Notes from Isaiah 41

This chapter, as the former, in intended both for the conviction of idolaters and for the consolation of all God’s faithful worshippers; for the Spirit is sent, and ministers are employed by him, both to convince and to comfort. And however this might be primarily intended for the conviction of Babylonians, and the comfort of Israelites, or for the conviction of those in Israel that were addicted to idolatry, as multitudes were, and the comfort of those that kept their integrity, doubtless it was intended both for admonition and encouragement to us, admonition to keep ourselves from idols and encouragement to trust in God.
Here,
I. God by the prophet shows the folly of those that worshipped idols, especially that thought their idols able to contest with him and control him (v. 1-9).
II. He encourages his faithful ones to trust in him, with an assurance that he would take their part against their enemies, make them victorious over them, and bring about a happy change of their affairs (v. 10-20).
III. He challenges the idols, that were rivals with him for men’s adoration, to vie with him either for knowledge or power, either to show things to come or to do good or evil (v. 21-29). So that the chapter may be summed up in those words of Elijah, "If Jehovah be God, then follow him; but, if Baal be God, then follow him;’’ and in the people’s acknowledgment, upon the issue of the trial, "Jehovah he is the God, Jehovah he is the God.’’

Notes from Isaiah 40

At this chapter begins the latter part of the prophecy of this book, which is not only divided from the former by the historical chapters that come between, but seems to be distinguished from it in the scope and style of it. In the former part the name of the prophet was frequently prefixed to the particular sermons, besides the general title (as ch. 2:1 ; 7:3; 13:1); but this is all one continued discourse, and the prophet not so much as once named. That consisted of many burdens, many woes; this consists of many blessings. There the distress which the people of God were in by the Assyrian, and their deliverance out of that, were chiefly prophesied of; but that is here spoken of as a thing past (ch. 52:4 ); and the captivity in Babylon, and their deliverance out of that, which were much greater events, of more extensive and abiding concern, are here largely foretold. Before God sent his people into captivity he furnished them with precious promises for their support and comfort in their trouble; and we may well imagine of what great use to them the glorious, gracious, light of this prophecy was, in that cloudy and dark day, and how much it helped to dry up their tears by the rivers of Babylon. But it looks further yet, and to greater things; much of Christ and gospel grace we meet with in the foregoing part of this book, but in this latter part we shall find much more; and, as if it were designed for a prophetic summary of the New Testament, it begins with that which begins the gospels, "The voice of one crying in the wilderness’’ ch. 40:3 ), and concludes with that which concludes the book of the Revelation, "The new heavens and the new earth,’’ ch. 66:22 ). Even Mr. White acknowledges that, as all the mercies of God to the Jewish nation bore some resemblance to those glorious things performed by our Saviour for man’s redemption, so they are by the Spirit of God expressed in such terms as show plainly that while the prophet is speaking of the redemption of the Jews he had in his thoughts a more glorious deliverance. And we need not look for any further accomplishment of these prophecies yet to come; for if Jesus be he, and his kingdom be it, that should come, we are to look for no other, but the carrying on and completing of the same blessed work which was begun in the first preaching and planting of Christianity in the world.

Notes from Isaiah 39

The story of this chapter likewise we had before, 2 Ki. 20:12 , etc. It is here repeated, not only as a very memorable and improvable passage, but because it concludes with a prophecy of the captivity in Babylon; and as the former part of the prophecy of this book frequently referred to Sennacherib’s invasion and the defeat of that, to which therefore the history of that was very fitly subjoined, so the latter part of this book speaks much of the Jews’ captivity in Babylon and their deliverance out of that, to which therefore the first prediction of it, with the occasion thereof, is very fitly prefixed. We have here,
I. The pride and folly of Hezekiah, in showing his treasures to the king of Babylon’s ambassadors that were sent to congratulate him on his recovery (v. 1, v. 2).
II. Isaiah’s examination of him concerning it, in God’s name, and his confession of it (v. 3, v. 4).
III. The sentence passed upon him for it, that all his treasures should, in process of time, be carried to Babylon (v. 5-7).
IV. Hezekiah’s penitent and patient submission to this sentence (v. 8).

Notes from Isaiah 38

This chapter proceeds in the history of Hezekiah.
Here is,
I. His sickness, and the sentence of death he received within himself (v. 1).
II. His prayer in his sickness (v. 2, v. 3).
III. The answer of peace which God gave to that prayer, assuring him that he should recover, that he should live fifteen years yet, that Jerusalem should be delivered from the king of Assyria, and that, for a sign to confirm his faith herein, the sun should go back ten degrees (v. 4-8). And this we read and opened before, 2 Ki. 20:1 , etc. But,
IV. Here is Hezekiah’s thanksgiving for his recovery, which we had not before (v. 9-20). To which are added the means used (v. 21), and the end the good man aimed at in desiring to recover (v. 22).

