Isaiah 9:19

19 In the wrath of the Lord of hosts the land shall be troubled, and the people shall be as the meat of fire (and the people shall become food for the fire); a man shall not spare his brother.

Isaiah 9:19 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 9:19

Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts is the land
darkened
Brought into great distress and affliction; sore judgments and calamities being upon it; for not darkness in a natural, but in a figurative sense, is intended, see ( Isaiah 8:22 ) ( 9:1 ) the allusion is to the ascending of the smoke before mentioned, through fire being kindled in the thickets of the forest, which filled the air with darkness; as smoke arising in great quantity does. This sense of the word, which is only to be met with in this place, is given by Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and Ben Melech, from the use of it in the Arabic language, in which it signifies ^F6 darkness; but the Septuagint and Arabic versions render it, "the whole land is burned"; and which is confirmed by the Targum, which so interprets it; and this sense well agrees with the context: and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire;
this explains who are meant by the briers and thorns, and thickets of the forest, the inhabitants of the land of Israel; who, as they are the fuel of fire, were the objects of divine wrath and fury: no man shall spare his brother;
which may be ascribed either to the darkness and confusion in which they should be, and so not be able to discern a friend from a foe, as persons surrounded with smoke; or to their malignant spirit, cruelty and inhumanity, not only doing ill to their enemies, but to their own friends and relations, to their own flesh and blood.

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 <arabic> "obscura evasit", ----<arabic> "tertia pars noctis, a fine crepusculi, tempus quo posterior peragitur precatio vespertina", Golius, col. 1521, 1522. Castel col. 2944. So Schindler, col. 1410. (hmate) "[ateme], caligo, tenebra, crepusculum".

Isaiah 9:19 In-Context

17 For this thing the Lord shall not be glad on the young men thereof, and he shall not have mercy on the fatherless children and widows thereof; for each man is an hypocrite and wayward, and each mouth spake folly. In all these things the strong vengeance of him is not turned away, but yet his hand is stretched forth; and the people is not turned again to the Lord smiting it (and still the people did not turn again to the Lord/and still the people did not return to the Lord, who struck them).

18 For why wickedness is kindled as fire; it shall devour the briars and thorns, and it shall be kindled in the thickness of the forest, and it shall be wrapped (al)together in the pride of smoke. (For wickedness is kindled like a fire; it shall devour the briars and thorns, and it shall be kindled in the thickness of the forest, and it shall be wrapped up in a pall, or in a column, of smoke.)

19 In the wrath of the Lord of hosts the land shall be troubled, and the people shall be as the meat of fire (and the people shall become food for the fire); a man shall not spare his brother.

20 And he shall bow to the right half, and he shall hunger, and he shall eat at the left half, and he shall not be [ful]filled; each man shall devour the flesh of his arm. (And one person shall turn to the right, and he shall still have hunger, and another shall eat on the left, and he shall not be fulfilled; and everyone shall devour the flesh of their own children.)

21 Manasseh shall devour Ephraim, and Ephraim shall devour Manasseh, and they together against Judah. In all these things the strong vengeance of him is not turned away, but yet his hand is stretched forth.