[They are] dead, they shall not live; deceased, they shall not rise for thou hast visited and destroyed them, and made all memory of them to perish.
The song of the redeemed in Isaiah 26 pauses here to look back at the powers that once ruled over God's people, and pronounces them finished. The wording sounds like a flat denial of resurrection. That raises two questions. Who are "they"? And in what sense will they never rise?
Read verse 14 with the sentence before it. There the singers admit that other lords have ruled them. Those lords are the subject of verse 14.
In Isaiah 26 you have what I think no one will question: an account of Israel's trouble — their trouble under Gentile lords. Verse 13 says, "O Lord our God, other lords beside You have had dominion over us: but by You only will we make mention of Your name." That is not said by or about the Church, however often people apply it to us. We do not have other lords over us — the Jews do. They have had masters over them for thousands of years, and they still do... These lords who had dominion over them are gone: they are dead — they shall not rise.
Note that verse 13 above is quoted from an older translation. Verse 14 says these oppressors will never rise. So test that wording against what Scripture teaches elsewhere about the dead. The context settles it, and gives a rule for reading any hard text.
Isaiah 25:8 says, "He will swallow up death in victory." We know from God Himself that this will come true in the literal resurrection of the body, when the saints are raised. But Isaiah 26:14 uses resurrection as a figure. The context proves that it cannot mean that literal fact. If it did, it would deny that the unrighteous are to rise. This is the true test for understanding any passage of the word. If someone brings you a text against what you know to be true, always examine what surrounds it, and see what God is dealing with.
Some build a doctrine on this verse: the wicked are wiped out and never raised at all. Commentators reject that reading.
Annihilationists base upon these words the evil doctrine that the wicked are not raised, but destroyed. The fact, however, is that verses 13 and 14 do not teach a physical resurrection. The teaching is that the lordship of other nations over Israel is forever gone. No other lords will ever rise again to domineer over Israel.
Mistaking a figure for a fact leads to conclusions the Bible never makes.
We must hold fast the passages that do speak of a raising of bodies. But it is dangerous to wrongly apply others that only use it as a figure. Here someone might draw from our chapter a conclusion that has no ground. In truth, as we know, all men must rise. "An hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out" (John 5:28-29). There we have the most decisive proof that all the dead, just and unjust, are to rise again from the grave.
Commentators differ on who these other lords are. One suggestion: they are the idols those nations worshipped. That would make the "no resurrection" wording easy to explain.
But the truth is that the prophet is only speaking of the Gentile "lords," and speaking of them as lords... Indeed we may well ask whether the ones spoken of here are the idols of the nations. The last clause of verse 13 — "by You only" — seems to call for this, and it makes the non-resurrection that follows easy to explain.
The chapter sets two destinies side by side. Verse 19 says the opposite of verse 14, and about a different people.
Isaiah 26:19 is in contrast with verse 14. They have wholly perished, but Israel is renewed on the principle of resurrection. The Apostle cites the "sure mercies of David" as proof of it. Israel has not delivered itself; its restoration is power in resurrection. At the same time it is the time of the definite judgment of this world.
The verse ends with God wiping out all memory of these lords. Why say it so strongly? To steady a people who had lived for ages under someone else's rule.
Isaiah 26:14 refers only to the figure of not rising, to comfort Israel from all fears of their old troublers... So completely will Jehovah have dealt with the Gentiles who had lorded it over the Jews.
- Who — "They" are the other lords of verse 13, the powers that ruled God's people. Some think they are the idols those nations worshipped.
- What kind of death — Not the grave but the end of their rule. The figure of resurrection is used for a change of fortunes in this world.
- What it does not say — It does not deny that the wicked are raised. All the dead, just and unjust, will hear the Son's voice and come out.
- How to read it — Does a text seem to contradict what Scripture clearly teaches? Look at what surrounds it. See what God is dealing with there.
- Why it matters — Verse 14 is the dark half of a pair. The oppressors perish and are forgotten. Israel is raised again by a power they did not supply.
Thou hast increased the nation, Jehovah, thou hast increased the nation thou art glorified. Thou hadst removed [it] far [unto] all the ends of the earth.
Isaiah 26 is a song sung by people who came through God's judgment. Verse 15 is where they count what He has done with their nation, and where commentators part ways over the second half of the verse.
The chapter is praise. It belongs to the faithful few who waited for God while He was judging, and who now name the source of their safety.
In Isaiah 26 the remnant sing in praise of the character of this deliverance. They have a strong city, but its walls are the salvation of God. The strength of man has no place here; it is the foot of the poor that treads down the lofty city. It is the judgment that the righteous God executes Himself. They had waited for Him along the path of His judgments.
