Isaiah 2:10

Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(10) Enter into the rock.—The limestone caverns of Palestine were natural asylums in times of terror and dismay (Judges 6:2; Judges 15:8; 1Samuel 13:6; 1Samuel 14:11; 1Samuel 24:3; 1Kings 18:4). Here, as in Micah 1:4, we may probably trace the impression left by the earthquake under Uzziah (Amos 1:1), when the people fled in terror from the city (Zechariah 14:5). Isaiah foresees the recurrence of a like panic in the future.

Benson Commentary

Isaiah 2:10-11. Enter into the rock, &c. — Such calamities are coming upon you, that you will be ready to hide yourselves in rocks and caves of the earth, for fear of the glorious and terrible judgments of God. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled — The eyes that looked high; the countenance, in which the pride of the heart had showed itself, shall be cast down in shame and despair. The haughtiness of men shall be bowed down — Judicially, as they prostrated themselves before their idols voluntarily, the punishment being suited to their sin. And the Lord alone shall be exalted — The justice and power of Jehovah shall be magnified, and the impotence and vanity of all other gods shall be detected, at the same time that the self-confidence, self-sufficiency, and vain glory of man are abased and vilified.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

2:10-22 The taking of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans seems first meant here, when idolatry among the Jews was done away; but our thoughts are led forward to the destruction of all the enemies of Christ. It is folly for those who are pursued by the wrath of God, to think to hide or shelter themselves from it. The shaking of the earth will be terrible to those who set their affections on things of the earth. Men's haughtiness will be brought down, either by the grace of God convincing them of the evil of pride, or by the providence of God depriving them of all the things they were proud of. The day of the Lord shall be upon those things in which they put their confidence. Those who will not be reasoned out of their sins, sooner or later shall be frightened out of them. Covetous men make money their god; but the time will come when they will feel it as much their burden. This whole passage may be applied to the case of an awakened sinner, ready to leave all that his soul may be saved. The Jews were prone to rely on their heathen neighbours; but they are here called upon to cease from depending on mortal man. We are all prone to the same sin. Then let not man be your fear, let not him be your hope; but let your hope be in the Lord your God. Let us make this our great concern.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Enter into the rock - That is, into the "holes or caverns" in the rocks, as a place of refuge and safety; compare Isaiah 2:19, and Revelation 6:15-16. In times of invasion by an enemy, it was natural to flee to the fastnesses or to the caverns of rocks for refuge. This expression is highly figurative and poetic. The prophet warns them to flee from danger. The sense is, that such were their crimes that they would certainly be punished; and he advises them to flee to a place of safety.

And hide thee in the dust - In Isaiah 2:19, this is 'caves of the dust.' It is parallel to the former, and probably has a similar meaning. But "may" there not be reference here to the mode prevailing in the East of avoiding the monsoon or poisonous heated wind that passes over the desert? Travelers there, in order to be safe, are obliged to throw themselves down, and to place their mouths close to the earth until it has passed.

For fear of the Lord - Hebrew 'From the face of the terror of the Lord.' That is, the punishment which God will inflict will sweep over the land, producing fear and terror.

And for the glory ... - That is, the honor or splendor which will attend him when he comes forth to inflict judgment on the people; Isaiah 2:19-20.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

10. Poetical form of expressing that, such were their sins, they would be obliged by God's judgments to seek a hiding-place from His wrath (Re 6:15, 16).

dust—equivalent to "caves of the earth," or dust (Isa 2:19).

for fear, &c.—literally, "from the face of the terror of the Lord."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust: this is spoken ironically, and with derision. The sense is, Such dreadful calamities are coming upon you, that you will be ready to hide yourselves in rocks and caves of the earth, but all to no purpose.

For fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty; for fear of the glorious and terrible judgments of God.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust,.... As it was when Rome Pagan was destroyed, the kings, princes, and freemen called to the rocks to fall on them and hide them, Revelation 6:15 so it will be at the downfall of Rome Papal, when the kings and merchants of the earth, who have been concerned therewith, will stand afar off, as for fear of her torment, Revelation 18:10.

so for fear of the Lord, and for the glory of his majesty; lest he should pour out his wrath and vengeance upon them, and be a consuming fire to them, before whose glory and majesty they will not be able to stand; for this is to be understood not of a filial reverence of God, but of a servile fear of punishment; and these words are sarcastically said, suggesting that rocks and mountains will be no protection or security for them.

