The Book of the Prophet Isaiah
Isaiah 57
Chapter LVII · Vol. III, pp. 1216–1217
1 The blessed death of the righteous. 3 God reproveth the Jews for their whorish idolatry. 13 He giveth evangelical promises to the penitent.
1 The righteousa perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and bmerciful men1 are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.2
B.C. cir. 698.
a 2 Ch.32.33; 35.24. 2 Ki.21.16; 24.4. ch.5.12; 42.25; 47.7.
b Ps.12.1. Mi.7.2. Ju.2.10,11. 1 Ki.14.12,13. 2 Ki.22.20. Re.14.13. He.11.38.
1 Heb. men of kindness or godliness.
2 Or, that which is evil.
4 Againste whom do ye sport yourselves? against whom gmake ye a wide mouth, and draw out the tongue? are ye not hchildren of transgression, a seed of falsehood;
5 Inflaming yourselves with 5idols iunder every green tree, jslaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks?
6 Among the smooth stones6 of the stream is thy portion; they, they are thy lot; even to them hast thou poured a drink-offering, thou hast offered a meat-offering. kShould I receive comfort in these?
7 Uponl a lofty and high mountain7 hast thou set thy bed: even thither wentest thou up to offer sacrifice.8
l De.12.2. 1 Ki.14.23. 2 Ki.17.9; 21.3. Eze.20.28,29; 23.41. Am.2.8. Je.3.6.
7 Not secretly, but on a 'high mountain' hast thou set up thy bed, thy couch of rest, at idol feasts.—C.
8 It seems probable that as the idol shrine of Molech in the valley of Hinnom is referred to and denounced in ver.5, so the 'high-place' of Baal on the summit of the Mount of Olives is here before the prophet's eye. It was one of the most ancient high-places around Jerusalem.—P.
8 Behindn the doors also and the posts hast thou set up thy remembrance; for othou hast discovered thyself to another than me, and art gone up: pthou hast enlarged thy bed, and made thee a covenant with them;9 thou lovedst their bed where thou sawest it.1
n Eze.8.10; 23.14. Le.26.1. Ho.8.11.
o Je.3.1,2,8; 2.13. Eze.16.15-34; 23.2,5-19.
p Je.2.28; 11.13. Ho.8.11. Eze.16.15-34; 23.5-19; 20.30. 2 Ki.16.10-16. Re.17.5.
9 Or, hewed it for thyself larger than theirs.
1 Or, thou providest room.
9 Andq thou2 wentest to the king3 with ointment, and didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send thy messengers far off, and didst debase thyself even unto hell.4
10 Thou rart wearied in the greatness of thy way; yet saidst thou not, sThere is no hope: thou hast found the life5 of thine hand; ttherefore thou wast not grieved.
11 Andu of whom hast thou been afraid or feared, that thou vhast lied, and hast not remembered me, nor laid it to thy heart? xhave not I held my peace even of old, and thou fearest me not?
u Pr.29.25. ch.51.12,13.
v ver.3,8. Je.3.1,8,20,21; 2.13,30; 5.3; 44.3-5.
x Ps.50.21,22. Ec.8.11. ch.26.10.
13 Whenz thou criest, let thy companies deliver thee: but athe wind shall carry them all away; vanity shall take them: but bhe that putteth his trust in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain;
A.M. cir. 3300. B.C. cir. 698.
z ver.9,10. Je.22.22,28. Ju.10.14. ch.30.1-6; 31.1-3. Ho.5.13. Eze.16.36-43; 23.9,10,22-34. Ps.18.41. Re.16.13-16; 17.14.
a Na.i.-iii. Je.xlvi.-li. Re. xiv. xvi. xviii. xix.
b Ps.37.3,9. Je.17.7,8; 30.10,18; 31.12,23,40. Ps.84.12; 34.8-10; 68.36,37; 37.4. Mat.5.5. Re.5.10.
14 And shall say,6 Castc ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling-block out of the way of my people.
6 'And I shall say.'—C.
c ch.40.3; 62.10; 35.8; 42.16; 43.19; 48.17,20; 49.12. Zec.10.11,12. Re.14.6; 18.4. 1 Co.1.23.
