Isaiahchapter 2
22 verses · Isaiah · 8th century BC · The Prophets
In the last days the mountain of the house of the LORD will be established as the chief of the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and all nations will stream to it.
Introduction
Isaiah, The Prophets, Isaiah Overview.
This chapter opens a new heading inside the book and was given to Isaiah for Judah and Jerusalem in a season of wealth. Its first hearers lived in the richest generation their nation had known since Solomon, with trade, horses and silver in abundance. It sets two scenes side by side, one of the far future and one of the present. Listen for the direction people travel in each scene, and for what the land is said to be full of. Mark the refrain about the day that belongs to the LORD. The chapter teaches the reader to measure the present by the end God has promised.
Context
- Who
- Judeans enjoying the richest generation their nation had seen since Solomon
- What
- An oracle that sets the future exaltation of Zion among the nations against the pride and idols of Judah, and announces a day that humbles all human height.
- Where
- Jerusalem and the temple mount, set against the wider kingdom of Judah and the nations beyond it.
- When
- The prosperous years of Uzziah and Jotham, about 740 to 735 BC.
- Why
- To show a prosperous people that their wealth, weapons and idols would fail them, and to call them to walk in the light of the LORD.
Historical context
In the ancient world a god's authority was pictured as a mountain. Temples were built on high ground, and the higher the mountain, the greater the claim. Zion is a modest hill; Judeans knew it was outclassed by the great sanctuaries of the region. The promise that this hill would be lifted above every other was a claim about whose God actually ran the world.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
Beating swords into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks is a smith's picture. A village blacksmith worked the same iron for both, a spearhead and a vine-pruning hook are close cousins in shape, and metal was scarce enough that tools were reforged rather than replaced. Farmers had watched their plow blades go the other direction when war came.
The list of what Judah was full of is a list of what money had bought. Silver and gold with no end. Horses and chariots without number, which meant a standing arms trade with Egypt, the very thing the Law of Moses had forbidden a king to build up. Fortune-tellers from the east, brought in with the trade. Under Uzziah, Judah had reopened the Red Sea port at Elath and pushed its borders out; the goods and the diviners came in together.
The hiding places are literal. The hills of Judah are honeycombed with limestone caves and old quarry holes, and when armies came the villagers went into them. Isaiah says that on the day the LORD rises, men will run for those same holes and throw their silver idols to the moles and bats on the way.
Significance
To a generation congratulating itself, the chapter said the wealth was the evidence for the prosecution, not the defense.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
But it opens with the other picture first: nations streaming uphill on their own feet to learn, and war ending because the arguments end. Judeans heard a promise that the little hill they were standing on was the future capital of the world.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
No part of this chapter is read in the synagogue. Probed for this lane, the site's own table in src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts printed parashot 0 and haftarah uses 0 for Isaiah 2, and no festival reading for the book. Across chapters 1 to 22 of Isaiah the same probe found a Haftarah only in chapters 1, 6, 7 and 9.
How it is read
Rashi is the main commentator on this chapter in the corpus, quoted here from The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, which Sefaria reports as CC-BY. Ibn Ezra is quoted from the Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah, translated by M. Friedlander in 1873, which Sefaria reports as Public Domain.
Ibn Ezra reads the chapter as a new prophecy joined to the first, and says that it "commences a new prophecy, but not without connection with the preceding" (Ibn Ezra on Isaiah 2:1:1). His translator's note in the same entry says the second chapter describes a salvation "which will be effected in the distant future".
Rashi places the mountain of the Lord's house "after the rebels perish" (Rashi on Isaiah 2:2:1). On the house of the God of Jacob he gives the old reading of the three fathers. Abraham called the place a mount and Isaac called it a field, and Jacob called it Beth El, the house of God, so the house bears his name (Rashi on Isaiah 2:3:1). The fifth verse he reads as the words of the nations to Israel (Rashi on Isaiah 2:5:1).
