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Selected Verse: Isaiah 40:2 - King James
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
Isa 40:2 |
King James |
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD'S hand double for all her sins. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
comfortably--literally, "to the heart"; not merely to the intellect.
Jerusalem--Jerusalem though then in ruins, regarded by God as about to be rebuilt; her people are chiefly meant, but the city is personified.
cry--publicly and emphatically as a herald cries aloud (Isa 40:3).
warfare--or, the appointed time of her misery (Job 7:1, Margin; Job 14:14; Dan 10:1). The ulterior and Messianic reference probably is the definite time when the legal economy of burdensome rites is at an end (Gal 4:3-4).
pardoned--The Hebrew expresses that her iniquity is so expiated that God now delights in restoring her.
double for all her sins--This can only, in a very restricted sense, hold good of Judah's restoration after the first captivity. For how can it be said her "warfare was accomplished," when as yet the galling yoke of Antiochus and also of Rome was before them? The "double for her sins" must refer to the twofold captivity, the Assyrian and the Roman; at the coming close of this latter dispersion, and then only, can her "iniquity" be said to be "pardoned," or fully expiated [HOUBIGANT]. It does not mean double as much as she deserved, but ample punishment in her twofold captivity. Messiah is the antitypical Israel (compare Mat 2:15, with Hos 11:1). He indeed has "received" of sufferings amply more than enough to expiate "for our sins" (Rom 5:15, Rom 5:17). Otherwise (cry unto her) "that she shall receive (blessings) of the Lord's hand double to the punishment of all her sins" (so "sin" is used, Zac 14:19, Margin) [LOWTH]. The English Version is simpler. |
Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
Speak ye comfortably - Hebrew, על־לב ‛al-lēb as in the margin, 'To the heart.' The heart is the seat of the affections. It is there that sorrow and joy are felt. We are oppressed there with grief, and we speak familiarly of being pained at the heart and of being of a glad or merry heart. To speak 'to the heart,' is to speak in such a way as to remove the troubles of the heart; to furnish consolation, and joy. It means that they were not merely to urge such topics as should convince the understanding, but such also as should be adopted to minister consolation to the heart. So the word is used in Gen 34:3 : 'And his soul clave unto Dinah - and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly (Hebrew, to the heart) of the damsel;' Gen 50:21 : 'And he comforted them, and spoke kindly unto them' (Hebrew, to their hearts); see also Ch2 32:6.
To Jerusalem - The direction is not merely to speak to the people in Babylon, but also to comfort Jerusalem itself lying in ruins. The general direction is, therefore, that the entire series of topics of consolation should be adduced - the people were to return from their bondage, and Jerusalem was to be rebuilt, and the worship of God to be restored.
And cry unto her - In the manner of a crier; or one making public and loud proclamation (compare Isa 40:3, Isa 40:9). Jerusalem is here personified. She is addressed as in ruins, and as about to be rebuilt, and as capable of consolation from this promise.
That her warfare is accomplished - Septuagint, 'That her humiliation (ταπείνωσις tapeinōsis) is accomplished.' The Hebrew word (צבא tsâbâ', 'warfare') properly means an army or host (compare the note at Isa 1:9), and is usually applied to an army going forth to war, or marshalled for battle Sa2 8:16; Sa2 10:7. It is then used to denote an appointed time of service; the discharge of a duty similar to an enlistment, and is applied to the services of the Levites in the tabernacle Num 4:28 : 'All that enter in to perform the service (Hebrew, to war the warfare), to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation.' Compare Num 8:24-25. Hence, it is applied to human life contemplated as a warfare, or enlistment, involving hard service and calamity; an enlistment from which there is to be a discharge by death.
Is there not a set time (Hebrew, a warfare) to man upon earth?
Are not his days as the days of an hireling?
Job 7:1
But if a man die - shall he indeed live again?
All the days of my appointed time (Hebrew, my warfare) will I wait,
Till my change come.
Job 14:14
Compare Dan 10:1. The word then means hard service, such as soldiers endure; an appointed time which they are to serve; an enlistment involving hardships, toil, privation, danger, calamity. In this sense it is applied hero to Jerusalem - to the trials, calamities, desolations to which she was subjected for her sins, and which were to endure a definite and fixed time - like the enlistment of an army. That time was now coming to an end, and to be succeeded by a release, or discharge. Vitringa, who supposes that this refers primarily and solely to the times of the Messiah, regards this as meaning that the definite time of the legal economy, a time of toil, and of vexatious and troublesome ceremonies, was about to end by the coming of the Messiah. But the more correct interpretation is, probably, that which supposes that there was a primary reference to the long and painful captivity of the Jews, in Babylon.
