Isaiah 9:19

Isa 9:19 Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts is the land darkened, and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire: no man shall spare his brother.

Ver. 19. Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts is the land darkened,] viz., By that pride of smoke, or vast pillar of smoke, mentioned Isa 9:18. Tristem et miseram rerum faciem designat.

No man shall spare his brother.] Wickedness is cruel, and a man had as good deal with a cannibal as with a truly covetous wretch.

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.

Though there were no foreign enemy, yet they shall destroy one another.

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

darkened--namely, with smoke (Isa 9:18). The Septuagint and Chaldee render it, "is burnt up," so MAURER, from an Arabic root meaning "suffocating heat."

no man . . . spare . . . brother--intestine discord snapping asunder the dearest ties of nature.

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

(19, 20) Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts is the land darkened . . .—The vision of darkness and famine which had come before the prophet’s eyes in Isa_8:21 appears once again, and here, as there, it is a question whether the words are to be understood literally or figuratively. The definiteness of the language of Isa_9:20 suggests the thoughts of the horrors of a famine like that of Samaria (2Ki_6:28-29), or of Deu_28:53-57; Zec_11:9. But even that scene of horror might be only typical of a state of chaos and confusion pervading the whole order of society, fierce passions, jealousies, rivalries working out the destruction of the nation’s life; such as Thucydides (iii. 82-84) has painted as the result of the Peloponnesian war. The mention of Ephraim and Manasseh as conspicuous in the self-destructive work confirms the figurative interpretation. They were devouring “the flesh of their own arm” when they allowed their old tribal jealousies (Jdg_8:1; Jdg_12:1-4; 2Sa_19:43) to break up the unity of the nation.

And they together shall be against Judah.—This formed the climax of the whole. The only power of union that showed itself in the northern kingdom was to perpetuate the great schism in which it had its origin. The idea that Israel as such was a nation was forgotten. Ephraim and Manasseh could join in a common expedition against Judah when they could join in nothing else. Of this the alliance of Pekah with Rezin was the most striking instance (2Ch_28:6-15). Traces of internal division are found in the conspiracy of the Gileadites of the trans-Jordanic district of Manasseh, against Pekah’s predecessor in Samaria (2Ki_15:25).

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

19. darkened] Another translation is “made to glow”; the word is not found elsewhere.

no man sparing his brother. The clause shews that the fire is an emblem of ungovernable party strife. The sense would be still clearer if we could adopt Duhm’s hazardous emendation in the preceding clause so as to make it read “and the people became like man-eaters (cannibals).”

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.

Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts is the land darkened,.... Brought into great distress and affliction; sore judgments and calamities being upon it; for not darkness in a natural, but in a figurative sense, is intended, see Isa 8:22 the allusion is to the ascending of the smoke before mentioned, through fire being kindled in the thickets of the forest, which filled the air with darkness; as smoke arising in great quantity does. This sense of the word, which is only to be met with in this place, is given by Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben Melech, from the use of it in the Arabic language, in which it signifies (f) darkness; but the Septuagint and Arabic versions render it, "the whole land is burned"; and which is confirmed by the Targum, which so interprets it; and this sense well agrees with the context:

and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire; this explains who are meant by the briers and thorns, and thickets of the forest, the inhabitants of the land of Israel; who, as they are the fuel of fire, were the objects of divine wrath and fury:

no man shall spare his brother; which may be ascribed either to the darkness and confusion in which they should be, and so not be able to discern a friend from a foe, as persons surrounded with smoke; or to their malignant spirit, cruelty and inhumanity, not only doing ill to their enemies, but to their own friends and relations, to their own flesh and blood.

(f) "obscura evasit", ---- "tertia pars noctis, a fine crepusculi, tempus quo posterior peragitur precatio vespertina", Golius, col. 1521, 1522. Castel col. 2944. So Schindler, col. 1410. "ateme, caligo, tenebra, crepusculum".

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

Through the wrath - By the anger, or indignation. This spreading desolation is the proof of his anger.

Is the land darkened - The word used here - עתם ‛âtham - occurs nowhere else. According to Gesenius, it is the same as תמם tâmam to be or make complete; and hence means, “in this place, to be consumed, or laid waste.” Kimchi and Aben Ezra render it, ‘The land is darkened.’ Septuagint, Συγκέκαυται Sungkekautai. Chaldee, צרוכת chărôkat - ‘Is scorched.’ Jerome renders it, Conturbata est terra - ‘The land is disturbed.’ The effect is doubtless such as ascending and spreading columns of fire and smoke would produce, and perhaps the general word desolate had better be used in translating the word.

And the people shall be as fuel of the fire - This is an image of widespread ruin. The idea is, that they shall destroy one another as pieces of wood, when on fire, help to consume each other. The way in which it shall be done is stated more fully in the next verse.

No man shall spare his brother - There shall be such a state of wickedness, that it shall lead to anarchy, and strife, and mutual destruction. The common ties of life shall be dissolved, and a man shall have no compassion on his own brother.

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

Brother. Civil wars shall rage, 4 Kings xv. Josephus (Jewish Wars vii.) perhaps alluded to this passage, when he said, that an ancient prophecy announced ruin to the Jews, when they should turn their arms against each other. (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).

Darkened, either with the smoke last mentioned, or with misery. Or, burnt up, as the LXX., Chaldee, and Arabic interpreters render it.

No man shall spare his brother; they shall destroy one another, as they did in their civil wars, which were frequent among them. The name brother is oft largely used among the Hebrews, even of the remoter kindred, yea, of the fellow members of one city, or tribe, or nation.

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

19. Through the wrath — Prophecy breathes an intense ethical spirit, expressing how God feels toward wrong in itself.

Land darkened — Or, blackened by fire of judgment — the besotted people being the fuel thereof.

No man… spare — When humanity loses all pity for itself the extreme of judgment has come.

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

Is the land darkened; rather, burst up (sugkekautai , LXX). The root used occurs in Arabic in this sense. It is not used elsewhere in Scripture. The people shall be as the fuel of the fire. Though the general ravage, devastation, and desolation of the laud, with its buildings, its trees, and its other vegetable products, is included in the image of the fire devouring the thorny brakes and tangled thickets of a dense forest, yet the threat is intended still more against the Israelite people, who were the true "fuel of the fire," since the ravage would go on until the land should be depopulated. No man shall spare his brother. We have here a new feature. Not only shall foreign enemies Syrians and Philistines dew, up Israel, but the plague of civil war will also be let loose upon them (comp. ver. 21, and see 2Ki_15:30, where we find that Pekah fell a victim to a conspiracy headed by Hoshea).

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

The figure of a general conflagration is continued in this verse, and then exchanged for a literal description of the miseries produced by civil war. “In the wrath of Jehovah of Hosts, the land is darkened (with the smoke, or heated by the flame) and the people is like food (or fuel) of fire; one another (literally, man his brother) they do not spare.”

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

And he snatched on the right They will pillage and plunder one another on the right or on the left and it will not suffice them.

each one...the flesh of his arm Jonathan renders: each one plunders the possessions of his relative.

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.

And he shall snatch, etc. Figuratively said, referring to the civil wars which they shall wage against each other, though being brethren, and forming, as it were, one body.

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.