isaiah 59 commentary

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ISAIAH 59 COMMENTARY EDITED BY GLENN PEASE Sin, Confession and Redemption 1 Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. 1.BARNES, “Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened - On the meaning of this phrase, see the notes at Isa_50:2. Neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear - On the meaning of this phrase, see the notes at Isa_6:10. 2. CALVIN, “1.Behold, the hand of Jehovah is not shortened. This discourse closely resembles the preceding one; for, after having torn off the mask from hypocrites, who vainly boasted of themselves, and after having shown that the punishment inflicted on them was just, he now replies to other objections. Hypocrites are wont to accuse God either of weakness or of excessive severity. He shows, therefore, that he does not want either power or will to save his people, but that he is prevented by their wickedness from exercising his kindness towards them; and therefore that they do wrong in blaming God, and in uttering those slanders against him, when they ought, on the contrary, to accuse themselves. The word הן(hen) “” is emphatic, as if the Prophet spoke of something actually present, and pointed it out with the finger, for the sake of expressing certainty, in order to cut off a handle from hypocrites, that they might no longer practice evasion. We must also supply the contrasts to the words “” and ““ as if he had said, that formerly there were abundant resources in the hand of God to render assistance to his people, and that he always was ready to be reconciled and lent a willing car to prayers, and that now he is not unlike himself, (129) as if either his hand were broken or his ears grown dull, so that he did not hear distinctly. (129) “Il n’ point change de nature.” “ has not changed his nature.” 3. GILL, “Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,.... It is not for want of power in the Lord, that he has not as yet destroyed the enemies of his people, antichrist, and the antichristian states, and saved them out of their hands, and made them to triumph over

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1. ISAIAH 59 COMMENTARY EDITED BY GLENN PEASE Sin, Confession and Redemption 1 Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. 1.BARNES, Behold, the Lords hand is not shortened - On the meaning of this phrase, see the notes at Isa_50:2. Neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear - On the meaning of this phrase, see the notes at Isa_6:10. 2. CALVIN, 1.Behold, the hand of Jehovah is not shortened. This discourse closely resembles the preceding one; for, after having torn off the mask from hypocrites, who vainly boasted of themselves, and after having shown that the punishment inflicted on them was just, he now replies to other objections. Hypocrites are wont to accuse God either of weakness or of excessive severity. He shows, therefore, that he does not want either power or will to save his people, but that he is prevented by their wickedness from exercising his kindness towards them; and therefore that they do wrong in blaming God, and in uttering those slanders against him, when they ought, on the contrary, to accuse themselves. The word (hen) is emphatic, as if the Prophet spoke of something actually present, and pointed it out with the finger, for the sake of expressing certainty, in order to cut off a handle from hypocrites, that they might no longer practice evasion. We must also supply the contrasts to the words and as if he had said, that formerly there were abundant resources in the hand of God to render assistance to his people, and that he always was ready to be reconciled and lent a willing car to prayers, and that now he is not unlike himself, (129) as if either his hand were broken or his ears grown dull, so that he did not hear distinctly. (129) Il n point change de nature. has not changed his nature. 3. GILL, Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save,.... It is not for want of power in the Lord, that he has not as yet destroyed the enemies of his people, antichrist, and the antichristian states, and saved them out of their hands, and made them to triumph over 2. them; or brought on the glorious state of the church, and fulfilled the promises of good things, suggested in the latter part of the preceding chapter. His hand is as long as ever, and as able to reach his and their enemies in the greatest height of power, or at the greatest distance, and to do every good thing for them; his power is as great as ever, and not in the least abridged or curtailed. Neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: the prayers of his people, their cries unto him on their fast days, of which he seemed to take no notice, complained of Isa_58:3, this is not owing to any want of attention in him, or of readiness to hear prayer made unto him; for he is a God hearing and answering prayer, and is ready to help his people in every time of need, who apply to him in a proper and suitable manner; his eyes are upon them, and his ears are open to their cries. And this is introduced with a "behold", as requiring attention, and deserving the notice and consideration of his people. The Targum is, "behold, not through defect of hand (or power) from the Lord ye are not saved; nor because it is heavy to him to hear, that your prayer is not received.'' 4. HENRY, The prophet here rectifies the mistake of those who had been quarrelling with God because they had not the deliverances wrought for them which they had been often fasting and praying for, Isa_58:3. Now here he shows, I. That it was not owing to God. They had no reason to lay the fault upon him that they were not saved out of the hands of their enemies; for, 1. He was still as able to help as ever: His hand is not shortened, his power is not at all lessened, straitened, or abridged. Whether we consider the extent of his power or the efficacy of it, God can reach as far as ever and with as strong a hand as ever. Note, The church's salvation comes from the hand of God, and that has not waxed weak nor is it at all shortened. Has the Lord's hand waxed short? (says God to Moses, Num_11:23). No, it has not; he will not have it thought so. Neither length of time nor strength of enemies, no, nor weakness of instruments, can shorten or straiten the power of God, with which it is all one to save by many or by few. 2. He was still as ready and willing to help as ever in answer to prayer: His ear is not heavy, that it cannot hear. Though he has many prayers to hear and answer, and though he has been long hearing prayer, yet he is still as ready to hear prayer as ever. The prayer of the upright is as much his delight as ever it was, and the promises which are pleaded and put in suit in prayer are still yea and amen, inviolably sure. More is implied than is expressed; not only his ear is not heavy, but he is quick of hearing. Even before they call he answers, Isa_65:24. If your prayers be not answered, and the salvation we wait for be not wrought for us, it is not because God is weary of hearing prayer, but because we are weary of praying, not because his ear is heavy when we speak to him, but because our ears are heavy when he speaks to us. II. That it was owing to themselves; they stood in their own light and put a bar in their own door. God was coming towards them in ways of mercy and they hindered him. Your iniquities have kept good things from you, Jer_5:25. 1. See what mischief sin does. (1.) It hinders God's mercies from coming down upon us; it is a partition wall that separates between us and God. Notwithstanding the infinite distance that is between God and man by nature, there was a correspondence settled between them, till sin set them at variance, justly provoked God against man and unjustly alienated man from God; thus it separates between them and God. He is your God, yours in profession, and therefore there is so much the more malignity and mischievousness in sin, which separates between you and him. Sin hides his face from us (which denotes great displeasure, Deu_31:17); it provokes him in anger to withdraw his gracious presence, to suspend the tokens of his favour and the instances 3. of his help; he hides his face, as refusing to be seen or spoken with. See here sin in its colours, sin exceedingly sinful, withdrawing the creature from his allegiance to his Creator; and see sin in its consequences, sin exceedingly hurtful, separating us from God, and so separating us not only from all good, but to all evil (Deu_29:21), which is the very quintessence of the curse. (2.) It hinders our prayers from coming up unto God; it provokes him to hide his face, that he will not hear, as he has said, Isa_1:15. If we regard iniquity in our heart, if we indulge it and allow ourselves in it, God will not hear our prayers, Psa_66:18. We cannot expect that he should countenance us while we go on to affront him. 2. Now, to justify God in hiding his face from them, and proceeding in his controversy with them, the prophet shows very largely, in the following verses, how many and great their iniquities were, according to the charge given him (Isa_58:1), to show God's people their transgressions; and it is a black bill of indictment that is here drawn up against them, consisting of many particulars, any one of which was enough to separate between them and a just and a holy God. Let us endeavour to reduce these articles of impeachment to proper heads. 5. JAMISON, Isa_59:1-21. The peoples sin the cause of judgments: They at last own it themselves: The Redeemers future interposition in their extremity. The reason why Jehovah does not deliver His people, notwithstanding their religious services (Isa_58:3), is not want of power on His part, but because of their sins (Isa_59:1-8); Isa_59:9-15 contain their confession; Isa_59:16-21, the consequent promise of the Messiah. hand ... shortened (See on Isa_50:2). ear heavy (Isa_6:10). 6. K&D, This second prophetic address continues the reproachful theme of the first. In the previous prophecy we found the virtues which are well-pleasing to God, and to which He promises redemption as a reward of grace, set in contrast with those false means, upon which the people rested their claim to redemption. In the prophecy before us the sins which retard redemption are still more directly exposed. Behold, Jehovah's hand is not too short to help, nor His ear too heavy to hear; but your iniquities have become a party-wall between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear. The reason why redemption is delayed, is not that the power of Jehovah has not been sufficient for it (cf., Isa_50:2), or that He has not been aware of their desire for it, but that their iniquities ( with the second syllable defective) have become dividers ( , defective), have grown into a party-wall between them and their God, and their sins (cf., Jer_5:25) have hidden panm from them. As the hand (yad) in Isa_28:2 is the absolute hand; so here the face panm) is that face which sees everything, which is everywhere present, whether uncovered or concealed; which diffuses light when it unveils itself, and leaves darkness when it is veiled; the sight of which is blessedness, and not to see which is damnation. This absolute countenance is never to be seen in this life without a veil; but the rejection and abuse of grace make this veil a perfectly impenetrable covering. And Israel had forfeited in this way the light and sight of this countenance of God, and had raised a party-wall between itself and Him, and that , so that He did not hear, i.e., so that their prayer did not reach Him (Lam_3:44) or bring down an answer from Him. 4. 