O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.

“But as there the prophet says, 'And now, O house of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of the Lord; for He has sent away His people, the house of Jacob, because their land was full, as at the first, of soothsayers and divinations;' even so it is necessary for us here to observe that there are two seeds of Judah, and two races, as there are two houses of Jacob: the one begotten by blood and flesh, the other by faith and the Spirit.”

“What did the prophet Isaiah mean when he announced that a mountain would be prepared on the summits of the mountains, to which all peoples were going to come? The law and the Word of God was going to proceed from Zion and Jerusalem to all nations, not from Mount Sinai to one nation. This we see most evidently fulfilled in Christ and the Christians. A little later the prophet says, "O house of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of the Lord." Here, you [the Jews] will surely say your usual piece: "We are the house of Jacob," but listen a moment to what follows, and when you have said what you want to say, hear what you do not want to hear. The prophet continues, "For he has cast off his people, the house of Israel." Here say, "We are the house of Israel"; here acknowledge yourselves and forgive us for reminding you of these facts.”

“O house of Jacob... The nations will say this to them, and this verse refers back to the verse [commencing with], “And many peoples shall go...” come and let us go in the light of the Lord They will say this to them. Jonathan, however, renders: And those of the house of Jacob will say, [“Come and let us go in the teaching of the Law of the Lord”].”

“O house of Jacob, etc. With these words the prophet rebukes Israel, as if he said, Since Zion will now, as you are well aware, be redeemed for her justice, and a time, besides, will come for her great salvation, we all owe obedience to the words of the prophecies, which are true as the light. The prophet includes himself in this rebuke, by using the first person plural, pro formd, as Moses did when he prayed, forgive our iniquity; or because he grew up among the people and acquired something of their mode of speaking, as I shall explain (6:5)”

“And he shall judge. Here he promises peace to those converted; and concerning this he does three things. First he sets down the effective cause of peace; second, the sign of peace: and they shall beat their swords; third, the fruit of peace: nation shall not lift up. The effective cause of peace is the judgment of the king; and therefore he first says: he shall judge the nations, giving them laws, and shall rebuke the peoples, correcting sins. Below, 11: he shall judge the poor in justice, and shall rebuke in equity for the meek of the earth. The sign of peace is that instruments of war are turned into the cultivation of the field: hence he says: and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares. Psalm 45: he shall break the bow, and shatter the weapons. The fruit of peace is in the removal of enemies: hence he says: nation shall not lift up sword against nation. Below, 26: the old error has departed, you will keep peace, peace, because we have hoped in you. But against this, because afterward there were many wars. The Gloss answers, that they were not so great as before. Hence in the time of Antichrist, although there is to be the greatest persecution of the saints, yet they will have great peace among themselves, as was the case in the time of Diocletian. Or it should better be said that it refers to the peace made through Christ, which will be completed in the future. House of Jacob. Here is set down the calling of the Jews made after the conversion of the Gentiles: either from the person of the prophet, or from the person of the Gentiles, so that those who were at the head may be at the tail. Romans 11: blindness in part has happened until the fullness of the Gentiles should come in, and thus all Israel would be saved. Let us walk — together and in harmony, that there may be one fold. John 10: and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. In the light. John 12: walk while you have the light. For you have cast off. Here he shows their guilt: first in general; second in particular, at the place, and they have had soothsayers. Concerning the first he does two things. First he shows their distancing from God, when he says, for you have cast off: and as the Gloss continues: they are rightly to be called, because you have cast off. Jeremiah 22: why are he and his seed cast out, and cast forth into a land which they have not known. Second he gives the reason for the distancing, namely because they are filled with iniquity, as of old, in Egypt. Jeremiah 23: the land is filled with adulteries; for there is no cause of distancing from God except sin. Hence below, 59: your sins have divided between you and God. And soothsayers. Here he sets down their fault in particular; and especially concerning idolatry, which he charges against them in three ways. First as to their pagan manner of life; second as to the occasion of idolatry, at the place, the land is filled; third as to the observance of the cult, at the place, and the land is filled. He reproves their pagan manner of life in two respects. First as to the diviners and soothsayers whom they had: hence he says: soothsayers — that is, those who foretell future things from the voice and chattering of birds — they have had, like the Philistines, among whom this superstition especially flourished, against what is commanded in Deuteronomy 18: take care lest you wish to imitate the abominations of those nations. And immediately below: let there not be found among you one who consults soothsayers, and observes dreams and auguries. But it seems that augury is not a sin. For birds have a better estimative sense than fish, which are more watery; but sailors, from the movement of certain fish, take conjectures about a coming storm: therefore also through birds something can be foretold about future things. And it must be said that God has provided for each thing those means by which it can be preserved in being, according to the capacity of its nature: and therefore to man he gave reason, by which, through deliberation, he can discover for himself remedies against harmful things. And because in brute animals reason is lacking, he ordained that what is lacking from reason, nature should supply; and therefore to such creatures are given, naturally, weapons and coverings, which man acquires for himself through art. Likewise also there was created in them a certain natural power of estimation, impelling them to perform the works of their species. Hence they are acted upon rather than act, as the Damascene says. And since the lower nature is regulated by the higher nature and is moved by it, there remain in them impressions of the higher motions, stirring up a motion of this kind by which they are moved to provide for themselves in what is necessary. And in such matters, to take a conjecture from birds, or the movements of birds, or of other animals, is not a sin; but only concerning those things which have their cause from free will, which does not operate by the necessity of the stars. Second, as to unnatural passions, to which they were subject: hence he says: to strange children — that is, foreigners, or those alien from God — they clung, through shameful abuse. Romans 1: males working shameful acts with males. 2 Maccabees 4 speaks of this vice: for this was, moreover, a certain increase and advance of pagan and foreign manner of life, on account of the wicked and unpriestly Jason's nefarious and unheard-of crime. The land is filled. Here he sets down the occasion of idolatry, which is avarice or likeness. Ephesians 5: or avarice (...) which is the service of idols. First, therefore, he shows their avarice as to the multiplication of things pertaining to the necessity of sustenance, when he says, the land is filled: in which the abundance of things is noted; and there is no end: in which is noted the insatiability of the avaricious man, who will not be filled with money. Ecclesiasticus 5: the avaricious man will not be filled with money; and he who loves riches will receive no fruit from them. And Hosea 2: I gave them grain, wine and oil and silver, and I multiplied them, and gold; which they made into Baals. Second, as to things which pertain to the use of the one who carries, when he says, filled. Psalm 19: these in chariots, and these on horses; but we, etc. And the land is filled. Here he charges against them the cult of idolatry; and he aggravates this from three things. First from the multitude, when he says, and it is filled. Hosea 7: Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning. Jeremiah 2: under every leafy tree and on every high hill you lay down, a harlot. Second from the vileness of the idols: because it is the work of their own hands, and still more what their fingers have made. Psalm 113: the idols of the nations are silver and gold, the works of the hands of men. Third from the dignity of man: and therefore he says: man, who was made to the image of God, has bowed himself down, subjecting himself to idols; the man, who seemed virtuous as to what he had acquired, has been humbled. Psalm 48: man, when he was in honor, did not understand; he was compared to senseless beasts, and became like them. Below, 44: he bows down before it, and worships, and says, deliver me.”

