PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible — Isaiah
Gill, John, 1697-1771 · 475,677 words · 701 reading sections
Isaiah 35:3
Isaiah 35:3 Ver. 3. Strengthen ye the weak hands,.... These are the words of the prophet, as the Targum, "the prophet said, strengthen the weak hands;'' or rather of God, by the prophet, to the converted Gentiles, to those who saw the glory of the Lord; particularly to the ministers of the Gospel, who have to do wit…
189 wordsSECTION 362Isaiah 35:4
Isaiah 35:4 Ver. 4. Say to them [that are] of a fearful heart,.... Or, "hasty of heart" {w}; are at once for flying from the enemy; "hasty" in drawing black conclusions upon themselves and their state; "inconsiderate" of the promises made unto them; ready to doubt of, and call in question, the performance of the above…
491 wordsSECTION 363Isaiah 35:5
Isaiah 35:5 Ver. 5. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,.... Which was literally fulfilled in the first coming of Christ, Mt 9:27 Joh 9:1 and spiritually, both among Jews and Gentiles; especially the latter, under the ministry of the apostles, when those who were blind as to spiritual things had no knowledge of…
327 wordsSECTION 364Isaiah 35:6
Isaiah 35:6 Ver. 6. Then shall the lame [man] leap as an hart..... As the lame man did healed by Peter, Ac 3:1 there were many instances of such persons cured by Christ when here on earth, Mt 15:30 and in a spiritual sense this was verified in many who were impotent to that which is good; had neither will nor power to…
555 wordsSECTION 365Isaiah 35:7
Isaiah 35:7 Ver. 7. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water,.... Such persons who have been like the parched earth, barren and unfruitful, or like the earth scorched with the sun, filled with a sense of divine wrath, and thirsting, like the dry earth, after the grace of God, C…
211 wordsSECTION 366Isaiah 35:8
Isaiah 35:8 Ver. 8. And an highway shall be there, and a way,.... Not two ways, but one; the way shall be a highway, a way cast up, raised, and "elevated" {y}; this is to be understood principally of Christ, the only way of life and salvation; and of the lesser paths of duty and ordinances: and the meaning is, that in…
872 wordsSECTION 367Isaiah 35:9
Isaiah 35:9 Ver. 9. No lion shall be there,.... That is, in the way before described; no wicked persons, comparable to lions for their savage and cruel dispositions towards the people of God; for those who have been as such, as Saul before conversion, yet when brought into this way become as tame as lambs. The Targum …
360 wordsSECTION 368Isaiah 35:10
Isaiah 35:10 Ver. 10. And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,.... The same with the "redeemed" in Isa 35:9 these shall return, or be converted, as the Vulgate Latin version; they are in the same state and condition with other men by nature, but, by virtue of their being ransomed by Christ, they are by the grace of …
743 wordsSECTION 369Isaiah 36:1
Isaiah 36:1 INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 36 In this chapter we have an account of the king Assyria's invasion of Judea, and of the railing speech of Rabshakeh his general, to discourage the ministers and subjects of the king of Judah. The time and success of the invasion are observed in Isa 36:1 the messenger the former ki…
560 wordsSECTION 370Isaiah 36:2
Isaiah 36:2 Ver. 2. And the king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh from Lachish to Jerusalem unto King Hezekiah with a great army,.... Notwithstanding he had taken Hezekiah's money to withdraw his army out of his country, yet sends it out to his very capital; along with this Rabshakeh he sent two other generals, Tartan and Ra…
392 wordsSECTION 371Isaiah 36:3
Isaiah 36:3 Ver. 3. Then came forth unto him,.... Being sent by Hezekiah; for otherwise Rabshakeh had the impudence to call to him, in order to parley, and treat with him about the surrender of the city; but as this was not thought either safe or honourable for the king to go in person, his following ministers went; s…
196 wordsSECTION 372Isaiah 36:4
Isaiah 36:4 Ver. 4. And Rabshakeh said unto them,.... The three ministers above mentioned: say ye now to Hezekiah; tell him what follows; he does not call him king, as he does his own master: thus saith the great king, the king of Assyria; this he said boastingly of his master, and in order to terrify Hezekiah and h…