7. PULPIT, A GENERAL REBUKE OF ISRAEL FOR ITS MANIFOLD SINS, The command given to the prophet in Isa_58:1 to "show God's people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins " partly executed in Isa_58:4-7 and Isa_58:13is now further carried out by a scathing denunciation of various forms of wickedness, more or less prevalent in Israel, the effect of which has been to separate between Israel and God, to "shorten God's hand" and "make his ears heavy." The passage has many analogies with Isa_1:2-23. Isa_59:1 The Lord's hand is not shortened; i.e. God is not less able to help than of old; his "hand" has lost none of its power. That he does not help is owing to the iniquities of his people, which have separated between him and them (Isa_59:2). It is the same fact which has made his ear heavy. He cannot hear prayers that are not sincerenot from the heart. 8. BI, Behold, the Lords hand is not shortened Isa_57:1-21. and 59. In the former address, to the dead works on which the people founded their claim to redemption, there were set in contrast the virtues well-pleasing of God, and for which Jehovah promises redemption as a gracious reward; in this discourse, the sins which hinder the accomplishment of redemption are still more directly laid bare. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.) Sin and grace In this chapter we have sin appearing exceeding sinful, and grace appearing exceeding gracious. (M. Henry.) Why some seekers are not saved I. THE FACT CONFESSED. 1. The people of whom I am specially thinking have been hearers of the Gospel, and diligent hearers too. 2. They have become men of prayer, after a fashion (Isa_58:2). 3. These people are greatly disappointed with themselves: not altogether so, for they know to a great extent where the blame lies, but yet they had hoped better things of themselves. II. THE IMPUTATION IMPLIED AND MET. Notice the first word of our text: Behold! This is like our nots bene; mark well, turn your eye this way. If you are not saved, it is not because God is unable to save you, nor is it because He is unwilling to hear your prayers. III. THE ACCUSATION PRESSED AND EXPLAINED. Your accusation may be turned against you. You thought that Gods hand was shortened, that it could not save; but it is your hand that is shortened, for you have not laid hold upon Christ. The real reason why you have not found peace is sin. It may be 1. Sin unconfessed. 5. 2. Sin unforsaken. 3. Sin hankered after. 4. Sin of which you are unaware. 5. Some sin of omission. 6. An ugly temper. 7. An intellectual sin. 8. Gross or secret sin. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Hindrances to the conversion of all nations 1. The lack of deep, earnest sympathy with Christ on the part of His people. 2. An evil heart of unbelief. 3. The unconsecrated wealth of the Church. (J. M. Sherwood, D. D.) The sad issues of sin I. IT BRINGS SEPARATION. Instead of running to God, we flee from Him. His dazzling majesty appals us. His righteousness and purity compel us to hide from Him. II. IT BRINGS DISENCHANTMENT AND DISILLUSIONMENT. For a little we arc fascinated, beguiled, befooled; but soon there is a rude awakening. Their webs shall not become garments, etc. (Isa_59:6). The mirage fades await and we discover to our dismay that there is nothing around or within us but a desert of sand and thorns. III. IT BRINGS BEWILDERMENT AND PERPLEXITY (Isa_59:9). We are in doubt regarding the most elementary matters of belief and behaviour. (A. Smellie, M. A.) Isaiah 59:2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, Sin separates God and men I. A DREADFUL EVIL THAT THIS PEOPLE WAS UNDER. Separation from God. II. THE PARTY AT WHOSE DOOR THE BLAME LIES, they who have made the breach. III. THE PROCURING CAUSE OF THIS EVIL, your iniquities. (T. Boston.) The dreadful efficacy of sin I. WHAT IS THAT SEPARATION WHICH SIN MAKES BETWIXT GOD AND SOULS? Not a local separation, for He is not far from every one of us, for in Him we live, etc. 6. 1. In it there is something negative; i.e the Lord denies them the influences of His grace, countenance and fellowship. 2. There is something positive in it: sin kindles a fire against the soul. (1) There is a standing controversy God has against sinners (Amo_3:3). (2) There is a pursuing of this controversy against the sinner; some positive outgoings of Gods anger against the soul. II. THE GREATNESS OF THE EVIL OF SEPARATION FROM GOD, which many go so light under. Alas! many reign like king Saul, when God departed from him; but how sad a thing this is, will appear if we consider 1. What God is. Everything in God speaks terror to those that are separated from Him. (1) God is the chief good; and therefore to be separated from God is the chief evil. (2) God is all-sufficient in Himself, and to the creatures. The enjoyment of Him makes truly happy; therefore to be separated from Him is a dreadful evil. (3) The omnipotence of God. (4) The absoluteness of God. (5) God is eternal. 2. All created things are empty and unsatisfactory. 3. To be separated from God is the saddest plague out of hell. 4. It is a very hell to be separated from God. 5. Those that continue in a state of separation from God, have no quarter to which they can turn for comfort in an evil day. III. HOW SIN MAKES THIS SEPARATION BETWIXT GOD AND A SOUL. 1. There is a guilt of sin, whereby the sinner is bound over to misery for his sin. 2. There is the stain of sin. (T. Boston.) Sin the great separator I. SIN SEPARATES MAN FROM GOD AS TO PLACE. Of course it remains true of every inhabitant of earth, and even of hell, that God is not far from every one of us. But sin has blunted, has even destroyed the sense of His nearness, has led men to feel as though He were far distant. As a mans iniquities increase God seems farther and farther from him, until at last he feels that heaven is too distant for him to reach, and God too far off to hear his prayers. II. SIN SEPARATES MAN FROM GOD AS TO CHARACTER. III. SIN SEPARATES MAN FROM GOD AS TO WILL. Separation of will is the most complete of all kinds of separation. Continents and oceans may divide men, and yet they may be one in heart and aim. IV. SIN SEPARATES MAN FROM GOD AS TO INTEREST. It is to the interest of the sinner that there should be opportunity for indulgence in sin, that the punishment of sin should be removed, that the restraints of virtue should be broken down. We may well rejoice that Gods interest is with all that is the opposite of this. It is Gods aim that sin should be destroyed. Hence by fearful sufferings He brands it with disgrace. But God in His wonderful love has taken means 7. to destroy this separation, and to draw us back to Him. (Homilist.) The tragic schism When separation comes to pass, the force of disseverment and alienation can only be that of sin. 1. He who is the spring of life can know neither impoverishment nor limitation, and the changes and fluctuations of the universe can no more project themselves into His being than the casting of a leaf or the shedding of a blossom from the tree can impair the vital force entrenched in its roots. The heathen man will sometimes say, The gods are growing old; they are not so ready in helping their worshippers as when we were young. An eternal Spirit is secure against such an innuendo. His arm is not shortened that it cannot save. 2. And there can be no failure of care for our welfare or slackening off in His inclination to help us. Unless God be a fiction of the brain He must be predisposed to save and succour the people He has formed for Himself. The age-long impulse by which He draws men to religion is a sufficient proof of that. When we take into account what God really is, the chief mystery of the world is that any prayer in it should go unanswered, and the mystery is one with the mystery of iniquity itself. It was no wonder that He whose everlasting home had been in the bosom of infinite love should marvel at that which is so commonplace to usunbelief. What a side-light does this cast upon the terrible significance of sin! It is the one thing which keeps God and His creatures apart. 3. The conditions of modern business life are sometimes adduced as an excuse for the waning spirit of prayer and the outfading consciousness of Divine help. If business does unfit its votaries for realizing Gods presence and power, it can only be for one of three reasons, all alike bearing the taint of sin and justifying the declaration of the prophet. You seek unlawful ends in business, or you seek lawful ends by unlawful means, or the methods of conducting business tend to kindle within you unlawful passions. 4. We are sometimes ready to put down this tragic schism to the progress of scientific thought. Mens hearts are petrified by the new dogma that the order of the universe is unalterable, along with its godless corollary, that to pray is to fritter away time, strength, and vital force, and to vex ones own soul. Let the difficulties raised by the new science be freely allowed. Upon even devout minds these views of the uniformity of Nature and her methods, be they proven or unproven, may so act as to check the temper of prayerfulness. Temptation does take on intellectual forms as it addresses itself to thinking people. If a child were to find out that his fathers estate had been signed over to trustees, and that for a certain term of years that father could not be altogether a free agent in providing for the wants of his household, all immediate expenditure being determined by some outside authority, and if on that ground the child were to break off relations with his father, would not that be the mark of a mean, depraved, repulsive character? Supposing that God had made Nature His plenipotentiary, or trustee, and for the time being had surrendered His own power of answering supplication for temporal benefits, it would surely be base in us to use that as a plea whereby to justify ourselves in restraining prayer before Him. 5. The problems of temperament are sometimes brought in to explain this tragic schism. Men palliate their callousness to prayer and their misgivings concerning its benefits by putting them down to deficiency of sentiment or imagination, matter-of-factness, poverty of the religious instinct, congenital disability answering to colour blindness in the physical realm. It is assumed, upon very slender proof, that a peculiar poise of the faculties disqualifies for enthusiastic spiritual beliefs. It may be allowed that from the intellectual standpoint people are variously endowed and equipped; but a mans religious history is not 8. determined by the quality, condition, or specialized habits of the brain. It is simply impossible for a man to have capacity for common truth, practical righteousness, philanthropy, family life and friendship and yet to have no capacity for converse, with God, whose nature is the spring and animating principle of all these qualities. Man is religious by constitution and irreligious only by errancy of habit and practical life. Does prayer seem barren and God unresponsive and heaven very far off? It can only be explained by our lack of oneness with the Divine will and law. 6. The inscrutable methods of Gods sovereignty are sometimes adduced to explain away this ominous separation referred to by the prophet. Now and again occasions arise when the Lord does seem to withdraw Himself from HIS people. There are inexplicable factors in Gods dealings with us, but those factors belong chiefly to the sphere of providence rather than to that of grace. More often than not, it is sin which veils God and His goodness from the sad, breaking, woe-begone heart, and we shall not get out of the gloom by closing our eyes to the explanation and assuming that this terrible silence of the Most High, this apparent indisposition to help, at the mere thought of which the heart sickens and faints, is one of the decrees of His unsearchable sovereignty. 