Isaiah 18:4

4 The LORD said to me: I will quietly watch from my own place, like the shimmering heat of sunshine, like a cloud's shade in the harvest heat.

Isaiah 18:4 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 18:4

For so the Lord said unto me
The prophet Isaiah, both what goes before, and follows after: I will take my rest;
these are not the words of the prophet, as some think, like those of Habakkuk, ( Habakkuk 2:1 ) but of the Lord himself, signifying that he would, as he always did, enjoy himself, amidst all the commotions that were in the world; or that he would take up his rest among his people in Zion, of which he had said, this is my rest for ever, ( Psalms 132:14 ) or rather that he would be still and quiet, and as one asleep and at rest, that took no notice of what was doing, nor interpose between parties preparing for war, and laying schemes for the ruin of each other; not help the one nor hinder the other, but let them go on a while with their designs: and I will consider in my dwelling place:
in heaven, what is to be done; for though the Lord may seem sometimes to take no notice of what is done on earth, yet he sees and knows all things, and considers in his own mind what is fit and proper that he should do, who works all things after the counsel of his own will: or, "I will look upon my dwelling place" ^F15; Jerusalem, Mount Zion, the temple, the sanctuary, where his Shechinah dwelt; here he promises to look in a way of grace and favour, with delight and pleasure, to comfort and refresh his own people; so the Targum paraphrases this and the preceding clause,

``I will make my people to rest, I will make them to rest, and I will delight in my holy habitation to do them good:''

like a clear heat upon herbs;
or "after rain", as Aben Ezra and Kimchi, see ( 2 Samuel 23:4 ) when then the sun shines forth brightly after a shower of rain, which revives the plants and herbs, and makes them grow: [and] like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest;
which is very desirable and welcome, which cools the air, refreshes the earth, plumps the corn, and is very grateful to the harvestman; and both metaphors may signify how grateful is the appearance of God to and for his people, his presence with them, the light of his countenance on them, and his protection of them; see ( Isaiah 4:5 Isaiah 4:6 ) and so the Targum,

``blessings and consolations will I bring to them quickly, as heat burning by means of the sun, and as a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest:''

though the whole may be understood in a very different sense, as it is by some, thus; that though the Lord for a while may seem to take no notice of what is doing below, yet he in heaven beholds what is done, and looks in a way of wrath and anger upon his enemies, as the sun looks with its scorching heat upon the herbs, and dries them up; and as a cloud which brings a large dew or rain with it, which is very hurtful in harvest time; and this sense seems most agreeable to the context.

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FOOTNOTES:

F15 (wnwkmb hjybaw) "sed intusor in locum meum", Janius & Tremellius.

Isaiah 18:4 In-Context

2 that sends messengers by sea, reed vessels on the water. Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and clean-shaven, to a people feared near and far, a nation barbaric and oppressive, whose land the rivers divide.

3 All you who inhabit the world, who live on earth, when a signal is raised on the mountains, you will see! When the trumpet blasts, you will hear!

4 The LORD said to me: I will quietly watch from my own place, like the shimmering heat of sunshine, like a cloud's shade in the harvest heat.

5 Before the harvest, when the bloom is finished, when the blossom is becoming a ripening fruit, God will cut the shoots with a pruning knife, and lop off the spreading branches.

6 They will all be left to the mountain birds and to the beasts of the land. The birds will eat them in summer, all the beasts of the land in winter.