*H The word that Isaias the son of Amos saw, concerning Juda and Jerusalem.
Ver. 1. Jerusalem. Many particular prophecies are blended with the general one, which regards Christ. C.
*H And in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it.
Ver. 2. Days. The whole time of the new law, from the coming of Christ till the end of the world, is called in the Scripture the last days; because no other age, or time shall come after it, but only eternity. Ch. — It is therefore styled the last hour. 1 Jo. ii. W. — Mountains. This shews the perpetual visibility of the Church of Christ: for a mountain upon the top of mountains cannot be hid. Ch. — This evidently regards the Church. Mat. v. W. — The Jews can never shew the fulfillment of this prophecy in any material temple. Micheas (iv. 1.) copies this text.
* Footnote * Micheas 4 : 1
And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared in the top of the mountains, and high above the hills: and people shall flow to it.*H And many people shall go, and say: Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall come forth from Sion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
Ver. 3. Jerusalem. Our Saviour preached there, and in some sense the religion established by him, may be esteemed a reform, or accomplishment of the old law.
*H And he shall judge the Gentiles, and rebuke many people: and they shall turn their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into sickles: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they be exercised any more to war.
Ver. 4. War. Ezechias enjoyed peace after the defeat of Sennacherib, as the whole world did at the birth of Christ. C. — Claudentur belli portæ. Æn. i.
*H O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.
Ver. 5. Lord. Ezechias, or rather Christ and his Church, invite all to embrace the true faith. C.
*H For thou hast cast off thy people, the house of Jacob: because they are filled as in times past, and have had soothsayers as the Philistines, and have adhered to strange children.
Ver. 6. Jacob. Thus the converts address God, (H.) or the prophet gives the reasons of the subversion of the ten tribes. — Filled. Consecrated as priests. — Children. Imitating idolatrous nations, (C.) and marrying with them, (C. Sept. Theod.) or even giving way to unnatural sins. S. Jer. M. — The Jews were not utterly cast off till they had put Christ to death. His Church shall never perish. W.
*H And their land is filled with horses: and their chariots are innumerable. Their land also is full of idols: they have adored the work of their own hands, which their own fingers have made.
Ver. 8. Horses. Which the kings were forbidden to multiply. Deut. xvii. 16. Great riches often precede the ruin of states.
*H And man hath bowed himself down, and man hath been debased: therefore forgive them not.
Ver. 9. Forgive. Sept. "I will not dismiss them." Heb. "and thou hast not pardoned them."
*H Enter thou into the rock, and hide thee in the pit from the face of the fear of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty.
Ver. 10. Rock. Screen thyself if thou canst. He alludes to the kingdom of Israel, which was ruined by idolatry. v. 18. 20.
*H And upon all the tall and lofty cedars of Libanus, and upon all the oaks of Basan.
Ver. 13. Basan. Israel; or Syria and the Ammonites, (C.) whom Nabuchodonosor subdued, five years after he had taken Jerusalem, (Joseph. x. 11.) as the Idumeans, (v. 14.) Philistines, and Egyptians, (v. 15.) and Tyrians, (v. 16.) who felt also the indignation of the Lord. Jer. xxv. 15.
*H And upon all the ships of Tharsis, and upon all that is fair to behold.
Ver. 16. Tharsis. In Cilicia, denoting large ships for merchandise. — Fair. Heb. "desirable pictures." Sept. "ships." C.
*H And idols shall be utterly destroyed.
Ver. 18. Destroyed. This was verified by the establishment of Christianity. And by this and other texts of the like nature, the wild system of some modern sectaries is abundantly confuted, who charge the whole Christian Church with worshipping idols, for many ages. Ch. — Yea, for above a thousand years, while she still professed the name of Christ. W.
* Footnote * Osee 10 : 8
And the high places of the idol, the sin of Israel shall be destroyed: the bur and the thistle shall grow up over their altars: and they shall say to the mountains Cover us; and to the hills: Fall upon us.* Footnote * Luke 23 : 30
Then shall they begin to say to the mountains: Fall upon us. And to the hills: Cover us.* Footnote * Apocalypse 6 : 16
And they say to the mountains and the rocks: Fall upon us and hide us from the face of him that sitteth upon the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb.*H In that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which he had made for himself to adore, moles and bats.
Ver. 20. Bats. The Egyptians adored all sorts of animals. Herod. ii. 65. — Ægyptus portenta colat. Juv. xv. — Omnigenumque Deum monstra. Æn. viii. — The mole was much esteemed by magicians, who promised any the art of divination and success, who should eat the heart of one still warm. Pliny, xxx. 3. The Israelites were always ready to embrace such superstitious practices. C.
*H Cease ye therefore from the man, whose breath is in his nostrils, for he is reputed high.
Ver. 22. High. Adhere to Jesus Christ. Orig. M. — Sept. omit this sentence, and S. Jer. thinks they did it perhaps for fear of shocking their brethren. In Jer. xvii. — It is supplied from Aquila's version, "how must he be esteemed?" C. — Prot. "for wherein is he to be accounted of?" Jesus will kill the wicked one with the spirit of his mouth. 2 Thess. ii. 8. H. — No dependence must be had in man. The Israelites vainly trusted in Egypt. C.