聖經註釋書

本章是一首聖潔喜樂與讚美的歌，頌揚神在前一章中所應許要為祂百姓、抵擋祂和他們仇敵所要成就的大事；這歌預備在那預言應驗之時歌唱，因為當神帶著憐憫向我們而來，我們必須樂意以感恩迎接祂。如今神的百姓在此受教：I. 在神的保護之下，誇耀教會整體以及其中每一個肢體的安全與聖潔的安穩，Isa 26:1-4。II. 誇勝一切敵擋的權勢，Isa 26:5,6。III. 在最壞最黑暗的時候仍與神同行、等候祂，Isa 26:7-9。IV. 哀嘆那些對神的護理——無論是施恩的或是降罰的——都不留意之人的頑鈍，Isa 26:10,11。V. 以神仍要繼續賜福給他們的盼望彼此勉勵（Isa 26:12,14），並立定心意繼續事奉祂，Isa 26:13。VI. 回想在卑微困苦中所蒙的神恩惠護理，以及他們在那些護理之下的行事為人，Isa 26:15-18。VII. 因盼望那如同復活的榮耀拯救而喜樂（Isa 26:19），並在期待中安靜等候，Isa 26:20,21。這話是為要扶持並幫助歷代神百姓的信心與盼望而寫的，甚至包括了那些已到了世界末了的人。

關於本章的大旨與用意，見 Isaiah 24 開頭和 Isaiah 25:1-12 的評述。這是一首頌讚之歌，設想為猶太人歸回本土、神的政權連同錫安山上的敬拜典章重新建立之時所唱的。如前所述，以頌讚之歌慶祝大事乃是慣例；先知設想，蒙復原的猶太人必這樣樂於稱頌耶和華的良善，因祂再使他們歸回本土，恢復聖殿事奉的權利。有若干跡象顯示，這歌是設計成有合唱和輪流應答的形式唱誦的，正如許多詩篇一樣。這首歌以耶路撒冷作為堅固之城的景象開始，他們在神的護衛下可以在其中得著保障（Isaiah 26:1）。接著有一個應答，或說呼籲，要這堅固城的城門敞開，迎接歸回的國民（Isaiah 26:2）。

隨後宣告倚靠耶和華的穩妥，並呼籲人人都信靠祂（Isaiah 26:3-4）。其原因記在 Isaiah 26:5-7：耶和華使驕傲的降卑，保守義人的道路。接著描述猶太人對耶和華的信靠（Isaiah 26:3, Isaiah 26:9）；隨後宣告（Isaiah 26:10-11）惡人必不認得神的手；又斷言他們一切的拯救都是神所行的（Isaiah 26:12）。接著是他們承認曾服在耶和華以外的別主之下，但如今他們必單單順服祂（Isaiah 26:13-14）。隨後宣告神曾擴張他們的國境（Isaiah 26:15）；接著描述他們的災禍和他們自救的徒勞努力（Isaiah 26:16-18）。許多人在被擄中死去，然而如今有保證說他們必再活過來（Isaiah 26:19）；又有對神子民的普遍呼召，要他們進入內室，關門隱藏，等忿怒過去（Isaiah 26:20），並保證耶和華必出來懲罰欺壓者的罪孽（Isaiah 26:21）。這首詩歌便以這保證作結。

This chapter, like the foregoing, is a song of praise, in which thanksgivings for temporal and spiritual mercies are beautifully mingled, though the latter still predominate. Even the sublime and evangelical doctrine of the resurrection seems here to be hinted at, and made to typify the deliverance of the people of God from a state of the lowest misery; the captivity, the general dispersion, or both. This hymn too, like the preceding, is beautifully diversified by the frequent change of speakers. It opens with a chorus of the Church, celebrating the protection vouchsafed by God to his people; and the happiness of the righteous, whom he guards, contrasted with the misery of the wicked, whom he punishes, Isaiah 26:1-7. To this succeeds their own pious resolution of obeying, trusting, and delighting in God, Isaiah 26:8. Here the prophet breaks in, in his own person, eagerly catching the last words of the chorus, which were perfectly in unison with the feelings of his own soul, and which he beautifully repeats, as one musical instrument reverberates the sound of another on the same key with it. He makes likewise a suitable response to what had been said on the judgments of God, and observes their different effects on the good and the bad; improving the one, and hardening the other, Isaiah 26:9-11. After this, a chorus of Jews express their gratitude to God for past deliverances, make confession of their sins, and supplicate his power, which they had been long expecting, Isaiah 26:12-18. To this God makes a gracious reply, promising deliverance that should be as life from the dead, Isaiah 26:19. And the prophet, (apparently alluding to the command of Moses to the Israelites, when the destroying angel was to go through the land of Egypt), concludes with exhorting his people to patience and resignation, till God sends the deliverance he has promised, Isaiah 26:20, Isaiah 26:21.

