English · KJV

Isaiah 4:6

“The Glorious Branch and God's Protective Presence”Isaiah 4:2–6

King James Version
And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

KJV (with Strong's)
And there shall be a tabernacle H5521 for a shadow H6738 in the daytime H3119 from the heat H2721, and for a place of refuge H4268, and for a covert H4563 from storm H2230 and from rain H4306.

Bible text: King James Version with Strong's numbers · Public domain

Berean Standard Bible
a shelter to give shade from the heat by day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and the rain.

Bible text: Berean Standard Bible · Public domain

American Standard Version
And there shall be a pavilion for a shade in the day-time from the heat, and for a refuge and for a covert from storm and from rain.

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

World English Bible Messianic
There will be a pavilion for a shade in the daytime from the heat, and for a refuge and for a shelter from storm and from rain.

Bible text: World English Bible, Messianic edition · Public domain

Geneva Bible (1599)
And a couering shalbe for a shadow in the day for the heate, and a place of refuge and a couert for the storme and for the raine.

Bible text: Geneva Bible (1599) · Public domain

Young's Literal Translation
And a covering may be, For a shadow by day from drought, And for a refuge, and for a hiding place, From inundation and from rain!

Bible text: Young's Literal Translation · Public domain

King James Version — Interlinear
9 Hebrew words
  1. וְסֻכָּהve·su·Kahand a shelterH5521Conj-w ¦ N-fsNoun Singular Feminine Absoluteוְandסֻכָּהa shelter
  2. תִּהְיֶהtih·Yehit will beH1961V-Qal-Imperf-3fsVerb Qal Imperfect 3rd Singular Feminine
  3. לְצֵלle·tzelfor shadeH6738Prep-l ¦ N-msNoun Singular Masculine Absoluteלְforצֵלshade
  4. יוֹמָםyo·Mamby dayH3119AdvAdverb
  5. מֵחֹרֶבme·Cho·revfrom [the] heatH2721Prep-m ¦ N-msNoun Singular Masculine Absoluteמֵfromחֹרֶב[the] heat
  6. וּלְמַחְסֶהu·le·mach·Sehand for refugeH4268Conj-w ¦ Prep-l ¦ N-msNoun Singular Masculine Absoluteוּandלְforמַחְסֶהrefuge
  7. וּלְמִסְתּוֹרu·le·mis·Torand for shelterH4563Conj-w ¦ Prep-l ¦ N-msNoun Singular Masculine Absoluteוּandלְforמִסְתּוֹרshelter
  8. מִזֶּרֶםmi·Ze·remfrom [the] stormH2230Prep-m ¦ N-msNoun Singular Masculine Absoluteמִfromזֶּרֶם[the] storm
  9. וּמִמָּטָרu·mi·ma·Tarand from [the] rainH4306Conj-w ¦ Prep-m ¦ N-msNoun Singular Masculine Absoluteוּandמִfromמָּטָר[the] rain
English is a literal word-by-word gloss of the Hebrew, not the KJV's wording. Why?

This is the original text the KJV's translators worked from — each Hebrew word with its own literal English meaning in this verse, prepared by scholars at Tyndale House, Cambridge. The KJV translates whole sentences, not word by word, so its wording differs: one Hebrew word can become several English words, and the KJV may choose “the LORD” where the gloss reads “Yahweh”. Both are faithful — they answer different questions. For the KJV's own rendering, switch to the KJV text.

Words in [ ] are added by the English.

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This verse

God’s presence will be a booth over his people, giving shade from the heat, a place of refuge, and a hiding place from storm and rain.

“And there shall be a tabernacle”

A çukkâh, a booth like those of the Feast of Tabernacles. God himself provides it, and it is a picture of his presence sheltering his people.

“for a shadow in the daytime from the heat,”

Shade from the sun, and relief from the steady pressures that wear us down.

“and for a place of refuge,”

Machăçeh, a shelter and a place of trust, somewhere to flee and be safe.

“and for a covert from storm and from rain.”

A hiding place (miçtôwr) from the cloudburst (zerem, from zâram) and the rain (mâṭar), the troubles that break suddenly and with force.

Passage studyIsaiah 4:2–6

The Branch of the LORD and a Shelter over Zion

2In that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. 3And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: 4When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning. 5And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence. 6And there shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the daytime from the heat, and for a place of refuge, and for a covert from storm and from rain.

