Isaiah 59:1

Isa 60:2. The universal diffusion of vital godliness beautifully set forth by a great variety of images, Isa 60:3-14. The everlasting duration and spotless purity of this kingdom of Christ, Isa 60:15-21. A time appointed in the counsels of Jehovah for the commencement of this happy period; and when this time arrives, the particulars of the prophecy shall have a speedy accomplishment, Isa 60:22. The subject of this chapter is the great increase and flourishing state of the Church of God by the conversion and accession of the heathen nations to it, which is set forth in such ample and exalted terms, as plainly show that the full completion of this prophecy is reserved for future times. This subject is displayed in the most splendid colors under a great variety of images highly poetical, designed to give a general idea of the glories of that perfect state of the Church of God which we are taught to expect in the latter times; when the fullness of the Gentiles shall come in, and the Jews shall be converted and gathered from their dispersions, and the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. Of the use in prophecy of general or common poetical images, in setting forth the greatness and importance of a future event universally, without descending to particulars, or too minutely explaining circumstances, I have already pretty largely treated in the twentieth prelection on the Hebrew poetry; and have more than once observed in these notes that such images are not always to he applied particularly to persons and things, and were never intended to be minutely explained. I shall add here the opinion of a very learned and judicious person upon this subject: "It is, I think, a mark of right understanding in the language of prophecy, and in the design of prophecy too, to keep to what appears the design and meaning of the prophecy in general, and what the whole of it laid together points out to us, and not to suffer a warm imagination to mislead us from the real intention of the spirit of prophecy, by following uncertain applications of the parts of it." Lowman on the Revelation, note on Rev 19:21 (note). - L. To this testimony I must add my own. This is one of the most glorious chapters in the whole of the Old Testament. The splendor, glory, and excellence of the Church of Christ are here pointed out in language which the Spirit of God alone is capable of using. But when shall this state of blessedness take place? Lord, thou only knowest. Verse 1 Arise - Call upon God through Christ, for his salvation; and, Shine - אורי ori, be illuminated: for till thou arise and call upon God, thou wilt never receive true light. For thy light is come - כי בא אורך ki ba orech, for thy light cometh. The Messiah is at the door; who, while he is a light to lighten the Gentiles, will be the glory - the effulgence, of his people Israel. Verse 2 Darkness shall cover the earth - This is the state of the Gentile people. Verse 3 And the Gentiles shall come - This has been in some sort already fulfilled. The Gentiles have received the light of the Gospel from the land of Judea, and the Gentile kings have embraced that Gospel; so that many nations of the earth are full of the doctrine of Christ. Verse 4 Shall be nursed at thy side "Shall be carried at the side" - For תאמנה teamanah, shall be nursed, the Septuagint and Chaldee read תנשאנה tinnasenah, shall be carried. A MS. has על כתף תנשאנה al catheph tinnasenah, "shall be carried on the shoulder;" instead of על צד תאמנה al tsad teamanah, "shall be nursed on the side." Another MS. has both כתף catheph and צד tsad. Another MS. has it thus: תאמנה:תנשאנה tinnasenah: teamanah, with a line drawn over the first word. Sir John Chardin says that it is the general custom in the east to carry their children astride upon the hip with the arm round their body. His MS. note on this place is as follows: - Coutume en Orient de porter les enfans sur le coste a; califourchon sur la hanche: cette facon est generale aux Indes; les enfans se tiennent comme cela, et la personne qui les porte les embrasse et serre par le corps; parceque sont (ni) emmaillottes, ni en robes qui les embrassent. "In the east it is the custom to carry the children on the haunch, with the legs astride. This is the general custom in India. The children support themselves in this way, and the arm of the nurse goes round the body and presses the child close to the side; and this they can easily do, as the children are not swathed, nor encumbered with clothes." Non brachiis occidentalium more, sed humeris, divaricatis tibiis, impositos circumferunt. "They carry them about, not in their arms after the manner of the western nations, but on their shoulders; the children being placed astride." Cotovic. Iter. Syr. cap. 14. This last quotation seems to favor the reading על כתף by al catheph, on the shoulder, as the Septuagint likewise do: but upon the whole I think that