Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Isaiah 51:17

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Isaiah 51:17. The cup of trembling — כוס התרעלה cos hattarelah, "the cup of mortal poison," veneni mortiferi. - MONTAN. This may also allude to the ancient custom of taking off criminals by a cup of poison. Socrates is well known to have been sentenced by the Areopagus to drink a cup of the juice of hemlock, which occasioned his death. Hebrews 2:9, and see also Bishop Lowth's note on Isaiah 51:21.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

God of the impossible (51:1-23)

To the captive Jews it must have seemed almost impossible to escape from the powerful grip of the tyrant Babylon, make the long journey over harsh territory and then rebuild their ruined country. God encourages them with reminders of the apparently impossible things he has done for them in the past. The very origin of Israel was something of a miracle. God built a nation out of one couple, even though the man and his wife were past the age when they might normally expect to have children. The same God is still active; he can perform a miracle again and restore Jerusalem (51:1-3).
From this rebuilt Jerusalem, God’s salvation will spread throughout the world. This salvation will not be temporary and political, but eternal and spiritual. People of all nations will receive new life and hope when they come to know God (4-6). The Israelites should be encouraged as they see what God is about to do through them. They should have no fear of their present oppressors (7-8).
A cry from the captive Israelites urges God to act on their behalf. As he overthrew Egypt (here symbolized by Rahab, the mythical dragon of the Nile) and led his people through the Red Sea and into Canaan, so may he overthrow Babylon and lead his people back to Jerusalem. They look expectantly to a new age when sorrow is banished and they live in Zion in unbroken contentment (9-11).
God reassures Israel with the reply that he is the Creator, the eternal one. Israel’s enemies, by contrast, are merely creatures, who one day must die. Israel has no need, therefore, to fear Babylon’s might and fury (12-13). Yahweh, Israel’s covenant God, is the Almighty. He is in control of all affairs and he will release his captive people. More than that, he will give them his teaching so that they can know him and serve him (14-16).
Jerusalem fell, but it is now about to rise again. The Babylonian attack on Jerusalem was a punishment sent by God to bring about the collapse of the city and the destruction of Judah. The judgment is likened to a strong drink given to a person to make him drunk, so that he staggers and falls (17-20). This strong drink is now to be taken from Judah and given to Babylon, so that it will stagger and fall. God is going to destroy Babylon as he destroyed Judah (21-23).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

“Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, that hast drunk at the hand of Jehovah the cup of his wrath; thou hast drunken the bowl of the cup of staggering, and drained it. There is none to guide her among all the sons who she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand among all the sons that she hath brought forth. These two things are befallen thee: who shall bemoan thee? desolation and destruction, and famine and the sword; how shall I comfort thee? Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as an antelope in a net; they are full of the wrath of Jehovah, the rebuke of thy God.”

What a sad picture of God’s people is presented here. The old Jerusalem is depicted as a drunken woman staggering about with an empty cup; the reason it is empty is that she has drunk it all; none of her sons can help her; all of them are also drunk, lying around on every street, and that is the reason they are unable to help their stricken mother in her pitiful humiliation.

This picture of the drunken sons of the chosen people, drunken not on wine, but upon their rebellion and apostasy from God, is presented in the metaphor of an antelope (some translate `wild bull’ or `oryx’). Many have been impressed with the elegance and poetic excellence of these lines. The antelope, or gazelle, is among the swiftest and most graceful of animals; and the spectacle of one entangled in a net is tragic and pitiful indeed. Such was the status of the Old Israel as described here.

It would appear that some have misunderstood the meaning of the “two things are befallen thee” in Isaiah 51:19. Douglas, for example, has this! “These two things are befallen her, which branch out into four, namely, desolation, destruction, famine, and sword.”George C. M. Douglas, p. 363. The text indeed may seem to say this; but we believe Lowth’s explanation is better. He declared the meaning to be: “Desolation by famine, and destruction by the sword, taking the terms alternately, of which there are other examples in the Bible.”Robert Lowth’s Commentary, p. 356.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Awake, awake - (See the notes at Isaiah 51:9). This verse commences an address to Jerusalem under a new figure or image. The figure employed is that of a man who has been overcome by the cup of the wrath of Yahweh, that had produced the same effect as inebriation. Jerusalem had reeled and fallen prostrate. There had been none to sustain her, and she had sunk to the dust. Calamities of the most appalling kind had come upon her, and she is now called on to arouse from this condition, and to recover her former splendor and power.