7. This separation is often veiled from us by the illusions of the senses and the pomps of this present evil world. It needs much courage and sobriety of mind to realize the perils with which it is fraught. The form assumed by our personal sin may be so secret and subtle that it is easy for us to think that, in our case at least, this is not the malign force which separates from God and makes His presence fleeting as a dream. We have not been guilty perchance of glaring, flagitious, anti-social transgressions which provoke the reproaches of those who watch our behaviour. Yet spiritual sins may cleave to us which work portentous mischief in the religious life. (T. G.Selby.) Visions which lure to destruction Near the source of one of the great rivers of the East there stands a Buddhist monastery of widespread fame, built on the edge of a beetling cliff. In the chasm beneath clouds are often seen floating, upon which the pilgrims who have climbed to the shrine look down. Under certain conditions of the sun and atmosphere a magnificent phenomenon appears. The sun, greatly enlarged and begirt with coruscations of prismatic splendour, is reflected upon the screen of vapours. From the central disc shafts of gold and purple and violet pulse and throb. The devotees call the sight the glory of Buddha, and when the prismatic marvel appears, half mad with religious frenzy, they cast themselves into the palpitating mass of colour, falling unconscious suicides into the grim gulf below, to which only vultures and jackals can approach. And the separating chasm between ourselves and God is often filled up with a meretricious pomp that disguises its tragedies, and men are again and again betrayed into self-destruction. Perhaps it is a vision of the world with its wealth and power that scintillates there, the gorgeous phantoms which passed before the eye on the mount of the temptation. All the hues of Vanity Fair shimmer beneath our feet, and we think surely we may plunge into the iridescence that seems to beckon us. Or it may be the glory of Nature spreads itself athwart the yawning gulf. She interposes the magic of her shows, entices with the glory of her stately order, usurps the nimbus of a factitious sovereignty, and takes the very place of God Himself. The gulf dividing from God is hidden by her enchantments. Or, the rainbow glories of an aesthetic religion veil the deep moral separation. Men sometimes commit ethical suicide under the cover of an ornate worship. We cultivate art, music, the devices that enthral the senses, and call the product piety, forgetting that we are in no sense at one with God. Pageants superimpose themselves upon unwelcome facts, and underneath the circles of deceitful splendour there gape gulfs of deep and irretrievable 9. perdition. If sin is ignored, unconfessed, unforsaken, if unflattering truths are obstinately disguised, we shall find at last that our capacity for communion with God is lost and our doom is an abyss from which there can be no uplifting. (T. G. Selby.) Inconspicuous sins may hinder communion with God Pathologists found difficulty in identifying the bacillus of an epidemic that has become sorrowfully familiar to us; not only because it was one of the tiniest of all microscopic organisms, but chiefly because it could not be stained with the dyes used in studying other minute forms of life. Yet what a messenger of sorrow and death it was! This hideous trifle brought swift and cruel separation to husband and wife, parent and child, lover and friend, and put the silence and deep gloom of the grave between thousands of victims and the sweet sunny homes in which they would fain have tarried. Now some sins have a criminal dye put upon them by statutory, law, are branded by the damnatory force of public opinion, or show red like crimson because of the disintegrating influence they begin to exert at once upon the individual and the society to which he belongs. Other sins do not stand out in conspicuous colours. Men have no apparent interest in describing them as atrocities. Unless we are watchful and cultivate keen spiritual perceptions, these more obscure forms of sin are apt to elude our consciousness. And yet they may separate between us and our God. (T. G. Selby) 2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. 1.BARNES, But your iniquities - That is, the sins which the prophet had specified in the previous chapter, and which he proceeds further to specify in this. Have separated - The word used here ( badal) conveys the idea of division, usually by a curtain or a wall Exo_26:33; Eze_42:20. Thus the firmament ( raq ya, expanse) is said to have divided or separated ( mabe d yl) the waters from the waters Gen_1:6. The idea here is, that their sins were like a partition between them and God, so that there was no contact between them and him. 10. And your sins have hid his face from you - Margin, Made him hide. The Hebrew word here is in Hiphil, meaning to cause to hide. Kimchi and Aben Ezra understand it as causing him to hide his face; Vitringa as hiding, his face. The metaphor, says Vitringa, is not taken from a man who turns away his face from one because he does not choose to attend to what is said, but from something which comes between two persons, like a dense cloud, which hides one from the other. And, according to this, the idea is, that their sins had risen up like a thick, dark cloud between them and God, so that they had no clear view of him, and no contact with him - as a cloud hides the face of the sun from us. A similar idea occurs in Lam_3:44 : Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud, That our prayers should not pass through. But it seems to me more probable that the Hiphil signification of the verb is here to be retained, and that the idea is, that their sins had caused Yahweh to hide or turn away his face from their prayers from an unwillingness to hear them when they were so deeply immersed in sin. Thus the Septuagint, On account of your sins he has turned away his face ( apestrepse to prosopon) from you, so that he will not have mercy ( tou me elee sai). It is universally true that indulgence in sin causes God to turn away his face, and to witchold mercy and compassion. He cannot pardon those who indulge in transgression, and who are unwilling to abandon the ways of sin (compare the notes at Isa_1:15). 2. CLARKE, His face - For panim, faces, I read panaiv, his face. So the Syriac, Septuagint, Alexandrian, Arabic, and Vulgate. panai, MS. Forte legendum panai, nam mem, sequitur, et loquitur Deus; confer cap. Isa_58:14. We should perhaps read panai; for mem follows, and God is the speaker. - Secker. I rather think that the speech of God was closed with the last chapter, and that this chapter is delivered in the person of the prophet. - L. 3. GILL, Like a partition wall dividing between them, so that they enjoy no communion with him in his worship and ordinances; which is greatly the case of the reformed churches: they profess the true God, and the worship of him, and do attend the outward ordinances of it; but this is done in such a cold formal way, and such sins and wickedness are perpetrated and connived at, that the Lord does not grant his gracious presence to them, but stands at a distance from them: and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear; or have caused him to hide himself; withdraw his gracious presence; neglect the prayers put up to him; deny an answer to them; or, however, not appear as yet for the deliverance and salvation of them, and bringing them into a more comfortable, prosperous, and happy condition. 4.PULPIT , The unsatisfactoriness of sinful courses. "What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye now are ashamed?" asks the apostle of those whom he had converted from a life of sin to a life of righteousness (Rom_6:21). What good did the life of sin 11. seem to do you? Of course, if the life of sin had no pleasures at all to offer, it would have no attractiveness, and would not be led by any. But what, after all, are the attractions, compared with the counterbalancing disadvantages? I. THE PLEASURES OF SIN ARE SLIGHT, EVEN WHILE THEY LAST, No doubt there is a gratification in the satisfaction of every desire, in the venting of every passion, in the full indulgence of every lust and appetite. There is a pleasure also in the mere indulgence of self-will, the setting aside of every restraint, and the determination to be free and do exactly what we choose. But put all these things together; and to what do they amount? What is their value? Is the game worth the candle? Are not the pleasures themselves always mixed with pains, which detract from them? Do they not generally involve as their consequences worse pains, so that mere selfishness should make us decide to decline the pleasures? Does not conscience offer a continual protest against the life of sin? and is not that protest painfuloften severely painful? Again, are not those who lead a life of sin, even while they lead it, always more or less ashamed of it? And is not that shame a very bitter feeling? Is not the disapproval of the life by friends and relatives, especially the nearest, who should be the dearest, a very substantial set-off against any balance of pleasure that might otherwise remain? Do the wicked ever "know peace"? Can they ever calmly review their lives, and derive from the review any feeling of satisfaction? Can they even boast in all their life of a moment's perfect restfulness, content, calm, quiet, sense of ease? II. THE PLEASURES OF SIN ARE FLEETING; THEY DIE OUT AS TIME GOES ON. The great pleasure-seekers have always acknowledged that the end of all indulgence is satiety. The cry of the sensualist is for "a new pleasure;" but the cry is vain. New pleasures are not forthcoming. Sensualists tread the same weary round over and over again, with' less of satisfaction each time it is traversed, and with a growing feeling that they are slaves, compelled to grind perpetually on the same futile treadmill. Almost every passion dies out after a time. If any one remains, it is avarice, which reduces its victim to the most miserable condition possible. III. THE PLEASURES OF SIN SEPARATE FROM GOD. If God is, as even the heathen acknowledged, the supreme good; and if man's highest good is, as some of them also allowed, communion with him, then anything whatsoever that separates from him is weighted with a disadvantage which must necessarily overbalance all possible good that it can possess. Were the pleasures of sin ten thousand times greater than they are, and were they absolutely permanent, instead of being, as they are, fleeting and evanescent, the single fact, here mentioned by Isaiah (verse 2), that they erect a barrier between man and God, should render them utterly unsatisfactory to a reasonable being. To be cut off from God is to be cut off from the source of all joy and peace and happiness; it is to be shut out from light, to lose contact with the Life which sustains all other life, and to be left to our own miserable selves for the remainder of our existence. Nothing could possibly be a compensation to man for such losses. 