Geneva Study Bible

Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, for fear of the LORD, and for the glory of his majesty.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

10. Enter into the rock] The clefts and caverns (see Isaiah 2:19; Isaiah 2:21) which abounded in the limestone rock of Palestine were used as natural hiding-places in time of invasion (Jdg 6:2; 1 Samuel 13:6; 1 Samuel 14:11). Cf. the still more impressive representation, Hosea 10:8.

10, 11. It is doubtful whether these verses should be connected with what precedes or with what follows. Each is of the nature of a refrain verse: note the resemblances in 10, 19, 21 and in 11, 17. (In the LXX. Isaiah 2:10 ends with “to terrify the earth,” as 19, 21.) Although no strophic arrangement can be traced, the verses obviously express the keynote of this part of the discourse.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 10. - Enter into the rock. The limestone rocks of Palestine are full of extensive caverns, to which the Israelites often betook themselves in times of danger (see Judges 6:2; 1 Samuel 13:6; 1 Samuel 22:1, etc.). The prophet exhorts them to flee thither now, but without stating what exactly is the peril (comp. vers. 19, 21). Hide thee in the dust. Not "the dust of humiliation" (Kay), but "the dust of the earth" (Genesis 2:7), put here for the earth itself, as in ver. 19. For fear of the Lord; rather, from before the terror of Jehovah. Some awful manifestation of Jehovah's power is intended, its nature being still kept back and shrouded in darkness. Isaiah 2:10

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

It was a state ripe for judgment, from which, therefore, the prophet could at once proceed, without any further preparation, to the proclamation of judgment itself."Thus, then, men are bowed down, and lords are brought low; and forgive them - no, that Thou wilt not." The consecutive futures depict the judgment, as one which would follow by inward necessity from the worldly and ungodly glory of the existing state of things. The future is frequently used in this way (for example, in Isaiah 9:7.). It was a judgment by which small and great, i.e., the people in all its classes, were brought down from their false eminence. "Men" and "lords" (âdâm and ish, as in Isaiah 5:15; Psalm 49:3, and Proverbs 8:4, and like άνθρωπος and ανήρ in the Attic dialect), i.e., men who were lost in the crowd, and men who rose above it - all of them the judgment would throw down to the ground, and that without mercy (Revelation 6:15). The prophet expresses the conviction (al as in 2 Kings 6:27), that on this occasion God neither could nor would take away the sin by forgiving it. There was nothing left for them, therefore, but to carry out the command of the prophet in Isaiah 2:10 : "Creep into the rock, and bury thyself in the dust, before the terrible look of Jehovah, and before the glory of His majesty." The glorious nation would hide itself most ignominiously, when the only true glory of Jehovah, which had been rejected by it, was manifested in judgment. They would conceal themselves in holes of the rocks, as if before a hostile army (Judges 6:2; 1 Samuel 13:6; 1 Samuel 14:11), and bury themselves with their faces in the sand, as if before the fatal simōm of the desert, that they might not have to bear this intolerable sight. And when Jehovah manifested Himself in this way in the fiery glance of judgment, the result summed up in Isaiah 2:11 must follow: "The people's eyes of haughtiness are humbled, and the pride of their lords is bowed down; and Jehovah, He only, stands exalted in that day." The result of the process of judgment is expressed in perfects: nisgab is the third pers. praet., not the participle: Jehovah "is exalted," i.e., shows Himself as exalted, whilst the haughty conduct of the people is brought down (shâphel is a verb, not an adjective; it is construed in the singular by attraction, and either refers to âdâm, man or people: Ges. 148, 1; or what is more probable, to the logical unity of the compound notion which is taken as subject, the constr. ad synesin s. sensum: Thiersch, 118), and the pride of the lords is bowed down (shach equals shâchach, Job 9:13). The first strophe of the proclamation of judgment appended to the prophetic saying in Isaiah 2:2-4 is here brought to a close. The second strophe reaches to Isaiah 2:17, where Isaiah 2:11 is repeated as a concluding verse.