Isaiah 32:4

The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(4) The heart also of the rash . . .—“Heart,” as in Proverbs 4:23 and elsewhere, for the intellect rather than the emotions. The “rash” are those that are “hurried,” precipitate, reckless; the “stammerers,” those who have no power to speak clearly of the things of God, who hesitate and are undecided.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

32:1-8 Christ our righteous King, and his true disciples, are evidently here intended. The consolations and graces of his Spirit are as rivers of water in this dry land; and as the overhanging rock affords refreshing shade and shelter to the weary traveller in the desert, so his power, truth, and love, yield the believer the only real protection and refreshment in the weary land through which he journeys to heaven. Christ bore the storm himself, to keep it off from us. To him let the trembling sinner flee for refuge; for he alone can protect and refresh us in every trial. See what pains sinners take in sin; they labour at it, their hearts are intent upon it, and with art they work iniquity; but this is our comfort, that they can do no more mischief than God permits. Let us seek to have our hearts more freed from selfishness. The liberal soul devises liberal things concerning God, and desires that He will grant wisdom and prudence, the comforts of his presence, the influence of his Spirit, and in due time the enjoyment of his glory.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The heart also of the rash - Margin, 'Hasty.' The Hebrew word denotes those who hasten; that is, those who are precipitate in forming a judgment, or deciding on a course of action. They do not take time to deliberate, and consequently they are led headlong into error, and into improper courses of life.

Shall understand knowledge - They shall take time to deliberate; and they shall consequently form a more enlightened judgment.

And the tongue of the stammerers - The 'stammerers' (compare the note at Isaiah 28:11) seem here to denote those who had indistinct and confused views of subjects, or who were incapable of expressing clear and intelligible views of divine truth.

Shall be ready to speak plainly - Margin, 'Elegantly.' The Hebrew is צתות tsâthôth 'clear,' 'white,' usually applied to a bright, clear, white light. The sense is, that there should be no indistinctness or obscurity in their views and modes of utterance.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4. rash—rather, "the hasty"; contrast "shall not make haste" (Isa 28:16); the reckless who will not take time to weigh religious truth aright. Or else, the well-instructed [Horsley].

stammers—those who speak confusedly on divine things (compare Ex 4:10-12; Jer 1:6; Mt 10:19, 20). Or, rather, those drunken scorners who in stammering style imitated Isaiah's warnings to mock them [Maurer] (Isa 28:7-11, 13, 14, 22; 29:20); in this view, translate, "speak uprightly" (agreeably to the divine law); not as English Version, referring to the distinctness of articulation, "plainly."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The rash; who were hasty and heady in judging of things; which is an argument of ignorance and folly.

Shall understand knowledge; shall become more knowing and considerate in their judgments and actions.

The stammerers; that used to speak of the things of God darkly, and doubtfully, and unwillingly. As men’s understandings shall then be enlightened, so their speech shall be reformed; which though it was in part fulfilled in Hezekiah; this reformation being effected in some measure by his counsel and example, and by the powerful preaching of the Levites, whom he excited and encouraged to teach the good knowledge of the Lord, as is said, 2 Chronicles 30:22; yet was truly and fully accomplished only by Christ, who wrought this wonderful change in an innumerable company both of Jews and Gentiles.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge,.... Such who have been hasty and precipitant, as the word (c) signifies; who have not given themselves time to consider what they have read or heard, or has been proposed unto them, and have hastily received every thing that has been suggested to them, especially by carnal sense and reason, shall now sit down, and coolly consider things, and so gain an understanding of divine and spiritual knowledge, of the knowledge of Christ, of his person, offices, grace, righteousness, and salvation; an experimental knowledge and understanding of these things, heart and not head knowledge:

and the tongue of the stammerer shall be ready to speak plainly; or, "shall make haste to speak neatly" (d); elegantly and politely; such who hesitated in their speech, and spoke in a blundering manner, and scarcely intelligibly, especially when they spoke of divine and spiritual things, yet now, without the least hesitation, in the freest and most ready manner, with all plainness and propriety shall talk of these things, to the great delight, satisfaction, and use of those that hear them: this was true of the apostles of Christ, those babes and sucklings, out of whose mouth God ordained praise, and who were most of them Galilaeans, very illiterate and unpolished, and yet these, especially when they had the gift of tongues, spake the great things of God very readily, and in good language; and also is true of other ministers of the word, raised up among the barbarous nations of the world.

