John Gill Commentary Isaiah 22

The burden of the valley of vision
A prophecy concerning Jerusalem, so called, because it lay in a valley, encompassed about with mountains, and which was the habitation of the prophets or seers, and the seat of vision and prophecy; and perhaps there is an allusion to its name, which signifies the vision of peace, or they shall see peace. The Septuagint version calls it, "the word of the valley of Sion"; and the Arabic version, ``a prophecy concerning the inhabitants of the valley of Sion, to wit, the fields which are about Jerusalem.'' The Targum is, ``the burden of the prophecy concerning the city which dwells in the valley, of which the prophets prophesied;'' by all which it appears, that not the whole land of Judea is thought to be meant, only the city of Jerusalem, so called, not from its low estate into which it would fall, through the wickedness of the people, and so rather to be called a valley than a mountain, as Kimchi; but from its situation, it being, as Josephus ^F8 says, fortified with three walls, except on that side at which it was encircled with inaccessible valleys; and hence it may be, that one of its gates is called the valley gate, (Nehemiah 2:13) (3:13) and besides, there was a valley in it, between the mountains of Zion and Acra, which divided the upper and lower city, as he also elsewhere says ^F9 .

The burden of it is a heavy prophecy of calamities that should come upon it, or at least of a fright it should be put into, not in the times of Nebuchadnezzar, when it was taken and destroyed, as Jarchi and Kimchi, and another Jew Jerom makes mention of; nor in the times of Titus Vespasian, according to Eusebius, as the said Jerom relates; but in the times of Hezekiah, when Judea was invaded, and Jerusalem besieged by Sennacherib:

what aileth you now ?
or, "what to you now?" ^F11 what is come to you? what is the matter with you now? how comes this strange and sudden change? that you are wholly gone up to the housetops ?
not to burn incense to the queen of heaven, which was sometimes done, and is the sense of some mentioned by Aben Ezra; but either for safety, to secure yourselves from your enemies; or to take a view of them, and observe their motions, and cast from thence their arrows and darts at them; or to look out for help, or to mourn over your distresses, and implore help of the Lord; see (Isaiah 15:2Isaiah 15:3) and this was the case, not only of some, but of them all; so that there was scarce a man to be seen in the streets, or in the lower parts of their houses, but were all gone up to the tops of them, which were built with flat roofs and battlements about them, (Deuteronomy 22:8) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F8: De Bello Jud. l. 5. c. 4. sect. 1.
• F9: Ib. l. 6. c. 6.
• F11: (Kl hm) "quid tibi accidit?" Vatablus; "quid tibi nunc est?" Piscator.

You are full of stirs
Or, "were full of stirs"; through the multitude of people walking about in it, and the vast hurry of business done in it; but now all hush and quiet, the streets clear of people, and the shops shut up, and all got up to the housetops for shelter; or, "full of noises" ^F12 , as a populous trading city is. The word signifies shoutings and acclamations, and is used for joyful ones, (Zechariah 4:7) and may be so taken here, and may design such as were expressed at their festivals, and on other occasions; unless it is to be understood of doleful ones, on account of the invasion and siege: a tumultuous city ;
through the throng of people, and the noise of thorn: a joyous city ;
some on business, others on pleasure; some hurrying from place to place about their trade and commerce, and others amusing themselves with pastime, mirth, and jollity; which is commonly the case of populous cities in prosperity. This had been Jerusalem's case, but now it was otherwise:

your slain [men] are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle ;
for Sennacherib never entered into it, nor put any of its inhabitants to the sword; nor was there any battle fought between them, nor was he suffered so much as to shoot an arrow into it, (Isaiah 37:33) wherefore those that died in it died either through the fright and consternation they were put into, or through the famine his army had caused, in laying the country round about them desolate.

FOOTNOTES:

• F12: (halm tavt) "plena strepitibus", Munster; "tumultuationibus", Montanus, Junius & Tremellius; "fragoribus", Piscator.

All your rulers have fled together
Either the rulers of Jerusalem, civil and ecclesiastical, that should have been at the head of the people, and have encouraged them, have fled together to the housetops, or to the temple and strongholds; or the generals and officers of their militia, one and all of them have fled, as if they had done it by joint consultation and consent; or the rulers of the several cities of Judea, which, when invaded by Sennacherib, stayed not to defend them, but left them and fled:

they are bound by the archers ;
or, "from the bow" ^F13 ; from using it; were in such a consternation, and under such a panic, that they had no strength nor heart to draw the bow, but were as if they were bound, and held from it: or for fear of the bow, or the archers in the Assyrian army, and therefore fled from them, as the Tigurine version renders it, joining it to the preceding clause, "they fled from the bow, they are bound"; or, as Ben Melech, for fear of the bow, they delivered themselves up, and were bound; so Aben Ezra:

all that are found in you are bound together ;
that is, from the bow, as before; not only the princes, but the common people. These clauses have led many interpreters to conclude that this must be understood of the taking of the city by Nebuchadnezzar, when Zedekiah was bound in chains, and carried to Babylon, (Jeremiah 52:11) : [who] have fled from far ;
from the furthest part of the land of Judea to Jerusalem, for shelter and safety.

FOOTNOTES:

• F13: (tvqm) "ab arcu", Vatablus.

Therefore said I
Not God to the ministering angels, as Jarchi; but the prophet to those that were about him, his relations, friends, and acquaintance: look away from me ;
turn away from me, look another way; cease from me, let me alone; leave me to myself, that I may weep in secret, take my fill of sorrow, and give full vent to it: I will weep bitterly ;
or, "I will be bitter", or, "bitter myself in weeping" ^F14 ; it denotes the vehemence of his grief, the greatness of his sorrow, and the strength of his passion: labour not to comfort me ;
make use of no arguments to persuade me to lay aside my mourning; do not be urgent and importunate with me to receive consolation, for my soul refuses to be comforted: because of the spoiling of the daughter of my people ;
his countrymen, which were as dear to him as a daughter to a tender parent, now spoiled, plundered, and made desolate by the ravages of the enemy, in many cities of Judea.

For [it is] a day of trouble
To Hezekiah, and also Jerusalem, and all the inhabitants of the land: and of treading down ;
the people of it by Sennacherib's army, like mire in the streets, when their cities were taken by him: and of perplexity by the Lord of hosts in the valley of vision ;
in Jerusalem, besieged, and threatened with desolation; which threw the king and his nobles, and all the inhabitants, into the utmost perplexity, confusion, and distress; and all this was not merely from men, nor was it by chance, but by the permission and appointment of God, to humble his people for their sins, and bring them to a sense and acknowledgment of them: breaking down the walls :
of the fenced cities, with their battering rams, at the time they besieged and took them, (2 Kings 18:13) : and of crying to the mountains :
looking and running to them for help and succour, for shelter and protection; and crying so loud, by reason of their distress, as that it reached the distant mountains, and made them echo with it.