The Understanding of the Song
(Part 2)

Pastor Bill Farrow

Isaiah 26:14-16

¹⁴They are dead, they will not live; They are deceased, they will not rise. Therefore You have punished and destroyed them, And made all their memory to perish.  ¹⁵You have increased the nation, O Lord, You have increased the nation; You are glorified; You have expanded all the borders of the land.  ¹⁶Lord, in trouble they have visited You, They poured out a prayer when Your chastening was upon them.

Isaiah 26:14

They are dead - That is, the kings and tyrants to whom reference is made in Isa. 26:13. The principal enemies of the Jews, who had oppressed them, were slain when Babylon was taken by Cyrus (see the notes at Isa. 13; 14)

They will not live - They shall not again live, and be permitted to harass and enslave us.

They are deceased, they will not rise - The Hebrew refers to a name given to the shades or manes of the dead, from an idea that they were weak and powerless (see the notes at Isa. 14:9-10; compare Ps. 88:11; Prov. 2:18; 9:18; 21:16). The sense here is, that they had died and gone to the land of shades, and were now unable anymore to reach or injure the people of God.

Therefore - Or rather, “for”; the word being used evidently in the sense of because that, as in Gen. 38:26; Num. 11:31; 14:13; Ps. 42:7; 45:3. The declaration that follows is given as the reason why they were dead, and incapable of again injuring or annoying them.

You have punished and destroyed them - (see the note at Isa. 24:22) The word ‘visit’ here is used in the sense of coming to them in order to punish.

And made all their memory to perish - Hast blotted out their name; hast caused their celebrity to cease.

Isaiah 26:15

You have increased the nation, O Lord, You have increased the nation. You are glorified - That is, the Jewish nation (see the note at Isa. 9:3). The nation was not only enlarged by its regular increase of population, but many converts attended them on their return from Babylon, and probably many came in from surrounding nations on the rebuilding of their capital.

You have expanded all the borders of the land - Or rather, thou hast extended far all the borders of the land. The word rendered ‘removed’ means usually to put far away, and here it may mean to put far away the borders or boundaries of the nation; that is, to extend them far. The word ‘unto’ is not in the original; and the phrase rendered ‘ends of the earth,’ may mean the borders or boundaries of the land. The parallelism requires this construction, and it is indeed the obvious one.

God has grown them so that a little one has become a thousand (in Egypt they multiplied exceedingly, and afterwards in Canaan, so that they filled the land); and in this thou art glorified,’’ for the multitude of the people is the honor of the prince, and therein God was glorified as faithful to his covenant with Abraham, that he would make him a father of many nations. Note, God’s nation is a growing nation, and it is the glory of God that it is so. The increase of the church, that holy nation, is therefore to be rejoiced in because it is the increase of those that make it their business to glorify God in this world.

Isaiah 26:16

Lord, in trouble they have visited You - Because of their sin, they had sometimes been carried into captivity before their enemies (v. 15): "The nation which at first thou didst increase, and make to take root, thou hast now diminished, and plucked up, and removed to all the ends of the earth, driven out to the utmost parts of heaven,’’ as is threatened, (Deu. 30:4; 28:64). But observe, Between the mention of the increasing of them and that of the removing of them it is said, Thou art glorified; for the judgments God inflicts upon his people for their sins are for his honor, as well as the mercies he bestows upon them in performance of his promise.

They poured out a prayer when Your chastening was upon them - Margin, ‘Secret speech.’ The Hebrew word means properly a whispering, muttering; and thru a sighing, a calling for help. This is the sense here. In their calamity they sighed, and called on God for help.

The prophet remembers that when they were thus oppressed and carried captive they cried unto God, which was a good evidence that they neither had quite forsaken him nor were quite forsaken of him, and that there were merciful intentions in the judgments they were under (v. 16): Lord, in trouble have they visited thee. This was usual with the people of Israel, as we find frequently in the story of the Judges. When other lords had dominion over them they humbled themselves, and said, The Lord is righteous, (2 Chr. 12:6).

By way of application, we cannot help but see here the need we have of afflictions. They are necessary to stir up prayer; when it is said, In trouble have they visited thee, it is implied that in their peace and prosperity they were strangers to God, kept at a distance from him, and seldom came near him, as if, when the world smiled upon them, they had no occasion for his favors.

We can also take note of the benefit we often have by afflictions. They bring us to God, quicken us to our duty, and show us our dependence upon him. Those that before seldom looked at God now visit him; they come frequently, they become friendly, and make their court to him. Before, prayer came drop by drop, but now they pour out a prayer; it comes now like water from a fountain, not like water from a still. They poured out a secret speech; so the margin. Praying is speaking to God, but it is a secret speech; for it is the language of the heart, otherwise it is not praying. Afflictions bring us to secret prayer, in which we may be more free and particular in our addresses to him than we can be in public. In affliction those will seek God early who before sought him slowly, (Hos. 5:15). It will make men fervent and fluent in prayer. "They poured out a prayer, as the drink-offerings were poured out, when thy chastening was upon them.’’ But it is to be feared, when the chastening is off them, they will by degrees return to their former carelessness, as they had often done.