Isaiah 24 · The Lantern

Behold, Jehovah maketh the land empty, and maketh it waste, and turneth it upside down, and scattereth abroad its inhabitants.

And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with him from whom usury is taken.

Nor indeed is there any distinction between the state of the people and that of the priesthood: but it seems to me to be a simple fulfillment of the ancient curse, "As with the people, so with the priest." Nor again are the great and eminent men affected otherwise than the majority; no, they are openly at war with the priest, and the piety of the people is an aid to their power…

We are put as guards in the vineyards, but we do not cultivate our own. When we are involved with external affairs, we neglect to watch over our own activities. I think that God suffers greater outrage from no one, dearly beloved, than from priests. Those he has placed to reprove others he sees giving an example of wickedness in their own lives.

567. Second, the universality of destruction as to those punished, making equal those who differ in rank: as with the people, so with the priest; in condition: as with the servant so with his master; in possession of things: as with the buyer, so with the seller: the small and great are there, and the servant is free from his master (Job 3:19).

The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled; for Jehovah hath spoken this word.

The land mourneth, it fadeth away; the world languisheth, it fadeth away: the haughty people of the land do languish.

And the land is polluted under the inhabitants thereof; for they have violated the laws, changed the statute, broken the everlasting covenant.

Therefore doth the curse devour the earth, and they that dwell therein are held guilty; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are consumed, and few men are left.

After he rebukes those of the circumcision who have trespassed the law of the covenant of God and warns them with what he has written, he prophesies that only a small number of them will be saved. These few are those whom the apostle calls "the remnant according to the election of grace."

(Verse 6.) Because they have transgressed the law, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore the curse devours the earth, and those who dwell in it are held guilty. Therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men are left. LXX: Because they have transgressed the law, changed the ordinances, broken the everlasting covenant.

569. Second, he threatens a fourfold punishment because of this fault: first, a divine curse: a curse: the land has mourned by reason of cursing (Jer 23:10); second, divine desertion: they shall sin, as if the Lord has abandoned them: for this cause, God delivered them up to shameful affections (Rom 1:26); he that is filthy, let him be filthy still (Rev 22:11); third, they shal…

The new wine mourneth, the vine languisheth, all that were merry-hearted do sigh;

the mirth of tambours ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the harp ceaseth.

They do not drink wine with a song; strong drink is bitter to them that drink it.

The city of solitude is broken down; every house is shut up, so that none entereth in.

There is a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land is gone;

desolation remaineth in the city, and the gate is smitten, — a ruin.

For so will it be in the midst of the land among the peoples, as the shaking of an olive-tree, as the grape-gleanings when the vintage is done.

These shall lift up their voice, they shall shout for the majesty of Jehovah, they shall cry aloud from the sea.

Therefore glorify Jehovah in the east, the name of Jehovah, theGod of Israel, in the isles of the west.

"Therefore, the glory of the Lord is in the islands of the sea." That pertains obviously to the church, which is located in the midst of the godless nations as if an island in the sea. It is in that island that the glory of the Lord shines.

"And God remembered Babylon the great, who came into his sight." This designates the confused multitude of all the lost. "That he might give it to drink from the wine of his wrath." The retribution of due punishment to be returned to the wicked is here recorded.

574. Second, he introduces praise in the present: therefore. And first, he places the precept, glorify the Lord in instruction, that is, in teaching others; another translation has: in praises: glorify the Lord as much as ever you can, for he will yet far exceed (Sir 43:30).

From the end of the earth have we heard songs: Glory to the righteous! And I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! The treacherous have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous have dealt very treacherously.

(Verse 16) From the ends of the earth we have heard praises, the glory of the Just One. And I said: My secret to me, my secret to me. Alas for me! LXX: From others we have heard wonders of the earth: the hope of the just, and they say + my mystery to me **.

"The Spirit of the Lord filled the world." But that will be done with the broken horns of sinners. The horns of the righteous one are said to be exalted, concerning which Isaiah prophesied: "From the ends of the earth we heard praises announcing the glory of the righteous one." The church is understood to have seven horns, as does every world in which the sevenfold grace of the…

Second, he designates the fulfillment of the precept: from the ends of the earth we have heard praises, the glory of the just one, that is, Christ, below: behold the Lord has made it to be heard in the ends of the earth (Isa 62:11).

Fear, and the pit, and the snare are upon thee, inhabitant of the land.

And it shall come to pass, [that] he who fleeth from the sound of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare; for the windows on high are open, and the foundations of the earth shake.

The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is completely dissolved, the earth is violently moved.

The earth reeleth to and fro like a drunkard, and is shaken like a night hut; and its transgression is heavy upon it; and it falleth and shall not rise again.

And it shall come to pass in that day, [that] Jehovah will punish the host of the high ones on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.

And they shall be brought together, [as] an assemblage of prisoners for the pit, and shall be shut up in prison, and after many days shall they be visited.

And the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed; for Jehovah of hosts shall reign on mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients in glory.

He [Isaiah] was pricked by the thorn of sin; you are decked with the flowers of virtue. "The moon shall be ashamed, and the sun confounded, when the Lord shall punish the host of heaven on high." This is explained by another passage.

The stars on the day of judgment will be seen obscurely, not because of a gradual waning of their own light but due to the overwhelming brilliance of the true light, who is the supreme Judge coming in majesty, and the light of the Father and the holy angels.

580. Third, the glory of him who punishes, and first, of the judge: and the moon shall blush, that is, its splendor shall be thought nothing in comparison to the splendor of the body of Christ: the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood: before the great and dreadful day of the Lord doth come (Joel 2:31); or, the worshippers of the sun and moon.

Isaiah24