(9) High places of Isaac.--The name Isaac is here spelt somewhat differently in the Hebrew from the form we have in Genesis. The LXX. misunderstand the word, and render "altars of laughter," in accordance with the etymological sense of the proper name. The residents in the neighbourhood of Beersheba may have boasted of the favour or honour belonging to them, as occupying the home of Isaac and the birthplace of Jacob.

Will rise against.--This dreadful doom fell on the house of Jeroboam, and was the prelude of the final destruction of the nations by Shalmaneser IV., in 721 (2Kings 15:10).

Verse 9. - The high places of Issac. The shrines of idolatry all over the land. The bamoth are the altars erected on high places and now dedicated to idols (1 Kings 3:2; 2 Kings 23:8; Isaiah 16:12; Hosea 10:8). Isaac here and in ver. 16 is used as a synonym for Israel, perhaps with some ides of contrasting the deeds of the people with the blameless life of the patriarch and his gentle piety (Pusey). Septuagint, βωμοὶ τοῦ γέλωτος, with reference to the meaning of the name Issac, "altars of derision," whence Jerome's version, excelsa idoli. The sanctuaries of Israel. The idol temples at Dan and Bethel (1 Kings 12:29), at Gilgal (Amos 4:4), and perhaps in other places, which had been sanctified by ancient patriarchal worship. Septuagint, αἱ τελεεταὶ τοῦ Ἰσραήλ, "the rites of Israel;" Vulgate, sanctificationes Israel. With the sword. God is represented as standing like an armed warrior taking vengeance on the guilty family. Jeroboam II. had roved Israel from Syria, and was popular owing to his success in war (2 Kings 14:25-28); but his dynasty was overthrown, and this overthrow was the destruction of the Israelitish monarchy. The murder of his son Zachariah by Shallum (2 Kings 15:10) led to those disastrous commotions which culminated in the conquest of Samaria by the Assyrians and the deportattion of the people.

7:1-9 God bears long, but he will not bear always with a provoking people. The remembrance of the mercies we formerly received, like the produce of the earth of the former growth, should make us submissive to the will of God, when we meet with disappointments in the latter growth. The Lord has many ways of humbling a sinful nation. Whatever trouble we are under, we should be most earnest with God for the forgiveness of sin. Sin will soon make a great people small. What will become of Israel, if the hand that should raise him be stretched out against him? See the power of prayer. See what a blessing praying people are to a land. See how ready, how swift God is to show mercy; how he waits to be gracious. Israel was a wall, a strong wall, which God himself reared as a defence to his sanctuary. The Lord now seems to stand upon this wall. He measures it; it appears to be a bowing, bulging wall. Thus God would bring the people of Israel to the trial, would discover their wickedness; and the time will come, when those who have been spared often, shall be spared no longer. But the Lord still calls Israel his people. The repeated prayer and success of the prophet should lead us to seek the Saviour.And the high places of Isaac shall be desolate,.... Such as the ten tribes of Israel, who descended from Isaac, built at Beersheba, in imitation of Isaac, and pleading his example; who worshipped there, though not idols, as they, but the true God; and in commemoration of his being bound upon an altar on Mount Moriah: but these, as the Septuagint version renders it, were "high places of laughter", ridiculous in the eyes of the Lord, despised by him, and so should be made desolate:

and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste; the temples built for the calves at Dan and Bethel, and other places:

and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with the sword; or, as the Targum,

"I will raise up against the house of Jeroboam those that slay with the sword;''

this was fulfilled by Shallum, who conspired against Zachariah the son of Jeroboam, and slew him, and reigned in his stead, which put an end to the family of Jeroboam, 2 Kings 15:10.