Isaiah · Chapter 64

V. 1. Rent-A metaphor taken from men, that when they would resolutely help one in distress, break and fling open doors and whatever may hinder. Flow down-That all impediments might be removed out of the way: possibly an allusion to God’s coming down upon mount Sinai, in those terrible flames of fire.

Verse 1. O that thou wouldest rend the heavens—This seems to allude to the wonderful manifestation of God upon Mount Sinai.

Verses 1, 2. O that thou wouldest rend the heavens — This God is said to do, or to bow the heavens, and come down, when he gives a very signal display of his power. It is a metaphor taken from men who, when they would resolutely and effectually help a person in distress, break through every opposition and obstacle. That the mountains might flow down, &c. — Or, melt; that all impediments might be removed out of the way. There seems to be an allusion to God’s coming down upon mount Sinai in those terrible flames of fire, Judges 5:4, 5. As when the melting fire burneth — Come with such zeal for thy people that the solid mountains may be no more before thee than metal that runs, or water that boils by the force of a vehement fire; to make thy name — That is, thy power; known to thine adversaries — That thine enemies, who are also the enemies of thy people, may know thy power, and that thy name may be dreaded among them.

Verse 1. A new scene of prophetic events opens here, where the prophet in time of trouble cries the more in spirit to the Messiah. Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens—and come down. It is strikingly observable, that the promises of the Saviour’s coming were desired and renewed in times of affliction, and in war. Isaiah 7. 9. Micah 4. 5. Job 19:20-25. In Psalm 85. it is promised that righteousness shall look down from heaven, and truth shall spring out of the earth. So also in Isaiah 45:8. Drop down ye heavens from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness. No Jew, accounted orthodox, would dispute St. Paul’s assertion: The second Adam is the Lord from heaven.

1. Rend — Or, tear asunder. The heavens — The overhanging heavens, to simple fancy, was the seat of Jehovah’s power. Thence came the lightning and the thunder. Jehovah’s sudden and sublime descent was prayed for, to melt away the mountain difficulties in the way of Zion’s permanent settlement and rest.

V. 2. Fire-Come with such zeal for thy people, that the solid mountains may be no more before thy breath, than metal that runs, or water that boils by the force of a vehement fire. Known-That thine enemies may know thy power, and that thy name may be dreaded among them.

Verse 2. As when the melting fire burneth— “As the fire kindleth the dry fuel”] µysmh hamasim. “It means dry stubble, and the root is smh hamas,” says Rabbi Jonah, apud Sal. ben Melec in loc. Which is approved by Schultens, Orig. Heb. p. 30.

“The fire kindling the stubble does not seem like enough to the melting of the mountains to be brought as a simile to it. What if thus?—

‘That the mountains might flow down at thy presence!

As the fire of things smelted burneth,

As the fire causeth the waters to boil—’

There is no doubt of the Hebrew words of the second line bearing that version.”—Dr. JUBB.

I submit these different interpretations to the reader’s judgment. For my own part I am inclined to think that the text is much corrupted in this place. The ancient Versions have not the least traces of either of the above interpretations. The Septuagint and Syriac agree exactly together in rendering this line by, “As the wax melted before the fire,” which can by no means be reconciled with the present text. The Vulgate, for µysmh hamasim, read wsmy yemasu.

That the nations] For גוים goyim, the nations, four MSS. (one of them ancient) have הרים harim, the mountains.—L.

Verses 1, 2. O that thou wouldest rend the heavens — This God is said to do, or to bow the heavens, and come down, when he gives a very signal display of his power. It is a metaphor taken from men who, when they would resolutely and effectually help a person in distress, break through every opposition and obstacle. That the mountains might flow down, &c. — Or, melt; that all impediments might be removed out of the way. There seems to be an allusion to God’s coming down upon mount Sinai in those terrible flames of fire, Judges 5:4, 5. As when the melting fire burneth — Come with such zeal for thy people that the solid mountains may be no more before thee than metal that runs, or water that boils by the force of a vehement fire; to make thy name — That is, thy power; known to thine adversaries — That thine enemies, who are also the enemies of thy people, may know thy power, and that thy name may be dreaded among them.

Ver. 2. As when the melting fire burneth, the fire causeth the waters to boil. The lowest coal, as in Somerset and other places, is formed chiefly of sea-weeds, and melts in the fire. But the secondary coal, as at Dudley, Burslem, &c. is formed of timber, and burns as charcoal. The spiritual reference is to the zeal of the Lord, as on Sinai, to redeem, to save and avenge his people, and that in every age of the church, but especially in the great act of our redemption on the cross.