Which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord - The wrath of Yahweh is not unfrequently compared to a cup producing intoxication. The reason is, that it produces a similar effect. It prostrates the strength, and makes the subject of it reel, stagger, and fall. In like manner, all calamities are represented under the image of a cup that is drunk, producing a prostrating effect on the frame. Thus the Saviour says, ‘The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?’ (John 18:11; compare Matthew 20:22-23; Matthew 26:39, Matthew 26:42). The effects of drinking the cup of God’s displeasure are often beautifully set forth. Thus, in Psalms 75:8 :

In the hand of Jehovah there is a cup, and the wine is red;

It is full of a mixed liquor, and he poureth out of the same,

Verily the dregs thereof all the ungodly of the earth shall wring them out and drink them.

Plato, as referred to by Lowth, has an idea resembling this. ‘Suppose,’ says he, ‘God had given to men a medicating potion inducing fear; so that the more anyone should drink of it, so much the more miserable he should find himself at every draught, and become fearful of everything present and future; and at last, though the most courageous of people, should become totally possessed by fear; and afterward, having slept off the effects of it, should become himself again.’ A similar image is used by Homer (Iliad, xvi. 527ff), where he places two vessels at the threshold of Jupiter, one of good, the other of evil. He gives to some a mixed potion of each; to others from the evil vessel only, and these are completely miserable:

Two urns by Jove’s high throne have ever stood

The source of evil one, and one of good;

From thence the cup of mortal man he fills,

Blessings to these; to those distributes ills.

To most he mingles both: The wretch decreed

To taste the bad unmix’d, is curs’d indeed;

Pursued by wrongs, by meagre famine driven,

He wanders, outcast by both earth and heaven:

The happiest taste not happiness sincere,

But find the cordial draught is dash’d with care.

But nowhere is this image handled with greater force and sublimity than in this passage of Isaiah. Jerusalem is here represented as staggering under the effects of it; she reels and falls; none assist her from where she might expect aid; not one of them is able to support her. All her sons had fainted and become powerless Isaiah 51:20; they were lying prostrate at the head of every street, like a bull taken in a net, struggling in vain to rend it, and to extricate himself. Jehovah’s wrath had produced complete and total prostration throughout the whole city.

Thou hast drunken the dregs - Gesenius renders this, ‘The goblet cup.’ But the common view taken of the passage is, that it means that the cup had been drunk to the dregs. All the intoxicating liquor had been poured off. They had entirely exhausted the cup of the wrath of God. Similar language occurs in Revelation 14:10 : ‘The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture, into the cup of his indignation.’ The idea of the dregs is taken from the fact that, among the ancients, various substances, as honey, dates, etc., were put into wine, in order to produce the intoxicating quality in the highest degree. The sediment of course would remain at the bottom of the cask or cup when the wine was poured off. Homer, who lived about a thousand years before Christ, and whose descriptions are always regarded as exact accounts of the customs in his time, frequently mentions potent drugs as being mixed with wines. In the ‘Odyssey’ (iv. 220), he tells us that Helen prepared for Telemachus and his companions a beverage which was highly stupefactive, and soothing to his mind. To produce these qualities, he says that she threw into the wine drugs which were:

Νηπενθες τ ̓ ἀλοχον τε κακων ἐπιληθον ἁπαντων -

Nēpenthes t' alochon te kakōn epilēthon apantōn -

Grief-assuaging, rage-allaying, and the oblivious antidote for every species of misfortune. Such mixtures were common among the Hebrews. It is possible that John Revelation 14:10 refers to such a mixture of the simple juice of the grape with intoxicating drugs when he uses the expression implying a seeming contradiction, κεκερασμένου ἀκράτου kekerasmenou akratou - (mixed, unmixed wine) - rendered in our version, ‘poured out without mixture.’ The reference is rather to the pure juice of the grape mixed, or mingled with intoxicating drugs.

The cup of trembling - The cup producing trembling, or intoxication (compare Jeremiah 25:15; Jeremiah 49:12; Jeremiah 51:7; Lamentations 4:21; Habakkuk 2:16; Ezekiel 23:31-33). The same figure occurs often in the Arabic poets (see Gesenius Commentary zu. Isa. in loc.)

And wrung them out - (מצית mâtsiym). This properly means, to suck out; that is, they had as it were sucked off all the liquid from the dregs.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

17.Awake, awake. The Church was about to endure grievous calamities, and therefore he fortifies her by consolation, and meets a doubt which might arise, that the Jews, being now oppressed by tyrants, saw no fulfillment of these promises. The meaning therefore is, that the Church, though afflicted and tossed in various ways, will nevertheless be set up again, so as to regain her full vigor. By the word “Awake” he recalls her, as it were, from death and the grave; as if he had said, that no ruins shall be so dismal, no desolations shall be so horrible, as to be capable of hindering God from effecting this restoration. And this consolation was highly necessary; for when grief seizes our hearts, we think that the promises do not at all belong to us; and therefore we ought frequently to call to remembrance, and to place constantly before our eyes, that it is God who speaks, and who addresses men who are not in a prosperous or flourishing condition, but fallen and dead, and whom notwithstanding he can raise up and uphold by his word; for this doctrine of salvation is intended not for those who retain their original condition, but for those who are dead and ruined.

