John Gill Commentary Isaiah 25

O Lord, you [are] my God
Not by creation and providence only, but by covenant and grace. This is the first and foundation blessing of grace, and secures all the rest; in this true happiness consists, and is preferable to every other enjoyment; the knowledge of it is come at in effectual calling, and by the witnessing of the Spirit; it is the highest attainment of grace to be assured of it; and though it is not always seen and known, it will always remain, and will be the glory of the New Jerusalem state, (Revelation 21:3Revelation 21:7) . These are the words, Aben Ezra says, either of the prophet, or of the ancients, before whom the Lord will reign, (Isaiah 24:23) . Kimchi says of the latter, which seems very probable, these are the elders and representatives of the church; see (Revelation 11:16Revelation 11:17) (Revelation 19:1Revelation 19:2Revelation 19:4) :

I will exalt you ;
the Lord God, Father, Son, and Spirit; the Father, by attributing the whole of salvation to his love and free favour; the Son, by ascribing deity to him, by making use of him in all his offices of Prophet, Priest, and King, and by giving him the glory of salvation wrought out by him; the Spirit, in his person, and the operations of his grace. Christ, in particular, will be exalted in this state as King of saints, and because of his having taken to himself his reigning power, (Revelation 11:15Revelation 11:17) (15:4) :

I will praise your name ;
celebrate his perfections, confess him before men, praise him for all his benefits; this is one way of exalting him, and is the great work of New Testament saints, and especially in the latter day; see (Revelation 19:1–6) :

for you have done wonderful [things] ;
this respects not so much the wonderful things in nature and grace, either in creation and providence, or in redemption and effectual calling; but what will be done in the latter day; as the conversion of the Jews and Gentiles, the destruction of antichrist, and the glorious appearing of the kingdom of Christ:

[your] counsels of old [are] faithfulness [and] truth ;
the decrees and purposes of God, which are from eternity, are all truly and faithfully performed; this is an amplification of the wonderful things which are done according to the counsel of the divine will; not only the choice of men to salvation, the redemption of them by Christ, and their effectual calling; but the calling of the Jews and Gentiles, in particular, in the latter day, and all things relating to the church to the end of time; which, as they were fixed in the eternal purpose of God, they are punctually and exactly brought about in time; these are the true and faithful sayings of God, (Revelation 19:9) (21:5) .

For you have made of a city an heap
Which is to be understood, not of Samaria, nor of Jerusalem; rather of Babylon; though it is best to interpret it of the city of Rome, as Jerom says the Jews do; though they generally explain it of many cities, which shall be destroyed in the times of Gog and Magog, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi; and so the Targum has it in the plural number; perhaps not only the city of Rome, but all the antichristian states, the cities of the nations, all within the Romish jurisdiction are meant; which shall all fall by the earthquake, sooner or later, and become a heap:

[of] a defenced city, a ruin ;
or, "for a fall" ^F3 ; the same thing is meant as before: it designs the fall of mystical Babylon or Rome, called the great and mighty city, (Revelation 18:2Revelation 18:10) :

a palace of strangers ;
which Kimchi interprets of Babylon, which, he says, was a palace to the cities of the Gentiles, who are called strangers; and it is said, that that city was originally built for strangers, that dwelt in tents, in Arabia Deserts; but it is best to understand it of Rome, as before, which is the palace of such who are aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, who have introduced a strange religion, and are the worshippers of strange gods, (Daniel 11:38Daniel 11:39) . The Targum renders it, ``the house of the gods of the people in the city of Jerusalem;'' and this will be made to be no city, it shall never be built ;
any more, when once it is destroyed, signified by the angels casting a millstone into the sea, which shall never be taken up again, or found more, (Revelation 18:21) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F3: (hlpml) "in lapsum".

