---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible"
author: "Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Commentaries"
section: 313 of 927
url: https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/313/
cite: "Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, section 313. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/313/"
---

# Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

*Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown*

The Victorian standard commentary, critical and practical, from Genesis to Revelation.

## 313. Isaiah · 16 of 79

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/313/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/313/#p-N

[¶0] rod of ... mouth--condemning sentences which proceed from His mouth against the wicked ([Re 1:16]; 2:16; 19:15, 21).

[¶1] breath of ... lips--his judicial decisions ([Is 30:28]; [Job 15:30]; [Re 19:20]; [20:9-12]). He as the Word of God ([Re 19:13-15]) comes to strike that blow which shall decide His claim to the kingdom, previously usurped by Satan, and "the beast" to whom Satan delegates his power. It will be a day of judgment to the Gentile dispensation, as the first coming was to the Jews. Compare a type of the "rod" ([Nu 17:2-10]).

[¶2] 5. righteousness ... girdle--([Re 1:13]; 19:11). The antitypical High Priest ([Ex 28:4]). The girdle secures firmly the rest of the garments ([1Pe 1:13]). So "truth" gives firm consistency to the whole character ([Ep 5:14]). In [Is 59:17], "righteousness" is His breastplate.

[¶3] 6. wolf ... lamb--Each animal is coupled with that one which is its natural prey. A fit state of things under the "Prince of Peace" ([Is 65:25]; [Eze 34:25]; [Ho 2:18]). These may be figures for men of corresponding animal-like characters ([Eze 22:27]; ; [Jr 5:6]; ; [Mt 7:15]; [Lu 10:3]). Still a literal change in the relations of animals to man and each other, restoring the state in Eden, is a more likely interpretation. Compare [Ge 2:19], 20, with [Psa 8:6-8], which describes the restoration to man, in the person of "the Son of man," of the lost dominion over the animal kingdom of which he had been designed to be the merciful vicegerent under God, for the good of his animal subjects ([Ro 8:19-22]).

[¶4] 7. feed--namely, "together"; taken from the second clause.

[¶5] straw--no longer flesh and blood.

[¶6] 8. play--literally, "delight" himself in sport.

[¶7] cockatrice--a fabulous serpent supposed to be hatched from the egg of a cock. The Hebrew means a kind of adder, more venomous than the asp; Bochart supposes the basilisk to be meant, which was thought to poison even with its breath.

[¶8] 9. my holy mountain--Zion, that is, Jerusalem. The seat of government and of Messiah's throne is put for the whole earth ([Jr 3:17]).

[¶9] sea--As the waters find their way into every cavern of its depths, so Christianity shall pervade every recess of the earth ([Ha 2:14]). As [Is 11:1-5] describe the personal qualities of Messiah, and [Is 11:6-9] the regenerating effects of His coming on creation, so [Is 11:10-16] the results of it in the restoration of His people, the Jews, and the conversion through them of the Gentiles.

[¶10] 10. root--rather, "shoot from the root" (compare Note, see on [Is 11:1]; [Is 53:2]; [Re 5:5]; ).

[¶11] stand--permanently and prominently, as a banner lifted up to be the rallying point of an army or people ([Is 5:26]; [Joh 12:32]).

[¶12] the people--peoples, answering to "the Gentiles" in the parallel member.

[¶13] to it ... seek--diligently ([Job 8:5]). They shall give in their allegiance to the Divine King ([Is 2:2]; 60:5; [Zec 2:11]). Horsley translates, "Of Him shall the Gentiles inquire"; namely, in a religious sense, resort as to an oracle for consultation in difficulties" ([Zec 14:16]). Compare [Ro 15:12], which quotes this passage, "In Him shall the Gentiles trust."

[¶14] rest--resting-place ([Is 60:13]; [Psa 132:8], ; [Eze 43:7]). The sanctuary in the temple of Jerusalem was "the resting-place of the ark and of Jehovah." So the glorious Church which is to be is described under the image of an oracle to which all nations shall resort, and which shall be filled with the visible glory of God.

[¶15] 11. set ... hand--take in hand the work. Therefore the coming restoration of the Jews is to be distinct from that after the Babylonish captivity, and yet to resemble it. The first restoration was literal, therefore so shall the second be; the latter, however, it is implied here, shall be much more universal than the former (Is 43:5-7; 49:12, 17, 18; [Eze 37:21]; [Ho 3:5]; [Am 9:14], ; [Mi 4:6], ; [Zep 3:19], ; [Zec 10:10]; [Jr 23:8]). As to the "remnant" destined by God to survive the judgments on the nation, compare [Jr 46:28].

[¶16] Pathros--one of the three divisions of Egypt, Upper Egypt.

[¶17] Cush--either Ethiopia, south of Egypt, now Abyssinia, or the southern parts of Arabia, along the Red Sea.

[¶18] Elam--Persia, especially the southern part of it now called Susiana.

[¶19] Shinar--Babylonian Mesopotamia, the plain between the Euphrates and the Tigris: in it Babel was begun ([Ge 10:10]). In the Assyrian inscriptions Rawlinson distinguishes three periods: (1) The Chaldean; from 2300 B.C. to 1500, in which falls Chedorlaomer ([Ge 14:1-17]), called in the cuneiform characters Kudur of Hur, or Ur of the Chaldees, and described as the conqueror of Syria. The seat of the first Chaldean empire was in the south, towards the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates. (2) The Assyrian, down to 625 B.C. (3) The Babylonian, from 625 to 538 B.C., when Babylon was taken by the Persian Cyrus.