5. JAMISON, hid Hebrew, caused Him to hide (Lam_3:44). 6. PULPIT, Attention from God. "Your iniquities have separated between you and your God." Here is the secret. We can resist God's arm. Until the "iniquities" be confessed, deplored, and forsaken, there can be no salvation. God is ready to forgive; but are we ready to be forgiven? God has provided a Saviour; but it may be true of us, "Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life." Man is not a heart only; he is a will. And here lies our condemnation, not that we are not sometimes ashamed and even sorry, but that we will not repent, return, and believe. 12. I. THE TERM GIVEN TO SIN. "Iniquities;" that is, "inequities." Read the fourth verse, "None calleth for justice;" and the sixth verse, "The act of violence is in their hands." Unless we are willing to forgive and love and do justice to our brother, it is idle to talk about turning to God. Such religion is a sentiment, not a salvation. Then there are "inequities" in relation to God. We have been: 1. Unjust to his government. 2. We have robbed him of ourselves. 3. We have aided the forces of rebellion. 4. We have, in one word, done iniquity. II. THE DISTANCE CREATED BY SIN. The separation is moral. He is near to usclose, indeed, to us as the air we breathe. But we are at opposite poles of the moral universe. 1. Separated in nature. We are not renewed in his image. 2. Separated in purpose. Our will is set against his will. All separations are painful. We see them in the family and in the nation. Wars and feuds abound on every side. So' we are alienated from the life of God. Christ, and he alone, can break down the middle wall of partition, and through faith in him we may be reconciled by one Spirit unto the Father.W.M.S. 7. CALVIN, 2.But your iniquities have made a separation. The amount of what is said is, that they cannot say that God has changed, as if he had swerved from his natural disposition, but that the whole blame lies with themselves; because by their own sins they, in some measure, prevent his kindness, and refuse to receive his assistance. Hence we infer that our sins alone deprive us of the grace of God, and cause separation between us and him; for what the Prophet testifies as to the men of his time is applicable to all ages; since he pleads the cause of God, against the slanders of wicked men. Thus God is always like himself, and is not wearied in doing good; and his power is not diminished, but we hinder the entrance of his grace. It will be objected, that men cannot anticipate God by deserving well of him, and that consequently he must do good to those who are unworthy. I reply, this is undoubtedly true; but sometimes the frowardness of men grows to such an extent as to shut the door against God benefits, as if they purposely intended to drive him far away from them. And although he listens to no man without pardoning him, as we always bring before him supplication for the removal of guilt, yet he does not listen to the prayers of the wicked. We need not wonder, therefore, if the Prophet accuse the people of rejecting God benefits by their iniquities, and rendering him irreconcilable by their obstinacy, and, in a word, of making a divorce, which drives away or turns aside the ordinary course of grace. 13. 3 For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken falsely, and your tongue mutters wicked things. 1.BARNES, For your hands are defiled with blood - The prophet proceeds here more particularly to specify the sins of which they were guilty; and in order to show the extent and depth of their depravity, he specifies the various members of the body - the hands, the fingers, the lips, the tongue, the feet as the agents by which people commit iniquity. See a similar argument on the subject of depravity in Rom_3:13-15, where a part of the description which the prophet here gives is quoted by Paul, and applied to the Jews in his own time. The phrase your hands are defiled with blood, means with the blood of the innocent; that is, they were guilty of murder, oppression, and cruelty. See a similar statement in Isa_1:15, where the phrase your hands are full of blood occurs. The word rendered here defiled ( ga'al) means commonly to redeem, to ransom; then to avenge, or to demand and inflict punishment for bloodshed. In the sense of defiling it occurs only in the later Hebrew writers - perhaps used in this sense because those who were avengers became covered, that is, defiled with blood. And your fingers with iniquity - The fingers in the Scriptures are represented as the agents by which any purpose is executed Isa_2:8, Which their own fingers have made (compare Isa_17:8). Some have supposed that the phrase used here means the same as the preceding, that they were guilty of murder and cruelty. But it seems more probable that the idea suggested by Grotius is the true sense, that it means that they were guilty of rapine and theft. The fingers are the instruments by which theft - especially the lighter and more delicate kinds of theft - is executed. Thus we use the word light-fingered to denote anyone who is dexterous in taking and conveying away anything, or anyone who is addicted to petty thefts. Your lips have spoken lies - The nation is false, and no confidence can be reposed in the declarations which are made. Your tongue hath muttered - On the word rendered muttered ( hagah), see the notes at Isa_8:19. Probably there is included in the word here, the idea that they not only spoke evil, but that they did it with a complaining, discontented, or malicious spirit. It may also mean that they calumniated the government of God, and complained of his laws; or it may mean, as Grotius supposes, that they calumniated others - that is, that slander abounded among them. Perverseness - Hebrew, avlah - Evil - the word from which our word evil is derived. 14. 2. CLARKE, Your tongue And your tongue - An ancient MS., and the Septuagint and Vulgate, add the conjunction. 3. GILL, For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity,.... From a general charge, the prophet proceeds to a particular enumeration of sins they were guilty of; and idolatry not being mentioned, as Jerom observes, shows that the prophecy belongs to other times than Isaiah's, when that sin greatly prevailed. He begins the account with the sin of shedding blood; the blood of innocents, as the Targum; designing either the sin of murder, now frequently committed in Christian nations; or wars between Christian princes, by means of which much blood is shed; or persecutions of Christian brethren, by casting them into prisons, which have issued in their death; and at least want of brotherly love, or, the hatred of brethren, which is called murder, 1Jo_3:15 a prevailing sin in the present Sardian state; and which will not be removed till the spiritual reign or Philadelphian state takes place: and this sin is of a defiling nature; it "defiles" the "hands" or actions; and without love all works signify nothing, 1Co_13:1, yea, even their "fingers" are said to be defiled "with iniquity"; meaning either their lesser actions; or rather those more curiously and nicely performed, and seemingly more agreeable to the divine will; and yet defiled with some sin or other, as hypocrisy, vain glory, or the like: or it may be this may design the same as putting forth the fingers, and smiting with the fist, Isa_58:4, as Kimchi and Ben Melech observe; and so may have respect to some sort of persecution of their brethren for conscience sake, as there. Your lips have spoken lies: or "falsehood" (q); that is, false doctrines, so called because contrary to the word of truth, and which deceive men: your tongue hath muttered perverseness: that which is a perversion of the Gospel of Christ, and of the souls of men; what is contrary to the sacred Scriptures, the standard of faith and practice, and that premeditated, as the word (r) signifies; done with design, and on purpose: the abounding of errors and heresies in the present day, openly taught and divulged, to the ruin of souls, seems here to be pointed at. In the Talmud (s) these are explained of the several sorts of men in a court of judicature; the "hands" of the judges; the "fingers" of, the Scribes; the "lips" of advocates and solicitors; and the "tongue" of adversaries, or the contending parties. 4. HENRY, Out of this abundance of wickedness in the heart their mouth speaks, and yet it does not always speak out the wickedness that is within, but, for the more effectually compassing the mischievous design, it is dissembled and covered with much fair speech (Isa_59:3): Your lips have spoken lies; and again (Isa_59:4), They speak lies, pretending kindness where they intend the greatest mischief; or by slanders and false accusations they blasted the credit and reputation of those they had a spite to and so did them a real mischief unseen, and perhaps by suborning witnesses against them took from them their estates and lives; for a false tongue is sharp arrows, and coals of juniper, and every thing that is mischievous. Your tongue has muttered perverseness. When they could not, for shame, speak their malice against their neighbours aloud, or durst not, for fear of being disproved and put to confusion, they muttered it secretly. Backbiters are called whisperers. (3.) Their actions were all of a piece with their thoughts and words. They were guilty of shedding innocent blood, a crime of the most heinous nature: Your hands are defiled with blood (Isa_59:3); for blood is defiling; it leaves an indelible stain of guilt upon the conscience, which nothing but the blood of Christ can cleanse it from. Now was this a case of surprise, or one that 15. occurred when there was something of a force put upon them; but (Isa_59:7) their feet ran to this evil, naturally and eagerly, and, hurried on by the impetus of their malice and revenge, they made haste to shed innocent blood, as if they were afraid of losing an opportunity to do a barbarous thing, Pro_1:16; Jer_22:17. Wasting and destruction are in their paths. Wherever they go they carry mischief along with them, and the tendency of their way is to lay waste and destroy, nor do they care what havoc they make. Nor do they only thirst after blood, but with other iniquities are their fingers defiled (Isa_59:3); they wrong people in their estates and make every thing their own that they can lay their hands on. They trust in vanity (Isa_59:4); they depend upon their arts of cozenage to enrich themselves with, which will prove vanity to them, and their deceiving others will but deceive themselves. Their works, which they take so much pains about and have their hearts so much upon, are all works of iniquity; their whole business is one continued course of oppressions and vexations, and the act of violence is in their hands, according to the arts of violence that are in their heads and the thoughts of violence in their hearts. 