John Gill Commentary Isaiah 24

Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty Some, by the "earth", only understand the land of Israel or Judea, and interpret the prophecy of the captivity of the ten tribes by Shalmaneser, as Kimchi, and other Jewish writers; and others, of the destruction of the Jews by Nebuchadnezzar; but some take in along with them the neighbouring nations who suffered by the same princes at the same time. Vitringa interprets the whole of the times of the Maccabees, as also the three following chapters (Isaiah 25:1-27:13); though it is best to understand it of the Papal world, and all the antichristian states; and there are some things in it, at the close of it, which respect the destruction of the whole world. The Septuagint version uses the word by which Luke intends the whole Roman empire, (Luke 2:1) and the Arabic version here renders it, "the whole world":

The "emptying" of it is the removal of the inhabitants of it by wars and slaughters, which will be made when the seven vials of God's wrath will be poured upon all the antichristian states; see (Revelation 16:1–21) and this being a most remarkable and wonderful event, is prefaced with the word "behold":

and makes it waste; or desolate; the inhabitants and fruits of it being destroyed. R. Joseph Kimchi, from the use of the word in the Arabic language, renders it, "and opened it" ^F14; and explains it of the opening of the gates of a city to the enemy, so as that men may go out of it; to which the Targum inclines paraphrasing it, ``and shall deliver it to the enemy:''

and perverts it upside down; or, "perverts the face of it" ^F15; so that it has not the form it had, and does not look like what it was, but is reduced to its original chaos, to be without form and void; cities being demolished, towns ruined, fields laid waste, and the inhabitants slain; particularly what a change of the face of things will there be in the destruction of the city of Rome! see (Revelation 18:7Revelation 18:8Revelation 18:14–17) . The Targum is, ``and shall cover with confusion the face of its princes, because they have transgressed the law:''

and scatters abroad the inhabitants thereof; who will be obliged to fly from place to place from the sword of their victorious enemies. All is spoken in the present tense, though future, because of the certainty of it.

FOOTNOTES:

• F14: So "aperuit totam portam", Golius, col. 321.
• F15: (hynp hwew) "et pervertet faciem ejus", Piscator.

And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest , &c.] Or, "prince" ^F16 ; no order or rank of men will fare better than another; their dignity, in things civil or ecclesiastical, will not secure them from ruin; it will be no better with princes and priests than the common people; they shall all alike share in the common destruction. Not Jeroboam's priests, but rather the Romish priests, are here meant, who have led the people into superstition and idolatry; blind leaders of the blind, and so both fall into the ditch together:

as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress ; there shall be no distinction of superiors and inferiors; as not of prince and subjects, so not of master and servant, mistress and maid; no respect will be had to persons, but the one shall be treated even as the other:

as with the buyer, so with the seller ; the one that bought an estate, and thought to enjoy it, will be no better off than he that sold it, and perhaps spent the money; the one will be possessed of no more than the other, seeing what the one had bought, and the other sold, will now be in the possession of a third:

as with the lender, so with the borrower ; their condition will be equal; he that was so poor that he was obliged to borrow to carry on his business, or for the necessaries of life, and so he that was so rich that he was capable of lending, now the one will be no richer than the other, but both on a level; the substance of the lender being taken from him:

as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him ; this was forbidden the Jews by a law, (Deuteronomy 23:19Deuteronomy 23:20) wherefore not the land of Judea is here meant, but the antichristian states, among whom this practice has greatly prevailed.

FOOTNOTES:

• F16: (Nhkk) "ac praesidi", Junius & Tremellius; "sic gubernator", Piscator.

The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled , &c.] Entirely emptied of its inhabitants, and wholly spoiled of its riches and substance; this is repeated, and with greater strength, to confirm what is before said, and which receives a greater confirmation by what follows: for the Lord has spoken this word ; who is able to perform it, and who is faithful to his threatenings, as to his promises; not a word of his shall ever fail; the judgments threatened to the antichristian world are his true and faithful sayings; and the ruin of Rome is certain, because strong is the Lord that judgeth her, (Revelation 18:8) .

The earth mourns, [and] fades away. It mourns, because of its inhabitants being destroyed; and it fades away, because stripped of its wealth and riches: so the kings of the earth, and merchants of it are represented as weeping and mourning at the destruction of Rome, because of its judgments, and the loss of its trade and riches, (Revelation 18:9–17).

The world languishes, [and] fades away. The inhabitants of it are like a sick man, that is so faint and feeble that he cannot stand, but totters and falls; and like the leaves of trees and flowers of the fields, whose strength and beauty are gone, and fade and fall.

The haughty people of the earth do languish. The kings and merchants of the earth before mentioned, who grow sick and faint through fear of what is coming upon them.

The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants of it Or, "and the earth"; or, "for the earth is defiled" ^F17 ; and so it is a reason why it is emptied and spoiled, because polluted and corrupted with the fornication of the whore of Rome, with her idolatries and superstitions, with which the inhabitants of the earth are defiled; or with her rapine and violence, cruelties, bloodshed, and murders; for blood defiles a land, (Numbers 35:33) all which are committed by the inhabitants of the earth, subject to the see of Rome, by reason of which it may be said to be corrupted or defiled; so the phrase may be interpreted "for", or "because of the inhabitants of it": thus Jarchi and Kimchi, because of their wickedness and impieties; see (Revelation 11:18) (18:24) (19:2) or, "the earth is deceitful" ^F18 , or plays the hypocrite; promising and showing as if it would bring forth fruit, and brings forth none, but is barren and unfruitful, because of the sins of the inhabitants of it; see (Revelation 18:14) :

because they have transgressed the laws of God and man, as antichrist and his followers have done; who is that wicked (anomov) , that "lawless one", that sets up himself above laws, and takes upon him to dispense with the laws of God and man, (2 Thessalonians 2:4 2 Thessalonians 2:8) and in innumerable instances has transgressed both, casting all contempt upon them, and bidding all defiance to them, as being not at all bound and obliged by them:

changed the ordinance or "ordinances"; the singular for the plural, a collective word; the ordinances of divine revelation, of the Gospel dispensation, those of baptism, and the Lord's supper; the former of these is changed, both as to subjects and mode, from adult baptism to infant baptism, from immersion to aspersion; and the latter, in it the bread and wine are pretended to be changed into the very body and blood of Christ, and is only given in one kind to the laity, and made a real sacrifice of, when its end and use are only to commemorate the one sacrifice already offered up; moreover, by the "ordinance" may be meant the Scriptures, which are the (qx) , "the rule of judgment"; which antichrist has most miserably perverted, and has changed and altered the sense of them; taking upon him to be the infallible interpreter of them, and judge of all controversies, forbidding the reading of them to the people, and setting up his own decrees, definitions, and determinations, above them; and is "that throne of iniquity, that frameth mischief, by a law", or ordinance, of his own making, and which he puts in the room of the divine law or ordinance, (Psalms 94:20) where the same word is used as here; and he is that little horn, that thought to change times and laws, (Daniel 7:25) :

broken the everlasting covenant not the eternal law of nature, nor the everlasting covenant of circumcision, or that made with Israel on mount Sinai; but the new covenant, or the administration of the covenant of grace under the Gospel dispensation, which is to last to the end of time, and lies in the ministration of the word, and administration of ordinances; which antichrist has done all that in his power lies to break, make null and void, by corrupting the word, and changing the ordinances, and setting up his own institutions above them, and against them.

FOOTNOTES:

• F17: (Urahw) "et terra", V. L. "nam terra", Piscator.
• F18: (hpnx) "hypocrita est", Montanus, Tigurine version.