1 Yahweh, you are my God. I will exalt you! I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, things planned long ago, in complete faithfulness and truth. 2 For you have made a city into a heap, a fortified city into a ruin, a palace of strangers to be no city. It will never be built. 3 Therefore a strong people will glorify you. A city of awesome nations will fear you. 4 For you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shade from the heat, when the blast of the dreaded ones is like a storm against the wall. 5 As the heat in a dry place will you bring down the noise of strangers; as the heat by the shade of a cloud, the song of the dreaded ones will be brought low. 6 In this mountain, Yahweh of Armies will make all peoples a feast of fat things, a feast of choice wines, of fat things full of marrow, of well refined choice wines. 7 He will destroy in this mountain the surface of the covering that covers all peoples, and the veil that is spread over all nations. 8 He has swallowed up death forever! The Lord Yahweh will wipe away tears from off all faces. He will take the reproach of his people away from off all the earth, for Yahweh has spoken it. 9 It shall be said in that day, "Behold, this is our God! We have waited for him, and he will save us! This is Yahweh! We have waited for him. We will be glad and rejoice in his salvation!" 10 For in this mountain the hand of Yahweh will rest. Moab will be trodden down in his place, even like straw is trodden down in the water of the dunghill. 11 He will spread out his hands in its midst, like one who swims spreads out hands to swim, but his pride will be humbled together with the craft of his hands. 12 He has brought the high fortress of your walls down, laid low, and brought to the ground, even to the dust.
For the general design and scope of this chapter, see the Analysis to Isaiah. 24. It is a song of praise to God for the anticipated deliverance of his people from the bondage in Babylon. The desolation of Jerusalem and Judah had been described in Isaiah. 24; that chapter had closed with an intimation that Yahweh would again reign in glory on Mount Zion Isaiah 24:23; and in view of this future deliverance the prophet breaks out into this beautiful song of praise. It was not unusual for the prophets to express, by anticipation, such songs of praise as would be celebrated by the people in times of signal deliverance (see the notes at Isaiah 12:1-6) This song of praise is one of the most beautiful that is to be found in the writings of Isaiah. The essential idea is that which was hinted at in Isaiah 24:23, that Yahweh would reign with a glory that would obscure the brightness of the sun and the moon on Mount Zion. Filled with the idea, the prophet fixes the eye on those future glories, and declares what shall occur under that reign. He sees Yahweh reigning there for a long series of years; and during that reign he sees Isaiah 25:6 that he would provide a way by which the darkness might be removed from all nations Isaiah 25:7; that he would originate that plan by which death would be swallowed up in victory Isaiah 25:8; and that there he would execute a plan by which all his enemies would be laid low Isaiah 25:9-12. The hymn is designed, therefore, to celebrate the faithfulness of God in fulfilling his ancient promises, and delivering his people from their long captivity by the destruction of Babylon Isaiah 25:1-5; and the future glories that would shine forth under the reign of Yahweh on Mount Zion, including the arrangements of redeeming mercy for the world.
The short glance which the prophet gave at the promised restoration of the people of God and the Messiah's kingdom, in the close of the preceding chapter, makes him break out into a rapturous song of praise in this, where although he alludes to temporal mercies, such as the destruction of the cities which had been at war with Zion, the ruin of Moab, and other signal interpositions of Divine Providence in behalf of the Jews; yet he is evidently impressed with a more lively sense of future and much higher blessings under the Gospel dispensation, in the plenitude of its revelation, of which the temporal deliverances vouchsafed at various tines to the primitive kingdoms of Israel and Judah were the prototypes, Isaiah 25:1-5. These blessings are described under the figure of a feast made for all nations, Isaiah 25:6; the removing of a veil from their faces, Isaiah 25:7; the total extinction of the empire of death by the resurrection from the dead, the exclusion of all sorrow, and the final overthrow of all the enemies of the people of God, Isaiah 25:8-12.
It does not appear to me that this chapter has any close and particular connection with the chapter immediately preceding, taken separately, and by itself. The subject of that was the desolation of the land of Israel and Judah, by the just judgment of God, for the wickedness and disobedience of the people: which, taken by itself, seems not with any propriety to introduce a hymn of thanksgiving to God for his mercies to his people in delivering them from their enemies. But taking the whole course of prophecies, from the thirteenth to the twenty-fourth chapter inclusive, in which the prophet foretells the destruction of several cities and nations, enemies to the Jews, and of the land of Judah itself, yet with intimations of a remnant to be saved, and a restoration to be at length effected by a glorious establishment of the kingdom of God: with a view to this extensive scene of God's providence in all its parts, and in all its consequences, the prophet may well be supposed to break out into this song of praise; in which his mind seems to be more possessed with the prospect of future mercies than with the recollection of the past. - L.
INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 25
This chapter contains a thanksgiving, or a triumphant song, upon the destruction of antichrist, and the antichristian states, for benefits and blessings bestowed upon the church, and for the setting up of the glorious kingdom of Christ in the Jerusalem state. It begins with a form of praise, and the reason of it in general, Isaiah 25:1 the particular instances of wonderful things are, the ruin of a certain city described, Isaiah 25:2 which will issue in the fear and glory of God, Isaiah 25:3 the great appearance of the Lord for his poor people, in being strength, refuge, and a shadow to them, Isaiah 25:4 a rich feast made for them, Isaiah 25:6 the removal of the veil from all people, Isaiah 25:7 the abolition of death, and every affliction, Isaiah 25:8 the personal appearance of Christ unto salvation, Isaiah 25:9 the protection of the church, and the certain and utter destruction of her enemies, under the name of Moab, Isaiah 25:10.
(Isaiah 25:1-5) A song of praise.
(Isaiah 25:6-8) A declaration of the gospel blessings.
(Isaiah 25:9-12) The destruction of the enemies of Christ's church.
The Fourfold Melodious Echo - Isaiah 25-26
A. First Echo - Isaiah 25:1-8
Salvation of the Nations after the Fall of the Imperial City
There is not merely reflected glory, but reflected sound as well. The melodious echoes commence with Isaiah 25:1. The prophet, transported to the end of the days, commemorates what he has seen in psalms and songs. These psalms and songs not only repeat what has already been predicted; but, sinking into it, and drawing out of it, they partly expand it themselves, and partly prepare the way for its further extension.
*More commentary available by clicking individual verses.