The day of the Lord in the second half of the chapter "is the Day of Judgment" (Rashi on Isaiah 2:17:1). The cedars of Lebanon stand for heroes, with a variant reading kings (Rashi on Isaiah 2:13:1). At the tower of the fifteenth verse Ibn Ezra takes it as the tower of the royal palace. His translator notes that he wrote this against the reading that refers the tower to the ships, and points to Rashi (Ibn Ezra on Isaiah 2:15:1).
The corpus carries one note on this chapter without an English text, marked linked. The note of Radak at 2:1:1 stands cited and unquoted because Sefaria holds no English version of the ref.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries 40 rabbinic locators on the verses of this chapter, 8 in the Talmud and 32 in the Midrash. It carries the text of none, so each is cited by ref here and never quoted or paraphrased. The verse numbers are the Hebrew ones the corpus prints.
On verse 2 it holds Aggadat Bereshit 48:1, Aggadat Bereshit 82:3 and Bava Batra 4a:3. On verse 3 it holds Aggadat Bereshit 69:2, Avot DeRabbi Natan, Recension B 48:12 and Bava Batra 21a:3. On verse 4 it holds Ein Yaakov, Shabbat 6:10, Jerusalem Talmud Shabbat 6:4:1 and Jerusalem Talmud Shabbat 6:4:2. On verse 5 it holds Rosh Hashanah 23b:9 and Shemot Rabbah 28:2. On verse 6 it holds Midrash Tannaim on Deuteronomy 32:15:18.
On verse 7 it holds Midrash Tannaim on Deuteronomy 32:15:7, Otzar Midrashim, Midrash Shelosha v'Arba'ah 1:19 and Sifrei Devarim 318:7. On verse 9 it holds Midrash Tanchuma, Ki Tisa 4:4, Pesikta DeRav Kahana 2:3 and Pesikta Rabbati 10:1. On verse 11 it holds Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayishlach 63, Eikhah Rabbah 2:17 and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Rosh Hashanah 4:1. On verse 12 it holds Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 15:1, Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Shirah 2:3 and Midrash Sekhel Tov, Shemot 15:21:8. On verse 13 it holds Sifrei Devarim 318:8.
On verse 14 it holds Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sotah 1:12, Ein Yaakov, Sotah 1:14 and Jerusalem Talmud Kiddushin 1:9:3. On verse 17 it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 10:2, Bereshit Rabbah 12:10 and Bereshit Rabbah 77:1. On verse 18 it holds Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 12:12, Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 15:11 and Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Shirah 8:3. On verse 19 it holds Tanna DeBei Eliyahu Rabbah 31:3. On verse 20 it holds Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 26:19:1 and Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 250:2.
On verse 22 it holds Berakhot 14a:11, Bereshit Rabbah 8:10 and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Berakhot 2:3.
What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Isaiah 2:1:1 to 2:21:1, Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873, reported Public Domain; Rashi, Rashi on Isaiah 2:2:1 to 2:22:1, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; Radak, Radak on Isaiah 2:1:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no English text; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/isaiah/2.json, the 40 Talmud and Midrash locators on the verses of this chapter; The site's own files, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, probed for Isaiah 2: parashot 0, haftarah uses 0, and no festival reading for the book.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
The Mountain of the LORD's House Lifted Up
This is the message that: The heading marks a new oracle, distinct from the vision named at 1:1, and chapters 2 through 4 run as one poem under it. The same two poles frame the unit: the mountain of the LORD raised above every mountain, and the day of the LORD humbling everything exalted.
Isaiah 2:1
“The word - This indicates that this is the commencement of a new prophecy. It has no immediate connection with the preceding. It was delivered doubtless at a different time, and with reference to a different class of events. In the previous chapter the term “vision” is used Isa 2:1, but the meaning is substantially the same. The term “word” דבר dâbâr, denotes a “command, a promise, a doctrine, an oracle, a revelation, a message, a thing,” etc. It means here, that Isaiah foresaw certain “future events” or “things” that would happen in regard to Judah and Jerusalem.”
Isaiah 2:2-4
In the last days the mountain: Zion is raised in status, set "above the hills" by what happens there. The law going forth from Zion makes Jerusalem the source of instruction for the nations. The best-known line stands nearly word for word at Micah 4:3, one oracle carried by two prophets of the same generation.
