◄ Isaiah 2:19 ►
Men will flee to caves in the rocks and holes in the ground, away from the terror of the LORD and from the splendor of His majesty, when He rises to shake the earth.
Study Bible
Men will flee to caves in the rocks and holes in the ground,

This imagery reflects a common ancient Near Eastern practice where people sought refuge in natural formations during times of danger, such as invasions or natural disasters. The caves and holes symbolize a desperate attempt to find safety, highlighting the severity of the situation. This phrase echoes the fear and helplessness experienced during divine judgment, reminiscent of the fear described in Revelation 6:15-16, where people hide in caves from the wrath of the Lamb.

Rev 6:15-16 Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the commanders…
1Sa 13:6 Seeing that they were in danger because their troops…
Jdg 6:2 and the hand of Midian prevailed against Israel.…

away from the terror of the LORD

The "terror of the LORD" refers to the overwhelming fear and awe that God's presence and judgment inspire. This phrase underscores the holiness and power of God, which is often depicted as a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:29). The terror is not merely emotional but is a response to the reality of God's righteous judgment against sin, as seen in other prophetic texts like Joel 2:11.

Isa 8:13 The LORD of Hosts is the One you shall regard as holy.…
Psa 76:7 You alone are to be feared. When You are angry,…
Heb 10:31 It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands…

and from the splendor of His majesty,

The "splendor of His majesty" contrasts with the terror, emphasizing God's glory and sovereign authority. This duality of fear and majesty is a common theme in Scripture, illustrating the complexity of God's nature. The majesty of God is often associated with His kingship and divine rule, as seen in Psalm 96:6, where strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.

Psa 145:5 The glorious splendor of Your majesty. And I will…
Psa 104:1-2 Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God,…
1Ch 29:11 Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power…

when He rises to shake the earth.

This phrase indicates a divine intervention in human history, often associated with eschatological events. The shaking of the earth symbolizes a profound upheaval, both physically and spiritually, as God asserts His dominion. This concept is echoed in Haggai 2:6 and Hebrews 12:26-27, where God promises to shake not only the earth but also the heavens, signifying the coming of a new order.

Hag 2:6-7 For this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Once more…
Heb 12:26-27 At that time His voice shook the earth, but now He has promised,…
Psa 18:7 Then the earth shook and quaked, and the foundations…

Persons / Places / Events
1. Men
Refers to humanity in general, highlighting the universal nature of the fear and awe inspired by God's presence.

2. Caves in the rocks and holes in the ground
Symbolic of places of refuge and hiding, representing the futility of trying to escape God's judgment.

3. The LORD
The covenant name of God, emphasizing His authority and power.

4. The Splendor of His Majesty
Describes the overwhelming glory and holiness of God, which causes fear and reverence.

5. When He rises to shake the earth
An event of divine intervention and judgment, illustrating God's active role in the world.
Teaching Points
The Inevitability of God's Judgment
God's judgment is certain and unavoidable. No human effort can hide us from His presence.

The Majesty of God
Recognize the splendor and majesty of God, which should inspire both reverence and humility in our lives.

The Futility of Human Refuge
Earthly refuges and securities are inadequate in the face of divine judgment. Our true refuge is in God alone.

Call to Repentance
The fear of the Lord should lead us to repentance and a right relationship with Him.

Living in Awe of God
Cultivate a lifestyle that acknowledges God's majesty and aligns with His will, avoiding complacency.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the imagery of hiding in caves and holes challenge our understanding of security and refuge?

2. In what ways can we prepare ourselves for the "shaking" that God brings into our lives, both personally and globally?

3. How does recognizing the splendor of God's majesty impact our daily worship and relationship with Him?

4. What are some modern "caves" or "holes" people might turn to in an attempt to escape God's presence, and how can we avoid these pitfalls?

5. How can we encourage others to see God as a refuge rather than something to fearfully hide from?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Revelation 6:15-17
This passage echoes the imagery of people hiding in caves and rocks during the end times, emphasizing the fear of God's wrath.

Hebrews 12:26-27
Discusses God's voice shaking the earth, connecting to the theme of divine judgment and the unshakable kingdom.

Psalm 76:7-9
Highlights the fear and awe of God's judgment, similar to the terror described in Isaiah 2:19.

