Isaiah 24:18

Isa 24:18 And it shall come to pass, [that] he who fleeth from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.

Ver. 18. He who fleeth from the noise of the fear.] See Amo 5:19. {See Trapp on "Amo 5:19"} And learn to fear God, the stroke of whose arm none may think to escape.

For the windows from on high are opened.] The cataract or sluices of the clouds, as once in the general deluge.

The foundations of the earth do shake.] Heaven and earth shall fight against them, and conspire to mischieve them.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Isa_24:18-20

The foundations of the earth do shake

The religious improvement of earthquakes

(preached in 1756):--The works of Creation and Providence were undoubtedly intended for the notice and contemplation of mankind, especially when God comes out of His place, that is, departs from the usual and stated course of His providence to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquities; then it becomes us to observe the operation of His hands with fear and reverence.

To this the Psalmist repeatedly calls us: Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations He hath made in the earth. Come, and see the works of God; He is terrible in His doing toward the children of men. This world is a state of discipline for another; therefore chastisements of various kinds and degrees are to be enumerated among the ordinary works of Providence--pain, sickness, losses, bereavements, disappointments. But when these are found too weak and ineffectual for their reformation; or when, from their being so frequent and common, men begin to think them things of course, and not to acknowledge the Divine hand in them; then the universal Ruler uses such signal and extraordinary executioners of His vengeance, as cannot but rouse a slumbering world, and render it sensible of His agency. These extraordinary ministers of His vengeance are generally these four: the Famine, Sword, Pestilence, and Earthquakes.

I. Let the majestic and terrible phenomenon of earthquakes put you in mind of THE MAJESTY AND POWER OF GOD AND THE DREADFULNESS OF HIS DISPLEASURE.

II. This desolating judgment may justly lead you to reflect upon THE SINFULNESS OF OUR WORLD.

III. This melancholy event may carry your minds gratefully to reflect upon THE PECULIAR KINDNESS OF HEAVEN towards our country, in that it was not involved in the same destruction.

IV. That which I would particularly suggest to your thoughts from the devastations of the late earthquake, is THE LAST UNIVERSAL DESTRUCTION OF OUR WORLD AT THE FINAL JUDGMENT. Of this, an earthquake is both a confirmation to human reason, and a lively representation (S. Davies, M. A.)

Removed like a cottage

(Isa_24:20):--Swayeth to and fro like a hammock. Such is the more literal rendering. The hammock (the same word as in Isa_1:8) is still used throughout the East by the night-watchers of vineyards. (Sir E. Strachey, Bart.)

.

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

24:18 No one can escape the day of the Lord (see study note on 2:5-22). • Destruction falls like rain from the heavens (literally the floodgates of heaven are opened): The imagery is like the flood in Noah’s time (see study note on Gen 7:11-12). • the foundations of the earth shake: An earthquake is characteristic of a theophany, a physical manifestation of God’s presence (see also Isa 6:4; 13:13; 19:1).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Meaning, that God’s wrath and vengeance should be over and under them: so that they should not escape no more than they did at Noah’s flood.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

noise of . . . fear--the shout designed to rouse the game and drive it into the pitfall.

windows . . . open--taken from the account of the deluge (Gen 7:11); the flood-gates. So the final judgments of fire on the apostate world are compared to the deluge (Pe2 3:5-7).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 18. Out of the midst of the pit - "From the pit"] For מתוך mittoch, from the midst of, a MS. reads מן min, from, as it is in Jer 48:44; and so likewise the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(18) The windows from on high are open . . .—The phrase reminds us of the narrative of the Flood in Gen_7:11; Gen_8:2. There was a second judgment on the defiled and corrupted land like that of the deluge. The next clause and the following verses were probably reminiscences of the earthquake in Uzziah’s reign, and of the panic which it caused (Isa_2:19; Amo_1:1; Zec_14:5).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The earth is utterly broken down,.... Still alluding to the deluge, when the earth broke in upon the waters under it, if Mr. Burnet's theory of the earth can be supported:

the earth is clean dissolved; it will be an entire dissolution, nothing shall remain; all these things, as Peter says, the heavens and the earth, and all in them, shall be dissolved, Pe2 3:11,

the earth is moved exceedingly; out of its place and form, and shall fall into its original chaos and confusion. The Targum is,

"moving, the earth shall be moved; agitating, the earth shall be agitated; breaking or dissolving, the earth shall be broken or dissolved;''

which seems to express the more gradual and natural dissolution of the world. These expressions are used, and repeated, to declare the certain and complete destruction of it.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

From the noise of the fear - A cry or shout was made in hunting, designed to arouse the game, and drive it to the pitfall. The image means here that calamities would be multiplied in all the land, and that if the inhabitants endeavored to avoid one danger they would fall into another.

And he that cometh up out of the midst of the pit - A figure taken still from hunting. It was possible that some of the more strong and active of the wild beasts driven into the pitfall would spring out, and attempt to escape, yet they might be secured by snares or gins purposely contrived for such an occurrence. So the prophet says, that though a few might escape the calamities that would at first threaten to overthrow them, yet they would have no security. They would immediately fall into others, and be destroyed.

For the windows on high are open - This is evidently taken from the account of the deluge in Gen 7:11 : ‘In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows (or flood-gates, Margin) of heaven were opened.’ The word ‘windows’ here (ארבות 'ărubôth) is the same which occurs in Genesis, and properly denotes a grate, a lattice, a window, and then any opening, as a sluice or floodgate, and is applied to a tempest or a deluge, because when the rain descends, it seems like opening sluices or floodgates in the sky. The sense here is, that calamities had come upon the nation resembling the universal deluge.

And the foundations of the earth do shake - An image derived from an earthquake - a figure also denoting far-spreading calamities.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

CHAPTER XXIV.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

He who fleeth from the noise of the fear; upon the report of some terrible evil coming towards him; the act, fear, being here put for the object, or the thing feared, as it is in many places. And thus this very phrase is taken Job 15:21.

Shall fall into the pit; when he designs to avoid one danger, by so doing he shall plunge himself into another and a greater mischief.

The windows from on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth do shake; both heaven and earth conspire against him. He alludes to the deluge of waters which God poured down from heaven, and to the earthquakes which he ofttimes causeth below.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The noise of the fear; i.e. the sound of the pursuers. Hunters pursued their game with shouts and cries. The windows from on high are open. (comp. Gen_7:11) It is not actually another flood that is threatened, but it is a judgment as sweeping and destructive as the Flood.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Fleeth - Upon the report of some terrible evil. The foundations - Both heaven and earth conspire against him. He alludes to the deluge of waters which God poured down from heaven, and to the earthquakes which he often causes below.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

“And it shall be (that) the (one) flying from the voice of the fear shall fall into the pit, and the (one) coming up from the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare; for windows from on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth are shaken.” The first clause carries out the figures of the foregoing verse; the second introduces those of a deluge and an earthquake. The allusion to the flood is acknowledged by almost all writers, and is rendered certain by the resemblance of the language to that used in Gen 7:11.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Prophecies of Isaiah (1846–1847; New York: Scribner, 1870–1878) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

he who flees from the sound of the fright shall fall into the pit. etc. Whoever escapes the sword of the Messiah the son of Joseph shall fall into the sword of the Messiah the son of David, and whoever escapes from there shall be snared in the trap of the wars of Gog.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Windows from on high, etc. A figure for decrees of the Lord.

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.