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.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
For the hand of Jehovah shall rest. The design of the Prophet in the beginning of this verse, I have no doubt, was to comfort the godly, who but for this would have thought that God had forsaken and abandoned them; for the opinion of those who view it as describing the judgment which the Lord was about to execute on the Jews, has no foundation whatever; but the meaning is the same as if he had said, that the Lord will always assist his Church. I am aware that "the hand of God" rests also on the reprobate, when he does not cease to pursue them with his vengeance, till he completely overwhelm them; but here the word "hand" denotes assistance, and not chastisements, and therefore by the word "rest," is meant the uninterrupted continuance of defense or protection. We draw from this a profitable doctrine, that although God scatters innumerable blessings over the whole world, in such a manner that wicked men also obtain a share of them, yet his "hand" does not "rest," or is not continually present, but in the holy mountain; that is, in the Church, where he is worshipped. It ought also to be observed, that Jerusalem had been chastised, before she received these blessings; for he had formerly threatened chastisements and punishments, to which he added this consolation. And Moab shall be trodden down under him. In this clause he gives an additional view of the grace of God; for, by inflicting punishment on the enemies of the Church, he will shew how dearly he values its salvation. The Jews had no enemies more deadly than the Moabites, though their ancestors [1] were near relatives. By a figure of speech (sunekdochikos) in which a part is taken for the whole, he includes under this name all the enemies of the Church, and especially those who are somewhat related to them, and who are more destructive than all others. He shews that, though for a time they are victorious and oppress the Church, yet eventually they shall be punished. His object is, that under their afflictions believers may not lose heart, as if their condition were unhappy, while wicked men are cheerful and prosperous; for the "treading down," which is here mentioned, will quickly follow. Consequently, if at the present day we see the Church disturbed and oppressed by those who are somewhat related to us, and who even assume the name and title of the Church, let us comfort our hearts by this promise. As straw is trodden down in the dunghills. [2] The word mdmnh, (Madmenah,) which we translate "dunghill," [3] is supposed by some to be the name of a city, which is also mentioned by Jeremiah, (Jeremiah 48:2.) But what if we should say that the Prophet alludes to the city, which was probably situated in a fertile soil, and thus conveys a stronger censure, and presses harder on the Moabites? As if he had said, "As straw is trodden down in their fields, so will the Lord tread down the Moabites." I do not dislike other interpretations, but consider it to be not improbable that he alludes to the fertility of the soil in which that city was situated. Yet in my version I have not hesitated to follow the common opinion.
1 - That is, Abraham and Lot. (Genesis 11:31; 19:37.)
2 - "As straw is trodden down for the dunghill, (or, thrashed in Madmenah.)" -- (Eng. Ver.)
3 - Professor Alexander renders it, "in the water of the dunghill," and remarks, "The Keri, or Masoretic reading in the margin, has vmv, a poetical equivalent of v, the preposition. The Kethib, or textual reading, which is probably more ancient, is vmy, in the water. This, with the next word, may denote a pool in which the straw was left to putrefy."
For in this mountain - In mount Zion.
Shall the land of the Lord rest - "The hand" in the Scriptures is often used as the symbol of protection and defense. By the expression that the hand of Yahweh should REST on mount Zion, is meant probably that be would be its defender; his protection would not be withdrawn, but would be permanent there. For an illustration of the phrase, see a similar use of the word hand as denoting protection, in Ezra 7:6, Ezra 7:28; Ezra 8:18, Ezra 8:22, Ezra 8:31; Nehemiah 2:8.
And Moab - (For an account of Moab, see the notes at Isaiah 15:1-9; Isaiah 16:1-14.) Moab here seems to be used in a general sense to denote the enemies of God, a and the declaration that it would be trodden down seems designed to indicate that the foes of God and his people would all be destroyed (compare the notes at Isaiah. 34)
Under him - The Chaldee renders this, 'In his own place.' The phrase has the sense of 'in his place,' in Exodus 16:29; 2-Samuel 2:23. Here it may mean that Moab, or the enemies of God, would be trodden down and destroyed in their own land.
As straw is trodden down for the dunghill - As straw is suffered to lie in the yard where cattle lie, to be trodden down by them for the purpose of making manure. Lowth renders this,
'As the straw is threshed under the wheels of the car.'
