Excerpt - Apocalyptic Commentary of the Book of Isaiah by Avraham Gileadi, Ph.D.

2:9 Mankind is brought low when men thus debase themselves. Forbear them not!

Because a society consists of the sum total of those who make it up, people's cumulative unrepented transgressions eventually lead to their demise. Aggrandizing man and his works debases a society. Those who tolerate or promote wickedness drag others down with them. The things of man's own making, in which people take pride, thus become their downfall. When self-sufficiency replaces gratitude to God, their Creator, and when the blessings of his covenants their righteous ancestors attained are taken for granted or attributed to themselves, that is the time Jehovah intervenes to humble his people.

2:10 Go into the rocks; hide in the dust from the awesome presence of Jehovah and from the brightness of his glory.

While to the righteous Jehovah's coming is a relief and comfort from the oppression of the wicked, to the wicked it is a terrifying ordeal (v 19; Isaiah 25:9; 35:3-4; 66:13-16). Two conditions thus lead up to Jehovah coming: (1) the wickedness of the wicked reaching a point that justifies their destruction; and (2) the righteousness of the righteous-those who prove faithful to Jehovah under all conditions-reaching a point that requires their deliverance. "Dust," a chaos motif, describes the final, de-created state of the wicked who both "hide" and end up there (Isaiah 26:5; 29:5; 41:2; 47:1-2).

2:11 The haughty eyes of men shall be lowered and man's pride abased; Jehovah alone shall be exalted in that day.

Man's abasement and Jehovah's exaltation characterize this and the following verses (vv 12-22). What is high and mighty, Jehovah lays low, and by so doing gains glory (Isaiah 5:16; 13:11, 19; 26:4-6; 47:1-5). What is of him-including his people who keep the terms of his covenant-is exalted together with him (Isaiah 46:13; 52:1-3; 60:1-2; 62:1-3). The words "in that day" denote Jehovah's Day of Judgment, also called the "Day of Jehovah" and "day of vengeance" (Isaiah 13:6, 9; 30:25; 34:8; 61:2). Then takes place a reversal of circumstances between the righteous and the wicked.

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