Isaiah 47:14

Isa 47:14 Behold, they shall be as stubble; the fire shall burn them; they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame: [there shall] not [be] a coal to warm at, [nor] fire to sit before it.

Ver. 14. Behold, they shall be as stubble.] As dried stubble. {Nah 1:10} {See Trapp on "Nah 1:10"}

They shall not deliver themselves.] Much less others.

There shall not be a coal to warm at.] Like a fire of flax, which is soon extinct, and leaves no embers or cinders behind it. In a spiritual sense, it may be said of most of our hearts and houses as here, There is not a coal to warm at. Deest ignis, as Father Latimer was wont to say; the fire of zeal is wanting, that flame of God. {Son 8:6}

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_47:14

Behold, they shall be as stubble

Gods judgment as consuming fire

The flame is no comfortable fire for warmth, no hearth-fire (Isa_44:16) to sit in front of; but, on thecontrary, consuming, eternal, i.annihilating flames (Isa_33:14). (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)

The portion of the ungodly

I. With reference to the FIRST SENTENCE.

1. One of the most striking thoughts which it conveys to the mind is this, that the punishment of the wicked will be easily inflicted. They shall be as stubble. Nothing can be more easy than to kindle stubble when it is fully dry. Oh, ungodly and impenitent man, there is that in thyself to-day which, let alone and permitted to ripen, will bring a hell upon thee. Thou hast in thyself the power of memory, and that power shall become a vehicle of sorrow to thee. Thou hast, beside thy memory, a conscience; a con science which thou hast striven to silence; but, even drugged and gagged as it is, it sometimes makes thee feel unhappy. You will then find that you cannot palliate the guilt of sin. Thy memory and thy conscience shall be as two great millstones grinding thee to powder. Then, added to thy memory and to thy conscience, there shall come thy increased knowledge. Thou knowest enough now to leave thee without excuse, but then thy knowledge shall increase so as to leave thee without pretence of apology. Thou shalt then perceive the craft of the tempter who deluded thee. Thou shalt then see the blackness and the filthiness of sin as thou dost not see it now. Then shalt thou understand the greatness and the goodness of the God whom thou hast despised; thou shalt then discern the glory of the heaven which thou hast lost; thou shalt then begin to get an idea of that eternity which shall roll over thy head for ever. Beside, think of thy companions. Shut up fifty drunkards and profane men together, and would they not soon make a hell for themselves without any interposition of Divine power? What will it be when they are bound up in bundles; when the tens of thousands of those who obey not Christ shall find themselves in their own place?

2. This punishment shall be most searching and terrible. The metaphor of fire is used in Scripture because it is that which of all things causeth the most pain, and is the most searching and trying. As fire consumes, and so reaches to the very essence of things, so shall the wrath to come reach to the very essence and subsistence of the soul.

3. This destruction will be most inevitable. They shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame. There is hope now; there shall be no hope then. The Lord Jesus, though the most loving of spirits, was the most awful of preachers; and in His sermons, while there is everything that could melt and woo, there is no lack of the great and terrible thunderbolt, and the sounding forth of wrath to come, and the judgment which must await the impenitent.

II. BUT OUR TEXT NOW CHANGES ITS FIGURE. Thus saith the Lord, There shall not be a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it; by which is meant that there shall be nothing in hell that can give the sinner a moments comfort; nothing.

III. And now our text bids us BEHOLD, therefore I pray ye turn not away your eyes from this meditation.

1. Children of God, behold it; it will make you grateful. Does not the thought of the misery from which you have escaped make you love your Saviour? And oh, will it not make you love poor sinners too?

2. But specially, you that are unconverted, the text says, Behold. It is a gloomy subject for you to think upon, but better to think of it now than to think of it for ever. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

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

They shall utterly perish, and no part of them remain.

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

(Isa 29:6; Isa 30:30).

not . . . a coal--Like stubble, they shall burn to a dead ash, without leaving a live coal or cinder (compare Isa 30:14), so utterly shall they be destroyed.

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

(14) There shall not be a coal to warm at.—Better, it shall not be . . . The destroying flame shall be altogether other than the fire on the hearth, at which a man can sit and warm himself.

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

14. They cannot even save their own lives, much less the State. themselves] their (own) life.

there shall not be a coal &c.] Better: It is no (glowing) coal to warm oneself withal; no fire to sit before! i.e. no genial hearth for comfort, but an all-consuming fire! The sentence is prosaic and unnecessary, and might readily be sacrificed (with Duhm) to the exigencies of the strophe and the elegiac measure.

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.

Behold, they shall be as stubble, the fire shall burn them,.... That is, these astrologers and diviners shall be like stubble; weak as that, as the Targum; they shall be no more able to stand before the fire of divine wrath, or before the judgments of God, by the hands of the Medes and Persians, than stubble can stand before a consuming fire:

they shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame; from those dreadful calamities that shall come upon them like flames of fire; and if they cannot deliver themselves by their art and skill, how should they deliver others?

there shall not be a coal to warm, nor fire to sit before it; stubble, when burnt, leaves no coals to warm a man with; and though it gives a blaze for a short time, while burning, it is quickly out, and gives no light nor heat for a man to sit by, so that there is little or no profit by it; which signifies that there were no hope, or help, or comfort, to be expected from those sorts of persons.

