What does one do when they see the dead rise from the grave? (Isaiah 26:19-21)
What are you going to do when the dead rise from the grave? Do you have a door to close, a place to hide, while “indignation runs its course” (Isaiah 26:20) & (Mt 24:31) (Ezekiel 37:1-12) & (Rev 20:4)?
Isaiah 26:
19 Your dead will live;
Their corpses will rise.
You who lie in the dust, awake and shout for joy,
For your dew
is as the dew of the dawn,
And the earth will give birth to the departed spirits.
20 Come, my people, enter into your rooms
And close your doors behind you;
Hide for a little while
Until indignation runs
its course.
21 For behold, the LORD is about to come out from His place
To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity;
And the earth will reveal her bloodshed
And will no longer cover her slain
These verses are talking about a war, not end times.
"Isaiah 26:14
They are dead - That is, the kings and tyrants to whom reference is made in
Isa_26:13. The principal enemies of the Jews, who had oppressed them, were slain when Babylon was taken by Cyrus (see the notes at Isa. 13; 14)
They shall not live - They shall not again live, and be permitted to harass and enslave us.
They are deceased - Hebrew, רפאים
repâ'iym - a name given to the shades or manes of the dead, from an idea that they were weak and powerless (see the notes at
Isa_14:9-10; compare
Psa_88:11;
Pro_2:18;
Pro_9:18;
Pro_21:16). The sense here is, that they had died and gone to the land of shades, and were now unable anymore to reach or injure the people of God.
"
Isaiah 26:19
Thy dead men shall live - Very various interpretations have been given of this verse, which may be seen at length by comparing Vitringa, Rosenmuller, Gesenius, and Poole’s Synopsis. In
Isa_26:14, the chorus is represented as saying of the dead men and tyrants of Babylon that had oppressed the captive Jews, that they should not rise,
and should no more oppress the people of God. In contradistinction from this fate of their enemies, the choir is here introduced as addressing Yahweh (compare
Isa_26:16), and saying
‘thy dead shall live;’ that is, thy people shall live again shall be restored to to vigor, and strength, and enjoyment. They had been dead; that is, civilly dead in Babylon; they were cut off from their privileges, torn away from their homes, made captives in a foreign land. Their king had been dethroned; their temple demolished; their princes, priests, and people made captive; their name blotted from the list of nations; and to all intents and purposes, as a people, they were deceased.
This figure is one that is common, by which the loss of privileges and enjoyments, and especially of civil rights, is represented as death. "
"Awake and sing - In view of the cheering and consolatory fact just stated that the dead shall rise, the chorus calls on the people to awake and rejoice. This is an address made directly to the dejected and oppressed people, as if the choir were with them. ..."
"Ye that dwell in dust - To sit in dust, or to dwell in the dust, is emblematic of a state of dejection, want, oppression, or poverty
Psa_44:25;
Psa_119:25;
Isa_25:12;
Isa_26:5;
Isa_47:1. Here it is supposed to be addressed to the captives in Babylon, as oppressed, enslaved, dejected. ..."
Albert Barnes' Notes On The Bible
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