Commentary on the Old Testament Volume 2-4, Biblical commentary 7 · Isaiah · Chapter 35
CHAP. XXXV.
THe wildernesse and the solitary place shall be glad for them, &c. After all Nations Vers. 1.and Idumea in particular judged most severely Chap. 34. which were enemies to Gods people, now he returneth to comfort the faithfull again under the name of a wildernesse, meaning hereby the Jews surviving after the Baby lonish captivity, who were brought back to their own countrey again, whereof they had great joy, when the Persians having taken Babylon destroyed that Monarchy with the appendices thereof, of whom Idumea spoken of Chap. 34. was one. Then Jerusalem that had lien so long desolate, was glad to see, that God had thus judged their enemies, and began to flourish again. But the Exposition is not to be limited to that time, for more magnificall things are spoken then agreed thereunto. Wherefore the Church under the Gospel consisting both of Jews and Gentiles, is principally meant here; see the like before Chap. 32. 15 and Chap. 35. 20. and to this do our Expositours generally agree: Lyra Lyra.refers it wholly to the Church under the Gospel, expounding the wildernesse by the Gentiles, who before the faith preached among them, were barren of all goodnesse, as is a wildernesse of good fruits.
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, and the excellency of Carmel, &c. that Vers. 2.is, whatsoever pertains to decency, or fruitfulnesse, or piety, shall be in Christs Church, though imperfectly here, yet perfectly in heaven.
Strengthen the weak hands, confirm the feeble knees, &c. that is, the Lord bids Vers. 3.the Apostles and other preachers of the Gospel thus to comfort and confirm beleevers who before had no courage to endure any thing for Christ, till that by their preaching and examples, who suffered persecutions with joy, they Calvin.also were encouraged to the like. Or it may be taken as necessary for the Prophets of those times to do, that the timerous in hearing of the calamities to come, might be comforted against them in expecting timely deliverance and revenge to be taken upon their enemies, for which it is said, Vers. 4. The Lord will come with revenge, and save you; how the Apostle applies this, see Heb. 12. 12. Note. And hence note, that the weak and timerous are not to be rejected by Gods Ministers, but to be comforted and confirmed with Gods gracious promises, Rom. 14. 1.
Then shall the eyes of the blinde be opened, &c. that is, when the Gospel is Vers. 5.preached with efficacy and power, contrary to that which was threatned, Chap. 29. 9, 10. For all the time that men are unconverted and in the state of sin and infidelity, they are blinde, and deaf, and lame, as is here intimated, but turning to Christ, their eyes and ears are opened to see and hear, and understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven to their comfort and salvation. For herein doth our Lord comfort his Disciples, Mat. 13. 12. saying, To you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven, but to them not, &c. see the same, Isa. 6. 9.
And the lame shall leap like an hart, &c. that is, the lame that could not go Vers. 0.in the waies of God, shall now go with all nimblenesse, and the dumb that could not speak to the praise of God shall now sing clearly: Lo here, saith Luther Luther.miracles to confirm the Gospel to be of God, against those that deride his Ministers, saying, They cannot make so much as a lame horse sound. For all they in whose hearts it taketh effect, of blinde are made to see, of deaf to hear, of lame to go, and dumb to speak. Then another great blessing is added of barrennesse turned into fruitfulnesse, for rivers shall be in the wildernesse, and vers. 7. where Dragons lay, grasse shall spring, and reeds and rushes, which are a sign of watery places, whereas Dragons lying there was a sign of barrennesse and driness; but this fruitfulness is more spiritual then earthly, as the rivers causing it are, according to Ioh. 4. 10. If thou hadst asked of me, I would have given thee water of life. And who so drinks of the water that I shall give, it shall be a river of water flowing out of his belly to everlasting life.