Who hast drunk from the hand of Jehovah the cup of his wrath. There are two senses in which the term, “cup of wrath,” may be understood; for sometimes the Lord is said to put into our hands a “cup of wrath,” when he strikes us with some kind of giddiness, or deranges our intellect; as we see that affliction sometimes takes away men’s understanding; but sometimes it is used in a simpler sense, to denote the sharp and heavy punishments by which the Lord severely chastises his people. This is evidently the meaning in which it must be taken here, as appears from the addition of the pronoun His. Nor is this inconsistent with what he says, that the Church was stupified and drunk; for he shews that this happened in consequence of the Lord having severely chastised her. It is an ordinary metaphor by which the chastisement which God inflicts on his people is called a “potion,” ⁽³¹⁾ or a certain measure which he assigns to each. But whenever it relates to the elect, this term “cup” serves to express the moderation of the divine judgment; that the Lord, though he punish his people severely, still observes a limit. ⁽³²⁾

Pressing out the dregs of the cup of distress (or of trembling.) I consider the word תרעלה (targnelah) to denote “anguish”or “trembling,” by which men are nearly struck dead, when they are weighed down by heavy calamities. Such persons may be called “drunk,” as having exhausted all that is in the cup, because nothing can be added to their affliction and distress.

This is also denoted by another term, “pressing out.” The Church is here reminded that all the evils which befall her proceed from no other source than from the hand of God, that she may not think that they happen to her by chance, or that she is unjustly afflicted. The object which the Prophet has in view is, that the people may know that they are justly punished for their sins. No one can rise up till he first acknowledge that he has fallen, or be delivered from misery till he perceive that it is by his own fault that he is miserable. In short, there can be no room for consolations till they have been preceded by the doctrine of repentance.

Dregs, therefore, must not here be understood in the same sense as in Jeremiah 25:15, where the reprobate are spoken of, whom the Lord chokes and kills by his cup, but as denoting complete and righteous punishment, to which the Lord has been pleased to assign a limit. Thus, when the Lord has inflicted on us such punishment as he thought fit, and puts an end to our afflictions, he declares that the “dregs” are exhausted; as we have seen before at the fortieth chapter. ⁽³³⁾

(31) “He sets forth God like a physician, mixing a bitter potion for Jerusalem, putting as it were into one cup all the anger he had conceived against her, and standing by to see her take it off, that not a drop should be spilt, or any of the nauseous settlings left behind: a potion so strong that it made her tremble every limb of her, and so giddy that she stood in need of one to lead her: but such were her misfortunes that none of her inhabitants were able to support her; by all which the Prophet means that her afflictions should be so great as to turn her brain, and make her sink under the load of them.” — W’hite.

(32) “Pource qu’il retient son bras.” “Because he restrains his arm.”

(33) The allusion appears to be to a different but analogous expression. See Com. on Isaiah, Vol. 3, pp. 201,202. — Ed.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Tonight we have a marvelous study as we look at Isaiah, chapters 51-55, in which the prophet sees so clearly the suffering and the rejection of God's provision for man in sending His Son to die for our sins. In fact, these prophecies of Isaiah so clearly describe what did happen to Jesus Christ in His rejection, in His suffering, in His death, it is as though they were written after it happened rather than 600 years before it happened.

The Lord is calling unto the nation of Israel, unto His people, and God calls unto them to hearken to Him.

Ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD ( Isaiah 51:1 ):

Two important things: following after righteousness, seeking the Lord. "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness" ( Matthew 5:6 ).

look to the rock from whence ye are hewn ( Isaiah 51:1 ),

Actually, they are encouraged to look back to their roots. To look back to Abraham. To the heritage that they had. To the covenant that God had made with their fathers.

and to the hole of the pit whence ye were digged. Look unto Abraham your father, to Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all of her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody ( Isaiah 51:1-3 ).

So God speaks of what is yet a future day of restoration. As God will restore again the nation of Israel in full glory, in full beauty, in full blessing. And their wilderness areas will become like the Garden of Eden, and the desert like the garden of the Lord.