INTRODUCTION TO Isaiah 26

This chapter contains a song of praise for the safety and prosperity of the church, and the destruction of its enemies. The church is represented as a strong city, whose walls and bulwarks are salvation, Isaiah 26:1 it is said to have gates which are to be opened to a righteous nation, Isaiah 26:2 its inhabitants, being such who trust in the Lord, are promised perfect peace, Isaiah 26:3 hence the saints are exhorted to trust in him, Isaiah 26:4 then follows an account of another city, described as lofty, and its inhabitants as dwelling on high, who are brought down, and trampled on, by the feet of the poor and needy, Isaiah 26:5 when the prophet returns to the righteous, and asserts their way to be uprightness, because their path is weighed or levelled by God the most upright, Isaiah 26:7 and in the name of the church declares that they had waited for the Lord in the way of his judgments; and that the desire of their souls was to his name, and the remembrance of it; and that they continued, and would continue, to desire him, and seek after him, seeing righteousness was to be learned by his judgments, Isaiah 26:8 and though the wicked would not be brought to repentance and reformation by the goodness of God, nor take notice of his hand, yet they should see and be ashamed, and destroyed at last, Isaiah 26:10 but notwithstanding these judgments of God in the earth, the church professes her faith in the Lord, that he would give her peace and prosperity, from the consideration of what he had wrought for her, and in her, Isaiah 26:12 and rejects all other lords but him, Isaiah 26:13 who were dead, and should not live again, but were visited and destroyed, and their memory made to perish, Isaiah 26:14 but the righteous nation should be increased, though they should meet with trouble, which would cause them to go to the throne of grace, and there pour out their complaints, express their pain and distresses, and the disappointments they had met with, Isaiah 26:15 to which an answer is returned, promising a glorious resurrection, Isaiah 26:19 and calling upon the people of God to retire to their chambers for protection in the mean while, until the punishment to be inflicted on the inhabitants of the earth for their sins was over, Isaiah 26:20.

Ch. Isaiah 26:1-19. The Nation’s Prayer for a more complete Salvation

(1) Isaiah 26:1-6. The nation praises God for the strength and safety of Jerusalem, henceforth to be the dwelling place of a righteous, truth-keeping people (1, 2); for the steadfast faith which is now rewarded with peace (3, 4), and for the overthrow of a proud hostile city (5, 6).

(2) Isaiah 26:7-10. The enthusiasm of the opening verses here gives place to a more subdued and wistful mood. Israel still waits with ardent longing for the accomplishment of Jehovah’s judgments (8, 9a), knowing well that only by the discipline of judgment will the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness (9 b, 10).

(3) Isaiah 26:11-15. Meditation passes into prayer,—first for the destruction of enemies (11), then for peace to Israel (12 a); and this again into a retrospect of the past history of the nation, in which the writer thankfully recognises tokens of the Divine presence and help (12 b). Much has been achieved; foreign tyrants have been swept away (13, 14), the people has been increased and its territory extended (15).

(4) Isaiah 26:16-18. But the past has its failures also, and the effect of them is felt in the present. Israel has learned prayer through severe discipline (16); yet how vain and ineffectual have all its pain and effort been! (17, 18). And apparently the chief source of disappointment is the scantiness of the population that remains on the eve of the final glory.

(5) Isaiah 26:19. The last verse comes on us almost with a shock of surprise, so far does it seem to exceed the aspiration to which it is the answer. It is a promise of life from the dead in the most literal sense, a resurrection of those members of the community whom death had seemed to rob of their share in the hope of Israel.

It is difficult to interpret the situation which gave rise to this deeply interesting meditation. The nation has emerged from a season of great trouble and oppression, and gratefully acknowledges the mercies it now enjoys, but this feeling is accompanied by confession of failure and an eager longing for a fuller experience of the Divine blessing. Such a state of mind is in itself perfectly intelligible; the difficulty is that it is hardly appropriate to the ideal future standpoint to which the psalm is assigned by the heading. “In that day”—the day of Jehovah’s kingdom—the praises of Israel must surely rise higher than the sombre and almost melancholy strains that appear in the latter part of this poem. Yet it seems impossible to regard the passage as other than a unity. The verse-connexion is as a rule very close, and just at those points where some critics have recognised a discontinuity in the thought (e.g. after Isaiah 26:7, or Isaiah 26:10 or Isaiah 26:16) the phraseology presents indications of a studied transition. The poem indeed is remarkable for its concatenated structure; that is to say, a word or idea is taken up from one verse and suggests a new thought for the next (Isaiah 26:2 f., 3 f., 7 f., 8 f., 9 f., 10 f., 17 f.). Partly from this peculiarity it is difficult to trace all the windings of the thought; and clearly denned sections do not exist.

