Isa 30:13-14, 17 | JFB | STEP | 13. Image from a curve swelling out in a wall ( ); when the former gives way, it causes the downfall of the whole wall; so their policy as to Egypt.

Isaiah 30:13-14

13. Image from a curve swelling out in a wall (Ps 62:3); when the former gives way, it causes the downfall of the whole wall; so their policy as to Egypt.

14. he—the enemy; or rather, God (Ps 2:9; Jer 19:11).

It—the Jewish state.

potter's vessel—earthen and fragile.

sherd—a fragment of the vessel large enough to take up a live coal, &c.

pit—cistern or pool. The swell of the wall is at first imperceptible and gradual, but at last it comes to the crisis; so the decay of the Jewish state.

Isaiah 30:17

17. One thousand—A thousand at once, or, "As one man" [MAURER].

rebuke—the battle cry.

shall ye—at the rebuke of five shall ye, namely, all (in contrast to the "one thousand") flee so utterly that even two shall not be left together, but each one shall be as solitary "as a signal staff" [G. V. SMITH], or "a banner on a hill" (Isa 5:26; 11:12). The signal staff was erected to rally a nation in war. The remnant of Jews left would be beacons to warn all men of the justice of God, and the truth of His threatenings. GESENIUS (from Le 26:8; De 32:30) arbitrarily inserts "ten thousand." "At the rebuke of five shall ten thousand of you flee."