167 wordsSECTION 373Isaiah 36:5
Isaiah 36:5 Ver. 5. I say, (sayest thou,) but they are but vain words,.... Or, "word of lips" {f}; meaning the following, which he suggests were only the fruit of his lips, not of his heart; or were vain and foolish, and without effect, and stood for nothing; so the first part of the words are Hezekiah's, "I say (saye…
330 wordsSECTION 374Isaiah 36:6
Isaiah 36:6 Ver. 6. Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt,.... His ally and auxiliary; and which is rightly called "the staff of a broken reed", if trusted to, and leaned upon, being weak and frail, and an insufficient ground of confidence to depend upon; the allusion seems to be to the cane or …
136 wordsSECTION 375Isaiah 36:7
Isaiah 36:7 Ver. 7. But if thou say to me, we trust in the Lord our God,.... In his promises, providence, power, and protection, and not in human counsels and strength; not in allies and auxiliaries, as Pharaoh king of Egypt; should this be replied, Rabshakeh has something to say to that; having shown the vanity of tr…
287 wordsSECTION 376Isaiah 36:8
Isaiah 36:8 Ver. 8. Now therefore give pledges to my master the king of Assyria,.... Or; "hostages" {h}; that thou wilt not rebel against him, but be faithful to him, and he will withdraw his army; or give security for the horses after promised: "or mingle thyself with him"; agree the matter with him, give pledges for…
193 wordsSECTION 377Isaiah 36:9
Isaiah 36:9 Ver. 9. How then wilt thou turn away the face of one captain of the least of my master's servants,.... Be able to resist him; or be a match for him; or cause him to flee; the least captain or general in the army having, as Kimchi says, two thousand men under him; and therefore, if Hezekiah could not produc…
259 wordsSECTION 378Isaiah 36:10
Isaiah 36:10 Ver. 10. And am I now come up without the Lord against this land to destroy it?.... He would insinuate that he had a commission from the Lord God, and that it was by his will and order that he came up to destroy the land; which he said to intimidate Hezekiah and his subjects, as knowing that nothing was m…
206 wordsSECTION 379Isaiah 36:11
Isaiah 36:11 Ver. 11. Then said Eliakim and Shebah and Joah unto Rabshakeh,.... That is, one of them addressed him in the name of the rest; for the verb is singular; and what follows confirms it; perhaps Eliakim was the speaker: speak, I pray thee, unto thy servants in the Syriac language; which was somewhat differen…
368 wordsSECTION 380Isaiah 36:12
Isaiah 36:12 Ver. 12. But Rabshakeh said, hath my master sent me to thy master, and to thee, to speak these words?.... That is, to them only, that he should use a language only understood by them: hath he not sent me to the men that sit upon the wall; and therefore it is proper to speak in a language which they under…
195 wordsSECTION 381Isaiah 36:13
Isaiah 36:13 Ver. 13. Then Rabshakeh stood, and cried with a loud voice in the Jews' language,.... In which he spoke before; but now he raised up himself, and elevated his voice, and strained himself to the utmost, that all the people might hear, and that he might strike a terror into them, and stir them up to mutiny …
1,912 wordsSECTION 382Isaiah 37:1
Isaiah 37:1 INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 37 In this chapter are contained Hezekiah's message to Isaiah, desiring his prayer for him and his people, in this time of sore distress, Isa 37:1, the comforting and encouraging answer returned by the prophet to him, Isa 37:6, the king of Assyria's letter to Hezekiah, to terrify hi…
410 wordsSECTION 383Isaiah 37:2
Isaiah 37:2 Ver. 2. And he sent Eliakim, who was over the household, and Shebna the scribe,.... Two of the commissioners sent to Rabshakeh, and who heard his insolence and blasphemy, and were capable of giving a full account of it, to Isaiah the prophet: and the elders of the priests; as the chief of those that were …
195 wordsSECTION 384Isaiah 37:3
Isaiah 37:3 Ver. 3. And they said unto him,.... The messengers to the prophet: thus saith Hezekiah; this is the message he has sent us with; this is what he would have us lay before thee, and has given us in charge to say unto thee: this day is a day of trouble, and of rebuke, and of blasphemy; it was a "day of trou…