Concluding Note on Ch. 24–27

The above exposition has left some general questions in suspense; and for the most part they are such as cannot be adequately discussed in this commentary. There are two, however, on which a few additional observations are necessary, viz., (1) the unity and (2) the date, of the prophecy.

(1) The question of unity, as raised by the recent criticisms of Duhm and Cheyne, relates principally to the lyrical passages already marked off in the notes (Isaiah 25:1-5; Isaiah 25:9-12, Isaiah 26:1-19, Isaiah 27:2-6), although it is acknowledged that the section Isaiah 27:7-11 presents difficulties almost as great. As has been hinted above, the commonly accepted view has been that the lyrics represent flights of the author’s imagination, depicting the feelings of the redeemed community after the great judgment is past. The chief considerations urged against this view are as follows. (a) If we read consecutively 24, Isaiah 25:6-8, Isaiah 26:20 to Isaiah 27:1; Isaiah 27:7-13, we have a series of conceptions which readily fit into a consistent picture of the future, and (at least up to Isaiah 27:1) a very natural sequence of thought. (b) the songs are distinguished from the main prophecy in poetic structure and rhythm, as well as in the point of view they represent. (c) They do not occur at places where their insertion would be natural if due to the literary plan of the composition, while one of them (Isaiah 25:1-5) appears to interrupt a close connexion of thought. (d) The most important of all (Isaiah 26:1-19) is written in a vein of mingled exultation and despondency inappropriate to the supposed situation. Although the reader is naturally averse to entertaining the idea of interpolation if it can possibly be avoided, it can hardly be denied that these arguments have a considerable cumulative force. (b) counts for little or nothing by itself, while the others may involve merely subjective differences of critical judgment. The crucial case is probably (d), where the ‘ideal standpoint’ theory could only be maintained by assuming that the writer’s imagination lacks the strength of wing needful to bear him triumphantly away from the discouraging outlook of his actual present. It must be pointed out, however, that the demarcation of the lyrics given in the notes is adopted from Duhm and Cheyne, and to discuss the question of unity on this basis necessarily does some injustice to the views of other critics, who might prefer a different division.

(2) The question of the date of the prophecy is of course influenced by the view held as to its unity, although to a less extent than might be imagined, since both the critics named agree in regarding the whole series of compositions as belonging to the literature of a single general period. Duhm assigns them to the reign of John Hyrcanus, and finds allusions to the Parthian campaign of Antiochus Sidetes (b.c. 129) and the destruction of Samaria (c. 107). But there is really nothing to warrant these precise determinations, and the theory is negatived by well-established conclusions as to the close of the O.T. Canon. Cheyne’s view is free from this objection and is in itself very attractive. The historical background of the prophecy is found in the events which preceded the dissolution of the Persian Empire (say 350–330). The gloomy survey of ch. 24 is explained by the “desolating and protracted wars” of the period, in which the Jews are known to have suffered severely and during which Jerusalem was not improbably laid waste by Persian armies. The premature songs of triumph referred to in ch. Isaiah 24:16 are supposed to have been called forth by rumours of the expedition of Alexander the Great, whilst the interspersed lyrical passages celebrate the Jewish deliverance achieved by the Macedonian victories. Perhaps the least convincing part of the hypothesis is the identification of the conquered city of Isaiah 25:2, Isaiah 26:5, with Tyre or Gaza, destroyed by Alexander; but in spite of that Cheyne’s view is probably the one which best harmonises the varied indications of the prophecy (see his Introduction, pp. 155 ff., and the refs. there).

Of rival theories there is perhaps but one that deserves careful examination, that, viz., which seeks the occasion of the prophecy in the age immediately succeeding the Exile, particularly the Babylonian troubles under Darius Hystaspis. There is, indeed, a surprising number of coincidences between the phenomena of this prophecy and the circumstances of that time or the contemporary literature. The expectation of a great overturning of existing political conditions occurs in the writings of Haggai (Isaiah 2:6-7; Isaiah 2:21-22) and Zechariah (Isaiah 1:11 ff.); the idea of a world-judgment in Isaiah 13:6 ff.; the universalism of Isaiah 25:6-8 finds nowhere a more sympathetic response than in Isaiah 40-55; and even the ‘songs of the righteous’ (Isaiah 24:16) have a certain resemblance to Isaiah 45:10. The allusion to recent idolatry in Isaiah 27:9 is amply accounted for; and the “city” (although too much has been made of this point) of Isaiah 24:10 ff., Isaiah 27:10 f., Isaiah 25:2, Isaiah 26:5 might be Babylon, the “world-city,” now humbled and soon to be utterly destroyed.

