Adam Clarke's Bible Commentary Verse 5. Passing over "Leaping forward"] The generality of interpreters observe in this place an allusion to the deliverance which God vouchsafed to his people when he destroyed the first-born of the Egyptians, and exempted those of the Israelites sojourning among them by a peculiar interposition. The same word is made use of here which is used upon that occasion, and which gave the name to the feast which was instituted in commemoration of that deliverance, jsp pesach. But the difficulty is to reconcile the commonly received meaning of that word with the circumstances of the similitude here used to illustrate the deliverance represented as parallel to the deliverance in Egypt.
"As the mother birds hovering over their young, So shall JEHOVAH God of hosts protect Jerusalem; Protecting and delivering, passing over, and rescuing her." This difficulty is, I think, well solved by Vitringa, whose remark is the more worthy of observation, as it leads to the true meaning of an important word, which hitherto seems greatly to have been misunderstood, though Vitringa himself, as it appears to me, has not exactly enough defined the precise meaning of it. He says, " jsp pasach signifies to cover, to protect by covering: skepasw umav, Septuagint.
JEHOVAH obteget ostium; 'The Lord will cover or protect the door:' " whereas it means that particular action or motion by which God at that time placed himself in such a situation as to protect the house of the Israelite against the destroying angel; to spring forward, to throw one's self in the way, in order to cover and protect. Cocceius comes nearer to the true meaning than Vitringa, by rendering it gradum facere, to march, to step forward; Lexicon in voc. The common meaning of the word jsp pasach upon other occasions is to halt, to be lame, to leap, as in a rude manner of dancing, (as the prophets of Baal did, 1 Kings xviii. 26,) all which agrees very well together; for the motion of a lame person is a perpetual springing forward, by throwing himself from the weaker upon the stronger leg. The common notion of God's passage over the houses of the Israelites is, that in going through the land of Egypt to smite the first-born, seeing the blood on the door of the houses of the Israelites, he passed over, or skipped, those houses, and forbore to smite them. But that this is not the true notion of the thing, will be plain from considering the words of the sacred historian, where he describes very explicitly the action: "For JEHOVAH will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood on the lintels and on the two side posts, JEHOVAH will spring forward over (or before) the door, jtph l[ hwhy jspw upasach Yehovah al happethach, and will not suffer the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you, "Exod. xii. 23. Here are manifestly two distinct agents, with which the notion of passing over is not consistent, for that supposes but one agent.
The two agents are the destroying angel passing through to smite every house, and JEHOVAH the Protector keeping pace with him; and who, seeing the door of the Israelite marked with the blood, the token prescribed, leaps forward, throws himself with a sudden motion in the way, opposes the destroying angel, and covers and protects that house against the destroying angel, nor suffers him to smite it. In this way of considering the action, the beautiful similitude of the bird protecting her young answers exactly to the application by the allusion to the deliverance in Egypt. As the mother bird spreads her wings to cover her young, throws herself before them, and opposes the rapacious bird that assaults them, so shall JEHOVAH protect, as with a shield, Jerusalem from the enemy, protecting and delivering, springing forward and rescuing her; uperbainwn, as the three other Greek interpreters, Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion, render it. The Septuagint, peripoihsetai instead of which MS. Pachom. has peribhsetai, circumeundo proteget, "in going about he shall protect, "which I think is the true reading. - Homer, ii. viii. 329, expresses the very same image by this word:- aiav dÆ ouk amelhse kasignhtoio pesontov, alla qewn peribh, kai oi sakov amfekaluye: " - But Ajax his broad shield displayed, And screened his brother with a mighty shade." -Æov crushn amfibebhkav.
Il. i. 37 Which the scholiast explains by peribebhkav, upermaceiv, i.e., "Thou who strictly guardest Chryses." -L. On this verse Kimchi says, "The angel of the Lord which destroyed the Assyrians is compared to a lion, ver. 4, for his strength: and here (ver. 5) to flying birds, for his swiftness.