It is interesting how that it would seem that already we can see the beginnings of the fulfillment of this prophecy. As you see the areas that were once so barren and deserty down around Beersheba and you see now the beautiful crops that are grown in that area. However, there are troublous times yet ahead for the nation of Israel. These people that have endured such tragedy through their history have yet another seven years in which they are to be tested to the limits. Jeremiah called these seven years, "the time of Jacob's trouble." They will be forced to flee the land once more. But not this time for a millennium or two, but they will be out of the land for about three-and-a-half years, as once more a world leader turns his wrath against these people. But at the end of that period is when God is going to restore the glory unto the nation, for the Messiah shall come and He will establish God's kingdom and God's throne upon the earth. And He will rule from Zion, and at this time this prophecy of Isaiah shall be fulfilled as God just brings a whole new condition to the earth as He restores the earth to its glory, to its beauty, before the fall of man in Genesis.

There are some very interesting things that Isaiah has prophesied concerning the future and concerning the earth from a purely physical standpoint. As he talks about the earth staggering to and fro and like a drunken man and being removed out of her place.

Now back prior to the time of the flood that came as the result of God's judgment upon the earth, before the flood the earth had a canopy around it, a water canopy that actually reflected much of the cosmic radiation that is really... has a detrimental effect upon life and upon life forms. Prior to the flood, this heavy moisture shield in the atmosphere shielded the earth from much of this cosmic radiation. As the result, man lived an average of around nine hundred years. Thus, man was able to develop during that period of time his mental capacities to a great extent. Think of being able to continue to learn for nine hundred years. They say that man only uses about twenty percent of his brain and his brain capacities. Well, that's because we're only here such a short time. What can you learn in a hundred years? But if you could go on learning, absorbing for nine hundred years, you'd be using much more of your capacity, brain capacity, and you'd be able to do many more interesting things. Now as we study some of the architecture and some of the buildings that these people created, we find out that they had all kinds of sciences that are astounding as you look at ancient man. He wasn't some grunting half-beast with a club dragging his wife by the hair into the cave. He was a highly intelligent being. And he had marvelous capacities intellectually. In fact, Adam was able to name all of the animals according to their characteristics. Took tremendous genius for that.

Now in that kind of earth you would never really have a dark night because all of this moisture would give you the diffused light of the sun all night long. And thus, you would have much longer growing periods and everything would grow larger in that because of the fact that you wouldn't be bombarded by these cosmic rays which would begin the mutation of cells which would create the breaking down. And so they have discovered how large many of the animals were before the flood as they look at some of these animals that were caught in the flood and through the sediment were kept in place, they found cockroaches that were a foot long. Man, you wouldn't go after them with your shoe. You'd go after them with a shotgun, you know. Asparagus ferns sixty feet tall. All kinds of tropical vegetation up in the North Pole area. And the whole earth was no doubt just a lush, beautiful, glorious place.

God's going to restore it to such a state, and He speaks about it here. As the waste places will be restored, the wilderness like Eden, and the deserts like the garden of the Lord, joy and gladness will be found therein, thanksgiving, the voice of melody.

Again, God, as He began in verse Isaiah 51:1 , cries to the people to hearken.

Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people ( Isaiah 51:4 ).

The Lord is going to come. He will sit in judgment and the law will proceed from Him as Jesus Christ comes to reign in righteousness.

My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the coasts shall wait upon me, and upon mine arm shall they trust ( Isaiah 51:5 ).

So the universal trusting in the Lord.

Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished ( Isaiah 51:6 ).

So the heavens shall vanish away. Peter describes the vanishing away of the heavens in Second Peter chapter 2. Jesus said, "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall never pass away" ( Matthew 24:35 ). It is interesting that the earth is growing old. "The earth shall wax old like a garment." The universe, according to the great scientist Sir Herschel Gene, like a giant clock that was wound up and is gradually slowing or winding down, the sun loses one million, two hundred thousand tons of mass every second. Fortunately, it's large enough to continue to support life in the next ten billion years. So you don't have to stay awake at night worrying about the fact that the sun is gradually burning out. But that isn't so gradual. One million... or one billion two hundred. Or one million, two hundred thousand tons of mass per second. And so the earth growing old like a garment. The heavens will one day vanish away, but the Word of God shall endure forever.

And at that time God is going to create a "new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness" ( 2 Peter 3:13 ). The old will not be remembered or brought into mind. The whole new order that God is going to create for us. An order that knows no chaos. An order that knows no decay. An order that knows no sin or rebellion. Just the glorious kingdom of God and everything in the universe subject unto that kingdom.

Hearken unto me ( Isaiah 51:7 ),

The third cry of God for them to hearken.

ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings. For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation ( Isaiah 51:7-8 ).

And so for the righteous enduring forever. For the evil that would reproach the righteous or revile them, they will be destroyed. "The moth will eat them up like a garment, the worm shall eat them like wool." Jesus in describing the conditions of Gehenna said, "Where their worm dieth not, neither is the fire quenched" ( Mark 9:44 ). The wicked shall be cast into hell and all those that forsake God. But the righteous they shall endure, they shall be forever and ever.

Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD ( Isaiah 51:9 );

Now here is the response of the people to God. God thrice called them to hearken to Him. And so they said, "Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord." There are times when it would appear to us that God is asleep. How can God be so patient with the blasphemies of man? How can God put up with evil as He does? Why does He allow evil people to go on for a period of prosperity? Why doesn't He smite them down immediately? This is a problem. It troubles me. If I were God, I'd just wipe them out so fast their heads would be swimming. "Just take that, you little rat! You want to go that way? All right," you know. Smack! But God is so patient. He lets people get by with so much. They blaspheme Him. They mock Him. They ridicule Him. And it's like He doesn't even... it's like He's sleeping. He doesn't even know. And so the people cry, "Wake up, God, wake up. Put on strength, O arm of the Lord."

awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon? ( Isaiah 51:9 )

Now Rahab is a poetic reference to Egypt. He uses it also in the thirtieth chapter in the seventh verse. It's just the poetic reference to Egypt. And so he is. "Wake up, God, wake up. You are the God that was showing Yourself so powerful in our history and especially in the deliverance out of Egypt."

Art thou not the one which hath dried the sea, and the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over? ( Isaiah 51:10 )

And so the reference to the drying of the Red Sea to make a path for the people of God to pass through.

I have very little patience for those men that classify themselves "higher critics" who try to talk about a Sea of Reeds that is usually only a foot or so deep, that the children of Israel passed through. And that quite often when a strong wind blows for a period of time it sort of forces back the tide of that sea from this one area where they presume the children of Israel went across. But in reality, they tell us that the sea is only about a foot deep at that area. And thus, it really wasn't much of a miracle that they did cross. Well, as far as the nation of Israel was concerned it was a marvelous miracle. They looked upon it as a marvelous miracle, and here the reference is to the depths of the sea. And even to the waters of the great deep. Now Isaiah was much closer to the time and he understood the language much better than these modern critics of the Bible who pass themselves off as biblical scholars. And I will go along with Isaiah much quicker than I will these men today. For if indeed they've made the sea only a foot deep, they surely have not removed the miraculous from the story, because it's a miracle how God could drown the whole Egyptian army in one foot of water. You see, you might try to figure out one way, but you're only creating another problem.

"You dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; You've made the depths of the sea a path for the ransomed to pass over." The ransomed, of course, were those who through the Lamb that was slain in Egypt were ransomed.

Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return ( Isaiah 51:11 ),

The future day when God is going to gather again the people when Christ returns in power and great glory. Then shall He gather together the elect from the four corners of the earth. As the Jews will be gathered back into the land, "the redeemed of the Lord shall return."

and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away ( Isaiah 51:11 ).

What a glorious day that is going to be, the glorious day of the Lord when He comes to establish the kingdom of God upon the earth and He again takes Israel as His people, as His bride. And they recognize Him, and there is this glorious receiving and accepting, each of the other.

I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass ( Isaiah 51:12 );

Jesus said, "Don't be afraid of those that kill your body, and after that have no power. But rather fear Him, that after the body is killed has power to cast your soul into Gehenna; yea, I say unto you, 'Fear ye Him'" ( Luke 12:4-5 ). The Bible says, "The fear of man brings a snare, but whoso will put his trust in the Lord shall be saved" ( Proverbs 29:25 ). And again, why should you fear man who is going to die himself? Son of man whose life is as the grass of the field which today is and tomorrow is dried and cast into the oven?

And forget the LORD your Maker, that stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? where is the fury of the oppressor? The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail. But I am the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts is his name ( Isaiah 51:13-15 ).

Now you see, for a moment they cried unto God, "Wake up, wake up, put on strength, O arm of the Lord. Awake. And aren't You the God that brought our fathers through the sea and all?" And in verse Isaiah 51:11 , God begins to speak again of the glorious future as the redeemed of the Lord returns and God declares, "I am He that comforteth you. Why should you be afraid of man? I'm the One that is with you. I'm the One that brought your fathers through the sea, divided the sea whose waves roared. The Lord of hosts is His name."

And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people ( Isaiah 51:16 ).

God declares, "Hey, thou art My people." Oh, what a tragic thing it is that people misread the Bible and say that God is through with the nation of Israel. He cut her off forever. God forbid!

Now as if to say, "Hey, I'm not the One that's sleeping. You're the ones that are sleeping," God says to them,

Awake, awake ( Isaiah 51:17 ),

The same thing they said. So many times we say to God, "Awake, God, awake." And He says, "I'm not sleeping." And He calls; we're the ones that are sleeping. We're the ones that don't see what's really going on.

Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; you have drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out. There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up ( Isaiah 51:17-18 ).

