INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 1 This chapter, after the inscription, contains a charge of aggravated sin against the Jews; God's rejection of their ceremonial sacrifices and service; an exhortation to repentance and obedience, with a promise of pardon; a restoration from their sad estate; a prophecy of th... [ Continue Reading ]
THE VISION OF ISAIAH THE SON OF AMOZ,.... This is either the particular title of the prophecy contained in this single chapter, as Jarchi and Abarbinel think; seeing the second chapter Isaiah 2:1 begins with another title, "the word that Isaiah saw", c. or rather it is the common title of the whole... [ Continue Reading ]
HEAR, O HEAVENS, AND GIVE EAR, O EARTH,.... To what the Lord was about to say of his controversy with his people, which was to be managed openly and publicly before them as spectators and witnesses; this designs either strictly and properly the heavens and the earth, or figuratively the inhabitants... [ Continue Reading ]
THE OX KNOWETH HIS OWNER,.... Knows his voice, when he calls him, and follows him where he leads him, whether to plough in the field, or feed in the meadows; AND THE ASS HIS MASTERS CRIB, or "manger"; where he is fed, and to which he goes when he wants food, and at the usual times. Gussetius w inte... [ Continue Reading ]
AH SINFUL NATION,..... Or "sinning nation" y; that was continually sinning, doing nothing else but sin, the reverse of what they were chosen to be, Deuteronomy 7:6. These words are said, either as calling and crying to them, to cause them to hear and hearken to what is said, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi... [ Continue Reading ]
WHY SHOULD YE BE STRICKEN ANY MORE?.... Or "for what are ye stricken again" a? with afflictions and chastisements, with which God smites his people by way of correction for their sins, Isaiah 57:17 and the sense is, either that they did not consider what they were afflicted for, that it was for the... [ Continue Reading ]
FROM THE SOLE OF THE FOOT EVEN UNTO THE HEAD [THERE IS] NO SOUNDNESS IN IT,.... Every member of the body politic was afflicted in one way or another, or sadly infected with the disease of sin; see Psalms 28:3. So the Targum, "from the rest of the people, even unto the princes, there is none among t... [ Continue Reading ]
YOUR COUNTRY [IS] DESOLATE,.... Or "shall be"; this is either a declaration in proper terms of what is before figuratively expressed, or rather a prophecy of what would be their case on account of transgressions; and which had its accomplishment partly in the Babylonish captivity, and fully in the d... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE DAUGHTER OF ZION IS LEFT AS A COTTAGE IN THE VINEYARD,.... The Targum is, "after they have got in the vintage.'' A cottage in the vineyard was a booth, as the word e signifies, which was erected in the middle of the vineyard for the keeper of the vineyard to watch in night and day, that th... [ Continue Reading ]
EXCEPT THE LORD OF HOSTS HAD LEFT UNTO US A VERY SMALL REMNANT,.... This is an instance of the super abounding goodness of the Lord of hosts, as the Targum expresses it; that he should, in those very wicked and calamitous times, leave and reserve a few from being defiled with the sins of the age, an... [ Continue Reading ]
HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD, YE RULERS OF SODOM,.... Not literally, but mystically, meaning the governors of Judea; they and their people having sinned in like manner, and as openly, as the rulers of Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof; see Isaiah 3:9 and so the Targum paraphrases the words, "receive... [ Continue Reading ]
TO WHAT PURPOSE [IS] THE MULTITUDE OF YOUR SACRIFICES UNTO ME? SAITH THE LORD,.... These people, though they neglected the weightier matters of the law, and the more substantial duties of religion, as did the Scribes and Pharisees in Christ's time, Matthew 23:23 yet were very diligent in the observ... [ Continue Reading ]
WHEN YE COME TO APPEAR BEFORE ME,.... At the grand festivals of the passover, pentecost, and tabernacles, at which times all the males in Israel appeared before God, Exodus 23:17 WHO HATH REQUIRED THIS AT YOUR HAND; either to appear at such times, these feasts being no more to be observed; or to of... [ Continue Reading ]
BRING NO MORE VAIN OBLATIONS,.... As all such were, which were offered up without faith in Christ, in hypocrisy, and with dependence on them for pardon and atonement, and particularly when put an end to by the sacrifice of Christ; see Matthew 15:9. The Targum renders it, "an oblation of robbery"; se... [ Continue Reading ]
YOUR NEW MOONS AND YOUR APPOINTED FEASTS MY SOUL HATETH,.... The Targum is, "my Word abhorreth;'' the Messiah, the essential Word. These are the same as before. THEY ARE A TROUBLE UNTO ME; as they were kept and observed, either when they should not, or in a manner unbecoming: I AM WEARY TO BEAR... [ Continue Reading ]
AND WHEN YE SPREAD FORTH YOUR HANDS,.... That is, in prayer, this being a prayer gesture: hence the Targum paraphrases it, "and when the priests spread out their hands to pray for you.'' I WILL HIDE MINE EYES FROM YOU; will not look upon them, nor regard their prayer; see Lamentations 3:42 YEA, W... [ Continue Reading ]
