Isaiah 14

Wesley: 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. This burden was in the year that King Ahaz died. Philistia, in the year Ahaz died.

The warning is dated. Ahaz’s death is a year in Judah’s kings. Do not turn Philistia into a modern state. The oracle stands as a word in that year.

Calvin: here the fifteenth chapter ought to have begun; the Prophet enters on a new subject and passes to the Philistines, near neighbors who cherished deadly hostility against the Jews. So long as Ahaz lived, the Philistines were victorious; after his death they became still more courageous, because Hezekiah seemed to have neither shrewdness nor authority. Isaiah has not the Philistines so much in his view as the godly, whom he wishes to comfort.

The year King Ahaz died is the Lord’s date. Held in common: Philistia, not a twenty-first-century map. The rod and the north are still to come; they are his appointment.

Wesley: Of him—most understand this of Uzziah, who did then much mischief. But he was dead thirty-two years before this time, and therefore their joy for his death was long since past. Others understand it of Ahaz: but he was so far from smiting them, that he was smitten by them. We may understand this of the royal race of Judah, whose rod might be said to be broken, because that scepter was come into the hands of slothful princes. A serpent—from the root of David shall come Hezekiah, who, like a serpent, shall sting thee to death, as he did.

Rejoice not is a call to Philistia. The adder from the serpent’s root is Wesley’s Hezekiah, a worse successor than the slothful princes. Philistia is told not to rejoice.

Calvin: some think that by the broken rod is meant King Ahaz, but that view is unfounded; for in all his battles with the Philistines he was vanquished. It must therefore be referred to Uzziah, and yet I would not limit it even to him, but would refer it to the whole body of the Jewish people. I differ from others who view the adder and the fiery serpent as applying to Hezekiah only. The favor began with Hezekiah, but belongs to the Jews as to one body. The Church will always rise again. The godly are hurtful to the wicked, though in themselves harmless.

The adder from the root is the Lord’s appointment. Rejoice not, O Philistia.

Wesley: The poor—the people of the Jews, who are brought to extreme poverty. The title of first-born is given to persons eminently poor. Feed—shall have plenty of provisions. Kill—I will utterly destroy thee both root and branch. And the firstborn of the poor will eat, and the needy will lie down in safety.

Zion’s poor graze because they trust. Plenty of provisions is a safety in the land, not a slogan. Both readings: the firstborn of the poor will eat.

Calvin: he calls them the first-born of the poor as being eminent for their wretchedness. The Lord will deliver them from such misery. He compares his people to sheep. Two things the Lord here promises: pastures, and safety and protection. I will kill thy root with famine: he compares the Philistines to a tree which strikes its roots so deep that we would think it cannot be rooted out. He will slay thy remnant: commonly viewed as referring to Hezekiah, but I prefer to extend it to the whole body.

The killing of the root is the Lord’s appointment. The needy will lie down in safety.

Wesley: Gate—the gate is put for the city. City—city is here put collectively for their cities. The north—from Chaldea. A smoak—a grievous judgment and calamity. Times—when God’s appointed time shall come, not one of all that numerous army shall desert his colours, or lag behind the rest.

Wail is an earnest call. Smoke from the north is Wesley’s Chaldean host. You are melted away, Philistia, all of you. Do not copy the wailing.

Calvin: we may understand smoke to mean fire, for the smoke appears before the fire burns. By the north we may understand the Assyrians as well as the Jews; yet I prefer to interpret it as referring to the Jews themselves. No one shall be alone on his appointed day: when God shall have determined to ruin the land of the Philistines, all will be ready for battle.

Application: the north-coming host is his appointment. Smoke comes out of the north, and there is no straggler in his ranks.

Wesley: What—what shall a Jew say to the people of other nations, who shall enquire concerning the state of Zion, when not only the Philistines, but even the Jews themselves, shall fall by the hands of the same enemy? That—although Zion at present be in a very distressed condition, yet she stands upon a firm foundation, and God who first founded her, will restore her, and his poor despised people shall resort to her, as to a strong refuge.

The afflicted find refuge because they trust. The LORD has founded Zion.

Calvin: that the Lord hath founded Zion. The destruction of the land of the Philistines will be a signal proof of God’s compassion towards his people. The foundation is nothing else than God’s gracious adoption; that foundation does not consist of lime or stones, but of the gracious promises of eternal life. He does not mean that the hope of believers will be placed in Zion as we hope in God, but that the inhabitants of Zion shall dwell in a safe and quiet place. He calls them poor, that we may not think that we are exempted from ordinary calamities, though we are under God’s protection.

The LORD has founded Zion; that founding is his appointment. Both traditions agree: in her the afflicted of his people will take refuge.