“O house of Jacob,.... This is either an exhortation of the prophet to the men of his generation, to attend to the light of the law, which the Lord had given them, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi; or rather, as the Targum and Jarchi suggest, an exhortation of the nations to the people of Israel, and are indeed the words of the converted Gentiles to the people of the Jews, being concerned for their conversion and spiritual welfare, as will appear in the latter day; when they will not only encourage one another to go up to the house of the Lord, as in the preceding verses, but will be very solicitous that the Jews, the posterity of Jacob, share with them in all that light and glory that shall be risen upon Zion; as follows: come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord; meaning either Christ, in whom the light of the knowledge of the glory of God is given, and the glory of all the perfections of the divine nature is displayed; who is that light that dwells with the Lord, was sent forth by him, and came into this world as the light of it, and is given for a light to the Gentiles, as well as the glory of the people of Israel; and who is the author of all light; of corporeal light, in the first creation; of the sun, moon, and stars; of the light of nature in every man; of the light of the Gospel of the grace of God; of the spiritual light of grace in the hearts of his people; and of the light of eternal glory: or else the Gospel is intended, called the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ, Co2 4:4 by which some are only notionally enlightened, and some spiritually and savingly, when it is attended with the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ: or rather, the light of the latter day glory, which includes the other two; when Christ and his Gospel will be more clearly revealed and seen, not only by the watchmen, who will see eye to eye, but by all the saints; when the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun sevenfold as the light of seven days, and the whole earth shall be lightened with its glory, Isa 30:26 and to "walk" in this light, as it respects Christ, is to walk by faith in him, to go on in believing views of him, and to walk in imitation of him, and as he directs; and as it respects the Gospel, it is to embrace it, profess it, hold it fast, and hold it forth; and to walk as that prescribes and guides, and as becomes it; and to walk as children of the light, wisely and circumspectly; worthy of the calling of God, of the grace he calls by, and the kingdom he calls to: and to walk in the light of the latter day glory is to enjoy it, and share in all the blessings of it, with perseverance therein, through the grace of God; and such walking is pleasant and comfortable; such shall have the communion of God and Christ, and fellowship one with another, and at last enjoy the light of life.”

“Isaiah presents himself to his contemporaries with this older prophecy of the exalted and world-wide calling of the people of Jehovah, holds it up before them as a mirror, and exclaims in Isa 2:5, "O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of Jehovah." This exhortation is formed under the influence of the context, from which Isa 2:2-4 are taken, as we may see from Mic 4:5, and also of the quotation itself. The use of the term Jacob instead of Israel is not indeed altogether strange to Isaiah (Isa 8:17; Isa 10:20-21; Isa 29:23), but he prefers the use of Israel (compare Isa 1:24 with Gen 49:24).With the words "O house of Jacob" he now turns to his people, whom so glorious a future awaits, because Jehovah has made it the scene of His manifested presence and grace, and summons it to walk in the light of such a God, to whom all nations will press at the end of the days. The summons, "Come, let us walk," is the echo of Isa 2:3, "Come, let us go;" and as Hitzig observes, "Isaiah endeavours, like Paul in Rom 11:14, to stir up his countrymen to a noble jealousy, by setting before them the example of the heathen." The "light of Jehovah" ('or Jehovah, in which the echo of v'yorenu in Isa 2:3 is hardly accidental; cf., Pro 6:23) is the knowledge of Jehovah Himself, as furnished by means of positive revelation, His manifested love. It was now high time to walk in the light of Jehovah, i.e., to turn this knowledge into life, and reciprocate this love; and it was especially necessary to exhort Israel to this, now that Jehovah had given up His people, just because in their perverseness they had done the very opposite. This mournful declaration, which the prophet was obliged to make in order to explain his warning cry, he changes into the form of a prayerful sigh.”