Isaiah 51:18

Isa 51:18 [There is] none to guide her among all the sons [whom] she hath brought forth; neither [is there any] that taketh her by the hand of all the sons [that] she hath brought up.

Ver. 18. There is none to guide her.] This was a point next the worst, as we say. She was without prudent and pious magistrates and ministers, or other friends to advise her; and so she was δισκακοδαιμων - twice miserable. Christ hath promised all his, "I will not leave you destitute," or orphans.

Among all her sons.] Who should see to their aged parents and sublevate them, as pious Aeneas did, and as Scipio, who therehence had his name; but Zion’s sons were themselves in a dreadful plight, {Isa 51:20} and in an ill case to relieve their mother.

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 51:18-20. There is none to guide her, &c. — When thou wast drunk with this cup, and couldest not direct or support thy steps, neither thy princes, nor prophets, nor priests, were able or willing to lead or uphold thee. These two things are come upon thee — Those here following, which, although they be expressed in four words, yet may be fitly reduced to two things, namely, desolation by famine, and destruction by the sword. Who shall be sorry for thee — Who is there left to take pity on thee, since thy children are all in as miserable a condition as thyself? See Isa 51:18; Isa 51:20. By whom shall I comfort thee — What human means of comfort is there left for thee?

Thy sons have fainted — They are so far from being able to comfort thee, as was said Isa 51:18, that they themselves faint away for want of comfort, and through famine. They lie at the head of all the streets — Dead by famine, or the sword of the enemy; as a wild bull in a net — Those of them who are not slain are struggling for life. They are full of the fury of the Lord — “The bold image of the cup of God’s wrath,” says Bishop Lowth, “often employed by the sacred writers, is nowhere handled with greater force and sublimity than in this passage. Jerusalem is represented in person, as staggering under the effects of it, destitute of that assistance which she might expect from her children, not one of them being able to support or lead her. They, abject and amazed, lie at the head of every street, overwhelmed with the greatness of their distress; like the oryx entangled in a net, in vain struggling to rend it and extricate himself. This is poetry of the first order, sublimity of the highest proof.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Following up the image in Isa 51:17, intoxicated and confused by the cup of God's anger, she has none to guide her in her helpless state; she has not yet awakened out of the sleep caused by that draught. This cannot apply to the Babylonish captivity; for in it they had Ezekiel and Daniel, Ezra and Nehemiah, as "guides," and soon awoke out of that sleep; but it applies to the Jews now, and will be still more applicable in their coming oppression by Antichrist.

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

There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth,.... Still alluding to drunken persons staggering in the streets, that can scarcely stand on their feet, and do not know their way, and yet have none to hold them up and guide them, not even of their friends and relations:

neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up; to hold her up from falling, of which there is danger by reeling to and fro, through the intoxicating liquor; and this, either for want of sons, these being dead, or through want of filial affection in them. This was true of Jerusalem, literally understood, at the time of her last destruction by the Romans, when she had no king, priest, nor prophet, to counsel and direct, defend and protect her; and will be the case of the church of God at the slaying of the witnesses, when their own friends will be shy of them, and refuse or neglect to do any kind offices, or show any respect unto them, signified by not suffering their dead bodies to be put into graves, Rev 11:9.

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

There is none to guide her - The image here is taken from the condition of one who is under the influence of an intoxicating draught, and who needs some one to sustain and guide him. The idea is, than among all the inhabitants of Jerusalem in the time of the calamity, there was none who could restore to order the agitated and distracted affairs of the nation. All its wisdom was destroyed; its counsels perplexed; its power overcome.

All the sons whom she hath brought forth - All the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

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

When thou wast drunk with this cup, and not able to go, neither thy princes, nor prophets, nor priests were able or willing to lead and support thee.

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

18-20. There is none to guide her — There is none like Messiah to guide and lead. The sons of Jerusalem — namely, the priests and prophets — have lost character, hence ability spiritually to guide. Two things, or two classes of evils, have happened to her: destruction (waste) and desolation — famine and the sword. The state suffers the first, the people the second. Where are the pitying ones to give thee aid? Or, by whom shall I, Messiah, render thee aid? See Lam_2:13. The twentieth verse is a little difficult of interpretation. This whole passage is in the tone of sore lamentation. The twentieth verse, especially, dramatically exhibits people after nightfall flung out of the city (Babylon, we will suppose) for safety. But the gates become shut, and they are caught just as the hunter captures wild antelopes (such is the meaning) in a net which he fixes in the field, and into which he drives his prey. All this is the judgment of God upon Jerusalem.

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

None to guide her. From the time that Johanan, the son of Kareah, and the other "captains of the forces," quitted Judaea and fled into Egypt, taking with them Jeremiah and Baruch, (Jer_43:5-7) there was no one left in the country with any authority or any ability to direct affairs. The city, no doubt, suffered by this state of things, becoming more ruined and more desolate than it would have been otherwise. Had Johanan and the Jews under him remained in the land, God had promised to "build them, and not pull them down;" to "plant them, and not pluck them up". (Jer_42:10) Thus Jerusalem"s extreme desolation was not wholly the result of the Babylonian conquest, but was partly due to the after-misconduct of the Jews left in the country.

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

None to guide - When thou wast drunk with this cup, and not able to go.

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

“There is no guide to her (or no one leading her) of all the sons she has brought forth, and no one grasping her hand of all the sons she has brought up.” From addressing Zion in the second person, he now proceeds to speak of her in the third. This verse is not so much descriptive of unnatural abandonment as it is of weakness. The sense is not that no one will, but that no one can protect or guide her. Some interpreters suppose the figure of a drunken person to be still continued. The mother and the sons, (i.e., the people collectively and individually, are distinguished only by a figure of speech).

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

There is none to guide her. Israel is like a woman, that has none to guide her; Israel has no king nor judge, to be saved by him.

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.