Thy dead men shall live - Very various interpretations have been given of this verse, which may be seen at length by comparing Vitringa, Rosenmuller, Gesenius, and Poole's Synopsis. In Isaiah 26:14, the chorus is represented as saying of the dead men and tyrants of Babylon that had oppressed the captive Jews, that they should not rise, and should no more oppress the people of God. In contradistinction from this fate of their enemies, the choir is here introduced as addressing Yahweh (compare Isaiah 26:16), and saying 'thy dead shall live;' that is, thy people shall live again shall be restored to to vigor, and strength, and enjoyment. They had been dead; that is, civilly dead in Babylon; they were cut off from their privileges, torn away from their homes, made captives in a foreign land. Their king had been dethroned; their temple demolished; their princes, priests, and people made captive; their name blotted from the list of nations; and to all intents and purposes, as a people, they were deceased. This figure is one that is common, by which the loss of privileges and enjoyments, and especially of civil rights, is represented as death. So we speak now of a man's being dead in law; dead to his country; spiritually dead; dead in sins. I do not understand this, therefore, as referring primarily to the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead; but to the captives in Babylon, who were civilly dead, and cut off by their oppressors from their rights and enjoyments as a nation.

Shall live - Shall be restored to their country. and be reinstated in all their rights and immunities as a people among the nations of the earth. This restoration shall be as striking as would be the resurrection of the dead front their graves. Though, therefore, this does not refer primarily to the resurrection of the dead, yet the illustration is drawn from that doctrine, and implies that that doctrine was one with which they were familiar. An image which is employed for the sake of illustration must be one that is familiar to the mind, and the reference here to this doctrine is a demonstration that the doctrine of the resurrection was well known.

Together with my dead body shall they arise - The words 'together with' are not in the original. The words rendered 'my dead body' (נבלתי nebēlâthiy) literally means, 'my dead body,' and may be applied to a man, or to a beast Leviticus 5:2; Leviticus 7:24. It is also applied to the dead in general; to the deceased; to carcasses, or dead bodies (see Leviticus 11:11; Psalm 79:2; Jeremiah 7:33; Jeremiah 9:22; Jeremiah 16:18; Jeremiah 26:23; Jeremiah 34:20). It may, therefore, be rendered, 'My deceased, my dead;' and will thus be parallel with the phrase 'thy dead men,' and is used with reference to the same species of resurrection. It is not the language of the prophet Isaiah, as if he referred to his own body when it should be dead, but it is the language of the choir that sings and speaks in the name of the Jewish people. "That people" is thus introduced as saying "my" dead, that is, "our" dead, shall rise. Not only in the address to Yahweh is this sentiment uttered when it is said 'thy dead shall rise,' but when the attention is turned to themselves as a people, they say 'our dead shall rise;' those that pertain to our nation shall rise from the dust, and be restored to their own privileges and land.

Awake and sing - In view of the cheering and consolatory fact just stated that the dead shall rise, the chorus calls on the people to awake and rejoice. This is an address made directly to the dejected and oppressed people, as if the choir were with them.

Ye that dwell in dust - To sit in dust, or to dwell in the dust, is emblematic of a state of dejection, want, oppression, or poverty Psalm 44:25; Psalm 119:25; Isaiah 25:12; Isaiah 26:5; Isaiah 47:1. Here it is supposed to be addressed to the captives in Babylon, as oppressed, enslaved, dejected. The "language" is derived from the doctrine of the resurrection of the body, and proves that that doctrine was understood and believed; the sense is, that those wire were thus dejected and humbled should be restored to their former elevated privileges.

For thy dew - This is evidently an address to Yahweh. "His" dew is that which he sends down from heaven, and which is under his direction and control. Dew is the emblem of that which refreshes and vivifies. In countries where it rains but seldom, as it does in the East, the copious dews at night supply in some sense the want of rain. "Thence dew" is used in Scripture as an emblem of the graces and influences of the Spirit of God by which his people are cheered and comforted, as the parched earth and the withered herbs are refreshed by the copious dews at night. Thus in Hosea 14:5 :

I will be as the dew unto Israel;

He shall grow as the lily,

And cast forth his roots as Lebanon.

The prophet here speaks of the captivity in Babylon. Their state is represented as a state of death - illustrated by the parched earth, and the decayed and withered herbs. But his grace and favor would visit them, and they would be revived.