2. The melting fire burneth… waters to boil — The point here is the quickness of the effect prayed for in verse 1. As fire burns brush or boils water, so quick do Israel’s national foes tremble. Here are two figures: one of swift, rapid, roaring consumption by the flames, the other of violent agitation and tumult, like water boiling over glowing fires. “Melting fire” such as this the wicked cannot long endure. God’s majesty is similarly presented in Judges 5:4, 5; Psalm 97:5; Micah 1:3, 4; Habakkuk 3:4, 5.

V. 3. Terrible things-This may relate to what he did among the Egyptians, tho’ it be not recorded, and afterward in the wilderness. Looked not for-Such things as we could never expect. Mountains-Kings, princes, and potentates, may metaphorically be understood by these mountains.

Verses 3, 4. When thou didst terrible things — This may relate to what he did first in Egypt, and afterward in the wilderness; which we looked not for — Such things as we could not have expected; the mountains flowed down — See Exodus 19:18; Deuteronomy 32:22; Psalm 18:7, with the notes. But Lowth proposes another interpretation, which he thinks agrees better with what follows, namely, When thou shalt do terrible and unexpected things, when thou shalt come down, (and visibly interpose for the deliverance of thy people,) the mountains shall melt at thy presence. For since the beginning of the world, &c. — “The methods of thy dispensations, whereby thou wilt fulfil thy promises made to thy people, are beyond any thing we can think or conceive.” Bishop Lowth translates this verse, more agreeably both to the Hebrew and the LXX., thus: For “never have men heard, nor perceived, by the ear; nor hath eye seen a God besides thee, who doeth such things for those, that trust in him.” Some of the Jewish doctors have understood this passage of the blessings belonging to the days of the Messiah; and to them the apostle applies it, 1 Corinthians 2:9. Others extend it to the glories of the world to come. Of both these it may be truly said, that from the beginning of the world men have not, either by hearing or seeing; or, as the apostle adds, by any reasonings or conceptions of their own minds, come to the full knowledge of them. None have seen or heard, or can understand, but God himself; and so far as he has been, and is, pleased to reveal it by his Spirit, what the provision is, which is made for the present and future felicity of holy souls; or, as our translation here expresses it, of those that wait for him, namely, in the way of duty; that sincerely and earnestly desire, and live in the daily and ardent expectation of, the salvation he hath promised them. The apostle has it, that love him; to show that as none can wait for him who do not love him, so all that love him will wait for him.

3. Thou didst terrible things — Examples were in the deliverance from Egypt, and in the entrance to Canaan. We looked not for — That is, no one before ever witnessed such phenomena, and they were unexpected when they occurred. Mountains flowed down — Trembled, shook, at thy presence. The reference is to the transactions accompanying the giving of the law at Sinai.

V. 4. Besides thee-This is to be applied to all the wonderful works, that God at all times wrought for his people: and thus they are a plea with God, that they might well expect such things from him now, that had done such wonderful things for their fathers. Waiteth-This may be taken with reference both to the state of grace and glory, those incomprehensible things that are exhibited through Christ in the mysteries of the gospel.

Verse 4. For since the beginning of the world men have not heard— “For never have men heard”] St. Paul is generally supposed to have quoted this passage of Isaiah, 1 Corinthians 2:9; and Clemens Romanus in his first epistle has made the same quotation, very nearly in the same words with the apostle. But the citation is so very different both from the Hebrew text and the version of the Septuagint, that it seems very difficult, if not impossible, to reconcile them by any literal emendation, without going beyond the bounds of temperate criticism. One clause, “neither hath it entered into the heart of man,” (which, by the way, is a phrase purely Hebrew, bl l[ hl[ alah al leb, and should seem to belong to the prophet,) is wholly left out; and another is repeated without force or propriety; viz., “nor perceived by the ear,” after, “never have heard:” and the sense and expression of the apostle is far preferable to that of the Hebrew text. Under these difficulties I am at a loss what to do better, than to offer to the reader this, perhaps disagreeable, alternative: either to consider the Hebrew text and Septuagint in this place as wilfully disguised and corrupted by the Jews; of which practice in regard to other quotations in the New Testament from the Old, they lie under strong suspicions, (see Dr. Owen on the version of the Septuagint, sect. vi.—ix.;) or to look upon St. Paul’s quotation as not made from Isaiah, but from one or other of the two apocryphal books, entitled, The Ascension of Esaiah, and the Apocalypse of Elias, in both of which this passage was found; and the apostle is by some supposed in other places to have quoted such apocryphal writings. As the first of these conclusions will perhaps not easily be admitted by many, so I must fairly warn my readers that the second is treated by Jerome as little better than heresy. See his comment on this place of Isaiah.—L. I would read the whole verse thus; “Yea, from the time of old they have not heard, they have not hearkened to, an eye hath not seen a God besides thee. He shall work for that one that waiteth for him.” This I really think on the whole to be the best translation of the original.

