This chapter and the following relate to the same general subject, and should not have been separated. The subject with which they are introduced is the destruction of the enemies of God Isaiah 63:1, and this is followed by tender expressions of confidence in Yahweh, and by earnest supplications, on... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO IS THIS - The language of the people who see Yahweh returning as a triumphant conqueror from Idumea. Struck with his stately bearing as a warrior; with his gorgeous apparel; and with the blood on his raiment, they ask who he could be? This is a striking instance of the bold and abrupt manner of... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEREFORE ART THOU RED? - The inquiry of the people. Whence is it that that gorgeous apparel is stained with blood? AND THY GARMENT LIKE HIM THAT TREADETH IN THE WINE-FAT? - Or rather the ‘wine-press.’ The word used here (גת _gath_) means the place where the grapes were placed to be trodden with the... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE TRODDEN THE WINE-PRESS ALONE - I, Yahweh, have indeed trod the wine-press of my wrath, and I have done it alone (compare the notes at Isaiah 34:5). The idea here is, that he had completely destroyed his foes in Idumea, and had done it by a great slaughter. FOR I WILL TREAD - Or rather, I tro... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE DAY OF VENGEANCE - (See the notes at Isaiah 34:8). AND THE YEAR OF MY REDEEMED IS COME - The year when my people are to be redeemed. It is a year when their foes are all to be destroyed, and when their entire liberty is to be effected.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I LOOKED AND THERE WAS NONE TO HELP - The same sentiment is expressed in Isaiah 59:16 (see the note at that verse). NONE TO UPHOLD - None to sustain or assist. The design is to express the fact that he was entirely alone in this work: that none were disposed or able to assist him. Though this h... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL TREAD THEM DOWN - Or rather, ‘I did tread them down.’ The allusion here is to a warrior who tramples on his foes and treads them in the dust (see the notes at Isaiah 25:10). AND MADE THEM DRUNK - That is, I made them reel and fall under my fury like a drunken man. In describing the destru... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL MENTION - This is evidently the language of the people celebrating the praises of God in view of all his mercies in former days. See the analysis to the chapter. The design of what follows, to the close of Isaiah 64:1, is to implore the mercy of God in view of their depressed and ruined condi... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR HE SAID - Yahweh had said. That is, he said this when he chose them as his unique people, and entered into solemn covenant with them. SURELY THEY ARE MY PEOPLE - The reference here is to the fact that he entered into covenant with them to be their God. CHILDREN THAT WILL NOT LIE - That will no... [ Continue Reading ]
IN ALL THEIR AFFLICTION HE WAS AFFLICTED - This is a most beautiful sentiment, meaning that God sympathized with them in all their trials, and that he was ever ready to aid them. This sentiment accords well with the connection; but there has been some doubt whether this is the meaning of the Hebrew.... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THEY REBELLED - Against God. This charge is often made against the Jews; and indeed their history is little more than a record of a series of rebellions against God. AND VEXED - Or rather ‘grieved.’ The Hebrew word עצב _‛__âtsab_, in Piel, means to pain, to afflict, to grieve. This is the idea... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN HE REMEMBERED - He did not forget his solemn premises to be their protector and their God. For their crimes they were subjected to punishment, but God did not forget that they were his people, nor that he had entered into covenant with them. The object of this part of the petition seems to be,... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT LED THEM BY THE RIGHT HAND OF MOSES - (See the notes at Isaiah 41:10; Isaiah 45:1). DIVIDING THE WATER BEFORE THEM - Exodus 14:21. TO MAKE HIMSELF AN EVERLASTING NAME - He designed to perform a work which, it would be seen, could not be performed by any false god or by any human arm, and to do... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT LED THEM THROUGH THE DEEP - They went through the deep on dry land - the waters having divided and left an unobstructed path. AS AN HORSE IN THE WILDERNESS - As an horse, or a courser, goes through a desert without stumbling. This is a most beautiful image. The reference is to vast level plains... [ Continue Reading ]
AS A BEAST THAT GOETH DOWN INTO THE VALLEY - As a herd of cattle in the heat of the day descends into the shady glen in order to find rest. In the vale, streams of water usually flow. By those streams and fountains trees grow luxuriantly, and these furnish a cool and refreshing shade. The cattle, th... [ Continue Reading ]
LOOK DOWN FROM HEAVEN - This commences an earnest appeal that God would have mercy on them in their present calamities and trials. They entreat him to remember his former mercies, and to return and bless them, as he had done in ancient times. AND BEHOLD FROM THE HABITATION - (See the notes at Isaia... [ Continue Reading ]
DOUBTLESS - Hebrew, כי _kı̂y_ - ‘For;’ verily; surely. It implies the utmost confidence that he still retained the feelings of a tender father. THOU ART OUR FATHER - Notwithstanding appearances to the contrary, and though we should be disowned by all others, we will still believe that thou dost sus... [ Continue Reading ]
O LORD, WHY HAST THOU MADE US TO ERR FROM THY WAYS? - Lowth and Noyes render this, ‘Why dost thou suffer us to wander from thy way?’ Calvin remarks on the passage, ‘The prophet uses a common form of speaking, for it is usual in the Scriptures to say that God gives the wicked over to a reprobate mind... [ Continue Reading ]
THE PEOPLE OF THY HOLINESS - The people who have been received into solemn covenant with thee. HAVE POSSESSED IT BUT A LITTLE WHILE - That is, the land meaning that the time during which they had enjoyed a peaceable possession of it, compared with the perpetuity of the promise made, was short. Such... [ Continue Reading ]
WE ARE THINE - We urge it as a reason for thy interposition to restore the land and the temple, that we are thine from ancient times. Such I take to be the meaning of the passage - in accordance with the common translation, except that the expression מעולם _mē‛ôlâm_, ‘from ancient times,’ rendere... [ Continue Reading ]