This is a chapter which will entertain the thoughts, direct the devotions, and encourage the faith and hopes of those that are confined by bodily distempers; it visits those that are visited with sickness.

Notes from Isaiah 37

In this chapter we have a further repetition of the story which we had before in the book of Kings concerning Sennacherib. In the foregoing chapter we had him conquering and threatening to conquer. In this chapter we have him falling, and at last fallen, in answer to prayer, and in fulfillment of many of the prophecies which we have met with in the foregoing chapters.

Here we have,
I. Hezekiah’s pious reception of Rabshakeh’s impious discourse (v. 1).
II. The gracious message he sent to Isaiah to desire his prayers (v. 2-5).
III. The encouraging answer which Isaiah sent to him from God, assuring him that God would plead his cause against the king of Assyria (v. 6, v. 7).
IV. An abusive letter which the king of Assyria sent to Hezekiah, to the same purport with Rabshakeh’s speech (v. 8-13).
V. Hezekiah’s humble prayer to God upon the receipt of this letter (v. 14-20).
VI. The further full answer which God sent him by Isaiah, promising him that his affairs should shortly take a happy turn, that the storm should blow over and every thing should appear bright and serene (v. 21-35).
VII. The immediate accomplishment of this prophecy in the ruin of his army (v. 36)
and the murder of himself (v. 37, v. 38).
All this was largely opened, 2 Ki. 19.

Notes from Isaiah 36

The prophet Isaiah is, in this and the three following chapters, an historian; for the scripture history, as well as the scripture prophecy, is given by inspiration of God, and was dictated to holy men. Many of the prophecies of the foregoing chapters had their accomplishment in Sennacherib’s invading Judah and besieging Jerusalem, and the miraculous defeat he met with there; and therefore the story of this is here inserted, both for the explication and for the confirmation of the prophecy. The key of prophecy is to be found in history; and here, that we might have the readier entrance, it is, as it were, hung at the door. The exact fulfilling of this prophecy might serve to confirm the faith of God’s people in the other prophecies, the accomplishment of which was at a greater distance. Whether this story was taken from the book of the Kings and added here, or whether it was first written by Isaiah here and hence taken into the book of Kings, is not material. But the story is the same almost verbatim; and it was so memorable an event that it was well worthy to be twice recorded, 2 Ki. 18 and 19, and here, and an abridgment of it likewise, 2 Chr. 32. We shall be but short in our observations upon this story here, having largely explained it there.

In this chapter we have,
I. The descent which the king of Assyria made upon Judah, and his success against all the defenced cities (v. 1).
II. The conference he desired to have with Hezekiah, and the managers on both sides (v. 2, v. 3).
III. Rabshakeh’s railing blasphemous speech, with which he designed to frighten Hezekiah into a submission, and persuade him to surrender at discretion (v. 4-10).
IV. His appeal to the people, and his attempt to persuade them to desert Hezekiah, and so force him to surrender (v. 11-20).
V. The report of this made to Hezekiah by his agents (v. 21, v. 22).

Notes from Isaiah 35

As after a prediction of God’s judgments upon the world (ch4) follows a promise of great mercy to be had in store for his church (ch5), so here after a black and dreadful scene of confusion in the foregoing chapter we have, in this, a bright and pleasant one, which, though it foretel the flourishing estate of Hezekiah’s kingdom in the latter part of his reign, yet surely looks as far beyond that as the prophecy in the foregoing chapter does beyond the destruction of the Edomites; both were typical, and it concerns us most to look at those things which they were typical of, the kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of heaven. When the world, which lies in wickedness, shall be laid in ruins, and the Jewish church, which persisted in infidelity, shall become a desolation, then the gospel church shall be set up and made to flourish.
I. The Gentiles shall be brought into it (v. 1, v. 2, v. 7).
II. The well-wishers to it, who were weak and timorous, shall be encouraged (v. 3, v. 4).
III. Miracles shall be wrought both on the souls and on the bodies of men (v. 5, v. 6).
IV. The gospel church shall be conducted in the way of holiness (v. 8, v. 9).
V. It shall be brought at last to endless joys (v. 10).
Thus do we find more of Christ and heaven in this chapter than one would have expected in the Old Testament.