Isaiah 2:2
“For Christ's institutions were to continue to the end of the world. The mountain - The temple of the Lord which is upon mount Moriah; which yet is not to be understood literally of that material temple, but mystically of the church of God; as appears from the flowing of all nations to it, which was not to that temple, nor indeed was fulfilled 'till that temple was destroyed.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Isaiah 2:2
“And it shall come to pass in the last days,.... The days of the Messiah, as Aben Ezra rightly interprets it; and it is a rule laid down by Kimchi and Ben Melech, that wherever the last days are mentioned, the days of the Messiah are intended.”
the law will go forth from Zion: The nations come up to Jerusalem to learn God's ways and then walk in them. Micah 4:1 to 3 carries the same oracle. Augustine and Eusebius read the law from Zion as the gospel, set beside the law given at Sinai.
Isaiah 2:3
“And many people shall go - This denotes a prevalent “desire” to turn to the true God, and embrace the true religion. It is remarkable that it speaks of an inclination among them to “seek” God, as if they were satisfied of the folly and danger of their ways, and felt the necessity of obtaining a better religion. In many cases this has occurred. Thus, in modern times, the people of the Sandwich Islands threw away their gods and remained without any religion, as if waiting for the message of life.”
1 more voice on this verse
Isaiah 2:3
“If the curse foretold against Israel has been literally fulfilled, so shall the promised blessing be literal. We Gentiles must not, while giving them the curse, deny them their peculiar blessing by spiritualizing it.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
They will beat their swords into plowshares: Once the LORD judges between the nations, swords and spears are beaten into plowshares and pruning hooks for the land. Joel 3:10 reverses the picture. Athanasius saw it fulfilled when nations that once hated one another were joined in peace by the Son.
Isaiah 2:4
“And he shall judge among the nations,.... Or, "it shall judge"; either the mountain of the Lord's house, as Abarbinel thinks, that is, the church; for in the spiritual reign of Christ, in the latter day, the judgment shall be given to the saints of the most High, and they shall possess the kingdom; the power of civil government will be in their hands, and they shall judge the world; for kings will then be nursing fathers to them, and queens nursing mothers.”
2 more voices on this verse
Isaiah 2:4
“Who is the one who has done this, or who is the one who has joined together in peace people who once hated one another, except for the beloved Son of the Father, the Savior of all, even Jesus Christ, who because of his own love suffered all things for our salvation? For from ages past the peace he would initiate was promised.”
Athanasius of Alexandria · written before 373 · On the Incarnation of the Word 52:1patristic
Isaiah 2:4
“This does not make all war absolutely unlawful among Christians, nor is it a prophecy that in the days of the Messiah there shall be no wars. The Jews urge this against the Christians as an argument that Jesus is not the Messiah, because this promise is not fulfilled.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Isaiah 2:5-6
Come, O house of Jacob: Verse 5 calls Israel with the summons the nations gave in verse 3. Verse 6 gives the reason the call is needed, a people "filled with influences from the east." Striking hands "with the children of foreigners" names foreign alliance and intermarriage as one more form of the same unfaithfulness.
Isaiah 2:5
“O house of Jacob - This is a direct address, or exhortation, of the prophet to the Jews. It is made in view of the fact that God had gracious purposes toward them. He intended to distinguish them by making them the source of blessings to all nations. As this was to be their high destiny, he exhorts them to devote themselves to him, and to live to his honor. The word “house” here means the “family, or nation.” The phrase is applied to the Jews because their tribes were descended from the twelve sons of Jacob.”
A Land Full of Silver, Horses, and Idols
influences from the east: The verse gives the reason for the call of verse 5 to walk in the light. Judah had taken in eastern divination and Philistine soothsaying, both forbidden at Deuteronomy 18:10. Wesley named the eastern nations as the Syrians and Chaldeans.
Isaiah 2:6
“Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people, the house of Jacob,.... These words contain a reason of the divine conduct, in calling the Gentiles, and rejecting the Jews, because of the sins of the latter hereafter mentioned; though some, as the Targum and R. Moses, refer this to the Israelites; and read, "because ye have forsaken", &c. and interpret it of their forsaking the Lord, his worship, and his law.”
