Isaiah 1:14

Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them. YOUR APPOINTED FEASTS - the Sabbath, Passover, Pentecost, Day of Atonement, and Feast of Tabernacles. They alone were fixed on certain times of the year. I AM WEARY TO BEAR THEM - (.)...

14._Your new-moons _The Prophet adds nothing new to his former doctrine; but with respect to all ceremonies, in which there is no spiritual truth, but only the glare of a false pretense, he declares generally that they are not merely useless but wicked. Hence we ought to observe that we labor to no purpose, if we do not worship God in the right manner, and as God himself enjoins. In all things God delights in truth, but especially in the worship due to his majesty. Besides, not only do we lose our labor, but the worship of God (as we have already said) is perverted; and nothing can be more wicked than this. Now all superstitions are so many corruptions of the worship of God; it follows, therefore, that they are wicked and unlawful. Superstition may be viewed, either in itself, or in the disposition of the mind. _In itself _when men have the audacity to contrive what God has not commanded...

10-15 Judea was desolate, and their cities burned. This awakened them to bring sacrifices and offerings, as if they would bribe God to remove the punishment, and give them leave to go on in their sin. Many who will readily part with their sacrifices, will not be persuaded to part with their sins. They relied on the mere form as a service deserving a reward. The most costly devotions of wicked people, without thorough reformation of heart and life, cannot be acceptable to God. He not only did not accept them, but he abhorred them. All this shows that sin is very hateful to God. If we allow ourselves in secret sin, or forbidden indulgences; if we reject the salvation of Christ, our very prayers will become abomination....

YOUR APPOINTED FEASTS - That is, your assemblies convened on regular set times - מועד _mô‛êd_, from יעד _yâ‛ad_, to fix, to appoint. Hengstenberg (Chris. iii. p. 87) has shown that this word (מועדים _mô‛ĕdı̂ym_) is applied in the Scriptures only to the sabbath, passover, pentecost, day of atonement, and feast of tabernacles. Prof. Alexander, _in loc_. It is applied to those festivals, because they were fixed by law to certain periods of the year. This verse is a very impressive repetition of the former, as if the soul was full of the subject, and disposed to dwell upon it. MY SOUL HATETH - I hate. Psalms 11:5. The nouns נפשׁ _nephesh_, soul, and רוּח

PART I.—EARLIER PROPHECIES OF ISAIAH (CH. 1-35.) SECTION I.—THE GREAT ARRAIGNMENT (Isaiah 1:1.). EXPOSITION ISAIAH 1:1 TITLE OF THE WORK. It is questioned whether the title can be regarded as Isaiah's, or as properly belonging to the work, and it is suggested that it is rather a heading invented by a collector who brought together into a volume such prophecies of Isaiah as were known to him, the collection being a much smaller one than that which was made ultimately. In favor of this view it is urged (1) that

YOUR NEW MOONS AND YOUR APPOINTED FEASTS MY SOUL HATETH,.... The Targum is, "my Word abhorreth;'' the Messiah, the essential Word. These are the same as before. THEY ARE A TROUBLE UNTO ME; as they were kept and observed, either when they should not, or in a manner unbecoming: I AM WEARY TO BEAR [THEM]; because of the sins with which they made him to serve, Isaiah 43:24....

This is a chapter which, I think, teaches an important lesson to those of us who desire the salvation of men, for it shows us how God sets about that work. He begins by exhibiting the sinner's sin to him before he proclaims mercy to him; and if we want to be the means of doing good to men, it will not be by merely crying to them, «Believe, believe, believe;» but there must be a laying of the axe at the root of the tree of self-righteousness, and a cutting away of all trust in self. A man must realize his danger before he will desire to escape from it, and it is a mistaken kindness which refuses to set before him the peril in which he is. God, who is infinitely tender and inconceivably merciful, shows us, in this chapter, how to go to work with sinners. Isaiah 1:1. The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and H

ANALYSIS AND ANNOTATIONS The reader will find that every chapter has been analyzed as to its contents. We have not made copious annotations, because the three lectures on the book of Isaiah as found at the close of the analysis cover the contents of this book in such a manner that detailed annotations for a study of the book can be omitted. We suggest that all who desire to study this great prophecy in a closer way read carefully the introduction, and after that the three lectures on “The Scope of Isaiah,” “The Messianic Predictions” and “Future Glories and Blessings.” These lectures should be carefully studied and every passage should be looked up. After this has been done, take up the book section by section and follow the analysis we give and consult the lectures whenever needed. I. THE EARLIER PROPHECIES (1-35) 1. Prophecies under the Reign of Uzziah, Jotham, and Ahaz (1-12) CHAP...

This connects admirably with Isaiah 1:9. By a fine transition Isaiah intimates that it is no merit in the rulers which has averted Sodom's fate. Let these lawless and shameless administrators listen to the teaching (_mg._) of their outraged God. What end, He asks, do their sacrifices serve? He loathes them, has not demanded them, bids the worshippers trample His courts no more to send up the reek of their oblations, hates their new moons (p. 101) and sacred seasons, and will not listen to their prayers. For on their palms, uplifted in the customary attitude of prayer, beneath the blood of sacrifice, He sees a darker stain, the blood of their fellows. Yet they may cleanse themselves from guilt of the past by amendment for the future, especially by restraint of the oppressor (_mg._) and succour of the defenceless. The desperate outlook had probably led to multiplied sacrifices; to those wh...

MY SOUL. I (very emph.) Hebrew. _nephesh_. App-13. Figure of speech _Anthropopatheia_. App-6....