10 For the stars of the sky and its constellations will not give their light. The sun will be darkened in its going forth, and the moon will not cause its light to shine.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
For the stars of heaven. In order to strike our minds with a stronger and more distressing fear of the judgment of God, the prophets are accustomed to add to their threatenings extravagant modes of speaking, which place the anger of God, as it were, before their eyes, and affect all our senses, as if all the elements were now arising to execute his vengeance. And yet the expressions, though unusually strong, do not go beyond the dreadful nature of what took place; for it is impossible to exhibit an image of the judgment of God so alarming that the reality shall not be felt to be more revolting and terrible. The sun, and the moon, and the stars are mentioned, because they are striking proofs of God's fatherly kindness towards us. Hence also Christ shows that it is an eminent proof of the goodness of God that he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good. (Matthew 5:45.) Accordingly, when the sun and moon and stars shine in heaven, God may be said to cheer us by his bright and gracious countenance. Since therefore in the brightness of heaven God shows a cheerful and friendly countenance, as if he might be said to smile upon us, the darkness which the Prophet describes conveys the thought, that God, by hiding his face, cast the men with whom he was angry into the darkness of sorrow. A similar description is given by the Prophet Joel. The sun shall be turned into darkness, the moon into blood, before it comes -- the day of Jehovah, great and terrible. (Joel 2:31.) We have already said that this mode of expression is frequently employed by the prophets, in order to inform us that everything will tend to our destruction, when God is against us. Sometimes indeed God gives tokens of his anger by means of the stars; but that is out of the usual course of events, and the darkness which the Prophet now describes will not take place till the second coming of Christ. But we ought to be satisfied with knowing that all the creatures, which by discharging their duties to us are proofs and instruments of God's fatherly kindness, not only cease to be useful to us, when God arises to judgment, but in some measure are armed for vengeance.
For the stars of heaven - This verse cannot be understood literally, but is a metaphorical representation of the calamities that were coming upon Babylon The meaning of the figure evidently is, that those calamities would be such as would be appropriately denoted by the sudden extinguishment of the stars, the sun, and the moon. As nothing would tend more to anarchy, distress, and ruin, than thus to have all the lights of heaven suddenly and forever quenched, this was an apt and forcible representation of the awful calamities that were coming upon the people. Darkness and night, in the Scriptures, are often the emblem of calamity and distress (see the note at Matthew 24:29). The revolutions and destructions of kingdoms and nations are often represented in the Scriptures under this image. So respecting the destruction of Idumea Isaiah 34:4 :
And all the hosts of heaven shall be dissolved,
And the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll;
And all their host shall fall down,
As the leaf falleth from off the vine,
And as a falling fig from the fig-tree.
So in Ezekiel 32:7-8, in a prophecy respecting the destruction of Pharaoh, king of Egypt:
And when I shall put time out,
I will cover the heavens, and make the stoa thereof dark,
I will cover the sun with a cloud,
And the moon shall not give her light.
And the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee.
And set darkness upon thy land.
(Compare Joel 2:10; Joel 3:15-16.) Thus in Amos 8:9 :
I will cause the sun to go down at noon,
And I will darken the earth in a clear day.
See also Revelation 6:12-14 :
And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo,
The sun became black as sackcloth of hair,
And the moon became as blood;
And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth,
Even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs
When she is shaken of a mighty wind:
And the heaven deputed as a scroll when it is rolled together.
Many have supposed that these expressions respecting the sun, moon, and stars, refer to kings, and princes, and magistrates, as the "lights" of the state; and that the sense is, that their power arid glory should cease. But it is rather a figurative representation, denoting calamity "in general,' and describing a state of extreme distress, such as would be if all the lights of heaven should suddenly become extinct.
And the constellations thereof - (וּכסיליהם ûkı̂sı̂ylēyhem). The word (כסיל kesı̂yl) means properly "a fool;" Proverbs 1:32; Proverbs 10:1, Proverbs 10:18; Proverbs 13:19-20, "et al." It also denotes "hope, confidence, expectation" Job 31:24; Proverbs 3:26; Job 8:14; also "the reins, the flanks or loins" Leviticus 3:4, Leviticus 3:10, Leviticus 3:15; Psalm 38:7. It is also, as here, applied to a constellation in the heavens, but the connection of this meaning of the word with the other significations is uncertain. In Job 9:9; Job 38:31, it is translated 'Orion.' In Amos 5:8, it is translated the 'seven stars' - the Pleiades. In Arabic, that constellation is called 'the giant.' According to an Eastern tradition, it was Nimrod, the founder of Babylon, afterward translated to the skies; and it has been supposed that the name the "impious" or "foolish one" was thus given to the deified Nimrod, and thus to the constellation. The rabbis interpret it "Simis." The word 'constellations' denotes clusters of stars, or stars that appear to be near to each other in the heavens, and which, on the celestial globe, are reduced to certain figures for the convenience of classification and memory, as the bear, the bull, the virgin, the balance. This arrangement was early made, and there is no reason to doubt that it existed in the time of Isaiah (compare the notes at Job 9:9).