Summary

After two chapters of judgment on Judah and Jerusalem, Isaiah turns to what the LORD will do for those who come through it. The Branch of the LORD will be beautiful and glorious, and the land will bear splendid fruit for the survivors. Everyone left in Jerusalem will be called holy, because the Lord himself will have washed the city clean. Then over every home and every gathering on Mount Zion he will set the cloud and fire of the Exodus, a canopy over all the glory and a shelter from heat, storm and rain. The passage finds its fulfilment in Jesus Christ, the Branch who makes his people holy and in whom God has come to dwell with us.

Hope after the judgment of Jerusalem

Isaiah prophesied in the eighth century before Christ, when the Assyrian empire was rising and Judah lived under the threat of invasion, conquest and exile. The people had broken their covenant with the LORD. Idolatry, oppression and corruption ran from the leaders down to the common citizens, and outward worship covered inward rebellion, as Isaiah 1 describes. Isaiah 2 and Isaiah 3 announce the day of the LORD, when the proud are humbled and the nation’s leaders are taken away. The section reaches its lowest point in Isaiah 4:1, where so many men have fallen that women are left desperate to find a husband.

Verse 2 follows at once, and the change is sudden. Isaiah often sets warning and promise side by side like this, and here scarcity and shame give way to abundance and honour. The words “in that day” mark a future, decisive time when God steps in, a day that holds both his judgment and his salvation. So the promises of these five verses belong to the same day as the judgment before them. They show what that judgment was for.

Who is the Branch of the LORD?

The Branch of the LORD is the Messiah, the promised king from David’s line. The Hebrew word tsemach means a sprout, something that springs up from the ground, and the prophets use it for a descendant God will raise up when David’s house looks like a tree that has been cut down. Isaiah says later, “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots” (Isaiah 11:1). Jeremiah hears the same promise: “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth” (Jeremiah 23:5). Through Zechariah God says, “behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH” (Zechariah 3:8).

He is the Branch “of the LORD”. The name here is Yᵉhôvâh, God’s covenant name, which speaks of him as the self-existent and eternal One who keeps his promises. The Branch comes from the LORD and belongs to his saving purpose, so his authority is God’s own.

Isaiah says the Branch will be “beautiful and glorious”. The word behind “beautiful”, tsᵉbîy, means splendour, and the word behind “glorious” is kâbôwd, glory and honour. Jerusalem had been heading for shame and desolation, and the one God raises up reverses it with his own majesty. Jesus Christ is this Branch, the shoot from the stump of Jesse and the true son of David. In his life, his atoning death and his resurrection the beauty and glory of God were seen among us. John writes that “we beheld his glory” (John 1:14), and the letter to the Hebrews calls the Son “the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person” (Hebrews 1:3).

The fruit of the earth

With the Branch comes blessing on the land itself. “Fruit”, pᵉrîy, is the produce of the ground, and to people who lived by farming it meant life. Defeat in war and the judgment of God usually left fields barren, so a fruitful land was a sign that his favour had returned. Isaiah says this fruit will be “excellent”, gâʼôwn, a word for majesty, and “comely”, tiphʼârâh, a word for beauty and adornment. The land that sin had spoiled is pictured as fruitful and lovely again, as Eden was.

The promise reaches as far as the new creation. God says through Isaiah that he will create new heavens and a new earth (Isaiah 65:17), John sees them in his vision (Revelation 21:1), and Peter says that we look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells (2 Peter 3:13). The fruit also pictures what the Messiah brings to his people now. He turns barren hearts into ground that bears the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23), and he came so that his sheep might have life in abundance (John 10:10).

Who are the escaped of Israel?

All this is “for them that are escaped of Israel”. The word pᵉlêyṭâh means deliverance, and then the portion of a people that has been delivered, a remnant. Throughout Isaiah God promises that when judgment falls he will keep a part of his people for himself, and that this remnant will return to him (Isaiah 10:20–22). They escape because God preserves them. Their own strength, merit and cleverness have no part in it, and they come back to him in repentance and faith.

Verse 3 names them again with two words that mean the same thing. “He that is left” comes from shâʼar, to remain or be left over, and “he that remaineth” comes from yâthar. They are left “in Zion” and “in Jerusalem”, the city God chose, so his promises about that city stand even though its people were unfaithful.

