"salvation", as it is in the typical miracle of Acts 4: 12.  Israel's failure was largely

associated with their eyes and their ears (Isa. 6: 10), and these at last shall be "opened"

and "unstopped".

"The parched ground" of Isa. 35: 7 is translated "glowing sand" by the R.V., with

the word "mirage" in the margin. The cruel and delusive mirage is a fit symbol for the

glory of the world that passes away, but its fatal attraction shall at length cease, and "the

mirage shall become a pool".

"The habitation of dragons" and the "court" (margin) of Isa. 35: 7 are obviously an

allusion to the passage in Isa. 34: 13 that speaks of a "habitation of dragons, and a

court for owls". The difference between the two passages is that in one case the

thorns and nettles of the context speak of judgment, whereas the "reeds and rushes" of

Isa. 35: 7 speak of luscious grass and plentiful water.

The first half of Isa. 35: is dominated by the figure of the restored wilderness, the

second half by the figure of a highway. In this second half we have the words a

"highway", a "way", "the way of holiness", "pass over", "wayfaring man", "walk",

"return", and eventually the glorious conclusion, when the ransomed of the Lord shall

come to Zion. The Hebrew word for "highway" is maslul. This masculine form of the

word occurs only in  Isa. 35: 8,  every other occurrence being in the feminine

(mesillah). We can advance no reason for this change in gender, except that it serves to

throw the highway of Isa. 35: 8 into prominence. The word is derived from salal,

"to cast up". A "highway" is a raised, cast up, way, specially built in order that the

traveler can return. It is also called "a way" (derek), or "trodden path", so that we may

understand that this way is to be used. It is a "common" way for all the redeemed, but it

must also be remembered that it is "a way of holiness", and none but the redeemed can

tread this way that leads to Zion. No unclean person or thing shall pass over it.

Apart from Isa. 35: 8 there is no other occurrence of the word "unclean" in the

first half of Isaiah except that of Isa. 6: 5. Just as the Seraphim anticipate the glory of

the Lord, so they symbolize the removal of Israel's uncleanness; in fact the glory of

Isa. 35: is largely the fulfillment of the promises and the reversal of the evils found in

chapter 6:

There is an element of ambiguity in the A.V. of Isa. 35: 8, which is intensified by

the marginal alternative: "The unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those

(margin--`for he shall be with them')."  Dr. Young's literal translation, which makes

good sense, is as follows: "And He Himself is by them, Whoso is going in the way--

even fools err not." The presence of the Lord is certainly a feature of the day of glory,

and Dr. Young's rendering would seem to be preferable to those already quoted. Once

the people of Israel went astray like sheep (Isa. 53: 6), but now all this has passed away

in the glory of restoration, and "even fools err not".