Amos 9:1-3
Speaks of people trying to hide from God's judgment, reinforcing the futility of escaping His presence.
Sermons
No Escape from the Judgments of GodSir E. Strachey, Bart.Isaiah 2:19
The Fear of the LordW. Reading, M. A.Isaiah 2:19
Retribution and its ResultsW. Clarkson Isaiah 2:6-21
The Day of JudgmentE. Johnson Isaiah 2:12-22
People
Amoz, Isaiah, Jacob, Tarshish
Places
Bashan, Jerusalem, Lebanon, Tarshish, Zion
Topics
Arise, Arises, Ariseth, Caverns, Caves, Cracks, Dread, Dust, Enter, Entered, Excellency, Fear, Glory, Ground, Holes, Honour, Majesty, Mightily, Power, Rises, Rising, Rocks, Shake, Shaking, Splendor, Strength, Terribly, Terrify, Terror, Tremble
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Isaiah 2:19

     1045   God, glory of
     1090   God, majesty of
     1193   glory, revelation of
     1235   God, the LORD
     4354   rock

Isaiah 2:19-21

     4218   cave

Library
For Godly Sorrow Worketh Repentance to Salvation, not to be Repented Of; but the Sorrow of the World Worketh Death. 2 Corinthians 7:10.
In this chapter the apostle refers to another epistle which he had formerly written to the church at Corinth, on a certain subject, in which they were greatly to blame. He speaks here of the effect that it; had, in bringing them to true repentance. They sorrowed after a godly sort. This was the evidence that their repentance was genuine. "For behold this self-same thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, …
Charles G. Finney—Lectures to Professing Christians

Sirs, what must I do to be Saved? and they Said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Who of God is Made unto us Wisdom, and Righteousness, and Sanctification, and Redemption, Acts 26:30, 31, with 1 Corinthians 1:30.
There can be no objection to putting these texts together in this manner as only a clause in the first of them is omitted, which is not essential to the sense, and which is irrelevant to my present purpose. In the passage first quoted, the apostle tells the inquiring jailer, who wished to know what he must do to be saved, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." And in the other he adds the explanatory remark, telling what a Savior Jesus Christ is, "Who of God is made unto us wisdom, …
Charles G. Finney—Lectures to Professing Christians

A vision of the Latter-Day Glories
We shall not, to-day, look through all the dim vista of Zion's tribulations. We will leave the avenue of troubles and of trials through which the church has passed and is to pass, and we will come, by faith, to the last days; and may God help us while we indulge in a glorious vision of that which is to be ere long, when "the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it." The prophet saw two …
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 5: 1859

But to Know Whether Christianity Wants, or Admits of War...
But to know whether Christianity wants, or admits of war, Christianity is to be considered as in its right state. Now the true state of the world turned Christian, is thus described by the great gospel-prophet, who showed what a change it was to make in the fallen state of the world. "It shall come to pass," says he, "in the last days," that is, in the days of Christendom, "that the mountain of the Lord's house" (his Christian kingdom) "shall be established in the top of the mountains, and all nations …
William Law—An Humble, Affectionate, and Earnest Address to the Clergy

Sweet is the Solace of Thy Love,
"I, even I, am He that comforteth you." -- Isaiah 2:12 Sweet is the solace of Thy love, My Heavenly Friend, to me, While through the hidden way of faith I journey home with Thee, Learning by quiet thankfulness As a dear child to be. Though from the shadow of Thy peace My feet would often stray, Thy mercy follows all my steps, And will not turn away; Yea, thou wilt comfort me at last, As none beneath Thee may. Oft in a dark and lonely place, I hush my hastened breath, To hear the comfortable words …
Miss A. L. Waring—Hymns and Meditations

General Remarks on the History of Missions in this Age.
THE operations of Christianity are always radically the same, because they flow from its essential character, and its relations to human nature; yet it makes some difference whether it is received amongst nations to whom it was previously quite unknown, either plunged in barbarism or endowed with a certain degree of civilization, proceeding from some other form of religion, or whether it attaches itself to an already existing Christian tradition. In the latter case, it will indeed have to combat …
Augustus Neander—Light in the Dark Places

The Condition of the World when Our Lord Returns Proves that his Second Advent Cannot be Post-Millennial.
God's Word makes known the exact conditions which are to obtain here immediately preceding the Redeemer's Return. The Holy Spirit has given a number of graphic portrayals of the world as it will exist when our Lord comes back to it. One of these pictures is to be found in Isaiah 2--"For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low: And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and …
Arthur W. Pink—The Redeemer's Return

A Clearing-Up Storm in the Realm
(Revelation, Chapters vi.-viii.) "God Almighty! King of nations! earth Thy footstool, heaven Thy throne! Thine the greatness, power, and glory, Thine the kingdom, Lord, alone! Life and death are in Thy keeping, and Thy will ordaineth all: From the armies of Thy heavens to an unseen insect's fall. "Reigning, guiding, all-commanding, ruling myriad worlds of light; Now exalting, now abasing, none can stay Thy hand of might! Working all things by Thy power, by the counsel of Thy will. Thou art God! …
by S. D. Gordon—Quiet Talks on the Crowned Christ of Revelation