That her iniquity - The iniquity or sin here referred to, is that long series of acts of rebellion, corruption, and idolatry, with which the Jewish people had been chargeable, and which had rendered their captivity necessary. As a nation, that sin was now expiated, or removed by their protracted punishment in Babylon. It was a sufficient expression of the divine displeasure at the national offences, and God was satisfied (נרצה nı̂retsâh) with it, and could consistently restore them to their land, and to their former privileges. The whole language here has respect to national, and not to individual offences.
Is pardoned - Vulgate, Dimissa est iniquitas illius. Septuagint, Λέλυται αὐτῆς ἡ ἁμαρτία Lelutai autēs hē hamartia - 'Her sin is loosed,' dissolved, remitted. The word 'pardon' does not quite express the meaning of the word in the original (נרצה nı̂retsâh). The word רצה râtsâh properly means to delight in any person or thing; to take pleasure in; then to receive graciously or favorably; to delight in sacrifices and offerings Job 33:26; Psa 51:18; Eze 20:40; and, in the Hiphil conjugation, satisfy, or pay to off, that is, to cause to be satisfied, or pleased; and then in Hophal, to be satisfied, to be paid off, to be pleased or satisfied with an expiation, or with an atonement for sins, so as to delight in the person who makes it. Here it means not strictly to pardon, but it means that they had endured the national punishment which God saw to be necessary; they had served out the long and painful enlistment which he had appointed, and now he was satisfied, and took delight in restoring them to their own land. It does not refer to the pardon of people in consequence of the atonement made by the Lord Jesus; but it may be used as an illustration of that, when God is satisfied with that atonement; and when he has pleasure or delight in setting the soul free from the bondage of sin, and admitting the sinner to his favor - as he had delight here in restoring his people to their own land.
For she hath received - Jerusalem had now been desolate for almost seventy years, on the supposition that this relates to the period near the close of the exile, and that was regarded as an ample or full expression of what she ought to suffer for her national offences.
Of the Lord's hand - From the hand, or by the agency of Yahweh. Whoever were the instruments, her sufferings were to be regarded as his appointment.
Double for all her sins - The word rendered 'double' (כפלים kipelayim) is the dual form from כפל kepel, 'a doubling,' and occurs in Job 41:13 :
Who will rip up the covering of his armor?
Against the doubling of his nostrils who will advance?
Good
And in Job 11:6 :
And that he would unfold to them the secrets of wisdom.
That they are double to that which is;
That is, there are double-folds to God's wisdom, or the wisdom of of God is complicated, inexplicabIe (Gesenius). The word in Job means 'conduplications, folds, complications, mazes, intricacies' (Good). Here the word has doubtless its usual and proper meaning, and denotes double, twice as much; and the expression may denote that God had inflicted on them double that which had been usually inflicted on rebellious nations, or on the nation, before for its sins. Or the word may be used to denote abundance, and the prophet may design to teach that they had been amply, or abundantly punished for their crimes. 'That is,' says Grotius, 'as much as God judged to be sufficient.' 'Double, here,' says Calvin, 'is to be received for large and abundant.' Some have supposed (see Rosenmuller, who approves of this interpretation) that the word 'sins here means the punishment of sins, and that the word 'double' refers to the mercies or favors which they were about to receive, or which God had purposed to confer on them. So Lowth understands it; and renders the word לקחה lâqechâh 'shall receive' (in the future):
That she shall receive at the hand of Yahweh
(Blessings) double to the punishment of all her sins.
But though it was true that their favors on their return, in the hope of the Messiah, and in their renovated privileges, would be far more numerous than their sufferings had been, yet this does not so well suit the connection, where the prophet is giving a reason why they should be released from their bondage, and restored to the privileges of their own land. That reason manifestly is, that they had suffered what was regarded by Yahweh as an ample expression of his displeasure for their national offences. It does not refer to individual sinners; nor to any power which they have to make atonement for their sins; nor does it refer to the atonement made by the Messiah. But it may be remarked, by the way, that in the sufferings of the Redeemer there has been ample satisfaction for the sins of his people. The Chaldee interpreter understands this as Rosenmuller does, that the word 'double' refers to, the mercies which they had received: 'Because she has received a cup of consolation from the presence of the Lord, as if (כאלוּ ke'ilû) she had been smitten twofold for all her sins.' |
Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
The summons is now repeated with still greater emphasis, the substance of the consoling proclamation being also given. "Speak ye to the heart of Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her affliction is ended, that her debt is paid, that she has received from the hand of Jehovah double for all her sins." The holy city is thought of here in connection with the population belonging to it. על־לב דּבּר (to speak to the heart) is an expression applied in Gen 34:3 and Jdg 19:3 to words adapted to win the heart; in Gen 50:21, to the words used by Joseph to inspire his brethren with confidence; whilst here it is used in precisely the same sense as in Hos 2:16, and possibly not without a reminiscence of this earlier prophecy. אל קרא (to call to a person) is applied to a prophetic announcement made to a person, as in Jer 7:27; Zac 1:4. The announcement to be made to Jerusalem is then introduced with כּי, ὅτι, which serves as the introduction to either an indirect or a direct address (Ges. 155, 1, e). (1.) Her affliction has become full, and therefore has come to an end. צבא, military service, then feudal service, and hardship generally (Job 7:1); here it applies to the captivity or exile - that unsheltered bivouac, as it were, of the people who had bee transported into a foreign land, and were living there in bondage, restlessness, and insecurity. (2.) Her iniquity is atoned for, and the justice of God is satisfied: nirtsâh, which generally denotes a satisfactory reception, is used here in the sense of meeting with a satisfactory payment, like עון רצה in Lev 26:41, Lev 26:43, to pay off the debt of sin by enduring the punishment of sin. (3.) The third clause repeats the substance of the previous ones with greater emphasis and in a fuller tone: Jerusalem has already suffered fully for her sins. In direct opposition to לקחה, which cannot, when connected with two actual perfects as it is here, be take as a perfect used to indicate the certainty of some future occurrence, Gesenius, Hitzig, Ewald, Umbreit, Stier, and Hahn suppose kiphlayim to refer to the double favour that Jerusalem was about to receive (like mishneh in Isa 61:7, and possibly borrowed from Isaiah in Zac 9:12), instead of to the double punishment which Jerusalem had endured (like mishneh in Jer 16:18). It is not to be taken, however, in a judicial sense; in which case God would appear over-rigid, and therefore unjust. Jerusalem had not suffered more than its sins had deserved; but the compassion of God regarded what His justice had been obliged to inflict upon Jerusalem as superabundant. This compassion also expresses itself in the words "for all" (bekhol, c. Beth pretii): there is nothing left for further punishment. The turning-point from wrath to love has arrived. The wrath has gone forth in double measure. With what intensity, therefore, will the love break forth, which has been so long restrained! |