The wording of the verse limits who it speaks about. A people once under foreign masters, then scattered — that does not fit the church.
"O LORD our God, other lords besides You have ruled over us, but Your name alone we bring to remembrance." That is not said by or about the Church, though it may be applied to us ever so frequently. We have not got other lords over us — the Jews have. They have had masters over them for thousands of years, and they have still... "You have increased the nation, O LORD... You are glorified." Who can doubt that the passage speaks of Israel only? "You had removed it far to all the ends of the earth." Could that be said about the Church? When the gospel spreads all over the world, it is the power of love in people — the activity of God's grace going out everywhere. Not so with Israel... their removal to the ends of the earth was God's judgment on them, not a mission of love.
The verse does not say the nation grew; it says God increased it. That runs through this whole section of the song: every good outcome traces back to one hand.
Verses 12–15 acknowledge that God's hand has done it all. He destroyed those — men or nations — who ruled over Israel as lords through these many centuries. He also blessed and multiplied Israel itself. Verse 16 speaks of how Israel turns to God in her distress. Verses 17 and 18 give us the voice of the godly in Israel. They admit they are completely powerless and useless; they have accomplished nothing.
The ESV ends the verse with enlarged borders; older translations read "you had removed it far to all the ends of the earth," and the comments below follow that older wording. One reading takes the removal as the scattering of Judah. It rules out reading the verse as bodies raised from graves:
But what has been done for the nation? "You have increased the nation, Jehovah, you have increased the nation; you are glorified. You had removed it far to all the ends of the earth" (v. 15). He does not here speak of the resurrection of the body. Clearly, when this happens as described, no one could say that He had removed the risen saints far to all the ends of the earth. Take it of Judah, and how true it is!
Others read the same clause as the earth's inhabitants removed by death. They see the increase as room given to Israel, not numbers added:
This removal of all the ends of the earth — that is, of its inhabitants into sheol (the italics in the English version obscure the sense) — had enlarged the nation of Israel. That is, it had given Israel wide scope to carry out its mission (v. 15). At the same time, it had compelled these banished ones to cry in their trouble to the Lord for relief (v. 16).
The song does not stop here. A few lines later it speaks of the dead rising. The ESV reads "their bodies shall rise"; Kelly uses an older wording where God calls them "my dead bodies," and reads it as a nation brought back, not a graveyard emptied.
But now comes the glorious reversal: "Your dead shall live; my dead bodies shall arise." What mighty words, and how tender! Jehovah awakens Israel, and even calls them His dead bodies. It is no question of bodily death, but of national revival, and yet it will have spiritual character too... For their part, they admit they are just as bad as the rest of the nations. But the huge difference is that Jehovah claims them as His own. "Let them be dead," He says, as it were, "still they are Mine."
- Sung, not argued — the verse sits inside a song. These people waited through God's judgments, and their city's real strength was God's salvation, not their own.
- Increased by Him — the nation did not grow by itself; God increased it, and the praise lands on that note: You are glorified.
- Nothing of their own — verses 12–15 credit everything to God's hand; verses 17–18 confess the people achieved nothing.
- Removed far — commentators differ. Some see Judah scattered to the ends of the earth. Others see the earth's peoples removed, giving Israel room.
- Dead, yet His — the scattering ends in revival. The One who calls them "My dead" will not let go of what is His.
Jehovah, in trouble they sought thee; they poured out [their] whispered prayer when thy chastening was upon them.
Isaiah 26 is a song, and here the singers look back and tell God what His hand did to them. The verse holds two things together: a nation in trouble, and a prayer squeezed out of them by God's discipline.
Commentators read this song as the words of Israel, not of the church. The clue is the complaint a few verses earlier about other masters ruling over them.
In Isaiah 26 you have what I suppose no one will question: an account of Israel's trouble under Gentile lords. In verse 13 it is said, "O LORD our God, other lords besides you have ruled over us." That is not said by or about the church, though we may apply it to ourselves ever so often. We have not got other lords over us — the Jews have. They have had masters over them for thousands of years, and they have still.
The scattering described in the previous verse is not background detail. It is the pressure that produced the cry.
This removal of all the ends of the earth (that is, of its inhabitants into sheol, the place of the dead) had enlarged the nation of Israel. It had given the nation wide scope for the accomplishment of its mission (v. 15). At the same time, it had forced these banished ones to cry to the Lord in their trouble for relief (v. 16).
The pressure produced humbling, and the Lord did not ignore it.
That was the effect of it. Israel humbles himself. The nation that had grown fat and kicked back was now repentant, and the Lord listens to his confession and looks on his anguish.
