John Gill Commentary Isaiah 9

Nevertheless, the dimness [shall] not [be] such as [was] in
her vexation

The words may be rendered, "for there shall be no weariness to him that straitens" or "afflicts" them ^F6 ; so Jarchi, who interprets it of the king of Assyria; but it is better to understand it of Titus Vespasian, who would not be weary of, but indefatigable in carrying on the siege of Jerusalem, and in distressing the Jews in all parts: or thus, "for there shall be no fleeing from him that is oppressed in it" ^F7 ; either that is besieged in Jerusalem, or distressed in Judea; and so the words are a reason of the former distress, and a continuation and amplification of it; though many interpreters think they are to be understood by way of comfort, and as a mitigation of it, which is the sense of our version.

when at first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land
of Naphtali ;
either by Pul king of Assyria, in the reign of Menahem king of Israel, (2 Kings 15:19 2 Kings 15:20) or rather by Tilgathpilneser king of Assyria, in the reign of Pekah king of Israel, since by him Galilee, and all the land of Naphtali, were carried captive, (2 Kings 15:29) which at the time of this prophecy was past, and was but a light affliction in comparison of what followed: and afterwards did more grievously afflict [her] :
by Shalmaneser king of Assyria, in the reign of Hoshea king of Israel, who took Samaria, and carried Israel or the ten tribes into captivity, from whence they returned not; and yet it is suggested, that the tribulation and distress that should come upon the Jews by the Romans should be greater than the heaviest of these;

there should be no fleeing, no escape, no, not of any, as at those times mentioned, but wrath should come upon them to the uttermost, and particularly in the places following: by the way of the sea ;
which some understand of the Mediterranean sea, and of that part of the land of Israel which lay next it; but it seems rather to design the sea of Tiberias or Galilee, as Jarchi rightly interprets it: beyond Jordan ;
a part of the land of Israel so called, known by the name of Peraea; (See Gill on Matthew 4:25): in Galilee of the nations ;
which was inhabited not only by Jews, but by persons of other nations, and therefore so called; now these places suffered much in the wars between the Jews and the Romans, by skirmishes, sieges, robberies, plunders as appears from the history of Josephus.

Some interpreters understand all this, as before observed, as an alleviation of those times of trouble, as if it would be less than in former times; but it is certain that it was to be, and was, greater than ever was known, (Matthew 24:21Matthew 24:22) it is true, indeed, it may be considered as an alleviation of it, and as affording some comfort in a view of it, that in those very parts where there should be so much distress and misery, the Messiah, previous to it, would appear, and honour it with his presence, who is afterwards spoken of, and so, in connection with the following words, these may be rendered thus; as by De Dieu, "but obscurity shall not be brought to it" (the land) "to which distress is brought; as at the first time he caused reproach towards the land of Zebulun, and towards the land of Naphtali, so in the last" (time) "he will give glory by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, on the border of the nations": and if it be asked what that glory should be, the answer is, "the people that walked in darkness", &c. and so the sense may be, that whereas the inhabitants of Zebulun and Naphtali, and all Galilee, were lightly esteemed of, being mean and illiterate, not famous for any arts or sciences, and having no prophet among them, should, in the days of the Messiah, be highly honoured, and made glorious by his presence, ministry, and miracles among them ^F8 . See (Matthew 14:13–15) , where it is quoted, and applied to Christ's being in those parts.

FOOTNOTES:

• F6: (hl quwm rval Pewm al yk) "quia non defatigatio ei angustanti eos." Quidam in Gataker; so Jarchi.
• F7: "Et non poterit avolare de angustia sua", Hieron.
• F8: See my book of the Prophecies of the Messiah p. 148.