על צד תנשאנה al tsad tinnasenah is the true reading, which the Chaldee favors; and I have accordingly followed it. See Isa 66:12. - L. This mode of carrying children is as common in India as carrying them in the arms is in Europe. Verse 5 Then thou shalt see "Then shalt thou fear" - For תראי tirai, thou shalt see, as ours and much the greater number of the translators, ancient and modern, render it, forty MSS. (ten ancient) of Kennicott's, and twenty-eight of De Rossi's, with one ancient of my own, and the old edition of 1488, have תיראי tirai, thou shalt fear: the true reading, confirmed by the perfect parallelism of the sentences: the heart ruffled and dilated in the second line answering to the fear and joy expressed in the first. The Prophet Jeremiah, Jer 33:9, has the same natural and elegant sentiment: - "And this city shall become to me a name of joy; A praise and an honor for all the nations of the earth; Which shall hear all the good that I do unto them: And they shall fear, and they shall tremble, at all the goodness And at all the prosperity that I procure unto her." And David: - "I will praise thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made." Psa 139:14 His tibi me rebus quaedam divina voluptas Percipit atque horror. Lucret. 3:28. Recenti mens trepidat metu, Plenoque Bacchi pectore turbidum Laetatur. Hor. Carm. 2:19. 50:5. Verse 6 The praises of the Lord "And the praise of Jehovah" - Thirty-three MSS. and three editions have ותהלת uthehillath, in the singular number; and so read the ancient versions, and one of my own MSS. Verse 7 The rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee - Vitringa on the place understands their ministering, and ascending or going up on the altar, as offering themselves voluntarily: ipsi se, non expectato sacerdote alto, gloriae et sanctificationi divini nominis ultro ac libenter oblaturi. "They, waiting for no priest, go and freely offer themselves to the glory and sanctification of the sacred name." This gives a very elegant and poetical turn to the image. It was a general notion that prevailed with sacrificers among the heathen, that the victim's being brought without reluctance to the altar was a good omen; and the contrary a bad one. Sabinos petit aliquanto tristior; quod sacrificanti hostia aufugerat. Sueton. Titus, cap. 10. Accessit dirum omen, profugus altaribus tauris. "It was an omen of dreadful portent when the victim fled away from the altar." Tacit. Hist. 3:56. - L. Verse 8 And as the doves to their windows "And like doves upon the wing?" - Instead of אל el, to, forty-two MSS. of Kennicott's, and one of mine, have by על, upon. For ארבתיהם arubboteyhem, their windows, read אברתיהם ebrotheyhem, their wings, transposing a letter. - Houbigant. The Septuagint render it συν νεοσσοις, "with their young;" they read אפרחיהם ephrocheyhem, nearer to the latter than to the present reading. - L. Verse 9 The ships of Tarshish first "The ships of Tarshish among the first" - For בראשנה barishonah twenty-five MSS. and the Syriac read כבראשנה kebarishonah, "as at the first." The ships of Tarshish AS at the first; that is, as they brought gold and silver in the days of Solomon. Verse 13 And I will make the place of my feet glorious "And that I may glorify the place whereon I rest my feet" - The temple of Jerusalem was called the house of God, and the place of his rest or residence. The visible symbolical appearance of God, called by the Jews the schechinah, was in the most holy place, between the wings of the cherubim, above the ark. This is considered as the throne of God, presiding as King over the Jewish state; and as a footstool is a necessary appendage to a throne, (see note on Isa 52:2 (note)), the ark is considered as the footstool of God, and is so called, Psa 99:6; 1Chr 28:2. The glory of Lebanon - That is, the cedar. Verse 19 Neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee "Nor by night shall the brightness of the moon enlighten thee" - This line, as it stands in the present text, seems to be defective. The Septuagint and Chaldee both express the night, which is almost necessary to answer to day in the preceding line, as well as to perfect the sense here. I therefore think that we ought, upon the authority of the Septuagint and Chaldee, to read either ולילה velailah, and by night, instead of ולנגה ulenogah, and for brightness; or ולנגה בלילה ulenogah ballailah, adding the word בלילה ballailah, by night. - L. Verse 21 Of my planting - מטעי mattai; so, with the Keri, read forty-four MSS. (seven ancient) and six editions; with which agree the Syriac, Chaldee, and Vulgate. Verse 22 I the Lord will hasten it in his time - There is a time set for the fulfillment of this prophecy: that time must come before it begins to take place; but when it does begin, the whole will be performed in a short space. It is not, therefore, the time determined for the event that shall be hastened, but