The prayer here is barely audible. One translation calls it a lisping. The verses that follow show these people looking back and finding nothing achieved.
"LORD, in trouble they sought you; they poured out a lisping when your chastening was upon them" (v. 16). They will review their past conduct and see that they have not accomplished God's design by them. Where had they brought in a divine flow of blessing? They had learnt the bad ways of the Gentiles and brought a curse on themselves as well as on others.
The verse links two things most people keep apart: God's discipline and real prayer. Comfort tends to make praying a formality; pain makes it urgent.
Affliction quickens the spirit of prayer. Jonah was asleep in the ship, but praying in the whale's belly. Perhaps in a time of health and prosperity we pray in a cold and formal way. We put no coals to the incense. We scarcely noticed our own prayers — and how should God notice them? God sends some trouble or other to make us take hold of Him. "They poured out a whispered prayer when your discipline was upon them" (Isa. 26:16). Now their prayer pierced the heavens. In times of trouble we pray feelingly, and we never pray so fervently as when we pray feelingly.
Chastening should produce a poured-out prayer. Numbing ourselves to it wastes the trouble. Feeling God's hand should send us looking for the cause.
God would have us feel the chastening. Indeed, His desire is to produce in us self-judgment and humbling before Him. That is why the blessed result comes to those who are exercised by it. If there are no exercises of soul produced by His hand upon us, there will be no blessing. So whenever He begins to deal with us, our first thought should be, "There is a cause for it," and this should lead us into the presence of God.
The song does not stop at the whispered prayer. Three verses later God speaks, and He owns the very people who had achieved nothing. The wording quoted here follows an older translation.
But now it is said, as a glorious reverse, "Your dead shall live; my dead bodies shall arise." What mighty words, and how tender! Jehovah awakens Israel, and even calls them His dead bodies. It is no question of bodily death, but of national revival, and yet it will have spiritual character too… They own themselves to be just as bad as the rest of the nations. But the huge difference is that Jehovah claims them as His own. "Let them be dead," He says, as it were, "still they are Mine."
- Trouble. The speakers are Israel under foreign masters. Their scattering forced them to cry to the Lord for relief.
- Whisper. What they poured out was barely a prayer — a lisping wrung from people under God's chastening hand.
- Fervour. Comfort makes prayer cold and formal. God sends trouble to make us take hold of Him, and then the prayer pierces the heavens.
- Exercise. God means the chastening to be felt. Where His hand produces no self-judgment, there is no blessing.
- Claim. The song ends not with their achievement but with His: dead as they are, He calls them His own and raises them.
As a woman with child, that draweth near her delivery, is in travail, [and] crieth out in her pangs; so have we been before thee, Jehovah.
Isaiah 26 is a song sung by God's people, and near its end they compare their suffering to the pains of childbirth. The next verse says what all that agony produced: nothing, which leaves the real question — if their pain brought no deliverance, who will?
One writer places these words in a prayer Israel has not yet prayed, but will.
In verses 12-18, the prophet addresses the Lord on behalf of the remnant who fear Him. He confesses what God will bring a redeemed Israel to confess in the coming day. The peace that they then will enjoy is wholly the work of God. They will no longer speak of their own works but of the works He did for them... Then they confess that only under the chastening God sent on them did they turn to Him and grow. Their own efforts produced no deliverance for themselves nor for the earth.
The pangs came under God's chastening hand. One writer sets out both the cry and what it produced.
"Jehovah, in trouble they sought You; they poured out a whisper when Your chastening was on them... We have been pregnant, we have been in labour, and it is as if we have given birth to wind; we have brought no deliverance to the land (or, earth); neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen" (vv. 16-18). They will review their past conduct, and see that they have not accomplished God's design by them. Where had they brought in a divine flow of blessing? They had learnt the bad ways of the Gentiles, and brought a curse on themselves as well as on others; the name of Jehovah was blasphemed because of them.
Another writer sees the same admission in a night of work that produced nothing.
The disciples' course is a vivid picture of the present state of their nation. They are God's chosen instruments for the world's blessing, yet they stubbornly disobey His will (Rom. 10:21). A whole night of work gave them nothing. In the same way, Israel will one day confess, "We have accomplished no deliverance in the earth" (Isa. 26:18).
The same picture appears in Jeremiah, used of a time of trouble still ahead for Israel.
But before He appears, Israel will be preparing to recognize and receive her rejected Lord. All this happens in a time of trial such as the world has never seen and will never see again. "Ask now, and see: can a man bear a child? Why then do I see every man with his hands on his stomach like a woman in labor? Why has every face turned pale? Alas! That day is so great there is none like it; it is a time of distress for Jacob; yet he shall be saved out of it... they shall serve the LORD their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them" (Jer. 30:6-7, 9). It is indeed the time of labour before Israel's new birth.
