ISAIAH CHAPTER 1 Judah's sins, ISAIAH 1:1; her judgments, ISAIAH 1:5; her worship is rejected, ISAIAH 1:10 . Exhortations to repentance; promises of grace and mercy; threatenings of sore judgments; and complaints by reason of their backsliding, ISAIAH 1:16 . THE VISION, or, _the visions_; the word... [ Continue Reading ]
HEAR, O HEAVENS, AND GIVE EAR, O EARTH: he directeth his speech to these senseless creatures, that thereby he might more awaken and affect the Israelites, whom he hereby proclaimeth to be so dull and stupid that they were past hearing, and therefore gives them over as desperate; and calleth in the w... [ Continue Reading ]
THE OX KNOWETH HIS OWNER, AND THE ASS HIS MASTER'S CRIB; the most stupid brute beasts acknowledge and obey their Lord and Benefactor, as experience showeth. ISRAEL DOTH NOT KNOW, to wit, me, their Owner and Master, which is easily and necessarily understood out of the former clause. KNOWING is here... [ Continue Reading ]
AH: this particle implies both his wonder, and anger, and grief, and shame that they were such. LADEN WITH INIQUITY, Heb. _of heaviness of iniquity_, i.e. of heavy or great sins; for _heavy_ is commonly put for _great_ or _grievous_, as ISAIAH 21:15, ISAIAH 30:27. Laden not with the sense of sin, as... [ Continue Reading ]
WHY SHOULD YE BE STRICKEN ANY MORE? it is to no purpose to seek to reclaim you by one chastisement after another; and therefore I will utterly forsake and destroy you at once. YE WILL REVOLT MORE AND MORE; I see you are incorrigible, and turn even your afflictions into sin. THE WHOLE HEAD IS SICK, A... [ Continue Reading ]
FROM THE SOLE OF THE FOOT EVEN UNTO THE HEAD THERE IS NO SOUNDNESS IN IT; you have been all of you punished, from the highest to the lowest, from the worst to the best. THEY HAVE NOT BEEN CLOSED, NEITHER BOUND UP, NEITHER MOLLIFIED WITH OINTMENT; I have suffered you to lie under your maladies for a... [ Continue Reading ]
All this and what follows was verified in the days of king Ahaz, 2CH 28, in whose time, and upon which occasion, this prophecy seems to have been delivered, as more exactly agreeing with that time than with any other. If any object, that this being the first of his prophecies, must rather belong to... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DAUGHTER OF ZION, i.e. Zion, or Jerusalem; for these two names are promiscuously used of the same place; the name of _daughter_ being frequently given to cities or countries. Thus _the daughter of Babylon_ is put for Babylon itself, PSALMS 137:8 ISAIAH 47:1. In the same sense we read of the _dau... [ Continue Reading ]
If God, by his infinite power and goodness, had not restrained our enemies, and reserved some of us, the whole nation and race of us had been utterly cut off, as the people of Sodom and Gomorrah were; so great was the rage and power of our enemies, and so utterly unable we were to deliver ourselves.... [ Continue Reading ]
HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD; I speak not my own fancies or passions, but the message of your Lord and Governor, to whom you owe all reverence and obedience. RULERS OF SODOM; so called for their resemblance of them in wickedness: compare DEUTERONOMY 32:32 EZEKIEL 16:46,48. THE LAW; or, _doctrine_, as t... [ Continue Reading ]
TO WHAT PURPOSE? they are vain and useless, being neither accepted by me, nor beneficial to you. UNTO ME, who am a Spirit, and therefore cannot be satisfied with such carnal oblations, but expect to be worshipped in spirit and truth, and to have your hearts and lives, as well as, your bodies and sac... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN YE COME TO APPEAR BEFORE ME, upon the three solemn feasts, EXODUS 23:17, EXODUS 34:23, or upon other occasions. WHO HATH REQUIRED THIS AT YOUR HANDS, to wit, in this manner, and upon these terms? The thing that I commanded was not only nor chiefly that you should offer external sacrifices to me... [ Continue Reading ]
BRING NO MORE; I neither desire nor will accept of any upon these terms. OBLATIONS, Heb. _meat-offerings_; of which see LEVITICUS 2:1 NUMBERS 15:4. _Incense is an abomination_, unto me; so far is it from being a sweet savour to me, as you foolishly imagine. _The new moons_; which were holy to God, a... [ Continue Reading ]
No text from Poole on this verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN YE SPREAD FORTH YOUR HANDS; when you pray with hands spread abroad, as the manner was; of which see EXODUS 9:29,33 JOB 11:13, &c. I WILL HIDE MINE EYES FROM YOU; which is a gesture of contempt and loathing. I will take no notice of your persons or requests. YOUR HANDS ARE FULL OF BLOOD; you are... [ Continue Reading ]
