And on all hills— And as to all the hills which used to be dressed with a mattock, there shall no fence of briers and thorns come there; but it shall let in oxen, and shall be trodden by the lesser cattle. Vitringa. It was usual in Judaea to fence in their vineyards with briers and thorns.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, A new prophesy begins in this chapter, which bears date in the reign of Ahaz, when the confederate forces of Syria and Israel, which had before committed great ravages and massacres in the country, 2 Kings 15:37. 2 Chronicles 28:5-7 united to besiege Jerusalem the capital, and utterly to destroy the kingdom of Judah; though, by divine interposition, their design, was defeated.
1. This formidable invasion put the king and his subjects into great confusion. It was told the house of David, of which though Ahaz was a degenerate branch, yet for his father's sake he was not entirely forsaken, saying, Syria is confederate with Ephraim; and before two such potent monarchs, whose power separately he had been unable to cope with, nothing but ruin seemed approaching; and his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the wood are moved with the wind, weak, bending, disordered, and ready to fall before there mighty foes. Note; They who have accusing guilt on their consciences, are in terrors at the approach of danger.
2. God sends to comfort and encourage them. Though perplexed, they need not be in despair; Isaiah, the messenger of warning to them, is now the messenger of mercy, little as they deserved it, to prove them, whether the goodness of God might lead them to repentance. He is commanded to go with his son, (whose significant name carried in it a token for good,) and meet Ahaz at the conduit of the upper pool, in the high way of the fuller's field, where probably he was making some preparations for the approaching siege, by fortifying his capital, introducing plenty of water into the city, or cutting it off from supplying the besiegers. Note; (1.) God is thinking of sinners, and preventing them with the blessings of his grace, when he is not in all their thoughts. (2.) Seasonable relief in time of helpless distress, is doubly welcome. The message with which the prophet is sent, is most encouraging.
(1.) He bids them not to be afraid of foes so despicable. Though to human view so potent, in God's regard they were but as the tails of firebrands when they are burnt out, and their wrath was no more to be regarded than the smoke of an extinguished taper. Take heed, and be quiet, beware only of unbelieving distrust, and wait in confident expectation of the salvation of God; neither be faint-hearted, or be not soft as wax, melted before the sun. Note; (1.) Nothing lays the soul so open to the inroads of sin, as unbelieving fear. (2.) The greatest dangers will not disturb their peace, whose minds are stayed upon God. (3.) The enemies of God's people are raging as fire-brands, but all their wicked purposes will end in smoke.
(2.) He foretels the disappointment of the present attempt, though the schemes of the enemies of Judah were deep laid, and full of malice, designing nothing less than the ravaging of the whole country, dethroning the king, and setting up a tributary of their own: and so secure were they of success, that they had fixed on the person already, had taken the city in imagination, and divided the spoil; yet one word of God defeats the plan: It shall not stand, neither shall it come to pass. He who sets bounds to the sea, can as easily still the ragings of the mighty. Note; (1.) The sinner's confidence serves but to increase the confusion of his disappointment. (2.) They who are purposing to vex others, find often the mischief return on their own heads. (3.) God delights to humble the proud. They shall see whose word shall stand.
(3.) From the present defeat he passes on to the future destiny of these enemies of Judah. Far from being able to extend their territories, their kingdoms should never be enlarged; and Ephraim, perhaps the most inveterate of the two, within sixty-five years, cease to be a people.
4. The men of Judah are enjoined to credit his message; for if ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established; faith in the divine promise was that which could alone abidingly secure their safety, whatever temporary deliverances might be granted to them. Note; The word of promise only brings comfort, when it is mixed with faith in them that hear it.
2nd, To confirm by miracle the veracity of the prophetic word, Isaiah,
1. Bids Ahaz ask a sign of the Lord his God; for, though he was a wicked king, God had not yet cast off his national relation to him and his people, and was ready to grant him every evidence to engage his trust and dependance.
2. Ahaz wickedly rejects the offer, pretending piety; but there could be no fear of tempting God in asking a sign, when himself had made the offer: the true reason seems to be, he was unwilling to be quiet, and trust the case with God, expecting more from the help of the Assyrians and his own fortifications, than from the word of promise.