Verse 19 turns the song around. What their pain could not produce, God produces — and He does it by claiming the dead as His own.
But now it is said, as a glorious reverse, "Your dead shall live; My dead bodies shall arise." What mighty words, and how tender! Jehovah awakens Israel, and even calls them His dead bodies. It is no question of bodily death, but of national revival, and yet it will have spiritual character too... They themselves admit they are just as bad as the rest of the nations. But the great difference is that Jehovah claims them as His own. "Let them be dead," He says, as it were, "still they are Mine."
The confession is not only Israel's. One writer takes it up as the honest verdict on our own service.
But suppose we have failed. Suppose we have brought no deliverance on the earth. Suppose the world must go on in blind unbelief, and Christ must at last spit the false profession out of His mouth. Even then He can and will deal with the men of this world in both judgment and mercy... We have to confess terrible and grievous failure, but with Him failure has no existence. This is our confidence.
- Pain — The image is a woman writhing in labour: real agony, and God's chastening behind it.
- Emptiness — The pangs produced only wind. The nation meant to bless the world brought a curse instead.
- Confession — One day a redeemed people will say these words. They will stop talking about their own works and speak of His.
- Answer — Where their labour failed, God speaks. He calls the dead His own and raises them.
- Confidence — Our labour may end the same way, in failure we must admit. With Him, failure has no existence.
We have been with child, we have been in travail, we have as it were brought forth wind; we have not wrought the deliverance of the land, neither have the inhabitants of the world fallen.
These words belong to a song no one has sung yet. A nation looks back on all its straining and admits that nothing came of it. The picture is a birth that produced only air. It raises the question the rest of the chapter answers: if their labour rescued nobody, who will?
The speaker is not the prophet complaining about his own generation. He is putting words into the mouth of a people who will one day say them.
In verses 12-18, the prophet addresses the Lord on behalf of the remnant who fear Him. He confesses what God will bring a redeemed Israel to say in the coming day. The peace that they then will enjoy is wholly the work of God. They will no longer speak of their works but of the works He had done for them... They confess that only under the discipline God sent on them did they turn to Him and grow... Their own efforts produced no deliverance for themselves nor for the earth.
The song around this confession has one theme: rescue that owes nothing to human strength. It also shows why the inhabitants of the world are still standing, and whose hand will bring them down.
They have a strong city, but its bulwarks are the salvation of God. The strength of man has no place here; it is the foot of the poor that treads down the lofty city. It is the judgment that the righteous God carries out Himself. The remnant had waited for Him on the path of His judgments. The patience of grace was in vain. Only when the judgments of God are in the earth will the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
Looking back, the people see more than wasted effort. They see harm done.
They will review their past conduct, and see that they have not accomplished God's design by them. Where had they brought in a divine flow of blessing? They had learned the bad ways of the other nations. They brought a curse on themselves and on others, and people insulted the name of Jehovah because of them.
One writer sees the same emptiness acted out in the Gospels.
The Lord had told His disciples to meet Him in Galilee. When they arrived, instead of waiting for Him, they went fishing at Peter's suggestion. This was disobedience. Their behaviour is a vivid picture of the present state of their nation. They are God's chosen instruments for blessing the world, yet they stubbornly refuse to do His will (Rom. 10:21). A whole night of toil yielded no result to the disciples. Even so will Israel one day confess "we have accomplished no deliverance in the earth" (Isa. 26:18). Now it has to be said to them: "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, as it is written" (Rom. 2:24).
Six verses earlier the same song says that God has done all their works for them. That line covers everything of real worth in a believer's life.
Is there heart-searching, correction, recovery, reinstatement, response? It is the work of God within us. Is it prayer? All real prayer is in the Holy Spirit... Is there faith that comes by hearing, and obedience as a result? Both come from God working inside us, in line with Isaiah 26:12: "you have indeed done for us all our works." That is the heart's response to the other word in Hosea 14:8: "from me comes your fruit." Whatever food nourishes us, whatever growth we gain, we receive it out of the fullness of Christ... We do not satisfy or fill ourselves. He alone does it all.
What they could not bring forth, God gives. The next verse turns from wind to life. The striking thing is whose dead these are. (Kelly reads the line as "my dead bodies shall arise"; the ESV has "their bodies shall rise.")
Jehovah awakens Israel, and even calls them His dead bodies. This is not about physical death, but about national revival, and it will have a spiritual character too... They, for their part, admit they are just as bad as the rest of the nations. But the huge difference is that Jehovah claims them as His own. "Let them be dead," He says, as it were, "still they are Mine."