They are lacking in real leadership.

These two things are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee? ( Isaiah 51:19 )

So he speaks of the terrible time of tribulation that they will go through as they experience desolation, destruction, famine, the sword. And really no one seems to be concerned. It is interesting today how that the whole world seems to be willing to just dump these people. And yet God declares that they are His people and He will receive them again.

Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of thy God. Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine: Thus saith the Lord the LORD, thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again ( Isaiah 51:20-22 ):

The day will be over. No more tribulation for these people. There will be this glorious reuniting of them with their God and God with them.

But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee: which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over ( Isaiah 51:23 ).

And so God is going to put His hand against those that have afflicted them. When Jesus comes back, His first duty is going to be that of judging the earth. And the judgment will be of the nations will be relative to their treatment of the Jews, as He says, "Come, ye blessed of the Father, inherit the kingdom. I was hungry, and you fed Me: thirsty, and you gave me to drink." "Lord, when did we see You?" "Inasmuch as you did it unto the least of these My brethren [speaking of the Jews], you did it unto Me. Those that are on the left, depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. I was hungry, you did not feed Me: thirsty, you did not give Me to drink," and so forth. "Lord, when did we see You this way?" "Inasmuch as you did it not to the least of these My brethren" ( Matthew 25:34-45 ). So the Lord here affirms much of what Jesus declared there as God will take up their cause once more.

But you say, "Why was God so severe with them? It seems that they have suffered more than any other race of people." Well, that is not completely true. There are other races of people that have been totally obliterated. They no longer exist. Many races of people that have been completely wiped out. However, the reason for the severity is this: the Lord said, "Unto whom much is given, much is required" ( Luke 12:48 ). And that should be a warning to us who have received so much from God; so much of the understanding of God's purposes and God's plans. We who have come to an understanding of His truth and of His Word. There comes with that understanding an incumbent responsibility to walk according to the understanding. To live in harmony with that which we know. This they failed to do. God had given them much. What advantage then doth hath the Jew? Paul said, "Much and in every way." Unto them were committed the oracles of God. And the covenants and the promises and the fathers and the law and the statutes. God gave them so much. And the more God gives you, the greater is your responsibility unto God for those things that you have received. They failed in their responsibility, and that is why God has dealt so severely is because they turned against all of that background and knowledge and all that God had given to them. "Unto whom much is given, much is required."

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Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Jerusalem had drunk a powerful liquid at the hand of her God. He had given her punishment to drink for her sins (cf. Mark 10:38). Drinking a cup of wine is a figure of judgment (cf. Isaiah 29:9; Isaiah 63:6; Psalms 75:8; Jeremiah 25:15-16; Revelation 14:10). Jerusalem now lay in a state of stupor but needed to arise because the Lord had a future for her.

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Drunken Jerusalem 51:17-23

God now turned the tables on His people and called on them to awake (cf. Isaiah 51:1). They needed to wake up to the fact that He would comfort them and punish their oppressors (cf. Isaiah 40:2; Lamentations 1-2). The fact that the Babylonian Captivity continues to lie unmentioned specifically in the text, strengthens the impression that God had more than that historic deliverance in view in what He promised. A greater future redemption is also in view, namely, the one that the Servant would effect.

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem,.... As persons out of a sleep, or out of a stupor, or even out of the sleep of death; for this respects a more glorious state of the church, the Jerusalem, the mother of us all, after great afflictions; and especially if it respects the more glorious state of all on earth, signified by the New Jerusalem, that will be preceded by the resurrection of the dead, called the first resurrection, when the saints will awake out of the dust of the earth, and stand upon their feet; see Daniel 12:2, though the last glorious state of the church, in the spiritual reign of Christ, is also expressed by the rising of the witnesses slain, by their standing on their feet, and by their ascension to heaven, Revelation 11:11, before which will be a time of great affliction to the church, as here:

which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury; it is no unusual thing in Scripture for the judgments of God, upon a nation and people, or on particular persons, to be signified by a cup, and especially on wicked men, as the effect of divine wrath,

Psalms 11:6. Here it signifies that judgment that begins at the house and church of God, 1 Peter 4:17, which looks as if it arose from the wrath and fury of an incensed God: and though it may greatly intend the wrathful persecutions of men, yet since they are by the permission and will of God, and are bounded and limited by him, they are called "his cup", and said to come from his hand; and the people of God take them, or consider them as coming by his appointment:

thou hast drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out; alluding to excessive drinking, which brings a trembling of limbs, and sometimes paralytic disorders on men, and to the thick sediments in the bottom of the cup, which are fixed there, as the word u signifies, and are not easily got out, and yet every drop and every dreg are drunk up; signifying, that the whole portion of sufferings, allotted to the Lord's people, shall come upon them, even what are most disagreeable to them, and shall fill them with trembling and astonishment.

u את קבעי "crassamentum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Vitringa.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      17 Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.   18 There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up.   19 These two things are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee?   20 Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of thy God.   21 Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:   22 Thus saith thy Lord the LORD, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again:   23 But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.

