Study

2. To keep back. ¹⁵⁶¹⁵⁶     To turn aside. — Eng. Ver. Others render it, to cause them to turn aside; but the true meaning is, to keep back the poor from judgment, or make them lose their cause. This is the iniquity and oppression which he had mentioned in the former verse, that the poor are deprived of their rights, and are robbed for the sake of the rich, and go away mocked from the judgment-seat, while everything is laid open to plunder. He chiefly mentions the poor, because for the most part they are destitute of help and assistance. While magistrates and judges ought to have assisted them more than others, they allow themselves greater liberty, and indulge more contemptuously in oppressing them. Those who have wealth, or friends, or favor, are less liable to be oppressed; for they have arms in their hands to defend, and even to revenge themselves. But the Lord says that he takes peculiar care of the poor, (Exodus 22:23; Deuteronomy 15:9, 24:15,) though they are commonly despised; and that he takes such care of them that he does not allow oppression inflicted on them to pass unpunished; for it is not without good ground that he calls himself the protector and defender of such persons. (Psalm 68:5.) From this consideration, therefore, the poor and weak ought to derive consolation, and more calmly to endure distresses and afflictions, because they learn that God takes care of them, and will not permit any injustice done to them to pass unpunished. The powerful and wealthy are at the same time warned not to take it as an incentive to sin that they have not been punished; for though no avenger be now seen, still the Lord will avenge, and will undertake the cause of those whom they imagined to be destitute of all assistance.

3. And what will you do? Here the Prophet severely threatens princes, who were careless and indolent amidst their distresses, as men intoxicated by prosperity are wont to despise haughtily every danger. He therefore warns them that, though God delay, still he has fixed a time for judgment, and already it is close at hand. In consequence of having vanquished the neighboring nations in war, and fortified themselves by an alliance with a very powerful nation, they had no longer any fear; and therefore he expressly declares that their calamity will come from afar

In the day of visitation. By visitation is here meant judgment, for God visits us in two ways, that is, in mercy and in judgment. In both ways he reveals himself and his power to us, both when, in compassion on us, he rescues us from dangers, and when he punishes those who are ungodly and who despise the word. Both kinds of visitation have the same object in view, for we do not see the Lord but in his works; and we think that he is absent unless he give us a token of his presence. This visitation, therefore, the Scripture accommodates to our capacity; for when we are pressed down by afflictions, and when the ungodly freely give themselves up to wickedness, we suppose that God is at a great distance, and takes no interest in our affairs.

Accordingly, visitation must here be understood to mean the judgment by which God, in opposition to the waywardness and insolence of the ungodly, will bring them back like deserters. But if the judgments of God be so dreadful in this life, how dreadful will he be when he shall come at last to judge the world! All the instances of punishment that now produce fear or terror, are nothing more than preparations for that final vengeance with which he will thunder against the reprobate, and many things which he appears to pass by, he purposely reserves and delays till that last day. And if the ungodly are not able to bear these chastisements, how much less will they be capable of enduring his glorious and inconceivable majesty, when he shall ascend that awful tribunal, before which the angels themselves tremble!

And when the desolation shall come from afar. When he says from afar, it is proper to observe that we must not allow the prosperity which we now enjoy to bereave us of our senses; for they who carelessly sleep amidst their vices, and by this wicked indifference call in question the power of God, will quickly feel that in a moment, whenever he pleases, he can shake heaven and earth from east to west.

To whom will you flee? He declares that it is in vain for them to rely on their resources, for, in opposition to the hand of God, they will be fruitless and of no avail whatever. At the same time he likewise shows that this will be a most righteous reward; for when they are cruel towards others, they will justly be made to feel that they have now no help either from God or from men.

They will have judgment without mercy who have showed no mercy. (James 2:13.)

This applies especially to the judges, who ought to have been a protection to the whole people; for they have been appointed for the purpose of defending the poor and wretched. But if they shall neglect and betray, and even plunder them, it is right that they should be made to feel, by their own destitute condition, how greatly this cruelty offends God.

Where will you deposit your glory? This is understood by commentators to mean that they will be thrown down from their high rank. They suppose it to be an ironical and contemptuous question put by the Prophet, “What will become of that illustrious rank of which the nobles cruelly and foolishly vaunt, whenever God spares them for a little?” But as this was a forced rendering, I rather think that Isaiah asks, “Where will they find a safe hiding-place in which they may deposit their glory?” Thus I consider the meaning to be, to leave, ¹⁵⁷¹⁵⁷     Where will ye leave your glory? — Eng. Ver. And where will ye deposit your things of value? — Stock. for the sake of being preserved; and the two clauses correspond to each other, To whom will you flee? and, “Where will you find a refuge for your glory in order to preserve it?” But perhaps a preference will be given to a different view, which I have noted in the margin; ¹⁵⁸¹⁵⁸     This clause is rendered in Calvin’s version, Where will you deposit your glory? and, in the margin, Where will you secure your glory? — Ed. for the verb עזב (gnazab) signifies also to strengthen. Again, if God thus devotes to destruction princes who are thrown down from an elevated position, what will become of the lowest? No one, therefore, has any reason to flatter himself; for we shall all be like stubble when the wrath of the Lord has been kindled against us. (Psalm 83:13.)

4. If they shall not fall down. As the meaning of the particle בלתי (bilti) is ambiguous, various interpretations of it have been given by commentators. Some take it in an exclusive sense, as in many other passages of Scripture; as if he had said, Only he shall fall down among the bound and slain; that is, because all will be condemned and given up either to captivity or to death. Others render it, Without me they shall fall. If this rendering be preferred, the Prophet shows that the cause of their destruction is, that they have revolted from God; and unquestionably the cause of all our distresses is, to forsake the fountain of life and of salvation, and of all blessings. In this manner he sharply reproves the madness of the ungodly, who vaunt of having been forsaken by God, as if nothing were more desirable or pleasant than to withdraw to the greatest distance from him; and thus it will be an ironical reproof, that their calamity will arise from no other source than from the absence of God, in whom, without any good ground, they had rejoiced.

Others consider it to be an elliptical expression, that they will have no hiding-place but by throwing themselves down under the captives and the slain. It might also be a form of an oath, If they shall not; ¹⁵⁹¹⁵⁹     For this form of an oath, See page 173, n. 1.— Ed. and the meaning would be highly appropriate, that God swears in wrath that he will spare none of them, but will abandon some to captivity, and will deliver up others to be put to death. In a word, this declaration shows what are the consequences that await all those who, after having been warned by the word of God, do not repent. From what immediately follows, we learn that a dreadful and alarming destruction is threatened; for he repeats what he had already said frequently, that the wrath of the Lord is not yet apparent, that he will find out more frightful punishments for avenging himself. This teaches us that nothing is more truly desirable than to be moved by a sincere feeling of repentance, and to acknowledge our fault, that we may obtain pardon from the Lord.