Isaiah 16:5

5 And a throne shall be established in mercy: and in the tent of David there shall sit upon it, in truth, one judging and seeking justice and hastening righteousness.

Isaiah 16:5 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 16:5

And in mercy shall the throne be established
That is, the throne of Hezekiah, and his government over Judah, which was more firmly settled and established after the overthrow of the Assyrian army, through the mercy of God vouchsafed to him, and on account of the mercy he exercised among his subjects, see ( Proverbs 20:28 ) . Hezekiah was a type of Christ, and his throne typical of his, and the ultimate view of the prophecy may be to the stability of the kingdom of Christ; so the Targum,

``then the Christ of Israel, his throne shall be established in goodness:''
and he shall sit upon it in truth;
which does not so much intend the reality of his sitting there, as his continuance, signified by sitting, and the constancy and stability of his reign, or his governing with faith fulness and truth; in the tabernacle of David;
or "tent"; meaning his palace, or house in Jerusalem, alluding to his having been a shepherd before he was a king, or referring to the unsettled state of David's house; this was typical of the church of God, where Christ sits and reigns as King, see ( Amos 9:11 ) ; the Targum is,
``in the city of David;''
Jerusalem, as Aben Ezra: judging and seeking judgment;
acting the part of a righteous, faithful, and diligent Judge; seeking to do justice to the poor and needy, and searching into the cause that comes before him, to find out, and take the right side of it: and hasting righteousness;
not delaying justice, protracting a cause, deferring the sentence, and the execution of it, but dispatching the whole as speedily as may be; all which characters, though they may be found in Hezekiah, yet are much more eminently in Christ.

Isaiah 16:5 In-Context

3 Bring in counsel, execute justice; make thy shadow as the night in the midst of noonday; hide the outcasts, discover not the fugitive.
4 Let mine outcasts dwell with thee, Moab; be thou a covert to them from the face of the waster. For the extortioner is at an end, the wasting hath ceased, the oppressors are consumed out of the land.
5 And a throne shall be established in mercy: and in the tent of David there shall sit upon it, in truth, one judging and seeking justice and hastening righteousness.
6 We have heard of the arrogance of Moab, -- [he is] very proud, -- of his pride, and his arrogance, and his wrath: his pratings are vain.
7 Therefore shall Moab howl for Moab; every one of them shall howl. For the foundations of Kirhareseth shall ye mourn, verily afflicted.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Chesed, loving-kindness: see 2Chron. 6.42.
The Darby Translation is in the public domain.