Isaiah 57:2

Isa 57:2 He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, [each one] walking [in] his uprightness.

Ver. 2. He shall enter into peace,] i.e., Into heaven, where the righteous - however looked upon as lost {Isa 57:1} - shall have "life and peace," {Rom 8:6} joy and bliss, {Mat 25:21; Mat 25:23} rest and peace, {Rev 14:13} and this απαρτι amodo, strait upon it so soon as ever they are dead; from henceforth forthwith their souls have happiness inconceivable. As for their bodies,

They shall rest in their beds.] So their graves are called, by an elegant metaphor, like as the bier that carrieth to it is called matteh, a couch, {2Sa 3:31} the burying place, a dormitory, {a} or place to sleep in, and the resurrection an awakening. {Psa 17:15} To this bed Moses went up when his Father bade. He died ad os Iehovae according to the word of God, {Deu 34:5} which the Jewish doctors {b} expound as though God did take away his soul with a kiss, like as the loving mother kisseth the child, and then layeth it down to sleep. Rhodingus, a Dutch divine, when he perceived he should die, desired to be laid in another bed, which he called his bed of rest, and upon which he had long before written this verse - {c}

“ Ut somnus mortis, sic lectus imago sepulchri. ”

In this short bed of the grave shall be laid up the infinite miseries of many years; the bodies of the saints shall, by rotting, be refined, their precious dust preserved, till at last it arise incorruptible. O dieculam illam!

Each one walking in his uprightness.] Or, Walking before him, or right over against him; that is, keeping equipage with him, as when one friend walketh with another.

{a} κοιμητηριον.

{b} Maimonid.

{c} Melch. Adam.

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_57:2

He shall enter into peace

The believer in life, death, and eternity

Taking them together, the words of the text will lead us to contemplate the child of God--

I.

IN THE STRENGTH AND VIGOUR OF LIFE.

II. IN THE SUFFERING AND THE ARTICLE OF DEATH.

III. IN THE CONSEQUENCES OF DISSOLUTION, AS THEY AFFECT BOTH BODY AND SOUL. (J. Haslegrave, M. A.)

A glimmering of New Testament consolation

Here is a glimmering of the consolation in the New Testament, that the death of the righteous man is better than the present life, because it is the entrance into peace. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)

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

57:2 The wicked would not be able to rest in peace (57:21).

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

The soul of the righteous shall be in joy, and their body shall rest in the grave unto the time of the resurrection, because they walked before the Lord.

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

Or, "he entereth into peace"; in contrast to the persecutions which he suffered in this world (Job 3:13, Job 3:17). The Margin not so well translates, "he shall go in peace" (Psa 37:37; Luk 2:29).

rest--the calm rest of their bodies in their graves (called "beds," Ch2 16:14; compare Isa 14:18; because they "sleep" in them, with the certainty of awakening at the resurrection, Th1 4:14) is the emblem of the eternal "rest" (Heb 4:9; Rev 14:13).

each one walking in . . . uprightness--This clause defines the character of those who at death "rest in their beds," namely, all who walk uprightly.

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 2. He shalt enter into peace - "He shall go in peace"] יבוא שלום yabo shalom; the expression is elliptical, such as the prophet frequently uses. The same sense is expressed at large and in full terms, Ge 15:15: ואתה תבא אל אבותיך בשלום veattah libbo al abotheycha beshalom, "and thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace."

They shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness - "He shall rest in his bed; even the perfect man."] This obscure sentence is reduced to a perfectly good sense, and easy construction by an ingenious remark of Dr. Durell. He reads ינוח על משכבו תם yanuach al mishcabo tam, "the perfect man shall rest in his bed." Two MSS. (one of them ancient) have ינוח yanuach, singular; and so the Vulgate renders it, requiescat, "he shall rest." The verb was probably altered to make it plural, and so consistent with what follows, after the mistake had been made in the following words, by uniting משכבו mishcabo and תם tam into one word. See Merrick's Annotations on the Psalms, Addenda; where the reader will find that J. S. Moerlius, by the same sort of correction, and by rescuing the adjective תם tam, which had been swallowed up in another word in the same manner, has restored to a clear sense a passage before absolutely unintelligible: -

למו חרצבות אין כי

lemo chartsubboth ein ki

אולם ובריא תם

ulam ubari tham

"For no distresses happen to them;

Perfect and firm is their strength."