"And Truly Our Fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And These Things Write we unto You, that Your Joy May Be
1 John i. 3, 4.--"And truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full." It was sin that did first break off that fellowship that was between God and man, and cut off that blessed society in which the honour and happiness of man consisted. But that fundamental bond being loosed, it hath likewise untied all the links of society of men among themselves, and made such a general dispersion and dissipation of mankind, …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Place of Jesus in the History of the World.
The great event of the History of the world is the revolution by which the noblest portions of humanity have passed from the ancient religions, comprised under the vague name of Paganism, to a religion founded on the Divine Unity, the Trinity, and the Incarnation of the Son of God. It has taken nearly a thousand years to accomplish this conversion. The new religion had itself taken at least three hundred years in its formation. But the origin of the revolution in question with which we have to do …
Ernest Renan—The Life of Jesus

Completion Op the Fifth Continental Journey.
1849-50. The disorganized state of Germany presented a serious obstacle to John and Martha Yeardley's resuming their labors on the Continent. FROM JOHN YEARDLEY TO JOHN KITCHING. Scarborough, 6 mo. 23, 1849. We spent two days at Malton with our dear friends Ann and Esther Priestman, in their delightful new abode on the bank of the river: we were comforted in being at meeting with them on First-day. On Second-day we came to Scarborough, and soon procured two rooms near our own former residence. The …
John Yeardley—Memoir and Diary of John Yeardley, Minister of the Gospel

The Image and the Stone
'This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. 37. Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory. 38. And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath He given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold. 39. And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Upbringing of Jewish Children
The tenderness of the bond which united Jewish parents to their children appears even in the multiplicity and pictorialness of the expressions by which the various stages of child-life are designated in the Hebrew. Besides such general words as "ben" and "bath"--"son" and "daughter"--we find no fewer than nine different terms, each depicting a fresh stage of life. The first of these simply designates the babe as the newly--"born"--the "jeled," or, in the feminine, "jaldah"--as in Exodus 2:3, 6, 8. …
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

Concerning Salutations and Recreations, &C.
Concerning Salutations and Recreations, &c. [1273] Seeing the chief end of all religion is to redeem men from the spirit and vain conversation of this world and to lead into inward communion with God, before whom if we fear always we are accounted happy; therefore all the vain customs and habits thereof, both in word and deed, are to be rejected and forsaken by those who come to this fear; such as taking off the hat to a man, the bowings and cringings of the body, and such other salutations of that …
Robert Barclay—Theses Theologicae and An Apology for the True Christian Divinity

The General Resurrection
Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed; in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. A n object, great in itself, and which we know to be so, will appear small to us, if we view it from a distance. The stars, for example, in our view, are but as little specks …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2

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

This Question I Should Briefly Solve, if I Should Say...
24. This question I should briefly solve, if I should say, because I should also justly say, that we must believe the Apostle. For he himself knew why in the Churches of the Gentiles it was not meet that a venal Gospel were carried about; not finding fault with his fellow-apostles, but distinguishing his own ministry; because they, without doubt by admonition of the Holy Ghost, had so distributed among them the provinces of evangelizing, that Paul and Barnabas should go unto the Gentiles, and they …
St. Augustine—Of the Work of Monks.

The Extent of Messiah's Spiritual Kingdom
The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever! T he Kingdom of our Lord in the heart, and in the world, is frequently compared to a building or house, of which He Himself is both the Foundation and the Architect (Isaiah 28:16 and 54:11, 12) . A building advances by degrees (I Corinthians 3:9; Ephesians 2:20-22) , and while it is in an unfinished state, a stranger cannot, by viewing its present appearance, form an accurate judgment …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2

The Prophet Micah.
PRELIMINARY REMARKS. Micah signifies: "Who is like Jehovah;" and by this name, the prophet is consecrated to the incomparable God, just as Hosea was to the helping God, and Nahum to the comforting God. He prophesied, according to the inscription, under Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. We are not, however, entitled, on this account, to dissever his prophecies, and to assign particular discourses to the reign of each of these kings. On the contrary, the entire collection forms only one whole. At …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament

Things to be Meditated on as Thou Goest to the Church.
1. That thou art going to the court of the Lord, and to speak with the great God by prayer; and to hear his majesty speak unto thee by his word; and to receive his blessing on thy soul, and thy honest labour, in the six days past. 2. Say with thyself by the way--"As the hart brayeth for the rivers of water, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, even for the living God: When shall I come and appear before the presence of God? For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

Subterraneous Places. Mines. Caves.
Thus having taken some notice of the superficies of the land, let us a little search into its bowels. You may divide the subterraneous country into three parts: the metal mines, the caves, and the places of burial. This land was eminently noted for metal mines, so that "its stones," in very many places, "were iron, and out of its hills was digged brass," Deuteronomy 8:9. From these gain accrued to the Jews: but to the Christians, not seldom slavery and misery; being frequently condemned hither by …
John Lightfoot—From the Talmud and Hebraica

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