MAKE YOU CLEAN; cleanse your hearts and hands from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, and do not content yourselves with your ceremonial washings. PUT AWAY THE EVIL OF YOUR DOINGS FROM BEFORE MINE EYES; reform yourselves so thoroughly, that you may not only approve yourselves to men, but to me, who... [ Continue Reading ]
LEARN TO DO WELL; begin and inure yourselves to live soberly, righteously, and godly. SEEK JUDGMENT; show your religion to God, by studying and practising justice to men, and neither give nor procure any unrighteous judgment. RELIEVE THE OPPRESSED; be not only just, but merciful. JUDGE THE FATHERLES... [ Continue Reading ]
COME NOW, AND LET US REASON TOGETHER; I am willing to lay aside my prerogative, and to submit the matter to a fair and equal trial, whether I do not deal justly in rejecting all your services, which are accompanied with such gross hypocrisy and wickedness, and whether I do not deal very graciously i... [ Continue Reading ]
IF YE BE WILLING AND OBEDIENT; if you are heartily willing and fully resolved to obey all my commands. YE SHALL EAT THE GOOD OF THE LAND; together with the pardon of your sins, you shall receive many temporal and worldly blessings.... [ Continue Reading ]
IF YE REFUSE AND REBEL; if you obstinately persist in your disobedience to me, as hitherto you have done. THE MOUTH OF THE LORD HATH SPOKEN IT; he hath said it, who can as easily do it as speak the words, and who cannot lie, and therefore will do it.... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW, a note of admiration at so strange, and sad, and sudden a change, IS THE FAITHFUL CITY, Jerusalem, which in the reign of former kings was faithful to God, BECOME AN HARLOT is filled with idolatry, which is commonly called whoredom. IT WAS FULL OF JUDGMENT; judgment was duly and truly executed i... [ Continue Reading ]
Thou art woefully degenerated from thy former purity. If there be any remainders of religion and justice in thee, they are mixed with many and great corruptions.... [ Continue Reading ]
THY PRINCES ARE REBELLIOUS AGAINST ME, their sovereign Lord; they cast off my yoke, and make their own wills and lusts the rule of their life and government. COMPANIONS OF THIEVES; partly by giving them connivance and countenance, and receiving a recompence from them for it; and partly by practising... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL EASE ME, Heb. _I will comfort myself_; ease my mind, and satisfy my justice, by taking vengeance, as the next clause explains this. The same expression is used in the same sense EZEKIEL 5:13. OF MINE ADVERSARIES; of the Israelites, who, though they have called themselves my children and frien... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL TURN MY HAND UPON THEE, to chastise thee again, which God threatened that he would not do, ISAIAH 1:5, but now promiseth that he will do it, not in fury, or so as utterly to destroy them, but in mercy, and with moderation, so as to purge them, as it here follows. AND PURELY PURGE AWAY THY DRO... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL RESTORE THY JUDGES, I will give thee such princes and magistrates, AS AT THE FIRST, Heb. _as thou hadst in the beginning_; either, 1. Of thy commonwealth, such as Moses and Joshua; or, 2. Of thy kingdom, such as David. THY COUNSELLORS; thy princes shall have and hearken to wise and faithful... [ Continue Reading ]
ZION, the Jews that live in or near Zion, and worship God in Zion, SHALL BE REDEEMED, shall be delivered from all their enemies and calamities, WITH JUDGMENT; or, _by judgment_, i.e. by God's righteous judgment, purging out those wicked and incorrigible Jews, who by their sins hindered the deliveran... [ Continue Reading ]
AND; or rather, _but_, as that particle is oft used; for here is a manifest opposition. THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TRANSGRESSORS AND OF THE SINNERS SHALL BE TOGETHER; though I will deliver my people from the Babylonish captivity, yet those of them who shall still go on in their wickedness shall not have... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SHALL BE ASHAMED; not with an ingenuous and penitential shame for the sin, but with an involuntary and penal shame for the disappointment of their hopes which they had in their idols. WHICH YE HAVE DESIRED; which, after the manner of the heathen, you have consecrated to idolatrous uses, that un... [ Continue Reading ]
As you have sinned under the oaks and in gardens, so you shall be made like unto oaks and gardens, not when they are green and flourishing, but when they wither and decay.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE STRONG; either, 1. Your idols, which you think to be strong, and able to defend you, as appears by your confidence in them. Or, 2. The strongest persons among you, who think to secure themselves against the threatened danger by their wealth, or power, or wisdom; and much more they that are wea... [ Continue Reading ]