382 wordsSECTION 385Isaiah 37:4
Isaiah 37:4 Ver. 4. It may be the Lord thy God will hear the words of Rabshakeh,.... He had heard them; but the sense is, that it might be that he would take notice of them, and resent them in a public manner, and punish for them; and this is said, not as doubting and questioning whether he would or not, but as hoping…
395 wordsSECTION 386Isaiah 37:5
Isaiah 37:5 Ver. 5. So the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah. And delivered the above message to him from the king: these servants are mentioned Isa 37:2. Musculus thinks that the third and fourth verses are the words of the king to the messengers, and not of the messengers to the prophet; and that the first cl…
131 wordsSECTION 387Isaiah 37:6
Isaiah 37:6 Ver. 6. And Isaiah said unto them, thus shall you say unto your master,.... Or, "your lord" {q}; King Hezekiah, whose ministers and messengers they were: thus saith the Lord, be not afraid of the words thou hast heard; be not not terrified by them, they are but words, and no more, and will never become fa…
161 wordsSECTION 388Isaiah 37:7
Isaiah 37:7 Ver. 7. Behold, I will send a blast upon him,.... The king of Assyria; a pestilential one, as he afterwards did, which destroyed his army: or, I will put a spirit into him {s}; a spirit of fear and dread, which will oblige him to desist from his purposes, and flee; though some interpret it only of an incl…
226 wordsSECTION 389Isaiah 37:8
Isaiah 37:8 Ver. 8. So Rabshakeh returned,.... To the king of Assyria his master, to give him an account how things went at Jerusalem, and that he could get no direct answer from the king of Judah, and to consult with him what was proper to be done in the present situation of things; leaving the army before Jerusalem,…
247 wordsSECTION 390Isaiah 37:9
Isaiah 37:9 Ver. 9. And he heard say concerning Tirhakah king of Ethiopia,.... Not Rabshakeh, but the king of Assyria heard a rumour of this Ethiopian king coming out to war against him: his name, in Josephus {w}, is Tharsices; in the Septuagint version it is Tharaca; and by Africanus {x} he is called Taracus; and is …
292 wordsSECTION 391Isaiah 37:10
Isaiah 37:10 Ver. 10. Thus shall ye speak to Hezekiah king of Judah, saying,.... This was the direction, and these the instructions he gave to his messengers, in which he gives Hezekiah the title of king, and owns him to be king of Judah; which was more than Rabshakeh his servant would do: let not thy God, in whom th…
244 wordsSECTION 392Isaiah 37:11
Isaiah 37:11 Ver. 11. Behold, thou hast heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, by destroying them utterly,.... He boasts of the achievements of himself and his ancestors, and of more than was true; and which, if it had been true, was more to their disgrace than honour, namely, utterly to destroy kingd…
160 wordsSECTION 393Isaiah 37:12
Isaiah 37:12 Ver. 12. Have the gods of the nations delivered them which my fathers have destroyed,.... They have not. But what then? is the God of Israel to be put upon a level with such dunghill gods? so Sennacherib reckoned him, as Rabshakeh before, in his name, Isa 36:18: as Gozan, and Haran, and Rezeph, and the c…
379 wordsSECTION 394Isaiah 37:13
Isaiah 37:13 Ver. 13. Where is the king of Hamath, and the king of Arphad, and the king of the city of Sepharvaim,.... The same, as some think, with the gods or idols of those places, See Gill on "Isa 36:19"; though it may be the princes that ruled over those cities are meant, who were either slain, or become tributar…
6,319 wordsSECTION 395Isaiah 38:1
Isaiah 38:1 INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 38 This chapter gives an account of Hezekiah's sickness, recovery, and thanksgiving on that account. His sickness, and the nature of it, and his preparation for it, as directed to by the prophet, Isa 38:1, his prayer to God upon it, Isa 38:2 the answer returned unto it, by which he …
900 wordsSECTION 396Isaiah 38:2
Isaiah 38:2 Ver. 2. Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall,.... Not figuratively to the wall of his heart, as Jerom; but literally, either to the wall of his bedchamber where he lay sick, that his tears might not be seen, and his prayers interrupted, and that he might deliver them with more privacy, freedom, and fe…