The variations on this place are as follows: for שמעו shameu, they have heard, a MS. and the Septuagint read שמענו shamanu, we have heard: for the second al lo, not, sixty-nine MSS. and four editions have alw velo, and not, and the Syriac, Chaldee, and Vulgate. And so ועינ veayin, and eye, Septuagint and Syriac. ta eth, the, (emphatic,) is added before אלהים Elohim, God, in MS. Bodleian. ykjml limechakkey, to them that wait, plural, two MSS. and all the ancient Versions.—L.

Verses 3, 4. When thou didst terrible things — This may relate to what he did first in Egypt, and afterward in the wilderness; which we looked not for — Such things as we could not have expected; the mountains flowed down — See Exodus 19:18; Deuteronomy 32:22; Psalm 18:7, with the notes. But Lowth proposes another interpretation, which he thinks agrees better with what follows, namely, When thou shalt do terrible and unexpected things, when thou shalt come down, (and visibly interpose for the deliverance of thy people,) the mountains shall melt at thy presence. For since the beginning of the world, &c. — “The methods of thy dispensations, whereby thou wilt fulfil thy promises made to thy people, are beyond any thing we can think or conceive.” Bishop Lowth translates this verse, more agreeably both to the Hebrew and the LXX., thus: For “never have men heard, nor perceived, by the ear; nor hath eye seen a God besides thee, who doeth such things for those, that trust in him.” Some of the Jewish doctors have understood this passage of the blessings belonging to the days of the Messiah; and to them the apostle applies it, 1 Corinthians 2:9. Others extend it to the glories of the world to come. Of both these it may be truly said, that from the beginning of the world men have not, either by hearing or seeing; or, as the apostle adds, by any reasonings or conceptions of their own minds, come to the full knowledge of them. None have seen or heard, or can understand, but God himself; and so far as he has been, and is, pleased to reveal it by his Spirit, what the provision is, which is made for the present and future felicity of holy souls; or, as our translation here expresses it, of those that wait for him, namely, in the way of duty; that sincerely and earnestly desire, and live in the daily and ardent expectation of, the salvation he hath promised them. The apostle has it, that love him; to show that as none can wait for him who do not love him, so all that love him will wait for him.

Ver. 4. Men have not heard, nor perceived— what God hath prepared for him that waiteth for him. In the creation the Lord had every possible plan before him, and he has always followed the best. So in regard of redemption, his counsel and love have laid up treasures for them that love him, far beyond all conception. 1 Corinthians 2:9. These are unfolded in the gospel—in the grace in which believers stand—and in the glories of the heavenly kingdom.

4. Since the beginning of the world — Or, beginning of Israel’s history. Men have not heard — Men of other nations have not witnessed, by ear or eye, such displays of divine power in relation to Israel, nor did mind ever conceive of them. This proverbial style (for such it is) is applied by St. Paul (1 Corinthians 2:9) to the Gospel as a mystery, or something hidden till revealed by the Holy Spirit.

V. 5. Meetest-As the father the prodigal. Worketh-That rejoices to work righteousness. Continuance-To those that work righteousness. Be saved-In so doing, in working righteousness.

Verse 5. Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh

righteousness— “Thou meetest with joy those who work righteousness”] The Syriac reads בעשי vv hta [gwp poga attah shesh baashi, as above.

In those is continuance, and we shall be saved— “Because of our deeds, for we have been rebellious”] [vwnw µlw[ בהם bahem olam

