Isaiah 32:20

20 Happy are you who sow beside all waters, who let the feet of the ox and the ass range free.

Isaiah 32:20 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 32:20

Blessed [are] ye that sow beside all waters
In places well watered and moistened, and so fit to receive the seed sown, which grows up, and brings forth much fruit, and amply rewards the pains of the sower, who on that account is happy. These words are directed to the ministers of the Gospel in the latter day; the word is compared to seed, and the preachers of it to sowers of seed, who have a commission to preach the Gospel to every creature; and in the latter day, in the spiritual reign of Christ, to which the whole paragraph refers, they will sow the seed of the word "by many waters"; or among great multitudes of people, signified hereby, and with great success, great numbers both of Jews and Gentiles will be converted: that send forth [thither] the feet of the ox and the ass;
which were used in ploughing and tilling the earth, and in making it fit to sow the seed in it, and to eat off the heads of grain when it is grown thick and full, which some think is here meant; and the one might also be used to gather it in when ripe, and the other to tread and thresh it, as the Targum and Jarchi interpret it; there being a law given the Jews, that these two should not work together, ( Deuteronomy 22:10 ) and from hence it may be concluded, that these words refer to a time when this law should be abolished; and the Jews themselves apply it to the times of the Messiah F18; and it undoubtedly points to Gospel times, and even to those times when the Jews shall be converted, and great numbers among the Gentiles also, who shall join together in spreading the Gospel, and in promoting the interest of Christ.


FOOTNOTES:

F18 Debarim Rabba, sect. 6. fol. 241. 4.

Isaiah 32:20 In-Context

18 My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.
19 And the forest will utterly go down, and the city will be utterly laid low.
20 Happy are you who sow beside all waters, who let the feet of the ox and the ass range free.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.