Isaiah 1:17

Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. SEEK JUDGMENT - justice, as magistrates, instead of seeking bribes (; ). JUDGE (VINDICATE) THE (CAUSE OF THE) FATHERLESS - (; .)...

17._Learn to do well _As he had just now, ill enjoining them to _cease to do evil_, charged them with the continual practice of iniquity as if he had said that their whole life was a constant habit of sinning; so now he enjoins them to become skilled in acts of kindness, and in entreating them to _learn _this, he addresses them as scholars who had not yet learned their earliest lessons. And first he bids them _seek judgment_. Others render it, inquire respecting _judgment_, of which I do not approve; for by the word _seek _the Prophet meant more than this, he meant what we call the actual practice of it. By the word_judgment _he denotes what is good and right; as if he had said, “Aim at uprightness.” _Relieve the oppressed _The Prophet, after his wonted manner, adds to the general description the mention of particular classes; and although he has already given a special exhortation to ki...

16-20 Not only feel sorrow for the sin committed, but break off the practice. We must be doing, not stand idle. We must be doing the good the Lord our God requires. It is plain that the sacrifices of the law could not atone, even for outward national crimes. But, blessed be God, there is a Fountain opened, in which sinners of every age and rank may be cleansed. Though our sins have been as scarlet and crimson, a deep dye, a double dye, first in the wool of original corruption, and afterwards in the many threads of actual transgression; though we have often dipped into sin, by many backslidings; yet pardoning mercy will take out the stain, Psalms 51:7. They should have all the happiness and comfort they could desire. Life and death, good and evil, are set before us. O Lord, incline all of us to live to thy glory....

Verse Isaiah 1:17. _RELIEVE THE OPPRESSED _- "Amend _that which is corrupted_"] אשרו חמוץ asheru chamots. In rendering this obscure phrase I follow _Bochart_, (_Hieroz_. Part i., lib. ii., cap. 7.,) though I am not perfectly satisfied with this explication of it....

LEARN TO DO WELL - , To learn here is to become accustomed to, to practice it. To do well stands opposed to all kinds of evil. “Seek judgment.” The word “judgment” - משׁפט _mishpâṭ_ - here means justice. The direction refers particularly to magistrates, and it is evident that the prophet had them particularly in his view in all this discourse. Execute justice between man and man with impartiality. The word “seek” - דרשׁוּ _dı̂r__e__shû_ - means to pursue, to search for, as an object to be gained; to regard, or care for it, as the main thing. Instead of seeking gain, and bribes, and public favor, they were to make it an object of intense interest to do justice. RELIEVE - - אשׁרוּ _'ash__e__rû_ - literally, make straight, Or right (margin, righten). The root

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

LEARN TO DO WELL,.... Which men are naturally ignorant of; to do good they have no knowledge; nor can they that are accustomed to do evil learn to do well of themselves; but the Lord can teach them to profit, and of him they should ask wisdom, and desire, under the influence of his grace, to learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, and particularly to do acts of beneficence to all men, and especially to the household of faith; and also, the following ones, SEEK JUDGMENT; seek to do justice between man and man in any cause depending, without respect of persons: RELIEVE THE OPPRESSED; the poor that are oppressed by their neighbours that are richer and mightier than they, right their wrongs, and deliver them out of the hands of their oppressors i: JUDGE THE FATHERLESS; do justice to them who have none to take care of them, and defend them: PLEAD FOR THE WIDOW; that is desolate,...

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...