The previous chapters, from the thirteenth to the twenty-third inclusive, have been occupied mainly in describing the destruction of nations that were hostile to the Jews, or great and distressing calamities that would come ripen them. The prophet had thus successively depicted the calamities that would come upon Babylon, Damascus, Moab, Nubia, Egypt, Dumah, and Tyre. In Isaiah. 22, he had, however, described the calamities which would come upon Judea and Jerusalem by the invasion of Sennacherib.
In this chapter, the prophet returns to the calamities which would come upon the people of God themselves. This chapter, and the three following, to the end of the twenty-seventh, seem to have been uttered about the same time, and perhaps may be regarded as constituting one vision, or prophecy. So Noyes, Lowth, and Rosenmuller, regard it. If these chapters be included in the prophecy, then it consists
(1) of a description of calamities in Isaiah. 24.
(2) of a song of praise expressive of deliverance from those calamities, and of the consequent spread of the true religion, in Isaiah 25:1-12;
(3) of a song of praise suitable to celebrate the triumphs of the true religion in Isaiah. 26; and
(4) of the effect of tiffs deliverance in purifying the Jews in Isaiah 27:1-13.
When the prophecy was uttered is wholly unknown. In regard to the events to which it relates, there has been a great diversity of opinion, and scarcely are any two interpreters agreed. Grotius regards it as relating to the carrying away of the ten tribes by Shalmaneser. Hensler supposes that it refers to the invasion of Sennacherib. Vitringa supposes that it relates to the times of the Maccabees, and to the trials and I persecutions of Antiochus Epiphanes. Noyes regards it as descriptive of the destruction of the land by Nebuchadnezzar, and of the return of the Jews from exile. Calvin considers the account in these four chapters as a summing up, or recapitulation of what the prophet had said in the previous prophecies respecting Babylon, Moab, Egypt, etc.; and then of the prosperity, and of the spread of the true religion which would succeed these general and far-spread devastations.
Subsequently to each of these predictions respecting calamity, the prophet had foretold prosperity and the advance of truth; and he supposes that this is a mere condensing or summing up of what he had said more at length in the preceding chapters. Lowth supposes that it may have a reference to all the great desolations of the country by Shalmaneser, by Nebuchadnezzar, and by the Romans, especially to that of the Romans, to which some parts of it, he says, seem to be especially applicable. It is certain that the prophet employs general terms; and as he gives no certain indications of the time, or the circumstances under which it was delivered, it is exceedingly difficult to determine either. The general drift of the prophecy is, however, plain. It is a prediction of prosperity, and of the prevalence of true religion after a series of oppressive judgments should have come upon the land. It is designed, therefore, to be consolatory to the Jews under impending calamities, and to convey the assurance that though they would be oppressed, yet their sufferings would be succeeded by occasions of gratitude and joy. In this respect, it accords with the general strain of the prophecies of Isaiah, that the people of God would. be protected; that their name and nation should not be wholly obliterated; and that the darkest seasons of trial would be succeeded by deliverance and joy.
On the whole, it seems to me, that the prophecy relates to the calamities that would come upon the nation by the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar, and the carrying away to Babylon, and the subsequent deliverance from the oppressive bondage, and the joy consequent on that. According to this interpretation, the twenty-fourth chapter is occupied mainly with the description of the calamities that would come upon the land by the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar; the twenty-fifth describes the deliverance from that oppressive bondage, and the re-establishment of the true religion on Mount Zion, with a rapid glance at the ultimate prevalence of religion trader the Messiah, suggested by the deliverance from the Babylonian bondage; the twentysixth chapter is a song expressive of joy at this signal deliverance - in language, in the main, so general that it is as applicable to the redemption under the Messiah as to the deliverance from Babylon; and the twenty-seventh chapter is descriptive of the effect of this captivity and subsequent deliverance in purifying Jacob Isaiah 27:6-9, and recovering the nation to righteousness.