The Septuagint renders it in the same way. Lowth supposes that there has been an error in transcribing the Hebrew text, and that the former reading was מדכבה instead of מדמנה. But there is not the slightest evidence from the MSS that any such mistake has occurred. Nor is it necessary to suppose it. The image is one that is not of unfrequent occurrence in the Scriptures, to denote the complete and disgraceful prostration of an enemy (see Psalm 83:10; 2-Kings 9:37; Jeremiah 8:2; Jeremiah 9:22; Jeremiah 16:4; Jeremiah 25:33).
Shall the hand of the Lord rest "The hand of Jehovah shall give rest" - Hebrews תנוח tenuach, quiescet. Annon תניח taniach, quietem dabit, shall rest; shall give rest, ut Graeci, αναπαυσιν δωσει, et Copt.? - Mr. Woide. That is, "shall give peace and quiet to Sion, by destroying the enemy; "as it follows."
As straw is trodden down "As the straw is threshed" - Hoc junta ritum loquitur Palastinae et multarum Orientis provinciarum, quae ob pratorum et foeni penuriam paleas preparant esui animantium. Sunt autem carpenta ferrata rotis per medium in serrarum modum se volventibus, quae stipulam conterunt; et comminuunt in paleas. Quomodo igitur plaustris ferratis paleae conteruntur, sic conteretur Moab sub eo; sive sub Dei potentia, sive in semetipso, ut nihil in eo integri remaneat. "This is spoken in reference to the mode of threshing in Palestine, and various other Asiatic provinces. Because of the scarcity of meadow land and hay they make chopped straw for the cattle. They have large wheels studded over with iron teeth or nails, by which, on the out-of-door threshing-floors, they pound and reduce the straw into chaff. As, therefore, the straw is reduced to chaff by bringing the iron-shod wheel over it; so shall Moab be bruised by the power of God, that nothing whole shall remain." - Hieron. in loc. See the note on Isaiah 28:27 (note).
For the dunghill "Under the wheels of the car" - For מדמנה madmenah, the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate read מרכבה mercabah, which I have followed. See Joshua 15:31, compared with Joshua 19:5, where there is a mistake very nearly the same. The keri, במי bemi, is confirmed by twenty-eight MSS., seven ancient, and three editions.
For on this mountain shall the hand of the LORD rest, and (l) Moab shall be trodden down under him, even as straw is trodden down for the (m) dunghill.
(l) By Moab are meant all the enemies of his Church.
(m) There were two cities by this name: one in Judah, (1-Chronicles 6:81) and another in the land of Moab, (Jeremiah 48:2) which seems to have been a plentiful place of corn, (Isaiah 36:17).
For in this mountain shall the hand of the Lord rest,.... Where he will make the feast of fat things, Isaiah 25:6 even in his church, which is his resting place, and where he delights to dwell; and over whom his hand is, and abides for their protection and safeguard; and where he gives rest, as the Septuagint (k) render it; even spiritual rest to the souls of his people; and where, as the Targum has it,
"the power of the Lord is revealed;''
namely, in the preservation of his church, and in the destruction of its enemies; as follows:
and Moab shall be trodden down under him: under the Lord, and his mighty hand of power; or "under it"; under the mountain, the church; under the feet of the saints; see Malachi 4:2 or, "in his place" (l), as Jarchi and Kimchi explain it; wherever he is, or shall be found, where he lies there shall he be trodden upon. By Moab the enemies of the church are meant, and is put for them all, even all the antichristian powers, both Turks and Papists; their ruin is expressed by treading down or threshing, in allusion to the threshing of corn, as the word used mostly signifies, when the straw is bruised by the cartwheel, or the feet of oxen; or to the treading of straw in the mire, as follows:
even as straw is trodden down for the dunghill; or in "it" (m); or "in the waters of the dunghill" (n), as the Cetib; where being cast and trodden, it rots, and becomes dung; and so the Targum,
"as straw is trodden in the clay;''
Jarchi interprets it to this sense. R. Joseph Kimchi takes it to be the name of a place, Madmenah, which was one of the cities of Moab, Jeremiah 48:2.