The New Testament takes up the remnant. Paul quotes Isaiah to say that a remnant of Israel will be saved (Romans 9:27) and that a remnant remained in his own day by the choice of grace (Romans 11:5). He teaches that the children of the promise are counted as Abraham’s seed (Romans 9:6–8), and that in Christ Gentiles who were far off are brought near and made one people with believing Jews (Ephesians 2:11–22). All who are redeemed by Christ’s blood share in what Isaiah promises here, and Hebrews says that believers have come to mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22–24).

What does it mean to be called holy?

To be called holy is to be declared God’s own and made fit for him. The word qâdôwsh comes from qadash, to set apart, and it describes what is sacred, clean, and given over to God. When God calls the remnant holy he gives them a standing, and he also gives them a character to match it, since verse 4 goes on to say that their defilement has been washed away. God’s people are holy because he is. “Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy,” he says in the law (Leviticus 19:2), and Peter repeats it to the church: “Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16).

This holiness comes to us through Christ. We “are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all” (Hebrews 10:10). It is God’s gift before it is our calling, and it is still our calling.

Written among the living

The holy ones are “every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem”. The verb kâthab means to engrave and so to write, and it speaks of a settled record. “The living” is chay. God keeps a register of those who are his, and Scripture elsewhere calls it the book of the living (Psalm 69:28) and the book of life (Revelation 20:15). To be written there is to be known by God personally, chosen by him and kept by him. Revelation says that the ones who enter the holy city are those written in the Lamb’s book of life (Revelation 21:27), and it warns of a final separation from God for those whose names are absent. Life itself is found in Christ, who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6), and through faith in him our names are written in that book.

How the Lord washes Zion clean

Verse 4 tells how the remnant becomes holy, and it begins with who does the work. The title here is “the Lord”, ʼĂdônây, the sovereign Master. The cleansing is his act from start to finish.

Two stains are removed. The first is “the filth of the daughters of Zion”. Tsôwʼâh is a harsh word that means excrement, and Isaiah uses it for moral and spiritual pollution so that we see how the city’s sin looked to a holy God. “Daughters”, bath, means the women of Jerusalem, whose pride and luxury are described and judged in Isaiah 3:16–26, and through them it stands for the whole city and its people. The Lord washes this away, and the verb is râchats, the ordinary word for washing or bathing.

The second stain is “the blood of Jerusalem”. Dâm is blood, and here it means bloodguilt, the violence and injustice done in the city. The Lord purges it, dûwach, a word that means to thrust away or to cleanse. He removes it “from the midst thereof”, from the qereb, the centre or inward part. The city is named in full, Yᵉrûwshâlaim, and its guilt is dealt with at its heart.

He does it “by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning”. Rûwach means wind, breath or spirit. Mishpâṭ is judgment, God’s righteous verdict that exposes sin and deals with it. Bâʻar means to burn, kindle and consume, and so also to put away or purge. Together they describe God’s holiness at work like a refiner’s fire, which burns off the dross and leaves the metal pure. Malachi uses the same picture of the Lord, who is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap and who purifies his people as silver and gold (Malachi 3:2–3). Hebrews says simply that “our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29). Other prophets promise the same cleansing with water: God will sprinkle clean water on his people and give them a new spirit (Ezekiel 36:25–27), and a fountain will be opened for sin and uncleanness (Zechariah 13:1).

Is God’s judgment only destructive?

God’s judgment in this passage aims at a cleansed people. It is severe, and it truly condemns and removes sin, yet its goal for Zion is purification and restoration. The filth and the blood are taken away so that a holy remnant can live in a clean city under the glory and shelter of verses 5 and 6. God is perfectly just toward sin and full of mercy toward those he keeps, and both are at work here.

The cross is where this cleansing was accomplished. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29). The animal sacrifices could only cover sin, and his blood cleanses the conscience from dead works to serve the living God (Hebrews 9:14). The Holy Spirit, whom Christ poured out on his church, carries on the work of judgment and burning in us. He convicts of sin, and he saves us by the washing of regeneration and renewal (Titus 3:5). Paul can tell believers, “ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:11). The work will be complete in the new Jerusalem, where everything unclean is shut out for ever.

The cloud and fire over Mount Zion

Once the city is clean, the LORD comes to dwell there openly. Isaiah says he will “create” the cloud and the fire, and the verb is bârâʼ, the word used when God created the heaven and the earth (Genesis 1:1). The cloud and fire over Zion are a new act of his, a work of God as surely as the first creation was.