The twenty-fourth chapter is composed of three parts.
1. Isaiah 24:1-12 contains a description of the calamities that would come upon the whole land, amounting to far-spread and wide desolation - with a graphic description of the effects of it on the inhabitants Isaiah 24:2, on the land Isaiah 24:3-6, on the wine, the amusements, the song, etc. Isaiah 24:7-12, causing all gaiety and prosperity to come to an end.
2. Isaiah 24:13-17 contains a statement by the prophet that a few would be left in the land amidst the general desolation, and that they would be filled with joy that they had escaped. From their retreats and refuges, their fastnesses and places of security, they would lift up the song of praise that they had been preserved.
3. Isaiah 24:18-23 contains a further description of augmented judgment that would come upon the land - a more severe and lengthened calamity stretching over the country, agitating it like an earthquake. Yet there is even here Isaiah 24:22-23, an indication that there would be deliverance, and that the Lord of hosts would reign on Mount Zion - a description which is extended through the next chapter, and which constitutes the scope and substance of that chapter.
In the division of the prophecy into chapters, that chapter should have been connected with this as a part of the same prophecy, and a continuance of the same subject. Indeed, but for the length of the prophecy, these four chapters should have been thrown into one, or if the prophecy had been broken up into chapters, important aids would have been rendered to a correct understanding of it had there been some indication in the margin that they constituted one prophecy or vision.

Dreadful judgments impending over the people of God, Isaiah 24:1-4. Particular enumeration of the horrid impieties which provoked the Divine vengeance, Isaiah 24:5, Isaiah 24:6. Great political wretchedness of the transgressors, Isaiah 24:7-12. The calamities shall be so great that only a small remnant shall be left in the land, as it were the gleanings of the vintage, Isaiah 24:13. The rest, scattered over the different countries, spread there the knowledge of God, Isaiah 24:14-16. Strong figures by which the great distress and long captivity of the transgressors are set forth, Isaiah 24:17-22. Gracious promise of a redemption from captivity; and of an extension of the kingdom of God in the latter days, attended with such glorious circumstances as totally to eclipse the light and splendor of the previous dispensation, Isaiah 24:23.
From the thirteenth chapter to the twenty-third inclusive, the fate of several cities and nations is denounced: of Babylon, of the Philistines, Moab, Damascus, Egypt, Tyre. After having foretold the destruction of the foreign nations, enemies of Judah, the prophet declares the judgments impending on the people of God themselves for their wickedness and apostasy, and the desolation that shall be brought on their whole country.
The twenty-fourth and the three following chapters seem to have been delivered about the same time: before the destruction of Moab by Shalmaneser; see Isaiah 25:10, consequently, before the destruction of Samaria; probably in the beginning of Hezekiah's reign. But concerning the particular subject of the twenty-fourth chapter interpreters are not at all agreed: some refer it to the desolation caused by the invasion of Shalmaneser; others to the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar; and others to the destruction of the city and nation by the Romans. Vitringa is singular in his opinion, who applies it to the persecution of Antiochus Epiphanes. Perhaps it may have a view to all of the three great desolations of the country, by Shalmaneser, by Nebuchadnezzar, and by the Romans; especially the last, to which some parts of it may seem more peculiarly applicable. However, the prophet chiefly employs general images; such as set forth the greatness and universality of the ruin and desolation that is to be brought upon the country by these great revolutions, involving all orders and degrees of men, changing entirely the face of things, and destroying the whole polity, both religious and civil; without entering into minute circumstances, or necessarily restraining it by particular marks to one great event, exclusive of others of the same kind. - L.