[¶20] islands of ... sea--the far western regions beyond the sea [Jerome].

[¶21] 12. In the first restoration Judah alone was restored, with perhaps some few of Israel (the ten tribes): in the future restoration both are expressly specified ([Eze 37:16-19]; [Jr 3:18]). To Israel are ascribed the "outcasts" (masculine); to Judah the "dispersed" (feminine), as the former have been longer and more utterly castaways (though not finally) than the latter ([Joh 7:52]). The masculine and feminine conjoined express the universality of the restoration.

[¶22] from the four corners of the earth--Hebrew, "wings of the earth."

[¶23] 13. envy ... of Ephraim ... Judah--which began as early as the time ([Jud 8:1]; , &c.). Joshua had sprung from, and resided among the Ephraimites ([Nu 13:9]; [Jos 19:50]); the sanctuary was with them for a time ([Jos 18:1]). The jealousy increased subsequently ([2Sa 2:8], &c.; 19:41; 20:[2; 3:10]); and even before David's time ([1Sa 11:8]; ), they had appropriated to themselves the national name Israel. It ended in disruption ([1Ki 11:26], &c.; [1Ki 12:1-33]; compare [2Ki 14:9]; [Psa 78:56-71]).

[¶24] adversaries of Judah--rather, "the adversaries from Judah"; those of Judah hostile to the Ephraimites [Maurer]. The parallelism "the envy of Ephraim," namely, against Judah, requires this, as also what follows; namely, "Ephraim shall not envy Judah, and Judah shall not vex Ephraim" ([Eze 37:15], [17, 19]).

[¶25] 14. With united forces they shall subdue their foes ([Am 9:12]).

[¶26] fly--as a bird of prey ([Ha 1:8]).

[¶27] upon the shoulders--This expresses an attack made unexpectedly on one from behind. The image is the more apt, as the Hebrew for "shoulders" in [Nu 34:11] is used also of a maritime coast ("side of the sea": Hebrew, "shoulder of the sea," Margin). They shall make a sudden victorious descent upon their borders southwest of Judea.

[¶28] them of the east--Hebrew, "children of the East," the Arabs, who, always hostile, are not to be reduced under regular government, but are only to be despoiled ([Jr 49:28], ).

[¶29] lay ... hand upon--take possession of ([Da 11:42]).

[¶30] Edom--south of Judah, from the Dead Sea to the Red Sea; "Moab"--east of Jordan and the Dead Sea.

[¶31] Ammon--east of Judea, north of Moab, between the Arnon and Jabbok.

[¶32] 15. There shall be a second exodus, destined to eclipse even the former one from Egypt in its wonders. So the prophecies elsewhere ([Psa 68:22]; [Ex 14:22]; [Zec 10:11]). The same deliverance furnishes the imagery by which the return from Babylon is described ([Is 48:20], ).

[¶33] destroy--literally, "devote," or "doom," that is, dry up; for what God dooms, perishes ([Psa 106:9] [Na 1:4]).

[¶34] tongue--the Bubastic branch of the Nile [Vitringa]; but as the Nile was not the obstruction to the exodus, it is rather the west tongue or Heroöpolite fork of the Red Sea.

[¶35] with ... mighty wind--such as the "strong east wind" ([Ex 14:21]), by which God made a way for Israel through the Red Sea. The Hebrew for "mighty" means terrible. Maurer translates, "With the terror of His anger"; that is, His terrible anger.

[¶36] in the seven streams--rather, "shall smite it (divide it by smiting) into seven (many) streams, so as to be easily crossed" [Lowth]. So Cyrus divided the river Gyndes, which retarded his march against Babylon, into three hundred sixty streams, so that even a woman could cross it [Herodotus, 1.189]. "The river" is the Euphrates, the obstruction to Israel's return "from Assyria" ([Is 11:16]), a type of all future impediments to the restoration of the Jews.

[¶37] dry shod--Hebrew, "in shoes." Even in sandals they should be able to pass over the once mighty river without being wet ([Re 16:12]).

[¶38] 16. highway--a highway clear of obstructions ([Is 19:23]; ).

[¶39] like as ... Israel ... Egypt--([Is 51:10], ; , ).

### Chapter 12

### Is 12:1-6. Thanksgiving Hymn of the Restored and Converted Jews

[¶42] Just as Miriam, after the deliverance of the Red Sea ([Is 11:16]), celebrated it with an ode of praise ([Ex 15:1-19]).

[¶43] 2. Lord Jehovah--Jah, Jehovah. The repetition of the name denotes emphasis, and the unchangeableness of God's character.

[¶44] strength ... song ... salvation--derived from [Ex 15:2]; [Psa 118:14]. The idea of salvation was peculiarly associated with the feast of tabernacles (see [Is 12:3]). Hence the cry "Hosanna," "Save, we beseech thee," that accompanied Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem on that day (the fifteenth of the seventh month) ([Mt 21:9]; compare with [Psa 118:25], ); the earnest of the perfected "salvation" which He shall bring to His people at His glorious second appearance at Jerusalem ([He 9:28]). "He shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Compare [Re 21:3], "The tabernacle of God is with men." Compare [Lu 9:33], "three tabernacles: one for thee," &c. (the transfiguration being a pledge of the future kingdom), ([Psa 118:15]; [Zec 14:16]). As the Jew was reminded by the feast of tabernacles of his wanderings in tents in the wilderness, so the Jew-Gentile Church to come shall call to mind, with thanksgiving, the various past ways whereby God has at last brought them to the heavenly "city of habitation" ([Psa 107:7]).