Isaiah 25:7
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On this mountain He will swallow up the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations;
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
Although the feast is one earth, it is on an earth which has been transformed into heaven; for the party-wall between God and the world has fallen down: death is no more, and all tears are for ever wiped away. "And He casts away upon this mountain the veil that veiled over all peoples, and the covering that covered over all nations. He puts away death for ever; and the Lord Jehovah wipes the tear from every face; and He removes the shame of His people from the whole earth: for Jehovah hath spoken it." What Jehovah bestows is followed by what He puts away. The "veil" and "covering" (massēcâh, from nâsac = mâsâc, Isa 22:8, from sâcac, to weave, twist, and twist over = to cover) are not symbols of mourning and affliction, but of spiritual blindness, like the "veil" upon the heart of Israel mentioned in Co2 3:15. The penē hallōt (cf., Job 41:5) is the upper side of the veil, the side turned towards you, by which Jehovah takes hold of the veil to lift it up. The second hallōt stands for הלּט (Ges. 71, Anm. 1), and is written in this form, according to Isaiah's peculiar style (vid., Isa 4:6; Isa 7:11; Isa 8:6; Isa 22:13), merely for the sake of the sound, like the obscurer niphal forms in Isa 24:3. The only difference between the two nouns is this: in lōt the leading idea is that of the completeness of the covering, and in massēcâh that of its thickness. The removing of the veil, as well as of death, is called בּלּע, which we find applied to God in other passages, viz., Isa 19:3; Psa 21:10; Psa 55:10. Swallowing up is used elsewhere as equivalent to making a thing disappear, by taking it into one's self; but here, as in many other instances, the notion of receiving into one's self is dropped, and nothing remains but the idea of taking away, unless, indeed, abolish…
Open source ↗After the threatenings of wrath in the foregoing chapter we have here, I. Thankful praises for what God had done, which the prophet, in the name of the church, offers up to God, and teaches us to offer the like (Isa 25:1-5). II. Precious promises of what God would yet further do for his church, especially in the grace of the gospel (Isa 25:6-8). III. The church's triumph in God over her enemies thereupon (Isa 25:9-12). This chapter looks as pleasantly upon the church as the former looked dreadfully upon the world.
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts.
At that moment the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks were split.
Although God overlooked the ignorance of earlier times, He now commands all people everywhere to repent.
For Christ did not enter a man-made copy of the true sanctuary, but He entered heaven itself, now to appear on our behalf in the presence of God.
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to Your people Israel.”
By this arrangement the Holy Spirit was showing that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still standing.