The picture comes from the Exodus. When Israel left Egypt, “the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light” (Exodus 13:21–22). The pillar guided them, and it also guarded them, for at the sea it moved behind the camp and stood between Israel and the Egyptian army (Exodus 14:19–20). Later the cloud rested on the tabernacle by day, with fire in it by night, in the sight of all Israel through all their journeys (Exodus 40:38). Every Israelite who heard Isaiah knew those stories from the beginning of the nation. The promise is that God will be with the purified remnant as visibly and as closely as he was then, in a renewed covenant fellowship, by day and by night alike.

Isaiah’s vision goes further than the wilderness in one respect. Mount Zion was the place God had chosen for his name (1 Kings 8:29), and in the wilderness the cloud stood over one tent. Here it rests “upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies”. Every home is covered, and so is every gathering for worship. God’s presence fills the private and the public life of his people. Zechariah sees a restored Jerusalem in the same way, with the LORD as a wall of fire around her and the glory in her midst (Zechariah 2:5).

A canopy over all the glory

The verse ends, “for upon all the glory shall be a defence.” The glory, kâbôwd, is the splendour and honour of the cleansed city and its people, which comes from the presence of God among them. The word for “defence” is chuppâh, a canopy or chamber, and it is the word for a bridal canopy. So the protection God gives is close and tender as well as strong. He covers his people the way a bride is covered, and what he has made glorious he also keeps safe. The psalmist uses a similar picture when he says that God will cover us with his feathers (Psalm 91:4).

The tabernacle that shelters from heat and storm

Verse 6 says what the Lord’s presence will be for his people in daily life. The “tabernacle” is a çukkâh, a booth or hut, a small and humble shelter. It is the word for the booths Israel lived in at the Feast of Tabernacles, when the people remembered how God kept them through forty years in the wilderness (Leviticus 23:42). The booth of this verse is one God provides, and it stands for God himself as the shelter of his people.

Isaiah names three things it does. It is “a shadow in the daytime from the heat”. In Judah the sun could be a real danger, and shade meant relief. The heat pictures the steady, wearing pressures of life. It is also “a place of refuge”, machăçeh, a shelter and a place to put one’s trust. And it is “a covert”, miçtôwr, a hiding place, “from storm and from rain”. Zerem, from zâram, is a gush of water, a flood or cloudburst, and mâṭar is rain. In that land a sudden storm could destroy crops, houses and lives, and it pictures the troubles that come all at once and overwhelm. God’s care covers both kinds, the slow and the sudden.

The Psalms speak of God in the same terms. He is our refuge and strength (Psalm 46:1). The one who dwells in the secret place of the Most High abides under the shadow of the Almighty and calls him “my refuge” (Psalm 91:1–2). “The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand” (Psalm 121:5–6). Jeremiah promises the same restoration after judgment, when God brings back the tents of Jacob (Jeremiah 30:18–22). And John sees the end of it: God spreads his dwelling over those who have come through, and the sun and its heat strike them no longer (Revelation 7:15–17).

Is this promise only for ancient Israel?

Isaiah speaks first of a remnant in Jerusalem who would come through God’s judgment, and the promise is given to that purified people in particular. The God who made it is unchanging, so he remains the protector and refuge of his people in every generation. Heat and storm are troubles every believer knows, and through Christ we are brought into the same shelter.

Christ, the Branch and the tabernacle of God

Jesus is the Branch of verse 2, and he is also the fulfilment of the cloud, the canopy and the booth. In him the presence of God came to live among us in person: “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). He is Emmanuel, “God with us” (Matthew 1:23).

Each part of the shelter is found in him. He is the shade from the heat, who says to the weary, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). He is the place of refuge from the condemnation our sin deserves, and we who have fled to him for refuge have a sure hope (Hebrews 6:18). He is the covert from the storm, who keeps his people through evil and fear.

The glory that God defends is now the glory of Christ living in his people by the Holy Spirit, “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). The covering over “her assemblies” is his promise to be present wherever two or three are gathered in his name (Matthew 18:20). The whole vision will be complete in the new Jerusalem. That city is lit by the glory of God, and the Lamb is its light (Revelation 21:23). There the tabernacle of God is with men, he dwells with them, and he wipes away every tear (Revelation 21:3–4).

