CHAPTER 9

(771 B.C.)

THE PROMISE OF THE COMING MESSIAH

¹Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first He lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations. (The translation from the Hebrew to the English is thought by some Scholars not to have been as sufficient as it could have been.

The major weakness in the translation of this Verse seems to be the latter part where it says, and afterward did more grievously afflict her. This should have been translated, So, in the latter time, He has brought honor on the way of the sea.

Actually, the way of the sea has reference to the Sea of Galilee, where Christ carried out most of His Ministry.

The Galilee of the nations refers to the district where the far greater number of His Miracles were performed.)

²The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light: they who dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them has the light shined. (To the end of this Verse the Prophecy concerns itself with the First Advent. As well, Verses 1 and 2 were quoted by Matthew concerning Christ [Mat. 4:15-16].

The darkness spoken of here is called the shadow of death. Such pictures acute bondage. The only panacea for this darkness is the great light of Christ.

This powerful Passage closes with the Word, upon them has the light shined. How many are there in the world who do not fall into this category? How many are there who have never seen any light?

How many?)

³You have multiplied the nation, and not increased the joy: they joy before you according to the joy in harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the spoil. (The basic intent of this Verse pertains to Israels coming rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ. They saw the great light, but would not accept the great light, and in fact crucified their Lord.

At the coming of Christ, the nation truly was multiplied; however, the joy was not increased, because the religious leadership of Israel rejected Christ. They could have had tremendous joy, but they refused the Giver of joy and lost their way.)

⁴For you have broken the yoke of his burden, and the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, as in the day of Midian. (When Christ came, He would break the yoke of Satan off their shoulders, at least for those who would believe. The yoke addressed here is sin. The oppressor is the prince of darkness, who had well nigh brought all mankind under his dominion when Christ came.)

⁵For every battle of the warrior is with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood; but this shall be with burning and fuel of fire. (The Holy Spirit is telling Judah here to take their eyes off of military power, and look to the Lord. He Alone holds the answer!)

⁶For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the Government shall be upon His Shoulder: and His Name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. (This glorious Promise pertains not only to the First Advent, but to the Second Advent, as well.

The pronoun us refers to Israel. From the Seed of Abraham, which spawned the Jewish people, and hence ultimately the Messiah, the greatest Promise of all time would finally be fulfilled.

The phrase, Government on His Shoulder, refers to the coming Kingdom Age, when Christ will rule and reign over the entirety of the Earth [Dan. 7:13-14; I Cor. 15:24-28; Rev. 11:15; 20:4-10].)

⁷Of the increase of His Government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His Kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. The zeal of the LORD of Hosts will perform this. (The last phrase guarantees that what the Lord has promised, He will perform.

The first part of this Verse has reference to the fact that there will not be an immediate subjugation of the Earth upon the Lords return, but that the Messiahs Kingdom shall ever increase more and more until it ultimately fills the world.)

JUDGMENT ON ISRAEL

⁸The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it has lighted upon Israel. (The Holy Spirit here resumes the history of the nation from Chpt. 5.

At the close of Chpt. 5, the national history is interrupted in order to introduce the Messiah, for He was to spring out of Judah, that is, out of the Southern Kingdom.

The last section of this Prophecy [10:33; 12:6] presents the Messiah destroying the Antichrist and establishing the Kingdom of God in the Earth.)

⁹And all the people shall know, even Ephraim and the inhabitant of Samaria, who say in the pride and stoutness of heart (in this Passage, we find the cause of Israels sin and rebellion against the Lord; the sin was pride; such is the foundation of all sin),

¹⁰The bricks are fallen down, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycomores are cut down, but we will change them into cedars. (In this Verse, we have the defiance of the people against the judgments of God.

In effect, they are saying, We have suffered moderate damage, but we will more than make up for it; we will replace all our losses with something better.)

¹¹Therefore the LORD shall set up the adversaries of Rezin against him, and join his enemies together (the adversaries of Rezin, king of Damascus, were the Assyrians.

The pronoun him refers to Israel [Ephraim].

The joining of the enemies together, which meant in opposition to Israel, was, in effect, the Lords confederation);

¹²The Syrians before, and the Philistines behind; and they shall devour Israel with open mouth. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still. (This speaks of the Syrians coming from the east and the Philistines coming from the west.

The stretched out hand refers to either mercy or judgment. If they had repented, the judgment would have ceased. Inasmuch as they continued impenitent, the hand was stretched out, not to save, but to smite.)

¹³For the people turned not unto Him Who smote them, neither do they seek the LORD of Hosts. (Conversion, i.e., turning around, ensures blessing, and speaks of Repentance; to refuse to turn around makes wrath certain.

Israel set herself to seek after Baal from the time of Ahab [I Ki. 16:31]. The reform of Jehu [II Ki. 10:28] had gone but skin-deep, for Baal was still sought to rather than Jehovah, when the final judgment came [II Ki. 17:16; Hos. 2:13].)

¹⁴Therefore the LORD will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day. (This colorful expression refers to the whole nation, from the highest to the lowest.)

¹⁵The ancient and honourable, he is the head; and the prophet who teaches lies, he is the tail.

¹⁶For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they who are led of them are destroyed. (Leaders in Verse 16 should read flatterers; these are the prophets of Verse 15. Like many Preachers of the present day, they flatter their congregations by preaching what the people like to hear instead of what God said.)

THE EVIL CONSEQUENCES OF SIN

¹⁷Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for everyone is an hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still. (The phrase, His hand is stretched out still, is found some five times in the Book of Isaiah. It indicates that Gods Anger is still strong and that His People had not responded to mercy or judgment; therefore, other judgments would have to come [5:25; 9:12, 17, 21; 10:4]. Each time a series of punishments is mentioned, it ends with this statement.)

¹⁸For wickedness burns as the fire: it shall devour the briers and thorns, and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest, and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke. (As the wickedness is total, likewise, the judgment will be total!)

¹⁹Through the wrath of the LORD of Hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall spare his brother. (The land darkened is not used in this fashion elsewhere in Scripture. The light they rejected will now turn to darkness.)

²⁰And he shall snatch on the right hand, and be hungry; and he shall eat on the left hand, and they shall not be satisfied: they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm (this Passage refers to the spirit and lust for blood that is permeating the entirety of the land; it is a time of looting, stealing, robbing, and murder, even of ones neighbors, as Israel had never seen):

²¹Manasseh, Ephraim; and Ephraim, Manasseh: and they together shall be against Judah. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still. (These two are mentioned as the two principal Tribes of the Northern Kingdom [I Chron. 9:3; II Chron. 30:1]. The meaning is that they would fight each other and then join together against Judah.)