The Contrast Between The Lofty City and The Way of the Righteous (Isaiah 26:5-10).
Those in the lofty city have no time for righteousness. Even if shown favour or set in a land of uprightness they will behave wickedly and ignore God's majesty. In contrast the truly righteous seek Him with their whole heart.
Analysis.
a For He has brought down those who dwell on high, the lofty city. He lays it low, He lays it low even to the ground, He brings it even to the dust (Isaiah 26:5).
b The foot will tread it down, even the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy (Isaiah 26:6).
c The way of the righteous is uprightness (altogether right), you (singular) who are upright weigh up the path of the righteous (Isaiah 26:7).
d Yes, in the way of your judgments, O Yahweh, have we waited for you. To your name and to your renown (memorial, what is remembered) is the desire of our inner self (Isaiah 26:8).
d With my very life (nephesh) have I desired you in the night, yes, with my spirit within me will I seek you early (Isaiah 26:9 a).
c For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness (Isaiah 26:9 b).
b Let favour be shown to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness. In the land of uprightness he will deal wrongfully, and will not behold the majesty of Yahweh (Isaiah 26:10 a).
a Yahweh, your hand is lifted up, yet they do not see. But they will see your zeal for your people and be put to shame, yes, fire will devour your adversaries (Isaiah 26:10 b).
In ‘a' we have the lofty city, which is in contrast with the city of salvation, and has to be brought low, and in the parallel it is because when His hand is lifted up its inhabitants do not see, but they will be made to see when Yahweh in zeal for His people sends fire to devour them. In ‘b' the toppled city will be trodden on by the poor and needy, God's righteous ones, while in the parallel the judgment on the city's inhabitants is that even when favour is shown to them in their unrighteousness they will not learn righteousness or behold the righteousness of Yahweh. In ‘c' the way of the righteous is uprightness and the upright are called on to judge the path of the righteous, and in the parallel passage when Yahweh's judgments are in the earth its inhabitants learn righteousness. In ‘d' the desire of the inner self of the righteous is to Yahweh's name memory, and in the parallel they desire Him in the night and seek Him early. Note the repetition of ‘yes'.
The Lofty City Destroyed (Isaiah 26:5-6).
‘For he has brought down those who dwell on high,
The lofty city.
He lays it low,
He lays it low even to the ground,
He brings it even to the dust.
The foot will tread it down,
Even the feet of the poor,
And the steps of the needy.'
In contrast to the strong city is the city of pride, the lofty city, the city that represents the world that has rejected God, perched on its height and seeming to be secure until Yahweh brings it down (see Isaiah 25:2; Isaiah 25:12). But bring it down He does, it is brought to the dust, for it despises righteousness (Isaiah 26:10). It is in direct contrast with the heavenly city of God. The poor and the needy will trample on it, (again a sign that we must not take the pictures too literally).
The idea is that the poor and the needy, those who trust in Yahweh, will come out as the victors while the lofty city will be no more. The poor and needy possess it because its inhabitants had not responded to God's attempts to introduce them to righteousness (Isaiah 26:10). But the victory is gained by Yahweh as the description of the victors especially brings out.
Note that the ‘for' connects it with what has gone before. The lofty city is in contrast to the strong city. The downfall of the one confirms and ensures the strength of the other. This picture of two cities is descriptive. For so long it was the world city that seemed to triumph and prosper, and the city of God seemed to be as nothing. The world city (whether Nineveh, or Babylon, or Rome, or whoever) stood proudly on its lofty peak and held the world in its sway, but now it is finally brought down, it is humbled, it is brought to the dust, while the humble city of God is seen to be the one whose walls are truly protective, and which finally triumphs. Compare Revelation 17-18 with 21.
Isaiah may, of course, have especially in mind here the city that exalted itself, Babylon in all its pride, even in his own time (Isaiah 13:19), but only because that is in his eyes the epitome of the pride of all great cities.