Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Isaiah 29:1 - 29:12

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Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Isaiah 29:1 - 29:12


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The Woe Upon Ariel

v. 1. Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, a name signifying either "lion of God" or, more likely, "mountain of God," the city where David dwelt! which is still distinguished by that fact. Add ye year to year, another year to the present year; let them kill sacrifices, so that another cycle of festivals will be completed, that is, after the end of the present year another full church-year would elapse, but then the catastrophe would surely strike Jerusalem.

v. 2. Yet I will distress Ariel,
at the time indicated, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow, sighing and groaning; and It shall be unto Me as Ariel, Jerusalem would prove herself a place where the judgment of the Lord would be carried out.

v. 3. And I will camp against thee round about,
the enemies carrying out His plans in their siege of the city, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, with fortifications fully manned, every soldier determined to take the city, and I will raise forts against thee, earthworks or entrenchments.

v. 4. And thou shalt be brought down and shalt speak out of the ground,
as though covered with earth, her voice faint and hollow, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, muffled and hard to understand, and thy voice shall be as of one that has a familiar spirit, out of the ground, like that of a ventriloquist imitating the speech of spirits, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust, as one would imagine the voice of a dead person to sound out of the grave. Note the heaping of the expressions to emphasize the intention of the Lord. But the time of tribulation would not last long.

v. 5. Moreover, the multitude of thy strangers,
of the enemies of Zion, shall be like small dust, utterly crushed, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away, carried off by the wind without a trace to show that they were there; yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly, the destruction coming upon them in a moment.

v. 6. Thou,
Jerusalem, shalt be visited, but graciously, with a view to deliverance, of the Lord of hosts, the mighty Commander of the heavenly armies, with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire, all the forces of nature being employed by the Lord in overthrowing the haughty invaders.

v. 7. And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,
the mount of the Lord, typical of His holy Church, even all that fight against her and her munition, her mountain fortress, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision, with nothing tangible to boast of, with no victory won.

v. 8. It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth,
the dream being so very vivid; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty, no real food having passed his lips; or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, with his thirst unquenched, and his soul hath appetite, he is still longing for a cooling drink. So shall the multitude of all the nations be that fight against Mount Zion. They had thought it would be an easy matter to conquer Jerusalem, but they find themselves bitterly disappointed. The whole attempt of Assyria upon Jerusalem would be as if it had not been, would he as empty and unreal as the fabric of a dream. The same will finally be true of all the enemies of the real Mount Zion, of the Church of God. But since the people of Jerusalem would not accept the words of the prophet in firm faith, in glad acclaim, therefore he continues with sharp reproof.

v. 9. Stay yourselves and wonder,
stopping in foolish astonishment and unbelieving amazement; cry ye out and cry, rather, "blind yourselves and become blind," said of those who deliberately harden themselves against the influence of the joyful message brought to their attention; they are drunken, but not with wine, a spiritual paralysis having taken hold upon them; they stagger, but not with strong drink, their intoxication being due to their spiritual stupidity. And since they were thus closing their hearts against the influence of the Lord, He would punish them with that same stupidity which they were cultivating.

v. 10. For the Lord hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep,
with which they were stupefied, and hath closed your eyes, blinding them against the light of understanding; the prophets and your rulers, the seers, hath He covered, the very leaders who were supposed to teach the people were afflicted with blindness.

v. 11. And the vision of all,
that which was revealed by the vision of the true prophets concerning all things, is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, of a roll of parchment sealed so that the writing is not visible, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot, for it is sealed, and unless the roll is opened, it is impossible for the writing to be seen;

v. 12. and the book is delivered to him that is not learned,
an illiterate person, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I am not learned. In either event, the writing will not be revealed, the teaching of God is hidden from them, just as it is from the hearts and minds of all such as harden their hearts against His teaching.