Isaiah Chapter 26 verse 19 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerses 19-21. - THE PROPHET'S COMMENT ON THE SONG OF THE JUST. Having concluded his "song of the just" in a minor key with a confession of human weakness, the prophet proceeds to cheer and encourage his disciples by a clear and positive declaration of the doctrine of the resurrection: "Thy dead, O Israel, shall live." He then adds a recommendation for the present - a recommendation to privacy and retirement, until the judgments of God which he has predicted (Isaiah 24.) are shown forth upon the earth. Verse 19. - Thy dead men shall live. A universal resurrection of" some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt" (Daniel 12:2), is not yet announced; but only a resurrection of the just, perhaps only of the just Israelites. The object is encouragement, especially encouragement of those whom the prophet directly addresses - the religious Israelites of his own day. It is enough for them at the present time to know that, whether the day of the Lord comes in their time or no, when it comes, they will have a part in it. The assurance is given, and is made doubly sure by repetition. The prophet does not say, Together with my dead body they will arise; for there is nothing in the Hebrew corresponding to "together," and the ellipse of 'ira, "with," though suggested by Kimchi, is impossible; nor is it likely that he intends to speak of his own dead body at all. He may, perhaps, call the past generations of just Israelites "my dead," i.e. the dead with whom he is in sympathy; or the supposed personal suffix may be merely paragogic, as Rosenmüller argues. In any case the two clauses must be regarded as identical in meaning - an instance of "synonymous parallelism.... Thy dead men shall live; my dead shall arise." Awake and sing; rather, awake and shout for joy (comp. Psalm 35:27; Psalm 67:4, etc.). Ye that dwell in dust (comp. Daniel 12:2, "Many that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake"). Thy dew is as the dew of herbs; i.e. refreshing, vivifying, potent to make even dead bones live. "Thy dew" may be said with reference to Jehovah, for changes in the person addressed are frequent in Isaiah; or with reference to the people of Israel, meaning, "the dew which Jehovah will shed on thee," i.e. on thy dead.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(19) Thy dead men shall live.--Better, Thy dead shall live; my corpses shall rise. The words, though they imply a belief more or less distinct in a resurrection, are primarily like the vision of dry bones in Ezekiel 37:1-14, and like St. Paul's "life from the dead" in Romans 11:15 (comp. also Hosea 6:2), used of national and spiritual resurrection.For thy dew is as the dew of herbs.--The rendering is a tenable one, and expresses the thought that as the dew that falls upon the parched and withered plant quickens it to a fresh life, so should the dew of Jehovah's grace (comp. 2Samuel 23:4) revive the dying energies of His people. Most interpreters, however, render the words the dew of lights (plural expressing completeness), the dew which is born of the womb of the morning (Psalm 110:3). This, coming as it does from the "Father of Lights" (so the LXX., "The dew that is from Thee shall be healing for them"), shall have power to make the earth cast forth even the shadowy forms of the dead. The verb for "cast forth" is another form of that used in Isaiah 26:18 of childbirth, and is, in this interpretation, used in the same sense. . . .