The ultimate decision probably turns on certain general features of the prophecy, which are thought to point to a very late age. These are (a) its apocalyptic colouring and imagery (see, however, the caveat on p. 179 above), (b) the advanced form in which it presents the doctrines of immortality (Isaiah 25:8) and the resurrection (Isaiah 26:19); and (possibly) (c) the belief in tutelary genii of the nations. With regard to these phenomena many will agree with Cheyne that they “become the more intelligible the later we place this composition in the Persian period.”

Ch. Isaiah 26:20 to Isaiah 27:13. The Conclusion of the Prophecy

Isaiah 26:20 resumes the connexion of the prophetic discourse, interrupted since Isaiah 25:8; and this continues to the end, broken only by the lyrical passage, Isaiah 27:2-6. The contents, however, are of a somewhat mixed character, and the divisions are clearly marked.

(1) vv. Isaiah 26:20-21.—A call to the people of God to hide themselves till the indignation be overpast.

(2) v. Isaiah 27:1.—Announcement of judgment on the great World-powers.

(3) Isaiah 27:2-6.—A song of Jehovah concerning His vineyard.

(4) Isaiah 27:7-11.—The moderation displayed in Jehovah’s chastisement of Israel, and the lesson to be learned from it.

(5) Isaiah 27:12-13.—A prophecy of the restoration of the dispersed of Israel.

Concluding Note on Ch. 24–27

The above exposition has left some general questions in suspense; and for the most part they are such as cannot be adequately discussed in this commentary. There are two, however, on which a few additional observations are necessary, viz., (1) the unity and (2) the date, of the prophecy.

(1) The question of unity, as raised by the recent criticisms of Duhm and Cheyne, relates principally to the lyrical passages already marked off in the notes (Isaiah 25:1-5; Isaiah 25:9-12, Isaiah 26:1-19, Isaiah 27:2-6), although it is acknowledged that the section Isaiah 27:7-11 presents difficulties almost as great. As has been hinted above, the commonly accepted view has been that the lyrics represent flights of the author’s imagination, depicting the feelings of the redeemed community after the great judgment is past. The chief considerations urged against this view are as follows. (a) If we read consecutively 24, Isaiah 25:6-8, Isaiah 26:20 to Isaiah 27:1; Isaiah 27:7-13, we have a series of conceptions which readily fit into a consistent picture of the future, and (at least up to Isaiah 27:1) a very natural sequence of thought. (b) the songs are distinguished from the main prophecy in poetic structure and rhythm, as well as in the point of view they represent. (c) They do not occur at places where their insertion would be natural if due to the literary plan of the composition, while one of them (Isaiah 25:1-5) appears to interrupt a close connexion of thought. (d) The most important of all (Isaiah 26:1-19) is written in a vein of mingled exultation and despondency inappropriate to the supposed situation. Although the reader is naturally averse to entertaining the idea of interpolation if it can possibly be avoided, it can hardly be denied that these arguments have a considerable cumulative force. (b) counts for little or nothing by itself, while the others may involve merely subjective differences of critical judgment. The crucial case is probably (d), where the ‘ideal standpoint’ theory could only be maintained by assuming that the writer’s imagination lacks the strength of wing needful to bear him triumphantly away from the discouraging outlook of his actual present. It must be pointed out, however, that the demarcation of the lyrics given in the notes is adopted from Duhm and Cheyne, and to discuss the question of unity on this basis necessarily does some injustice to the views of other critics, who might prefer a different division.