And there shall be a path, and a way in which no unclean person shall go. As in Vers. 8.the time of barrenness there were no comers or goers to the Church of God, which he intended should be, insomuch as there was no way to be seen to walk in to true blessedness, for this was the condition of all Nations before Jesus Christ revealed unto them: So after this, according to the manner of fruitfull places, which are able to yield food to all comers, there is great coming and going of many people, to the beating out of a plain path, that any man, though never so simple, may see to walk without wandring from it another way. And this way is called holy, because holy persons only, and none unclean go in it, they ceasing now to be unclean, because they are washed and sanctified in the name of our Lord Iesus, and by the Spirit of God, as is said, 1 Cor. 6. 11. by believing, and the Spirit of holinesse and righteousnesse now guiding them in all things. Before indeed they were unclean through idolatry, fornication, theft, &c. as vers. 10. and so the place was polluted; but now they being sanctified, it is holy, as Tit. 1. 15. To the pure all things are pure, but to the defiled all things are unclean, yea their very conscience. It is not hereby meant, saith Calvin, That in the Church of Christ there should be none but holy persons, Calvin.unlesse it be understood of that in heaven, for here the Church is, and will alwayes be mixt, being called holy from the better part. But because there is no way or beaten path in heaven, for then travelling is at an end, it cannot be so well understood of that Church, but of this upon earth, wherein no unclean person walketh, when no idolaters are amongst the worshippers of the true God, and of Jesus Christ any more, or which deny Jesus to be the Son of God, or his Ordinances of preaching or baptizing, but come and submit hereunto and confesse his faith. For as of old no man was counted unclean, that was circumcised, and by outward washing cleansed from legal pollution, and so might not be kept out of the Camp; so now it may be said, that no unclean person walketh with the clean in the path or way of divine worship, when none but such as outwardly professe the faith of Christ, and submit to his Ordinances are in our Congregations, as members thereof, especially if upon uncleannesse of life appearing in any, they be kept out of the way of communicating with the clean in the Lords Supper, because an unclean person, whose uncleannesse appears not, as in hypocrites, cannot, so farre as men can judge, be called unclean, although before God they be such, and therefore all their service is abomination unto him. For the words added, It shall be for them, and the wayfaring men though fools shall not erre, Hebr. foreign and he therein, that is, God in this way to go before them, as sometime he was by his fiery pillar in the way that they went in the wildernesse, that they might come to Canaan; and where God is thus guiding his people, the traveller, though all in the company were fools, yet not one of them can go out of the way, as is said in the next words. And to this Calvin, after other expositions first brought, agreeth. Only he thinks that travellers in this way are thus spoken of, though fools, because they are so in the opinion of the world, that are godly, 1 Cor. 1. 20. and think themselves so, being considered in themselves, 1 Cor. 3. 18. and were such indeed before their conversion, Tit. 3. 3. But to render the words altogether to the end, according to the Hebrew they go thus; And he therein walking the way, and fools shall not erre] for foreign walking, is a singular, and foreign Fools a plural, and therefore cannot be put together, as setting forth the same walkers, but walking hath reference to him, that is God in the way to guide men, and so very fools are kept from wandering out of it, touching whom I mislike not, that it should be taken, fools in the worlds account, yet I think somewhat more to be herein implied, viz. that the least worldly wise, who have not great wits, are here meant, according to 1 Cor. 1. 19. Not many wise are called, if they be not so acute as some other Christians, yet he that walks with them guides them, that they go not out of the right way of holinesse and truth. Therefore Psal. 25. it is said, That the word of God giveth light unto the simple, and of the spirits going before them, after whom they walk, Rom. 8. 1. which walk not after the flesh, but after the flesh, but after the spirit.
There shall not be a Lion or savage beast, &c. Because he had spoken of a wildernesse, Vers. 9.wherein the holy way should be, and wildernesses are not without savage beasts ready to devour passengers, he secures the redeemed from fear of them in their travel towards heaven. Now the devil is said indeed to be a roaring Lion here, 1 Pet. 5. 8. and Paul saith, That God delivered him out of the Lions mouth, meaning Nero a persecuting Emperour, so that both devils, and their instruments, wicked persecutours are in their way to devour them. But Note. God here promiseth, That his shall be as safe, as if there were no savage beasts there. For as it is with the Church in general, The gates of hell shall not prevail against it; so in particular with every true faithfull person, there shall be no Lion or Bear to hurt his soul in the way, or to hinder him from salvation, Mat. 10. 28. They can only kill the body, not the soul, that is carried away unhurt by persecutours into Abrahams bosom, as it is said of poor Lazarus. And Luk. 16.when God sees that it will make for his glory, he cicurates and tames the fiercest Lions towards his Church, so that in stead of persecutours they turn Fathers and Preachers, as Saul, Act. 9. and nursing Fathers and nursing Mothers, as Kings and Queens converted, or at the least their rage is made to cease, as Trajans against Christians; and thus also the Lamb and the Lion sometime dwell together, as Ch. 11. God making a Covenant, as it were, for his people, with beasts, not to hurt them, Hos. 2. 18. and it may be applied to beasts properly understood also; for God hath sometime so restrained them, that they have contrary to their natures forborn to hurt his servants being exposed to them, as Daniel and many Martyrs, as is intimated in an Epistle of Ignatius, saying, when he was condemned to be cast to the wilde beasts, if they would not tear him with their teeth, he would provoke them, that he might be made fine meal for God. Contrariwise the wicked are threatned with devouring by wilde beasts, Deut. 28. and Bears did execution upon them, 2 King. 2. and 2 King. 17. Lions.
Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion, &c. As he Vers. 10.began the Chapter with joy, so he concludeth, That Gods people, as they had begun to spring in the Decree made by Cyrus of liberty to return, so they should joyfully return to Zion after a long Captivity under the Babylonians, for their way, though long and dangerous thither, should be safe by his providence that redeemed them, even till they came to the end thereof, and therefore sorrow and heavines, of which they were full before for their being detained in a strange Land, now ceaseth. But mystically it is further to be extended to such as in all Nations turn to the faith, for they thus come to Zion with joy, that is, the Church, as Acts 2. and 8. And although they have many times outward cause of sorrow, yet spiritual joy doth so abound in their hearts, that it is as nothing, Rom. 5. 1. Act. 4. Jam. 1. But they with whom it is thus, are The redeemed of the Lord] Before that any can attain to such joy, they must by faith be assured of this, all others being uncapable of true joy, how merry soever they are, and this joy begun here shall be everlasting in heaven, Ps. 16. Apoc. 4. and Chap. 7.
For Cha. 36, 37, 38, 39. they are the same verbatim with 2 King. 18, 19, 20. and therefore the Reader may have recourse to my Commentaries upon them for the understanding of these.