Isaiah 30:32
And with every stroke of the rod of punishment that the LORD brings down on them, the tambourines and lyres will sound as He battles with weapons brandished.
Sermons
Judgment and JoyW. Clarkson Isaiah 30:27-33














Reference is to the deliverance of Hezekiah and Judah from the yoke of the Assyrians and the fear of their overwhelming attack. Illustrating the pleasure Eastern people feel in "night-songs," Roberts says, "Music is considered far more enchanting at night than at any other period; it gives cheerfulness in darkness, and pleasure to the heart." Nothing is more common than for adults to sing themselves to sleep; thus, as they recline, they beat a tabret and chant the praises of their gods till, through heaviness, they can scarcely articulate a word. In passing through a village or town at midnight may be heard people at their nightly song, to grace the festive scene, to beguile away their time, to charm their fears, or to procure refreshing sleep,"

I. GOD GIVES SONGS IN THE NIGHT OF OUR FEARS, A striking illustration is found in the times of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 20.). A time of exceeding peril and fear came through an invasion of Moabites and Ammonites; the matter was committed to God in prayer; deliverance was assured, and we read that the singers went out before the army, to praise the beauty of holiness, and say, "Praise the Lord, for his mercy endureth forever." They were to sing their songs of trust while yet the deliverance tarried. Singing songs when we are well out of fears is easy work; singing songs even while struggling with our fears is the beautiful triumph of faith.

II. GOD GIVES SONGS IN THE NIGHT OF WEEPING. Weeping represents troubles being borne, not troubles only feared. Smiles can break through tears. God gives heart-rest that can give forth a song, even to the sons and daughters of pain and grief.

III. GOD GIVES SONGS IN THE NIGHT OF WEARY PILGRIMAGE. For oftentimes "waiting work," and the work of keeping steadily on, is very trying and hard. Many a man knows the painful depression of "patient continuance in well-doing." This is typified in the long, dreary journey of Israelites from distant parts of the country to the feasts at Jerusalem. Weary work, indeed, in those slow-travelling days. It is said that each band of pilgrims on its way to Jerusalem was headed by a person who played the flute. Nothing cheers a journey like a song. See the power of music on a soldier's march. Then -

"Sing on your heavenward way,
Ye ransomed sinners, sing."

IV. GOD GIVES SONGS IN THE NIGHT OF DEATH. Songs in the soul, when lips are sealed in weakness. How often those who watch beside dying saints see the lips moving, and catch faint sounds of the old trustful hymns learned in childhood! Familiar texts and well-loved hymns are the wings that bear many a soul through the long dark valley into the holy realms of light and love and song. - R.T.

Ye shall have a song.
These Jewish wayfarers returned to their several homes to resume their usual occupations. So it is with us. After the most sacred festal and sacramental seasons, the world's business and cares necessarily reassert their claims. But, would these old Jewish worshippers in casting off their holiday attire, cast off also their holiday and festive spirit? In the midst of the coarse contacts of daily existence, would the recollections of the Jerusalem festival no longer linger in their memories? Nay, rather, would not these songs of Sion still haunt their ears and hang upon their lips? — would not the shepherd be heard chanting them in the midst of his fleecy charge by green pastures and still waters? — would not the fisherman warble them in his night watch on the lake? and the sailor as he bounded over the great sea, and the dim mountains of his fatherland were receding from view? — would not the cottager, as he reached his home among the hills of Kedesh or on the spurs of Hermon, evening after evening, in returning from his toil, gather his little ones by his knee, and rehearse to them the joyful remembrances of the holy season? Be it ours, while we leave the New Testament feast, and engage in our daily avocations, to carry the hallowed memories of it along with us.

(J. R. Macduff, D. D.)

Homilist.
I. A GLORIOUS ANTICIPATION. This is represented under two figures.

