Jesaja 51:17

17 Wache auf, wache auf, stehe auf, Jerusalem, die du von der Hand des HERRN den Kelch seines Grimmes getrunken hast! Die Hefen des Taumelkelches hast du ausgetrunken und die Tropfen geleckt.

Jesaja 51:17 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 51:17

Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem
As persons out of a sleep, or out of a stupor, or even out of the sleep of death; for this respects a more glorious state of the church, the Jerusalem, the mother of us all, after great afflictions; and especially if it respects the more glorious state of all on earth, signified by the New Jerusalem, that will be preceded by the resurrection of the dead, called the first resurrection, when the saints will awake out of the dust of the earth, and stand upon their feet; see ( Daniel 12:2 ) ( 1 Thessalonians 4:16 ) ( Revelation 20:5 ) , though the last glorious state of the church, in the spiritual reign of Christ, is also expressed by the rising of the witnesses slain, by their standing on their feet, and by their ascension to heaven, ( Revelation 11:11 Revelation 11:12 ) , before which will be a time of great affliction to the church, as here: which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury;
it is no unusual thing in Scripture for the judgments of God, upon a nation and people, or on particular persons, to be signified by a cup, and especially on wicked men, as the effect of divine wrath, ( Psalms 11:6 ) ( 85:8 ) ( Jeremiah 25:15 Jeremiah 25:16 Jeremiah 25:17 ) . Here it signifies that judgment that begins at the house and church of God, ( 1 Peter 4:17 ) , which looks as if it arose from the wrath and fury of an incensed God: and though it may greatly intend the wrathful persecutions of men, yet since they are by the permission and will of God, and are bounded and limited by him, they are called "his cup", and said to come from his hand; and the people of God take them, or consider them as coming by his appointment: thou hast drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out;
alluding to excessive drinking, which brings a trembling of limbs, and sometimes paralytic disorders on men, and to the thick sediments in the bottom of the cup, which are fixed there, as the word F21 signifies, and are not easily got out, and yet every drop and every dreg are drunk up; signifying, that the whole portion of sufferings, allotted to the Lord's people, shall come upon them, even what are most disagreeable to them, and shall fill them with trembling and astonishment.


FOOTNOTES:

F21 (yebq ta) "crassamentum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Vitringa.

Jesaja 51:17 In-Context

15 Denn ich bin der HERR, dein Gott, der das Meer bewegt, daß seine Wellen wüten; sein Name heißt HERR Zebaoth.
16 Ich lege mein Wort in deinen Mund und bedecke dich unter dem Schatten meiner Hände, auf daß ich den Himmel pflanze und die Erde gründe und zu Zion spreche: Du bist mein Volk.
17 Wache auf, wache auf, stehe auf, Jerusalem, die du von der Hand des HERRN den Kelch seines Grimmes getrunken hast! Die Hefen des Taumelkelches hast du ausgetrunken und die Tropfen geleckt.
18 Es war niemand aus allen Kindern, die sie geboren hat, der sie leitete; niemand aus allen Kindern, die sie erzogen hat, der sie bei der Hand nähme.
19 Diese zwei sind dir begegnet; wer trug Leid mit dir? Da war Verstörung und Schaden, Hunger und Schwert; wer sollte dich trösten?
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