治的原则。他们要抛弃偶像，因为偶像对他们「成了犯罪的原因」；所以他们不愿再与偶像有任何瓜葛，尽管偶像是他们「自己手所作的」，他们因此而对之格外偏爱。罪是我们自己手所作的，但我们作罪的时候，正是在作自己的灭亡；所以我们必须把它丢弃；那些明知不然自己就要被丢弃，却仍死守着罪不放的人，是对罪依恋得何等离奇。有人认为这不过是预言：那些倚靠偶像的人，一旦发现偶像于他们无益，便出于义愤将其抛弃。但这与赛30:22如此吻合，我宁愿将其看作真诚归正的应许。
二、耶路撒冷的围攻者必被击溃，如此她便脱离了城墙四围的仇敌。前者为后者铺路。一个民族若归向神，就可以把为自己向仇敌伸冤的事交托给他。他们既抛弃了偶像，「亚述人必倒在刀下」（赛31:8、9）。1. 亚述的军兵必就地倒毙在刀下——「并不是人的刀」，「并不是凡人的刀」，不是任何人的刀，无论是以色列人还是埃及人的；不是大能勇士的刀用武力行的，也不是卑微之人的刀用诡诈行的，而是天使的刀——它比大能勇士的刀击得更重，又比卑微之人的刀行得更隐秘，是主的刀，是他在天使手中的权能与烈怒。如此，军中的少年人必消化、被惊惶、向死亡进贡。当神要为他的教会攻击仇敌之时，我们以为这事必借大能的人和卑微的人、军官和士兵来成就；但神若愿意，无需任何一方也能成就。那有千万天使听候吩咐的（太26:53），用不着人的军队。2. 亚述王必为此逃遁——必逃避那看不见的刀，指望逃出它的范围；他要竭力奔回自己的疆土，逃往自己的某个坚固据点，惟恐犹太人乘他军队溃败之时追击。西拿基立原十分自信必能攻取耶路撒冷，并以最狂妄的方式向神和希西家挑衅；如今却使他们二人令他战兢。神能使最骄傲的人惊恐，使最刚硬的心战栗。见伯18:11、20:24。「他的首领」——随同他的——「必因旗号惊惶」，必因回想空中所见的旗号而持续惊惶——那旗号或许是灭命天使在射出致命之箭前所展示的。又或者，他们看见任何旗号都害怕，怀疑是犹太人的一队追兵。神为鼓励他的百姓所展的旗（诗60:4），要成为他的仇敌和他们仇敌的惊惶。如此他「剪除君王的骄傲，向地上的君王显为可畏」。但谁要作这事呢？是「那有火在锡安、有炉在耶路撒冷的耶和华」。(1) 他的居所就在那里，他在那里安家——如同人把火和炉灶设在哪里，就在哪里安家一样。那是大君王的城，亚述人休想把他从自己的家业中赶出去。(2) 他在那里向一切仇敌是吞灭的火，在他震怒的日子要使他们成为火炉（诗21:9）。他自己就是「耶路撒冷四围的火墙」，所以无论谁攻击她，都是冒自身的危险（亚2:5；启11:5）。(3) 他的祭坛在那里，其上圣火常常烧着，每日向他献上蒙悦纳的祭牲；所以他要保卫这城，尤其顾念那也要在那里献上的大祭——一切的祭都是它的预表。我们若在心中和家中维持圣洁爱与敬虔的火，就可以倚靠神作我们和我们家的保护。
英語原文
A Call to Repentance; Deliverance of Jerusalem (720 BC)
⁶ Turn ye unto him from whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted.
⁷ For in that day every man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have made unto you for a sin.
⁸ Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a mighty man; and the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour him: but he shall flee from the sword, and his young men shall be discomfited.
⁹ And he shall pass over to his strong hold for fear, and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign, saith the LORD, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.
This explains the foregoing promise of the deliverance of Jerusalem; she shall be fitted for deliverance, and then it shall be wrought for her; for in that method God delivers.