5. JAMISON, (Isa_1:15; Rom_3:13-15). hands ... fingers Not merely the hands perpetrate deeds of grosser enormity (blood), but the fingers commit more minute acts of iniquity. lips ... tongue The lips speak openly lies, the tongue mutters malicious insinuations (perverseness; perverse misrepresentations of others) (Jer_6:28; Jer_9:4). 6. K&D, The sins of Israel are sins in words and deeds. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips speak lies, your tongue murmurs wickedness. The verb , to spot (see Isa_63:3), is a later softening down of (e.g., 2Sa_1:21); and in the place of the niphal (Zep_3:1), we have here, as in Lam_4:14, the double passive form , compounded of niphal and pual. The post-biblical nithpal, compounded of the niphal and the hithpael, is a mixed form of the same kind, though we also meet with it in a few biblical passages (Deu_21:8; Pro_27:15; Eze_23:48). The verb hagah (lxx ) combines the two meanings of thought (meditation or reflection), and of a light low expression, half inward half outward. 7. CALVIN, 3.For your hands. He now brings forward their actions, that they may not practice evasion, or call in question what are those sins which have the separation. He therefore takes away from them every excuse, by bringing forward particular instances, as if their shameful life were exhibited on an open stage. Now, he speaks in the second person, because, like an advocate, he argues and pleads the cause of God, and therefore speaks of himself as not belonging to the rank of the wicked, with whom he did not wish to be classed, though he was not entirely free from sin, but feared and served God, and enjoyed liberty of conscience. No man could be at liberty to condemn others, who was involved in the guilt of the same vices; and no man could be qualified for pleading the cause of God, who deprived himself of his right by living wickedly. We must be unlike those whom we reprove, if we do not wish to expose our doctrine to ridicule, and to be reckoned impudent; and, on the other band, when we serve God with a pure conscience, our doctrine obtains weight and authority, and holds even adversaries to be more fully convicted. 16. Are polluted with blood. The picture which he gives of the wicked life of the people is not superfluous; for men seek various subterfuges, and cannot be reduced to a state of obedience, unless they have previously acknowledged their sins. By mentioning blood, he does not mean that murders have been everywhere committed; but by this word he describes the cruelty, extortions, violence, and enormities, which were perpetrated by hypocrites against the poor and defenseless; for they had not to deal with robbers and assassins, but with the king and the nobles, who were highly respected and honored. He calls them manslayers, because they cruelly harassed the innocent, and seized by force and violence the property of others; and so, immediately afterwards he uses the word instead of And your fingers with iniquity. Though he appears to extend the discourse farther, yet it is a repetition, or rather, a reduplication, such as is frequently employed by Hebrew writers, accompanied by amplification; for he expresses more by than by as if he had said that not even the smallest part was free from unjust violence. (130) Your lips have uttered falsehood. Next, he takes notice of one kind of wickedness, that is, when men deceive each other by tricks, or falsehood, or perjury; for that iniquity by which we wound our neighbors is most frequently defended either by cruelty as a body or by cheating and falsehood. Here the Prophet takes a rapid view of the second table, and, from the crimes which they commit against it, he shows that they are wicked and destitute of all fear of God; for cruelty and treachery, by which human society is infringed, proceed from contempt of God. Thus from hands, that is, from extortion and violence, he descends to falsehoods and deceitful practices, to perjuries and crafty devices, by which we take advantage of our neighbors. (130) Que la moindre partie de leur corps est souillee d. the smallest part of their body is tainted with extortion. 4 No one calls for justice; no one pleads a case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments, they utter lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to evil. 17. 1.BARNES, None calleth for justice - Or rather, there is no one who brings a suit with justice; no one who goes into court for the purpose of obtaining justice. There is a love of litigation; a desire to take all the advantage which the law can give; a desire to appeal to the law, not for the sake of having strict justice done, but for the sake of doing injury to others, and to take some undue advantage. Nor any pleadeth for truth - Or, no one pleadeth with truth. He does not state the cause as it is. He makes use of cunning and falsehood to gain his cause. They trust in vanity - They confide in quirks and evasions rather than in the justice of their cause. They conceive mischief - They form plans of evil, and they execute them when they are fully ripe. Compare Job_15:35, where the same phrase occurs. The sense is, that they form plans to injure others, and that they expect to execute them by fraud and deceit. 2. CLARKE, They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity - There is a curious propriety in this mode of expression; a thought or purpose is compared to conception; a word or act, which is the consequence of it, to the birth of a child. From the third to the fifteenth verse inclusive may be considered a true statement of the then moral state of the Jewish people; and that they were, in the most proper sense of the word, guilty of the iniquities with which they are charged. 3. GILL, None calleth for justice,.... Or, "righteousness"; not for civil justice in courts of judicature, as if there were no advocates for it there; or that put those in mind of it, to whom the administration of it belongs; or that see to put the laws against sin in execution, and to relieve those that are oppressed; though of this there may be just cause of complaint in some places: but there are none or few that call for evangelical righteousness, either that preach it, proclaim and publish it to others; even the righteousness of Christ, the grand doctrine of the Gospel, which is therein revealed from faith to faith; so the Syriac version, "there is none that preacheth righteously"; or "in", or "of righteousness" (t); and the Septuagint version, "no one speaks righteous things"; the words and doctrines of righteousness and truth: or, "no one calls for righteousness"; desires to hear this doctrine, and have it preached to him; hungers and thirsts after it; but chooses the doctrine of justification by works. The Targum refers it to prayer, paraphrasing it thus, "there is none that prays in truth;'' in sincerity and uprightness, in faith and with fervour; but in a cold, formal, and hypocritical way: nor any pleadeth for truth: for the truth of the Gospel, particularly for the principal one, the justification of a sinner by the righteousness of Christ alone; few or none contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints; they are not valiant for the truth, nor stand fast in it, but drop or conceal it, or deny it: or, "none is judged by", or "according to truth" (u); by the 18. Scriptures of truth, but by carnal reason; or by forms and rules of man's devising, and so are condemned; as Gospel ministers and professors of it are: they trust in vanity; in nothing, as the Vulgate Latin; that is worth nothing; in their own strength, wisdom, riches, righteousness, especially the latter: and speak lies; or "vanity"; vain things, false doctrines, as before: they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity; they "conceive" and contrive "mischief" in their minds against those that differ in doctrine and practice from them: "and bring forth iniquity": do that which is criminal and sinful, by words and actions, by calumnies and reproaches, by violence and persecution. The Targum is, "they hasten and bring out of their hearts words of violence.'' 4. HENRY, We must begin with their thoughts, for there all sin begins, and thence it takes its rise: Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, Isa_59:7. Their imaginations are so, only evil continually. Their projects and designs are so; they are continually contriving some mischief or other, and how to compass the gratification of some base lust (Isa_59:4): They conceive mischief in their fancy, purpose, counsel, and resolution (thus the embryo receives its shape and life), and then they bring forth iniquity, put it in execution when it is ripened for it. Though it is in pain perhaps that the iniquity is brought forth, through the oppositions of Providences and the checks of their own consciences, yet, when they have compassed their wicked purpose, they look upon it with as much pride and pleasure as if it were a man-child born into the world; thus, when lust has conceived, it bringeth forth sin, Jam_1:15. This is called (Isa_59:5) hatching the cockatrice' egg and weaving the spider's web. See how the thoughts and contrivances of wicked men are employed, and about what they set their wits on work. [1.] At the best it is about that which is foolish and frivolous. Their thoughts are vain, like weaving the spider's web, which the poor silly animal takes a great deal of pains about, and, when all is done, it is a weak insignificant thing, a reproach to the place where it is, and which the besom sweeps away in an instant: such are the thoughts which worldly men entertain themselves with, building castles in the air, and pleasing themselves with imaginary satisfaction, like the spider, which takes hold with her hands very finely (Pro_30:28), but cannot keep her hold. [2.] Too often it is about that which is malicious and spiteful. They hatch the eggs of the cockatrice or adder, which are poisonous and produce venomous creatures; such are the thoughts of the wicked who delight in doing mischief. He that eats of their eggs (that is, he is in danger of having some mischief or other done him), and that which is crushed in order to be eaten of, or which begins to be hatched and you promise yourself some useful fowl from it, breaks out into a viper, which you meddle with at your peril. Happy are those that have least to do with such men. Even the spider's web which they wove was woven with a spiteful design to catch flies in and make a prey of them; for, rather than not be doing mischief, they will play at small game. No methods are taken to redress these grievances, and reform these abuses (Isa_59:4): None calls for justice, none complains of the violation of the sacred laws of justice, nor seeks to right those that suffer wrong or to get the laws put in execution against vice and profaneness, and those lewd practices which are the shame, and threaten to be the bane, of the nation. Note, When justice is not done there is blame to be laid not only upon the magistrates that should administer justice, but upon the people that should call for it. Private persons ought to contribute to the public good by discovering secret wickedness, and giving those an opportunity to punish it that have the power of doing so in their hands; but it is ill with a state when princes 19. rule ill and the people love to have it so. Truth is opposed, and there is not any that pleads for it, not any that has the conscience and courage to appear in defence of an honest cause, and confront a prosperous fraud and wrong. The way of peace is as little regarded as the way of truth; they know it not, that is, they never study the things that make for peace, no care is taken to prevent or punish the breaches of the peace and to accommodate matters in difference among neighbours; they are utter strangers to every thing that looks quiet and peaceable, and affect that which is blustering and turbulent. There is no judgment in their goings; they have not any sense of justice in their dealings; it is a thing they make no account of at all, but can easily break through all its fences if they stand in the way of their malicious covetous designs. (5.) In all this they act foolishly, very foolishly, and as much against their interest as against reason and equity. Those that practise iniquity trust in vanity, which will certainly deceive them, Isa_59:4. Their webs, which they weave with so much art and industry, shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves, either for shelter or for ornament, with their works, Isa_59:6. They may do hurt to others with their projects, but can never do any real service or kindness to themselves by them. There is nothing to be got by sin, and so it will appear when profit and loss come to be compared. Those paths of iniquity are crooked paths (Isa_59:8), which will perplex them, but will never bring them to their journey's end; whoever go therein, though they say that they shall have peace notwithstanding they go on, deceive themselves; for they shall not know peace, as appears by the following verses. 