Isaiah 4

Isaiah 4:1

Isaiah 4:1. “A companion picture to Isaiah 3:6 … the male population are in search of a ruler; the women in search of a husband” (Weir, quoted by Cheyne). The verse, therefore, represents an episode in that scene of anarchy which has been the main burden of this prophecy. let us be called …] let thy name be named over us. The wife bore the husband’s name, but only, it would seem, in such designations as “Sarai, Abram’s wife,” Genesis 16:1, &c. to take away …] take thou away our reproach (R.V.). The disgrace of being unmarried is meant (Judges 11:37 f.). Grotius cites a touching parallel from Lucan (Pharsal. II. 342):— da tantum nomen inane Connubii: liceat tumulo scripsisse, Catonis Marcia.

Isaiah 4:2-6

2–6. The Final State of Zion and the Redeemed IsraelBeyond the great judgment there is revealed to the prophet a vision of the ideal religious community, blessed with an exuberant supernatural fertility imparted to the soil (Isaiah 4:2), purified from sin (Isaiah 4:3-4), and overshadowed by the protecting presence of Jehovah (Isaiah 4:5-6). It is a picture of the glorious Messianic age which immediately follows the day of the Lord. Those who inherit its glories are the survivors of the catastrophe (Isaiah 4:2-3). Although the section has no definite historical background, it is obviously written as the sequel to ch. 2. 3; the allusion to the “daughters of Zion” (Isaiah 4:4) would scarcely be intelligible apart from Isaiah 3:16 ff., and possibly the glory of nature mentioned in Isaiah 4:2 may form an antithesis to the artificial glories of civilisation in Isaiah 2:7 ff. At the same time it is reasonable to suppose that the verses have only a literary connexion with the preceding oracles, and formed no part of Isaiah’s spoken message in the time of Ahaz. By some recent critics (Duhm, Hackmann, Cheyne) the passage is assigned to a later editor of Isaiah’s prophecies, and even so cautious a scholar as Dillmann hesitates with regard to the last two verses.” The objections are based chiefly on considerations of style, and on the alleged post-Exilic character of the ideas and the symbolism. It is true that some leading words (such as those rendered “branch,” “create,” “defence,” “covert”) do not occur elsewhere in genuine writings of Isaiah. The imagery also is of a more pronounced apocalyptic cast than we might expect from Isaiah, and the style seems somewhat laboured and cumbrous. But on the other hand the main ideas—the salvation of a remnant, purification through judgment, the regeneration of nature—can all be paralleled from Isaiah, and this fact must be allowed some weight in favour of his authorship.

Isaiah 4:3

3. The character of the escaped remnant. They shall be called holy ch. Isaiah 60:14, Isaiah 61:6, Isaiah 62:12. “Holiness” here includes the ideas of consecration to God, and inviolability (Jeremiah 2:3) as well as of moral purity (Isaiah 4:4). written among the living] rather, written for life, i.e. not any chance survivor, but those who are predestined to life (cf. Acts 13:48). The figure is derived from the burgess rolls in which the name of every qualified citizen was to be found (cf. Nehemiah 7:64); hence comes the idea of the “book of life” containing the names of all the true people of God; Exodus 32:32 f.; Psalms 69:28; Daniel 12:1; Luke 10:20; Philippians 4:3; Revelation 3:5; Revelation 13:8; Revelation 20:12; Revelation 20:15; Revelation 22:19 (and cf. “bundle of life,” 1 Samuel 25:29). The transition from the secular to the religious sense may be seen in Ezekiel 13:9.

Isaiah 4:4

4. If (once) Jehovah have washed, &c. Although the order is unusual this verse must be taken as a conditional sentence depending on Isaiah 4:3. spirit of burning] better, spirit of extermination (as in Isaiah 6:13; 1 Kings 22:46, &c.). The medium of the judgment is the “Spirit,” the divine energy, which is operative alike in the physical and in the moral sphere (cf. ch. Isaiah 32:15).

Isaiah 4:5-6

5, 6. The gracious presence of God becomes a visible fact to men’s eyes, in the cloud of fire and smoke which overshadows and protects the new Jerusalem. The symbolism is drawn from the story of the Exodus and the tabernacle in the desert (Exodus 13:21 f., Exodus 40:34-38, &c.).

Isaiah 4:6

6. a tabernacle] a pavilion as in Psalms 18:11. in the daytime] is omitted by the LXX. for a place of refuge … rain] for a refuge and shelter from storm and from rain. The mention of these “lesser inconveniences” reads like an anticlimax. It is certainly difficult to think that Isaiah would have written so weak a conclusion to an important oracle. The passage may be fragmentary.