Ps 73:4.

To follow on my application of this to our Lord: - HE, the JUST ONE, shall enter into peace - the peaceable, prosperous possession of the glorious mediatorial kingdom. They shall rest upon their beds - the hand of wrong and oppression can reach these persecuted followers of Christ no more. (But see below.) The perfect man walking in his uprightness. This may be considered as a general declaration. The separated spirit, though disunited from its body, walking in conscious existence in the paradise of God, reaping the fruit of righteousness. The word which we render their beds, משכבותם mishkebotham, the learned bishop supposes to be two words; and to be compounded of משכבו mishkabo, his bed, and תם tam, the upright or perfect man. This is the reading both of the Syriac and Vulgate, and it is favoured by the Chaldee: and one of De Rossi's MS. has משכבו mishkabo, his bed, without the word תם tam, which has been added by a later hand. Bishop Lowth, as we have seen, adopts this separation of the word and for ינוחו yanuchu, they shall rest, reads ינוה yanuach, he shall rest, which is supported by two of Dr. Kennicott's MSS., and by the Vulgate, Septuagint, and Arabic. The word תם tam, taken from משכבותם mishkebotham, should begin the latter clause of the verse; and then the interpolated words, each one, which our translators supplied, may be very well spared. The verse may be then read and paraphrased thus; -

He shall enter into peace: he shall rest upon his bed;

The perfect man walking in his uprightness.

The bed must signify the grave; the walking in uprightness after death, the conscious existence of the happy spirit, and its eternal progression in happiness and perfection: נכחו nechochol straight before him; proceeding into the unlimited extent of eternal glory, increasing in happiness, and increasing in perfection.

My old MS. Bible translates very nervously: -

The rigtwise man perishith,

And there is not that bethinke in his herte.

And men of mercy ben gedrid,

For there is not that understonde:

From the face forsoth of malice,

Gedreid is the rigtwise.

Cumm pese: reste it in his bed

That geede in his rigt rewlinge.

It has been often remarked that, previously to the execution of God's judgments upon a wicked place, he has removed good men from it, that they might not suffer with the wicked. When great and good men are removed by death, or otherwise, from any place, the remaining inhabitants have much cause to tremble.

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

(2) He shall enter into peace . . .—Notice- able as presenting the brighter side of the dim thoughts of Israel as to the life behind the veil, and so far contrasted with Hezekiah’s shrinking fear. (Comp. Job_3:17.) For the righteous there was peace in death as in life. For the wicked there was peace in neither (Isa_57:21).

They shall rest in their beds.—The “bed” is obviously the grave, the thought following naturally on that of death being as the sleep “after life’s fitful fever.” (Eze_32:25.)

Each one walking in his uprightness.—Better, every one who has walked straight before him—has taken, i.e., the straight path of duty (Isa_30:21.)

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

2. Render with R.V. (and marg.) He entereth into peace; they rest in their beds, each one that walked straight before him. The “peace” and “rest” spoken of are those of the grave (Job_3:13 ff.), the “bed” is the bier or coffin; cf. 2Ch_16:14; Eze_32:25. The same word is used of the sarcophagus in the Phœnician inscription of Eshmunazar (“the lid of this bed”).

“After life’s fitful fever he sleeps well.”

The same feeling is expressed with great pathos in an eloquent passage of the book of Job (Isa_3:13 ff.). It is a sentiment that has appealed to the human mind in all ages; but to the O.T. believers it brought no relief from the shuddering recoil from death expressed in other passages, nowhere more forcibly than in the words of Job himself.

each one that walked, &c.] i.e. every one who led a simple, straightforward, upright life; cf. Pro_4:25-27. The clause is an extension of the subject of the sentence.