1. A holy service. "The night when a holy solemnity is kept."(1) Observe the time, the "night." It is not until the day of life is past and the turmoil of earth is done, that the great and solemn assembly shall be convened.(2) Observe the character, "holy." Impurity is done away. There shall nothing enter which can pollute or mar or injure.(3) Observe the proceedings, "a solemnity." Our meetings with God lack proper solemnity. But how great and solemn will be the eternal service! A joyous meeting. "As when one goeth forth with a pipe to come to the mountain of the Lord." Here are subjects going forth to meet their King, who is good and great. Here are friends going forth to meet their Brother, whom they have long desired to embrace. Here are guests going forth to the banquet of their Beloved.

II. A SUITABLE STATE OF MIND. "Ye shall have a song and gladness of heart."

1. Ye shall have a song. There are two things, revolved "in" this.(1) There is a subject to sing of. He hath put a new song in my mouth."(2) There shall be a disposition to sing. The redeemed soul will be filled with praise.

2. Ye shall have gladness of heart. It will be caused by —(1) The presence of God.(2) Happy surroundings.(3) Blessed reunions.

III. A PRESENT ENCOURAGEMENT. This future promise may be now realised by faith. And what a different aspect will this give to the present life! We may not sing the full chorus of the songs of Heaven, but we can hear the echo. We cannot see our Lord, but we can feel His arms and hear His voice.

IV. A DESIRABLE CONDITION. The text affords a most urgent stimulus to our present life. It speaks of a song which the people of God will be enabled to sing with confidence when their Lord's judgments are abroad. Let us endeavour to realise the confidence, the peace, the happiness of that future time.

(Homilist.)

People
Assyrians, Egyptians, Isaiah, Mash, Pharaoh, Rahab, Saraph
Places
Egypt, Hanes, Jerusalem, Lebanon, Negeb, Rahab, Zion, Zoan
Topics
Appointed, Arm, Battle, Battles, Battling, Blow, Blows, Brandished, Brandishing, Causeth, Fight, Fights, Fought, Grounded, Harps, Lay, Lays, Lyres, Music, Pass, Passage, Punishing, Punishment, Rest, Rod, Settled, Shaking, Staff, Stroke, Sword, Tabrets, Tambourines, Tambours, Timbrels, Tumultuous, War, Waving, Weapons, Wherever, Wielding
Outline
1. The prophet threatens the people for their confidence in Egypt
8. And contempt of God's word
18. God's mercies toward his church
27. God's wrath and the people's joy, in the destruction of Assyria

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Isaiah 30:32

     5332   harp
     5420   music
     5421   musical instruments

Isaiah 30:27-33

     1454   theophany

Isaiah 30:31-33

     4369   sulphur

Library
'Quietness and Confidence'
'In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.'--ISAIAH xxx. 15. ISRAEL always felt the difficulty of sustaining itself on the height of dependence on the unseen, spiritual power of God, and was ever oscillating between alliances with the Northern and Southern powers, linking itself with Assyria against Egypt, or with Egypt against Assyria. The effect was that whichever was victorious it suffered; it was the battleground for both, it was the prize of
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

God's Waiting and Man's
'And therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you, and therefore will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you: for the Lord is a God of judgment: blessed are they that wait for Him.'--ISAIAH xxx. 18. God's waiting and man's--bold and beautiful, that He and we should be represented as sharing the same attitude. I. God's waiting, 1. The first thought is--why should He wait--why does He not act at once? Because something in us hinders. We cannot enter into spiritual blessings
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Voice Behind Thee
The word behind us which is spoken of in the text is mentioned as one among other covenant blessings. No "if" or "but" is joined to it. It is one of those gracious, unconditional promises upon which the salvation of the guilty depends. There are many comforts of the new life which depend upon our own action and behaviour, and these come to us with "ifs"; but those which are vital and essential are secured to the chosen of God without "but" or "peradventure." It shall be so: God declares it shall,
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 28: 1882

My God Will Hear Me
"Therefore will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you. Blessed are all they that wait for Him. He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when He shall hear it, He will answer thee."--ISA. xxx. 18, 19. "The Lord will hear when I call upon Him."--PS. iv. 3. "I have called upon Thee, for Thou wilt hear me, O God!"--PS. xvii. 6. "I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me."--MIC. vii. 7. The power of prayer rests in the faith
Andrew Murray—The Ministry of Intercession