5. JAMISON, Rather, No one calleth an adversary into court with justice, that is, None bringeth a just suit: No one pleadeth with truth. they trust ... iniquity (So Job_15:35; Psa_7:14). 6. K&D, The description now passes over to the social and judicial life. Lying and oppression universally prevail. No one speaks with justice, and no one pleads with faithfulness; men trust in vanity, and speak with deception; they conceive trouble, and bring forth ruin. They hatch basilisks' eggs, and weave spiders' webs. He that eateth of their eggs must die; and if one is trodden upon, it splits into an adder. Their webs do not suffice for clothing, and men cannot cover themselves with their works: their works are works of ruin, and the practice of injustice is in their hands. As is generally used in these prophetic addresses in the sense of , and the judicial meaning, citare, in just vocare, litem intendere, cannot be sustained, we must adopt this explanation, no one gives public evidence with justice (lxx ). is firm adherence to the rule of right and truth; a conscientious reliance which awakens trust; (in a reciprocal sense, as in Isa_43:26; Isa_66:16) signifies the commencement and pursuit of a law-suit with any one. The abstract infinitives which follow in Isa_59:4 express the general characteristics of the social life of that time, after the manner of the historical infinitive in Latin (cf., Isa_21:5; Ges. 131, 4, b). Men trust in tohu, that which is perfectly destitute of truth, and speak , what is morally corrupt and worthless. The double figure is taken from Job_15:35 (cf., Psa_7:15). (compare the poel in Isa_59:13) is only another form for (Ges. 131, 4, b); and (the western or Palestinian reading here), or (the oriental or Babylonian reading), is the usual 20. form of the inf. abs. hiph. (Ges. 53, Anm. 2). What they carry about with them and set in operation is compared in Isa_59:5 to basilisks' eggs ( , serpens regulus, as in Isa_11:8) and spiders' webs ( , as in Job_8:14, from , possibly in the sense of squatter, sitter still, with the substantive ending sh). They hatch basilisks' eggs ( like , Isa_34:15, a perfect, denoting that which has hitherto always taken place and therefore is a customary thing); and they spin spiders' webs ( possibly related to -; (Note: Neither nor has hitherto been traced to an Indian root in any admissible way. Benfey deduces the former from the root dhvir (to twist); but this root has to perform an immense number of services. M. Mller deduces the latter from rak; but this means to make, not to spin.) the future denoting that which goes on occurring). The point of comparison in the first figure is the injurious nature of all they do, whether men rely upon it, in which case he that eateth of their eggs dieth, or whether they are bold or imprudent enough to try and frustrate their plans and performances, when that (the egg) which is crushed or trodden upon splits into an adder, i.e., sends out an adder, which snaps at the heel of the disturber of its rest. as in Job_39:15, here the part. pass. fem. like (Isa_49:21), with a - instead of a - like , the original a of the feminine (zurath) having returned from its lengthening into a to the weaker lengthening into e. The point of comparison in the second figure is the worthlessness and deceptive character of their works. What they spin and make does not serve for a covering to any man ( with the most general subject: Ges. 137, 3), but has simply the appearance of usefulness; their works are (with metheg, not munach, under the Mem), evil works, and their acts are all directed to the injury of their neighbour, in his right and his possession. 7. CALVIN, 4.There is none that crieth for justice. He means that there is not among them any study of what is right or proper, that no man opposes the acts of injustice which are committed by the strong on the weak; and that this leads to growing licentiousness, because all wink at it, and there is none who cares about undertaking the defense of justice. It is not enough that we abstain from violence, if we do not, as far as lies in our power, hinder it from being committed by others. And, indeed, whoever permits what he is able to hinder does in some sense command it; so that silence is a sort of consent. None that contendeth for truth. This clause is of the same import as the preceding one. Some take (nishpat) in a passive sense, and suppose the Prophet meaning to be, is rightly judged; for everything is full of corruptions, and yet nobody makes opposition. But the active signification is more appropriate; for these two statements are closely connected with each other, that crieth for justice and defendeth truth or uprightness. The rendering given by some, man judgeth himself truly, is rather too harsh. But because this verb in Niphal is taken, in many passages, for contend, (131) the whole passage appeared to run more freely thus: that comes forward to protect what is right, openly and loudly to defend justice, and to plead against the wicked. Yet it will perhaps be thought preferable to view the words for justice as referring to wretched persons who are unjustly harassed; as if he had said that they are dumb, because they would gain nothing by crying. But this would also be harsh. 21. If God condemns so severely those who pay no attention to the righteous causes of men, and do not aid such as are in difficulties, what shall become of us, if no zeal for defending the glory of God prompt us to rebuke iniquities? If we wink at the mockeries by which wicked men jeer at God sacred doctrine and profane his name; if we pay no attention to the efforts which they make to destroy the Church of God, shall not our silence be justly condemned for treachery? (132) In a word, Isaiah says that good order falls into decay through our fault, if we do not, as far as we can, resist the wicked. They trust in vain things. He next points out that this is extreme confusion, when no one rises up in defense of justice. When he says that they in vain things, he means that they heap up perverse reliances, by means of which they bring upon themselves insensibility. This is the utmost verge of iniquity, when, by seeking flatteries on every hand, they willingly harden themselves to despise God; and by such allurements Satan caresses the reprobate, till he altogether enchants them, so that, shaking off all fear of God, they not only despise sound counsels, but become haughty and fearless mockers. Since therefore foolhardiness drives us headlong, when we place false hopes in opposition to the judgment of God, the Prophet has good reason for representing, as a mark of desperate malice, this confidence under which cunning men shelter themselves; because the disease is manifestly incurable, when men who are openly wicked do not hesitate to flatter themselves, and, relying on their obstinate wickedness, think that they are at liberty to do whatever they please. They talk idly. He adds that their conversation tells plainly what is the nature of their dispositions and morals; as the proverb says, that tongue is the image of the mind. Yet this clause may be explained in two ways; either that they speak nothing sincerely, but, by constant practice, their tongues are formed to deceive, or, that their wickedness breaks out into open boasting. For my own part, I prefer the latter of these expositions. They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. These are elegant metaphors, by which he compares wicked men to women, who support the child in the womb, and afterwards give birth to it. Thus he says that the wicked, while they inwardly contrive their crimes, may be said to be pregnant till they bring forth in due time; that is, when they have found occasions and opportunities. conceive, he says, of mischief, that afterwards they may unjustly harass simple persons; as if he had said, that they make preparation for their crimes by long meditation, and are always ready for any mischief; because they do not cease to search in every quarter for indirect methods of annoying those who are giving them no disturbance. (131) Pour debatre. debate. (132) De desloyaute et traison. disloyalty and treason 5 They hatch the eggs of vipers and spin a spiders web. 22. Whoever eats their eggs will die, and when one is broken, an adder is hatched. 1.BARNES, They hatch cockatrice eggs - Margin, Adders. On the meaning of the word rendered here cockatrice, see the notes at Isa_11:8. Some poisonous serpent is intended, probably the adder, or the serpent known among the Greeks as the basilisk, or cerastes. This figurative expression is designed to show the evil nature and tendency of their works. They were as if they should carefully nourish the eggs of a venomous serpent. Instead of crushing them with the foot and destroying them, they took pains to hatch them, and produce a venomous race of reptiles. Nothing can more forcibly describe the wicked character and plans of sinners than the language used here - plans that are as pernicious, loathsome, and hateful as the poisonous serpents that spread death and ruin and alarm everywhere. And weave the spiders web - This phrase, in itself, may denote, as some have understood it, that they formed plans designed to seize upon and destroy others, as spiders weave their web for the purpose of catching and destroying insects. But the following verse shows that the language is used rather with reference to the tenuity and gossamer character of the web, than with any such designs. Their works were like the web of the spider. They bore the same relation to true piety which the web of the spider did to substantial and comfortable raiment. They were vain and useless. The word rendered here web properly denotes the cross-threads in weaving, the woof or filling; and is probably derived from a word signify ing a cross-beam (see Rosenmuller in loc; also Bochart, Hieroz. ii. 4. 