Isaiah 1:8

8 Beautiful Jerusalem stands abandoned like a watchman’s shelter in a vineyard, like a lean-to in a cucumber field after the harvest, like a helpless city under siege.

Isaiah 1:8 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 1:8

And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in the
vineyard
The Targum is,

``after they have got in the vintage.''

A cottage in the vineyard was a booth, as the word ^F5 signifies, which was erected in the middle of the vineyard for the keeper of the vineyard to watch in night and day, that the fruit might not be hurt by birds, or stolen by thieves, and was a very, lonely place; and when the clusters of the vine were gathered, this cottage or booth was left by the keeper himself: and such it is suggested Jerusalem should be, not only stand alone, the cities all around being destroyed by the besiegers, but empty of inhabitants itself, when taken. As a lodge in a garden of cucumbers:
the Targum adds here also,

``after they have gathered them out of it.''

A lodge in a garden of cucumbers was built up for the gardener to watch in at night, that nobody came and stole away the cucumbers, and this was also a lonely place; but when the cucumbers were gathered, the gardener left his lodge entirely; and such a forsaken place would Jerusalem be at the time of its destruction; see ( Luke 19:43 Luke 19:44 ) as a besieged city;
which is in great distress, and none care to come near it, and as many as can make their escape out of it; or "as a city kept"; so Gussetius ^F6, who understands this, and all the above clauses, of some places preserved from the sword in the common desolation.

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 (hkok) (wv skhnh) , Sept.
F6 (hrwun ryek) "ut urbs custodita", Gusset. Comment. Ling. Ebr. p. 529. "Observata vel observanda", Forerius.

Isaiah 1:8 In-Context

6 You are battered from head to foot— covered with bruises, welts, and infected wounds— without any soothing ointments or bandages.

7 Your country lies in ruins, and your towns are burned. Foreigners plunder your fields before your eyes and destroy everything they see.

8 Beautiful Jerusalem stands abandoned like a watchman’s shelter in a vineyard, like a lean-to in a cucumber field after the harvest, like a helpless city under siege.

9 If the LORD of Heaven’s Armies had not spared a few of us, we would have been wiped out like Sodom, destroyed like Gomorrah.

10 Listen to the LORD, you leaders of “Sodom.” Listen to the law of our God, people of “Gomorrah.”

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew The daughter of Zion.