Isaiah 29 · The Lantern

Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city where David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill sacrifices.

Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel.

And I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts

And thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.

Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away: yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly.

Thou shalt be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire.

And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision.

It shall even be as when an hungry man dreameth, and, behold, he eateth; but he awaketh, and his soul is empty: or as when a thirsty man dreameth, and, behold, he drinketh; but he awaketh, and, behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion.

And those who sleep are those who, when they ought to be taking heed and watching with the soul, are not doing this. But by reason of great want of attention they are nodding in resolution and are drowsy in their reflections, such as "in their dreaming defile the flesh, and set at nothing that which is highest in authority, and rail at dignities." And these, because they are as…

Let us speak of him who thought he was happy since he was chief butler and believed that this was the summit and crown of all power, that he would give the cup to the king. This was his glory, this was his grandeur in this world; when he was deprived of this he felt sorrow, and when he was restored to it he rejoiced.

Truly, this life is a dream, a dream of riches; for when we seem to have them within our grasp, immediately they slip away. Isaiah expresses this same thought: "As when a thirsty man dreams he is drinking and awakens faint and dry," so indeed are the riches of this world; while we are reaching out for them they are gone.

Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.

What are we to do now, my brothers, when crushed, cast down and drunk but not with strong drink or with wine, which excites and obfuscates but for a while, but with the blow which the Lord has inflicted upon us?

(Verse 9) Be astonished and amazed: fluctuate and waver, become drunk, not with wine, be moved, not with intoxication. But all prophecy after the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, that is, Ariel, is against the scribes and Pharisees, who, possessing the key of knowledge, do not enter themselves, nor do they allow others to enter.

658. Be astonished. Here he threatens the punishment of blinding, and first, he foretells the blinding of the Jews; second, the conversion of the gentiles: is it not yet a very little while (Isa 29:17). Concerning the first, he does two things: first, he sets out the blinding; second, he assigns the reason for it: and the Lord said (Isa 29:13). 659.

For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.

Not to recognize sins lest penance follow is the wrath of God, as it is written: "And the Lord gave to them the spirit of a deep sleep," lest they actually return and be cured and be healed by their lamentations and just satisfactions after their sins.…The first degree of felicity is not to sin; the second, to recognize the sins committed.

If they could not believe, what is the sin of a person not doing what he cannot do? But if they sinned by not believing, then they could believe and did not.… Then what will we answer about another testimony of the prophet that the apostle Paul cites, saying, "Israel did not obtain what he was seeking, but the election did obtain it.

Second, he sets out the manner of blinding: for the Lord has mingled for you the spirit of a deep sleep, that is, as if he offered mixed wine to drink; he will shut up your eyes, namely, the prophets, above: the Lord has mingled in the midst thereof the spirit of giddiness (Isa 19:14).

And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:

And that the things spoken of old by the law and the prophets were all sealed, and that they were unknown to people, Isaiah declares when he says, "And they will deliver the book that is sealed to one that is learned, and will say to him, 'Read this;' and he will say, 'I cannot read it, for it is sealed.' " It was right and necessary that the things spoken of old by the prophet…

In the Apocalypse a book is shown sealed with seven seals, which if you deliver to one that is learned saying, "Read this," he will answer you, "I cannot, for it is sealed." How many there are today who fancy themselves learned, yet the Scriptures are a sealed book to them, and one which they cannot open save through him who has the key of David, "he that opens and no man shuts…

Third, he sets out the effect of the blinding, for they will not understand the book of the Sacred Scriptures and the visions of all the prophets: and the vision of all shall be unto you as the words of a book that is sealed: and I saw, in the right hand of him that sat on the throne, a book, sealed with seven seals (Rev 5:1).

And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.

Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands? He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

"My friends and my neighbours" then "drew near and stood over against me, and my neighbours stood afar off." You understand what I said. I called those neighbours who "drew nigh," and at the same time "stood afar off." For they "drew nigh" in the body, but "stood afar off" in their heart. Who were in the body so near to Him as those who lifted Him on the Cross?

660. And the Lord said. Here he sets out the cause of the blinding, namely, their own sins; and first, in the affections; second, in the intellect: woe to you that are deep of heart (Isa 29:15). Concerning the first, he does two things.

Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. [Isaiah 29:14] Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world?

From my youth up until now I have spent many years in writing various works and have always tried to teach my hearers the doctrine that I have been taught publicly in church. I have not followed the philosophers in their discussions but have preferred to acquiesce in the plain words of the apostles.

Second, the punishment: therefore behold; great, according to their reckoning, or formerly; wisdom shall perish (Obad 1:8); I will destroy the wisdom of the wise: and the prudence of the prudent I will reject (1 Cor 1:19).

Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth

He forgets the words of the Educator: "Every man that passes beyond his own bed, who says in his soul: Who sees me? Darkness compasses me about, and the walls cover me, and no man sees my sins: whom do I fear? The Most High will not remember." Such a person is most wretched, for he fears only the human observation and thinks to hide from God.

(Vers. 15, 16.) Woe to those who are deep in heart, who hide their counsel from the Lord. Their works are in darkness, and they say: Who sees us, and who knows us? Your thoughts are perverse, as if clay should think against the potter, and the work should say to its maker: You did not make me; and the thing formed should say to its former: You do not understand.

661. Woe to you that are deep of heart. Here he sets out their sin on the part of the intellect, for they did not believe in the providence of God, that he knew what happens among us. And concerning this, he does two things.

Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?

And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac; (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;) It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.

Scripture says to Pharaoh, "To this purpose have I raised you that I may show my power in you; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth." Then, making a conclusion to both passages, he says, "Therefore he has mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardens." Obviously he treats neither of these with injustice but both with mercy and truth; in spite of that th…

662. Second, the just rebuke is set out, this thought of yours is perverse. You made me not, for God knows a thing in as much as he is its cause, below: woe to him that gainsays his maker (Isa 45:9), below: and now, O Lord, you are our father, and we are clay: and you are our maker, and we all are the works of your hands (Isa 64:8).

Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest?

(Verse 17). Will not Lebanon soon become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be regarded as a forest? Let the Jews and friends of simple history answer, those who seek fruit not on the tree, but only leaves and the shadow of words, which quickly wither and perish.

Note that [Paul] taught Greeks in Jerusalem, and Jews in Damascus which is a Gentile city, even though this should signify that Gentiles were to be included in the city of God and Jews were to fall into the faithlessness of the Gentiles, in accordance with what Isaiah said, "Lebanon shall be changed into Carmel, and Carmel shall be regarded as a wasteland."

663. Is it not yet a very little while? Here he foretells the conversion of the gentiles, and concerning this, he does three things.

And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness.

The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD, and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel.

For the terrible one is brought to nought, and the scorner is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off:

That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, and turn aside the just for a thing of nought.

Therefore thus saith the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale.

But when he seeth his children, the work of mine hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel.

They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.

Isaiah29