22 They shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison; and after many days shall they be visited.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
And they shall be gathered together, and shall be shut up in prison. He continues his subject in the beginning of the verse. The mode of expression is metaphorical; for they were not all captives, but God reduced them to servitude, as if a man held in his hand the enemies whom he subdued. He therefore brings forward God as a conqueror, who shuts up enemies in prison, as captives are commonly shut up. We know that men, as it were, flee from God, and despise him, so long as he spares them, and exercises any forbearance towards them; and on this account also he threatens that they shall be thrown into prison in large masses, that they may not solace themselves with their multitude. Afterwards they shall be visited. When he adds that after a time "they shall be visited," it is not simply a promise, but includes also a threatening to this effect, "As formerly by their obstinacy they mocked God, and excessively prolonged the time of sinning, so God will punish without making haste, till at length, though late, they acknowledge the cause of their distresses." Thus earthly judges frequently do not deign to admit into their presence the malefactors who have offended them, but plunge them into darkness and filth, and gradually wear them out, in order to subdue their obstinacy. Again, as there are two ways in which God visits the world, either when he punishes the wicked, or when he shews to the elect the tokens of a Father's kindness, the word visit here signifies "to look upon;" and thus the Prophet softens the harshness of the threatening. It was necessary that the hearts of the godly should be supported amidst these distresses, that they might not faint; and on their account, therefore, after various threatenings, the prophets are wont to add consolations. As these statements tended to support believers, they were undoubtedly addressed to the Jews, among whom chiefly faith was found, or rather, there was none to be seen anywhere else. After many days. This also deserves attention. It was intended to try the faith of the godly; [1] for we are hasty in our desires, and would wish that God should immediately perform his promises: we complain that he is slow, and we cannot brook any delay. It is therefore our duty to wait patiently for that mercy; and no delay, however long, should make us lose heart. Yet it ought also to be observed, that this does not refer to all; for, as we saw a little before, God had determined to save but a small remnant; and this ought to quicken us the more, that, being humbled by slow and long-continued punishments, we may meet God who visits us.
1 - "Des enfans de Dieu;" -- "Of the children of God."
And they shall be gathered together - That is, those who occupy posts of honor and influence in the ecclesiastical and civil polity of the land. "As prisoners." Margin, as in the Hebrew, 'With the gathering of prisoners.' The reference is to the custom of collecting captives taken in war, and chaining them together by the hands and feet, and thrusting them in large companies into a prison.
In the pit - Margin, 'Dungeon.' The sense is, that he rulers of the land should be made captive, and treated as prisoners of war. This was undoubtedly true in the captivity under Nebuchadnezzar. The people were assembled; were regarded as captives; and were conveyed together to a distant land.
And shall be shut up in the prison - Probably this is not intended to be taken literally, but to denote that they would be as secure as if they were shut up in prison. Their prison-house would be Babylon, where they were enclosed as in a prison seventy years.
And after many days - If this refers, as I have supposed, to the captivity at Babylon, then these 'many days' refer to the period of seventy years.
Shall they be visited - Margin, 'Found wanting.' The word used here (פקד pâqad) may be used either in a good or bad sense, either to visit for the purpose of reviewing, numbering, or aiding; or to visit for the purpose of punishing. It is probably, in the Scriptures, most frequently used in the latter sense (see 1-Samuel 15:2; Job 31:14; Job 35:15; Psalm 89:33; Isaiah 26:14; Jeremiah 9:24). But it is often used in the sense of taking account of, reviewing, or mustering as a military host (see Numbers 1:44; Numbers 3:39; 1-Kings 20:15; Isaiah 13:4). In this place it may be taken in either of these senses, as may be best supposed to suit the connection. To me it seems that the connection seems to require the idea of a visitation for the purpose of relief or of deliverance; and to refer to the fact that at the end of that time there would be a reviewing, a mustering, an enrollment of those who should have been carried away to their distant prison-house, to ascertain how many remained, and to marshal them for their return to the land of their fathers (see the books of Ezra and Nehemiah). The word here used has sometimes the sense expressed in the margin, 'found wanting' (compare 1-Samuel 20:6; 1-Samuel 25:15; Isaiah 38:10); but such a sense does not suit the connection here. I regard the verse as an indication of future mercy and deliverance. They would be thrown into prison, and treated as captives of war; but after a long time they would be visited by the Great Deliverer of their nation, their covenant-keeping God, and reconducted to the land of their fathers.
And they shall be gathered together, [as] prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be (o) visited.
(o) Not with his rods as in (Isaiah 24:21) but will be comforted.
And they shall be gathered together,.... First to the battle of the great day of God Almighty at Armageddon, Revelation 16:14 and there being overcome and taken, they shall be gathered together
as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison; in the prison or the grave, and in hell; as captives are, till such time as something is determined and ordered what to be done with them:
and after many days shall they be visited; or punished, that is, after the thousand years are ended, when the wicked dead will be all raised; after the battle of Gog and Magog, when Satan, the beast, and false prophet, and all their adherents, shall be cast into the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, Revelation 19:20.
in the pit--rather, "for the pit" [HORSLEY]. "In the dungeon" [MAURER]. Image from captives thrust together into a dungeon.
prison--that is, as in a prison. This sheds light on the disputed passage, 1-Peter 3:19, where also the prison is figurative: The "shutting up" of the Jews in Jerusalem under Nebuchadnezzar, and again under Titus, was to be followed by a visitation of mercy "after many days"--seventy years in the case of the former--the time is not yet elapsed in the case of the latter. HORSLEY takes "visited" in a bad sense, namely, in wrath, as in Isaiah 26:14; compare Isaiah 29:6; the punishment being the heavier in the fact of the delay. Probably a double visitation is intended, deliverance to the elect, wrath to hardened unbelievers; as Isaiah 24:23 plainly contemplates judgments on proud sinners, symbolized by the "sun" and "moon."
