Note 1 — ISAIAH. (continued 12)

In these outlines the Authorised Version has been followed, but the translations in which Delitzsch, Kay, and Cheyne substantially agree is noteworthy and worthy of study. “And therefore—because your sins require this chastisement—the Lord will wait, in resolute self-withdrawal, looking for the time when your penitence will permit Him to be again gracious unto you: and therefore will He be exalted, in judicial severity (ch. v. 16; Ps. xlvi. 10), that (‘when He seeth thy power is gone,’ Deut. xxxii. 36) He may have mercy on thee (Deut. xxx. 3).”—Kay.

“And therefore will Jehovah long till He can be gracious unto you, and therefore will He wait in stillness [or, be on high] till He can have compassion upon you, for Jehovah is a God of righteousness; happy are all those that long for Him!”—Cheyne.

Mr. Birks thus comments: “Vers. 18-26. These verses, from the whole context, refer to the Assyrian deliverance. The connection is direct and forcible, though some have thought it obscure. However severe God’s discipline, its design was gracious. His dealings are full of wisdom, like our Lord’s absence during the sickness of Lazarus, to make the blessing afterwards more glorious and Divine. There is, on His part, no slackness or indifference, but the calm waiting of an ever-patient love. Even in the hour of judgment God will be exalted, not to crush His people with the terrors of His majesty, but only ‘that He may have mercy’ upon them. He knows how to temper their afflictions, that they may yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness. Since He waits in patient love to show the favour at the last, they also are bound to wait, in faith and patience, until the blessing shall come.”