Matthew Henry Commentary
- The Jews reproved for seeking aid from Egypt. (Is. 30:1-7) Judgement in consequence of their contempt of God's word. (Is. 30:8-18) God' mercies to his church. (Is. 30:19-26) The ruin of the Assyrian army and of all God's enemies. (Is. 30:27-33)
Is. 30:1-7 It was often the fault and folly of the Jews, that when troubled by their neighbours on one side, they sought for succour from others, instead of looking up to God. Nor can we avoid the dreadfu consequences of adding sin to sin, but by making the righteousness of Christ our refuge, and seeking for the sanctification of the Holy Spirit. Men have always been prone to lean to their own understandings but this will end in their shame and misery. They would not trust in God. They took much pains to gain the Egyptians. The riches so spen turned to a bad account. See what dangers men run into who forsake God to follow their carnal confidences. The Creator is the Rock of ages the creature a broken reed; we cannot expect too little from man, or too much from God. Our strength is to sit still, in humble dependenc upon God and his goodness, and quiet submission to his will.
Is. 30:8-18 The Jews were the only professing people God then had in the world, yet many among them were rebellious. They had the light, but they loved darkness rather. The prophets checked them in their sinfu pursuits, so that they could not proceed without fear; this they too amiss. But faithful ministers will not be driven from seeking to awake sinners. God is the Holy One of Israel, and so they shall find him They did not like to hear of his holy commandments and his hatred of sin; they desired that they might no more be reminded of these things But as they despised the word of God, their sins undermined their safety. Their state would be dashed in pieces like a potter's vessel Let us return from our evil ways, and settle in the way of duty; tha is the way to be saved. Would we be strengthened, it must be in quietness and in confidence, keeping peace in our own minds, an relying upon God. They think themselves wiser than God; but the projec by which they thought to save themselves was their ruin. Only here an there one shall escape, as a warning to others. If men will not repent turn to God, and seek happiness in his favour and service, their desires will but hasten their ruin. Those who make God alone their confidence, will have comfort. God ever waits to be gracious to all that come to him by faith in Christ, and happy are those who wait for him.
Is. 30:19-26 God's people will soon arrive at the Zion above, and the they will weep no more for ever. Even now they would have more comfort as well as holiness, if they were more constant in prayer. A famine of bread is not so great a judgment as a famine of the word of God. Ther are right-hand and left-hand errors; the tempter is busy courting u into by-paths. It is happy if, by the counsels of a faithful ministe or friend, or the checks of conscience, and the strivings of God the Spirit, we are set right when doubting, and prevented from going wrong They shall be cured of their idolatry. To all true penitents sin becomes very hateful. This is shown daily in the conversion of souls by the power of Divine grace, to the fear and love of God. Abundan means of grace, with the influences of the Holy Spirit, would be extended to places destitute of them. The effect of this should be comfort and joy to the people of God. Light, that is, knowledge, shal increase. This is the light which the gospel brought into the world and which proclaims healing to the broken-hearted.
Is. 30:27-33 God curbs and restrains from doing mischief. With a wor he guides his people into the right way, but with a bridle he turns his enemies upon their own ruin. Here, in threatening the ruin of Sennacherib's army, the prophet points at the final and everlastin destruction of all impenitent sinners. Tophet was a valley nea Jerusalem, where fires were continually burning to destroy things tha were hurtful and offensive, and there the idolatrous Jews caused their children to pass through the fire to Moloch. This denotes the certaint of the destruction, as an awful emblem of the place of torment in the other world. No oppressor shall escape the Divine wrath. Let sinner then flee to Christ, seeking to be reconciled to Him, that they may be safe and happy, when destruction from the Almighty shall sweep away all the workers of iniquity _________________________________________________
Original Hebrew כצפרים6833 עפות5774 כן3651 יגן1598 יהוה3068 צבאות6635 על5921 ירושׁלם3389 גנון1598 והציל5337 פסח6452 והמליט׃4422
