Isaiah 24 - Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

The Lord shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high... — The prophet’s utterance becomes more and more apocalyptic. He sees more than the condemnation of the kings of earth. Jehovah visits also the “principalities and powers in heavenly places” (Ephesians 3:10) or “on high” (Ephesians 6:12). Perhaps identifying these spiritual evil powers with the gods whom the nations worshipped, and these again with the stars in the firmament, Isaiah foresees a time when their long-protracted rebellion shall come to an end, and all authority and power be put down under the might of Jehovah (1 Corinthians 15:25). The antithetical parallelism of the two clauses is decisive against the interpretation which sees in the “high ones on high” only the representatives of earthly kingdoms, though we may admit that from the prophet’s stand-point each rebel nation is thought of as swayed by a rebel spirit. (Comp. Daniel 10:20; Sir. 17:14; and the LXX. of Deuteronomy 32:8 : “He set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God.”) The same thought is found in a Rabbinic proverb, “God never destroys a nation without having first of all destroyed its prince” (Delitzsch, but without a reference).

As prisoners are gathered in the pit... — The imagery is drawn from the deep underground dungeons of Eastern prisons (Jeremiah 38:6), which are here the symbol of the abyss of Hades, in which the rebel powers of earth and heaven await the final judgment (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6).

After many days shall they be visited. — The verb is the same as that translated “punish” in the previous verse, but does not in itself involve the idea of punishing, and in some of its forms is used of visiting in mercy. Interpreters have, according to their previous bias, assigned this or that meaning to it. Probably the prophet used it in a neutral sense, drawing his imagery from the custom of Eastern kings, who, after leaving their enemies in prison for an appointed time, came to inspect them, and to award punishment or pardon according to their deserts. In such a company there might be “prisoners of hope” (Zechariah 9:12), waiting with eager expectation for the coming of the king. The passage is interesting in the history of Christian doctrine, as having furnished to Origen and his followers an argument in favour of the ultimate restitution of all created spirits.

The moon shall be confounded... — The thought implied is that the most glorious forms of created light will become dim, the moon red as with the blush of shame, the sun turning pale, before the glory of Jehovah’s presence.

The Lord of hosts shall reign... — Better, hath become king, the phrase being that used as in 2 Samuel 5:4; 1 Kings 15:1, for a king’s accession to his throne.

And before his ancients gloriously. — Better, and before his elders shall he glory. The “elders” are, like the seventy of Exodus 24:9, like the twenty-four of Revelation 4:4, the chosen ones of the new Jerusalem, to whom it shall be given, as the counsellors of the great King, to see His glory, that glory resting on them as in old time it rested upon Moses.