The people that walked in darkness
Meaning not the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem, in the times of Hezekiah, when Sennacherib besieged them, as Jarchi and Kimchi interpret it; and much less the people of Israel in Egypt, as the Targum paraphrases it; but the inhabitants of Galilee in the times of Christ; see (Matthew 4:16) (John 1:48) (John 7:49John 7:52) and is a true character of all the people of God before conversion, who are in a state of darkness, under the power of sin, shut up in unbelief; are in gross ignorance of themselves, and their condition; of sin, and the danger they are exposed to by it; of divine and spiritual things; of the grace of God; of the way of peace, life, and salvation by Christ; and of the work of the blessed Spirit; and of the truths of the Gospel; they are in the dark, and can see no objects in a spiritual sense; not to read the word, so as to understand it; or to work that which is good; and they "walk" on in darkness, not knowing where they are, and whither they are going; and yet of these it is said, they have seen a great light;

Christ himself, who conversed among the Galilaeans, preached unto them, and caused the light of his glorious Gospel to shine into many of their hearts; by which their darkness was removed, so that they not only saw Christ, this great light, with their bodily eyes, but with the eyes of their understanding; who may be called the "light", because he is the author and giver of all light, even of nature, grace, and glory; and a "great" one, because he is the sun, the greatest light, the sun of righteousness, the light of the world, both of Jews and Gentiles; he is the true light, in distinction from all typical ones, and in opposition to all false ones, and who in his person is God over all.

They that dwell in the land of the shadow of death ;
as Galilee might be called, because it was a poor, miserable, and uncomfortable place, from whence no good came; and this character fitly describes God's people in a state of nature and unregeneracy, who are dead in Adam, dead in law, and dead in trespasses and sins, dead as to the spiritual use of the powers and faculties of their souls; they have no spiritual life in them, nor any spiritual sense, feeling, or motion; and they "dwell", continue, and abide in this state, till grace brings them out of it; see (John 12:46) :

upon them has the light shined :
Christ in human nature, through the ministration of his Gospel, by his spirit, so as to enlighten them who walk in darkness, and to quicken them who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, and to comfort them in their desolate estate; and this light not only shone upon them in the external ministration of the word, as it did "upon" the inhabitants in general, but it shone "into" the hearts of many of them in particular, so that in this light they saw light.

You have multiplied the nation
With light, knowledge, honour, and glory, even Galilee of the nations before mentioned, the land of darkness, and of the shadow of death, where the people dwelt; on whom Christ, the light, shone in the ministration of his Gospel to them; whereby the number of believers in Christ were multiplied; and indeed, as he conversed, preached, and wrought his miracles most here, he had here the greatest number of disciples and followers; here were the five hundred brethren by whom he was seen at once, after his resurrection, (1 Corinthians 15:6) (Matthew 28:7Matthew 28:10Matthew 28:16) for this is not to be understood of the Assyrian nation, whose army under Sennacherib was very large; nor of the Jewish nation enlarged by the destruction of that army, or of their increase after their return from the Babylonish captivity; nor of the church of God by the accession of Gentiles to it; but of the land or nation before spoken of:

[and] not increased the joy ;
or rather, as it should be rendered, "and have increased joy unto it"; following the Keri; or marginal reading, which directs that it should be read, not as a negative, (al) "not", but (wl) , "to it"; and which is followed by the Targum and Syriac version, and by Jarchi, Aben Ezra, and Kimchi, and others; and the sense of the words requires this reading, since it follows, they joy before you ;
or otherwise there would be a manifest contradiction in the text; though some, to avoid it, read the words interrogatively, "have you not increased the joy?" you have; and in this way both the Keri and the Cetib, the reading and the writing, may be taken in, "have you not increased joy unto it?" and so as Gussetius^F9