all the circumstances of the event; all the parts of the prediction shall be speedily completed. I the Lorde in hys tyme sodeynly schal boun thys. - Old MS. Bible. And because it is the Lord, therefore it will be done: for although it be difficult, he is almighty. Introduction The subject of the preceding chapter is continued in this; and to give it the greater solemnity, the Messiah is introduced describing his character and office, and confirming the large promises made before, Isa 61:1-9. In consequence of this the Jewish Church is introduced, praising God for the honor done her by her restoration to favor, and by to accession of the Gentiles, which is beautifully described by allusions to the rich pontifical dress of the high priest; a happy similitude to express the ornaments of a restored nation and of a renewed mind, Isa 61:10. Certainty of the prophecy illustrated by a figure drawn from the vegetable kingdom, Isa 61:11. Verse 1 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me "The Spirit of Jehovah is upon me" - The Septuagint, Vulgate, and St. Luke, ( Luk 4:18 ), and a MS., and two old editions omit the word אדני Adonai, the Lord; which was probably added to the text through the superstition of the Jews, to prevent the pronunciation of the word יהוה Jehovah following. See Kennicott on the state of the printed Hebrew text, vol. i., p. 610. In most of Isaiah's prophecies there is a primary and secondary sense, or a remote subject illustrated by one that is near. The deliverance of the Jews from their captivity in Babylon is constantly used to shadow forth the salvation of men by Jesus Christ. Even the prophet himself is a typical person, and is sometimes intended to represent the great Savior. It is evident from Luk 4:18 that this is a prophecy of our blessed Lord and his preaching; and yet it is as evident that it primarily refers to Isaiah preaching the glad tidings of deliverance to the Jews. The opening of the prison "Perfect liberty" - פקח קוח pekach koach. Ten MSS. of Kennicott's, several of De Rossi's, and one of my own, with the Complutensian, have פקחקוח pekachkoach in one word; and so the Septuagint and Vulgate appear to have taken it: not merely opening of prisons, but every kind of liberty - complete redemption. The proclaiming of perfect liberty to the bound, and the year of acceptance with Jehovah. is a manifest allusion to the proclaiming of the year of jubilee by sound of trumpet. See Lev 25:9, etc. This was a year of general r

The Prevalence and Effects of Sin. ( b. c. 706.) 1 Behold, the Lord 's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: 2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. 3 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness. 4 None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. 5 They hatch cockatrice' eggs, and weave the spider's web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper. 6 Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands. 7 Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths. 8 The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace. The prophet here rectifies the mistake of those who had been quarrelling with God because they had not the deliverances wrought for them which they had been often fasting and praying for, ch. lviii. 3 . Now here he shows, I. That it was not owing to God. They had no reason to lay the fault upon him that they were not saved out of the hands of their enemies; for, 1. He was still as able to help as ever: His hand is not shortened, his power is not at all lessened, straitened, or abridged. Whether we consider the extent of his power or the efficacy of it, God can reach as far as ever and with as strong a hand as ever. Note, The church's salvation comes from the hand of God, and that has not waxed weak nor is it at all shortened. Has the Lord's hand waxed short? (says God to Moses, Num. xi. 23 ). No, it has not; he will not have it thought so. Neither length of time nor strength of enemies, no, nor weakness of instruments, can shorten or straiten the power of God, with which it is all one to save by many or by few. 2. He was still as ready and willing to help as ever in answer to prayer: His ear is not heavy, that it cannot hear. Though he has many prayers to hear and answer, and though he has been long hearing prayer, yet he is still as ready to hear prayer as ever. The prayer of the upright is as much his delight as ever it was, and the promises which are pleaded and put in suit in prayer are still yea and amen, inviolably sure. More is implied than is expressed; not only his ear is not heavy, but he is quick of hearing. Even before they call he answers, ch. lxv. 24 . If your prayers be not answered, and the salvation we wait for be not wrought for us, it is not because God is weary of hearing prayer, but because we are weary of praying, not because his ear is heavy when we speak to him, but because our ears are heavy when he speaks to us. II. That it was owing to themselves; they stood in their own light and put a bar in their own door. God was coming towards them in ways of mercy and they hindered him. Your iniquities have kept good things from you, Jer. v. 25 . 