The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 427

Ver. B.-.Attitude mtimu of judgment. "In the way of thy judg~·ents, 0 Lord, have we waited for thee." The connections of-this chapter need some careful attention. The prophet, io the twelve preceding chapters, has given visions of the judgments t.hat were ready to fall on the nations surrouu.ding Israel--:-judg~ents in _which Isra«Jl. ,itself must shRre, since Israel had shared in the idolatries·and the moral evils which had called those judgments forth. To most of the nations-Divine judgments would pi·ove to be desolation and destruction; an irrecoverable doo[!l. To Israel, bec;\use, _even. in its shame and sin, some held fast by righteousness and God, judgment would be bufchas- t,isement, by means of which the nation should be purified. and. est;i,blJ;,he!l, Tyre should be wiped away; its place would be .. no longer know,n; the fo\ludation o( her palaces should be for the spreading of the fisherman's nets. Babylon should be. brought low, even to the dust; no shepherd's hut, no wandering Arab's. tent, should rise on her foundations; the glory of Nebuchadnezzar should be the pla,ce of the satyr and the owl and the wild beasts of the desert. But Israel should ·come out of its time of judgment renewing its youth, purged .from its idolatries, ai;id witnessing, with a clearer voice than ever before, to its great trnth, "The Lord Jehov_ah is one Lord." The prophet, in his vision, sees these judgments pass one by one,; bl!,t, looking on beyond them, he sees the ransomed of Israel redeemed and saved, and ·he presents us .before- hand with the song whlch they would unite to sing in th!l raptµres of their deli,ve~aqce. By telling the people the song which their noblest and best would ,sing when trials bad wrought out their blessings, Isaiah teaches them the spirit wbich they ought to cherish -now, as they anticipated the judgments, or were wearying themselves under their burden. By-and-by they would rejoice that they had held fast by God u11der the gloom. Then "waiting on him, and waiting for him," is just the attitude. ~hey should seek and cherish. L Viewed in one way, the circumstances through which Israel would_ .be passing would be JUDGMENTB OF Goo; but viewed in another way, they would only be the ORDINARY OOJIOIOl,'l'LACE .F.AOTS OF TREIB NATIONAL LIFE, 'fhe growth into over- whelmiP.g power of .soIDe nations, until they swallowed up all the smaller nations around them, became proud, tyrannical, and luxurious; lost national virtue, and fell a prey to the enterprise and energy of fresher and younger nations. This process the Israelites actually .saw _going .on, at different stages, in the kingdoms around them. 'l'he laws that ruled it, the final ,:esults of it, they could not discern, and they must he.ve boon gravely bewildered by it. All the more because they had themselves to sufrt:r from the encroachments of these rising monarchies. In thol!8 trying days it could not !,ave been an easy t.hiug for a Jew to hold fast his faith in (iod. Reasoning eonld explaill so little. Iniquity seemed to be triumphing over good. Jehovah dB, x..r.v1, 1-21.J THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH, 431