115 wordsSECTION 397Isaiah 38:3
Isaiah 38:3 Ver. 3. And said, remember now, O Lord, I beseech thee,.... He puts the Lord in mind of his good walk and works, which are never forgotten by him, though they may seem to be: and this he the rather did, because it might be thought that he had been guilty of some very enormous crime, which he was not consci…
423 wordsSECTION 398Isaiah 38:4
Isaiah 38:4 Ver. 4. Then came the word of the Lord to Isaiah,.... Before he had got out into the middle court, 2Ki 20:4: saying, as follows:…
29 wordsSECTION 399Isaiah 38:5
Isaiah 38:5 Ver. 5. Go and say to Hezekiah,.... Turn again, and tell him, 2Ki 20:5: thus saith the Lord the God of David thy father; this is said, to show that he remembered the covenant he made with David his father, concerning the kingdom, and the succession of his children in it; and that he had a regard to him, a…
257 wordsSECTION 400Isaiah 38:6
Isaiah 38:6 Ver. 6. And I will deliver thee and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria,.... So that it seems that Hezekiah's sickness was while the king of Assyria was near the city of Jerusalem, and about to besiege it, and before the destruction of the Assyrian army; unless this is said to secure Hezekiah …
106 wordsSECTION 401Isaiah 38:7
Isaiah 38:7 Ver. 7. And this shall be a sign unto thee from the Lord,.... And which it seems Hezekiah asked, and it was put to him which he would choose, whether the shadow on the sundial should go forward or backward ten degrees, and he chose the latter, 2Ki 20:8, which was a token confirming and assuring that the L…
109 wordsSECTION 402Isaiah 38:8
Isaiah 38:8 Ver. 8. Behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees,.... Or lines made on a dial plate, to show the progress of the sun, and what time of day it was. Some think only the shadow was brought back by the power of God, the sun keeping its course as usual; but in the next clause the sun is expressly sa…
496 wordsSECTION 403Isaiah 38:9
Isaiah 38:9 Ver. 9. The writing of Hezekiah king of Judah,.... The Septuagint and Arabic versions call it a "prayer": but the Targum, much better, "a writing of confession;'' in which the king owns his murmurings and complaints under his affliction, and acknowledges the goodness of God in delivering him out of it: t…
203 wordsSECTION 404Isaiah 38:10
Isaiah 38:10 Ver. 10. I said, in the cutting off of my days,.... When he was told that he should die, and he believed he should; this he calls a "cutting off" in allusion to the weaver's web, Isa 38:12 and a cutting off "his days", he being now in the prime of his age, about thirty nine or forty years of age, and not …
365 wordsSECTION 405Isaiah 38:11
Isaiah 38:11 Ver. 11. I said, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord in the land of the living,.... Not any more, in this world, though in the other, and that more clearly, even face to face: his meaning is, that he should no more see him in the glass of the word; no more praise him in his house; worship him in his t…
360 wordsSECTION 406Isaiah 38:12
Isaiah 38:12 Ver. 12. Mine age is departed, and is removed from me as a shepherd's tent,.... Or, my habitation {k}; meaning the earthly house of his tabernacle, his body; this was just going, in his apprehension, to be unpinned, and removed like a shepherd's tent, that is easily taken down, and removed from place to p…
381 wordsSECTION 407Isaiah 38:13
Isaiah 38:13 Ver. 13. I reckoned till morning,.... Or, "I set my time till the morning {m}"; he fixed and settled it in his mind that he could live no longer than to the morning, if he lived so long; he thought he should have died before the night came on, and, now it was come, the utmost he could propose to himself w…
3,295 wordsSECTION 408Isaiah 39:1
Isaiah 39:1 INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 39 This chapter gives an account of Hezekiah's fall into sin after his recovery, and the correction he had for it. The king of Babylon sent messengers to him to congratulate him upon his recovery, Isa 39:1. Hezekiah received them with great joy, and in the pride of his heart showed …
566 wordsSECTION 409Isaiah 39:2
