John Gill Commentary Isaiah 29

Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, the city [where] David dwelt
Many Jewish writers by "Ariel" understand the altar of burnt offerings; and so the Targum, "woe, altar, altar, which was built in the city where David dwelt;" and so it is called in (Ezekiel 43:15Ezekiel 43:16) it signifies "the lion of God"; and the reason why it is so called, the Jews say ^F9, is, because the fire lay upon it in the form of a lion; but rather the reason is, because it devoured the sacrifices that were laid upon it, as a lion does its prey; though others of them interpret it of the temple, which they say was built like a lion, narrow behind and broad before ^F11; but it seems better to understand it of the city of Jerusalem, in which David encamped, as the word ^F12 signifies; or "encamped against", as some; which he besieged, and took from the Jebusites, and fortified, and dwelt in.

And which may be so called from its strength and fortifications, natural and artificial, and from its being the chief city of Judah, called a lion, (Genesis 49:9) from which came the Messiah, the Lion of the tribe of Judah; or rather from its cruelty in shedding the blood of the prophets, and was, as the Lord says, as a lion unto him that cried against him, (Jeremiah 12:8) and so the words may be considered as of one calling to Jerusalem, and lamenting over it, as Christ did, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you that kill the prophets" (Matthew 23:37) and the mention of David's name, and of his dwelling in it, is not only to point out what city is meant, and the greatness and glory of it; but to show that this would not secure it from ruin and destruction ^F13.

add you year to year ;
which some understand of two precise years, at the end of which Jerusalem should be besieged by the army of Sennacherib; but that is not here meant. Cocceius thinks that large measure of time is meant, that one year is the length of time from David's dwelling in Jerusalem to the Babylonish captivity; and the other year from the time of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah to the destruction by the Romans, which is more likely; but rather the sense is, go on from year to year in your security and vain confidence; or keep your yearly feasts, and offer your yearly sacrifices; as follows:

let them kill sacrifices ;
the daily and yearly sacrifices; let the people bring them, and the priests offer them, for the time is coming when an end will be put to them; "the feasts shall be cut off": so the words may be rendered; the festivals shall cease, and be no more observed; and so the Targum, "the festivities shall cease;" or, feasts being put for lambs, so in (Psalms 118:27) as Ben Melech observes, the sense is, their heads should be cut off ^F14.

FOOTNOTES:

• F9: Yoma apud Jarchi in loc.
• F11: T. Bab. Middot, fol. 37. 1.
• F12: (hnx) "castrametatus est", Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius; "castra habuit", Piscator.
• F13: The words are rendered by Noldius, "woe to Ariel, to Ariel: to the city in which David encamped"; and he observes, that some supply the copulative "and; woe to Ariel, and to the city"; So making them distinct, which seems best to agree with the accents, and may respect the destruction both of their ecclesiastic and civil state; the temple being designed by "Ariel", and "Jerusalem" by the city. See Concord. Ebr. Part. p. 183. No. 842.
• F14: (wpqny Mygx) "agni excervicabuntur", Montanus; "excidentur", Vatablus; "jugulentur", Munster.

Yet I will distress Ariel Or "straiten" it, by causing it to be besieged; and this he would do, notwithstanding their yearly sacrifices, and their observance of their solemn feasts, and other ceremonies of the law, in which they placed their confidence, and neglected weightier matters:

and there shall be heaviness and sorrow ; on account of the siege; by reason of the devastations of the enemy without, made on all the cities and towns in Judea round about; and because of the famine and bloodshed in the city:

and it shall be unto me as Ariel ; the whole city shall be as the altar; as that was covered with the blood and carcasses of slain beasts, so this with the blood and carcasses of men; and so the Targum,``and I will distress the city where the altar is, and it shall be desolate and empty; and it shall be surrounded before me with the blood of the slain, as the altar is surrounded with the blood of the holy sacrifices on a solemn feast day all around;'' so Jarchi and Kimchi.

And I will camp against you round about
Or as a "ball" or "globe" ^F15 ; a camp all around; the Lord is said to do that which the enemy should do, because it was by his will, and according to his order, and which he would succeed and prosper, and therefore the prophecy of it is the more terrible; and it might be concluded that it would certainly be fulfilled, as it was; see (Luke 19:43) (21:20) :

and will lay siege against you with a mount :
raised up for soldiers to get up upon, and cast their arrows into the city from, and scale the walls; Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it a wooden tower. This cannot be understood of Sennacherib's siege, for he was not suffered to raise a bank against the city, nor shoot an arrow into it, (Isaiah 37:33) but well agrees with the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans, as related by Josephus {p}:

and I will raise forts against you ;
from whence to batter the city; the Romans had their battering rams.

FOOTNOTES:

• F15: (rwdk) "quasi pila", Piscator; "instar globi", Gataker.

And you shall be brought down
To the ground, and laid level with it, even the city of Jerusalem, as it was by the Romans; and as Christ predicted it would be (Luke 19:44). Though some understand this as the humbling of its inhabitants by the appearance of Sennacherib's army before it, interpreting the following clauses in that light:

[and] shall speak out of the ground, and your speech shall be low
out of the dust ; Some explain this of the submissive language of Hezekiah to Sennacherib, and of his messengers to Rabshakeh (2 Kings 18:14, 2 Kings 18:26), as Aben Ezra and Kimchi. But it is expressive of the great famine in Jerusalem at the time of its siege by the Romans, when the inhabitants were so reduced by it that they were scarcely able to speak so as to be heard, and could not stand upon their legs, but fell to the ground and lay in the dust, uttering from there their speech with a faint and feeble voice:

and your voice shall be as one that has a familiar spirit, out of
the ground, and your speech shall whisper out of the dust : or peep and chirp, as little birds, as Jarchi and Kimchi say, as those did that had familiar spirits; and as the Heathen oracles were delivered, as if they came out of the bellies of those who spoke, or out of caves and hollow places in the earth. And this was in just retaliation to these people, who imitated such practices and made use of such spirits; see (Isaiah 8:19).

Moreover, the multitude of your strangers shall be like small
dust
Or "of those that fan you" ^F17, as the Vulgate Latin Version; and so the Targum, ``of those that scatter you;'' or of your enemies, as others; meaning the Romans, who were a strange people to them, who got the dominion over them, and scattered them abroad in the world: and the simile of "small dust", to which they are compared, is not used to express the weakness of them, but the greatness of their number, which was not to be counted, any more than the dust of the earth; see (Numbers 23:10) :

and the multitude of the terrible ones [shall be] as chaff that
passeth away ;
designing the same numerous army of the Romans as before, who were terrible to the Jews: nor does this metaphor signify any imbecility in them, and much less the ruin of them, but their swiftness in executing the judgments of God upon his people, who moved as quick as chaff, or any such light thing, before a mighty wind:

yea, it shall be at an instant suddenly ;
either the numerous army should be suddenly before Jerusalem, or the destruction of that city should be as it were in a moment; and though the siege of it lasted long, yet the last sack and ruin of it was suddenly, and in so short a time, that it might be said to be in an instant, in a moment, as it were. The Jewish writers interpret this of the sudden destruction of Sennacherib's army by the angel, (2 Kings 19:35) but the next words show that the destruction of Jerusalem is meant.

FOOTNOTES:

• F17: (Kyrz) "ventilantium te", V. L. "dispergentium te", Vatablus, so Targum; "hostium tuorum", Pagninus, Cocceius.