1. See what mischief sin does. (1.) It hinders God's mercies from coming down upon us; it is a partition wall that separates between us and God. Notwithstanding the infinite distance that is between God and man by nature, there was a correspondence settled between them, till sin set them at variance, justly provoked God against man and unjustly alienated man from God; thus it separates between them and God. "He is your God, yours in profession, and therefore there is so much the more malignity and mischievousness in sin, which separates between you and him." Sin hides his face from us (which denotes great displeasure, Deut. xxxi. 17 ); it provokes him in anger to withdraw his gracious presence, to suspend the tokens of his favour and the instances of his help; he hides his face, as refusing to be seen or spoken with. See here sin in its colours, sin exceedingly sinful, withdrawing the creature from his allegiance to his Creator; and see sin in its consequences, sin exceedingly hurtful, separating us from God, and so separating us not only from all good, but to all evil ( Deut. xxix. 21 ), which is the very quintessence of the curse. (2.) It hinders our prayers from coming up unto God; it provokes him to hide his face, that he will not hear, as he has said, ch. i. 15 . If we regard iniquity in our heart, if we indulge it and allow ourselves in it, God will not hear our prayers, Ps. lxvi. 18 . We cannot expect that he should countenance us while we go on to affront him. 2. Now, to justify God in hiding his face from them, and proceeding in his controversy with them, the prophet shows very largely, in the following verses , how many and great their iniquities were, according to the charge given him ( ch. lviii. 1 ), to show God's people their transgressions; and it is a black bill of indictment that is here drawn up against them, consisting of many particulars, any one of which was enough to separate between them and a just and a holy God. Let us endeavour to reduce these articles of impeachment to proper heads. (1.) We must begin with their thoughts, for there all sin begins, and thence it takes its rise: Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity, v. 7 . Their imaginations are so, only evil continually. Their projects and designs are so; they are continually contriving some mischief or other, and how to compass the gratification of some base lust ( v. 4 ): They conceive mischief in their fancy, purpose, counsel, and resolution (thus the embryo receives its shape and life), and then they bring forth iniquity, put it in execution when it is ripened for it. Though it is in pain perhaps that the iniquity is brought forth, through the oppositions of Providences and the checks of their own consciences, yet, when they have compassed their wicked purpose, they look upon it with as much pride and pleasure as if it were a man-child born into the world; thus, when lust has conceived, it bringeth forth sin, Jam. i. 15 . This is called ( v. 5 ) hatching the cockatrice' egg and weaving the spider's web. See how the thoughts and contrivances of wicked men are employed, and about what they set their wits on work. [1.] At the best it is about that which is foolish and frivolous. Their thoughts are vain, like weaving the spider's web, which the poor silly animal takes a great deal of pains about, and, when all is done, it is a weak insignificant thing, a reproach to the place where it is, and which the besom sweeps away in an instant: such are the thoughts which worldly men entertain themselves with, building castles in the air, and pleasing themselves with imaginary satisfaction, like the spider, which takes hold with her hands very finely ( Prov. xxx. 28 ), but cannot keep her hold. [2.] Too often it is about that which is malicious and spiteful. They hatch the eggs of the cockatrice or adder, which are poisonous and produce venomous creatures; such are the thoughts of the wicked who delight in doing mischief. He that eats of their eggs (that is, he is in danger of having some mischief or other done him), and that which is crushed in order to be eaten of, or which begins to be hatched and you promise yourself some useful fowl from it, breaks out into a viper, which you meddle with at your peril. Happy are those that have least to do with such men. Even the spider's web which they wove was woven with a spiteful design to catch flies in and make a prey of them; for, rather than not be doing mischief, they will play at small game. (2.) Out of this abundance of wickedness in the heart their mouth speaks, and yet it does not always speak out the wickedness that is within, but, for the more effectually