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 24
This chapter contains a prophecy of calamities that should come upon the whole world, and the inhabitants of it, for their sins; of the preservation of a remnant; of the visitation of the kings of the earth; and of the appearance of Christ in his glory and majesty. The miserable condition of the world, and its inhabitants, especially all within the Romish jurisdiction, is set forth by various phrases, Isaiah 24:1 the causes of which are the transgression and mutation of the laws and ordinances of Christ, Isaiah 24:5 the effects of which are the cursing and burning of the inhabitants, Isaiah 24:6 cessation of all joy among them, Isaiah 24:7 and the destruction of their chief city, Rome, Isaiah 24:10 then follows a prophecy of a remnant that shall escape, and be brought into a very comfortable condition, and sing for joy, and glorify God in the midst of the earth, and in the uttermost parts of it, Isaiah 24:13 but it is intimated it shall go ill with others for their perfidy and treachery; fear and danger shall attend them everywhere, Isaiah 24:16 yea, in the issue, the world shall be shaken, and moved and removed, and be utterly dissolved, fall and not rise more, Isaiah 24:19 when the kings and great ones of the earth shall be taken prisoners, and punished by the Lord, Isaiah 24:21 and then Christ shall take to himself his great power, and reign with his people gloriously in the New Jerusalem state, Isaiah 24:23.

(Isaiah 24:1-12) The desolation of the land.
(Isaiah 24:13-15) A few shall be preserved.
(Isaiah 24:16-23) God's kingdom advanced by his judgments.

Finale of the Great Catastrophe - Isaiah 24-27 part iv
The cycle of prophecies which commences here has no other parallel in the Old Testament than perhaps Zech. Both sections are thoroughly eschatological and apocryphal in their character, and start from apparently sharply defined historical circumstances, which vanish, however, like will-o'the-wisps, as soon as you attempt to follow and seize them; for the simple reason, that the prophet lays hold of their radical idea, carries them out beyond their outward historical form, and uses them as emblems of far-off events of the last days. It is not surprising, therefore, that the majority of modern critics, from the time of Eichhorn and Koppe, have denied the genuineness of these four chapters (Isaiah 24-27), notwithstanding the fact that there is nothing in the words themselves that passes beyond the Assyrian times. Rosenmller did this in the first edition of his Scholia; but in the second and third editions he has fallen into another error, chiefly because the prophecy contains nothing which passes beyond the political horizon of Isaiah's own times. Now we cannot accept this test of genuineness; it is just one of the will-o'-the-wisps already referred to. Another consequence of this phenomenon is, that our critical opponents inevitably get entangled in contradictions as soon as they seek for a different historical basis for this cycle of prophecies from that of Isaiah's own times. According to Gesenius, De Wette, Maurer, and Umbreit, the author wrote in Babylonia; according to Eichhorn, Ewald, and Knobel, in Judah. In the opinion of some, he wrote at the close of the captivity; in that of others, immediately after the overthrow of the kingdom of Judah. Hitzig supposes the imperial city, whose destruction is predicted, to be Nineveh; others, for the most part, suppose it to be Babylon. But the prophet only mentions Egypt and Asshur as powers by which Israel is enslaved; and Knobel consequently imagines that he wrote in this figurative manner from fear of the enemies that were still dwelling in Judah. This wavering arises from the fact, that what is apparently historical is simply an eschatological emblem. It is quite impossible to determine whether that which sounds historical belonged to the present or past in relation to the prophet himself. His standing-place was beyond all the history that has passed by, even down to the present day; and everything belonging to this history was merely a figure in the mirror of the last lines. Let it be once established that no human critics can determine priori the measure of divine revelation granted to any prophet, and all possible grounds combine to vindicate Isaiah's authorship of chapters 24-27, as demanded by its place in the book of Isaiah.
(Note: The genuineness is supported by Rosenmller, Hensler (Jesaia neu bersetzt, mit Anm.), Paulus (Clavis ber Jesaia), Augusti (Exeg. Handbuch), Beckhaus (ber Integritt der proph. Schriften des A. T. 1796), Kleinert (ber die Echtheit smmtlicher in d. Buche Jesaia enth. Weissagungen, 1829), Kper (Jeremias librorum sacr. interpres atque vindex, 1837), and Jahn, Hvernick, Keil (in their Introductions). In monographs, C. F. L. Arndt (De loco, c. xxiv. - xxvii., Jesaiae vindicando et explicando, 1826), and Ed. Bhl (Vaticinium Jes. cap. xxiv. - xxvii. commentario illustr. 1861).)