(2) The question of the date of the prophecy is of course influenced by the view held as to its unity, although to a less extent than might be imagined, since both the critics named agree in regarding the whole series of compositions as belonging to the literature of a single general period. Duhm assigns them to the reign of John Hyrcanus, and finds allusions to the Parthian campaign of Antiochus Sidetes (b.c. 129) and the destruction of Samaria (c. 107). But there is really nothing to warrant these precise determinations, and the theory is negatived by well-established conclusions as to the close of the O.T. Canon. Cheyne’s view is free from this objection and is in itself very attractive. The historical background of the prophecy is found in the events which preceded the dissolution of the Persian Empire (say 350–330). The gloomy survey of ch. 24 is explained by the “desolating and protracted wars” of the period, in which the Jews are known to have suffered severely and during which Jerusalem was not improbably laid waste by Persian armies. The premature songs of triumph referred to in ch. Isaiah 24:16 are supposed to have been called forth by rumours of the expedition of Alexander the Great, whilst the interspersed lyrical passages celebrate the Jewish deliverance achieved by the Macedonian victories. Perhaps the least convincing part of the hypothesis is the identification of the conquered city of Isaiah 25:2, Isaiah 26:5, with Tyre or Gaza, destroyed by Alexander; but in spite of that Cheyne’s view is probably the one which best harmonises the varied indications of the prophecy (see his Introduction, pp. 155 ff., and the refs. there).

Of rival theories there is perhaps but one that deserves careful examination, that, viz., which seeks the occasion of the prophecy in the age immediately succeeding the Exile, particularly the Babylonian troubles under Darius Hystaspis. There is, indeed, a surprising number of coincidences between the phenomena of this prophecy and the circumstances of that time or the contemporary literature. The expectation of a great overturning of existing political conditions occurs in the writings of Haggai (Isaiah 2:6-7; Isaiah 2:21-22) and Zechariah (Isaiah 1:11 ff.); the idea of a world-judgment in Isaiah 13:6 ff.; the universalism of Isaiah 25:6-8 finds nowhere a more sympathetic response than in Isaiah 40-55; and even the ‘songs of the righteous’ (Isaiah 24:16) have a certain resemblance to Isaiah 45:10. The allusion to recent idolatry in Isaiah 27:9 is amply accounted for; and the “city” (although too much has been made of this point) of Isaiah 24:10 ff., Isaiah 27:10 f., Isaiah 25:2, Isaiah 26:5 might be Babylon, the “world-city,” now humbled and soon to be utterly destroyed.

The ultimate decision probably turns on certain general features of the prophecy, which are thought to point to a very late age. These are (a) its apocalyptic colouring and imagery (see, however, the caveat on p. 179 above), (b) the advanced form in which it presents the doctrines of immortality (Isaiah 25:8) and the resurrection (Isaiah 26:19); and (possibly) (c) the belief in tutelary genii of the nations. With regard to these phenomena many will agree with Cheyne that they “become the more intelligible the later we place this composition in the Persian period.”

Isa 26:1-21.

與第二十四、二十五章相連。

以色列歸回故土之後的讚美之歌。

第二十五章描述了叛教派系的傾覆，本章則以一座堅固設防的城為意象，描述了忠信者的平安。

1. strong city——耶路撒冷，因耶和華的保護而堅固：新耶路撒冷的預表

(Ps 48:1-3),

與不敬虔之仇敵的傾覆相對照

(Isa 26:4-7, 12-14; Re 22:2, 10-12,

&c.).

salvation . . . walls——

(Isa 60:18; Jer 3:23; Zec 2:5).

MAURER 譯作「耶和華使祂的救助作為城牆」

(Isa 33:20, 21,

&c.).

bulwarks——城牆外側的壕溝連同護牆土壘。

「當那日，人必唱這歌」——由神的百姓在他們歸回本地之時歌唱。

「我們有堅固的城」——指耶路撒冷。這不是說它當時有堅固的防禦工事，而是說神必保護它，因而它必堅固。耶路撒冷本易於設防加固（Psalm 25:2）；但這裏的意思是：耶和華必作它的保護者，這便是它力量的所在。

「耶和華要將救恩定為城牆」——即他自己要作他百姓的保護者，以代替城牆和壁壘。類似的說法見於 Isaiah 60:18（並見 Jeremiah 3:23；Zechariah 2:5）。

「為外郭」——這詞本義指稜堡或堡壘。原文的本義指城界（pomoerium）或牆外的防禦工事，即城牆外一段高起如矮牆的空地。敘利亞譯本譯作 Bar shuro，即「牆之子」，意即小牆。那通常是一道胸牆，或繞城堆起的土壘，構成附加的防禦；這樣，人若被逐出那裏，便可退入城牆之內。

We have a strong city - In opposition to the city of the enemy, which God hath destroyed, Isaiah 25:1-12 (note). See the note there.

Salvation - for walls and bulwarks - חומת וחל chomsoth vachel, walls and redoubts, or the walls and the ditch. חל chel properly signifies the ditch or trench without the wall; see Kimchi. The same rabbin says, This song refers to the time of salvation, i.e., the days of the Messiah.