2 then I will distress Ariel, and there will be mourning and lamentation. She shall be to me as an altar hearth.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
But I will bring Ariel into distress. I think that v (vau) should here be taken for a disjunctive conjunction: "And yet I will execute my judgments and take vengeance, though, by delaying them for a time, it may seem as if I had forgiven." He next threatens that he will give them grief and mourning, instead of the joy of the festivals. 'nyh (aniah) is viewed by some as an adjective, [1] but improperly; for it is used in the same manner by Jeremiah. [2] (Lamentations 2:5.) He declares that the Lord will reduce that city to straits, that the Jews might know that they had to contend with God, and not with men, and that, though the war was carried on by the Assyrians, still they might perceive that God was their leader. And it shall be to me as Ariel. This clause would not apply to the Temple alone; for he means that everything shall be made bloody by the slaughter which shall take place at Jerusalem; [3] and therefore he compares it to an "Altar," on which victims of all kinds are slain, in the same manner as wicked men destined for slaughter are frequently compared to a sacrifice. In short, by alluding here to the word "Altar," he says, that the whole city shall be "as Ariel," because it shall overflow with the blood of the slain. Hence it is evident that the outward profession of worship, ceremonies, and the outward demonstrations of the favor of God, are of no avail, unless we sincerely obey him. By an ironical expression he tells hypocrites, (who with an impure heart present sacrifices of beasts to God, as if they were the offerings fitted to appease his anger,) that their labor is fruitless, and that, since they had profaned the Temple and the Altar, it was impossible to offer a proper sacrifice to God without slaying victims throughout the whole city, as if he had said, "There will be carnage in every part." He makes use of the word "Sacrifice" figuratively, to denote the violent slaughter of those who refused to offer themselves willingly to God.
1 - Symmachus, on whom Montfaucon bestows the exaggerated commendation of having adhered closely to the Hebrew text, wherever it differed from the Septuagint, renders the clause, kai estai katodunos kai odunomene, which has been closely followed by Jerome's version, "Et erit tristis ac moerens;" -- "And she shall be sad and sorrowful." -- Ed
2 - In both cases there are two synonyms, t'nyh v'nyh (thaaniah vaaniah,) which are derived from the same root. This peculiarity is imitated by the version of Symmachus quoted above, katodunos kai odunomene, and by that of Vitringa, ("moestitia et moeror,") who remarks: "It is somewhat unusual to bring together words of the same termination and derived from the same root, but in this instance it produces an agreeable echo, which convinces me that it must have been frequently employed in poetical writings." -- Ed
3 - "Que les ennemis feront en Jerusalem;" -- "Which the enemies shall make in Jerusalem."
Yet I will distress Ariel - The reference here is doubtless to the siege which God says Isaiah 29:3 he would bring upon the guilty and formal city.
And there shall be heaviness and sorrow - This was true of the city in the siege of Sennacherib, to which this probably refers. Though the city was delivered in a sudden and remarkable manner (see the note at Isaiah 29:7-8), yet it was also true that it was reduced to great distress (see Isaiah. 36; 37)
And it shall be unto me as Ariel - This phrase shows that in Isaiah 29:1 Jerusalem is called 'Ariel,' because it contained the great altar, and was the place of sacrifice. The word "Ariel" here is to be understood in the sense "of the hearth of the great altar;" and the meaning is, 'I will indeed make Jerusalem like the great altar; I will make it the burning place of wrath where my enemies shall be consumed as if they were on the altar of burnt sacrifice.' Thus in Isaiah 30:9, it is said of Yahweh that his 'fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem.' This is a strong expression, denoting the calamity that was approaching; and though the main reference in this whole passage is to the distress that would come upon them in the invasion of Sennacherib, yet there is no impropriety in supposing that there was presented to the mind of the prophet in vision the image of the total ruin that would come yet upon the city by the Chaldeans - when the temple, the palaces, and the dwellings of the magnificent city of David would be in flames, and like a vast blazing altar consuming that which was laid upon it.
There shall be heaviness and sorrow "There shall be continual mourning and sorrow" - Instead of your present joy and festivity.
And it shall be unto me as Ariel "And it shall be unto me as the hearth of the great altar" - That is, it shall be the seat of the fire of God; which shall issue from thence to consume his enemies. See note on Isaiah 29:1 (note). Or, perhaps, all on flame; as it was when taken by the Chaldeans; or covered with carcasses and blood, as when taken by the Romans: an intimation of which more distant events, though not immediate subjects of the prophecy, may perhaps be given in this obscure passage.
Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be to me (c) as Ariel.
(c) Your city will be full of blood as an altar on which they sacrifice.
Yet I will distress Ariel,.... Or "straiten" it, by causing it to be besieged; and this he would do, notwithstanding their yearly sacrifices, and their observance of their solemn feasts, and other ceremonies of the law, in which they placed their confidence, and neglected weightier matters:
and there shall be heaviness and sorrow; on account of the siege; by reason of the devastations of the enemy without, made on all the cities and towns in Judea round about; and because of the famine and bloodshed in the city:
and it shall be unto me as Ariel; the whole city shall be as the altar; as that was covered with the blood and carcasses of slain beasts, so this with the blood and carcasses of men; and so the Targum,
"and I will distress the city where the altar is, and it shall be desolate and empty; and it shall be surrounded before me with the blood of the slain, as the altar is surrounded with the blood of the holy sacrifices on a solemn feast day all around;''
so Jarchi and Kimchi.
Yet--rather, "Then."
heaviness . . . sorrow--rather, preserving the Hebrew paronomasia, "groaning" and "moaning."
as Ariel--either, "the city shall be as a lion of God," that is, it shall emerge from its dangers unvanquished; or "it shall be as the altar of burnt offering," consuming with fire the besiegers (Isaiah 29:6; Isaiah 30:30; Isaiah 31:9; Leviticus 10:2); or best, as Isaiah 29:3 continues the threat, and the promise of deliverance does not come till Isaiah 29:4, "it shall be like a hearth of burning," that is, a scene of devastation by fire [G. V. SMITH]. The prophecy, probably, contemplates ultimately, besides the affliction and deliverance in Sennacherib's time, the destruction of Jerusalem by Rome, the dispersion of the Jews, their restoration, the destruction of the enemies that besiege the city (Zac 14:2), and the final glory of Israel (Isaiah 29:17-24).
*More commentary available at chapter level.