15 For thus saith dthe high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwelle in the high and holy place, with him also that is gof a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
d Ps.83.18. Da.4.34,35. 1 Ti.6.16; 1.17. Ps.90.2. ch.33.5; 18.4; 63.15; 6.3. 1 Sa.2.2. Ex.15.11. Jos.24.19. Re.4.8.
e Zec.2.13. Ps.68.5; 80.1; 123.1. ch.66.1.
g ch.66.1,2. Mat.5.4. Ps.34.18; 51.17; 138.6. 2 Ki.22.19,20. 2 Ch.32.26; 33.12. Eze.6.9. ch.61.1-3. Ps.147.3; 23.3; 85.6. Ac.2.37,38; 16.30,31.
16 For hI will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls iwhich I have made.
h Ps.103.9,13,14. Mi.7.7-10,18. Ps.78.38,39; 61.2. Je.10.24. Ps.107.5; 143.4.
i ch.42.5; 51.22. Ge.2.7. Nu.16.22. Zec.12.1. Ec.12.7. He.12.9.
17 Forj the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly7 in the way of his heart.
18 Ik have seen his ways,8 and will heal him: I will lead him also, and lrestore comforts unto him and to his mourners.9
19 I create nthe fruit of the 1lips; opeace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the LORD; and I will heal him.
n Ho.14.2. 2 Ti.3.16. 2 Pe.1.21. Ps.119.49,50. Ep.2.17. Re.14.6. Pr.10.31, or Ho.13.3. Ps.32.7; 50.15; 71.22-24. He.13.15.
1 The fruit of the lips is that which the lips produce—the words which they utter. Offerings of praise and thanksgiving are the fruits of the lips in which God delights, and to which the prophet here refers. In He.13.15 the words are so interpreted.—P.
o Ac.2.39. Ep.2.13,14,17; 6.15. Mar.16.15. ch.43.6; 49.12.
20 But the wicked are plike the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.
p Job 15.20-24; 18.5-14; 20.5-28. ch.3.11. Re.14.10,11. Pr.4.16,17. Jude 13. Ps.10.8-10.
Notes
Ver. 3-12. Answer ye my charge, ye who, descended from wicked parents, have abandoned yourselves to witchcraft, adultery, and idolatry. Why do ye contemptuously deride me and my prophets, abandon yourselves to vices, and yet hypocritically pretend to serve me? Ye are violent and eager upon your idolatrous worship, and sacrifice your children to Molech. Ye can hardly see a smooth stone in a river but you fancy it to be a god, and offer oblations to it. Can this fail to provoke me? Ye build temples and altars on every high place, and toil yourselves to go up and sacrifice there. Every corner of your houses is stored with memorials of your idols; and by coveting whatever you have seen among heathens, ye have exceedingly multiplied them. By courting alliances with heathen princes, even on the basest terms, ye have partook with them in their idolatrous worship. Without ever being convinced by your disappointments, ye have wearied yourselves in foreign embassies and wickedness; and, obtaining present ease, have never repented of your conduct. Without any proper ground of fear, ye have thus acted treacherously towards me, never regarding my relation to you, or the great things which I have done for you; and my patience exercised, and forbearing, has but tempted you to disregard me the more. Therefore, by my fearful judgments executed upon you, will I manifest how criminal and ruinous your conduct has been. Nor shall your idols or heathen allies be able to protect either themselves or you. 13-21. But such as believe my word, and trust in my perfections, shall return from their captivity to Canaan by my providence; and Cyrus, by his proclamation, shall remove every hindrance in their way. For however high and lofty I am as the Holy One who inhabits eternity, yet am I infinitely condescending towards persons destitute, distressed, and broken in spirit; nor will I continue my judgments till such be utterly ruined or discouraged.—For their injustice, and other abominations, I have indeed punished them by the Chaldeans, Syro-Grecians, Romans, and others; and yet, under their affliction, they have become worse and worse. I will therefore, by an extension of sovereign grace, forgive and reform them, lead them back to their duty and their country, and restore comforts to them; and by my prophets publish peace and prosperity to them, that their lips may be filled with my praise. But by their own lusts, guilt, and fears, and the judgments which I inflict, the wicked shall always remain in a restless, shameful, and loathsome condition.