As the dew of herbs - As the dew that falls on herbs. This phrase has, however, been rendered very variously. The Vulgate renders it, 'Thy dew is as the dew of light.' The Septuagint: 'Thy dew shall be healing (ἴαμα iama) unto them.' The Chaldee, 'Thy dew shall be the dew of light.' But the most correct and consistent translation is undoubtedly that which renders the word אורת 'ôroth, herbs or vegetables (compare 2 Kings 9:19).

And the earth shall cast out the dead - This is language which is derived from the doctrine of the resurrection of the body; and shows also that that doctrine was understood by the Hebrews in the time of Isaiah. The sense is, that as the earth shall cast forth its dead in the resurrection, so the people of God in Babylon should be restored to life, and to their former privileges in their own land.

My dead body "My deceased" - All the ancient Versions render it in the plural; they read נבלותי niblothai, my dead bodies. The Syriac and Chaldee read נבלותיהם niblotheyhem, their dead bodies. No MS. yet found confirms this reading.

The dew of herbs "The dew of the dawn" - Lucis, according to the Vulgate; so also the Syriac and Chaldee.

The deliverance of the people of God from a state of the lowest depression is explained by images plainly taken from the resurrection of the dead. In the same manner the Prophet Ezekiel represents the restoration of the Jewish nation from a state of utter dissolution by the restoring of the dry bones to life, exhibited to him in a vision, chap. 37, which is directly thus applied and explained, Ezekiel 37:11-13. And this deliverance is expressed with a manifest opposition to what is here said above, Ezekiel 37:14, of the great lords and tyrants, under whom they had groaned: -

"They are dead, they shall not live;

They are deceased tyrants, they shall not rise:"

that they should be destroyed utterly, and should never be restored to their former power and glory. It appears from hence, that the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead was at that time a popular and common doctrine; for an image which is assumed in order to express or represent any thing in the way of allegory or metaphor, whether poetical or prophetical, must be an image commonly known and understood; otherwise it will not answer the purpose for which it is assumed. - L.

Kimchi refers these words to the days of the Messiah, and says, "Then many of the saints shall rise from the dead. "And quotes Daniel 12:2. Do not these words speak of the resurrection of our blessed Lord; and of that resurrection of the bodies of men, which shall be the consequence of his body being raised from the dead?

Thy dead men shall live, - with my dead body shall they arise - This seems very express.

Thy dead men shall live,.... These are the words of Christ to his church and people, promising great and good things to them after their troubles are over, thereby comforting them under all their trials and disappointments; as that such things should come to pass, which would be as life from the dead; as the conversion of the Jews, and of great numbers of the Gentiles, dead in trespasses and sins; and a great reviving of the interest of religion, and of professors of it, grown cold, and dead, and lifeless; and a living again of the witnesses, which had been slain. And, moreover, this may refer to the first resurrection, upon the second coming of Christ, when the church's dead, and Christ's dead, the dead in him, will live again, and rise first, and come forth to the resurrection of life, and live and reign with Christ a thousand years:

together with my dead body shall they arise; or, "arise my dead body"; the church, the mystical body of Christ, and every member of it, though they have been dead, shall arise, everyone of them, and make up that body, which is the fulness of him that filleth all in all, and that by virtue of their union to him: there was a pledge and presage of this, when Christ rose from the dead, upon which the graves were opened, and many of the saints arose, Matthew 27:51 see Hosea 6:2, or, "as my dead body shall they arise" (g); so Kimchi and Ben Melech; as sure as Christ's dead body was raised, so sure shall everyone of his people be raised; Christ's resurrection is the pledge and earnest of theirs; because he lives, they shall live also; he is the first fruits of them that slept: or as in like manner he was raised, so shall they; as he was raised incorruptible, powerful, spiritual, and glorious, and in the same body, so shall they; their vile bodies shall be fashioned like unto his glorious body. This is one of the places in Scripture from whence the Jews (h) prove the resurrection of the dead; and which they apply to the times of the Messiah, and to the resurrection in his days.

Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust; this is a periphrasis of the dead, of such as are brought to the dust of death, and sleep there; as death is expressed by sleeping, so the resurrection by awaking out of sleep; which will be brought about by the voice of Christ, which will be so loud and powerful, that the dead will hear it, and come out of their graves; and then will they "sing", and have reason for it, since they will awake in the likeness of Christ, and bear the image of him the heavenly One:

for thy dew is as the dew of herbs; the power of Christ will have as great effect upon, and as easily raise the dead, as the dew has upon the herbs, to refresh, raise, and revive them; so that their "bones", as the prophet says, "shall flourish like an herb", Isaiah 66:14,

and the earth shall cast out the dead; deliver up the dead that are in it, at the all powerful voice of Christ; see Revelation 20:13. The Targum is,

"but the wicked to whom thou hast given power, and they have transgressed thy word, thou wilt deliver into hell;''

see Revelation 20:14.

