Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible
Isaiah 64:1-4
Isaiah's Heart Cry to Yahweh For Him To Work Dramatically (Isaiah 64:1).
‘Oh that you would rend the heavens, that you would come down,
That the mountains might flow down at your presence.
As when fire kindles the brushwood,
The fire causes the water to boil.
To make your name known to your adversaries,
That the nations might tremble at your presence.'
Isaiah now pleads for God to manifest Himself as in days of old. He longs that Yahweh will rend the heavens, will come down, so that even the mountains flow down like fire burning all before them. Others would however translate as, ‘Oh that you had rent the heavens' with the idea of looking back and thinking of what might have been.
‘Oh that you would rend the heavens.' The verb is regularly used of the tearing of the clothes under great stress or in mourning. But the thought here is probably more of God acting so vigorously that He tears the heavens apart as He breaks through to come down to act. Or the idea may be of His rending it by a powerful storm.
‘That the mountains might flow down at your presence.' The verb contains the idea of excess. The thought is probably of the mountains moving and shaking, and thus of an earthquake caused by the mightiness of the presence of God. Such earthquakes were a regular feature of theophanies (Exodus 19:18; Judges 5:5; Psalms 18:7; Psalms 68:8; Habakkuk 3:6).
‘As when fire kindles the brushwood, the fire causes the water to boil.' The idea is again of vivid effects, the kindling of brushwood in a bush fire, the water in the streams bubbling violently as a result of the flames. This may encourage the idea of the storm with its accompanying lightning, which might well start a bush fire, but not necessarily so.
Or the thought may be of gathered brushwood put on the fire and used to boil water, seen as another wonder of God.
But the whole idea of the heavens rent, the quaking mountains and the hot spreading flames is certainly of violent action and God mightily revealing His presence.
‘To make your name known to your adversaries, that the nations might tremble at your presence.' And the purpose of the violent action is so that the adversaries of God's people, and therefore of God, may recognise what Yahweh is and might tremble in His presence. He seeks to put a protective cloak around God's people.
‘When you did terrible (awe-inspiring) things which we looked not for,
You came down, the mountains flowed down at your presence.'
He reminds God of the past when He had acted similarly, when He had acted with terrible effect. When those things happened it was because God came down and the mountains shook at His presence (e.g. Exodus 19:18; Judges 5:5). So he pleads, let it so happen again as a result of God's working. They may not be able to avoid the threat described to Hezekiah (Isaiah 39:7) but at least let it not be final.
‘For from of old men have not heard,
Nor have they perceived by the ear,
Nor has the eye seen, a God beside you,
Who works for him who waits for him.'
His confidence that Yahweh will hear His prayer lies primarily in the greatness and uniqueness of Yahweh. No one like Him has ever been known. No one has ever heard, nor have they ever seen, a God like Yahweh Who works for those who wait for Him. Once again Isaiah is stressing the necessity for trust in God, revealed by waiting on Him. Isaiah is confident that He is the great responder to those who genuinely seek His face and trust Him. The implication is that he and his disciples are waiting on Him.
When we become despondent and begin to have doubts we too must remember these words. Who is like God? His like has never been seen. And even when things are at their lowest ebb He constantly steps in to act on behalf of those who wait for Him.