Jesaja 9:18

18 Denn die Gesetzlosigkeit brennt wie Feuer: sie verzehrt Dornen und Disteln, und zündet in den Dickichten des Waldes, daß sie emporwirbeln in hoch aufsteigendem Rauche.

Jesaja 9:18 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 9:18

For wickedness burneth as the fire
That is, the punishment of their sins, as the Targum interprets it; the wrath of God for sin, which is poured out like fire, and consumes as that does; unless wicked men are meant, who are consumed with the fire of divine vengeance; the sense is the same: it shall devour the briers and thorns;
sinners and ungodly, so the Targum paraphrases it; and Aben Ezra observes, they are the wicked; who are compared to briers and thorns, for their unfruitfulness in themselves, harmfulness to others, and for their weakness to stand against the fury of incensed Deity, see ( 2 Samuel 23:6 ) ( Isaiah 27:4 ) : and shall kindle in the thickets of the forest.
Kimchi thinks there is a gradation in these words, that as fire first begins to burn the thorns, and smaller wood, and then the greater; so wickedness consumes first the little ones, who are the thorns, and after that it kindles in the thickets of the forest, who are the great ones; so the commonwealth of Israel is compared to a forest; and the thorns, briers, and thickets, may denote the common people and their governors, who all being guilty of wickedness, should not escape the vengeance of God: and they shall mount up [like] the lifting up of smoke:
or lift up themselves, or be lifted up; so Aben Ezra and Kimchi interpret the word; but Jarchi thinks it has the signification of (Kwb) , "to be perplexed": and gives the sense of it thus; they are perplexed, and shut up with the strength of smoke that burns: others take it to be a word of the same meaning with (qba) ; and render it, "they shall pulverize", or "go into dust in the lifting up of smoke" ^F4; and denotes the dissolution of the commonwealth; but perhaps it may be better rendered, "though they shall walk proudly" (or behave haughtily), their "pride" shall be as "smoke", which soon vanishes away; since the word, which is only here used, in the Syriac language signifies to walk proudly, as a cock with two crests ^F5.

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FOOTNOTES:

F4 (Nve twag wkbaty) "et epulverabitur erectione fumi", Cocceius; "adeo ut in minutissimum pulverem abeant elato fumo, [vel] elatione fumi", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
F5 "Et superbient, (fastuose se gerent,) at superbia (vel quorum superbia) fumus, h. e. fumi instar, evanescit, interibit, quod etiam Armenis indigiat, isfud vacobulum `Abac' <arabic>, Syr. galus, gallinaceus, superbo gradu incedens et bicristatus", Castel. Lexicon Polyglott. col. 12.

Jesaja 9:18 In-Context

16 Denn die Leiter dieses Volkes führen irre, und die von ihnen Geleiteten werden verschlungen.

17 Darum wird sich der Herr über dessen Jünglinge nicht freuen, und seiner Waisen und seiner Witwen sich nicht erbarmen; denn sie allesamt sind Ruchlose und Übeltäter, und jeder Mund redet Torheit. Bei dem allen wendet sich sein Zorn nicht ab, und noch ist seine Hand ausgestreckt.

18 Denn die Gesetzlosigkeit brennt wie Feuer: sie verzehrt Dornen und Disteln, und zündet in den Dickichten des Waldes, daß sie emporwirbeln in hoch aufsteigendem Rauche.

19 Durch den Grimm Jehovas der Heerscharen ist das Land verbrannt, und das Volk ist wie eine Speise des Feuers geworden; keiner schont den anderen.

20 Und man schlingt zur Rechten und hungert, und man frißt zur Linken und wird nicht satt. Sie fressen ein jeder das Fleisch seines eigenen Armes: