Isa. 2 A prophecy of Christ’s kingdom, and the calling of the Gentiles, Isa. 2:1–5; and rejection of the Jews for their idolatry and pride, Isa. 2:6–9. The great majesty and power of God; and his terrors on the wicked; with an exhortation to fear God, and not to trust in man, Isa. 2:10–22.

The word; or, the matter or thing, as this Hebrew word commonly signifies; the prophecy or vision.

And; or, now, as this particle is rendered, 1 Sam. 9:1, Ezra 1:1;c. In the last days; in the times of the Messias or the gospel, as the generality both of Jewish and Christian writers understand it, and as may further appear both from the use of this phrase in this sense, Jer. 48:47, Jer.

Shall go; shall not only have some weak desires of going, but shall be ready to take pains, and shall actually go. And say; such shall be their zeal, that they shall not only go themselves, but shall persuade and press others to go with them.

He shall judge among the nations; Christ shall set up and use his authority among and over all nations, not only giving laws to them, as other rulers do, but doing that which no other powers can do, Convincing their minds and consciences, conquering and changing their hearts, and ordering their…

Come ye; seeing the Gentiles are thus ready and resolved to go to the Lord’s house, let this oblige and provoke you, O ye Israelites, to go with them, or before them.

Therefore; for the following reasons. Or, but, as this particle is oft used. But why do I persuade the Israelites to receive the light of the gospel? my labour is in vain. I foresee they will refuse it; and God, for their many and great sins, will give them up to apostacy and infidelity.

Neither is there any end of their treasures; they have heaped up riches immoderately, (which was forbidden even to their king, Deut. 17:17) and by wicked practices; they are never satisfied, but still greedily pursuing after more and more wealth, making this their chief business and joy.

They give that worship to their own creatures which they deny to me their Creator, than which nothing can be more impious and absurd.

The mean man boweth down, and the great man humbleth himself; men of all ranks fall down and worship idols. Forgive them not; cut off these incorrigible idolaters.

Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust: this is spoken ironically, and with derision. The sense is, Such dreadful calamities are coming upon you, that you will be ready to hide yourselves in rocks and caves of the earth, but all to no purpose.

Shall be bowed down judicially, as they bowed down voluntarily before their idols. So the punishment is very suitable to the sin. Shall be exalted in that day; his justice and power shall be magnified, and the vanity and impotency of all other gods shall be detected.

The day of the Lord; the time of God’s taking vengeance upon sinners, which is called God’s day, Isa. 13:6, Isa. 13:9, Ezek. 13:5, Ezek. 30:3, and oft elsewhere.

Either, 1. Metaphorically, upon the highest and proudest sinners; or, 2. Literally, as may seem probable from the following verses, where there is distinct mention made of mountains and hills, Isa. 2:14, of towers and walls, Isa. 2:15, of ships and pictures, Isa. 2:16.

To which men used to betake themselves in times of war and danger. It is usual with the prophets to describe God’s judgments upon men by the shaking and smoking of the mountains, the trembling of the earth, and the like.

To which you resorted and trusted for your defence.

The ships of Tarshish; the ships of the sea, as that word is used, Ps. 48:7, whereby you fetched riches and precious things from the remote parts of the world.

This he repeats again, partly to assure us of the certainty of it, and partly to fix it deeper in men’s minds, because they are very backward to believe and consider things of this nature.

God will discover the impotency of idols to succour their worshippers, and thereby destroy their worship in the world.

They, the idolatrous Israelites, shall go into the holes of the rocks, and into the caves of the earth; their usual places of retreat in cases of danger; of which see Josh. 10:16, Judg. 6:2, 1 Sam. 13:6.

Into the meanest and darkest places, in which moles and bats have their abode; whereas before they set them up in high and honourable places, where they might be seen and worshipped.

Seeing God will undoubtedly bring down the highest and proudest of the sons of men into so much contempt and misery, from henceforth never admire nor place your trust in man, whose breath, upon which his life and strength depends, is in his nostrils, and therefore is quickly stopped and taken away.