Appended as they are to chapters 13-23 without a distinct heading, they are intended to stand in a relation of steady progress to the oracles concerning the nations; and this relation is sustained by the fact that Jeremiah read them in connection with these oracles (compare Isaiah 24:17-18, with Jeremiah 48:43-44), and that they are full of retrospective allusions, which run out like a hundred threads, though grasped, as it were, in a single hand. Chapters 24-27 stand in the same relation to chapters 13-23, as chapters 11, Isaiah 12:1-6 to chapters 7-10. The particular judgments predicted in the oracle against the nations, all flow into the last judgment as into a sea; and all the salvation which formed the shining edge of the oracles against the nations, is here concentrated in the glory of a mid-day sun. Chapters 24-27 form the finale to chapters 13-23, and that in a strictly musical sense. What the finale should do in a piece of music - namely, gather up the scattered changes into a grand impressive whole - is done here by this closing cycle. But even part from this, it is full of music and song. The description of the catastrophe in chapter 24 is followed by a simple hymnal echo. As the book of Immanuel closes in Isaiah 12:1-6 with a psalm of the redeemed, so have we here a fourfold song of praise. The overthrow of the imperial city is celebrated in a song in Isaiah 25:1-5; another song in Isaiah 25:9 describes how Jehovah reveals himself with His saving presence; another in Isaiah 26:1-19 celebrates the restoration and resurrection of Israel; and a fourth in Isaiah 27:2-5 describes the vineyard of the church bringing forth fruit under the protection of Jehovah. And these songs contain every variety, from the most elevated heavenly hymn to the tenderest popular song. It is a grand manifold concert, which is merely introduced, as it were, by the epic opening in chapter 24 and the epic close in Isaiah 27:6., and in the midst of which the prophecy unfolds itself in a kind of recitative. Moreover, we do not find so much real music anywhere else in the ring of the words. The heaping up of paronomasia has been placed among the arguments against the genuineness of these chapters. But we have already shown by many examples, drawn from undisputed prophecies (such as Isaiah 22:5; Isaiah 17:12-13), that Isaiah is fond of painting for the ear; and the reason why he does it here more than anywhere else, is that chapters 24-27 formed a finale that was intended to surpass all that had gone before. The whole of this finale is a grand hallelujah to chapters 13-23, hymnic in its character, and musical in form, and that to such a degree, that, like Isaiah 25:6, the prophecy is, as it were, both text and divisions at the same time. There was no other than Isaiah who was so incomparable a master of language. Again, the incomparable depth in the contents of chapters 24-27 does not shake our confidence in his authorship, since the whole book of this Solomon among the prophets is full of what is incomparable. And in addition to much that is peculiar in this cycle of prophecies, which does not astonish us in a prophet so richly endowed, and so characterized by a continual change "from glory to glory," the whole cycle is so thoroughly Isaiah's in its deepest foundation, and in a hundred points of detail, that it is most uncritical to pronounce the whole to be certainly not Isaiah's simply because of these peculiarities. So far as the eschatological and apocalyptical contents, which seem to point to a very late period, are concerned, we would simply call to mind the wealth of eschatological ideas to be found even in Joel, who prophesies of the pouring out of the Spirit, the march of the nations of the world against the church, the signs that precede the last day, the miraculous water of the New Jerusalem. The revelation of all the last things, which the Apocalypse of the New Testament embraces in one grand picture, commenced with Obadiah and Joel; and there is nothing strange in the fact that Isaiah also, in chapters 24-27, should turn away from the immediate external facts of the history of his own time, and pass on to these depths beyond.