And in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared on the top of mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it.

“One can take the time to learn in what manner the prophecies of the call of the Gentiles should be understood and that they were fulfilled only after the coming of our Savior. The beginning of the prophecy is consistent with the reality that the Lord descended not only for the salvation of the Jewish race but also for that of all people, in announcing to all peoples and all the inhabitants of the earth, "Hear, all peoples, and let the earth and all in it listen."”

“The central place they are all coming to is Christ; he is at the center, because he is equally related to all; anything placed in the center is common to all.…Approach the mountain, climb up the mountain, and you that climb it, do not go down it. There you will be safe, there you will be protected; Christ is your mountain of refuge. And where is Christ? At the right hand of the Father, since he has ascended into heaven.”

“At the end of the days after the rebels perish. firmly established fixed. at the top of the mountains On a mountain that is the head of all the mountains in the importance of the mountains. and it shall be raised above the hills The miracle performed on it, will be greater than the miracles of Sinai, Carmel, and Tabor. will stream will gather and stream to it like rivers.”

“This will take place, as the prophet says, In the last of the days. That is, in the days of Messiah, which are the last of the days of the world. Those days have not yet come; for since the days of Isaiah there has never been a period free from war. We learn from Josephus, and the literature of the Persians and Medes, that during the whole time of the second temple in Jerusalem war had never ceased. Moreover,.’ the prophet distinctly declares, Neither shall they learn war any more. And shall be exalted. We know that the mount of the temple will not be physically raised; but what the phrase means is, that it will be established in such a way that people will hasten up to it from the four comers of the earth, as if it were higher than all hills. ונהרו And they will flow. Root, נהר ‘to flow’; comp. נהר river, which is so called on account of its flowing motion.”