23). He that eateth of their eggs dieth - That is, he who partakes of their counsels, or of the plans which they form, shall perish. Calvin says that the meaning is, that whosoever had anything to do with them would find them destructive and pestiferous. Similar phrases, comparing the plans of the wicked with the eggs and the brood of the serpent, are common in the East. It is said, says Roberts, speaking of India, of the plans of a decidedly wicked and talented man, That wretch! he hatches serpents eggs. Beware of the fellow, his eggs are nearly hatched. Ah, my friend, touch not that affair, meddle not with that matter; there is a serpent in the shell. And that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper - On the meaning of the word rendered here viper, see the notes at Isa_30:6. Margin, Sprinkled, is as if there brake out a viper. Jerome renders it, Which if pierced, breaks out into a basilisk. The Septuagint renders it, And he who was about to eat of their eggs having broken one that was putrid ( suntripsas ourion), found in it a basilisk ( basiliskon). The difference of translation in the text and the margin of the common version has arisen from the fact that the translators supposed that the word used here ( zurah) might be derived from zarah, to sprinkle, or to scatter. But it is formed from the word zur, to squeeze, to press, to crush; and in Job_39:15, is applied to the fact that the ostrich might crush her eggs with her foot. The sense here is, that when their plans were developed, they would be found to be evil and pernacious - as when an egg should be broken open, a venomous setpent would come forth. The viper, it is true, brings forth its young alive, or is a viviparous animal. But Bochart has remarked, that though it produces its young in this manner, yet that during the period of gestation the young are included in eggs which are broken at the birth. This is a very impressive illustration of the character and 23. plans of the wicked. The serpents here referred to are among the most venomous and destructive that are known. And the comparison here includes two points - 1. That their plans resembled the egg of the serpent. The nature of the egg cannot be easily known by an inspection. It may have a strong resemblance to those which would produce some inoffensive and even useful animals. It is only when it is hatched that its true nature is fully developed. So it is with the plans of the wicked. When forming, their true nature may not be certainly known, and it may not be easy to determine their real character. 2. Their plans, when developed, are like the poisonous and destructive production of the serpents egg. The true nature is then seen; and it is ruinous, pernicious, and evil. 2. PULPIT, They hatch cockatrice' eggs. (On the cockatrice, see the comment upon Isa_11:8.) The meaning here is that the people gave themselves to brooding on and hatching purposes which were as pernicious and destructive as the eggs of venomous serpents. And weave the spider's web; i.e. "their purposes were as flimsy and unsubstantial as the web of the spider." He that eateth, etc. If a man partake of their plans, he becomes morally as bad as they, and is smitten with spiritual death. If an attempt be made to "crush" and destroy their plans, the only result is the premature birth of a viper 3. GILL, They hatch cockatrice eggs, and weave the spider's web,.... Invent false doctrines according to their own fancies, which may seem fair and plausible, but are poisonous and pernicious; as the "eggs of the cockatrice", which may look like, and may be taken for, the eggs of creatures fit to eat; and spin out of their brains a fine scheme of things, but which are as thin, and as useless, and unprofitable, as "the spider's web"; and serve only to ensnare and entangle the minds of men, and will not stand before the word of God which sweeps them away at once; particularly of this kind is the doctrine of justification by the works of men, which are like the spider's web, spun out of its own bowels; so these are from themselves, as the doctrine of them is a device of man, and is not of God: he that eateth of their eggs dieth: as a man that eats of cockatrice eggs dies immediately, being rank poison; so he that approves of false doctrines, receives them, and feeds upon them, dies spiritually and eternally; these are damnable doctrines, which bring upon men swift destruction; they are poisonous, and eat as do a canker, and destroy the souls of men: and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper; or "cockatrice"; so Kimchi and Ben Melech take it to be the same creature as before, which goes by different names; and the words seem to require this sense; however, it cannot be the creature we call the viper, since that is not oviparous, but viviparous, lays not eggs, but brings forth its young; though both Aristotle (w) and Pliny (x), at the same time they say it is viviparous, yet observe that it breeds eggs within itself, which are of one colour, and soft like fishes. The Targum renders it "flying serpents": the sense is, that if a man is cautious, and does not eat of the cockatrice eggs, but sets his foot on them, and crushes them, out comes the venomous creature, and he is in danger of being hurt by it; so a man that does not embrace false doctrines, and escapes eternal death by them, but tramples upon them, opposes them, and endeavours to crush and destroy them, yet he is exposed to and brings upon himself calumnies, reproach, and persecution. 4. F. B. HOLE , Verses Isaiah 59:3-8 give in full and terrible detail the sins that had separated them from their God, and we note that the indictments of verses Isaiah 59:7-8 are quoted in Romans 3:1-31, in 24. support of the sweeping statements of man's utter ruin, to which we have already referred. And further, having quoted these verses and others from the Old Testament, the Apostle Paul observes that these things were said, "to them who are under the law," that is, the denunciations are against not Gentiles but Jews, who were the picked sample of the human race. If true of them, true of all. If in verses Isaiah 59:3-8, the prophet speaks on God's behalf, denouncing the sins of the people, he turns in verses Isaiah 59:9-15 to make confessions on behalf of the people, such as well might be made by those in their midst who feared God. He owns the miseries that existed on every hand: no justice, obscurity and darkness just as if they had no eyes, desolation and mourning; every kind of oppression, falsehood and injustice rampant. Anything like truth utterly failing. A darker picture can hardly be imagined. And one further feature of a very grievous sort was to be seen. There were some, however few they might be who walked in the fear of God and hence departed from all these evils and walked in separation from them. Such came under judgment from the mass who went on with the evils; for, "he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey." It was a very unpopular thing to do, since it cast a discredit and rebuke on the mass who indulged in the sins. The same thing may be seen today, though the injunction to depart is far clearer and more definite: "Let every one that nameth the name of Christ [or, the Lord] depart from iniquity" (2 Timothy 2:19). Such departing is no more popular today than it was then, but it is the clear command of the Lord to the saint of today. 5. JAMISON, cockatrice probably the basilisk serpent, cerastes. Instead of crushing evil in the egg, they foster it. spiders web This refers not to the spiders web being made to entrap, but to its thinness, as contrasted with substantial garments, as Isa_59:6 shows. Their works are vain and transitory (Job_8:14; Pro_11:18). eateth ... their eggs he who partakes in their plans, or has anything to do with them, finds them pestiferous. that which is crushed The egg, when it is broken, breaketh out as a viper; their plans, however specious in their undeveloped form like the egg, when developed, are found pernicious. Though the viper is viviparous (from which vi-per is derived), yet during gestation, the young are included in eggs, which break at the birth [Bochart]; however, metaphors often combine things without representing everything to the life. 6. K&D, The description now passes over to the social and judicial life. Lying and oppression universally prevail. No one speaks with justice, and no one pleads with faithfulness; men trust in vanity, and speak with deception; they conceive trouble, and bring forth ruin. They hatch basilisks' eggs, and weave spiders' webs. He that eateth of their eggs must die; and if one is trodden upon, it splits into an adder. Their webs do not suffice for clothing, and men cannot cover themselves with their works: their works are works of ruin, and the practice of injustice is in their hands. As is generally used in these prophetic addresses in the sense of , and the judicial meaning, citare, in just vocare, litem intendere, cannot be sustained, we must adopt this explanation, no one gives public evidence with justice (lxx ). is firm adherence to the rule of right and truth; a conscientious reliance which awakens trust; (in a reciprocal sense, as in Isa_43:26; Isa_66:16) signifies the commencement and pursuit of a law-suit with any one. The abstract 25. infinitives which follow in Isa_59:4 express the general characteristics of the social life of that time, after the manner of the historical infinitive in Latin (cf., Isa_21:5; Ges. 131, 4, b). Men trust in tohu, that which is perfectly destitute of truth, and speak , what is morally corrupt and worthless. The double figure is taken from Job_15:35 (cf., Psa_7:15). (compare the poel in Isa_59:13) is only another form for (Ges. 131, 4, b); and (the western or Palestinian reading here), or (the oriental or Babylonian reading), is the usual form of the inf. abs. hiph. (Ges. 53, Anm. 2). What they carry about with them and set in operation is compared in Isa_59:5 to basilisks' eggs ( , serpens regulus, as in Isa_11:8) and spiders' webs ( , as in Job_8:14, from , possibly in the sense of squatter, sitter still, with the substantive ending sh). They hatch basilisks' eggs ( like , Isa_34:15, a perfect, denoting that which has hitherto always taken place and therefore is a customary thing); and they spin spiders' webs ( possibly related to -; (Note: Neither nor has hitherto been traced to an Indian root in any admissible way. Benfey deduces the former from the root dhvir (to twist); but this root has to perform an immense number of services. M. Mller deduces the latter from rak; but this means to make, not to spin.) the future denoting that which goes on occurring). The point of comparison in the first figure is the injurious nature of all they do, whether men rely upon it, in which case he that eateth of their eggs dieth, or whether they are bold or imprudent enough to try and frustrate their plans and performances, when that (the egg) which is crushed or trodden upon splits into an adder, i.e., sends out an adder, which snaps at the heel of the disturber of its rest. as in Job_39:15, here the part. pass. fem. like (Isa_49:21), with a - instead of a - like , the original a of the feminine (zurath) having returned from its lengthening into a to the weaker lengthening into e. The point of comparison in the second figure is the worthlessness and deceptive character of their works. What they spin and make does not serve for a covering to any man ( with the most general subject: Ges. 137, 3), but has simply the appearance of usefulness; their works are (with metheg, not munach, under the Mem), evil works, and their acts are all directed to the injury of their neighbour, in his right and his possession. 