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

Behold, they shall be as stubble - They shall be no more able to resist the judgments which are coming upon the city, than dry stubble can resist the action of the fire. A similar figure is used in Isa 1:31 (see the notes at that verse). Compare also Isa 29:6; Isa 30:30, where fire is a symbol of the devouring judgments of God.

They shall not deliver themselves - Margin, as Hebrew, ‘Their souls.’ The meaning is, that they would be unable to protect themselves from the calamities which would come upon them and the city.

There shall not be a coal to warm at - The meaning is, that they would be entirely consumed - so completely, that not even a coal or spark would be left, as when stubble, or a piece of wood, is entirely burned up. According to this interpretation, the sense is, that the judgments of God would come upon them and the city, so that entire destruction would ensue. Rosenmuller, however, Cocceius, and some others, suppose this should be rendered, ‘there shall not remain a coal so that bread could be baked by it.’ But the more common, and more correct interpretation, is that suggested above. Compare Gesenius and Rosenmuller on the place.

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

Thereat, to warm themselves, (Haydock) or to adore. (Calmet) --- In Cappadocia are to be seen "Pyratheia,...in which the magi keep a perpetual fire, and sing hymns about the space of an hour." (Strabo xv.) --- These were a sort of open temples. (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 shall not deliver themselves, and much less thee,

from the power of the flame; they shall be totally consumed, and all the comfort which thou didst expect from them shall utterly vanish.

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

14. The prophet further says,

They shall be as stubble — All the astrologers, or wise men, in whom Babylon trusted, and Babylon itself. Fire shall consume them; not, indeed, material fire, but what will be as destructive. The whole power of Babylon shall be consumed, as fire consumes stubble, and there shall be no help for them.

Not… a coal to warm at, nor fire to sit before it — The original is somewhat obscure, but the sense appears to be: The consumption of every thing shall be so complete that not a coal nor cinder shall be left to warm one by, or to bake one’s bread before it.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Behold, they shall be as stubble. (comp. Isa_5:24 Isa_40:24 Isa_41:2) A favourite metaphor with Isaiah for extreme weakness and incapacity of resistance. In Isa_5:24 it is connected, as here, with fire. No doubt in Palestine, as elsewhere, an accidental fire from time to time caught hold of a stubble-field, and speedily reduced it to a mass of blackened ashes. The threat here is that God"s wrath shall similarly sweep over Babylon. They shall not deliver themselves from the power of the flame. Mr. Cheyne translates, with much spirit, "They cannot rescue their soul from the clutch of the flame." Like those who are caught in the midst of a fire in a prairie or jungle, they have no escape the flame is on all sides and they cannot but perish. There shall not be a coal to warm at; rather, it is not a charcoal-fire to warm one"s self at. A return to the sarcastic tone of vers. 12, 13. The conflagration which spreads around is something more than a fire to warm one"s self at it is an awful widespread devastation.

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

“Behold they are like stubble, fire has burned them (the Babylonian astrologers).” Behold brings their destruction into view as something present. He not only prophesies that they shall be burnt, but sees them burning. The comparison with stubble seems intended to suggest that they are worthless and combustible, whose end is to be burned (Heb 6:8). At the same time a contrast is designed between the burning of stubble and the burning of wood, the former being more complete and rapid than the latter. “They cannot deliver themselves from the hand (i.e., the power) of the flame.” The last clause contains a negative description of the fire mentioned in the first. Of this description there are two interpretations. Some understand it to mean that the destruction of the fuel will be so complete that nothing will be left at which a man can sit and warm himself. Others explain it to mean, (this fire) is not a coal (at which) to warm one’s self, a fire to sit before, but a devouring and consuming conflagration. With either of these expositions of the whole clause may be reconciled a different interpretation of the word proposed by some writers, who give the word the sense which it invariably has in every other place where it occurs, viz. their bread. (See Job 30:4; Pro 30:25; Eze 4:13; Eze 12:19; Hos 9:4). The whole expression then means that it is not a common fire for baking bread, or, on the other supposition, that there are not coals enough left for that purpose. The phrase ‘coal of their bread’ presents a harsh and unusual combination, rendered less so however by the use of both words in Isa 44:19. The general sense of sudden, rapid, and complete destruction, is not affected by these minor questions of grammatical analysis.

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

Connecting Statement:

Yahweh continues to speak to Babylon about her downfall as if she were a queen who is humiliated. (See: Metaphor and Personification)

they will become like stubble. The fire will burn them up

Yahweh compares the magicians and sorcerers to straw that burns quickly in a fire. This means that Yahweh will destroy them as easily as fire burns stubble, and so they are powerless to save Babylon. (See: Simile)

the hand of the flame

Here the word "hand" represents strength. AT: "the power of the flame" (See: Metonymy)

There are no coals to warm them and no fire for them to sit by

Yahweh emphasizes that this is a destructive fire by stating that it is not one that people will use to warm themselves.

translationWords

fire

hand

save

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Behold they were Your stargazers were like stubble.

there is no coal by which to warm oneself They have no remnant, like stubble, the fire of which does not leave over coals by whose fire one can warm himself.

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.

Fire. The host of the enemy. Comp., There is a fire gone out of Heshbon (Num. 21:28).

לחמם To warm at. It is infinitive of a verb (חמם) ע״ע, written in full, and similar in form to לשכב to lie (Gen. 34:7).—The meaning of the whole sentence is: they will perish and no remnant will be left of them.

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.