Isaiah 32:19

When it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the city shall be low in a low place.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(19) When it shall hail, coming down on the forest.—Better, But it shall hail. A time of sharp judgment, “hailstones and coals of fire,” is to precede that of blessedness and peace. Of such a judgment “hail” was the natural symbol. (Comp. Isaiah 30:30; Ezekiel 13:13.) The “forest” stands in the symbolism of prophecy for the rulers and princes of any kingdom, as in Isaiah 10:34 for those of Assyria, and here probably of Judah. Not a few commentators refer the words here also to Assyria, but the city that follows is clearly Jerusalem, and the interpretation given above harmonises accordingly better with the context. Of that city Isaiah says that it shall be “brought down to a low estate,” its pride humbled even to the ground, in order that it may afterwards be exalted.

Benson Commentary

Isaiah 32:19. When — Or, rather, And it shall hail — As my blessings shall be poured down upon my people, who, from a wilderness, are turned into a fruitful field, so my judgments (which are signified by hail, Isaiah 28:2; Isaiah 28:17, and elsewhere) shall fall upon them who were a fruitful field, but are turned into a forest, as was said Isaiah 32:15; that is, upon the unbelieving and rebellious Jews. And the city — Jerusalem, which, though now it was the seat of God’s worship and people, yet he foresaw would be the great enemy of the Messiah; shall be low in a low place — Hebrew, תשׁפל בשׁפלה, shall be humbled with humiliation; that is, shall be greatly humbled, or brought very low.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

32:9-20 When there was so much provocation given to the holy God, bad times might be expected. Alas! how many careless ones there are, who support self-indulgence by shameful stubbornness! We deserve to be deprived of the supports of life, when we make them the food of lusts. Let such tremble and be troubled. Blessed times shall be brought in by the pouring out of the Spirit from on high; then, and not till then, there will be good times. The present state of the Jews shall continue until a more abundant pouring out of the Spirit from on high. Peace and quietness shall be found in the way and work of righteousness. True satisfaction is to be had only in true religion. And real holiness is real happiness now, and shall be perfect happiness, that is, perfect holiness for ever. The good seed of the word shall be sown in all places, and be watered by Divine grace; and laborious, patient labourers shall be sent forth into God's husbandry.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

When it shall hail - Hebrew, ברדת ברד bârad beredeth - 'And it shall hail in coming down. There is a paranomasia in the original here, which cannot be expressed in a translation - a figure of speech, which, as we have seen, is common in Isaiah. 'Hail' is an image of divine vengeance or punishment; and the reference here is, doubtless, to the storms of indignation that would come on the enemies of the Jews, particularly on the Assyrians (see the notes at Isaiah 30:30).

Coming down on the forest - Coming down on the army of the Assyrian, which is here called 'a forest.' The same term 'forest' is given to the army of the Assyrians in Isaiah 10:18-19, Isaiah 10:33-34. The sense is, that the divine judgment would come down on that army with as much severity as a storm of hail descends on a forest - stripping the leaves from the trees, destroying its beauty, and laying it waste.

And the city - According to Gesenius, this is Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire. According to Rosenmuller, Grotius, and others, it is Babylon. Hensler supposes that it is Jerusalem, and that the sense is, that as a city that is situated in a valley is safe when the storm and tempest sweep over the hills, so would it be to Jerusalem when the storm of wrath should sweep away the army of the Assyrian. But the connection evidently requires us to understand it of the capital of the enemy; though whether it be Nineveh or Babylon perhaps cannot be determined.

Shall be low in a low place - Margin, 'Utterly abased.' Hebrew, 'In humility shall be humbled.' The sense is, shall be completely prostrate. Those who refer this to Jerusalem suppose it refers to the time when God should humble it by bringing the enemy so near, and exciting so much consternation and alarm. Those who refer it to Babylon suppose it relates to its destruction. If referred to Nineveh, it must mean when the pride of the capital of the Assyrian empire should be iratabled by the complete overthrow of their army, and the annihilation of their hopes. The connection seems to require us to adopt this latter interpretation. The whole verse is very obscure; but perhaps the above will express its general sense.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

19. Literally, "But it shall hail with coming down of the forest, and in lowness shall the city (Nineveh) be brought low; that is, humbled." The "hail" is Jehovah's wrathful visitation (Isa 30:30; 28:2, 17). The "forest" is the Assyrian host, dense as the trees of a forest (Isa 10:18, 19, 33, 34; Zec 11:2).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

When it shall hail, coming down on the forest, Heb. And it shall hail, &c. As my blessings shall be poured down upon my people, who from a wilderness are turned into a fruitful field, as it is said, Isaiah 32:15; so my wrath and judgments (which are signified by hail, Isaiah 28:2,17, and elsewhere) shall fall upon them, who were a fruitful field, but are turned into a forest, as was said, Isaiah 32:15, i.e. upon the unbelieving and rebellious Jews, who seem there to be designed under that notion.

The city; either,

1. Babylon, the great enemy and oppressor of God’s people. Or,

2. Jerusalem, which, though now it was the seat of God’s worship and people, yet he foresaw by the Spirit of prophecy that it would be the great enemy of the Messiah, and of God’s people.