venivvashea. I am fully persuaded that these words as they stand in the present Hebrew text are utterly unintelligible; there is no doubt of the meaning of each word separately; but put together they make no sense at all. I conclude, therefore, that the copy has suffered by mistakes of transcribers in this place. The corruption is of long standing, for the ancient interpreters were as much at a loss for the meaning as the moderns, and give nothing satisfactory. The Septuagint render these words by dia touta eplanhqhmen, therefore we have erred: they seem to have read [vpn µhyl[ aleyhem niphsha, without helping the sense. In this difficulty what remains but to have recourse to conjecture? Archbishop Secker was dissatisfied with the present reading: he proposed [vwnw wnyl[ cbh hebet aleynu venivvashea; “look upon us, and we shall, or that we may, be saved:” which gives a very good sense, but seems to have no sufficient foundation. Besides, the word [vwnw venivvashea, which is attended with great difficulties, seems to be corrupted as well as the two preceding; and the true reading of it is, I think, given by the Septuagint, [vpnw veniphsha, eplanhqhmen, we have erred, (so they render the verb [vp pasha, Isaiah 46:8, and Ezekiel 23:12,) parallel to acjnw vannecheta, hmartomen, we have sinned. For µlw[ בהם bahem olam, which means nothing, I would propose המעללינו hammaaleleynu, “because of our deeds; which I presume was first altered to במעלליהם bemaaleleyhem, an easy and common mistake of the third person plural of the pronoun for the first, (see Clarke’s note on “Isaiah 33:2”,) and then with some farther alteration to µlw[ בהם behem olam. The µhyl[ aleyhem, which the Septuagint probably found in their copy, seems to be a remnant of במעלליהם bemaaleleyhem.

This, it may be said, is imposing your sense upon the prophet. It may be so; for perhaps these may not be the very words of the prophet: but however it is better than to impose upon him what makes no sense at all; as they generally do, who pretend to render such corrupted passages. For instance, our own translators: “in those is continuance, and we shall be saved:” in those in whom, or what? There is no antecedent to the relative. “In the ways of God,” say some: “with our fathers,” says Vitringa, joining it in construction with the verb, tp[q katsaphta, “thou hast been angry with them, our fathers;” and putting acjnw vannecheta, “for we have sinned,” in a parenthesis. But there has not been any mention of our fathers: and the whole sentence, thus disposed, is utterly discordant from the Hebrew idiom and construction. In those is continuance; µlw[ olam means a destined but hidden and unknown portion of time; but cannot mean continuation of time, or continuance, as it is here rendered. Such forced interpretations are equally conjectural with the boldest critical emendation; and generally have this farther disadvantage, that they are altogether unworthy of the sacred writers.—L.

Coverdale renders the passage thus:—But lo, thou art angrie, for we offende, and have been ever in synne; and there is not one whole. This is, I am afraid, making a sense.

After all that this very learned prelate has done to reduce these words to sense and meaning, I am afraid we are still far from the prophet’s mind. Probably בהם bahem, in them, refers to Ëykrd deracheycha, thy ways, above. µlw[ olam may be rendered of old, or during the whole of the Jewish economy; and [vwnw venivvashea, “and shall we be saved?” Thus:—Thou art wroth, for we have sinned in them (thy ways) of old; and can we be saved? For we are all as an unclean thing, &c.

Verse 5. Thou meetest him that rejoiceth, &c. — “Thou preventest, with the blessings of thy goodness, those that take pleasure in the ways of thy commandments, and live under a continual sense of thy providence.” Behold, thou art wroth — Or greatly angry; for, or because, we have sinned — Have been guilty of many and great offences, whereby we have provoked thy heavy displeasure. In those — Those ways of thine, thy ways of mercy, in which we have remembered thee; is continuance — Or, perpetuity; or, in those thou art ever to be found; and we shall be saved — At last, though thou art wroth, and we have sinned. “The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on them that fear him,” Psalm 103:17. He always waits to be gracious, and through all ages meets his worshippers in his ordinances. This seems to be the sense of this obscure passage; at least it will bear this sense; and, as it is in perfect consistency with the general tenor of the Scriptures, it is certainly safer to admit it, unless a better can be proposed, than to have recourse to any mere conjectural alterations of the Hebrew text.

Ver. 5. Those that remember thee in thy ways. The rendering of this passage does great violence to theology. It seems to mean that we shall be saved, though we continue in sin, and under God’s wrath! Our translators were led into this error by a servile adherence to Montanus, and some other Latin versions; for they widely differ. Vide Biblia Maxima. Lowth renders the text well. “Thou meetest those with joy, who work righteousness; who in thy ways remember thee. Lo, thou art angry because of our deeds, for we have sinned; we have been rebellious, and are all of us as a polluted thing, like a rejected garment are all our righteous deeds.” Castellio reads this text as an interrogation. He understands the prophet as acknowledging that we have sinned in the Lord’s ways, and that the Lord was wroth; and then asks, How shall we be saved? Others would read, In those things we have sinned for a long time, and yet we have been saved. The present English version revolts the reader; he pauses to make conjectures concerning the sense.

