_A.M. 3244. B.C. 760._ In this chapter we have Judah's sins, Isaiah 1:1. Her judgments, Isaiah 1:5. The rejection of her worship, Isaiah 1:10. Exhortations to repentance, promises of mercy and grace, threatenings of sore judgments, and complaints by reason of their backsliding, Isaiah 1:16. Dr. Tay... [ Continue Reading ]
_The vision of Isaiah_ “It seems doubtful,” says Bishop Lowth, “whether this title belongs to the whole book, or only to the prophecy contained in this chapter. The former part of the title seems properly to belong to this particular prophecy: the latter part, which enumerates the kings of Judah, un... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hear, O heavens_, &c. “God is introduced as entering upon a solemn and public action, or pleading, before the whole world, against his disobedient people. The prophet, as herald, or officer, to proclaim the summons to the court, calls upon all created beings, celestial and terrestrial, to attend an... [ Continue Reading ]
_The ox knoweth his owner_, &c. In these words the prophet amplifies “the gross insensibility of the disobedient Jews, by comparing them with the most heavy and stupid of all animals, yet not so insensible as they. Bochart has well illustrated the comparison, and shown the peculiar force of it. ‘He... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ah, sinful nation_ The prophet bemoans those who would not bemoan themselves; and he speaks with a holy indignation at their degeneracy, and with a dread of the consequences of it. _A people laden with iniquity_ Laden, not with the sense of sin, as those described Matthew 11:28, but with the guilt... [ Continue Reading ]
_Why should ye be stricken any more_ It is to no purpose to seek to reclaim you by one chastisement after another; _ye will revolt more and more_ I see you are incorrigible, and turn even your afflictions into sin. _The whole head is sick_, &c. The disease is mortal, as being in the most noble and v... [ Continue Reading ]
_Your country is desolate_ “The description of the ruined and desolate state of the country, in these verses,” says Bishop Lowth, “does not suit with any part of the prosperous times of Uzziah and Jotham. It very well agrees with the time of Ahaz, when Judea was ravaged by the joint invasion of the... [ Continue Reading ]
_Except the Lord had left us a remnant_ If God, by his infinite power and goodness, had not restrained our enemies, and reserved some of us, _we should have been as Sodom_ The whole nation of us had been utterly cut off, as the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were. So great was the rage and power of ou... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hear the word of the Lord_ I bring a message from your Lord and governor, to whom you owe all reverence and obedience; _ye rulers of Sodom_ So called for their resemblance of them in wickedness. Compare Deuteronomy 32:32; Ezekiel 16:46; Ezekiel 16:48. “The incidental mention of Sodom and Gomorrah i... [ Continue Reading ]
_To what purpose, &c., your sacrifices unto me?_ Who am a Spirit, and therefore cannot be satisfied with such carnal oblations, but expect to be worshipped in spirit and in truth, and to have your hearts and lives, as well as your bodies and sacrifices, presented unto me. _I delight not in the blood... [ Continue Reading ]
_Bring no more vain oblations_ I neither desire, nor will accept of any on these terms. _Incense is an abomination to me_ So far is it from being a sweet savour to me, as you foolishly imagine. _The new moons_ Which were holy to God, and observed with great solemnity; _the calling of assemblies_ At... [ Continue Reading ]
_When ye spread forth your hands_ When ye pray with your hands spread abroad, as the manner was; _I will hide mine eyes from you_ I will take no notice of your persons or requests. _Your hands are full of blood_ You are guilty of murder and oppression, and of other crying sins, which I abhor, and ha... [ Continue Reading ]
_Wash ye, make you clean_ Repent, and do works meet for repentance: cleanse your hearts and hands from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and do not content yourselves with your ceremonial washings. He refers to the charge preferred in the preceding clause, and alludes to the legal purifications co... [ Continue Reading ]
_Come now, let us reason together_ The word נוכחה is properly understood of two contending parties _arguing a case;_ or, as Bishop Lowth translates it, _pleading together;_ but here it seems to import also the effect, or issue of such a debate, namely, the accommodating their differences. _Though yo... [ Continue Reading ]
_How is the faithful city_ Jerusalem, which in the reign of former kings was faithful to God; _become a harlot_ Filled with idolatry, called whoredom in the Scriptures. _It was full of judgment_, &c. Judgment was truly and duly executed in all its courts, and _righteousness_, or justice, _lodged_, o... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thy silver is become dross_ Thou art wofully degenerated from thy former purity. _Thy wine mixed with water_ If there be any remains of religion and virtue in thee, they are mixed with many and great corruptions. _Thy princes are rebellious_ Against me, their sovereign Lord; _and companions of thie... [ Continue Reading ]
_Ah, I will ease me_, &c. This is an expression borrowed from men's passions, who find some sort of ease and rest in their minds upon venting their anger on just occasions, or in bringing offenders to condign punishment. Thus God, speaking after the manner of men, represents himself as feeling satis... [ Continue Reading ]
_And I will turn my hand upon thee_ I will chastise thee again, and thereby reform thee: or, I will do that for the reviving of religion, which I did at first for the planting of it. _And purge away thy dross_ I will purge out of thee those wicked men that are incorrigible, and, as for those of you... [ Continue Reading ]
_Zion shall be redeemed_ Shall be delivered from all their enemies and calamities; _with judgment_ By the exercise of God's strict justice in destroying the obdurate; by purging out those wicked and incorrigible Jews, who, by their sins, hindered the deliverance of the people; and by punishing and d... [ Continue Reading ]
_For they shall be ashamed_ He does not speak of an ingenuous and penitential shame for sin, but of an involuntary and penal shame for the disappointment of the hopes which they had placed in their idols; _of the oaks which ye have desired_ Which, after the manner of the heathen, you have consecrate... [ Continue Reading ]
_For ye shall be as an oak_, &c. As you have sinned under the oaks and in the gardens, so you shall be like unto oaks and gardens, not when they are green and flourishing, but when they wither and decay. This verse is remarkably elegant, in which, what was the pleasure and confidence of those idolat... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the strong_ The wisest, strongest, or richest persons among you, who think to secure themselves against the threatened danger by their wisdom, wealth, or power, and much more they that are weak and helpless; _shall be as tow_ Shall be as suddenly and easily consumed by God's judgments as tow is... [ Continue Reading ]