Shall be low in a low place, Heb. shall be humbled with humiliation; which by an ordinary Hebraism signifies, shall be greatly humbled, or brought very low.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

When it shall hail, coming down on the forest,.... The people of God will be peaceable and quiet, safe and secure, when the judgments of God, signified by a "hail" storm, shall come upon antichrist, and the antichristian states, intended by the "forest", both for their numbers, and for their barrenness and unfruitfulness; see Revelation 16:21 and as so it sometimes is, by the disposition of divine Providence, that a storm of hail falls not upon fields and gardens, and the fruits of the earth, but upon forests and desert lands; and as the plague of hail fell upon the Egyptians, and not upon the Israelites in Goshen, to which some think the allusion is here; so will it be when God comes to take vengeance on the enemies of his people:

and the city shall be low in a low place: meaning not the city of Jerusalem, surrounded with mountains, built under hills, and so under the wind, and not exposed to the fury of a storm; but rather Babylon, built in a plain, in a low plain, and yet should be brought lower still; mystical Babylon is here meant, the city of Rome, that should "in humiliation be humbled", as the words may be rendered, that is, brought very low, exceeding low; see Isaiah 26:5 and which, at the time of the great hail, will be divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations shall fall, and Babylon be had in remembrance by the Lord to destroy it, Revelation 16:19.

Geneva Study Bible

When it shall hail, coming down on the forest; and the {m} city shall be low in a low place.

(m) They will not need to build it in high places for fear of the enemy: for God will defend it, and turn away the storms from hurting their conveniences.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

19. The verse reads: And it shall hail at the falling of the forest, and in lowliness shall the city be laid low. According to most commentators the “forest” is a symbol for Assyria, as in ch. Isaiah 10:18 f., 33 f. But this is suggested by nothing in the context, and the “city” in the next line cannot be Nineveh, which is never referred to by Isaiah, and is far from his thoughts here. The verse as a whole must (if genuine) be taken as an announcement of judgment on Jerusalem; but it comes in so awkwardly between Isaiah 32:18; Isaiah 32:20, that it may not unreasonably be regarded as an interpolation. On the “hail” as a synonym for Divine judgment see ch. Isaiah 28:2; Isaiah 28:17, Isaiah 30:30.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 19. - When it shall hail, coming down on the forest; rather, but it shall hail in the coming down (i.e. the destruction) of the forest. "The forest" has commonly been regarded as Assyria, on the strength of Isaiah 10:18, 19, 33, 34. Mr. Cheyne, however, suggests Judah, or the high and haughty ones of Judah, whose destruction was a necessary preliminary to the establishment of Christ's kingdom. May not God's enemies generally be meant? The city. Nineveh (Lowth, Gesenius, Rosenmüller); Jerusalem (Delitzsch, Knobel, Cheyne, Kay); "the city in which the hostility of the world to Jehovah will, in the latter days, be centralized" (Drechsler, Nagel) - the "world-power," in fact. The last view seems to give the best sense. Isaiah 32:19

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The state would then continue long, very long, until at last the destruction of the false rest would be followed by the realization of the true. "Until the Spirit is poured out over us from on high, and the wilderness becomes a fruitful field, and the fruitful field is counted as the forest. And justice makes its abode in the desert, and righteousness settles down upon the fruit-field. And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the reward of righteousness rest and security for ever. And my people dwells in a place of peace, and in trustworthy, safe dwellings, and in cheerful resting-places. And it hails with the overthrow of the forest, and into lowliness must the city be brought low." There is a limit, therefore, to the "for ever" of Isaiah 32:14. The punishment would last till the Spirit, which Israel had not then dwelling in the midst of it (see Haggai 2:5), and whose fulness was like a closed vessel to Israel, should be emptied out over Israel from the height of heaven (compare the piel ערה, Genesis 24:20), i.e., should be poured out in all its fulness. When that was done, a great change would take place, the spiritual nature of which is figuratively represented in the same proverbial manner as in Isaiah 29:17. At the same time, a different turn is given to the second half in the passage before us. The meaning is, not that what was now valued as a fruit-bearing garden would be brought down from its false eminence, and be only regarded as forest; but that the whole would be so glorious, that what was now valued as a fruit-garden, would be thrown into the shade by something far more glorious still, in comparison with which it would have the appearance of a forest, in which everything grew wild. The whole land, the uncultivated pasture-land as well as the planted fruitful fields of corn and fruit, would then become the tent and seat of justice and righteousness. "Justice and righteousness' (mishpât and tsedâqâh) are throughout Isaiah the stamp of the last and perfect time. As these advance towards self-completion, the produce and result of these will be peace (ma‛ăseh and abhōdâh are used to denote the fruit or self-reward of work and painstaking toil; compare פּעלּה). But two things must take place before this calm, trustworthy, happy peace, of which the existing carnal security is only a caricature, can possibly be realized. In the first place, it must hail, and the wood must fall, being beaten down with hail. We already know, from Isaiah 10:34, that "the wood" was an emblem of Assyria; and in Isaiah 30:30-31, we find "the hail" mentioned as one of the forces of nature that would prove destructive to Assyria. And secondly, "the city" (העיר, a play upon the word, and a counterpart to היּער) must first of all be brought low into lowliness (i.e., be deeply humiliated). Rosenmller and others suppose the imperial city to be intended, according to parallels taken from chapters 24-27; but in this cycle of prophecies, in which the imperial city is never mentioned at all, "the city" must be Jerusalem, whose course from the false peace to the true lay through a humiliating punishment (Isaiah 29:2-4; Isaiah 30:19., Isaiah 31:4.).