Isaiah 42:22

22 But this is a people robbed and plundered, all of them are trapped in holes and hidden in prisons; they have become a prey with no one to rescue, a spoil with no one to say, "Restore!"

Isaiah 42:22 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 42:22

But this is a people robbed and spoiled
The Jewish people, who shut their eyes against the clear light of the Gospel, and turned a deaf ear to Christ, and to his ministers, rejected him, and persecuted them; these were robbed and plundered by the Roman soldiers of all their riches and treasures, when the city of Jerusalem was taken: they are all of them snared in holes;
such of them as escaped and hid themselves in holes, and caverns, and dens of the earth, were laid in wait for and taken, and dragged out, as beasts are taken in a pit, and with a snare. Josephus F2 says, some the Romans killed, some they carried captive, some they searched out lurking in holes underground, and, breaking up the ground, took them out and slew them: and they are hid in prison houses;
being taken by their enemies out of their holes, they were put in prisons, some of them, and there lay confined, out of which they could not deliver themselves: and they are for a prey, and none delivereth;
when they were taken by the Chaldeans, and became a prey to them, in a few years they had a deliverer, Cyrus, but now they have none: for a spoil, and none saith, restore;
there is none to be an advocate for them; no one that asks for their restoration; for almost seventeen hundred years F1 they have been in this condition, and yet none of the kings and princes of the earth have issued a proclamation for their return to their own land, as Cyrus did; and no one moves for it, either from among themselves or others.


FOOTNOTES:

F1 Written about 1730 A. D. The Jews in 1948 once again became a nation. Editor.
F2 De Bello Jud. l. 7, c. 9. sect. 4.

Isaiah 42:22 In-Context

20 He sees many things, but does not observe them; his ears are open, but he does not hear.
21 The Lord was pleased, for the sake of his righteousness, to magnify his teaching and make it glorious.
22 But this is a people robbed and plundered, all of them are trapped in holes and hidden in prisons; they have become a prey with no one to rescue, a spoil with no one to say, "Restore!"
23 Who among you will give heed to this, who will attend and listen for the time to come?
24 Who gave up Jacob to the spoiler, and Israel to the robbers? Was it not the Lord, against whom we have sinned, in whose ways they would not walk, and whose law they would not obey?
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, 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.