Lastly, the song looks back and tells how the poor and needy, in whose
name the prophet speaks, had filled the dreary past, while the tyranny
of the fallen city lasted, with yearning for the judgment which has now
come at last. Verses 8 and 9 breathe the very spirit of patient longing
and meek hope. There is a certain tone of triumph in that 'Yea,' as if
the singer would point to the great judgment now accomplished, as
vindicating the long, weary hours of hope deferred. That for which 'the
poor and needy' wait is the coming 'in the path of Thy judgments.' The
attitude of expectance is as much the duty and support of Christians as
of Israel. We have a greater future clearer before us than they had. The
world needs God's coming in judgment more than ever; and it says little
for either the love to God or the benevolence towards man of average
Christians, that they should know so little of that yearning of soul
which breathes through so much of the Old Testament. For the glory of
God and the good of men, we should have the desire of our souls turned
to His manifestation of Himself in His righteous judgments. It was no
personal end which bred the prophet's yearning. True, the 'night' round
him was dreary enough, and sorrow lay black on his people and himself;
but it was God's 'name' and 'memorial' that was uppermost in his
desires. That is to say, the chief object of the devout soul's longings
should be the glory of God's revealed character. And the deepest reason
for wishing that He would flash forth from His hiding-place in
judgments, is because such an apocalypse is the only way by which
wilfully blind eyes can be made to see, and wilfully unrighteous hearts
can be made to practise righteousness.

Isaiah believed in the wholesome effect of terror. His confidence in the
power of judgments to teach the obstinate corresponds to the Old
Testament point of view, and contains a truth for all points of view;