Isaiah 42:15

“I will make waste mountains and hills, &c.] Kingdoms, greater and lesser; kings and governors, as Jarchi interprets it; and so Kimchi understands it of the kings of the nations; by them are meant the emperors of Rome, and their governors under them, that set themselves against Christ and his Gospel, but were overcome by him; these mountains and hills became a plain before him: “every mountain and island were moved out of their places, and the kings of the earth, and the great men, &c. hid themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of the mountains, and called upon them to fall on them, and hide them from the wrath of the Lamb”, (<660614>Revelation 6:14-16): and dry up all their herbs; the…”

“I will destroy all My foes. mountains--in Palestine usually planted with vines and olives in terraces, up to their tops. islands--rather, "dry lands." God will destroy His foes, the heathen, and their idols, and "dry up" the fountains of their oracles, their doctrines and institutions, the symbol of which is water, and their schools which promoted idolatry [VITRINGA].”

“I will make waste mountains - This verse denotes the utter desolation which God would bring upon his foes in his anger. The meaning of this part of the verse is, that he would spread desolation over the hills and mountains that were well watered and laid out in gardens and orchards. It was common to plant vineyards on the sides of hills and mountains; and indeed most of the mountains of Palestine and adjacent regions were cultivated nearly to the top. They were favorable to the culture of the vine and the olive; and by making terraces, the greater portion of the hills were thus rescued for purposes of agriculture. Yet an enemy or warrior marching through a land would seek to spread…”

“Hills - My most lofty and flourishing enemies. Dry up - I will remove all impediments out of the way. Isaiah 42:16”

“Isa 2:12-16, Isa 11:15, Isa 11:16, Isa 44:27, Isa 49:11, Isa 50:2; Psa 18:7, Psa 107:33, Psa 107:34, Psa 114:3-7; Jer 4:24; Nah 1:4-6; Hab 3:6-10; Hag 2:6; Zac 10:11; Rev 6:12-17; Rev 8:7-12, Rev 11:13, Rev 16:12, Rev 16:18, Rev 20:11 Isaiah 42:16”

“The delivery takes place, and the whole world of nature undergoes a metamorphosis, which is subservient to the great work of the future. "I make waste mountains and hills, and all their herbage I dry up, and change streams into islands, and lakes I dry up." Here is another example of Isaiah's favourite palindromy, as Nitzsch calls this return to a word that has been used before, or linking on the close of a period of its commencement. Jehovah's panting in labour is His almighty fiery breath, which turns mountains and hills into heaps of ruins, scorches up the vegetation, condenses streams into islands, and dries up the lakes; that is to say, turns the strange land, in which Israel has been…”