Isaiah 9:3 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Thou hast multiplied the nation; thou hast made good thy promise to Abraham concerning the multiplication of his seed, Genesis 15:5, Genesis 22:17, by adding his spiritual seed unto the carnal, by gathering in the Gentiles to the Jews, and making them both one people in Christ, 1 Thessalonians 10:16 Ephesians 2:14, &c. For in Scripture account the believing Gentiles are the seed of Abraham as well as the Jews; of which see Galatians 3:7-9. Or, thou hast magnified the nation; honoured them with peculiar privileges above all other nations, and especially with this transcendent privilege, that the Messiah and Saviour of the world should be born of them, and live among them; of which he speaks more fully Isaiah 9:6,7. And not increased the joy; or, yet not increased their joy; which might very truly and fitly be said of the Jewish nation upon this occasion, partly because they did not rejoice in the conversion of the Gentiles, as they should have done, but murmured, and grieved, and stumbled at it; and partly because, through their perverseness and unbelief, that would be unto them an occasion of their utter ruin, the conversion of the Gentiles being attended with the rejection of the Jews. But because this translation seems not to agree with the following words, which ascribe great joy to them, some render the words otherwise; either thus, and wilt thou not increase their joy? to which question the next words give an affirmative answer. So the Hebrew particle lo is put interrogatively for halo, as it is in many other places, which I have formerly observed. Or thus, and hast increased to it, or him, or them (to that nation) their joy. For though the Hebrew lo be written like an adverb, yet it may be read like a pronoun, as it is both by Jewish and Christian interpreters acknowledged to be in many places; of which see more in my Latin Synopsis. They joy before thee; in thy presence, and in the place of thy worship; not with a carnal and worldly, but with a spiritual and religious joy, giving thee the praise and glory of all thy favours afforded to them. According to the joy in harvest; when men receive with great joy that for which they have laboured much and long waited. See Psalms 126:5,6. When they divide the spoil; when, after a bloody fight, and a glorious victory, they come to take the spoil.