Isaiah 24:22 announces the preliminary punishment of both angelic and human princes: 'asēphâh stands in the place of a gerundive, like taltēlâh in Isaiah 22:17. The connection of the words 'asēphâh 'assir is exactly the same as that of taltēlâh gâbēr in Isaiah 22:17 : incarceration after the manner of incarcerating prisoners; 'âsaph, to gather together (Isaiah 10:14; Isaiah 33:4), signifies here to incarcerate, just as in Genesis 42:17. Both verbs are construed with ‛al, because the thrusting is from above downwards, into the pit and prison (‛al embraces both upon or over anything, and into it, e.g., 1-Samuel 31:4; Job 6:16; see Hitzig on Nahum 3:12). We may see from 2-Peter 2:4 and Jde 1:6 how this is to be understood. The reference is to the abyss of Hades, where they are reserved in chains of darkness unto the judgment of the great day. According to this parallel, yippâkedu (shall be visited) ought apparently to be understood as denoting a visitation in wrath (like Isaiah 29:6; Ezekiel 38:8; compare pâkad followed by an accusative in Isaiah 26:21, also Isaiah 26:14, and Psalm 59:6; niphkad, in fact, is never used to signify visitation in mercy), and therefore as referring to the infliction of the final punishment. Hitzig, however, understands it as relating to a visitation of mercy; and in this he is supported by Ewald, Knobel, and Luzzatto. Gesenius, Umbreit, and others, take it to indicate a citation or summons, though without any ground either in usage of speech or actual custom. A comparison of Isaiah 23:17 in its relation to Isaiah 23:15
(Note: Cf., Targ., Saad., "they will come into remembrance again.")
favours the second explanation, as being relatively the most correct; but the expression is intentionally left ambiguous. So far as the thing itself is concerned, we have a parallel in Revelation 20:1-3 and Revelation 20:7-9 : they are visited by being set free again, and commencing their old practice once more; but only (as Isaiah 24:23 affirms) to lose again directly, before the glorious and triumphant might of Jehovah, the power they have temporarily reacquired. What the apocalyptist of the New Testament describes in detail in Revelation 20:4, Revelation 20:11., and Revelation 21:1, the apocalyptist of the Old Testament sees here condensed into one fact, viz., the enthroning of Jehovah and His people in a new Jerusalem, at which the silvery white moon (lebânâh) turns red, and the glowing sun (chammâh) turns pale; the two great lights of heaven becoming (according to a Jewish expression) "like a lamp at noonday" in the presence of such glory. Of the many parallels to Isaiah 24:23 which we meet with in Isaiah, the most worthy of note are Isaiah 11:10 to the concluding clause, "and before His elders is glory" (also Isaiah 4:5), and Isaiah 1:26 (cf., Isaiah 3:14), with reference to the use of the word zekēnim (elders). Other parallels are Isaiah 30:26, for chammâh and lebânâh; Isaiah 1:29, for châphēr and bōsh; Isaiah 33:22, for mâlak; Isaiah 10:12, for "Mount Zion and Jerusalem." We have already spoken at Isaiah 1:16 of the word neged (Arab. Ne'gd, from nâgad, njd, to be exalted; vid., opp. Arab. gâr, to be pressed down, to sink), as applied to that which stands out prominently and clearly before one's eyes. According to Hofmann (Schriftbeweis, i. 320-1), the elders here, like the twenty-four presbuteroi of the Apocalypse, are the sacred spirits, forming the council of God, to which He makes known His will concerning the world, before it is executed by His attendant spirits the angels. But as we find counsellors promised to the Israel of the new Jerusalem in Isaiah 1:26, in contrast with the bad zekēnim (elders) which it then possessed (Isaiah 3:14), such as it had at the glorious commencement of its history; and as the passage before us says essentially the same with regard to the zekēnim as we find in Isaiah 4:5 with regard to the festal meetings of Israel (vid., Isaiah 30:20 and Isaiah 32:1); and still further, as Revelation 20:4 (cf., Matthew 19:28) is a more appropriate parallel to the passage before us than Revelation 4:4, we may assume with certainty, at least with regard to this passage, and without needing to come to any decision concerning Revelation 4:4, that the zekēnim here are not angels, but human elders after God's own heart. These elders, being admitted into the immediate presence of God, and reigning together with Him, have nothing but glory in front of them, and they themselves reflect that glory.
Gathered - By God's special providence, in order to their punishment. And thus the unbelieving Jews were generally gathered together at Jerusalem, to their solemn feast, when Titus came and besieged, and destroyed them. Shut up - As malefactors, which are taken in several places, are usually brought to one common prison. After - After the apostate Jews shall have been shut up in unbelief, and in great tribulations for many ages together, they shall be convinced of their sin in crucifying the Messiah, and brought home to God and Christ by true repentance.
*More commentary available at chapter level.