5. Not to dwell on the many views of critics on the construction here, let it suffice to say that the probable meaning may be gained in a translation and paraphrase as follows: Thou didst favorably meet him (singular for plural) that rejoiced to work righteousness, when they remembered thee in thy ways. If this be put in the present tense, as it may be, it would read to us a general truth, useful to all: Behold, thou — gracious as thou art — wast angry, for we were guilty. In those — Thy ways above mentioned. Is continuance — Or, eternal permanence. And we shall be saved — Namely, by trusting in thee.

V. 6. Unclean-Formerly there were some that feared thee; but now we are all as one polluted mass, nothing of good left in us by reason of an universal degeneracy. And all-The very best of us all are no better than the uncleanest things. Taken-Carried away to Babylon, as leaves hurried away by a boisterous wind.

Verse 6. As filthy rags] µyd[ iddim. Rab. Mosheh ben Maimon interpretatur µyd[ iddim, vestes quibus mulier se abstergit post congressum cum marito suo. Alii pannus menstruatus. Alii panni mulieris parientis.— And we ben made as unclene alle we: and as the cloth of the woman rooten blode flowing, all our rigtwisnesses.—Old MS. Bible. If preachers knew properly the meaning of this word, would they make such a liberal use of it in their public ministry? And why should any use a word, the meaning of which he does not understand? How many in the congregation blush for the incautious man and his “filthy rags!”

Verses 6, 7. We are all as an unclean thing — Or, unclean person, as amc equally signifies. He seems to allude to persons unclean through the leprosy, which was the highest degree of uncleanness among the Jews. He means that the body of the people were like one under a ceremonial pollution, who was not admitted into the courts of the tabernacle; or like one labouring under some loathsome disease. We are all, by sin, not only become obnoxious to God’s justice, but odious to his holiness. “The prophets frequently borrow their images from the received customs and spiritual ceremonies of the nations among which the distinction between things clean and unclean makes no small figure; and under these images they frequently describe moral defects and religious offences, as in the present passage.” And all our righteousnesses, or, justifications, are as filthy rags — As rags, which cannot cover us; as filthy rags, which would only defile us. With respect to the Jews, he refers to all those external ceremonies and services wherein they placed merit, and whereby they hoped for justification, Romans 10:3, at the same time that they neglected moral duties, and were guilty even of very gross violations of God’s holy law. Micah, who lived at the same time, speaks in the same manner, Micah 7:2-4. But the prophet’s declaration is true, if considered as comprehending the best works and actions that can be performed by any of mankind; for all our works have so great an alloy of imperfection, that they cannot justify us before a holy and just God; see Psalm 143:2; Romans 3:19, 20; Galatians 2:16. And our iniquities, like the wind — A wind that withers both leaves and fruit, or that sweeps away all before it; have taken us away — Out of our own land, and from all our privileges and blessings, and scattered us abroad through all the earth; or from God’s favour, into a state of condemnation and wrath. And there is none — Or, yet there is none, that is, few: they are not to be discerned among the multitude; that calleth upon thy name — That call upon thee as they ought, as Jacob, Moses, and David did. This shows the universal depravity and apostacy of the Jewish people at the time referred to; that stirreth up himself to take hold on thee — On thy power, truth, and love by faith; that uses fervency and importunity in prayer to recover thy favour, which has been withdrawn from us, and to obtain the removal of the various and heavy calamities with which we are oppressed. For thou hast consumed us — Hebrew, wngwmh, hast melted us; our sins have kindled such a fire of thy wrath against us that we are melted with it.

6, 7. We are all — As a nation. An unclean thing — Polluted, defiled. Our righteousnesses — Even our religious acts are such as the Holy One of Israel cannot accept, being neither appointed nor sincere. As filthy rags — As a menstruous garment, and therefore repulsive. The comparisons here receive their colouring from the Levitical law on purity. Fade as a leaf — Our beauty (moral beauty) endures no better than fading, withering autumn leaves, so easily swept away. Like the wind — Our national sins also cause us to be swept by tempests of divine judgment. As true to-day as then, is this; as applicable to nations now, as to ancient Israel. Never can fidelity to God be waived at man’s pleasure.

V. 7. That calleth-That call upon thee as they ought. Take hold-Either to stay thee from departing from us, or to fetch thee back when departed.

