[1] In these outlines the Authorised Version has been followed,
but the translations in which Delitzsch, Kay, and Cheyne
substantially agree is noteworthy and worthy of study.
_"And therefore_--because your sins require this
chastisement--_the Lord will wait,_ in resolute
self-withdrawal, looking for the time when your penitence
will permit Him to be again _gracious unto you: and
therefore will He be exalted,_ in judicial severity (ch.
v. 16; Ps. xlvi. 10), _that_ ('when He seeth thy power is
gone,' Deut. xxxii. 36) _He may have mercy on thee_ (Deut.
xxx. 3)."--_Kay._
_"And therefore will Jehovah long till He can be gracious
unto you, and therefore will He wait in stillness [or, be
on high] till He can have compassion upon you, for Jehovah
is a God of righteousness; happy are all those that long
for Him!"--Cheyne._
Mr. Birks thus comments: "Vers. 18-26. These verses, from
the whole context, refer to the Assyrian deliverance. The
connection is direct and forcible, though some have thought
it obscure. However severe God's discipline, its design was
gracious. His dealings are full of wisdom, like our Lord's
absence during the sickness of Lazarus, to make the
blessing afterwards more glorious and Divine. There is, on
His part, no slackness or indifference, but the calm
waiting of an ever-patient love. Even in the hour of
judgment God will be exalted, not to crush His people with
the terrors of His majesty, but only _'that He may have
mercy'_ upon them. He knows how to temper their
afflictions, that they may yield the peaceable fruits of
righteousness. Since He waits in patient love to show the
favour at the last, they also are bound to wait, in faith
and patience, until the blessing shall come."