Isaiah 26 · The Lantern

In that day will this song be made in the land of Judah: We have a strong town; he will make salvation our walls and towers.

(Chapter 26, Verse 1) On that day, this song will be sung in the land of Judah: Our strong city, the Savior will set it as a wall and rampart. In that day, this song will be sung over the land of Judah: Behold, a strong city, our salvation will set up walls and bulwarks.

When Hezekiah, the king of Judah and son of Ahaz, was gravely ill and had learned of his coming death by the prophecy of Isaiah, he turned his face to the wall and wept bitterly. Immediately the Lord in his mercy not only averted the destruction of imminent death but also added fifteen years to the man's life. Then, at last, Hezekiah sang this song.

597. In that day. In this part, he gives thanks for the justification of the people, and it is divided into two parts: in the first, he foretells the state of the just; in the second, he shows the fruit of justice: the old error (Isa 26:3). Concerning the first, he does two things.

Let the doors be open, so that the upright nation which keeps faith may come in.

The man whose heart is unmoved you will keep in peace, because his hope is in you.

Let your hope be in the Lord for ever: for the Lord Jah is an unchanging Rock.

For he has made low those who are lifted up, all the people of the town of pride: he makes it low, crushing it down to the earth; he makes it low in the dust.

It will be crushed under the feet of the poor and the steps of those who are in need.

The way of the good man is straight; the road of the upright is made smooth by you.

We have been waiting for you, O Lord; the desire of our soul is for the memory of your name.

In the night the desire of my soul has been for you; early will my spirit be searching for you; for when your punishments come on the earth, the people of the world will get the knowledge of righteousness.

But, as I said, at the crowing of the cock their President comes, and gently touching the sleeper with his foot, rouses them all. For there are none sleeping naked. Then as soon as they have arisen they stand up, and sing the prophetic hymns with much harmony, and well composed tunes.

For this reason, as I have already said, you ought to read and listen to the sacred lessons with such eagerness that you may be able to speak about them and teach them to others in your own homes and elsewhere, wherever you are.

The constancy of the desire, for day and night, that is, at all times, or in prosperity and adversity, my soul has desired you: in my bed I sought him whom my soul loves (Song 3:1); O God, my God, to you do I watch at break of day (Ps 62:2[63:1]).

Even if you are kind to the evil-doer, he will not go after righteousness; even in the land of the upright he will still go on in his wrongdoing, and will not see the glory of the Lord.

When, by such faith and knowledge, the Lord's people have embraced this true life, they surely receive the joy of heaven. The wicked, on the other hand, since they don't care about the Lord's life, are rightly deprived of its blessings.

Then, therefore, we shall come and we shall enjoy the one thing; but the one thing will be all things to us. For what was it I said, my brothers, when I began to speak? What is that sufficiency which we shall possess when we shall have no need? What is the sufficiency which we shall possess?

604. Let us have pity. Here he excludes mercy, and concerning this, he does two things. First, the Lord proposes mercy interrogatively: let us have pity: the earth is full of the mercy of the Lord (Ps 32[33]:5).

Lord, your hand is lifted up, but they do not see: let them see... yes, your haters will be burned up in the fire.

I know the glittering sword, and the blade made drunk in heaven, bidden to slay, to bring to nothing, to make childless and to spare neither flesh nor marrow nor bones. I know him who, though free from passion, meets us like a bear robbed of her cubs, like a leopard in the way of the Assyrians, not only those of that day, but if anyone now is an Assyrian in wickedness.

Note that there are two kinds of zeal, one full of love, the other full of hatred. The former is indicated in the words, "The zeal of your house has devoured me"; the latter, in the words, "Zeal has taken hold of the senseless people, and now fire shall devour your opponents."

606. Second, the prophet responds: Lord, let your hand be exalted. 607. Third, the Lord determines the spiritual punishment: let the envious people see, and be confounded: every eye shall see him (Rev 1:7), in the glory of his humanity, not of his divinity; and the bodily punishment: let fire devour your enemies: they were cast alive into the pool of fire (Rev 19:20).

Lord, you will give us peace: for all our works are the outcome of your purpose.

But I say all this now, and select all the histories that contain trials and tribulations, and the wrath of kings, and their evil designs, in order that we may fear nothing, save only offending God. For then also was there a furnace burning; yet they derided it, but feared sin.

So they are truly wise who entrust themselves to the power and dispensation of the Godhead; him alone they seek, and the outcome is all that is good for them.