Verse 7. There is none] Twelve MSS. have אינ ein, without the conjunction w vau prefixed; and so read the Chaldee and Vulgate. And hast consumed us because of our iniquities— “And hast delivered us up into the hands of our iniquities.”] For wngwmtw vattemugenu, “hast dissolved us,” the Septuagint, Syriac, and Chaldee had in their copies wnngmt temaggenenu, “hast delivered us up.” Houbigant. Secker.

Verses 6, 7. We are all as an unclean thing — Or, unclean person, as amc equally signifies. He seems to allude to persons unclean through the leprosy, which was the highest degree of uncleanness among the Jews. He means that the body of the people were like one under a ceremonial pollution, who was not admitted into the courts of the tabernacle; or like one labouring under some loathsome disease. We are all, by sin, not only become obnoxious to God’s justice, but odious to his holiness. “The prophets frequently borrow their images from the received customs and spiritual ceremonies of the nations among which the distinction between things clean and unclean makes no small figure; and under these images they frequently describe moral defects and religious offences, as in the present passage.” And all our righteousnesses, or, justifications, are as filthy rags — As rags, which cannot cover us; as filthy rags, which would only defile us. With respect to the Jews, he refers to all those external ceremonies and services wherein they placed merit, and whereby they hoped for justification, Romans 10:3, at the same time that they neglected moral duties, and were guilty even of very gross violations of God’s holy law. Micah, who lived at the same time, speaks in the same manner, Micah 7:2-4. But the prophet’s declaration is true, if considered as comprehending the best works and actions that can be performed by any of mankind; for all our works have so great an alloy of imperfection, that they cannot justify us before a holy and just God; see Psalm 143:2; Romans 3:19, 20; Galatians 2:16. And our iniquities, like the wind — A wind that withers both leaves and fruit, or that sweeps away all before it; have taken us away — Out of our own land, and from all our privileges and blessings, and scattered us abroad through all the earth; or from God’s favour, into a state of condemnation and wrath. And there is none — Or, yet there is none, that is, few: they are not to be discerned among the multitude; that calleth upon thy name — That call upon thee as they ought, as Jacob, Moses, and David did. This shows the universal depravity and apostacy of the Jewish people at the time referred to; that stirreth up himself to take hold on thee — On thy power, truth, and love by faith; that uses fervency and importunity in prayer to recover thy favour, which has been withdrawn from us, and to obtain the removal of the various and heavy calamities with which we are oppressed. For thou hast consumed us — Hebrew, wngwmh, hast melted us; our sins have kindled such a fire of thy wrath against us that we are melted with it.

6, 7. We are all — As a nation. An unclean thing — Polluted, defiled. Our righteousnesses — Even our religious acts are such as the Holy One of Israel cannot accept, being neither appointed nor sincere. As filthy rags — As a menstruous garment, and therefore repulsive. The comparisons here receive their colouring from the Levitical law on purity. Fade as a leaf — Our beauty (moral beauty) endures no better than fading, withering autumn leaves, so easily swept away. Like the wind — Our national sins also cause us to be swept by tempests of divine judgment. As true to-day as then, is this; as applicable to nations now, as to ancient Israel. Never can fidelity to God be waived at man’s pleasure.

V. 8. Our father-Notwithstanding all this thou art our father both by creation, and by adoption, therefore pity us thy children.

Verse 8. But, now, O Lord, thou art our Father— “But thou, O JEHOVAH, thou art our Father”] For ועתה veattah, and now, five MSS., one of them ancient, and the two oldest editions, 1486 and 1488, have htaw veattah, and thou; and so the Chaldee seems to have read. The repetition has great force. The other word may be well spared. “But now, O Lord, thou art our Father.” How very affectionate is the complaint in this and the following verses! But how does the distress increase, when they recollect the desolations of the temple, and ruin of public worship, Isaiah 64:11: “Our holy and beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burnt up with fire,” &c.

We all are the work of thy hand] Three MSS. (two of them ancient) and the Septuagint read hc[m maaseh, the work, without the conjunction w vau prefixed. And for Ëdy yadecha, thy hand, the Bodleian, and two others MSS., the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate read Ëydy yadeycha, thy hands, in the plural number.—L.

Verses 8, 9. But now, O Lord, thou art our Father — Notwithstanding all this, thou art our Father, having both created and adopted us; therefore pity us thy children; we are the clay, and thou our potter — We are in thy hands as clay in the hands of the potter: thou canst form us, and dispose of us as thou pleasest. And we will not quarrel with thee, however thou art pleased to deal with us. We are all the work of thy hands — Therefore forget us not, forsake us not, but spare, and preserve, and save us. Be not wroth with us very sore — But let thy anger be mitigated by the clemency and compassion of a father. Neither remember iniquity for ever — Thou hast been angry with us a long time, be not so for ever. Behold, &c. we are thy people — Thy peculiar people, Isaiah 63:19. Another argument to enforce the former petition.