- Travail — the prophet confesses on behalf of a future remnant. They review all their pain and effort in God's presence.
- Wind — their straining produced nothing. No blessing reached the world, and people insulted God's name because of them.
- Judgment — the inhabitants of the world do not fall by Israel's effort. They learn righteousness only when God's judgments are in the earth.
- His works — the cure is not more effort. They stop speaking of their works and speak of His, because He has done all their works for them.
- Life — God answers the birth that produced only air by raising a people He still calls His own, dead as they were.
Thy dead shall live, my dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing in triumph, ye that dwell in dust; for thy dew is the dew of the morning, and the earth shall cast forth the dead.
God speaks here after a confession of failure: Israel has just admitted it accomplished nothing (v. 18). His reply turns on two small words — "your" dead and "My" dead — and on one question: are these graves real, or a picture of a buried nation?
Read in its place, the verse is a response, not a stray promise:
Verses 17 and 18 give us the voice of the godly in Israel. They admit they are completely helpless and useless; they have accomplished nothing. Verse 19 is God's answer, and it guarantees that God's resurrection power will accomplish it all.
Another writer weighs verse 19 against verse 14 of the same chapter:
Isaiah 26:19 is in contrast with verse 14. They have completely perished, but Israel is renewed on the principle of resurrection.
Older English Bibles added "together with" to the second clause. Remove those words, and the sentence shifts from the prophet's hope to God's claim:
Adding the words "together with" in the second clause has only increased the confusion. Most agree that the word "body" (in the phrase "my dead body") should be translated "bodies"... The change of pronoun from "your" in the first clause to "My" in the second is very beautiful. From verse 8 to the end of verse 18 the prophet has been pouring out his soul to the Lord. In verse 19 Jehovah answers him, and promises that He will certainly bless His people in the future. He says, "Your dead shall live," and then, claiming these dead as His own, He adds, "MY dead bodies — they shall arise."
God does not deny the corpse; He signs His name to it.
What mighty words, and how tender! Jehovah awakens Israel, and even calls them His dead bodies. This is not a question of bodily death, but of national revival — and yet it will have spiritual character too... They, for their part, admit they are just as bad as the rest of the nations; but the vital difference is that Jehovah claims them as His own. "Let them be dead," He says, as it were, "still they are Mine."
Most writers here read the graves as a picture of national ruin. They argue it from a passage where God gives His own interpretation:
In Ezekiel 37 the terms of the figure are quite as strong as here... Then the bones, coming forth and clothed with flesh, correspond to the dead men here raised out of their graves. But beyond dispute, this means the whole house of Israel... if we have the vision, we have also the inspired interpretation. We are not therefore free to explain the vision according to our own thoughts.
Reading it as a figure here does not deny a real resurrection elsewhere:
The passages that do refer to a raising of bodies we must hold fast; but it is dangerous to misapply others which only use it as a figure... In truth, as we know, all men must rise. "An hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out" (John 5:28-29).
Commentators differ on how far the image reaches. One writer ties God's claim on these dead to Christ, and reads the dew as life-giving:
The Lord here asserts His property in them, foreshadowing His identification with them in Christ, who went down to death with and for them. The ransom from death of His people, the first-fruits, should be like dew upon the dust of the earth in which all the dead lie buried. "You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light" — the Hebrew word is "lights," that is, life-giving dew.
The verse closes with two images: the dew, and the earth giving back its dead (older translations read "cast forth"):
Those who are dwelling in the dust of the nations, buried among them, are to rise and sing... It will be the time of "dew," that is, the beginning of a new day for them. The earth will "cast forth" the dead, showing the energy with which the Gentile world will help to restore the godly in that day.
Some readers apply this verse to the church. One writer answers that the language will not fit:
The Church is not a dead body; it is clearly in living union with its Head, Christ... The truth is that in this verse God speaks by His prophet to the Jewish people. As we know well from many parts of the word of God, they are treated as now completely dead. But God will raise them out of the sleep of death.
- Confession — Israel admits it has achieved nothing. Verse 19 is God's reply to that emptiness, not a reward for effort.
- Claim — the pronoun turns from "your dead" to "My dead bodies": God owns the corpse before He raises it.
- Power — God calls the restoration a resurrection, because only resurrection power can bring it about.
- Picture — in Ezekiel 37 God gives His own reading of the same image: the whole house of Israel. The figure assumes a real resurrection; it does not replace it.
- Morning — the dew means a new day dawning, and the nations themselves give the buried people back.