compassing the mischievous design, it is dissembled and covered with much fair speech ( v. 3 ): Your lips have spoken lies; and again ( v. 4 ), They speak lies, pretending kindness where they intend the greatest mischief; or by slanders and false accusations they blasted the credit and reputation of those they had a spite to and so did them a real mischief unseen, and perhaps by suborning witnesses against them took from them their estates and lives; for a false tongue is sharp arrows, and coals of juniper, and every thing that is mischievous. Your tongue has muttered perverseness. When they could not, for shame, speak their malice against their neighbours aloud, or durst not, for fear of being disproved and put to confusion, they muttered it secretly. Backbiters are called whisperers. (3.) Their actions were all of a piece with their thoughts and words. They were guilty of shedding innocent blood, a crime of the most heinous nature: Your hands are defiled with blood ( v. 3 ); for blood is defiling; it leaves an indelible stain of guilt upon the conscience, which nothing but the blood of Christ can cleanse it from. Now was this a case of surprise, or one that occurred when there was something of a force put upon them; but ( v. 7 ) their feet ran to this evil, naturally and eagerly, and, hurried on by the impetus of their malice and revenge, they made haste to shed innocent blood, as if they were afraid of losing an opportunity to do a barbarous thing, Prov. i. 16 ; Jer. xxii. 17 . Wasting and destruction are in their paths. Wherever they go they carry mischief along with them, and the tendency of their way is to lay waste and destroy, nor do they care what havoc they make. Nor do they only thirst after blood, but with other iniquities are their fingers defiled ( v. 3 ); they wrong people in their estates and make every thing their own that they can lay their hands on. They trust in vanity ( v. 4 ); they depend upon their arts of cozenage to enrich themselves with, which will prove vanity to them, and their deceiving others will but deceive themselves. Their works, which they take so much pains about and have their hearts so much upon, are all works of iniquity; their whole business is one continued course of oppressions and vexations, and the act of violence is in their hands, according to the arts of violence that are in their heads and the thoughts of violence in their hearts. (4.) No methods are taken to redress these grievances, and reform these abuses ( v. 4 ): None calls for justice, none complains of the violation of the sacred laws of justice, nor seeks to right those that suffer wrong or to get the laws put in execution against vice and profaneness, and those lewd practices which are the shame, and threaten to be the bane, of the nation. Note, When justice is not done there is blame to be laid not only upon the magistrates that should administer justice, but upon the people that should call for it. Private persons ought to contribute to the public good by discovering secret wickedness, and giving those an opportunity to punish it that have the power of doing so in their hands; but it is ill with a state when princes rule ill and the people love to have it so. Truth is opposed, and there is not any that pleads for it, not any that has the conscience and courage to appear in defence of an honest cause, and confront a prosperous fraud and wrong. The way of peace is as little regarded as the way of truth; they know it not, that is, they never study the things that make for peace, no care is taken to prevent or punish the breaches of the peace and to accommodate matters in difference among neighbours; they are utter strangers to every thing that looks quiet and peaceable, and affect that which is blustering and turbulent. There is no judgment in their goings; they have not any sense of justice in their dealings; it is a thing they make no account of at all, but can easily break through all its fences if they stand in the way of their malicious covetous designs. (5.) In all this they act foolishly, very foolishly, and as much against their interest as against reason and equity. Those that practise iniquity trust in vanity, which will certainly deceive them, v. 4 . Their webs, which they weave with so much art and industry, shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves, either for shelter or for ornament, with their works, v. 6 . They may do hurt to others with their projects, but can never do any real service or kindness to themselves by them. There is nothing to be got by sin, and so it will appear when profit and loss come to be compared. Those paths of iniquity are crooked paths ( v. 8 ), which will perplex them, but will never bring them to their journey's end; whoever go therein, though they say that they shall have peace notwithstanding they go on, deceive themselves; for they shall not know peace, as appears by the following verses.