What the washed city and its shelter give us

This passage shows us that God’s hard dealings with his people have an end in view. He judged Jerusalem in order to have a holy people living close to him, and he is the same toward us. When he exposes sin in us, or lets us pass through a season that burns, he is doing the work of verse 4, and what follows that work is the cloud, the fire and the shelter.

It also shows where holiness and safety come from. The remnant is called holy because the Lord washed them, and they are safe because the LORD created a covering over them. We stand before God the same way, washed by Christ and kept by him, with our names written in his book. A believer who doubts whether he will last can rest on that, since the record is God’s and the keeping is God’s.

And it shows how near God means to be. He covers every dwelling and every assembly, so our homes and our gatherings as a church are under his care by day and by night. For the daily heat he is shade, and for the sudden storm he is a hiding place. In Christ that shelter is already ours, and one day we will live in the city where God himself dwells with his people.

Last revised

Public-domain commentary

Matthew Henry

From his Commentary on the Whole Bible. Henry wrote on whole passages, and this entry covers Isaiah 4:2–6. He set out his notes in a four-level outline, kept here as he numbered it.

1662–1714 · 5 verses
Passage under commentIsaiah 4:2–6
I. II. Main points1. 2. Sub-points(1.) (2.) Details[1.] [2.] Fine details

By the foregoing threatenings Jerusalem is brought into a very deplorable condition: every thing looks melancholy. But here the sun breaks out from behind the cloud. Many exceedingly great and precious promises we have in these verses, giving assurance of comfort which may be discerned through the troubles, and of happy days which shall come after them, and these certainly point at the kingdom of the Messiah, and the great redemption to be wrought out by him, under the figure and type of the restoration of Judah and Jerusalem by the reforming reign of Hezekiah after Ahaz and the return out of their captivity in Babylon; to both these events the passage may have some reference, but chiefly to Christ. It is here promised, as the issue of all these troubles,

I.That God will raise up a righteous branch, which shall produce fruits of righteousness (Isaiah 4:2):

In that day, that same day, at that very time, when Jerusalem shall be destroyed and the Jewish nation extirpated and dispersed, the kingdom of the Messiah shall be set up; and then shall be the reviving of the church, when every one shall fear the utter ruin of it.

1.Christ himself shall be exalted. He is the branch of the Lord, the man the branch; it is one of prophetical names, my servant the branch (Zechariah 3:8; Zechariah 6:12), the branch of righteousness (Jeremiah 23:5; Jeremiah 33:15), a rod out of the stem of Jesse and a branch out of his roots (Isaiah 11:1), and this, as some think, is alluded to when he is called a Nazarene, Matthew 2:23. Here he is called the branch of the Lord, because planted by his power and flourishing to his praise. The ancient Chaldee paraphrase here reads it, The Christ, or Messiah, of the Lord. He shall be the beauty, and glory, and joy.

(1.)He shall himself be advanced to the joy set before him and the glory which he had with the Father before the world was. He that was a reproach of men, whose visage was marred more than any man's, is now, in the upper world, beautiful and glorious, as the sun in his strength, admired and adored by angels.

(2.)He shall be beautiful and glorious in the esteem of all believers, shall gain an interest in the world, and a name among men above every name. To those that believe he is precious, he is an honour (1 Peter 2:7), the fairest of ten thousand (Song of Solomon 5:10), and altogether glorious. Let us rejoice that he is so, and let him be so to us.

2.His gospel shall be embraced. The success of the gospel is the fruit of the branch of the Lord; all the graces and comforts of the gospel spring from Christ. But it is called the fruit of the earth because it sprang up in this world and was calculated for the present state. And Christ compares himself to a grain of wheat, that falls into the ground and dies, and so brings forth much fruit, John 12:24. The success of the gospel is represented by the earth's yielding her increase (Psalm 67:6), and the planting of the Christian church is God's sowing it to himself in the earth, Hosea 2:23. We may understand it of both the persons and the things that are the products of the gospel: they shall be excellent and comely, shall appear very agreeable and be very acceptable to those that have escaped of Israel, to that remnant of the Jews which was saved from perishing with the rest in unbelief, Romans 11:5. Note, If Christ be precious to us, his gospel will be so and all its truths and promises - his church will be so, and all that belong to it. These are the good fruit of the earth, in comparison with which all other things are but weeds. It will be a good evidence to us that we are of the chosen remnant, distinguished from the rest that are called Israel, and marked for salvation, if we are brought to see a transcendent beauty in Christ, and in holiness, and in the saints, the excellent ones of the earth. As a type of this blessed day, Jerusalem, after Sennacherib's invasion and after the captivity in Babylon, should again flourish as a branch, and be blessed with the fruits of the earth. Compare Isaiah 37:31, Isaiah 37:32. The remnant shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward. And if by the fruit of the earth here we understand the good things of this life, we may observe that these have peculiar sweetness in them to the chosen remnant, who, having a covenant - right to them, have the most comfortable use of them. If the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious in our eyes, even the fruit of the earth also will be excellent and comely, because then we may take it as the fruit of the promise, Psalm 37:16; 1 Timothy 4:8.