8. Thou art our Father — To the very few thou art the spiritual Father. The confession here reaches the point when God accepts, and becomes a heavenly Father. Clay — In the hands of God, as moulder, are all penitent men when God does accept, and then he forms them by discipline to the character they should have. God works creatively and renewingly in and upon all who will let him. To choose is our work. He chooses not for us. We yield our rebellion. He does not this for us; but if we continue obedient he does all the rest.

V. 9. Thy people-Thou hast no people in covenant but us, and wilt thou not leave thyself a people in the world?

Verse 9. Neither remember iniquity] For rkzt לעד laad tizcor, one of my MSS. has ãxqt לעד laad tiktsoph, “be not angry,” as in the preceding clause. This has been partially obliterated, and rkzt tizcor, written in the margin by a later hand: but this MS. abounds with words of this kind, all altered by later hands.

ISAIAH

Verses 8, 9. But now, O Lord, thou art our Father — Notwithstanding all this, thou art our Father, having both created and adopted us; therefore pity us thy children; we are the clay, and thou our potter — We are in thy hands as clay in the hands of the potter: thou canst form us, and dispose of us as thou pleasest. And we will not quarrel with thee, however thou art pleased to deal with us. We are all the work of thy hands — Therefore forget us not, forsake us not, but spare, and preserve, and save us. Be not wroth with us very sore — But let thy anger be mitigated by the clemency and compassion of a father. Neither remember iniquity for ever — Thou hast been angry with us a long time, be not so for ever. Behold, &c. we are thy people — Thy peculiar people, Isaiah 63:19. Another argument to enforce the former petition.

9. Be not wroth very sore — That is, mitigate thy wrath, deserved by us as a nation. We are all thy people — The idea national merges into the idea spiritual. All adhering to, and now praying to, him, are the spiritual Israel; and the prayer is, “Because we adhere and pray to thee, spare us!”

Verses 10-12. Thy holy cities — Zion and Jerusalem, mentioned immediately after; or other cities also in the land of Judea besides these two; called holy, because God had his synagogues in them, in which he was worshipped, Psalm 74:8. Zion is a wilderness, &c. — Utterly waste: not only the ordinary cities, but Zion and Jerusalem themselves are in a state of ruin and desolation. Our holy and beautiful house — Our temple. Not only our principal cities, but even our temple, which we thought sacred and inviolable, in which we gloried, because it was thine, and our fathers’ house, and ours: the place where thy holy service was performed, and thy glory and presence were wont to be manifested. Where our fathers praised thee — They do not presume to mention themselves, having been every way so very abominable; but put the Lord in mind of their fathers, many of whom were his faithful servants, having praised him there. Is burned up with fire — This relates to the burning of the temple by the Romans, who made an entire destruction of it, according to our Saviour’s prediction, Matthew 24:2. And all our pleasant things are laid waste — Not only the pleasant land, but all that was magnificent, ornamental, or desirable in Jerusalem, or any other city, town, or place. Wilt thou refrain, or, contain, thyself for, or, at, these things — Wilt thou behold them unmoved, as an indifferent spectator? Wilt thou neither show thy compassion toward thy servants, nor thy resentment toward thine enemies? Wilt thou hold thy peace — Wilt thou be as one that regards not? And afflict us very sore — And persist to afflict us in thy continued hot displeasure?

10, 11. Thy holy cities are a wilderness — In the interest of anti-supernaturalism many German and some English interpreters claim support from these verses. They advocate a pseudo-Isaiah, an unknown prophet who lived at or before the time of the Exile, and wrote these later prophecies. They assume miracle and predictive prophecy to be impossible, and that Isaiah, who wrote seven hundred years prior to events and facts here delineated, cannot be the author. This is a cool begging of the whole question; and, being so, is unworthy of further notice. Our holy… house… burned — The reference here is to the burning of the temple. But which temple? The first one was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, the second by the Romans in A.D. 70, besides being twice polluted — first by Syrians, and next by the Romans. Nothing shows it certain that the temple referred to was the one destroyed by the Babylonians, but the description of the burning and the long unrestored desolation points most suitably to the ruin effected by the Romans. The “holy cities” apply more seemly to those of Jerusalem and Judah. This view renders more impressive the deep confession of the chapter and the closing appeal of the people to God as their Father, and tohis power as of a potter over the clay.