(k) . (l) "apud se", i.e. "in loco suo", Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius. (m) as the Keri or marginal reading directs it should be read. (n) in "aquis sterquilinii", De Dieu.
rest--as its permanent protector; on "hand" in this sense; compare Ezra 7:6, Ezra 7:28.
Moab--while Israel is being protected, the foe is destroyed; Moab is the representative of all the foes of God's people.
under him--Rather, "in his own place" or "country" (Exodus 10:23; Exodus 16:29).
for the dunghill--Rather, "in the water of the dung heap," in which straw was trodden to make it manure (Psalm 83:10). HORSLEY translates either, "in the waters of Madmenah," namely, for the making of bricks; or as the Septuagint, "as the threshing-floor is trampled by the corn-drag" (see Margin; Micah 4:11-13).
In the land of promise there is rejoicing, but on the other side of the Jordan there is fear of ruin. Two contrasted pictures are placed here side by side. The Jordan is the same as the "great gulf" in the parable of the rich man. Upon Zion Jehovah descends in mercy, but upon the highlands of Moab in His wrath. "For the hand of Jehovah will sink down upon this mountain, and Moab is trodden down there where it is, as straw is trodden down in the water of the dung-pit. And he spreadeth out his hands in the pool therein, as the swimmer spreadeth them out to swim; but Jehovah forceth down the pride of Moab in spite of the artifices of his hands. Yea, thy steep, towering walls He bows down, forces under, and casts earthwards into dust." Jehovah brings down His hand upon Zion (nūach, as in Isaiah 7:2; Isaiah 11:1), not only to shelter, but also to avenge. Israel, that has been despised, He now makes glorious, and for contemptuous Moab He prepares a shameful end. In the place where it now is תּחתּיו, as in 2-Samuel 7:10; Habakkuk 3:16, "in its own place," its own land) it is threshed down, stamped or trodden down, as straw is trodden down into a dung-pit to turn it into manure: hiddūsh, the inf. constr., with the vowel sound u, possibly to distinguish it from the inf. absol. hiddosh (Ewald, 240, b). Instead of בּמו (as in Isaiah 43:2), the chethib has בּמי (cf., Job 9:30); and this is probably the more correct reading, since madmēnâh, by itself, means the dunghill, and not the tank of dung water. At the same time, it is quite possible that b'mo is intended as a play upon the name Moab, just as the word madmēnâh may possibly have been chosen with a play upon the Moabitish Madmēn (Jeremiah 48:2). In Isaiah 25:11 Jehovah would be the subject, if b'kirbo (in the midst of it) referred back to Moab; but although the figure of Jehovah pressing down the pride of Moab, by spreading out His hands within it like a swimmer, might produce the impression of boldness and dignity in a different connection, yet here, where Moab has just been described as forced down into the manure-pit, the comparison of Jehovah to a swimmer would be a very offensive one. The swimmer is Moab itself, as Gesenius, Hitzig, Knobel, and in fact the majority of commentators suppose. "In the midst of it:" b'kirbo points back in a neuter sense to the place into which Moab had been violently plunged, and which was so little adapted for swimming. A man cannot swim in a manure pond; but Moab attempts it, though without success, for Jehovah presses down the pride of Moab in spite of its artifices עם, as in Nehemiah 5:18; ארבּות, written with dagesh (according to the majority of MSS, from ארבּה, like the Arabic urbe, irbe, cleverness, wit, sharpness), i.e., the skilful and cunning movement of its hands. Saad. gives it correctly, as muchâtale, wiles and stratagems; Hitzig also renders it "machinations," i.e., twistings and turnings, which Moab makes with its arms, for the purpose of keeping itself up in the water. What Isaiah 25:11 affirms in figure, Isaiah 25:12 illustrates without any figure. If the reading were מבצרך חומות משׂגּב, the reference would be to Kir-Moab (Isaiah 15:1; Isaiah 16:7). But as the text stands, we are evidently to understand by it the strong and lofty walls of the cities of Moab in general.
Rest - The powerful and gracious presence, of God shall have its constant and settled abode. Moab - The Moabites are put for all the enemies of God's church.
*More commentary available at chapter level.