1 more voice on this verse
Isaiah 2:6
“Therefore--rather, "For": reasons why there is the more need of the exhortation in Isa 2:5. thou--transition to Jehovah: such rapid transitions are natural, when the mind is full of a subject. replenished--rather, filled, namely, with the superstitions of the East, Syria, and Chaldea. soothsayers--forbidden (De 18:10-14).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Isaiah 2:7-9
Their land is full of silver: Verses 7 and 8 list the wealth in three items, treasure, horses and idols, each one a substitute for trust in the LORD. Horses and chariots without limit recall the law for kings at Deuteronomy 17:16. The idols indict themselves by their own description, "the work of their hands."
Isaiah 2:7
“Their land also is full of silver and gold - This “gold” was brought chiefly from Ophir.”
1 more voice on this verse
Isaiah 2:7
“God designed there should be as wide as possible a distinction between Israel and the Egyptians. He would have His people wholly dependent on Him, rather than on the ordinary means of warfare (Ps 20:7). Also horses were connected with idolatry (2Ki 23:11); hence His objection: so the transition to "idols" (Isa 2:8) is natural.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Their land is full of idols: Verse 7 counted Judah's silver, gold, horses and chariots, and verse 8 finishes the count with idols. Matthew Henry saw a worse wrong in idols made from the silver and gold God had given. The king's law in Deuteronomy 17 forbade hoarding them.
Isaiah 2:8
“It was an aggravation of their idolatry that God had enriched them with silver and gold, and yet of that silver and gold they made idols; so it was, Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked, see Hos. ii.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Two Hebrew words for man stand side by side, adam for the common man and ish for the man of rank. Every rank bowed to idols, and every rank is brought low. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the closing plea as a threat put as a command.
Isaiah 2:9
“And the mean man - That is, the man in humble life, the poor, the low in rank - for this is all that the Hebrew word here - אדם 'âdâm - implies. The distinction between the two words here used - אדם 'âdâm as denoting a man of humble rank, and אישׁ 'ı̂ysh as denoting one of elevated rank - is one that constantly occurs in the Scriptures. Our word “mean” conveys an idea of moral baseness and degradation, which is not implied in the Hebrew. Boweth down - That is, before idols.”
Isaiah 2:10-11
Go into the rocks and hide: Verse 10 opens a refrain the chapter repeats at verses 19 and 21. Verse 11 supplies the other half of the refrain, repeated at verse 17 and framing the list as one argument stated twice. "The proud look of man" brought low states what verses 12 to 16 spell out.
Isaiah 2:10
Poetical form of expressing that, such were their sins, they would be obliged by God's judgments to seek a hiding-place from His wrath (Re 6:15, 16). dust--equivalent to "caves of the earth," or dust (Isa 2:19). for fear, &c.--literally, "from the face of the terror of the Lord."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Isaiah 2:10
“When he ariseth to strike the earth with terror” - On the authority of the Septuagint, confirmed by the Arabic and an ancient MS., I have added here to the text a line, which in the 19th and 21st verses (Isa 2:19, Isa 2:21) is repeated together with the preceding line, and has, I think, evidently been omitted by mistake in this place. The MS. here varies only in one letter from the reading of the other two verses; it has בארץ baarets, instead of הארץ haarets. None of De Rossi’s MSS. confirm this addition.
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
the LORD alone will be exalted in that day: The proud look is literally eyes of pride, the phrase of Psalm 18:27. Verse 17 repeats the line as a refrain. In that day names the Day of the LORD announced in verse 12, when every human height falls and only the LORD stands high.
Isaiah 2:11
“The lofty looks - Hebrew ‘The eyes of pride,’ that is, the proud eyes or looks. Pride commonly evinces itself in a lofty carriage and supercilious aspect; Psa 18:27. Shall be humbled - By the calamities that shall sweep over the land. This does not mean that he shall be brought “to be” humble, or to have a humble heart, but that that on which he so much prided himself would be taken away.”