“The word which. Here he begins to reprove their guilt on the part of their conversion; and it is divided into three parts. In the first he reproves them for the guilt they were committing in the worship of idols; in the second, for that which they were committing in the oppression of men: chapter 3, "for behold"; in the third, for the guilt they were committing in the abuse of things: chapter 5, "I will sing to my beloved." The first is divided into two: into the title and the tract. The second is at "and it shall come to pass." And he here places the word at the beginning of the chapter, because the prophecy is especially about the incarnate Word. Amos 3: the Lord will not do a word, unless he shall have revealed his secret to his servants the prophets. And it shall come to pass. Here he carries out his intention. And it is divided into three parts. In the first he promises the remedy of salvation, lest by the weight of the guilt that follows he should lead them into despair; in the second he shows the guilt's culpability, at "thou hast cast off"; in the third he threatens the scourge of punishment, at "therefore forgive not." Concerning the first, three things are set down: first, the preparation of salvation; second, the conversion of the Gentiles, at "and they shall flow"; third, the calling of the Jews at the end, at "house of Jacob." Concerning the first, three things are set down. First, the time of salvation: whence he says, "And it shall come to pass." And he joins it to the preceding prophecy, or to that which he heard from the Lord, as Gregory says on the beginning of Ezekiel. "In the last days"; that is, in the time of grace, which is called the last, because no other observance of religion shall succeed it. Matthew, the last chapter: "behold I am with you even to the consummation of the world." Genesis 49: "gather yourselves together, sons of Israel, that I may announce to you the things that shall come to you in the last days." But it seems that this salvation, which is through the incarnation of the Son of God, ought to have been prepared from the beginning of the human race: because the sooner a disease is met with medicine, the more easily it is cured. To this it must be said that medicine ought to be offered according to the condition of the disease. And because the sin of man was through pride, by which he despised the precepts of God, it was fitting that, in order to receive the medicine of salvation, he should be prepared through humility, so that he might recognize the weakness of his own powers: because neither in the natural law nor in the written law, even when helped, could he provide for himself; and thus he would seek the medicine the more humbly and ardently, the less he found help for himself within himself. Second, the power of the one saving, when it is said, "the mountain of the house of the Lord," on which the house of the Lord is founded. Ezekiel 40: "he set me down upon a high mountain." Third, the degree of the one saving: "on the top of the mountains," that is, of the greater, "and it shall be raised above the hills," that is, the lesser princes. Below, chapter 52: "behold my servant shall understand, he shall be exalted and lifted up, and shall be exceedingly high." And they shall flow unto it. Here the conversion of the Gentiles is set down; and concerning this he sets down three things. First, the conversion itself; second, he declares the order of the conversion, at "and the peoples shall go"; third, he promises peace to those converted, at "and he shall judge the nations." He says, therefore, as to the first: "and they shall flow," in which multitude and haste are noted, "all nations," that is, some out of all the nations. Jeremiah 31: "I will bring them through the torrent of waters, in a straight way, and they shall not stumble in it." The order of the conversion was that through the calling of those who were of the Jews, the Gentiles were converted. And therefore he sets down three things concerning the second: first, those calling; second, the calling itself, at "come"; third, the reason of the order, at "for out of Sion." He says, therefore: "peoples," that is, those who were of the Jews, "many," not all — in which is noted the fewness of the Jews converted with respect to the multitude of the Gentiles — "shall go," believing with the steps of faith, "and shall say." 2 Corinthians 4: "we also believe, for which cause we also speak." Come. Here the calling is set down. Now they call unto three things: to the eminence of faith — whence he says, "come," by consent, "let us go up" by faith "to the mountain of the Lord," that is, to Christ, "and to the house of the God of Jacob," that is, to the Church. Jeremiah 31: "arise, and let us go up to Sion, to the Lord our God: for thus says the Lord: rejoice with gladness, Jacob." Hebrews 12: "the ascent to mount Sion," etc. Second, to doctrine, when he says: "he will teach us his ways," that is, the precepts by which one goes to him. Canticles 8: "there thou shalt teach me, and I will give thee a cup of spiced wine, and new wine of my pomegranates." Third, to obedience: "and we will walk," after him, "in his paths" of counsels. Jeremiah 6: "ask for the old paths, which is the good way, and walk in it." For out of Sion. Here he sets down the reason of the order, saying: "for out of Sion," not out of mount Sinai, "shall the law go forth," understood spiritually, "and the word of the Lord," that is, the Gospel, "out of Jerusalem," on account of the contemplation of peace: for salvation is of the Jews. John 4. And below, chapter 27: "they who go forth with vigor from Jacob shall flourish, and Israel shall bud."”

“Days. The whole time of the new law, from the coming of Christ till the end of the world, is called in the Scripture the last days; because no other age, or time shall come after it, but only eternity. (Challoner) — It is therefore styled the last hour, 1 John ii. (Worthington) — Mountains. This shews the perpetual visibility of the Church of Christ: for a mountain upon the top of mountains cannot be hid. (Challoner) — This evidently regards the Church, Matthew v. (Worthington) — The Jews can never shew the fulfillment of this prophecy in any material temple. Micheas (iv. 1.) copies this text.”

“Same as Mic 4:1. As Micah prophesied in Jotham's reign, and Isaiah in Uzziah's, Micah rests on Isaiah, whom he confirms: not vice versa. HENGSTENBERG on slight grounds makes Mic 4:1 the original. last days--that is, Messiah's: especially the days yet to come, to which all prophecy hastens, when "the house of the God of Jacob," namely, at Jerusalem, shall be the center to which the converted nations shall flock together (Mat 13:32; Luk 2:31-32; Act 1:6-7); where "the kingdom" of Israel is regarded as certain and the time alone uncertain (Psa 68:15-16; Psa 72:8, Psa 72:11). mountain of the Lord's house . . . in the top, &c.--the temple on Mount Moriah: type of the Gospel, beginning at Jerusalem, and, like an object set on the highest hill, made so conspicuous that all nations are attracted to it. flow--as a broad stream (Isa 66:12).”