II.That God will reserve to himself a holy seed, Isaiah 4:3.

When the generality of those that have a place and a name in Zion and in Jerusalem shall be cut off as withered branches, by their own unbelief, yet some shall be left. Some shall remain, some shall still cleave to the church, when its property is altered and it has become Christian; for God will not quite cast off his people, Romans 11:1. There is here and there one that is left. Now,

1.This is a remnant according to the election of grace (as the apostle speaks, Romans 11:5), such as are written among the living, marked in the counsel and fore-knowledge of God for life and salvation, written to life (so the word is), designed and determined for it unalterably; for "what I have written I have written." Those that are kept alive in killing dying times were written for life in the book of divine Providence; and shall we not suppose those who are rescued from a greater death to be such as were written in the Lamb's book of life? Revelation 13:8. As many as were ordained unto eternal life believed to the salvation of the soul, Acts 13:48. Note, All that were written among the living shall be found among the living, every one; for of all that were given to Christ he will lose none.

2.It is a remnant under the dominion of grace; for every one that is written among the living, and is accordingly left, shall be called holy, shall be holy, and shall be accepted of God accordingly. Those only that are holy shall be left when the Son of man shall gather out of his kingdom every thing that offends; and all that are chosen to salvation are chosen to sanctification. See 2 Thessalonians 2:13; Ephesians 1:4.

III.That God will reform his church and will rectify and amend whatever is amiss in it, Isaiah 4:4.

Then the remnant shall be called holy, when the Lord shall have washed away their filth, washed it from among them by cutting off the wicked persons, washed it from within them by purging out the wicked thing. They shall not be called so till they are in some measure made so. Gospel times are times of reformation (Hebrews 9:10), typified by the reformation in the days of Hezekiah and that after captivity, to which this promise refers. Observe,

1.The places and persons to be reformed. Jerusalem, though the holy city, needed reformation; and, being the holy city, the reformation of that would have a good influence upon the whole kingdom. The daughters of Zion also must be reformed, the women in a particular manner, whom he had reproved, Isaiah 3:16. When they were decked in their ornaments they thought themselves wondrously clean; but, being proud of them, the prophet call them their filth, for no sin is more abominable to God than pride. Or by the daughters of Zion may be meant the country towns and villages, which were related to Jerusalem as the mother-city, and which needed reformation.

2.The reformation itself. The filth shall be washed away; for wickedness is filthiness, particularly blood-shed, for which Jerusalem was infamous (2 Kings 21:16), and which defiles the land more than any other sin. Note, The reforming of a city is the cleansing of it. When vicious customs and fashions are suppressed, and the open practice of wickedness is restrained, the place is made clean and sweet which before was a dunghill; and this is not only for its credit and reputation among strangers, but for the comfort and health of the inhabitants themselves.

3.The author of the reformation: The Lord shall do it. Reformation-work is God's work; if any thing be done to purpose in it, it is his doing. But how? By the judgment of his providence the sinners were destroyed and consumed; but it is by the Spirit of his grace that they are reformed and converted. This is the work that is done, not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts (Zechariah 4:6), working both upon the sinners themselves that are to be reformed and upon magistrates, ministers, and others that are to be employed as instruments of reformation. The Spirit herein acts,

(1.)As a spirit of judgment, enlightening the mind, convincing the conscience, - as a spirit of wisdom, guiding us to deal prudently, (Isaiah 52:13), - as a discerning, distinguishing, Spirit, separating between the precious and the vile.

(2.)As a Spirit of burning, quickening and invigorating the afflictions, and making men zealously affected in a good work. The Spirit works as fire, Matthew 3:11. An ardent love to Christ and souls, and a flaming zeal against sin, will carry men on with resolution in their endeavours to turn away ungodliness from Jacob. See Isaiah 32:15, Isaiah 32:16.

