Chapter Twenty-Five

1–5. A song of praise to the Lord. 6–9. The prosperity of the community of true believers from all nations. 10–12. God’s judgment on Moab.

Isa 25:1-5. The prophet praises the Lord because He has fulfilled His ancient purposes. The Lord showed that He can make even the most improbable things real: He foresaw the ruin of the most powerful and flourishing states – and behold, the capital cities of these states are now merely ruins! Through this He makes even His enemies fear and respect Him; for His chosen community, oppressed by enemies, He has become a shield and refuge, crushing the fury of its enemies.

Isaiah 25:1. O Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You, I will praise Your name, for You have done wonderful things; Your purposes of old are sure and true. Isaiah 25:2. For You have turned the city into a heap of ruins, the fortified city into a ruin; the palace of foreigners is a city no more; it will never be rebuilt. “Truly, amen,” that is, wholly true, fulfilled in perfect exactness. “City.” Singular instead of plural (cf. Isa 24:10). “Palaces of foreigners” – an unclear expression. Condamin proposes reading here instead of foreigners (zerim) the wicked (zedim) and translates the entire expression thus: “the city ceased to be a citadel (or fortress) for the wicked.”

Isaiah 25:3. Therefore, mighty peoples will glorify You; cities of terrible nations will fear You, Isaiah 25:4. for You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in his time of trouble, a shelter from the storm, a shade from the heat; for the breath of the ruthless was like a storm against a wall. Isaiah 25:5. Like heat in a dry place, You will subdue the tumult of aliens; as heat is subdued by the shadow of a cloud, so the exultation of the oppressors will be brought low. “Therefore.” Despite their stubbornness, the heathen cannot but recognize in this destruction of their cities the punishment of God (cf. Isa 18:7). “A storm against a wall.” That is, the anger, the fury of tyrants, enemies of the Church, will cause it as little harm as the breath of a storm does to a thick stone wall. “Like heat in a dry place.” Heat or dryness on the East acts extremely destructively on people in steppes deprived of refreshing water. The fury of the Church’s enemies is compared with this heat. Isa 25:6-9 Mount Zion will become a place of communion of all peoples with the true God. God will prepare here for mankind a magnificent feast, as a king prepares a feast for his subjects upon his coronation. Then the Lord will remove the veil from people’s eyes and will destroy the age-old enemy of mankind – death, as well as all sorrows.

Isaiah 25:6. And the Lord of hosts will make on this mountain for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of choice wines, of rich food full of marrow, of choice wines well refined; “On this mountain.” Here Zion is meant, but Zion – the future or the Church of Christ, to which all peoples will have access. “A feast of rich food.” This feast or banquet will evidently be prepared by the Almighty on the occasion of His reign over all mankind (cf. Isa 24:23). The fact that those dining will be offered marrow (fatty parts of animals), which according to the Law of Moses it was forbidden for the offerer of a sacrifice to eat (Lev 7:24-25), serves as a foretelling of the establishment in the New Kingdom of God of the mystery of Holy Communion, in which the Savior offers believers His Body and Blood. 25

Isaiah 25:7. and He will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, and the veil that is spread over all nations. “The veil,” that is, all that prevents people from seeing the truth – all delusions, superstitions, and such. The Apostle Paul also speaks of removing such a veil from the Jews (2 Cor 3:15-16).

Isaiah 25:8. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will remove from all the earth; for the Lord has spoken. “Death will be swallowed up forever.” The fulfillment of this prophecy shall be accomplished in the glorified kingdom of Christ, after the universal resurrection, as the Apostle Paul explains (1 Cor 15:54).

Isaiah 25:9. And they will say in that day: “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. “And they will say.” Of course, here are first of all meant the saved people from among the chosen Jewish people, who indeed waited for God (cf. Isa 26 and Eph 1:12).

Isaiah 25:10. For the hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain, and Moab will be trampled down on his place, as straw is trampled down in the dunghill. Isaiah 25:11. And though he stretches out his hands in its midst, as a swimmer stretches out his hands to swim; but God will bring down his pride together with the cunning of his hands. Isaiah 25:12. And the high fortified walls of your strongholds he will bring down, he will topple them to the ground, down to the dust. By exalting His chosen ones, the Lord at the same time will utterly crush all enemies of His Church, who are here personified in the form of the hostile Moabites. The Moabites will be trampled, as cattle in a stall trample dung, and Moab will be unable to escape from the filth in which it will sink. * * * Notes It is much more reasonable to see an indication of the Eucharist in the Slavonic translation from the LXX: “And the Lord of hosts will make for all nations: on this mountain they will drink joy, they will drink wine, and will be anointed with myrrh on this mountain: impart all these to the nations: for thus is the counsel concerning all nations.” Note of the editor.