Notes from Isaiah 34

In this chapter we have the fatal doom of all the nations that are enemies to God’s church and people, though Edom only is mentioned, because of the old enmity of Esau to Jacob, which was typical, as much as that more ancient enmity of Cain to Abel, and flowed from the original enmity of the serpent to the seed of the woman. It is probable that this prophecy had its accomplishment in the great desolations made by the Assyrian army first, or rather by Nebuchadnezzar’s army some time after, among those nations that were neighbours to Israel and had been in some way or other injurious to them. That mighty conqueror took a pride in shedding blood, and laying countries waste, and therein, quite beyond his design, he was fulfilling what God here threatened against his and his people’s enemies. But we have reason to think it is intended as a denunciation of the wrath of God against all those who fight against the interests of his kingdom among men, that it has its frequent accomplishment in the havoc made by the wars of the nations and other desolating judgments, and will have its full accomplishment in the final dissolution of all things at the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

Here is,
I. A demand of universal attention (v. 1).
II. A direful scene of blood and confusion presented (v. 2-7).
III. The reason given for these judgments (v. 8).
IV. The continuance of this desolation, the country being made like the lake of Sodom (v. 9, v. 10), and the cities abandoned to wild beasts and melancholy fowls (v. 11-15).
V. The solemn ratification of all this (v. 16, v. 17).
Let us hear, and fear.

Notes from Isaiah 33

This chapter relates to the same events as the foregoing chapter, the distress of Judah and Jerusalem by Sennacherib’s invasion and their deliverance out of that distress by the destruction of the Assyrian army. These are intermixed in the prophecy, in the way of a Pindaric.
Observe,
I. The great distress that Judah and Jerusalem should then be brought into (v. 7-9).
II. The particular frights which the sinners in Zion should then be in (v. 13, v. 14).
III. The prayers of good people to God in this distress (v. 2).
IV. The holy security which they should enjoy in the midst of this trouble (v. 15, v. 16).
V. The destruction of the army of the Assyrians (v. 1-3), in which God would be greatly glorified (v. 5, v. 10-12).
VI. The enriching of the Jews with the spoil of the Assyrian camp (v. 4, v. 23, v. 24).
VII. The happy settlement of Jerusalem, and the Jewish state, upon this. Religion shall be uppermost (v. 6), and their civil state shall flourish (v. 17-22). This was soon fulfilled, but is written for our learning.

Notes from Isaiah 32

This chapter seems to be such a prophecy of the reign of Hezekiah as amounts to an abridgment of the history of it, and this with an eye to the kingdom of the Messiah, whose government was typified by the thrones of the house of David, for which reason he is so often called "the Son of David.’’
Here is,
I. A prophecy of that good work of reformation with which he should begin his reign, and the happy influence it should have upon the people, who had been wretchedly corrupted and debauched in the reign of his predecessor (v. 1-8).
II. A prophecy of the great disturbance that would be given to the kingdom in the middle of his reign by the Assyrian invasion (v. 9-14).
III. A promise of better times afterwards, towards the latter end of his reign, in respect both of piety and peace (v. 15-20), which promise may be supposed to look as far forward as the days of the Messiah.

Notes from Isaiah 31

This chapter is an abridgment of the foregoing chapter; the heads of it are much the same.
Here is,
 I. A woe to those who, when the Assyrian army invaded them, trusted to the Egyptians, and not to God, for succour (v. 1-3).
II. Assurance given of the care God would take of Jerusalem in that time of danger and distress (v. 4, v. 5).
III. A call to repentance and reformation (v. 6, v. 7).
IV. A prediction of the fall of the Assyrian army, and the fright which the Assyrian king should thereby be put into (v. 8, v. 9).

Notes from Isaiah 29

This woe to Ariel, which we have in this chapter, is the same with the "burden of the valley of vision’’ ch. 22:1 ), and (it is very probable) points at the same event—the besieging of Jerusalem by the Assyrian army, which was cut off there by an angel; yet it is applicable to the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, and its last desolations by the Romans.

Here is,

I. The event itself foretold, that Jerusalem should be greatly distressed (v. 1-4, v. 6), but that their enemies, who distressed them, should be baffled and defeated (v. 5, v. 7, v. 8).

II. A reproof to three sorts of sinners:— 1. Those that were stupid, and regardless of the warnings which the prophet gave them (v. 9-12). Those that were formal and hypocritical in their religious performances (v. 13, v. 14). Those politicians that atheistically and profanely despised God’s providence, and set up their own projects in competition with it (v. 15, v. 16).

III. Precious promises of grace and mercy to a distinguished remnant whom God would sanctify, and in whom he would be sanctified, when their enemies and persecutors should be cut off (v. 17-24).