A Day Against Everything Proud and Lofty
Isaiah 2:12-16
For the Day of the LORD: The Day of the LORD comes against every kind of height, from the cedars of Lebanon to fortified walls. It ends with "every ship of Tarshish," the ocean-going merchant fleet. Nothing tall by nature or by human effort is exempt from the day named in the refrain around the list.
against all the cedars of Lebanon: Lebanon to the north and Bashan east of the Jordan grew the tallest trees Israel knew. Adam Clarke read them as princes and rich men. Jerome set beside them Psalm 29:5, where the LORD breaks the cedars.
Isaiah 2:13
“And upon all the cedars of Lebanon - This is a beautiful specimen of the poetic manner of writing, so common among the Hebrews, where spiritual and moral subjects are represented by grand or beautiful imagery taken from objects of nature. Mount Lebanon bounded Palestine on the north. It was formerly much celebrated for its large and lofty cedars. These cedars were from thirty-five to forty feet in girth, and very high. They were magnificent trees, and were valuable for ceiling: statues, or roofs, that required durable, and beautiful timber.”
against all the tall mountains: The list moves from the trees of verse 13 to the tall mountains and high hills of the land itself. The high hills were where Judah sacrificed at the high places, even under Uzziah, as 2 Kings 15:4 records. Every high thing is brought low.
Isaiah 2:14
“And upon all the high mountains - Judea abounded in lofty mountains, which added much to the grandeur of its natural scenery. Lowth supposes that by mountains and hills are meant here, ‘kingdoms, republics, states, cities;’ but there are probably no parallel places where they have this meaning. The meaning is probably this: high mountains and hills would not only be objects of beauty or grandeur, but also places of defense, and protection. In the caverns and fastnesses of such hills, it would be easy for the people to find refuge when the land was invaded.”
against every fortified wall: Towers and walls were Judah's own work, like the towers Uzziah built in Jerusalem at 2 Chronicles 26:9. The Day of the LORD strikes what a people trusts. Barnes noted that towers on city walls served for defence and for watch.
Isaiah 2:15
“And upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall. Which may signify everything that serves to support and defend the antichristian hierarchy, particularly the secular powers. The Targum paraphrases it, "and upon all that dwell in a high tower, and upon all that reside by a fortified wall.''”
1 more voice on this verse
Isaiah 2:15
“Every high tower - Towers, or fortresses, were erected for defense and protection. They were made on the walls of cities, for places of observation (compare the note at Isa 21:5), or in places of strength, to be a refuge for an army, and to be a point from which they might sally out to attack their enemies.”
against every ship of Tarshish: Every ship of Tarshish was a large merchant vessel built for the far seas, and such ships brought the silver and gold of verse 7. Solomon's fleet at 1 Kings 10:22 bore the name. The Day of the LORD comes against that trade.
Isaiah 2:16
“And upon all the ships of Tarshish,.... Upon all the merchants and merchandises of Rome. The Targum is, "and upon all that dwell in the islands of the sea.'' See Rev 16:20. Tarshish, as Vitringa observes, designs Tartessus or Gades in Spain, which must bring to mind the memorable destruction of the Spanish Armada in 1558, as he also notes. And upon all pleasant pictures; of Christ and the Virgin Mary, of angels, and of saints departed, the Papists make use of to help their devotion.”
Isaiah 2:17-19
So the pride of man: Verse 17 repeats the refrain of verse 11 nearly word for word. The promise that "the idols will vanish completely" stands opposite the mountain of the house at the chapter's opening. Men flee, hiding in the ground their idols of silver and gold were dug from.
Isaiah 2:17
“And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down,.... This, with what follows in this verse, is repeated for the confirmation and certainty of it; and also for the further explanation of what is before figuratively and metaphorically expressed. See Gill on Isa 2:11. Jarchi interprets "that day", here spoken of, of the day of judgment; and then indeed every tongue shall confess, whether they will or not, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father, Php 2:11.”
1 more voice on this verse
Isaiah 2:17
“Here it is as if he concludes the proposition; and it is entirely the same as what was said before, except that something is added about the destruction of idols, so that he alone may be shown to be the highest.”
