Isaiah 66:4

They had made their choice, they chose not the ways of God, but their own ways, that which God delighted not in, as in the latter part of this verse; therefore (saith God) I will also choose their delusions, or illusions, or devices. Montanus translates it, ad inventionibus; it is a noun derived from a word which signifies to speak childishly or corruptly; the word in this form is only used in this text, and in 1 Samuel 25:3; it signifies studies, or works, Psalms 12:4 Isaiah 3:4 Hosea 4:9. It is an ordinary thing for God thus generally to declare his justice against men, that he will deal with sinners as they deal with him; so Psalms 18:25,26 Le 26:27,28 Jer 34:17 Proverbs 1:24,28. The meaning is, I will be no kinder to them than they have been to me; they have chosen to mock and delude me, I will choose to suffer them to delude themselves; or they have chosen to work wickedness, I will choose the effect. Their fears; that is, (say some,) the things which they feared, and did these things to avoid, as Jeremiah 42:16 Ezekiel 11:8. Others by their fears choose rather to understand such terrors and affrightments as are natural to men upon the prospect of great evils, as. Leviticus 20:4: as God in mercy delivereth his people from their fears, Psalms 34:4; so in judgment he causeth fears as a great judgment to possess sinners, Leviticus 26:16 Deuteronomy 28:66. Because when I called, none did answer; because when by my prophets I exhorted you to your duty, very few yielded obedience: see Proverbs 1:24 Isaiah 65:12 Jeremiah 7:13. When I spake, they did not hear: hearing here signifieth hearkening or obeying; not hearing is expounded by doing evil, and choosing that wherein God delighted not. God accounts that those do not hear who do not obey his will.