V. 11. Pleasant things-The king’s palace, and the houses of the nobles, and other pieces of state and magnificence.

Verses 10-12. Thy holy cities — Zion and Jerusalem, mentioned immediately after; or other cities also in the land of Judea besides these two; called holy, because God had his synagogues in them, in which he was worshipped, Psalm 74:8. Zion is a wilderness, &c. — Utterly waste: not only the ordinary cities, but Zion and Jerusalem themselves are in a state of ruin and desolation. Our holy and beautiful house — Our temple. Not only our principal cities, but even our temple, which we thought sacred and inviolable, in which we gloried, because it was thine, and our fathers’ house, and ours: the place where thy holy service was performed, and thy glory and presence were wont to be manifested. Where our fathers praised thee — They do not presume to mention themselves, having been every way so very abominable; but put the Lord in mind of their fathers, many of whom were his faithful servants, having praised him there. Is burned up with fire — This relates to the burning of the temple by the Romans, who made an entire destruction of it, according to our Saviour’s prediction, Matthew 24:2. And all our pleasant things are laid waste — Not only the pleasant land, but all that was magnificent, ornamental, or desirable in Jerusalem, or any other city, town, or place. Wilt thou refrain, or, contain, thyself for, or, at, these things — Wilt thou behold them unmoved, as an indifferent spectator? Wilt thou neither show thy compassion toward thy servants, nor thy resentment toward thine enemies? Wilt thou hold thy peace — Wilt thou be as one that regards not? And afflict us very sore — And persist to afflict us in thy continued hot displeasure?

10, 11. Thy holy cities are a wilderness — In the interest of anti-supernaturalism many German and some English interpreters claim support from these verses. They advocate a pseudo-Isaiah, an unknown prophet who lived at or before the time of the Exile, and wrote these later prophecies. They assume miracle and predictive prophecy to be impossible, and that Isaiah, who wrote seven hundred years prior to events and facts here delineated, cannot be the author. This is a cool begging of the whole question; and, being so, is unworthy of further notice. Our holy… house… burned — The reference here is to the burning of the temple. But which temple? The first one was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, the second by the Romans in A.D. 70, besides being twice polluted — first by Syrians, and next by the Romans. Nothing shows it certain that the temple referred to was the one destroyed by the Babylonians, but the description of the burning and the long unrestored desolation points most suitably to the ruin effected by the Romans. The “holy cities” apply more seemly to those of Jerusalem and Judah. This view renders more impressive the deep confession of the chapter and the closing appeal of the people to God as their Father, and tohis power as of a potter over the clay.

V. 12. Wilt thou-Do none of these things move thee to take vengeance? Thy peace-Wilt thou be as one that regards not?

Verses 10-12. Thy holy cities — Zion and Jerusalem, mentioned immediately after; or other cities also in the land of Judea besides these two; called holy, because God had his synagogues in them, in which he was worshipped, Psalm 74:8. Zion is a wilderness, &c. — Utterly waste: not only the ordinary cities, but Zion and Jerusalem themselves are in a state of ruin and desolation. Our holy and beautiful house — Our temple. Not only our principal cities, but even our temple, which we thought sacred and inviolable, in which we gloried, because it was thine, and our fathers’ house, and ours: the place where thy holy service was performed, and thy glory and presence were wont to be manifested. Where our fathers praised thee — They do not presume to mention themselves, having been every way so very abominable; but put the Lord in mind of their fathers, many of whom were his faithful servants, having praised him there. Is burned up with fire — This relates to the burning of the temple by the Romans, who made an entire destruction of it, according to our Saviour’s prediction, Matthew 24:2. And all our pleasant things are laid waste — Not only the pleasant land, but all that was magnificent, ornamental, or desirable in Jerusalem, or any other city, town, or place. Wilt thou refrain, or, contain, thyself for, or, at, these things — Wilt thou behold them unmoved, as an indifferent spectator? Wilt thou neither show thy compassion toward thy servants, nor thy resentment toward thine enemies? Wilt thou hold thy peace — Wilt thou be as one that regards not? And afflict us very sore — And persist to afflict us in thy continued hot displeasure?

12. Wilt thou refrain thyself — That is, refuse to render aid in such extremity. It seems like a tender, deprecating, but not hopeless, remonstrance. It does not express despair. There is a faint, lingering confidence that God will yet be pitiful, and the next chapter gives the key as to how the pity and the help are to come.