Isaiah 29:24

Isa 29:24 They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine.

Ver. 24. They also that erred in spirit.] Erroneous opinions, and muttering against ministers, are here instanced as two special obstacles to effectual conversion. Those that relinquish not these two evils are far enough from God’s kingdom, and yet today nothing is more ordinary; hence so few converts, so many apostates.

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.

Signifying, that except God give understanding, and knowledge, man cannot but still err and murmur against him.

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

They . . . that erred-- (Isa 28:7).

learn doctrine--rather, "shall receive discipline" or "instruction." "Murmuring" was the characteristic of Israel's rebellion against God (Exo 16:8; Psa 106:25). This shall be so no more. Chastisements, and, in HORSLEY'S view, the piety of the Gentiles provoking the Jews to holy jealousy (Rom 11:11, Rom 11:14), shall then produce the desired effect.

Jewish ambassadors were now on their way to Egypt to seek aid against Assyria (Isa 30:2-6, Isa 30:15; Isa 31:1). Isaiah denounces this reliance on Egypt rather than on Jehovah. God had prohibited such alliances with heathen nations, and it was a leading part of Jewish polity that they should be a separate people (Exo 23:32; Deu 7:2).

Next: Isaiah Chapter 30

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

(24) They that murmured shall learn doctrine.—Better, instruction. The word is prominent in the sapiential books of Israel, and is therefore adapted to describe the process of growth and education that followed on conversion. The word, too, “murmured” is noticeable, as occurring only in Deu_1:27; Psa_106:25, of which its use here may be an echo.

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

24. The meaning is that even the least capable and most refractory classes of the community shall willingly subject themselves to the teaching of revelation.

understanding and doctrine are words characteristic of the Hebrew Wisdom Literature (Isa_28:29).

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They also that erred in spirit,.... In judgment, and in spiritual things; as the Jews have done, ever since the Messiah's coming, being given up to a spirit of error, as the Targum, on Isa 29:10 calls it; they have erred concerning the Scriptures, and the prophecies of them; concerning the Messiah, his work and office; concerning his truths and his ordinances, and by preferring their traditions to the word of God: but these

shall come to understanding; to a spiritual understanding of Christ, and salvation by him; of his Gospel, and the doctrines of it; as well as of themselves, their state and condition:

and they that murmured; at Christ, and what was delivered by him; at the reception of sinners by him; at the calling of the Gentiles; and at the providence of God that have attended them, ever since their rejection of the true Messiah:

shall learn doctrine; the doctrine of the Messiah; not the law, as Kimchi and Ben Melech; but the Gospel, which Christ "received" from his Father, as the word (f) used signifies, and his disciples received from him, and the church has received from them, and has been transmitted to us Gentiles, and will be to the Jews in the latter day, who will learn the true knowledge of it.

(f) a "capere, accipere, est id quod aliquis sibi sumit dicendum", Gusset. Ebr. Comment. p. 443.

Next: Isaiah Chapter 30

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

They also that erred in spirit - (see Isa 29:9-10).

Shall learn doctrine - When” this would occur the prophet does not state. It “may” be intended to denote the times of Hezekiah; or the times subsequent to the captivity; or possibly it may refer to the times under the Messiah. All that the prophet teaches is, that at some future period in the history of the Jews, there would be such a reform that they should be regarded as the worthy descendants of the pious patriarch Jacob.

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

Murmured. Magicians, (Grotius) or false sages, chap. xxviii. 9. (Calmet)

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).

They also that erred in spirit; those Gentiles whose spirits or minds were ignorant of and erred from God’s truth, and who were led aside by a lying spirit, or by the spirit of error and delusion, to idolatry, and all manner of impiety,

Shall come to understanding; shall come to the knowledge of the truth.

They that murmured shall learn doctrine; they that would not receive the doctrine of God, but murmured at God’s faithful prophets and teachers, who delivered it, which was the practice of divers, both Jews and Gentiles, shall now learn doctrine, and receive God’s truth in the love of it.

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

They also that erred in spirit; i.e. those who were blind and deaf (ver. 18). Shall come to understanding; literally, shall know understanding; i.e. recover their power of spiritual discernment. They that murmured. The reference cannot be to the "murmuring" in Egypt, though the verb used occurs only elsewhere in Deu_1:27 and Psa_106:25, where that murmuring is spoken of. We must look for some later discontent, which we may find in quite recent "murmuring resistance to the admonitions of Jehovah" (Delitzsch), without going back so far as the time of the Exodus. Shall learn doctrine; i.e. "shall willingly receive the teaching, of God"s prophets, and profit by it."

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

That erred - Those Gentiles who erred from God's truth. Murmured - They that murmured at God's faithful teachers, shall now receive God's truth in the love of it.

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

“Then shall the erring in spirit know wisdom, and the murmurers (or rebels) shall receive instruction.” These words would be perfectly appropriate as a general description of the reclaiming and converting influence to be exerted upon men in general. But under this more vague and comprehensive sense, the context, and especially the verse immediately preceding, seems to show that there is one more specific and significant included. If the foregoing verse predicts the reception of the Gentiles into the family of Israel, and if this reception, as we learn from the New Testament, was connected with the disinheriting of most of the natural descendants, who are nevertheless to be restored hereafter, then the promise of this final restoration is a stroke still wanting to complete the fine prophetic picture now before us. That finishing stroke is given in this closing verse, which adds to the promise that the Gentiles shall become the heirs of Israel, another that the heirs of Israel according to the flesh shall themselves be restored to their long lost heritage, not by excluding their successors in their turn, but by peaceful and brotherly participation with them. This application of the last part of the chapter to the calling of the Gentiles and the restoration of the Jews has been founded, as the reader will observe, not on any forced accommodation of particular expressions, but on various detached points, all combining to confirm this exegetical hypothesis, as the only one which furnishes a key to the consistent exposition of the chapter, as a concatenated prophecy without abrupt transitions or a mixture of incongruous materials.

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

and grumblers shall learn instruction (וְרוֹגְנִים) an expression similar to (Deut. 1:27) “And you grumbled (וַתְּרָגְנוּ) in your tents.” Those who were complaining and grumbling about the words of the prophets shall learn instruction.

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.

ורגנים And they that murmured, comp. יתרגנו and you were murmuring (Deut. 1:27). They are the opposite of those that learn doctrine.

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.