      God, having awoke for the comfort of his people, here calls upon them to awake, as afterwards, Isaiah 52:1; Isaiah 52:1. It is a call to awake not so much out of the sleep of sin (though that also is necessary in order to their being ready for deliverance) as out of the stupor of despair. When the inhabitants of Jerusalem were in captivity they, as well as those who remained upon the spot, were so overwhelmed with the sense of their troubles that they had no heart or spirit to mind any thing that tended to their comfort or relief; they were as the disciples in the garden, sleeping for sorrow (Luke 22:45), and therefore, when the deliverance came, they are said to have been like those that dream,Psalms 136:1. Nay, it is a call to awake, not only from sleep, but from death, like that to the dry bones to live, Ezekiel 37:9. "Awake, and look about thee, that thou mayest see the day of thy deliverance dawn, and mayest be ready to bid it welcome. Recover thy senses; sink not under thy load, but stand up, and bestir thyself for thy own help." This may be applied to the Jerusalem that was in the apostle's time, which is said to have been in bondage with her children (Galatians 4:25), and to have been under the power of a spirit of slumber (Romans 11:8); they are called to awake, and mind the things that belonged to their everlasting peace, and then the cup of trembling should be taken out of their hands, peace should be spoken to them, and they should triumph over Satan, who had blinded their eyes and lulled them asleep. Now,

      I. It is owned that Jerusalem had long been in a very deplorable condition, and sunk into the depths of misery.

      1. She had lain under the tokens of God's displeasure. He had put into her hand the cup of his fury, that is, her share of his displeasure. The dispensations of his providence concerning her had been such that she had reason to think he was angry with her. She had provoked him to anger most bitterly, and was made to taste the bitter fruits of it. The cup of God's fury is, and will be, a cup of trembling to all those that have it put into their hands: damned sinners will find it so to eternity. It is said (Psalms 75:8) that the dregs of the cup, the loathsome sediments in the bottom of it, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them; but here Jerusalem, having made herself as the wicked of the earth, is compelled to wring them out and drink them; for wherever there has been a cup of fornication, as there had been in Jerusalem's hand when she was idolatrous, sooner or later there will be a cup of fury, a cup of trembling. Therefore stand in awe and sin not.

      2. Those that should have helped her in her distress failed her, and were either unable or unwilling to help her, as might have been expected, Isaiah 51:18; Isaiah 51:18. She is intoxicated with the cup of God's fury, and, being so, staggers, and is very unsteady in her counsels and attempts. She knows not what she says or does, much less knows she what to say or do; and, in this unhappy condition, of all the sons that she has brought forth and brought up, that she was borne and educated (and there were many famous ones, for of Zion it was said that this and that man were born there,Psalms 87:5), there is none to guide her, none to take her by the hand to keep her either from falling or from shaming herself, to lend either a hand to help her out of her trouble or a tongue to comfort her under it. Think it not strange if wise and good men are disappointed in their children, and have not that succour from them which they expected, but those that were arrows in their hand prove arrows in their heart, when Jerusalem herself has none of all her sons, prince, priest, nor prophet, that has such a sense either of duty or gratitude as to help her when she has most need of help. Thus they complain, Psalms 74:9. There is none to tell us how long. Now that which aggravated this disappointment was, (1.) That her trouble was very great, and yet there was none to pity or help her: These two things have come unto thee (Isaiah 51:19; Isaiah 51:19), to complete thy desolation and destruction, even the famine and the sword, two sore judgments, and very terrible. Or the two things were the desolation and destruction by which the city was wasted and the famine and sword by which the citizens perished. Or the two things were the trouble itself (made up of desolation, destruction, famine, and sword) and her being helpless, forlorn, and comfortless, under it. "Two sad things indeed, to be in this woeful case, and to have none to pity thee, to sympathize with thee in thy griefs, or to help to bear the burden of thy cares, to have none to comfort thee, by suggesting that to thee which might help to alleviate thy grief or doing that for thee which might help to redress thy grievances." Or these two things that had come upon Jerusalem are the same with the two things that were afterwards to come upon Babylon (Isaiah 47:9; Isaiah 47:9), loss of children and widowhood--piteous case, and yet, "when thou hast brought it upon thyself by thy own sin and folly, who shall be sorry for thee?--a case that calls for comfort, and yet, when thou art froward under thy trouble, frettest, and makest thyself uneasy, by whom shall I comfort thee?" Those that will not be counselled cannot be helped. (2.) That those who should have been her comforters were their own tormentors (Isaiah 51:20; Isaiah 51:20): They have fainted, as quite dispirited and driven to despair; they have no patience in which to keep possession of their own souls and the enjoyment of themselves, nor any confidence in God's promise, by which to keep possession of the comfort of that. They throw themselves upon the ground, in vexation at their troubles, and there they lie at the head of all the streets, complaining to all that pass by (Lamentations 1:12), pining away for want of necessary food; there they lie like a wild bull in a net, fretting and raging, struggling and pulling, to help themselves, but entangling themselves so much the more, and making their condition the worse by their own passions and discontents. Those that are of a meek and quiet spirit are, under affliction, like a dove in a net, mourning indeed, but silent and patient. Those that are of a froward peevish spirit are like a wild bull in a net, uneasy to themselves, vexatious to their friends, and provoking to their God: They are full of the fury of the Lord, the rebuke of our God. God is angry with them, and contends with them, and they are full of that only, and take no notice of his wise and gracious designs in afflicting them, never enquire wherefore he contends with them, and therefore nothing appears in them but anger at God and quarrelling with him. They are displeased at God for the dispensations of his providence concerning them, and so they do but make bad worse. This had long been Jerusalem's woeful case, and God took cognizance of it. But,

