Isaiah 64:1. The language of complaint again gives place (as in Isaiah 63:15) to impatient prayer for a Theophany, an imposing manifestation of Jehovah in His might. It is the great "day of the Lord" towards which the desire of the people reaches forward. In the Hebr., ch. 64 begins with Isaiah 64:2... [ Continue Reading ]
Isaiah 63:7 to Isaiah 64:12. A Prayer of the People for the Renewal of Jehovah's former Lovingkindness (1) Isaiah 63:7. The prayer begins with thankful commemoration of Jehovah's goodness to the nation in the days of old (Isaiah 63:7). The reference is to the time of Moses and Joshua, when Jehovah'... [ Continue Reading ]
_O that thou wouldest rend &c._ Lit. "hadst rent." So "hadst come down," "had quaked." This use of the perf. in the expression of a real wish, whose realisation is contemplated, is unusual, and is only to be explained by the urgency of the speaker's feeling. Driver, _Tenses_, § 140. see on ch. Isaia... [ Continue Reading ]
Render: AS FIRE KINDLETH BRUSHWOOD, AS FIRE MAKETH WATER BOIL, &c. _to make thy name known to thine adversaries &c._ the purpose of the Theophany. Cf. ch. Isaiah 59:18-19.... [ Continue Reading ]
The second part of the verse, being (in the original) verbally repeated from Isaiah 64:1, ought probably to be omitted as a copyist's error. The passage gains in compactness by its excision. Isaiah 64:1 will then form a single sentence, the last clause of which runs: WHILE THOU DOEST TERRIBLE THINGS... [ Continue Reading ]
This difficult passage contains (1) an appeal to that which distinguishes Jehovah from all other deities: He is the only God who works for them that wait for Him in the way of righteousness; (2) a confession of the people's sinful condition due to the persistency of the divine wrath. A contrast betw... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou meetest_ (a perf. of experience). The verb is obviously used here in a good sense, as Genesis 32:1. _that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness_ i.e. THAT JOYFULLY WORKETH RIGHTEOUSNESS. The words _rejoiceth and_are not in the LXX. those that _remember thee in thy ways_ Cf. ch. Isaiah 26:8. _... [ Continue Reading ]
A pathetic description of the degeneracy and spiritual lethargy of the people, caused by the divine wrath.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WE ARE ALL BECOME AS ONE UNCLEAN in a ceremonial sense, like the leper. _and all our righteousnesses &c._ our righteous deeds, our best efforts after the fulfilment of the divine will, are stained and rendered ineffective by our general sinful condition. _as filthy rags_ AS A POLLUTED GARMENT... [ Continue Reading ]
_And_there is _none that calleth, &c._ an easily intelligible hyperbole. _stirreth himself up_ "arouseth himself," the same verb as in Isaiah 51:17. _consumed us, because of our iniquities_ lit. "melted us by the hand of our iniquities." Cf. Ezekiel 33:10, "Our transgressions and our sins are upon... [ Continue Reading ]
_thou_art _our father_ See on Isaiah 63:16. _we_are _the clay, and thou our potter_ The nearest parallel to this application of the common image of clay and potter is perhaps Job 10:9. It is the plea of the creature against seeming unreasonableness on the part of the Creator. Can the potter allow t... [ Continue Reading ]
The prayer now ends in a direct and touching supplication, supported by various pleas, that Jehovah will at last cause His wrath against His people to cease.... [ Continue Reading ]
_neither remember iniquity for ever_ Psalms 79:8. The nation feels that it is bearing the inexhaustible penalty of past sins. Such a thought was specially natural after the Restoration, when it appeared as if even the immeasurable calamity of the Exile had not wiped out the arrears of hereditary gui... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thy holy cities_ is a phrase which does not occur elsewhere, and both LXX. and Vulg. substitute the sing. for the plur. It is not necessary, however, to follow them. If the land is holy (Zechariah 2:12) there is no reason why the epithet should not be applied to all its cities.... [ Continue Reading ]
The evidences of Jehovah's displeasure are to be seen on every hand, in the desolation and ruin of the sacred places.... [ Continue Reading ]
The reference must apparently be to the first Temple and its destruction by the Chaldæans. The expression, and indeed the whole tone of the passage, suggest an event not quite recent; it is not the present generation, but their fathers who praised God in the "holy and beautiful house." The question... [ Continue Reading ]
_refrain thyself_ See ch. Isaiah 63:15.... [ Continue Reading ]