Therefore shall the strong people glorify thee
To whom the Lord is strength, as in the following verse (Isaiah 25:4) ; who are strong in the Lord, in the power of his might, and in the grace that is in him; or such of the antichristian party as shall be awakened and convinced by the judgments of God on antichrist, and shall be converted, these shall give glory to the God of heaven, (Revelation 11:13) : the city of the terrible nations shall fear thee ;
or such who have belonged to the city or jurisdiction of Rome, and have been terrible to the people of God, yet now shall be frightened themselves, and shall fear the Lord, either with a servile fear, or some, at least, with a truly filial fear; see (Revelation 11:13) (15:4) .

For you have been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress The people of God, who are poor and needy, both in a literal and in a spiritual sense; and especially when under afflicted circumstances, in times of desertion, temptation, bodily affliction, and persecution from men, which may be here chiefly intended; to whom the Lord is a strength: he strengthens their hearts, and his own grace in them; he sheds abroad his love in their hearts, which makes their mountain to stand strong; he directs them to Christ, in whom is strength, as well as righteousness; he strengthens them by his Spirit, his promises, word, and ordinances.

Christ may be more especially meant; and it may refer to the strength and power he will give to his people in the latter day; when a small one shall be a strong nation; when the feeble shall be as David, and the house of David as the angel of the Lord; when they shall have got the victory over the beast, his mark and image, (Isaiah 60:21) (Zechariah 12:8) (Revelation 15:2) :

a refuge from the storm ; or tempestuous rain, or overflowing flood; as Christ is a refuge from the tempest and storm of divine wrath and vengeance, by his satisfaction and righteousness, (Isaiah 32:2) so from the flood of persecution, by his power and providence, (Revelation 12:15) :

a shadow from the heat ; which gives refreshment and rest, and is a protection from the scorching beams of the sun. Christ, as he is the shadow from the heat of a fiery law, from the flaming sword of justice, from the wrath of God, and the fiery darts of Satan's temptations; so from the violence of persecution, which heat shall now be no more, antichrist being destroyed, (Revelation 7:15Revelation 7:16) :

when blast of the terrible ones [is] as a storm [against] the wall ; these terrible ones are either Satan and his principalities, who are very terrible to the Lord's people; and whose temptations are like a strong wind, which beat against them as against a wall, but they stand, the Lord being their strength, refuge, and shadow; see (Isaiah 49:24) or rather antichrist and his persecuting princes, the kings of the earth, that have joined him, and persecuted the saints, and have been terrible to them; and whose persecutions have been like a blustering strong wind, threatening to carry all before them; but the Lord has been their protection, and made them to stand as a wall, firm and immovable, against them.

The Targum is,``so the words of the wicked are to the righteous, as a storm that dasheth against a wall.''

You shall bring down the noise of strangers Such as are strangers to God and godliness, to Christ, his Gospel, and truths, to the Spirit and his operations of grace; the clamour and noise of such against true religion, and the professors of it, their persecuting rage and fury, this the Lord in his own time will bring down, and cause to cease, and it shall be heard no more:

as the heat in a dry place : which parches the earth, and burns and dries up the grass and fruits of it; to which persecution is compared: [even] the heat with the shadow of a cloud ; as that is brought down, and caused to cease by the shadow of a cloud, sheltering from the scorching beams of the sun, and by letting down rain, which moistens the earth; so the Lord protects his people from the fury of persecution, and abates it by the interposition of his power and providence; and at last puts an end to it:

the branch of the terrible ones shall be made low ; meaning the most eminent of them; a branch being put for a most eminent person, (Isaiah 4:2) (Psalms 80:15) perhaps the pope of Rome is meant, the head of the antichristian party, the principal of the terrible persecutors, who shall be brought low and destroyed by Christ, at his coming. Some render it, "the song of the terrible ones shall be brought low" ^F4 ; it will be brought a note lower; their triumphing will be at an end; the voice of harpers and musicians, of pipers and trumpeters, will be heard no more among them; but instead thereof weeping and howling, (Revelation 18:9Revelation 18:11Revelation 18:18Revelation 18:22Revelation 18:23) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F4: (hney Myuyre rymz) "cantus fortium humiliabitur, vel humiliabit se", Vatablus; see Cant. ii. 12.