Isaiah 22:1-3 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

What aileth thee now, &c.— The former part of this discourse sets forth the distress of Jerusalem from the Chaldees and Assyrians; and in these verses we have, first, the fate of the city; the commotion and perturbation thereof upon the report of the hostile army approaching to besiege it, and the sad circumstances of that calamity, and of that time. Vitringa thinks that the beginning of the second verse should be connected with the first, and thus read and understood; What aileth thee now, that thou art all of thee gone up to the house-tops,—Thou city, full of acclamations, tumultuous, exulting? "Whence comes it, that thou, who wast lately so full of joy and exultation, now in terror and silence ascendest the house-tops, either to reconnoitre the approaching enemy, or to consult for thine own safety?" The prophet by this mode of address means severely to rebuke the people. He goes on to relate four circumstances of this time; the first is, That the city, before it should be taken by the Chaldeans, should lose numbers of its people by a severe famine. Thy deceased men are not pierced through with the sword, nor dead in battle. See 1 Samuel 4:9. The second is, that it should be deserted by the rulers and chief men; All thy rulers are fled together; which was the case. See Jeremiah 39:3-4. The third is, that these rulers, thus flying away, should be taken and bound by the enemy. See 2 Kings 25:6-7. Jeremiah 39:6. Lamentations 4:19. The fourth circumstance is, that the people who remained in Jerusalem after the flight of the rulers, but especially the soldiers who were set over the defence of the lower city, should also be bound. See 2 Chronicles 32:4-5; 2 Chronicles 32:33. 2 Kings 25:11. Jeremiah 40:1 and Vitringa.