Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 9:5

"For all the armor of the armed man in the tumult, and the garments rolled in blood, shall be for burning, for fuel of fire." — Isaiah 9:5 (ASV)

For every battle of the warrior — The expression used here has caused great difficulty because it occurs nowhere else in the Scriptures. The word סאון (se'on) — rendered here 'battle' — is thought to mean, rather, greaves, or the armor of the warrior that covered the feet and legs. It would be literally translated, 'Every greave of those armed with greaves' (Gesenius). The Chaldee renders it, 'For every gift of theirs is for evil.' The Syriac, 'For every tumult (of battle) is heard with terror.' Hengstenberg renders it, 'For all war-shoes put on at the noise of battle, all garments dipped in blood, shall be burned, shall be the food of fire.' The idea, according to him, is that the great future redemption will be like the deliverance under Gideon, 'because, far from being accomplished by force of arms, with it all contention and war shall cease.' Gesenius regards the figurative expression as a general designation of that peace that shall never end.

All the armor used in war shall then be burned, as being of no further use.

Is with confused noise — The word used here — רעשׁ (ra‛ash) — denotes, properly, a shaking, as of a spear; a concussion, tumult, or noise, as of a battle. Here it is thought to refer to the noise that the armor of the soldiers made — particularly to the noise made by the greaves, or war-shoes, worn on the feet and legs. Those greaves were fitted up, it is said, with numerous large iron hooks or clasps, and were sometimes fastened with large nails (compare Josephus, Jewish Wars, Book VI, Chapter 1, Section 8).

And garments — This word here refers, undoubtedly, to the soldier’s cloak or blanket.

Rolled in blood — This is a description of the usual effect of war. The image of war is that of a clangor made by the armor of soldiers and by garments that have been dipped in human blood. It is a most revolting but just image.

But this shall be — Regarding this threatened invasion and danger, this shall be the result. The meaning is this: The prophet sees the image of war and of threatened invasion. He hears the clangor of their greaves — the sound of their march — and he sees the usual emblem of battle: bloody garments. But he says here that this invasion shall not be successful. There was no occasion for alarm. The very armor of the warrior should be burned up. The enemy should be defeated — and their greaves and their bloody garments should be consumed.

With burning — For burning; that is, it shall be consumed.

And fuel of fire — Hebrew, 'Food of fire.' This is a strong, emphatic expression — 'it shall be to be burned — the food of fire.' It denotes the certainty that they would be vanquished, that the invading foe would not be successful, and that his very armory and garments would be stripped off and burned. To understand this, it is necessary to remark that in ancient times it was customary to strip the dead who were slain in a vanquished army, and to collect their armor, their chariots, etc., and consume them. The more valued spoils of battle were reserved as the prey of the victors or to be suspended in temples consecrated to the gods :

He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth;
He breaketh the bow;
And cutteth the spear in sunder;
He burneth the chariot in the fire.

Ezekiel has carried out this description more at length:

And the inhabitants of the cities of Israel shall go forth,
And shall set on fire and burn the weapons,
Both the shields and the bucklers,
The bows and the arrows,
And the clubs and the lances. (Ezekiel 39:9).

Zechariah has a similar figure, as descriptive of the time of the Messiah:

Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion;
Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem;
Behold, thy king cometh unto thee.
And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim,
And the horse from Jerusalem,
And the battle bow shall be cut off, etc. (Zechariah 9:9–10).

This custom prevailed among several nations. Thus Virgil:

— scutorumque incendi victor acervos. (Aeneid, viii. 562).

There can be no doubt, I think, that the prophet here has his eye on the victories of the Messiah, and that he means to say that in those victories all armor would be for fuel of fire; that is, that they would be achieved without hostile arms. Applied to the Messiah, it means either that his victories would be complete or that in his victories all necessity of such armor would cease. According to this, the passage teaches that peace should be introduced by him without a conflict and thus harmonizes with the numerous parallel passages in which peace is represented as a characteristic mark of the times of the Messiah, when contention, war, and destruction shall cease .