Ver. 1. The righteous perisheth, &c. Christ the righteous is crucified; and, so far from 'laying it to heart' as national guilt, the cry is, 'His blood be upon us and our children.'—Merciful men. Those who have desired and obtained mercy, the disciples and martyrs of our Lord, Mat. 5. 7; 1 Ti. 1. 13. C.
Ver. 2. 'He (Christ) shall enter into his peace,' 'walking in his uprightness;' while they, the disciples and martyrs, shall rest in their graves, their beds, till the resurrection, Ac. 7. 60. C.
Ver. 3. These titles are first literal; for idolatry and lewdness are synonymous. They are then emblematic of the false doctrines, heresies, worldliness, and image-worship by which Christianity, alas! still continues to be disfigured. C.
Ver. 5. Reference is here made primarily to the gross idolatry and cruel rites practised during the reign of Manasseh. The idol Molech was set up in the bottom of the valley of Kidron, at the mouth of Hinnom, just beneath the overhanging cliffs of Olivet. Molech was a brazen statue, having a place within it for a furnace. It was heated, and the children were then placed in the open arms of the monster, and roasted alive. Of Manasseh it is said, 'He caused his children to pass through the fire in the valley of the son of Hinnom,' 2 Ch. 33. 6. P.
Ver. 6. A smooth oblong stone is culled from the bed of a river, placed on end under a tree, and water is carried and poured upon it; such idolatry is still practised by the women of Hindostan. C.
Ver. 8. Behind the doors, &c. In secret also, 'behind the doors and the posts,' hast thou 'set up thy remembrance'— dedicated a memorial of thy trust in idols, and thereby incurred the terrible curse of the law, De. 27. 15. C.
Ver. 10. Though wearied with efforts of labour and expenditure, yet no experience of failure has dissipated false hope: thou hast found a life neither by my Word nor by my Spirit, but of thine own hand (thine own power), therefore thou art not grieved either for thy failures or idolatries. C.——The general sense of this verse is:—No amount of labour in the service of your idols has sufficed to weary or discourage you. Still do you go on in idolatry. You have found in these evil practices sufficient pleasure and profit to keep you from despondency. P.
Ver. 12. I will declare thy righteousness to be but filthy rags, Is. 64. 6; 'thy works,' that they are not wrought in God, Jn. 3. 21. C.
Ver. 14. Stumbling-block—the offence of the cross. Teach them to look upon Him whom they have pierced, and mourn; teach them to glory in the cross at which they stumbled. C.
Ver. 17. His covetousness. Israel's, ch. 56. 8. Covetousness was one of the ingredients of the first sin. It is idolatry, and therefore specially hateful in the sight of God. But it is not confined to riches, but extends to 'everything that is our neighbour's.' C.
Ver. 19. This is the fruit of the tree of life, transmitted in the words of 'peace to him that is far off,' the Gentile; and 'to him that is near,' the Jew. C.
Reflections.—God kindly hides his people in heaven from his terrible judgments on earth. And great is the folly and ignorance of men, that such alarming warnings are often so little regarded. Dreadful indeed must be our inward corruption, which can thus push us to the utmost wickedness in every form, notwithstanding all the laws, mercies, and judgments which God lays in our way to hinder it. And when God himself is thus contemned and insulted, his faithful ministers must not hope to escape. But he will not always suffer our sins to pass unpunished. When he is wroth, not any created helper can in the least avail us. But an abiding faith will secure a blessed portion, both in time and eternity: and God himself will undoubtedly pity and relieve us in our depths of distress. Great is the happiness of those hearts in which he dwells. No evil can approach, no good be absent.—Alas! how covetousness provokes God and ruins men! But infinite is that grace which heaps mercies on the richest deservers of hell. Delightful is the new-kingdom connection betwixt pardon, conversion, comfort, peace, and holy gratitude. But fearful is the guilt, and tremendous the misery, of such as perish in their sins amidst the offers and influences of God's grace.