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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Isaiah 66:15 - 66:15
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The prophecy now takes a new turn with the thought expressed in the words, “and fiercely does He treat His enemies.” The judgment of wrath, which prepares the way for the redemption and ensures its continuance, is described more minutely in Isa 66:15 : “For behold Jehovah, in the fire will He come, and His chariots are like the whirlwind, to pay out His wrath in burning heat, and His threatening passeth into flames of fire.” Jehovah comes bâ'ēsh, in igne (Jerome; the lxx, on the contrary, render it arbitrarily ὡς πῦρ kâ'ēsh), since it is the fiery side of His glory, in which He appears, and fire pours from Him, which is primarily the intense excitement of the powers of destruction within God Himself (Isa 10:17; Isa 30:27; Psa 18:9), and in these is transformed into cosmical powers of destruction (Isa 29:6; Isa 30:30; Psa 18:13). He is compared to a warrior, driving along upon war-chariots resembling stormy wind, which force everything out of their way, and crush to pieces whatever comes under their wheels. The plural מַרְכְּבֹתָיו (His chariots) is probably not merely amplifying, but a strict plural; for Jehovah, the One, can manifest Himself in love or wrath in different places at the same time. The very same substantive clause מרכבתיו וכסופה occurs in Jer 4:13, where it is not used of Jehovah, however, but of the Chaldeans. Observe also that Jeremiah there proceeds immediately with a derivative passage from Hab 1:8. In the following clause denoting the object, אַפּוֹ בְּחֵמָה לְהָשִׁיב, we must not adopt the rendering, “to breathe out His wrath in burning heat” (Hitzig), for hēshı̄bh may mean respirare, but not exspirare (if this were the meaning, it would be better to read לְהַשִּׁיב from נָשַׁב, as Lowth does); nor “ut iram suam furore sedet” (Meier), for even in Job 9:13; Psa 78:38, עפו השיב does not mean to still or cool His wrath, but to turn it away or take it back; not even “to direct His wrath in burning heat” (Ges., Kn.), for in this sense hēshı̄bh would be connected with an object with ל, אֶל (Job 15:13), עַל (Isa 1:25). It has rather the meaning reddere in the sense of retribuere (Arab. athâba, syn. shillēm), and “to pay back, or pay out, His wrath” is equivalent to hēshı̄bh nâqâm (Deu 32:41, Deu 32:43), Hence עפו בחמה does not stand in a permutative relation instead of a genitive one (viz., in fervore, riâ suâ = irae suae), but is an adverbial definition, just as in Isa 42:25. That the payment of the wrath deserved takes place in burning heat, and His rebuke (ge‛ârâh) in flames of fire, are thoughts that answer to one another.