608. Fourth, the prophet consents rejoicing, setting out two good consequences from these punishments: the peace of the people, therefore, Lord, this having been done, you will give us peace, and we hope for this from you: for all our works: it is God who works in you, both to will and to accomplish (Phil 2:13), you have wrought, the works, that is, the punishments, by which yo…

O Lord, our God, other lords than you have had rule over us; but in you only is our salvation, and no other name will we take on our lips.

For the Son of God indeed, being himself the Word, is Lord of all. But we once were subject from the first to the slavery of corruption and the curse of the law. Then by degrees fashioning for ourselves things that were not, we served, as says the blessed apostle, "them which by nature are no gods." Ignorant of the true God, we preferred things that were not to the truth.

Therefore Christ will hand the kingdom over to God and the Father when through him the Father will be known by sight, for his kingdom consists of those in whom he now reigns through faith.

Second, the praise of God: O Lord our God, other lords besides you have had dominion over us, and therefore we could not give ourselves to praise of you; only in you, to whom alone we give ourselves, having no other god: servants have ruled over us (Lam 5:8).

The dead will not come back to life: their spirits will not come back to earth; for this cause you have sent destruction on them, so that the memory of them is dead.

(Verse 14) Those who are dying shall not live; the giants shall not rise again. Therefore You visited and destroyed them, and wiped out all memory of them. LXX: For the dead shall not see life; nor will physicians bring them back. Therefore You brought in, and destroyed, and took away all their males.

For hence it is said by the prophet, "The dead shall not live; the giants shall not rise up again." For whom does he call "the dead" except sinners, and whom does he designate "giants" except those who over and above take pride in sin.

614. Let not the dead live. Here the prophet asks that God not free those punished from further punishment. And first, he sets out the petition: let not the dead, sinners, live, in the life of glory, unless they repent; let not the giants, glorying in their own power, rise again, to glory: the wicked shall not rise again in judgment (Ps 1:5); the ancient giants did not obtain p…

You have made the nation great, O Lord, you have made it great; glory is yours: you have made wide the limits of the land.

Lord, in trouble our eyes have been turned to you, we sent up a prayer when your punishment was on us.

As a woman with child, whose time is near, is troubled, crying out in her pain; so have we been before you, O Lord.

We have been with child, we have been in pain, we have given birth to wind; no salvation has come to the earth through us, and no children have come into the world.

Let us talk about how "mercy is put in the balance" as holy Isaiah declares, for goodness is not without discernment, as the first laborers in the vineyard fancied, because they could not perceive any distinction between those who were paid alike.

Even now let us rejoice somehow or other in this hope derived from the promises of one most faithful, until that richest of all possible joys arises, when "we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is," and our joy nobody shall take from us.

617. We have not wrought justice. Here he announces the procured peace, and concerning this, he does three things. First, the reason for the delay is shown: we have not wrought justice, so that he alludes to what is said in Deuteronomy 28:7: the Lord shall cause your enemies, that rise up against you, to fall down before your face.

Your dead will come back; their dead bodies will come to life again. Those in the dust, awaking from their sleep, will send out a song; for your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the shades.

Then, too, Isaiah himself has plainly declared that there shall be joy of this nature at the resurrection of the just, when he says: "The dead shall rise again; those, too, who are in the tombs shall arise, and those who are in the earth shall rejoice. For the dew from Thee is health to them."

In the same way that the Lord becomes the light, the way, the truth, the bread, the vine, the fire, the shepherd, the lamb, the door, and many other things to believers, so also does he become the dew to us who are in need of his mercy and know ourselves to be feverish with sin, about whom Isaiah said, "The dew which is from you is their health."

618. Second, the promise of restoration of the people through resurrection is set out, either bodily resurrection on the last day or resurrection from the misery of captivity.

Come, my people, into your secret places, and let your doors be shut: keep yourself safe for a short time, till his wrath is over.

All the generations from Adam to this day have passed away; but those who were made perfect in charity by the grace of God live among the saints; and they shall be made manifest at the judgment of the kingdom of Christ.

"The hour will come in which all who are in the tombs shall hear the voice of the Son of God and shall come forth." They shall hear with ears and come forth with feet. This Lazarus had already done. They shall, moreover, come forth from the tombs; that is, they who had been laid in the tombs, the dead, shall come and shall rise again from their graves.

Second, the immunity of the people of God: go, my people; enter into your chambers, tombs, or literally, the fortifications in which they sometimes carefully kept themselves, below: in a moment of indignation have I hid my face a little while from you, but with everlasting kindness have I had mercy on you (Isa 54:8); and it was said to them that they should rest for a little ti…

For the Lord is coming out of his place to send punishment on the people of the earth for their evil-doing: the earth will let the blood drained out on her be seen, and will keep her dead covered no longer.

Isaiah26