(c) "inconsideratorum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "praecipatorum", Montanus. (d) "festinabit loqui nitida", Pagninus; "polite", Munster; "diserte", Calvin; "loqui venusta", Cocceius.

Geneva Study Bible

The heart also of the rash shall understand knowledge, and the tongue of the stammerers shall be ready to speak plainly.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

4. the rash] i.e. the hasty, inconsiderate person, who constantly blurts out crude and ill-judged opinions. The stammerers, on the other hand, are those who, even when their thoughts are right, lack the gift of clear utterance. To the former class is promised “understanding,” to the latter the power to speak promptly and “plainly” (lit. lucidities). Sound judgment and fluent speech combine to form a good popular orator.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 4. - The heart also of the rash; i.e. of those who were rash and hasty, who would not give themselves time to understand the warnings addressed to them, or to think of the real character of their actions. These shall, in Messiah's kingdom, "have the gift of discernment to perceive things in their true nature" (Delitzsch). The tongue of the stammerers. The tongue of those who hitherto have spoken hesitatingly and inconsistently on moral and religions subjects shall be ready - i.e., prompt and eager - to speak upon them with clearness and elegance. The grace given to the uneducated fishermen of Galilee enabled them to preach and teach gospel truth, not only with clearness, but with refinement. Isaiah 32:4

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The second is an opened understanding, following upon the ban of hardening. "And the eyes of the seeing no more are closed, and the ears of the hearing attend. And the heart of the hurried understands to know, and the tongue of stammerers speaks clear things with readiness." It is not physical miracles that are predicted here, but a spiritual change. The present judgment of hardening will be repealed: this is what Isaiah 32:3 affirms. The spiritual defects, from which many suffer who do not belong to the worst, will be healed: this is the statement in Isaiah 32:4. The form תּשׁעינה is not the future of שׁעה here, as in Isaiah 31:1; Isaiah 22:4; Isaiah 17:7-8 (in the sense of, they will no longer stare about restlessly and without aim), but of שׁעה equals שׁעע, a metaplastic future of the latter, in the sense of, to be smeared over to closed (see Isaiah 29:9; Isaiah 6:10; cf., tach in Isaiah 44:18). On qâshabh (the kal of which is only met with here), see at Isaiah 21:7. The times succeeding the hardening, of which Isaiah is speaking here, are "the last times," as Isaiah 6:1-13 clearly shows; though it does not therefore follow that the king mentioned in Isaiah 32:1 (as in Isaiah 11:1.) is the Messiah Himself. In Isaiah 32:1 the prophet merely affirms, that Israel as a national commonwealth will then be governed in a manner well pleasing to God; here he predicts that Israel as a national congregation will be delivered from the judgment of not seeing with seeing eyes, and not hearing with hearing ears, and that it will be delivered from defects of weakness also. The nimhârı̄m are those that fall headlong, the precipitate, hurrying, or rash; and the עלּגים, stammerers, are not scoffers (Isaiah 28:7., Isaiah 19:20), as Knobel and Drechsler maintain, but such as are unable to think and speak with distinctness and certainty, more especially concerning the exalted things of God. The former would now have the gifts of discernment (yâbhı̄n), to perceive things in their true nature, and to distinguish under all circumstances that which is truly profitable (lâda‛ath); the latter would be able to express themselves suitably, with refinement, clearness, and worthiness. Tsachōth (old ed. tsâchōth) signifies that which is light, transparent; not merely intelligible, but refined and elegant. תּמהר gives the adverbial idea to ledabbēr (Ewald, 285, a).