I. Jerusalem shall be reformed, and so she shall be delivered from her enemies within her walls, Isa 31:6,7. Here is, 1. A gracious call to repentance. This was the Lord's voice crying in the city, the voice of the rod, the voice of the sword, and the voice of the prophets interpreting the judgment: "Turn you, O turn you now, from your evil ways, unto God, return to your allegiance to him from whom the children of Israel have deeply revolted, from whom you, O children of Israel! have revolted." He reminds them of their birth and parentage, that they were children of Israel, and therefore under the highest obligations imaginable to the God of Israel, as an aggravation of their revolt from him and as an encouragement to them to return to him. "They have been backsliding children, yet children; therefore let them return, and their backslidings shall be healed. They have deeply revolted, with great address as they supposed (the revolters are profound, Ho 5:2); but the issue will prove that they have revolted dangerously. The stain of their sins has gone deeply into their nature, not to be easily got out, like the blackness of the Ethiopian. They have deeply corrupted themselves (Ho 9:9); they have sunk deep into misery, and cannot easily recover themselves; therefore you have need to hasten your return to God." 2. A gracious promise of the good success of this call (Isa 31:7): In that day every man shall cast away his idols, in obedience to Hezekiah's orders, which, till they were alarmed by the Assyrian invasion, many refused to do. That is a happy fright which frightens us from our sins. (1.) It shall be a general reformation: every man shall cast away his own idols, shall begin with them before he undertakes to demolish other people's idols, which there will be no need of when every man reforms himself. (2.) It shall be a thorough reformation; for they shall part with their idolatry, their beloved sin, with their idols of silver and gold, their idols that they are most fond of. Many make an idol of their silver and gold, and by the love of that idol are drawn to revolt from God; but those that turn to God cast that away out of their hearts and will be ready to part with it when God calls. (3.) It shall be a reformation upon a right principle, a principle of piety, not of politics. They shall cast away their idols, because they have been unto them for a sin, an occasion of sin; therefore they will have nothing to do with them, though they had been the work of their own hands, and upon that account they had a particular fondness for them. Sin is the work of our own hands, but in working it we have been working our own ruin, and therefore we must cast it away; and those are strangely wedded to it who will not be prevailed upon to cast it away when they see that otherwise they themselves will be castaways. Some make this to be only a prediction that those who trust in idols, when they find they stand them in no stead, will cast them away in indignation. But it agrees so exactly with Isa 30:22 that I rather take it as a promise of a sincere reformation.
II. Jerusalem's besiegers shall be routed, and so she shall be delivered from the enemies about her walls. The former makes way for this. If a people return to God, they may leave it to him to plead their cause against their enemies. When they have cast away their idols, then shall the Assyrian fall, Isa 31:8,9. 1. The army of the Assyrians shall be laid dead upon the spot by the sword, not of a mighty man, nor of a mean man, not of any man at all, either Israelite or Egyptian, not forcibly by the sword of a mighty man nor surreptitiously by the sword of a mean man, but by the sword of an angel, who strikes more strongly than a mighty man and yet more secretly than a mean man, by the sword of the Lord, and his power and wrath in the hand of the angel. Thus the young men of the army shall melt, and be discomfited, and become tributaries to death. When God has work to do against the enemies of his church we expect it must be done by mighty men and mean men, officers and common soldiers; whereas God can, if he please, do it without either. He needs not armies of men who has legions of angels at command, Mt 26:53. 2. The king of Assyria shall flee for the same, shall flee from that invisible sword, hoping to get out of the reach of it; and he shall make the best of his way to his own dominions, shall pass over to some strong-hold of his own, for fear lest the Jews should pursue him now that his army was routed. Sennacherib had been very confident that he should make himself master of Jerusalem, and in the most insolent manner had set both God and Hezekiah at defiance; yet now he is made to tremble for fear of both. God can strike a terror into the proudest of men, and make the stoutest heart to tremble. See Job 18:11,20:24. His princes that accompany him shall be afraid of the ensign, shall be in a continual fright at the remembrance of the ensign in the air, which perhaps the destroying angel displayed before he gave the fatal bow. Or they shall be afraid of every ensign they see, suspecting it is a party of the Jews pursuing them. The banner that God displays for the encouragement of his people (Ps 60:4) will be a terror to his and their enemies. Thus he cuts off the spirit of princes and is terrible to the kings of the earth. But who will do this? It is the Lord, whose fire is in Zion and his furnace in Jerusalem. (1.) Whose residence is there, and who there keeps house, as a man does where his fire and his oven are. It is the city of the great King, and let not the Assyrians think to turn him out of the possession of his own house. (2.) Who is there a consuming fire to all his enemies and will make them as a fiery oven in the day of his wrath, Ps 21:9. He is himself a wall of fire round about Jerusalem, so that whoever assaults her does so at his peril, Zec 2:5, Re 11:5. (3.) Who has his altar there, on which the holy fire is continually kept burning and sacrifices are daily offered to his honour, and with which he is well pleased; and therefore he will defend this city, especially having an eye to the great sacrifice which was there also to be offered, of which all the sacrifices were types. If we keep up the fire of holy love and devotion in our hearts and houses, we may depend upon God to be a protection to us and them.
本章是前一章的摘要；其要点大致相同。内容如下：一、向那些在亚述大军入侵时倚靠埃及人、却不倚靠神来求助之人所宣告的祸患（赛31:1-3）。二、保证神在那危险患难之时必眷顾耶路撒冷（赛31:4,5）。三、呼吁人悔改与归正（赛31:6,7）。四、预言亚述大军的倾覆，以及亚述王因此所受的惊吓（赛31:8,9）。