IV.That God will protect his church, and all that belong to it (Isaiah 4:5, Isaiah 4:6); when they are purified and reformed they shall no longer lie exposed, but God will take a particular care of them. Those that are sanctified are well fortified; for God will be to them a guide and a guard.

1.Their tabernacles shall be defended, Isaiah 4:5.

(1.)This writ of protection refers to,

[1.]Their dwelling places, the tabernacles of their rest, their own houses, where they worship God alone, and with their families. That blessing which is upon the habitation of the just shall be a protection to it, Proverbs 3:33. In the tabernacles of the righteous shall the voice of rejoicing and salvation be, Psalm 118:15. Note, God takes particular cognizance and care of the dwelling-places of his people, of every one of them, the poorest cottage as well as the statliest palace. When iniquity is put far from the tabernacle the Almighty shall be its defence, Job 23:23, 26.

[2.]Their assemblies or tabernacles of meeting for religious worship. No mention is made of the temple, for the promise points at a time when not one stone of that shall be left upon another; but all the congregations of Christians, though but two or three met together in Christ's name, shall be taken under the special protection of heaven; they shall be no more scattered, no more disturbed, nor shall any weapon formed against them prosper. Note, we ought to reckon it a great mercy if we have liberty to worship God in public, free from the alarms of the sword of war or persecution.

(2.)This writ of protection is drawn up,

[1.]In a similitude taken from the safety of the camp of Israel when they marched through the wilderness. God will give to the Christian church as real proofs, though not so sensible, of his care of them, as he then gave to Israel. The Lord will again create a cloud and smoke by day, to screen them from the scorching heat of the sun, and the shining of a flaming fire by night, to enlighten and warm the air, which in the night is cold and dark. See Exodus 13:21; Nehemiah 9:19. This pillar of cloud and fire interposed between the Israelites and the Egyptians, Exodus 14:20. Note, Though miracles have ceased, yet God is the same to the New Testament church that he was to Israel of old; the very same yesterday, today, and for ever.

[2.]In a similitude taken from the outside cover of rams' skins and badgers' skins that was upon the curtains of the tabernacle, as if every dwelling place of Mount Zion and every assembly were as dear to God as that tabernacle was: Upon all the glory shall be a defense, to save it from wind and weather. Note, The church on earth has its glory. Gospel truths and ordinances, the scriptures and the ministry, are the church's glory; and upon all this glory there is a defence, and ever shall be, for the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church. If God himself be the glory in the midst of it, he will himself be a wall of fire around about it, impenetrable and impregnable. Grace in the soul is the glory of it, and those that have it are kept by the power of God as in a strong-hold, 1 Peter 1:5.

2.Their tabernacle shall be a defence to them, Isaiah 4:6. God's tabernacle was a pavilion to the saints (Psalm 27:5); but, when that is taken down, they shall not want a covert: the divine power and goodness shall be a tabernacle to all the saints. God himself will be their hiding-place (Psalm 32:7); they shall be at home in him, Psalm 91:9. He will himself be to them as the shadow of a great rock (Isaiah 32:2) and his name a strong tower, Proverbs 18:10. He will be not only a shadow from the heat in the daytime, but a covert from storm and rain. Note, In this world we must expect change of weather and all the inconveniences that attend it; we shall meet with storm and rain in this lower region, and at other times the heat of the day no less burdensome; but God is a refuge to his people in all weathers.

Historical interpretation

Historical reception

1 surviving comment on this verse from the historical church.

1 quote · AD 420
d. AD 420JeromePost-NiceneSourceCommentary on Isaiah
(Verse 6) But protection is above all glory. And it will be a tabernacle for shade from the heat during the day, and for security and hiding from the whirlwind and rain. The Jews interpret this place as referring to Antichrist, whom they believe will be defended by the Lord from a mighty adversary represented by the whirlwind and storm. However, we refer everything to the first coming of Christ, of whom we also read in the Psalms: He protected me in the hiding place of His tabernacle; on a rock He exalted me (Psalm 27:9-10). On this rock, the Church is founded and is not shaken by any storm or overturned by any wind. The majority of the Jews understand both these things and all the things which are associated with them, concerning the captivity in Babylon and the return to Jerusalem under Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.

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