7. CALVIN, 5.They hatch the eggs of the basilisk. The Prophet proceeds farther, comparing the Jews not only to women, but to venomous beasts; so as to make it more evident that everything that proceeds from them is destructive and deadly. First, then, he says, that hatch the eggs of the basilisk; because, as a viper cannot lay an egg that is not venomous, so they are so inured to wickedness, and so full of it, that they can throw out nothing but poison. (133) And weave the webs of spiders. By webs of spiders he means that they are so barren and destitute of anything good, that even by the appearance of virtues they deceive. By two marks he describes wicked men; first, that the works which they perform manifest their corrupt nature; secondly, that they are of no value whatever, and. contribute nothing towards making them kind, amiable, charitable, and faithful to those with whom they have intercourse. I am aware that it is explained ill a different manner by other 26. commentators; namely, that the wicked, while they are contriving the destruction of others, ruin themselves, and, while they think that they are industrious, labor fruitlessly and to no purpose; that are snared in their own nets, (Psa_9:15) and into the pit which they had digged. (Psa_7:15) But I am of opinion that the Prophet meant what I have now said; namely, that the wicked do mischief in all places, at all times, and in all transactions, and that they never do anything good; and that every person who has anything to do with them will find them to be venomous and destructive. Such is the import of what he says, that in their eggs there lurks a deadly venom, and that, if they are broken, a serpent will come out of them. (133) are ( ) proverbial expressions, and mean that bad men have taken destructive counsels, as if the eggs of serpents, which ought to be crushed by those who meet with them, were purposely hatched by some person, in order that poisonous animals might, in due time, be produced by them for the destruction of men. Rosenmuller 6 Their cobwebs are useless for clothing; they cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their deeds are evil deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands. 1.BARNES, Their webs shall not become garments - The spiders web is unfit for clothing; and the idea here is, that their works are as unfit to secure salvation as the attenuated web of a spider is for raiment. The sense is, says Vitringa, that their artificial sophisms avail nothing in producing true wisdom, piety, virtue, and religion, or the true righteousness and salvation of people, but are airy speculations. The works of the self-righteous and the wicked; their vain formality, their false opinions, their subtle reasonings, and their traditions, are like the web of the spider. They bide nothing, they answer none of the purposes of a garment of salvation. The doctrine is, that people must have some better righteousness than the thin and gossamer covering which their own empty forms and ceremonies produce (compare Isa_64:6). 27. 2. PULPIT, Their webs shall not become garments. The unsubstantial fabrics which they weave shall not serve them in any way as garments, or be of any real value or utility. Their devices shall not take objective shape in such sort as to afford them "cover" or protection. Their works are works of iniquity; rather, works of nothingness,works that make a mere pretence of being works at all, and are in reality mere shams, impotent and delusive. And the act of violence is in their hands; rather, and it is an act of violence that is in their hands. Violence creates nothing. At the best, it destroys. 3. GILL, Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works,.... As spiders' webs are not fit to make garments of, are too thin to cover naked bodies, or shelter from bad weather, or injuries from different causes; so neither the false doctrines of men will be of any use to themselves, or to others that receive them; particularly the doctrine of justification by works: these are not proper garments to cover the nakedness of a sinner from the sight of God, or screen him from avenging justice; but his hope which is placed on them will be cut off, and his trust in them will be a spider's web, of no avail to him, Job_8:14, their works are works of iniquity: both of preacher and hearer; even their best works are sinful; not only as being imperfect, and having a mixture of sin in them, and so filthy rags, and insufficient to justify them before God; but because done from wrong principles, and with wrong views, and tending to set aside the justifying righteousness of Christ, and God's way of justifying sinners by it, which is abominable to him: and the act of violence is in their hands; they persecuting such that preach and profess the contrary doctrine. 4.COFFMAN , No better description was ever written of the Jewish leaders in their devices against the Lord Jesus Christ than is this one. First, the Lord gave Israel the reasons why the nation was not being blessed, why they were under the heel of the Romans, and all the rest of it. It was simply the diabolical wickedness of the Jewish nation itself. But look at the way they treated Jesus: (1) they told many lies against him; (2) they suborned liars to swear against him in his trials; (3) they made haste to shed the innocent blood of Jesus whom their governor declared to be innocent; (4) they wove a web of intrigue to get Jesus murdered clandestinely (Matthew 26); (5) they bribed the soldiers who witnessed Jesus' resurrection to lie about it; (6) they pressed false charges against him before Pilate; (7) through their friend Herod Agrippa II, they planned the murder of the apostles (Acts 12); (8) their High Priest (of all people) conspired with forty murderers determined to murder Paul, all of the chief priests and elders taking part in it (Acts 23:11-15); (9) once, they even attempted to stone Jesus. This paragraph is a perfect picture of that wicked generation. McGuiggan described the condition of the Jewish nation at the time prophesied here: "They think and act swiftly to do evil. The innocent seem to be their special target. They have crooked minds, practice crooked actions on crooked roads of their own crooked making; and anyone foolish enough to walk with them on that crooked path finds only restlessness and destruction (Isaiah 59:7,8)."[3] The apostle Paul's description of the same people at that same period agrees perfectly with this (Romans 2:17-29,3:1:19), the topic sentence of that entire portion of Romans is the declaration that, "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you (the Jews)" (Romans 2:24). The wickedness of the people of Israel had already been frequently mentioned by Isaiah; but God had commanded Isaiah to use a loud voice like a trumpet to reveal the sins of the house of Jacob; and this outline of their gross wickedness goes beyond other references to it. Here the final climax of the judicial hardening prophesied in Isaiah 6:6-12 seems to be in focus. As Henderson said. "The awful picture is 28. applicable to that period of history immediately preceding the destruction of the Jewish polity by the Romans."[4] This is surely true, but the same conditions had prevailed for a half a millennium already when Vespasian and Titus destroyed the Jewish nation in 70 A.D. God indeed waited an additional forty years, thus giving the hardened Israel a chance to repent; but the nation had deserved that destruction for many years already when the blow finally fell. Back in Isaiah 53:8, there is the question, "Who can describe his generation?" that is, the generation that crucified the Son of God. Indeed, it was an almost indescribable generation! The total corruption of the people took place; and even the Holy of Holies in the Temple itself was stacked full of dead bodies! Josephus devoted twenty full pages (beginning on p. 744) to a detailed description of the unbelievable wickedness that overwhelmed Judah and Jerusalem prior to the fall of the city to the Romans.[5] In the next paragraph Isaiah identified himself with the sinful nation and confessed their sinfulness and depravity, thus, in effect, admitting that all of the hardships and disasters that had come upon Israel were fully deserved by them, due to their excessive wickedness. 5. JAMISON, not ... garments like the fig leaves wherewith Adam and Eve vainly tried to cover their shame, as contrasted with the coats of skins which the Lord God made to clothe them with (Isa_64:6; Rom_13:14; Gal_3:27; Phi_3:9). The artificial self-deceiving sophisms of human philosophy (1Ti_6:5; 2Ti_2:16, 2Ti_2:23). 6. CALVIN, 6.Their webs shall not be for clothing. He repeats and confirms the same statement, that everything that they attempt or undertake is always useless to mankind; because they purposely shrink from all acts of kindness. Now, it is an indication of a mind utterly abandoned, to devote themselves to evil deeds in such a manner, that no advantage of any kind can be expected from the life of him who desires to be barren and destitute of all justice. Others explain it, that they will toil unsuccessfully to acquire wealth and to rise to honor. But I consider the meaning to be more simple, that no man will himself with their works, because in their texture there is nothing solid or durable. (134) By various modes of expression he inculcates the same thing, in order to demonstrate that their works yield no advantage whatever. But we were born for this end, that we should yield assistance to our neighbors, and, in our turn, contribute something to the general good. Thus they are savage beasts, and ought not to be called men, who are only skillful to do mischief, and labor with all their might to avoid doing good. he immediately adds, without a figure, that they are given up, and, as it were, devoted to iniquity. (134) introduced the spider web, in connection with the serpent egg, as an emblem of malignant and treacherous designs, he here repeats the first, but for another purpose, namely, to suggest the idea of futility and worthlessness. This application may have been suggested by the frequent reference to webs and weaving as conducive to the comfort and emolument of men; but spiders webs can answer no such purpose. The idea that it is not fit or cannot be applied to this end, although not exclusively expressed, is really included in the general declaration that they shall not be so used Alexander. 29. 8. MACLAREN, FLIMSY GARMENTS Isa_59:6; Rev_3:18 The force of these words of the prophet is very obvious. He has been pouring out swift, indignant denunciation on the evil-doers in Israel; and, says he, they hatch cockatrices eggs and spin spiders webs, pointing, as I suppose, to the patient perseverance, worthy of a better cause, which bad men will exercise in working out their plans. Then with a flash of bitter irony, led on by his imagination to say more than he had meant, he adds this