John Wesley

On that day the Lord will extend His hand a second time to recover the remnant of His people from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from…

“The second - The first time, to which this word second relates, seems to be the deliverance out of Babylon: and then this second deliverance must be in the days of the Messiah.”

Then the jealousy of Ephraim will depart, and the adversaries of Judah will be cut off. Ephraim will no longer envy Judah, nor will Judah harass Ephraim.

“Of enemies they shall be made friends. The adversaries - Not the body of Ephraim, for they are supposed to be reconciled, and they shall not be cut off, but live in love with Judah, as we see by the next clause; but those few…”

Your pomp has been brought down to Sheol, along with the music of your harps. Maggots are your bed and worms your blanket.

“Thy pomp - All thy glory is buried with thee. Viols - All thy musical instruments, which were much used in Babylon, and were doubtless used in Belshazzar's solemn feasts, Dan.”

How you have fallen from heaven, O day star, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the ground, O destroyer of nations.

“Fallen - From the height of thy glory. Lucifer - Which properly is a bright star, that ushers in the morning; but is here metaphorically taken for the mighty king of Babylon.”

What answer will be given to the envoys of that nation? “The LORD has founded Zion, where His afflicted people will find refuge.”

“This burden - This following burdensome prophecy concerning the Philistines, who in Ahaz's time, made an inroad into Judah, and took divers of their cities. Of him - Most understand this of Uzziah, who did then much mischief, 2 Chron. xxvi, 3, 6.”

This is the burden against Moab: Ar in Moab is ruined, destroyed in a night! Kir in Moab is devastated, destroyed in a night!

“The burden - A prophecy of the destruction of the Moabites, the inveterate enemies of the Jews, begun by the Assyrian, and finished by the Babylonian emperors.”

Dibon goes up to its temple to weep at its high places. Moab wails over Nebo, as well as over Medeba. Every head is shaved, every beard is cut off.

“To weep - To offer their supplications with tears to their idols for help. Medeba - Two considerable cities, anciently belonging to the Moabites. Beard - The hair of their heads and beards was shaved, as was usual in great mournings.”

in loving devotion a throne will be established in the tent of David. A judge seeking justice and hastening righteousness will sit on it in faithfulness.

“I am now punishing their sins, yet I will deliver them for my own mercy's sake. The throne - The kingdom of Judah.”

When Moab appears on the high place, when he wearies himself and enters his sanctuary to pray, it will do him no good.

“When - When it shall appear that all their other devotions are vain. His sanctuary - To the temple of his great God Chemosh. But - His God can neither hear nor help him.”

And now the LORD says, “In three years, as a hired worker counts the years, Moab’s splendor will become an object of contempt, with all her many people.

“Hireling - Within three years precisely counted; for hirelings are very punctual in observing the time for which they are hired. The glory - Their strength, and wealth, and other things in which they glory, shall be made contemptible to those who formerly admired them.”

Yet gleanings will remain, like an olive tree that has been beaten—two or three berries atop the tree, four or five on its fruitful branches,” declares the LORD, the God…

“Commentary on Chapter XVII 1. Damascus - Both of that city and kingdom. A heap - This was fulfilled by Tiglath-pilneser, 2 Kings xvi, 9, although afterwards it was re-edified.”

In that day their strong cities will be like forsaken thickets and summits, abandoned to the Israelites and to utter desolation.

“Left - Which they (the Canaanites) left or forsook because of (or for fear of) the children of Israel.”

Alas, the tumult of many peoples; they rage like the roaring seas and clamoring nations; they rumble like the crashing of mighty waters.

“Woe - This is a new prophecy, added for the comfort of God's people. Many - Combined together against Judah. Seas - Who invade my land and people with great force, as the sea does when it enters into the land by a breach.”

Woe to the land of whirring wings, along the rivers of Cush,

“The Lord - Either Ethiopia beyond Egypt; or of Egypt. Wings - The title of wings is given, in scripture, to divers things which have some kind of resemblance to wings, as to the battlements of an house or temple, to an army, and to…”

which sends couriers by sea, in papyrus vessels on the waters. Go, swift messengers, to a people tall and smooth-skinned, to a people widely feared, to a powerful nation of…

“Which agrees well to the Ethiopians, for the manner of their habitation, which is more scattered than that of other people. Peeled - Having their hair plucked off.”

For this is what the LORD has told me: “I will quietly look on from My dwelling place, like shimmering heat in the sunshine, like a cloud of dew in…

“Dwelling-place - In heaven, the place where God dwells. Harvest - The sense is, that God would look upon them with as uncomfortable an influence as the sun with a clear heat upon the herbs, which are scorched and killed by it; and as a…”

For before the harvest, when the blossom is gone and the flower becomes a ripening grape, He will cut off the shoots with a pruning knife and remove and discard…

“For - Before they receive the end of their hopes. When - When the bud or flower is turned into a grape, which gives hopes of good vintage.”

It will be a sign and a witness to the LORD of Hosts in the land of Egypt.

“A witness - To testify that they own the Lord for their God. Cry - Being sorely distressed, they shall turn unto the true God. A great one - A great or mighty saviour, even Christ.”

The LORD of Hosts will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt My people, Assyria My handiwork, and Israel My inheritance.”

“Whom - That is, which people, Israel, Egypt, and Assyria; of whom he speaks as of one people, because they are all united into one church.”

the LORD had already spoken through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, “Go, remove the sackcloth from your waist and the sandals from your feet.”

“Sackcloth - Which he wore in token of his grief for the calamities that were already come upon Israel, and were coming upon Judah.”

He has uncovered the defenses of Judah. On that day you looked to the weapons in the House of the Forest.

“Covering - He took those fenced cities, which were a covering or safe-guard both to the people of Judah, and to Jerusalem. The armour - Thy trust was placed in the arm of flesh.”

What are you doing here, and who authorized you to carve out a tomb for yourself here—to chisel your tomb in the height and cut your resting place in the…

“What - What right hast thou to this place and office? Whom - What kindred or relations? For the Jews say, he was a stranger by birth; which is the more probable, because his pedigree is not mentioned in any of those places of scripture…”

This is the burden against Tyre: Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for Tyre is laid waste, without house or harbor. Word has reached them from the land of Cyprus.

“Tyre was, according to this prophecy, destroyed; first by Nebuchadnezzar, and afterwards by Alexander the great. And tho' this prophecy seemed directly to respect the former destruction, yet it seems to have some reference to the latter also; only it is intimated, that after seventy…”

Be silent, O dwellers of the coastland, you merchants of Sidon, whose traders have crossed the sea.

“Be still - Hebrew. be silent, boast no more of thy wealth and power. The isle - Of Tyre, which was an island, 'till Alexander joined it to the continent.”

At that time Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years—the span of a king’s life.

“Tyre was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, Jer. xxvii, 3, 8 Ezek xxvi, 7, a little after the taking of Jerusalem and was restored by the favour of the Persian monarchs after the return of the Jews.”