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.

He shall enter into peace,.... Or "shall go in peace" (d); the righteous man goes in peace now; he has peace from his justifying righteousness; he has peace through believing in Christ; he has peace in, though not from, his obedience and holiness of life; and he has peace in the midst of the many trials he is exercised with; and he goes out of the world in peace, with great serenity and tranquillity of mind, as Simeon desired he might, having views of an interest in Christ, and in the glories of another world; and as soon as he is departed from hence he enters into peace, into a state where there is everything that makes for peace; there is the God of peace; there is Christ, the Prince of peace; there is the Spirit, whose fruit is peace; and there are the angels of peace, and good men, the sons of peace: and there is nothing there to disturb their peace, no sin within, nor Satan's temptations without, nor any wicked men to annoy and molest them; and there is everything that can come under the notion of peace and prosperity; for the happiness of this state is signified by riches, by glory and honour, by a kingdom, and by a paradise; and into this state the righteous may be said to enter immediately upon death, which is no other than stepping out of one world into another; and this they enter into as into a house, as it really is, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens; and, entering into it, they take possession of it, and for ever enjoy it:

they shall rest in their beds, their souls in the bosom of Abraham, in the arms of Jesus; their bodies in the grave, which is a bed unto them, where they lie down and sleep, till they are awaked at the resurrection; and where they rest from all toil and labour, from all diseases and distempers, pains and tortures, and from all persecuting enemies; see Rev 14:13,

each one walking in his uprightness; in the righteousness of Christ, and in the shining robes of immortality and glory, and in perfect purity and holiness: or, "before him" (e); before God, in the sight or presence of him, and by sight, and not by faith, as now. Though this is by some considered as the character of the righteous man in life, so Aben Ezra; and then the sense is, that he that walks in his uprightness, in the uprightness or righteousness of Christ, and by faith on him; that walks uprightly in his life and conversation before God, and "before himself"; following the rule before him, and walking according to the rule of the Gospel, and in the ordinances of it blameless, when he comes to die, he enters into peace and rest. And to this sense is the Targum, which paraphrases it,

"that are doers of his law;''

see Rom 2:13. In the Talmud (f) it is interpreted of that peace and happiness righteous men enter into when they die.

(d) "ibit in pace", Gataker. (e) "coram eo", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus, Calvin; "ante se", Cocceius, Vitringa. (f) T. Bab. Cetubot, fol. 104. 1.

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

He shall enter into peace - Lowth, ‘He shall go in peace.’ So the margin. Vulgate, ‘Peace shall come.’ Septuagint, ‘His sepulture (ἡ ταφὴ αὐτοῦ hē taphē autou) shall be in peace.’ The idea is, that by his death the righteous man shall enter into rest. He shall get away from conflict, strife, agitation, and distress. This may either refer to the peaceful rest of the grave, or to that which awaits the just in a better world. The direct meaning here intended is probably the former, since the grave is often spoken of as a place of rest. Thus Job Job 3:17, speaking of the grave, says:

There the wicked cease from troubling; And there the weary be at rest.

The connection here seems also to demand the same sense, as it is immediately added, ‘they shall rest in their beds.’ The grave is a place of peace:

Nor pain, nor grief, nor anxious fear,

Invade thy bounds; no mortal woes

Can reach the peaceful sleeper here,

While angels watch the soft repose.

- Watts

At the same time it is true that the dying saint ‘goes in peace!’ He has calmness in his dying, as well as peace in his grave. He forgives all who have injured him; prays for all who have persecuted him; and peacefully and calmly dies. He lies in a peaceful grave - often represented in the Scriptures as a place of repose, where the righteous ‘sleep’ in the hope of being awakened in the morning of the resurrection. He enters into the rest of heaven - the world of perfect and eternal repose. No persecution comes there; no trial awaits him there; no calamity shall meet him there. Thus, in all respects, the righteous leave the world in peace; and thus death ceases to be a calamity, and this most dreaded of all evils is turned into the highest blessing.