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
Warfare - The time of her captivity, and misery. Double - Not twice as much as her sins deserved, but abundantly enough to answer God's design in this chastisement, which was to humble and reform them, and to warn others by their example. |
Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
Double for all her sins "Blessings double to the punishment" - It does not seem reconcilable to our notions of the Divine justice, which always punishes less than our iniquities deserve, to suppose that God had punished the sins of the Jews in double proportion; and it is more agreeable to the tenor of this consolatory message to understand it as a promise of ample recompense for the effects of past displeasure, on the reconciliation of God to his returning people. To express this sense of the passage, which the words of the original will very well bear, it was necessary to add a word or two in the version to supply the elliptical expression of the Hebrew. Compare Isa 61:7; Job 42:10; Zac 9:12. חטאה chattaah signifies punishment for sin, Lam 3:39; Zac 14:19. But Kimchi says, "Double here means the two captivities and emigrations suffered by the Israelites. The first, the Babylonish captivity; the second, that which they now endure." This is not a bad conjecture. |
19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
17 For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
15 But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
1 When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
15 And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.
3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
1 In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a thing was revealed unto Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar; and the thing was true, but the time appointed was long: and he understood the thing, and had understanding of the vision.
14 If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.
1 Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?
3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
6 And that he would shew thee the secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is! Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth.
13 Who can discover the face of his garment? or who can come to him with his double bridle?
40 For in mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, there shall all the house of Israel, all of them in the land, serve me: there will I accept them, and there will I require your offerings, and the firstfruits of your oblations, with all your holy things.
18 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
26 He shall pray unto God, and he will be favourable unto him: and he shall see his face with joy: for he will render unto man his righteousness.
1 In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a thing was revealed unto Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar; and the thing was true, but the time appointed was long: and he understood the thing, and had understanding of the vision.
14 If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.
1 Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?
24 This is it that belongeth unto the Levites: from twenty and five years old and upward they shall go in to wait upon the service of the tabernacle of the congregation:
25 And from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting upon the service thereof, and shall serve no more:
28 This is the service of the families of the sons of Gershon in the tabernacle of the congregation: and their charge shall be under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.
7 And when David heard of it, he sent Joab, and all the host of the mighty men.
16 And Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the host; and Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder;
9 Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
9 O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
3 The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
6 And he set captains of war over the people, and gathered them together to him in the street of the gate of the city, and spake comfortably to them, saying,
21 Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.
3 And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel.
18 And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things.
12 Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee;
7 For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.
43 The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity: because, even because they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my statutes.
41 And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity:
1 Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?
4 Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets have cried, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Turn ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me, saith the LORD.
27 Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee.
16 And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and shalt call me no more Baali.
21 Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.
3 And her husband arose, and went after her, to speak friendly unto her, and to bring her again, having his servant with him, and a couple of asses: and she brought him into her father's house: and when the father of the damsel saw him, he rejoiced to meet him.
3 And his soul clave unto Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the damsel, and spake kindly unto the damsel.
19 This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
39 Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
12 Turn you to the strong hold, ye prisoners of hope: even to day do I declare that I will render double unto thee;
10 And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.
7 For your shame ye shall have double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be unto them.