Isaiah 39:2 Ver. 2. And Hezekiah was glad of them,.... Not of the presents, for he was very rich, and stood in no need of them, nor does it appear that he was covetous; but of the ambassadors, and of the honour that was done him in having such sent to him from such a prince; his sin was vain glory; and because he migh…
441 wordsSECTION 410Isaiah 39:3
Isaiah 39:3 Ver. 3. Then came Isaiah the prophet unto King Hezekiah,.... Quickly after the ambassadors had been with the king, and he had shown them all his treasures; the prophet did not come of himself, but was sent by the Lord, though he was not sent for by the king; in the time of his distress and illness he could…
269 wordsSECTION 411Isaiah 39:4
Isaiah 39:4 Ver. 4. Then said he, what have they seen in thine house?.... Coming nearer to the point he had in view, and which was the thing that was displeasing to the Lord; not that he had received the ambassadors, and used them in such a manner as persons in such a quality ought to be used; but that he had shown th…
188 wordsSECTION 412Isaiah 39:5
Isaiah 39:5 Ver. 5. Then said Isaiah to Hezekiah,.... Now he begins to let him know that he came not of himself, and that he did not ask these questions to gratify his own curiosity, but that he came from the Lord, and with a word of rebuke from him: hear the word of the Lord of hosts; a greater King than thou art, w…
119 wordsSECTION 413Isaiah 39:6
Isaiah 39:6 Ver. 6. Behold, the days come,.... Or, "are coming {e}"; and which quickly came; after a few reigns more, even in Jehoiakim's time: that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; as it was, when Jehoiakim king of Judah, his mo…
144 wordsSECTION 414Isaiah 39:7
Isaiah 39:7 Ver. 7. And of thy sons that shall issue from thee, which thou shalt beget, shall they take away,.... Manasseh his immediate son was taken and carried to Babylon, though afterwards released; nor does it appear that he was made a eunuch or an officer there; this had its fulfilment in Jeconiah and his childr…
176 wordsSECTION 415Isaiah 39:8
Isaiah 39:8 Ver. 8. Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken,.... Hezekiah was at once convinced of his sin, acknowledged it and repented of it, and owned that the sentence pronounced was but just and right; and that there was a mixture of mercy and goodness in it, in that time…
229 wordsSECTION 416Isaiah 40:1
Isaiah 40:1 INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 40 This chapter treats of the comforts of God's people; of the forerunner and coming of the Messiah; of his work, and the dignity of his person; of the folly of making idols, and of the groundless complaints of the church of God. The consolations of God's people, by whom to be admin…
781 wordsSECTION 417Isaiah 40:2
Isaiah 40:2 Ver. 2. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her,.... Or, "speak to or according to the heart of Jerusalem {h}"; to her very heart, what will be a cordial to her, very acceptable, grateful, and comfortable; and let it be proclaimed aloud, that she may hear and understand it. By "Jerusalem" is me…
615 wordsSECTION 418Isaiah 40:3
Isaiah 40:3 Ver. 3. The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness,.... Not the voice of the Holy Ghost, as Jarchi; but of John the Baptist, as is attested by all the evangelists, Mt 3:3 and by John himself, Joh 1:23, who was a "voice" not like the man's nightingale, "vox et praeterea nihil" a voice and nothing else; …
453 wordsSECTION 419Isaiah 40:4
Isaiah 40:4 Ver. 4. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low,.... Which is not to be understood literally, but, as Kimchi says, parabolically and mystically: the meaning is, that in consequence of John's ministry, and our Lord's coming, such who were depressed and bowed down with th…
158 wordsSECTION 420Isaiah 40:5
Isaiah 40:5 Ver. 5. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed..... Christ himself, who is the brightness of his Father's glory, and his own glory, as the glory of the of the only begotten of the Father; the glorious perfections of his nature, seen in the miracles wrought, and in the doctrines taught by him; the glor…
224 wordsSource & rights
Public domain; John Gill (1697–1771). Source item is marked Public Domain on Internet Archive.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.