The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 385

windows from on high are open (comp. Gen. not be "shut up in prison" wUh the wioked vii. 11). It is not actually another flood kings of the eitrth. The spirits here spoken tlrnt is thrcRtened, but it ie a judgment as of must belong to the elnss or fnllon spirits ewecping nnd destnic\.ive as the Flood. -they must be included among those" prin• Yer. 19.-The ee.rth is utterly broken cipalities and powers," of whom St Paul down. The me.teriRl globe itself breaks up speaks (Eph. vi. 12), whom he calls "the anrl perishes. It is "the crack or doom." rulers or the darkness of this world," and to l\Ir. Cheyne remarks the.t '' the le.ngue.ge whom he ascribes "spiritual wickedness in imib1t.e11 the cracking and bursting with high places." The punishment of such which the pre~ent worl,l shall pass away." spirits is, perhaps, shadowed forth in the The Authorized Version is very feeble com- eighty - second psalm ; it WRB distinctly pared to the original. taught in the Book of Enoch; and it is Ver. 20.-The earth ... shall be removed. glanced at l,y St. Jude in his Epistle (ver. 6). like a cottage ; rat.her, s1cays to and fro lihe And the kings. Kings, especially kings in a l,ammock. Hosenmiiller observee, "A\ludit the Oriental sense, have an enormous in- ad pemil.e.s 1.ectos, quos, mctu ferrarum, in fluenoe over the nations which they govern, arboribus sibi pare.re solent, istis in terris, and therefore a heavy responsibility. The non custodes solum hortorum camporumve, kings of the nations are viewed here as sed et iter facientes." The transgression having brought about the general corruption thereof shall be he&vy upon it; i..e. the earth o.nd wickedness which b.1111 necessitated the perishes on account of men's sins. lt shall destruction .of the earth. ' •• :f&J.l, a.nd not rise again. The present earth Ver. 22.-In the pit; literally, in a. aun• is to disappear aliogether, and to be super- geon. Mr. Cheyne suggests that she,Sl, ·or seded by "a new heaven Wld a new earth" "hell," is Il!eaut; bot the_ context· points to (ReL :ui. 1). some narrower.. confinement. In the prisi/n; Vers. 21 - 23. - Tm: SUPRil!llNDANE rather, in prison (comp. 2 Pet. if'4:; Jude 6). JUDGMD-"T, AND FINAL ESTABLISHMENT OF After many days. In. the Revel_aiion (:u. -2) Satan is bound " a tliousand-year~;" i.e. .Wl Gon's KINGDOM. Upon the destrnction of indefinite term. '.!.'he imprisonment .of ihe the world there is to supervene a nsitation present passage is scarcely the 's!l,Ille, bu,t it of those who have been specially instru- is analogous. God's purposes reqq.ire some- mental in producing the great wickedness times long periods of inaction. Shall they -that has brought the world to au end. These be visited; or, punis(,ed. The_ wprd. is the same as that translated" punish" in ver. 21. most guilty ones &l'e classified under two " Visiting " for good , is. sc~cely to i;,e heads: they consist of (1) tbe host of the thought of. . : . , . . .. high oneB that are on high (literally, "the 'Ver. 23.-The moon· sball be .oonfounded, host of the height in the height"); and (2) and the Bun ashamed. . Some' interpret ,'this the kings of the earth upon the earth. in the light of Joel ii. 31; iii. Hi; 1'4att. xxiv. 29 ; Rev. vi. 12, as pointing to. that These are to be " gathered together in the physical change, real or p4enomenal, in the pit," and" shut up in the prison,'' and finally, tihiuing of the sun ond moon 1 which is ~- be after a long imprisonment, punished (vers. one of the ll,Iltecedent signs of Christ's 21, 22). Then the visible reign of the-Lord . coming at the last day. But the expressions of host.a is to be established "in Mount used suggest rather a contr,lst between the daz:i.ling splendour o_f Christ's _actual ;ap- Zion and in Jerusalem," and he is to rule pearance and the nonnll,l brightness of _sun- in the presence of his "ancients" in glory light and moonlight. The greater a.nd lesser (ver. 23). lights will "pale their. in.effectual fires" Ver. 21.-In that day, .A.bout that time- before the incomparable brightness of the in connection with the series of events just "Sun of Righteousness" (Mal.'iv'. 2).. When related. The Lord ahall punish the host of the Lard of hollta ahall ~ in. llllount ~on, .t.he high ones. H is generally e.llowed that and in 1eruaalem. The spiritual Zion and these •· high ones,'' set in contrast as they the heavenly Jerusalem CWl alone be meant, are with the "kingd of the earth,'' must since the earth is no more (ver. 20)... (On belong to the class of supro.wuudane in- these,~ Rev, ;ui., xxii.): 'Be.fore ~ .~n- telligences, spiritual beings of a high order. cients ; or, his elders. Fmu and tw.enty Some LavtJ inclined to identify them with elders, clothed in white ro.iment, with crowns the " patron-spirils of natiolll!," spoken of of gold upon their heads, are ri,pres_ented Ly Da1Jiel (x. 13, 20, 21); but those "patron- iu the Apocalypse as sitting round, about ~pirils" are among the elect and unfallen the throne of God perpetually (Rev. iv. 4), i.uge:h; they protect nations, but do not and worshipping God and the Lamb (Rev. lehd th~m iuto sin or wickeduess; they have iv. JO; v. 8, H). 110 need to be "V)llited," and will oertaiuly mt xuv. 1-23,] THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAI.All.