(g) "quemadmodum corpus meum resurget", Vatablus. (h) T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 90. 2, & Cetubot, fol. 111. 1. Midrash Kohelet, fol. 62. 3. Targum in loc. Elias Levita in his Tishbi, p. 109. says the word is never used in Scripture but of the carcass of a beast or fowl that is dead; and never of a man that is dead, but of him that dies not a natural death, excepting this place, which speaks of the resurrection of the dead; and, adds he,

"I greatly wonder at it, how he (the prophet) should call the bodies of the pure righteous ones a carcass; no doubt there is a reason for it, known to the wise men and cabalists, which I am ignorant of.''

But the words are spoken of one who did not die a natural, but a violent death, even the Messiah Jesus; and so just according to the Rabbin's own observation.

But now all this had taken place. Instead of singing what has occurred, the tephillah places itself in the midst of the occurrence itself. "Thy dead will live, my corpses rise again. Awake and rejoice, ye that lie in the dust! For thy dew is dew of the lights, and the earth will bring shades to the day." The prophet speaks thus out of the heart of the church of the last times. In consequence of the long-continued sufferings and chastisements, it has been melted down to a very small remnant; and many of those whom it could once truly reckon as its own, are now lying as corpses in the dust of the grave. The church, filled with hope which will not be put to shame, now calls to itself, "Thy dead will live" (מתיך יחיוּ, reviviscent, as in המּתים תּסהיּת, the resurrection of the dead), and consoles itself with the working of divine grace ad power, which is even now setting itself in motion: "my corpses will rise again" (יקמוּן נבלתי, nebēlah: a word without a plural, but frequently used in a plural sense, as in Isaiah 5:25, and therefore connected with יקמוּן, equivalent to תקמנה: here before a light suffix, with the ê retained, which is lost in other cases). It also cries out, in full assurance of the purpose of God, the believing word of command over the burial-ground of the dead, "Wake up and rejoice, ye that sleep in the dust," and then justifies to itself this believing word of command by looking up to Jehovah, and confessing, "Thy dew is dew born out of (supernatural) lights," as the dew of nature is born out of the womb of the morning dawn (Psalm 110:3). Others render it "dew upon herbs," taking אורות as equivalent to ירקות, as in 2 Kings 4:39. We take it as from אורה (Psalm 139:12), in the sense of החיּים אור. The plural implies that there is a perfect fulness of the lights of life in God ("the Father of lights," James 1:17). Out of these there is born the gentle dew, which gives new life to the bones that have been sown in the ground (Psalm 141:7) - a figure full of mystery, which is quite needlessly wiped away by Hofmann's explanation, viz., that it is equivalent to tal hōrōth, "dew of thorough saturating." Luther, who renders it, "Thy dew is a dew of the green field," stands alone among the earlier translators. The Targum, Syriac, Vulgate, and Saad. all render it, "Thy dew is light dew;" and with the uniform connection in which the Scriptures place 'or (light) and chayyı̄m (life), this rendering is natural enough. We now translate still further, "and the earth (vâ'âretz, as in Isaiah 65:17; Proverbs 25:3, whereas וארץ is almost always in the construct state) will bring shades to the day" (hippil, as a causative of nâphal, Isaiah 26:18), i.e., bring forth again the dead that have sunken into it (like Luther's rendering, "and the land will cast out the dead" - the rendering of our English version also: Tr.). The dew from the glory of God falls like a heavenly seed into the bosom of the earth; and in consequence of this, the earth gives out from itself the shades which have hitherto been held fast beneath the ground, so that they appear alive again on the surface of the earth. Those who understand Isaiah 26:18 as relating to the earnestly descried overthrow of the lords of the world, interpret this passage accordingly, as meaning either, "and thou castest down shades to the earth" (ארץ, acc. loci, equals עד־ארץ, Isaiah 26:5, לארץ, Isaiah 25:12), or, "and the earth causeth shades to fall," i.e., to fall into itself. This is Rosenmller's explanation (terra per prosopopaeiam, ut supra Isaiah 24:20, inducta, deturbare in orcum sistitur impios, eo ipso manes eos reddens). But although rephaim, when so interpreted, agrees with Isaiah 26:14, where this name is given to the oppressors of the people of God, it would be out of place here, where it would necessarily mean, "those who are just becoming shades." But, what is of greater importance still, if this concluding clause is understood as applying to the overthrow of the oppressors, it does not give any natural sequence to the words, "dew of the lights is thy dew;" whereas, according to our interpretation, it seals the faith, hope, and prayer of the church for what is to follow. When compared with the New Testament Apocalypse, it is "the first resurrection" which is here predicted by Isaiah. The confessors of Jehovah are awakened in their graves to form one glorious church with those who are still in the body. In the case of Ezekiel also (Ez. EZechariah 37:1-14), the resurrection of the dead which he beholds is something more than a figurative representation of the people that were buried in captivity. The church of the period of glory on this side is a church of those who have been miraculously saved and wakened up from the dead. Their persecutors lie at their feet beneath the ground.