With a Heart Full of Anxious Request,
"In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength." -- Isaiah 30:15. With a heart full of anxious request, Which my Father in heaven bestowed, I wandered alone, and distressed, In search of a quiet abode. Astray and distracted I cried, -- Lord, where would'st Thou have me to be? And the voice of the Lamb that had died Said, Come, my beloved, to ME. I went -- for He mightily wins Weary souls to His peaceful retreat -- And He gave me forgiveness of sins,
Miss A. L. Waring—Hymns and Meditations

But Though Prayer is Properly Confined to Vows and Supplications...
But though prayer is properly confined to vows and supplications, yet so strong is the affinity between petition and thanksgiving, that both may be conveniently comprehended under one name. For the forms which Paul enumerates (1 Tim. 2:1) fall under the first member of this division. By prayer and supplication we pour out our desires before God, asking as well those things which tend to promote his glory and display his name, as the benefits which contribute to our advantage. By thanksgiving we duly
John Calvin—Of Prayer--A Perpetual Exercise of Faith

"Take My Yoke Upon You, and Learn of Me," &C.
Matt. xi. 20.--"Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me," &c. Self love is generally esteemed infamous and contemptible among men. It is of a bad report every where, and indeed as it is taken commonly, there is good reason for it, that it should be hissed out of all societies, if reproaching and speaking evil of it would do it. But to speak the truth, the name is not so fit to express the thing, for that which men call self love, may rather be called self hatred. Nothing is more pernicious to a man's
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Girdle of the City. Nehemiah 3
The beginning of the circumference was from 'the sheep-gate.' That, we suppose, was seated on the south part, yet but little removed from that corner, which looks south-east. Within was the pool of Bethesda, famous for healings. Going forward, on the south part, was the tower Meah: and beyond that, "the tower of Hananeel": in the Chaldee paraphrast it is, 'The tower Piccus,' Zechariah 14:10; Piccus, Jeremiah 31:38.--I should suspect that to be, the Hippic tower, were not that placed on the north
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

Sennacherib (705-681 B. C. )
The struggle of Sennacherib with Judaea and Egypt--Destruction of Babylon. Sennacherib either failed to inherit his father's good fortune, or lacked his ability.* He was not deficient in military genius, nor in the energy necessary to withstand the various enemies who rose against him at widely removed points of his frontier, but he had neither the adaptability of character nor the delicate tact required to manage successfully the heterogeneous elements combined under his sway. * The two principal
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 8

How those are to be Admonished who have had Experience of the Sins of the Flesh, and those who have Not.
(Admonition 29.) Differently to be admonished are those who are conscious of sins of the flesh, and those who know them not. For those who have had experience of the sins of the flesh are to be admonished that, at any rate after shipwreck, they should fear the sea, and feel horror at their risk of perdition at least when it has become known to them; lest, having been mercifully preserved after evil deeds committed, by wickedly repeating the same they die. Whence to the soul that sins and never
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Concerning Worship.
Concerning Worship. [780] All true and acceptable worship to God is offered in the inward and immediate moving and drawing of his own Spirit which is neither limited to places times, nor persons. For though we are to worship him always, and continually to fear before him; [781] yet as to the outward signification thereof, in prayers, praises, or preachings, we ought not to do it in our own will, where and when we will; but where and when we are moved thereunto by the stirring and secret inspiration
Robert Barclay—Theses Theologicae and An Apology for the True Christian Divinity

A Sermon on Isaiah xxvi. By John Knox.
[In the Prospectus of our Publication it was stated, that one discourse, at least, would be given in each number. A strict adherence to this arrangement, however, it is found, would exclude from our pages some of the most talented discourses of our early Divines; and it is therefore deemed expedient to depart from it as occasion may require. The following Sermon will occupy two numbers, and we hope, that from its intrinsic value, its historical interest, and the illustrious name of its author, it
John Knox—The Pulpit Of The Reformation, Nos. 1, 2 and 3.