      II. It is promised that Jerusalem's troubles shall at length come to an end, and be transferred to her persecutors (Isaiah 51:21; Isaiah 51:21): Nevertheless hear this, thou afflicted. It is often the lot of God's church to be afflicted, and God has always something to say to her then which she will do well to hearken to. "Thou art drunken, not as formerly with wine, not with the intoxicating cup of Babylon's whoredoms and idolatries, but with the cup of affliction. Know then, for thy comfort," 1. "That the Lord Jehovah is thy Lord and thy God, for all this." It is expressed emphatically (Isaiah 51:22; Isaiah 51:22): "Thus saith thy Lord, the Lord, and thy God--the Lord, who is able to help thee, and has wherewithal to relieve thee,--thy Lord, who has an incontestable right to thee, and will not alienate it,--thy God, in covenant with thee, and who has undertaken to make thee happy." Whatever the distresses of God's people may be, he will not disown his relation to them, nor have they lost their interest in him and in his promise. 2. "That he is the God who pleads the cause of his people, as their patron and protector, who takes what is done against them a done against himself." The cause of God's people, and of that holy religion which they profess, is a righteous cause, otherwise the righteous God would not appear for it; yet it may for a time be run down, and seem as if it were lost. But God will plead it, either by convincing the consciences or confounding the mischievous projects of those that fight against it. He will plead it by clearing up the equity and excellency of it to the world and by giving success to those that act in defence of it. It is his own cause; he has espoused it, and therefore will plead it with jealousy. 3. That they should shortly take leave of their troubles and bid a final farewell to them: "I will take out of thy hand the cup of trembling, that bitter cup; it shall pass from thee." Throwing away the cup of trembling will not do, nor saying, "We will not, we cannot, drink it;" but, if we patiently submit, he that put it into out hands will himself take it out of our hands. Nay, it is promised, "Thou shalt no more drink it again. God has let fall his controversy with thee, and will not revive the judgment." 4. That their persecutors and oppressors should be made to drink of the same bitter cup of which they had drunk so deeply, Isaiah 51:23; Isaiah 51:23. See here, (1.) How insolently they had abused and trampled upon the people of God: They have said to thy soul, to thee, to thy life, Bow down, that we may go over. Nay, they have said it to thy conscience, taking a pride and pleasure in forcing thee to worship idols. Herein the New-Testament Babylon treads in the steps of that old oppressor, tyrannizing over men's consciences, giving law to them, putting them upon the rack, and compelling them to sinful compliances. Those that set up an infallible head and judge, requiring an implicit faith in his dictates and obedience to his commands, do in effect say to men's souls, Bow down, that we may go over, and they say it with delight. (2.) How meanly the people of God (having by their sin lost much of their courage and sense of honour) truckled to them: Thou hast laid thy body as the ground. Observe, The oppressors required souls to be subjected to them, that every man should believe and worship just as they would have them. But all they could gain by their threats and violence was that people laid their bodies on the ground; they brought them to an external and hypocritical conformity, but conscience cannot be forced, nor is it mentioned to their praise that they yielded thus far. But observe, (3.) How justly God will reckon with those who have carried it so imperiously towards his people: The cup of trembling shall be put into their hand. Babylon's case shall be as bad as ever Jerusalem's was. Daniel's persecutors shall be thrown into Daniel's den; let them see how they like it. And the Lord is known by these judgments which he executes.