``you have multiplied the nation to whom you had not given great joy:'' that is, temporal joy; though now much of that which is of a spiritual kind: Christ the light appearing, his Gospel being preached by him, and his apostles, and many believing in him, occasioned an increase of spiritual joy in those parts; and so it is, that wherever the Gospel comes, and Christ is preached, and souls are converted, there is great joy, (Acts 8:6Acts 8:8) (13:48) where there is any grace of the Spirit, as faith, hope, and love, there is joy; and particularly when a soul is enlightened and quickened, as in the preceding verse (Isaiah 9:2) , it rejoices, reflecting on the state of darkness and death it is brought out of, and on the marvellous light, life, and liberty it is brought into; and at a sight of Christ, his person, offices, relations, and grace, as the sun of righteousness, with healing in his wings, and beaming light, salvation, and happiness; which joy is spiritual, internal, passes knowledge, is imperfect, but capable of being increased:

they joy before you ;
the words, both in this and in the preceding clauses, are addressed to God, and show, that as the work of conversion, and an increase of spiritual joy, are from him; so that joy that is given by him is expressed "before" him, in his house and ordinances, and it is in his sight, before whom all things are manifest; and so it denotes the truth and sincerity of it, which is illustrated by the following metaphors:

according to the joy in harvest ;
such as is expressed by men in harvest time, both by the rich owners and proprietors, when they have a good harvest, and well got in, and by the poor, who have a prospect of a comfortable supply in a cheap manner; and this simile is used with great propriety and pertinence. Christ and his ministers are sowers of seed, of the word; and hearers of the word are compared to seed sown in different places; and when any number of these are converted, it is a harvest which occasions joy. The Targum is, ``as the joy of conquerors in war;'' which agrees with what follows:

[and] as [men] rejoice when they divide the spoil ;
taken in war: in redemption, Christ has taken the prey from the mighty, and delivered the lawful captive, and has divided the spoil with the strong; and in effectual calling binds the strong man armed, and spoils his goods, and delivers souls out of his hands, and this is matter of great joy, (Isaiah 53:12) (Luke 11:21Luke 11:22) see (Psalms 119:162) .

FOOTNOTES:

• F9: Ebr. Comment. p. 423. renders it,

For thou hast broken the yoke of his burden Of Galilee, of the nation multiplied, of the spiritual inhabitants of it, whose joy was increased; and this is one reason of it, because they were delivered by the Lord from the burdensome yoke of the ceremonial law, which was broken off and abolished by Christ; and from the tyranny of Satan, the god of this world, out of whose hands they were ransomed and delivered; and from the dominion of sin, under the power of which they had been in bondage.

And the staff of his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor ; different phrases, expressive of the same thing; the bondage and slavery of the law, sin, and Satan:

as in the day of Midian ; when Gideon got an entire victory over the Midianites, with a few unarmed men, by the sound of trumpets, and breaking of pitchers, (Judges 7:16–22) and may denote the easy manner in which Christ obtained a conquest over all his and our enemies; and the means by which it is made known unto us, and we are freed from bondage to spiritual enemies; namely, by the ministration of the Gospel, compared to the blowing of trumpets; and which is a treasure put into earthen vessels, frail and weak men.

For every battle of the warrior [is] with confused noise, &c.] With the sound of the trumpet and as now with beating of drums, and the huzzas and shoutings of the soldiers, the stamping and neighing of horses, the rushing of chariots, and rumbling of wheels, and the clashing of swords, spears, and shields, and these sometimes striking one against another ^F11 :

and garments rolled in blood; of them that were slain in battle:

but [this] shall be with burning [and] fuel of fire; which refers either to the sudden destruction of the Midianites, or rather to the quick and easy conquest that Christ obtained over sin, Satan, the world, and death; which was as soon over as any combustible matter is burnt with fire.

Some interpret this of the destruction of the devil, his angels, of antichrist, and all wicked men by fire, at the last day; and others think that this last clause is to be read in connection with the preceding: "and garments rolled in blood, which shall be for burning, the fuel of fire" ^F12 ; that is, which garments rolled in blood shall be burnt with fire, and utterly consumed; and so there be no more war, but perpetual peace.

It was usual after victory to burn the armour and spoils of the enemy ^F13 ; or rather it may intend the burning love and flaming zeal and affection of Christ the Saviour, next described (Isaiah 9:5).

FOOTNOTES:

• F11: Vid. Lydium de re militari, l. 4. c. 3. p. 159.
• F12: So Cocceius, De Dieu.
• F13: Vid. Lydium de re militari, l. 6. e. 4. p. 229.