{t} Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy {u} dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.

(t) He comforts the faithful in their afflictions, showing them that even in death they will have life and that they would certainly rise to glory, the contrary would come to the wicked, as in Isa 26:14.

(u) As herbs dead in winter flourish again by the rain in the springtime, so they who lie in the dust will rise up to joy, when they feel the dew of God's grace.

26:19 Thy - The prophet here turns his speech to God's people, and gives them a cordial in their distress. Thy dead men are not like those, ver.14, for they shall not live; but thine shall live. You shall be delivered from all your fears and dangers. My dead body - As I myself, who am one of these dead men, shall live again; you shall be delivered together with me. Awake - Out of your sleep, even the sleep of death, you that are dead and buried in the dust. Thy dew - The favour and blessing of God upon thee. The dew - Which makes them grow and flourish.

[1] thy dead men

Eliminate the supplied words, men, and, together with. "Body" is in the plural, "bodies." Isa 26:19-21 with chapter 27., constitute Jehovah's answer to the plaint of Israel, Isa 26:11-18. Verse 19 should read: "Thy dead shall live: my dead bodies shall rise" (i.e. the dead bodies of Jehovah's people). The restoration and re-establishment of Israel as a nation is also spoken of as a resurrection Ezek 37:1-11 and many hold that no more than this is meant in Isa 26:19. But since the first resurrection is unto participation in the kingdom Rev 20:4-6 it seems the better view that both meanings are here.

19. In antithesis to Isa 26:14, "They (Israel's foes) shall not live"; "Thy (Jehovah's) dead men (the Jews) shall live," that is, primarily, be restored, spiritually (Isa 54:1-3), civilly and nationally (Isa 26:15); whereas Thy foes shall not; ultimately, and in the fullest scope of the prophecy, restored to life literally (Eze 37:1-14; Da 12:2).

together with my dead body-rather, "my dead body," or "bodies" (the Jewish nation personified, which had been spiritually and civilly dead; or the nation, as a parent, speaking of the bodies of her children individually, see on [736]Isa 26:9, "I," "My"): Jehovah's "dead" and "my dead" are one and the same [Horsley]. However, as Jesus is the antitype to Israel (Mt 2:15), English Version gives a true sense, and one ultimately contemplated in the prophecy: Christ's dead body being raised again is the source of Jehovah's people (all, and especially believers, the spiritual Israelites) also being raised (1Co 15:20-22).

Awake-(Eph 5:14), spiritually.

in dust-prostate and dead, spiritually and nationally; also literally (Isa 25:12; 47:1).

dew-which falls copiously in the East and supplies somewhat the lack of rain (Ho 14:5).

cast out . dead-that is, shall bring them forth to life again.

26:12-19 Every creature, every business, any way serviceable to our comfort, God makes to be so; he makes that work for us which seemed to make against us. They had been slaves of sin and Satan; but by the Divine grace they were taught to look to be set free from all former masters. The cause opposed to God and his kingdom will sink at last. See our need of afflictions. Before, prayer came drop by drop; now they pour it out, it comes now like water from a fountain. Afflictions bring us to secret prayer. Consider Christ as the Speaker addressing his church. His resurrection from the dead was an earnest of all the deliverance foretold. The power of his grace, like the dew or rain, which causes the herbs that seem dead to revive, would raise his church from the lowest state. But we may refer to the resurrection of the dead, especially of those united to Christ.