Notes from Isaiah 30

The prophecy of this chapter seems to relate (as that in the foregoing chapter) to the approaching danger of Jerusalem and desolations of Judah by Sennacherib’s invasion.

Here is,
I. A just reproof to those who, in that distress, trusted to the Egyptians for help, and were all in a hurry to fetch succors from Egypt (v. 1-7).

II. A terrible threatening against those who slighted the good advice which God by his prophets gave them for the repose of their minds in that distress, assuring them that whatever became of others the judgment would certainly overtake them (v. 8-17).

III. A gracious promise to those who trusted in God, that they should not only see through the trouble, but should see happy days after it, times of joy and reformation, plenty of the means of grace, and therewith plenty of outward good things and increasing joys and triumphs (v. 18-26), and many of these promises are very applicable to gospel grace.

IV. A prophecy of the total rout and ruin of the Assyrian army, which should be an occasion of great joy and an introduction to those happy times (v. 27-33).

Notes from Isaiah 28

In this chapter,
I. The Ephraimites are reproved and threatened for their pride and drunkenness, their security and sensuality (v. 1-8). But, in the midst of this, here is a gracious promise of God’s favour to the remnant of his people (v. 5, v. 6).

II. They are likewise reproved and threatened for their dulness and stupidity, and unaptness to profit by the instructions which the prophets gave them in God’s name (v. 9-13).

III. The rulers of Jerusalem are reproved and threatened for their insolent contempt of God’s judgments, and setting them at defiance; and, after a gracious promise of Christ and his grace, they are made to know that the vain hopes of escaping the judgments of God with which they flattered themselves would certainly deceive them (v. 14-22).

IV. All this is confirmed by a comparison borrowed from the method which the husbandman takes with his ground and grain, according to which they must expect God would proceed with his people, whom he had lately called his threshing and the corn of his floor ch. 21:10 ) (v. 23-29).

This is written for our admonition, and is profitable for reproof and warning to us.

Notes from Isaiah 27

In this chapter the prophet goes on to show,
I. What great things God would do for his church and people, which should now shortly be accomplished in the deliverance of Jerusalem from Sennacherib and the destruction of the Assyrian army; but it is expressed generally, for the encouragement of the church in after ages, with reference to the power and prevalency of her enemies.
   1. That proud oppressors should be reckoned with (v. 1).
   2. That care should be taken of the church, as of God’s vineyard (v. 2, v. 3).
   3. That God would let fall his controversy with the people, upon their return to him (v. 4, v. 5).
   4. That he would greatly multiply and increase them (v. 6).
   5. That, as to their afflictions, the property of them should be altered (v. 7),
   6.  they should be mitigated and moderated (v. 8),
   7.  and sanctified (v. 9).
   8.  That though the church might be laid waste, and made desolate, for a time (v. 10, v. 11),
   yet it should be restored, and the scattered members should be gathered together again (v. 12, v. 13).
All this is applicable to the grace of the gospel, and God’s promises to, and providences concerning, the Christian church, and such as belong to it.

Notes from Isaiah 26

This chapter is a song of holy joy and praise, in which the great things God had engaged, in the foregoing chapter, to do for his people against his enemies and their enemies are celebrated: it is prepared to be sung when that prophecy should be accomplished; for we must be forward to meet God with our thanksgivings when he is coming towards us with his mercies.

Now the people of God are here taught,
I. To triumph in the safety and holy security both of the church in general and of every particular member of it, under the divine protection (v. 1-4).
II. To triumph over all opposing powers (v. 5, v. 6).
III. To walk with God, and wait for him, in the worst and darkest times, v. 7-9).
IV. To lament the stupidity of those who regarded not the providence of God, either merciful or afflictive (v. 10, v. 11).
V. To encourage themselves, and one another, with hopes that God would still continue to do them good (v. 12, v. 14), and engage themselves to continue in his service (v. 13).
VI. To recollect the kind providences of God towards them in their low and distressed condition, and their conduct under those providences (v. 15-18).
VII. To rejoice in hope of a glorious deliverance, which should be as a resurrection to them (v. 19), and to retire in the expectation of it (v. 20, v. 21).

And this is written for the support and assistance of the faith and hope of God’s people in all ages, even those upon whom the ends of the world have come.

Notes from Isaiah 25

After the threatenings of wrath in the foregoing chapter we have here,
I. Thankful praises for what God had done, which the prophet, in the name of the church, offers up to God, and teaches us to offer the like (v. 1-5).
II. Precious promises of what God would yet further do for his church, especially in the grace of the gospel (v. 6-8).
II. The church’s triumph in God over her enemies thereupon (v. 9-12).
This chapter looks as pleasantly upon the church as the former looked dreadfully upon the world.