Isaiah 59:1

Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: The reason why Yahweh does not deliver His people, notwithstanding their religious services (), is not want of power on His part, but because of their sins (Isaiah 59:1); Isaiah 59:9 contain their confession; Isaiah 59:16 the consequent promise of the Messiah. BEHOLD, THE LORD'S HAND IS NOT SHORTENED, THAT IT CANNOT SAVE - (note, .) NEITHER HIS EAR HEAVY, THAT IT CANNOT HEAR - ...

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_) “behold,” 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 fro...

1-8 If our prayers are not answered, and the salvation we wait for is not wrought for us, it is not because God is weary of hearing prayer, but because we are weary of praying. See here sin in true colours, exceedingly sinful; and see sin in its consequences, exceedingly hurtful, separating from God, and so separating us, not only from all good, but to all evil. Yet numbers feed, to their own destruction, on infidel and wicked systems. Nor can their skill or craft, in devising schemes, as the spider weaves its web, deliver or save them. No schemes of self-wrought salvation shall avail those who despise the Redeemer's robe of righteousness. Every man who is destitute of the Spirit of Christ, runs swiftly to evil of some sort; but those regardless of Divine truth and justice, are strangers to peace....

CHAPTER LIX _This chapter contains a more general reproof of the wickedness_ _of the Jews_, 1-8. _After this they are represented confessing their sins, and_ _deploring the unhappy consequences of them_, 9-15. _On this act of humiliation God, ever ready to pardon the_ _penitent, promises that he will have mercy on them; that the_ _Redeemer will come, mighty to save; and that he will deliver_ _his people, subdue his enemies and establish a new and_ _everlasting covenant_, 16-21. The foregoing elegant chapter contained

BEHOLD, THE LORD’S HAND IS NOT SHORTENED - On the meaning of this phrase, see the notes at Isaiah 50:2. NEITHER HIS EAR HEAVY, THAT IT CANNOT HEAR - On the meaning of this phrase, see the notes at Isaiah 6:10....

EXPOSITION ISAIAH 59:1 A GENERAL REBUKE OF ISRAEL FOR ITS MANIFOLD SINS, The command given to the prophet in Isaiah 58:1 to "show God's people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins "—partly executed in Isaiah 58:4 and Isaiah 58:13—is 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 ear

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 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 Isaiah 58:3, this is not owing to any want of atte

CHAPTER 59 Apostasy and Confession, Jehovah's Intervention and the Coming of the Redeemer 1. _The deplorable condition of the people (Isaiah 59:1) _ 2. _The confession (Isaiah 59:9) _ 3. _Jehovah's intervention (Isaiah 59:16) _ 4. _The coming of the Redeemer (Isaiah 59:20) _ The corruption of the people during the end time is first described. But grace is at work and a part of the people confess their sins. They confess that they are in darkness, that they are blind, that they stumble and are like dead men. They confess that salvation is far from them. They confess their lying, their departure from God

SOLELY THE SINS OF THE PEOPLE DELAY YAHWEH'S INTERVENTION. Isaiah 59:5, with their fantastic metaphors and bitter invective, are probably a later addition made in even gloomier times. Note the third person, and the good connexion between Isaiah 59:4 and Isaiah 59:9. Not the waning of Yahweh's power, nor His deafness, explains His failure to aid His people. Their sins are like a wall between them and the Divine Presence. In act and word they are cruel and false. In the law-courts false dealing and speaking rule; a just cause counts for less than lying words. (Isaiah 59:5 pictures the schemes of the wicked under two figures. They hatch out po

BEHOLD. Figure of speech _Asterismos._ HAND. Figure of speech _Anthropopatheia._ NOT SHORTENED. Reference to Pentateuch (Numbers 11:23). Compare Isaiah 50:2. The phrase occurs nowhere else in the O.T....