Isaiah 9:15

Isa 9:15 The ancient and honourable, he [is] the head; and the prophet that teacheth lies, he [is] the tail.

Ver. 15. The ancient and honourable is the head.] Thus the Scripture frequently expoundeth itself. In a general calamity all fare alike, lords and losels.

And the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.] Such, like dogs, do cauda adblandiri, soothe and smooth men up in their sins, and are the vilest of men. Quid enim contemptius et abiectius animo fingi potest quam assentari divitibus, linguamque venalim habere? Such also, as serpents, glide smoothly over the body, but sting with their tails.

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.

ancient--the older.

honourable--the man of rank.

prophet . . . lies, . . . tail--There were many such in Samaria (Kg1 22:6, Kg1 22:22-23; compare as to "tail," Rev 9:19).

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

(15) The ancient and honourable . . .—Comp. Isa_3:2-3, for the meaning of the words. These, the prophet seems to say, were the true leaders of the people. The ideal work of the prophet was, indeed, that of a teacher who was to lead even them, but corruptio optimi pessima; and to Isaiah, as to Jeremiah, there was no class so contemptible and base as that of spiritual guides whose policy was that of a time-serving selfishness. The verse is rejected by some critics as a marginal note that has found its way into the text; but the prophet may well have given his own interpretation of this formula. (Comp. Isa_28:7; Isa_29:10; Jer_14:14; Jer_23:9-40.)

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

The ancient and honourable, he is the head,.... The elder in office, not in age; and who, on account of his office, dignity, and riches, is honoured by men, is of a venerable countenance himself, and is reverenced when seen and looked upon by others, and received by persons with pleasure and cheerfulness; as the phrase used signifies. The Septuagint and Arabic versions render it, "who admire", or "have" men's "persons in admiration"; which is the character Jude gives of false teachers, Jde 1:16 who are next described:

and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail; so called from their low extract, being often of a mean original and descent; or rather from the meanness of their spirits, their flattery of princes and great men, to whom they tell lies, and prophesy smooth and false things, for the sake of a little sordid gain, in allusion to dogs that wag their tails at their masters; or from the poison of their doctrines, some creatures having poison in their tails, and do much mischief with them. See Rev 9:19.

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

The ancient - The elder; the old man.

And honorable - Hebrew, ‘The man of elevated countenance.’ The man of rank and office.

The prophet that teacheth lies - The false prophet. Of those there were many; and probably at this time many in Samaria.

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

He is, i.e. signifies, as that word is commonly used in the Hebrew tongue, as Gen 41:26,27, and every where.

The prophet that teacheth lies; whose destruction he mentions, not as if it were a punishment to them to be deprived of such persons, but partly to show the extent of the calamity, that it should reach all sorts of persons; and partly to beat down their vain presumptions of peace and prosperity, by showing that those false prophets, which had fed their vain hopes, should perish, and all their false prophecies of peace with them.

He is the tail; these I mean by the tail, as being in’ truth the basest part of the whole body of the people.

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

Some suppose this verse to be a gloss, or marginal note, which has crept into the text; but it is too pointed and sarcastic for a mere gloss. There is no reason to doubt its being Isaiah"s. Having spoken of "the tail," he takes the opportunity of lashing the false prophet, who claimed to be among the "honorable," but was really the lowest of the low, worse than his dupes, the true "tail". (comp. Isa_28:7 Isa_29:10 Isa_30:10)

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

The prophet - Whose destruction he mentions, not as if it were a punishment to them to be deprived of such persons, but partly to shew the extent of the calamity, that it should reach all sorts of persons; and partly to beat down their vain presumptions of peace and prosperity, by shewing that those false prophets, which had fed their vain hopes, should perish, and their false prophecies with them. Tail - The basest part of the whole people.

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

To the descriptive figures of the preceding verse, the Prophet now adds a specific application of the first. Jehovah had cut off from Israel, not only in a general sense the upper and lower classes of society, but in a more restricted sense the wicked rulers, who were the corrupt head of the body politic, and the false prophets who, as their abject adherents, and on account of their hypocrisy and false pretensions to divine authority, must be regarded as its tail, because contemptible and odious, even in comparison with other wicked men, who laid no claim to a religious character. “The elder and the favorite (or honorable person), he (is) the head, and the prophet teaching falsehood, he (is) the tail.” The teaching of falsehood means teaching in the name of God what he has not revealed. The false prophets are called the tail, because the false prophets were morally the basest of the people, and because they were the servile adherents and supporters of the wicked rulers. With respect both to the head which they followed, and the body of which they were the vilest part, they might be justly called the tail.

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

the leaders Heb. מְאַשְׁרֵי, leaders. Comp. (Job 23:11) “On His steps (בַּאֲשֻׁרוֹ), my foot has held fast.”

and those led by them (lit. him) those who learned the ways of the false leaders. [Others read:] Those led in the way of the misleaders who lead them in these ways, confusing and perplexing ways, from which there is no way to emerge. The expression of מְבֻלָּעִים, misled or corrupt, applies to “ways,” in the manner it is stated elsewhere (supra 3:12): “O my people! Your leaders lead you astray, and the way of your paths they have corrupted.”

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.

מאשרי The leaders of. Here we have א instead of י. This process of substituting א for י is reversed in תתימרו You boast yourselves (61:6). In ומאשריו And they that are led, is the א again in the place of.י

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.