They shall rest in their beds - That is, in their graves.

Each one walking in his uprightness - Margin, ‘Before him.’ The word נכח nakkoch means “straight, right,” and is used of one who walks straight forward. It here means an upright man, who is often represented as walking in a straight path in opposition to sinners, who are represented as walking in crooked ways Psa 125:5; Pro 2:15; Isa 59:8; Phi 2:15. The sense here is, that all who are upright shall leave the world in peace, and rest quietly in their graves.

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

Bed. The grave which affords rest to the virtuous, Josias, &c. (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).

He shall enter into peace; this just and merciful man shall enter into a state of peace and rest, where he shall be out of the reach of the approaching miseries. Or, He shall go (to wit, to his fathers, as it is fully expressed, Gen 15:15; or, he shall die; going being put for dying, as 1Ch 17:11, compared with 2Sa 7:12; Job 10:21; 14:20; Luk 22:22, and elsewhere) in peace. They; just men. Here is a sudden change of the number, which is very frequent in the prophets. In their beds; in their graves, which are not unfitly called their beds, or sleeping houses, as their death is commonly called sleep in Scripture. Walking; or, that walketh or did walk, i.e. live. In his uprightness; in a sincere and faithful discharge of his duties to God and men. Or, before him, i.e. before God, according to the usual phrase of Scripture, as Gen 17:1; 1Ki 2:4; 8:25. For God is oft understood where he is not expressed, but only designed by this or the like pronoun, as Gen 15:13, and elsewhere.

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

He shall enter into peace. Not merely into "stillness" or "silence", (Psa_115:17) but into "peace," or, as the word might be rendered (Cheyne), "a state of peace." There is, no doubt, primarily, a contrast to the awful troubles which the survivors will have to encounter" (Hengstenberg); but perhaps this contrast is not all that is meant. The "peace" is positive rather than negative, or it would scarcely be a consolation to any one. They shall rest in their beds; or, upon their beds. This expression seems to imply a consciousness of rest, and so a certain enjoyment of it. Each one walking in his uprightness; rather, whosoever hath walked uprightly, or in a straight path. (see Pro_4:25-27) The phrase is an equivalent for "the righteous" of ver. 1, and refers to the life on earth of those who have gone down into silence, not to their life after they have reached the silent shore. Of that life the evangelical prophet is not commissioned to give us any information.

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

He - This just and merciful man shall enter into a state of rest, where he shall be out of the reach of the approaching miseries. They - just men. Here is a sudden change of the number, which is very frequent in the prophets. Beds - In their graves, which are not unfitly called their beds, as their death is commonly called sleep in scripture.

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

“He shall go in peace (or enter into peace), they shall rest upon their beds, walking straight before him.” The alternation of the singular and plural shows that the subject of the sentence is a collective person. The explanation commonly approved is that which makes the last phrase an additional description of the righteous, as one walking in his uprightness. It seems to be added as a kind of afterthought, to limit what immediately precedes, and preclude its application to all the dead without distinction. The ‘peace’ and ‘rest’ here meant are those of the body in the grave and of the soul in heaven; the former being frequently referred to as a kind of pledge and adumbration of the latter.

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

He shall come in peace for so says the Holy One, blessed be He, Let this righteous man come to his forefathers in peace, and let him not see the evil.

they shall rest in their resting place when the evil occurs, he who was walking נְכֹחוֹ, in his uprightness. Comp. (Amos 3:10) “To act rightly (נְכֹחָה).”

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.

יבא שלום He shall enter into peace, etc. The righteous shall come in peace to his grave; comp. Thou shalt die in peace (Jer. 34:5); And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace (Gen. 15:15).

ינוחו על משכבותם הלך נכחו They that walk before Him, shall rest in their beds. Comp. אחרי יי אלהיכם תלכו ye shall walk after the Lord your God (Deut. 13:5). Some explain the verse thus: Peace and tranquillity shall come to them, and they that walk, etc.

נִכְחוֹ ═ נְכֹחוֹ Before Him. The form of nouns varies.

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.