22 this is the word which Yahweh has spoken concerning him. The virgin daughter of Zion has despised you and ridiculed you. The daughter of Jerusalem has shaken her head at you.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
The virgin daughter of Zion. There is greater emphasis in this address to the whole Church than if he had said the same tiring to Hezekiah as a private individual; for this circumstance heightens the baseness of treating with scorn the defencelessness of a wretched people, as if the aid of heaven had been of no avail. Thus he censures the blindness of Sennacherib, in disregarding God and haughtily despising an afflicted Church. Cities are frequently called daughters. (Psalm 9:14.) Sometimes also, as we have formerly seen, delicate cities are called virgins. (Isaiah 1:8, and 23:12.) But here he intended to express the weakness of the city of Jerusalem, because she was like an orphan and destitute virgin, who was insulted by this base ruffian and infamous robber; while God, as the father to whom this insult is offered, declares that he knows well what are the schemes of that wicked man, and what is the condition of the whole of Judea.
The virgin, the daughter of Zion - Jerusalem (see the note at Isaiah 1:8; compare the note at Isaiah 23:12). The parallelism in this and the following verses shows that the poetic form of speech is here introduced.
Hast despised thee - That is, it is secure from thy contemplated attack. The idea is, that Jerusalem would exult over the ineffectual attempts of Sennacherib to take it, and over his complete overthrow.
Hath laughed thee to scorn - Will make thee an object of derision.
Hath shaken her head at thee - This is an indication of contempt and scorn (compare Psalm 22:7; Psalm 109:25; Jeremiah 18:16; Zephaniah 2:15; Matthew 27:39).
This [is] the word which the LORD hath spoken concerning him; The (o) virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised, [and] derided thee; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee.
(o) Whom God had chosen to himself as a chaste virgin, and over whom he had care to preserve her from the lusts of the tyrant, as a father would have over his daughter.
This is the word which the Lord hath spoken concerning him,.... The sentence he has pronounced upon him, the punishment he has determined to inflict on him, in answer to Hezekiah's prayer against him:
the virgin, the daughter of Zion; hath despised thee; and laughed thee to scorn; that, is the inhabitants of Zion, particularly of the fort of Zion, called a "virgin", because it had never been forced, or taken and to show that it was a vain thing in Sennacherib to attempt it, as well as it would have been an injurious one, could he have accomplished it; since God, the Father of this virgin, would carefully keep her from such a rape; and he who was her husband to whom she was espoused as a chaste virgin, would defend and protect her; and the whole is designed to show the impotent malice of the king of Assyria; otherwise, at the time when these words were spoken, the daughter of Zion was in a fearful and trembling condition, and not in a laughing frame; but this declares what she might do now, and would do hereafter, for anything that he could do against her. The Targum paraphrases it,
"the kingdom of the congregation of Zion;''
the whole nation. Some restrain this to the inhabitants of the upper part of the city of Jerusalem, as what follows to those of the lower part:
the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee; or "after thee (o)"; by way of scorn and derision; that is when he fled; which shows, that though these things are spoken as if they were past, after the manner of the prophets, yet were to come, and would be when Sennacherib fled, upon the destruction of his army. Of this phrase, as expressive of scorn, see Psalm 22:7. The Targum is, "the people that dwell in Jerusalem", &c.
(o) "post te", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
Transition to poetry: in parallelism.
virgin . . . daughter--honorable terms. "Virgin" implies that the city is, as yet, inviolate. "Daughter" is an abstract collective feminine personification of the population, the child of the place denoted (see on Isaiah 23:10; Isaiah 1:8). Zion and her inhabitants.
shaken . . . head--in scorn (Psalm 22:7; Psalm 109:25; Matthew 27:39). With us to shake the head is a sign of denial or displeasure; but gestures have different meanings in different countries (Isaiah 58:9; Ezekiel 25:6; Zephaniah 2:15).
*More commentary available at chapter level.