The Hindrances to Israel's Salvation and their Removal through the Interposition of Jehovah The chapter is closely connected in thought with the preceding, and may perhaps be regarded as a continuation of the same discourse. The first verse justifies the utterance of such promises as are contained... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD THE HAND OF JEHOVAH IS NOT TOO SHORT (cf. ch. Isaiah 50:2) TO SAVE, NOR HIS EAR TOO HEAVY (ch. Isaiah 6:10) TO HEAR.... [ Continue Reading ]
These verses state briefly and forcibly the argument of which the whole chapter is the expansion: not the powerlessness or the indifference of Jehovah, but the sin of the people, is the hindrance to the promised redemption.... [ Continue Reading ]
_your iniquities have separated_ Lit. "have been separating." The expression is that used of the firmament in Genesis 1:6; it implies that guilt has been a permanent cause of alienation between Israel and its God. _have hid_his _face_ i.e. caused Him to withdraw His favour (cf. ch. Isaiah 8:17). In... [ Continue Reading ]
_your hands are defiled with blood_ Cf. ch. Isaiah 1:15. _hath uttered_ Better MUTTERETH (as R.V.).... [ Continue Reading ]
The first half of the verse should be rendered as R.V. NONE SUETH IN RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND NONE PLEADETH IN TRUTH. The reference is to the abuse of legal procedure: lawsuits instituted and conducted with absolute disregard of righteousness and truth. Cf. ch. Isaiah 29:21. _calleth_ with the sense... [ Continue Reading ]
_cockatrice" eggs_ or BASILISKS " eggs. See on ch. Isaiah 11:8. The figure is expanded in the latter part of the verse, and the meaning seems to be that the persons spoken of brood over and bring to maturity projects of wickedness, whose effects are almost equally fatal to those who acquiesce in the... [ Continue Reading ]
These verses differ somewhat in character from Isaiah 59:3 f., and are regarded by Duhm and Cheyne as a quotation from some Psalm or collection of proverbs. In point of fact the first part of Isaiah 59:7 appears in Proverbs 1:16, but probably as an interpolation, since the verse is wanting in the LX... [ Continue Reading ]
Development of the second image of Isaiah 59:5, the point of comparison being the uselessness for any good social end of the schemes devised by the ungodly. _shall not become garments_ i.e. "shall not serve for a garment." _neither shall they cover themselves &c._ Better, NEITHER SHALL MEN COVER T... [ Continue Reading ]
_their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity_(or EVIL)] corresponding to their deeds, Isaiah 59:6. _wasting and destruction_ as ch. Isaiah 51:19; Isaiah 60:18; an alliteration in the Hebr. _in their paths_ Lit. IN THEIR HIGHWAYS, cf. Proverbs 16:17.... [ Continue Reading ]
Cf. Proverbs 1:16; Romans 3:15-17.... [ Continue Reading ]
_judgment_here means RIGHT (R.V. marg.). _goings_ TRACKS, a common word in the Book of Proverbs. _they have made them &c._ THEY HAVE MADE THEIR PATHS CROOKED. Cf. Proverbs 2:15; Proverbs 10:9; Proverbs 28:18. _whosoever goeth therein_ i.e. makes common cause with them.... [ Continue Reading ]
The sorrow and dejection of the people is depicted in striking and pathetic images. It is the better mind of the community which is here expressed, its intense desire for the fulfilment of the divine promises, its weariness through hope deferred making the heart sick. The contrast to the buoyant ent... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore_ on account of these sins and disorders, and not on account of Jehovah's remissness (Isaiah 59:1). _judgment … justice_(R.V. RIGHTEOUSNESS) are here again synonyms for salvation, right manifested by a judicial interposition of Jehovah, as in Isaiah 59:11 and the latter part of ch. Isaiah... [ Continue Reading ]
_We grope for the wall, &c._ Rather, ALONG THE WALL seeking an outlet. Comp. the very similar passage Deuteronomy 28:29. we are _IN_ _desolate places as dead_men] R.V. AMONG THEM THAT ARE LUSTY WE ARE AS DEAD MEN. The A.V. follows the Vulgate, but the rendering "desolate places" seems destitute of... [ Continue Reading ]
_We roar_(better GROAN) _all like bears_ Comp. (with Gesenius) Horace, _Epod._16. 51: "Nec vespertinus circumgemit ursus ovile." The comparison would no doubt gain in force if we could suppose, as Duhm hesitatingly suggests, that captive animals, pining for liberty, are meant. But this is not indi... [ Continue Reading ]
_our sins testify against us_ So Jeremiah 14:7. _our transgressions_are _with us_ present to our conscience, Job 12:3; Job 14:5 &c.; comp. also Psalms 51:3 ("my transgressions I know, and my sin is before me continually").... [ Continue Reading ]
The sins referred to in Isaiah 59:12 are enumerated in a series of infinitives (cf. Isaiah 59:4), which should be construed as in apposition to the terms "sin," "iniquities," &c. employed in the general confession of Isaiah 59:12. REBELLION AND DENIAL OF JEHOVAH, AND TURNING BACK FROM AFTER OUR... [ Continue Reading ]
The confession, following the same order as the indictment in Isaiah 59:3, proceeds from personal sins to public injustice. _judgment_and _justice_( RIGHTEOUSNESS) are not the divine vindication of Israel's right (as in Isaiah 59:9), but the fundamental civic virtues. These, by a bold personificati... [ Continue Reading ]
_Yea, truth faileth_ Lit. AND TRUTH IS MISSING, conspicuous by its absence. _maketh himself a prey_ i.e. must submit to extortion (Psalms 76:6). Another, and possibly a better rendering is, "withdraws himself"; compare the peculiar use of the simple verb in Ruth 2:16 ("draw out" corn from the sheaf... [ Continue Reading ]
Comp. the closely parallel passage, ch. Isaiah 63:5. there was _no man_ See on ch. Isaiah 50:2. _no intercessor_ Better NONE TO INTERPOSE, i.e. on behalf of truth and right (cf. Ezekiel 22:30). Duhm finds in these expressions an allusion to the absence of any human hero to play the _rôle_assigned... [ Continue Reading ]
The idea of Jehovah as a warrior occurs several times in this book (ch. Isaiah 42:13; Isaiah 49:24 f., Isaiah 52:10); but the fully developed image of His arming Himself with His own attributes has no exact parallel in the O.T. (cf. however, ch. Isaiah 11:5). It is reproduced and further elaborated... [ Continue Reading ]
_According to_their _deeds_ Or DESERTS. The word means simply an accomplished deed, either in a good or bad sense; but it is chiefly used in expressions which imply a reference to reward or retribution. In the next line it denotes the recompence itself (cf. ch. Isaiah 35:4). _According to … accordi... [ Continue Reading ]
The consequences of Jehovah's interposition.... [ Continue Reading ]
The effect of the judgement, as a manifestation of Jehovah's glory, will be coextensive with humanity. The verse gives no hint that the judgement itself will be universal; the nations are affected by it only in so far as it reveals the character and deity of the God of Israel. Comp. ch. Isaiah 18:3.... [ Continue Reading ]
The consequences for Israel. _And the redeemer shall come_ Rather AND HE SHALL COME AS A REDEEMER (ch. Isaiah 41:14). _and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob_ LXX. has "and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob," a different and more expressive text. So also in the quotation, Romans... [ Continue Reading ]
Confirmation of the covenant to the true Israel. The verse, on account of its apparent want of connexion with what precedes, and its change of person and number, is regarded by some as an insertion. _My spirit that is upon thee_ The change of pronouns (_with them … upon thee_) presents little diffic... [ Continue Reading ]