The Evening Light
This chapter is an article written by the author many years after she had received light on the unity of the church. It will acquaint the reader with what is meant by the expression "evening light." "At evening time it shall be light." "And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: but it shall be one day which shall be known to the Lord, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light" (Zechariah 14:6,7). The expression
Mary Cole—Trials and Triumphs of Faith

The Baptist's Inquiry and Jesus' Discourse Suggested Thereby.
(Galilee.) ^A Matt. XI. 2-30; ^C Luke VII. 18-35. ^c 18 And the disciples of John told him of all these things. ^a 2 Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent by his disciples ^c 19 And John calling unto him two of his disciples sent them unto the Lord [John had been cast into prison about December, a.d. 27, and it was now after the Passover, possibly in May or June, a.d. 28. Herod Antipas had cast John into prison because John had reproved him for taking his brother's wife.
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

The Eternity of God
The next attribute is, God is eternal.' Psa 90:0. From everlasting to everlasting thou art God.' The schoolmen distinguish between aevun et aeternum, to explain the notion of eternity. There is a threefold being. I. Such as had a beginning; and shall have an end; as all sensitive creatures, the beasts, fowls, fishes, which at death are destroyed and return to dust; their being ends with their life. 2. Such as had a beginning, but shall have no end, as angels and the souls of men, which are eternal
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

How Christ is Made Use of for Justification as a Way.
What Christ hath done to purchase, procure, and bring about our justification before God, is mentioned already, viz. That he stood in the room of sinners, engaging for them as their cautioner, undertaking, and at length paying down the ransom; becoming sin, or a sacrifice for sin, and a curse for them, and so laying down his life a ransom to satisfy divine justice; and this he hath made known in the gospel, calling sinners to an accepting of him as their only Mediator, and to a resting upon him for
John Brown (of Wamphray)—Christ The Way, The Truth, and The Life

The Prophet Hosea.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS. That the kingdom of Israel was the object of the prophet's ministry is so evident, that upon this point all are, and cannot but be, agreed. But there is a difference of opinion as to whether the prophet was a fellow-countryman of those to whom he preached, or was called by God out of the kingdom of Judah. The latter has been asserted with great confidence by Maurer, among others, in his Observ. in Hos., in the Commentat. Theol. ii. i. p. 293. But the arguments
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

The Gospel Message, Good Tidings
[As it is written] How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! T he account which the Apostle Paul gives of his first reception among the Galatians (Galatians 4:15) , exemplifies the truth of this passage. He found them in a state of ignorance and misery; alienated from God, and enslaved to the blind and comfortless superstitions of idolatry. His preaching, accompanied with the power of the Holy Spirit, had a great and marvellous effect.
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2

"They have Corrupted Themselves; their Spot is not the Spot of his Children; they are a Perverse and Crooked Generation. "
Deut. xxxii. 5.--"They have corrupted themselves; their spot is not the spot of his children; they are a perverse and crooked generation." We doubt this people would take well with such a description of themselves as Moses gives. It might seem strange to us, that God should have chosen such a people out of all the nations of the earth, and they to be so rebellious and perverse, if our own experience did not teach us how free his choice is, and how long-suffering he is, and constant in his choice.
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Covenant of Works
Q-12: I proceed to the next question, WHAT SPECIAL ACT OF PROVIDENCE DID GOD EXERCISE TOWARDS MAN IN THE ESTATE WHEREIN HE WAS CREATED? A: When God had created man, he entered into a covenant of life with him upon condition of perfect obedience, forbidding him to eat of the tree of knowledge upon pain of death. For this, consult with Gen 2:16, 17: And the Lord commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt
Thomas Watson—A Body of Divinity

A Description of Heart-Purity
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Matthew 5:8 The holy God, who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity' calls here for heart-purity, and to such as are adorned with this jewel, he promises a glorious and beatifical vision of himself: they shall see God'. Two things are to be explained the nature of purity; the subject of purity. 1 The nature of purity. Purity is a sacred refined thing. It stands diametrically opposed to whatsoever defiles. We must distinguish the various kinds
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

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