WASH YE, MAKE YOU CLEAN, C. These two words are to be regarded as one, since they intend the same thing, and suppose the persons spoken to to be unclean, as they were, notwithstanding their legal sacrifices and ceremonial ablutions and are designed to convince them of it, to bring them to a sense of... [ Continue Reading ]
LEARN TO DO WELL,.... Which men are naturally ignorant of; to do good they have no knowledge; nor can they that are accustomed to do evil learn to do well of themselves; but the Lord can teach them to profit, and of him they should ask wisdom, and desire, under the influence of his grace, to learn t... [ Continue Reading ]
COME NOW, AND LET US REASON, TOGETHER, SAITH THE LORD,.... These words stand not in connection either with the preceding or following, but are to be read in a parenthesis, and are thrown in for the sake of the small remnant God had left among this wicked people, in order to comfort them, being distr... [ Continue Reading ]
IF YE BE WILLING AND OBEDIENT,.... The Targum adds, "to my Word": the Word made flesh, and dwelling among them; who would have gathered the inhabitants of Jerusalem to his ministry, to attend his word and ordinances, but their rulers would not: YE SHALL EAT THE GOOD OF THE LAND; the land of Canaan;... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT IF YE REFUSE AND REBEL,.... The Targum is, "and do not receive my Word"; the Messiah, when come, neither his person, nor his doctrines and ordinances: YE SHALL BE DEVOURED WITH THE SWORD; of the Roman armies, as they were under Titus Vespasian; see Matthew 22:7 FOR THE MOUTH OF THE LORD HATH S... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW IS THE FAITHFUL CITY BECOME A HARLOT!.... The city of Jerusalem, in which were the temple, and the pure worship of God, and was in the tribe of Judah, which ruled with God, and was very faithful with the saints when the ten tribes revolted, and fell in with the sin of Jeroboam; but now, in Isaia... [ Continue Reading ]
THY SILVER IS BECOME DROSS,.... Meaning either that such persons, who had the appearance of goodness, looked like genuine silver, were now become reprobate, and, as the wicked of the earth, like dross, Jeremiah 6:30 or that the word of God, which is as silver purified seven times, was now corrupted... [ Continue Reading ]
THY PRINCES [ARE] REBELLIOUS,.... Stubborn and obstinate, refused to receive and acknowledge the Messiah; such were the Jewish rulers, civil and ecclesiastical, in the times of Christ. AND COMPANIONS OF THIEVES: who devoured widows' houses; made the temple, which was a house of prayer, a den of thi... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE, SAITH THE LORD, THE LORD OF HOSTS, THE MIGHTY ONE OF ISRAEL,.... All these names and titles, which are expressive of the majesty, power, and authority of God, are used to give the greater solemnity and weight to what follows; and to show that he is able to accomplish what he determines an... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL TURN MY HAND UPON THEE,.... The remnant, according to the election of grace, left in Jerusalem, Isaiah 1:9 meaning not his afflicting hand, no, not even as a fatherly chastisement; though the Lord sometimes, by such means, purges away the iniquity of his people, as follows; see Isaiah 27:... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I WILL RESTORE THY JUDGES AS AT THE FIRST,.... This refers not to the times after the Babylonish, captivity, when the Jews had judges and rulers, such as Zerubbabel and Nehemiah, as they had in the times of Moses, Joshua, and the judges, or as in the times of David and Solomon; but it refers, as... [ Continue Reading ]
ZION SHALL BE REDEEMED WITH JUDGMENT,.... The blessing of redemption by Christ is the source and foundation of the other blessings of grace, before mentioned, the little remnant are favoured with, as justification, pardon of sin, and conversion, Isaiah 1:18 Isaiah 1:25 it is of a spiritual nature; t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE DESTRUCTION OF THE TRANSGRESSORS AND OF THE SINNERS [SHALL BE] TOGETHER,.... Of the beast and false prophet, of the followers of antichrist, the man of sin, who are transgressors of the law of God, and sinners against the Lord; the destruction of these, or the breaking of them into shivers,... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THEY SHALL BE ASHAMED OF THE OAKS WHICH YE HAVE DESIRED,.... Though there is a change of persons in the words, the same are intended; and design such, who being convinced of the idolatries of the church of Rome they have been fond of, and delighted in, will be ashamed of them, and relinquish the... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR YE SHALL BE AS AN OAK WHOSE LEAF FADETH,.... Shall be stripped of all their dependencies and self confidence, and be as naked and as bare as an oak that has cast its leaves; or thus, in a way of just retaliation, since they have desired oaks, and sacrificed under them, they shall be like them as... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE STRONG SHALL BE AS TOW,.... החסון, "that strong one", who is eminently so; the little horn, whose look is more stout than his fellows, Daniel 7:20 the beast who had great power and authority given by the dragon, Revelation 13:2 who shall be cast alive into the lake of fire; when he will be l... [ Continue Reading ]