Isaiah 29

Isaiah 29:1-24 . COMING INVASION OF JERUSALEM: ITS FAILURE: UNBELIEF OF THE JEWS.

This chapter opens the series of prophecies as to the invasion of Judea under Sennacherib, and its deliverance.

1. Ariel--Jerusalem; Ariel means "Lion of God," that is, city rendered by God invincible: the lion is emblem of a mighty hero ( 2 Samuel 23:20 ). Otherwise "Hearth of God," that is, place where the altar-fire continually burns to God ( Isaiah 31:9 , Ezekiel 43:15 Ezekiel 43:16 ).
add . . . year to year--ironically; suffer one year after another to glide on in the round of formal, heartless "sacrifices." Rather, "add yet another year" to the one just closed [MAURER]. Let a year elapse and a little more ( Isaiah 32:10 , Margin).
let . . . kill sacrifices--rather, "let the beasts (of another year) go round" [MAURER]; that is, after the completion of a year "I will distress Ariel."

2. Yet--rather, "Then."
heaviness . . . sorrow--rather, preserving the Hebrew paronomasia, "groaning" and "moaning."
as Ariel--either, "the city shall be as a lion of God," that is, it shall emerge from its dangers unvanquished; or "it shall be as the altar of burnt offering," consuming with fire the besiegers ( Isaiah 29:6 , Isaiah 30:30 , 31:9 , Leviticus 10:2 ); or best, as Isaiah 29:3 continues the threat, and the promise of deliverance does not come till Isaiah 29:4 , "it shall be like a hearth of burning," that is, a scene of devastation by fire [G. V. SMITH]. The prophecy, probably, contemplates ultimately, besides the affliction and deliverance in Sennacherib's time, the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome, the dispersion of the Jews, their restoration, the destruction of the enemies that besiege the city ( Zechariah 14:2 ), and the final glory of Israel ( Isaiah 29:17-24 ).

3. I--Jehovah, acting through the Assyrian, &c., His instruments ( Isaiah 10:5 ).
mount--an artificial mound formed to out-top high walls ( Isaiah 37:33 ); else a station, namely, of warriors, for the siege.
round about--not fully realized under Sennacherib, but in the Roman siege ( Luke 19:43 , 21:20 ).
forts--siege-towers ( Deuteronomy 20:20 ).

4. Jerusalem shall be as a captive, humbled to the dust. Her voice shall come from the earth as that of the spirit charmers or necromancers ( Isaiah 8:19 ), faint and shrill, as the voice of the dead was supposed to be. Ventriloquism was doubtless the trick caused to make the voice appear to come from the earth ( Isaiah 19:3 ). An appropriate retribution that Jerusalem, which consulted necromancers, should be made like them!

5. Moreover--rather, "Yet"; yet in this extremity help shall come, and the enemy be scattered.
strangers--foreign enemies, invaders ( Isaiah 25:2 ).
it shall be--namely, the destruction of the enemy.
at an instant--in a moment ( Isaiah 30:23 ).

6. Thou--the Assyrian army.
thunder, &c.--not literally, in the case of the Assyrians ( Isaiah 37:36 ); but figuratively for an awful judgment ( Isaiah 30:30 , 28:17 ). The ulterior fulfilment, in the case of the Jews' foes in the last days, may be more literal (see as to "earthquake," Zechariah 14:4 ).

7. munition--fortress.

8. Their disappointment in the very height of their confident expectation of taking Jerusalem shall be as great as that of the hungry man who in a dream fancies he eats, but awakes to hunger still ( Psalms 73:20 ); their dream shall be dissipated on the fatal morning ( Isaiah 37:36 ).
soul--simply his appetite: he is still thirsty.