3. The prophet rebukes the high affront herein shown, not to himself merely as a prophet, but more especially to that God who sent him. And since he disdains to ask a sign, God will give him one strange and marvellous; a sign which relates in a double respect to the present and eternal good of his people. Behold a strange unheard-of wonder, a virgin shall conceive without the knowledge of man, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel, God with us: in our nature, conceived of a virgin, by the power of the Holy Ghost, that he might have the human nature pure from our original defilement, and add infinite dignity thereunto, by uniting it to the divine nature in that mysterious person God and man in one Christ. Butter and honey shall he eat, partaking of a real human nature, supported by food as we are, and growing to maturity of understanding, by progressive steps, that he may know, or until he shall know, to refuse the evil, and choose the good. Now this was a sign of present deliverance for Judah, as well as future safety; since, till the time of the coming of this wonderful personage, the sceptre should not depart finally from them; and for their more immediate comfort it is added, Before this child, probably pointing to Shear-jashub his little son, or before the child, that is to be born, shall know to refuse the evil, and choose the good, shall come to the exercise of reason, the land that thou abhorrest, of Syria and Israel, now confederate, shall be forsaken of both her kings, Pekah and Rezin; which was quickly fulfilled in the death of Rezin, slain by the king of Assyria, Exodus 16:9 and Pekah by Hoshea, 2 Kings 15:30. Note; (1.) Insults cast on God's prophets, is insolence against himself, and will be highly resented by him. (2.) The great comfort in every distress, is not so much the hope of present deliverance, as the prospect of eternal blessedness in our Immanuel. (3.) The more we examine the word of prophesy, the more confirmed shall we be in the faith of Jesus, in whom it is so perfectly fulfilled.
3rdly, Though God will now appear for Zion's sake, let not Ahaz think his unbelief shall go unpunished.
1. A sore judgment is threatened, such as the land of Judah never knew before, since the grand revolt of the ten tribes. Note; Though God may have long patience, the impenitent must not promise themselves impunity.
2. The instrument to be employed was chiefly the king of Assyria, Nebuchadnezzar; and Pharaoh-Nechoh, the king of Egypt, helped forward their destruction, 2 Kings 23:29-35. Swiftly would their armies come up at the call of God, thick as swarms of bees and flies, resting in the desolate valleys like flights of locusts: not a green leaf should be left, so thoroughly would they devour the land, and climb every fortress, though seated on the craggy rocks. As a sharp razor, passing from head to foot, shaves off the hair, so should the king of Assyria make an entire conquest of Judaea, receiving the spoil as his hire: or it alludes to the present which Ahaz sent him to engage his assistance, Exodus 16:7-9 which in the end turned to his own damage, and brought upon him the continual inroads of the Assyrians, till the fatal captivity arrived. Note; (1.) When God would chastise a guilty nation, he will not want a scourge. (2.) It is just in God to make that creature the instrument of our vexation which we have made the object of our confidence, and to let men see thereby the misery as well as folly of changing a rock for a reed.
3. Terrible would be the consequence of these invasions: instead of lowing herds and grazing flocks, a man would think himself happy if he had one young cow and two poor sheep remaining. So desolate would every family be, and such plenty of pasture in the depopulated country, that this small stock of cattle would yield milk sufficient: butter and honey would be their only diet, for meat could not be afforded in the scarcity of beasts which remained; and vineyards and tillage would be utterly neglected: the spot which paid a yearly rent of a thousand silverlings (about the value of half a crown) for a thousand vines, so fruitful were they, now overgrown with briers and thorns, yielded no revenue. Instead of gathering their vintage, men must now go armed to protect themselves from the wild beasts or robbers that lodged in those thickets where fruitful vineyards grew: and the hills and fields untilled, where once the rising harvest stood, now, no longer fenced with hedges of thorns, are laid quite open as a wild waste, where the cattle roamed without controul. How terrible are the desolations which sin, and war the effect of it, make in the earth? What sinful nation need not tremble on beholding Judaea's wretched fate, and read an alarming call to repentance in her overthrow?