Lange Commentary - Isaiah 17:12 - 17:14

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Lange Commentary - Isaiah 17:12 - 17:14


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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:

ã
) The World-Power (Assyria) Rises and Falls

Isa_17:12-14

12          Woe to the multitude of many people,

Which make a noise like the noise of the seas;

And to the rushing of nations,

That make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters!

13     The nations shall rush like the rushing of mighty waters:

But God shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off,

And shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind,

And like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.

14     And behold at eveningtide trouble;

And before the morning he is not.

This is the portion of them that spoil us,

And the lot of them that rob us.



TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

All expositors notice how suitably the Prophet here fits the sound to the subject. “And it waves and seethes and roars and hisses,”—one not only sees, one hears, too, the nation-waves rolling in.

Isa_17:12. äָîָä , comp. Isa_16:11; Isa_51:15.— äָîåֹï , comp. Isa_13:4; Isa_33:3; Isa_60:5.— ùָׁàָä Niph. only here. ùָׁàåֹæ comp. on Isa_13:4; Isa_24:8; Isa_25:5; Isa_66:6.— ëַּáִּéø comp. Isa_10:13; Isa_16:14; Isa_28:2.

Isa_17:13. On âòø áå comp. Isa_5:26. âָּòַø in Isa. again only Isa_54:9.—The construction with áְּ (as of a verb. dimicandi) like Gen_37:10; Nah_1:4, and often.— îîøç÷ “far away;” like îִ÷ֶּãֶí “eastward,” Gen_11:2.—Pual øֻãַּó occurs only here, as also the noun îֻøְãָּó derived from the Hophal is found only in Isa_14:6.

Isa_17:14. åְ before äðä , [“nothing is more common in Hebrew idiom than the use of and after specifications of time (see Gesen., § 152 a)—J. A. A., Green, § 287, 3].— áìää in Isaiah only here.— ùָׁñָä , Isa_10:13; Isa_42:22. ùֹׁñִéí , as Drechsler remarks, is, so to speak, term. techincus for the oppressors of the Theocracy: Jdg_2:14; Jer_50:11; 2Ki_17:20, and often.— âåøì with ìְ is the lot assigned to the áåææéí (Isa_42:22; Isa_42:24).

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. The Prophet sees and hears in spirit the tumult of approaching nations, which he compares to the roar of mighty waters. But at the chiding of the Lord they vanish like chaff or whirlwinds of dust before the wind (Isa_17:12-13). The evening when that tumult approaches is one of terror; but only the next morning and all has vanished without a trace left. This, he says, shall be the lot of those that come to rob us (Isa_17:14).

2. Woe—rob us.

Isa_17:12-14. äåé (comp. on Isa_1:4), “woe,” need not be taken in any other sense than the usual one. For the crowding on of countless hordes of nations might well, in the first moment, occasion a cry of woe, even if it is afterwards changed into a cry of joy. It is evident that the Prophet by this swelling billow of nations means the nations led by the Assyrian world-power.—The expression “the chaff before the wind” recalls Psa_35:5.—But the phrase “chaff of the mountains,” is not found elsewhere. The chaff which is blown away from an elevation exposed to the wind (threshing floors were made on elevations for the sake of the stronger breeze: comp. Herz. R. Encycl. III p. 504 sq.). âìâì is not merely a wheel (Isa 17:28), or the whirlwind, but also that which is whirled upwards by the wind (Psa_83:14). At evening time, as night comes on, the invasion of the enemy is more dangerous and terrible than by day. But the evening of terror is quickly changed into a morning of joy. That became literally true by the sudden destruction of the power of Sennacherib in one night, 2Ki_19:35.

In conclusion the Prophet generalizes the thought just expressed: finally it ever happens so to the enemies of the Lord and of His people. It cannot be doubted that “our plunderers”, and “our spoilers” include also the Syrians and Ephraimites. We learn from this, from what point of view we must contemplate the connection of Isa_17:12-14 with what precedes. The Prophet would show that all enemies of the kingdom of God must finally succumb, that there is therefore no reason to fear them.

Isa_17:12-14 stand in no clearly marked connection with what precedes, and the Isa_17:1-11 form in themselves a disconnected whole, like the following prophecies, Isa_18:1-7 and Isa_19:1-25. Thus the conjecture presents itself that these Isa_17:12-14, are a supplement added later that has the double object: 1) to make Isaiah 17 conform to the two following by the mention of Assyria; 2) to restore a closer connection with Isaiah 18 and to prepare for the understanding of the passage Isa_18:5-6. For without these verses Isa_18:6 would apparently connect with nothing. At the same time—and this is an additional gain, accompanying the two main objects— Isaiah 17 is completed by the mention of Assyria. For Syria, Ephraim, Assyria were then the chief enemies of Judah. Only the mention of Assyria made it possible for the Prophet to conclude with the generalization of. Isa_17:14 b.

Footnotes:

Woe! a tumult of many nations! they make, etc.

Or, noise.

And a rushing of peoples! they are rushing like, etc.

Or, many.

Peoples are rushing like, etc.

But he rebukes it, and it flees, etc, and is chased, etc.

Or, thistle-down.

whirling dust before the storm.

At evening time behold horror.