“The subject of the borrowed prophecy is Israel's future glory: "And it cometh to pass at the end of the days, the mountain of the house of Jehovah will be set at the top of the mountains, and exalted over hills; and all nations pour unto it." The expression "the last days" (acharith hayyamim, "the end of the days"), which does not occur anywhere else in Isaiah, is always used in an eschatological sense. It never refers to the course of history immediately following the time being, but invariably indicates the furthest point in the history of this life - the point which lies on the outermost limits of the speaker's horizon. This horizon was a very fluctuating one. The history of prophecy is just the history of its gradual extension, and of the filling up of the intermediate space. In Jacob's blessing (Gen 49) the conquest of the land stood in the foreground of the acharith or last days, and the perspective was regulated accordingly. But here in Isaiah the acharith contained no such mixing together of events belonging to the more immediate and the most distant future. It was therefore the last time in its most literal and purest sense, commencing with the beginning of the New Testament aeon, and terminating at its close (compare Heb 1:1; Pe1 1:20, with 1 Cor 15 and the Revelation). The prophet here predicted that the mountain which bore the temple of Jehovah, and therefore was already in dignity the most exalted of all mountains, would. one day tower in actual height above all the high places of the earth. The basaltic mountains of Bashan, which rose up in bold peaks and columns, might now look down with scorn and contempt upon the small limestone hill which Jehovah had chosen (Psa 68:16-17); but this was an incongruity which the last times would remove, by making the outward correspond to the inward, the appearance to the reality and the intrinsic worth. That this is the prophet's meaning is confirmed by Eze 40:2, where the temple mountain looks gigantic to the prophet, and also by Zac 14:10, where all Jerusalem is described as towering above the country round about, which would one day become a plain. The question how this can possibly take place in time, since it presupposes a complete subversion of the whole of the existing order of the earth's surface, is easily answered. The prophet saw the new Jerusalem of the last days on this side, and the new Jerusalem of the new earth on the other (Rev 21:10), blended as it were together, and did not distinguish the one from the other. But whilst we thus avoid all unwarrantable spiritualizing, it still remains a question what meaning the prophet attached to the word b'rosh ("at the top"). Did he mean that Moriah would one day stand upon the top of the mountains that surrounded it (as in Psa 72:16), or that it would stand at their head (as in Kg1 21:9, Kg1 21:12; Amo 6:7; Jer 31:7)? The former is Hofmann's view, as given in his Weissagung und Erfllung, ii. 217: "he did not indeed mean that the mountains would be piled up one upon the other, and the temple mountain upon the top, but that the temple mountain would appear to float upon the summit of the others." But as the expression "will be set" (nacon) does not favour this apparently romantic exaltation, and b'rosh occurs more frequently in the sense of "at the head" than in that of "on the top," I decide for my own part in favour of the second view, though I agree so far with Hofmann, that it is not merely an exaltation of the temple mountain in the estimation of the nations that is predicted, but a physical and external elevation also. And when thus outwardly exalted, the divinely chosen mountain would become the rendezvous and centre of unity for all nations. They would all "flow unto it" (nâhar, a denom. verb, from nâhâr, a river, as in Jer 51:44; Jer 31:12). It is the temple of Jehovah which, being thus rendered visible to nations afar off, exerts such magnetic attraction, and with such success. Just as at a former period men had been separated and estranged from one another in the plain of Shinar, and thus different nations had first arisen; so would the nations at a future period assemble together on the mountain of the house of Jehovah, and there, as members of one family, live together in amity again. And as Babel (confusion, as its name signifies) was the place whence the stream of nations poured into all the world; so would Jerusalem (the city of peace) become the place into which the stream of nations would empty itself, and where all would be reunited once more. At the present time there was only one people, viz., Israel, which made pilgrimages to Zion on the great festivals, but it would be very different then.”