IN PERFECT FAITHFULNESS: "Faithful and sure" (RSV). Or
"faithful and true", a title of Christ in Rev 9:11. An idiom for the promises of
God, esp those made to the ancient fathers and to David (Mic 7:20; Psa
89:1,2,22,24,29; Gen 24:27).
MARVELOUS THINGS: "A wonder of counsels": cp Isa 9:6.
The "marvelous things" = the saving of Jerusalem from the Assyrians; the saving
of Hezekiah from a deadly illness. In both deliverances, there was no hope from
man, but only by dramatic act of God (Isa 38:5,6).
THINGS PLANNED LONG AGO: Foretold some years earlier:
Isa 14:25; 17:13; 4:2; 1:26; 8:14; 16:5; 22:20,21.
Isa 25:2
THE CITY: Here, Nineveh, not destroyed soon (in fact,
more than 100 years later). Is this characteristic prophetic language, asserting
inevitable overthrow because Isaiah himself (Isa 13;14), Micah (Mic 5:6), and
Nahum (Nah 2;3) had already foretold it?
THE FOREIGNERS' STRONGHOLD... NEVER BE REBUILT: The
Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem?
Isa 25:3
The Gentile nations giving glory to the God of Hezekiah: 2Ch
32:23. For LD //, see Rev 11:13.
Isa 25:4
// Isa 4:5,6.
REFUGE: God a strong tower: Pro 18:10.
POOR... NEEDY: Hezekiah himself, delivered
simultaneously from the threat to his own life and threat to his city.
Isa 25:5
AS HEAT IS REDUCED BY THE SHADOW OF A CLOUD: "As when
heat burns under a cloud", ie the Shekinah Glory.
SO THE SONG OF THE RUTHLESS IS STILLED: "A psalm shall
bring down the terrible ones" (TofE 67). Cp 2Ch 20:21,22.
Isa 25:6
THIS MOUNTAIN: Mt Zion (Isa 24:23).
RICH FOOD: Previously all fat things were God's
portions only (Lev 3:3-5). But now they are shared with all mankind. Feast of
Tabernacles language (cp Zec 14:16)! Also, Breaking of bread, with bread and
wine: Luk 22:16; Mat 26:29; Isa 55:1,2.
FOR ALL PEOPLE: "None can sit at the table who do not
know the giver" (GbS 58). "Many will come from the east and the west, and will
take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of
heaven" (Mat 8:11).
WINES: "When I drink it anew with you" (Mat
26:29).
SHROUD: Or "veil", marking their leprous uncleanness
(Lev 13:45) -- the disease that threatened to kill Hezekiah. "Shroud", however,
suits v 8: "death". Perhaps, esp, the veil, or cloth, placed over the face of
the dead (cp Joh 11:44; 19:40; 20:7). ("Veil", or "shroud" = Heb "lowt", or
"Lot", the father of Moab (cp v 10 here).
THAT ENFOLDS ALL PEOPLES: "And suffering Gentile
nations shared in his [Hezekiah's] gladness (Isa 14:1; 16:4 19:18-25; 23:18; 2Ch
32:23; 2Ki 20:12)" (WIsa 266).
Isa 25:8
HE WILL SWALLOW UP DEATH FOREVER: Hezekiah: Isa
38:19-21. The image of the LORD "swallowing" death would be esp powerful, for
death was viewed in Canaanite mythology and culture as a hungry god who swallows
his victims. (NT) Quoted by Paul in 1Co 15:54 re resurrection.
THE SOVEREIGN LORD WILL WIPE AWAY THE TEARS FROM ALL
FACES: Re Hezekiah: Isa 38:5; 30:19; Psa 116:8. LD: "It is the picture of
the angel of the Lord personally wiping away for ever the tears of sadness which
have been inevitable in the experience of all saints in Christ. This
incomparable comfort will be one of the greatest of the blessings of the kingdom
of God. For the assurance of the sore-tested believer it is so picked out in two
Apocalyptic visions of the age to come (Rev 7:17; 21:4). Behind these words is
yet a further comfort. More than once it has been said: 'How shall I be able to
enjoy the blessedness of the kingdom if one whom I have so long and so dearly
loved does not share it with me?' To this Isaiah's answer is that even such
tears will be wiped away. The implication is that all memories involving sadness
will be blotted out by the imparting of a superb faculty for forgetting:
'Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears; for thy work shall
be rewarded' (Jer 31:16)" (WIsa 269).
HE WILL REMOVE THE DISGRACE OF HIS PEOPLE FROM ALL THE
EARTH: "Disgrace" = the Assyrian menace: Psa 44:13-16; 79:10,11; 89:50,51;
Mic 6:16.
Isa 25:9
IN THAT DAY: Cp Isa 26:1; 27:1,2,12,13.
WE TRUSTED IN HIM: Cp Isa 26:8; 33:2.
LET US BE REJOICE AND BE GLAD IN HIS SALVATION: Psa
118:24.
Isa 25:10
THE HAND OF THE LORD WILL REST: That is, to
protect.
BUT MOAB WILL BE TRAMPLED: But for the enemy (Moab
here: Isa 15;16), Zion, originally a threshing floor, became a place of
downtreading.