For the stars of heaven "Yea, the stars of heaven" - The Hebrew poets, to express happiness, prosperity, the instauration and advancement of states, kingdoms, and potentates, make use of images taken from the most striking parts of nature, from the heavenly bodies, from the sun, moon, and stars: which they describe as shining with increased splendor, and never setting. The moon becomes like the meridian sun, and the sun's light is augmented sevenfold; (see Isaiah 30:26); new heavens and a new earth are created, and a brighter age commences. On the contrary, the overflow and destruction of kingdoms is represented by opposite images. The stars are obscured, the moon withdraws her light, and the sun shines no more! The earth quakes, and the heavens tremble; and all things seem tending to their original chaos, See Joel 2:10; Joel 3:15, Joel 3:16; Amos 8:9; Matthew 24:29; and De S. Poes. Herb. Prael. 6 et IX.
And the moon shall not cause her light to shine - This in its farther reference may belong to the Jewish polity, both in Church and state, which should be totally eclipsed, and perhaps shine no more in its distinct state for ever.
For the (h) stars of heaven and its constellations shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.
(h) They who are overcome will think that all the powers of heaven and earth are against them, (Ezekiel 32:7; Joel 3:15; Matthew 24:29).
For the stars of heaven,.... This and what follows are to be understood, not literally, but figuratively, as expressive of the dismalness and gloominess of the dispensation, of the horror and terror of it, in which there was no light, no comfort, no relief, nor any hope of any; the heavens and all the celestial bodies frowning upon them, declaring the displeasure of him that dwells there:
and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; which are assemblages of stars, or certain configurations of the heavenly bodies, devised by the ancients; to which each of the names are given for the help of the imagination and memory; the number of them are forty eight, twelve in the Zodiac, twenty one on the northern side of it, and fifteen on the southern. R. Jonah, mentioned both by Aben Ezra and Kimchi, says that "Cesil", the word here used, is a large star, called in the Arabic language "Suel", and the stars that are joined unto it are called by its name "Cesilim"; so that, according to this, only one constellation is meant; and Aben Ezra observes, that there are some that say that Cesil is a star near to the south pole, on which, if camels look, they die; but, says he, in my opinion it is "the scorpion's heart". Jerom's Hebrew master interpreted it to him Arcturus; and it is in Job 9:9 rendered Orion, and by the Septuagint here; which is one of the constellations, and one of the brightest; and the word being here in the plural number, the sense may be, were there ever so many Orions in the heavens, they should none of them give light. The Targum and Jarchi interpret it of the planets:
the sun shall be darkened in his going forth; as soon as it rises, when it goes forth out of its chamber, as in Psalm 19:5 either by an eclipse of it, or by dark clouds covering it:
and the moon shall not cause her light to shine: by night, which she borrows from the sun; so that it would be very uncomfortable, day and night, neither sun, moon, nor stars appearing, see Acts 27:20 by the sun, moon, and stars, may be meant king, queen, and nobles, whose destruction is here prophesied of; it being usual in prophetic language, as well as in other writers (f), to express great personages hereby.
(f) "Solem Asiae Brutum appellat, stellasque salubres appellat comites", Hor. Serm. 1. Satyr. 7.
stars, &c.--figuratively for anarchy, distress, and revolutions of kingdoms (Isaiah 34:4; Joel 2:10; Ezekiel 32:7-8; Amos 8:9; Revelation 6:12-14). There may be a literal fulfilment finally, shadowed forth under this imagery (Revelation 21:1).
constellations--Hebrew, "a fool," or "impious one"; applied to the constellation Orion, which was represented as an impious giant (Nimrod deified, the founder of Babylon) chained to the sky. See on Job 38:31.
Constellations - Which consist of many stars, and therefore give a greater sight. Darkened - All things shall look darkly and dismally; men shall have no comfort or hope. Going forth - As soon as he rises. As soon as they have any appearance or hope of amendment, they shall be instantly disappointed.
*More commentary available at chapter level.