Study

a Bible passage

Click a verse to see commentary

Select a resource above

9. Israel to Be Destroyed

¹ I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said:

   “Strike the tops of the pillars
   so that the thresholds shake.
Bring them down on the heads of all the people;
   those who are left I will kill with the sword.
Not one will get away,
   none will escape.
² Though they dig down to the depths below,
   from there my hand will take them.
Though they climb up to the heavens above,
   from there I will bring them down.
³ Though they hide themselves on the top of Carmel,
   there I will hunt them down and seize them.
Though they hide from my eyes at the bottom of the sea,
   there I will command the serpent to bite them.
⁴ Though they are driven into exile by their enemies,
   there I will command the sword to slay them.

“I will keep my eye on them
for harm and not for good.”

    ⁵ The Lord, the LORD Almighty—
he touches the earth and it melts,
   and all who live in it mourn;
the whole land rises like the Nile,
   then sinks like the river of Egypt;
⁶ he builds his lofty palace The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain. in the heavens
   and sets its foundation The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain. on the earth;
he calls for the waters of the sea
   and pours them out over the face of the land—
   the LORD is his name.

    ⁷ “Are not you Israelites
   the same to me as the Cushites That is, people from the upper Nile region?” declares the LORD.
“Did I not bring Israel up from Egypt,
   the Philistines from Caphtor That is, Crete
   and the Arameans from Kir?

    ⁸ “Surely the eyes of the Sovereign LORD
   are on the sinful kingdom.
I will destroy it
   from the face of the earth.
Yet I will not totally destroy
   the descendants of Jacob,” declares the LORD.
⁹ “For I will give the command,
   and I will shake the people of Israel
   among all the nations
as grain is shaken in a sieve,
   and not a pebble will reach the ground.
¹⁰ All the sinners among my people
   will die by the sword,
all those who say,
   ‘Disaster will not overtake or meet us.’

Israel’s Restoration

¹¹ “In that day

   “I will restore David’s fallen shelter—
   I will repair its broken walls
   and restore its ruins—
   and will rebuild it as it used to be,
¹² so that they may possess the remnant of Edom
   and all the nations that bear my name, Hebrew; Septuagint so that the remnant of people / and all the nations that bear my name may seek me” declares the LORD, who will do these things.

¹³ “The days are coming,” declares the LORD,

   “when the reaper will be overtaken by the plowman
   and the planter by the one treading grapes.
New wine will drip from the mountains
   and flow from all the hills,
    ¹⁴ and I will bring my people Israel back from exile. Or will restore the fortunes of my people Israel

   “They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them.
   They will plant vineyards and drink their wine;
   they will make gardens and eat their fruit.
¹⁵ I will plant Israel in their own land,
   never again to be uprooted
   from the land I have given them,”

says the LORD your God.

Here the Prophet describes the felicity which shall be under the reign of Christ: and we know that whenever the Prophets set forth promises of a happy and prosperous state to God’s people, they adopt metaphorical expressions, and say, that abundance of all good things shall flow, that there shall be the most fruitful produce, that provisions shall be bountifully supplied; for they accommodated their mode of speaking to the notions of that ancient people; it is therefore no wonders if they sometimes speak to them as to children. At the same time, the Spirit under these figurative expressions declares, that the kingdom of Christ shall in every way be happy and blessed, or that the Church of God, which means the same thing, shall be blessed, when Christ shall begin to reign.

Hence he says, Coming are the days, saith Jehovah, and the plowman shall draw nigh, or meet, the reaper The Prophet no doubt refers to the blessing mentioned by Moses in Leviticus 26:5 for the Prophets borrowed thence their mode of speaking, to add more credit and authority to what they taught. And Moses uses nearly the same words, — that the vintage shall meet the harvest, and also that sowing shall meet the plowing: and this is the case, when God supplies abundance of corn and wine, and when the season is pleasant and favorable. We then see what the Prophet means, that is, that God would so bless his people, that he would suffer no lack of good things.

The plowman then shall come nigh the reaper; and the treader of grapes, the bearer of seed. When they shall finish the harvest, they shall begin to plow, for the season will be most favorable; and then when they shall complete their vintage, they shall sow. Thus the fruitfulness, as I have said, of all produce is mentioned.

The Prophet now speaks in a hyperbolical language, and says, Mountains shall drop sweetness, and all the hills shall melt, that is, milk shall flow down. We indeed know that this has never happened; but this manner of speaking is common and often occurs in Scripture. The sum of the whole is, that there will be no common or ordinary abundance of blessings, but what will exceed belief, and even the course of nature, as the very mountains shall as it were flow down. It now follows —