Thomas Aquinas · written before 1274 · Commentary on Isaiahpatristic
the idols will vanish completely: The Hebrew word for idols means nothings, and Paul makes the same point at 1 Corinthians 8:4. The idols that filled the land in verse 8 will vanish completely. In verse 20 men throw them to the moles and bats.
Isaiah 2:18
“And the idols he shall utterly abolish. The images of saints worshipped by the Papists: after the destruction of antichrist, and when the spiritual reign of Christ takes place, there will be no idolatry or worshipping of images any more, see Zec 13:2. The word אלילים, used for "idols", signifies things that are not, for an idol is nothing in the world, 1Co 8:4 these the Lord "will cause to pass away", even all of them, they shall disappear.”
1 more voice on this verse
Isaiah 2:18
“Shall utterly abolish “Shall disappear” - The ancient versions and an ancient MS. read יחלפו yachalpu, plural. One of my MSS. reads יחלוף yachaloph, probably a mistake for יחלפו yachalpu.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Men will flee to caves in the rocks: The flight answers the command of verse 10 to hide in the rocks, as Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note. Judea's hills were full of caves, the hiding places of Israel at 1 Samuel 13:6. Revelation 6:15 and 16 takes up the same picture.
Isaiah 2:19
“The fulfilment answers exactly to the threat (Isa 2:10). they--the idol-worshippers. caves--abounding in Judea, a hilly country; hiding-places in times of alarm (1Sa 13:6). shake . . . earth--and the heavens also (Heb 12:26). Figure for severe and universal judgments.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Isaiah 2:20-22
In that day men will cast: The wealth listed at verse 7 is thrown away "to the moles and bats," creatures of the dark. Verse 21 repeats the flight into the rocks from verse 19. The chapter closes with a plain command, "Put no more trust in man, who has only the breath in his nostrils."
Isaiah 2:20
“Which they made each one for himself to worship “Which they have made to worship” - The word לו lo, for himself, is omitted by two ancient MSS., and is unnecessary. It does not appear that any copy of the Septuagint has it, except MS. Pachom, and MS. 1. D. II., and they have ἑαυτοις, להם lahem, to themselves.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
crevices in the cliffs: Verse 21 repeats the refrain of verse 19, with the idols of silver and gold thrown to the moles and bats in between. Matthew Henry said the idolaters throw them away in shame, or for fear of being found with them. They flee with empty hands.
Isaiah 2:21
“To go - That is, that he may go. Clefts of the rocks - see the note at Isa 2:19. Into the tops ... - The tops of such rocks were not easily accessible, and were, therefore, deemed places of safety. We may remark here, how vain were the refuges to which they would resort - as if they were safe from “God,” when they had fled to the places in which they sought safety from “man.” The image here is, however, one that is very sublime.”
1 more voice on this verse
Isaiah 2:21
“The idolaters here throw away their idols because they are ashamed of them and of their own folly in trusting to them, or because they are afraid of having them found in their possession when the judgments of God are abroad; as the thief throws away his stolen goods then he is searched for or pursued.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
who has only the breath in his nostrils: The chapter closes on the man whose pride it has spent the whole day humbling. His breath is God's gift, given at Genesis 2:7. Barnes linked the warning to verses 11 and 17, where the lofty are brought low.
Isaiah 2:22
“Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils,.... "From that man" (y), meaning antichrist, the man of sin; who is but a mere man, a poor, frail, mortal man; though he sits in the temple of God, as if he was God, showing himself to be God, by taking that to himself which belongs to the Deity. This is advice to the followers of antichrist, to cease from going after him, and worshipping him, seeing he is not the living God, but a dying man: for wherein is he to be accounted of?”
1 more voice on this verse
Isaiah 2:22
“Cease ye from man - Trust neither in him, nor in the gods that he has invented. Neither he, nor they, can either save or destroy.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Keep studying
Studies7
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Athanasius of Alexandria, On the Incarnation of the Word 52:1; Augustine of Hippo, City of God 18.54; Eusebius of Caesarea, PROOF OF THE GOSPEL 1:4; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Prophecies of Isaiah; George Adam Smith, The Book of Isaiah, Expositor's Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Isaiah; John Calvin, Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Isaiah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.