The Book of the Prophet Isaiah
Isaiah 59
Chapter LIX · Vol. III, pp. 1218–1219
1 The damnable nature of sin. 3 The sins of the Jews. 9 Calamity is for sin. 16 Salvation is only of God. 20 The covenant of the Redeemer.
1 Behold, the LORD's hand is not ashortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:1
2 But byour iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid2 his face from you, that he will not hear.3
3 For cyour hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; dyour lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.
4 Nonee calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; gthey conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
e ver.16. Je.5.1,4,5. Eze.22.12,13,30. Ps.14.1. Pr.1.24. Ho.7.7. Ro.3.9-20.
A.M. cir. 3306. B.C. cir. 698.
5 Theyh hatch cockatrice'4 eggs, and weave the spider's web:5 he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper.6
h Mat.3.7; 12.34. Mi.2.1; 7.2-5. De.32.32,33. Pr.4.16; 1.11-19. 2 Pe.2.3,13,14; 3.3 with ch.11.8; 14.29.
4 Or, adders.
5 They contrive cunning plans of iniquity in secret corners, to insnare the weak, and destroy their freedom and their life.—C.
6 Or, sprinkled is as if there broke out a viper.
6 Theiri webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: jtheir works are works of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands.
7 Theirk feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and 7destruction are in their paths.
8 Thel way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment8 in their goings: nthey have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein oshall not know peace.
9 pTherefore9 is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.
p La.5.16,17. Hab.1.13. Je.8.15; 14.19. Mi.1.12. 2 Ki.xxi. 2 Ch.xxxiii. 1 Th.5.3. Job 19.7.
9 The penitent portion of the church here speaks, confessing their sins.—C.
10 Weq grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noon-day as in the night; we are rin desolate places as dead men.1
q De.28.29. Am.8.9. Job 5.14; 12.25. La.4.14. Is.33.14; 10.3,4.
1 This last clause has been variously rendered. The Hebrew word may either mean 'fertility' or 'barrenness,' according to the root from which it is derived. It may also mean figuratively, 'darkness,' or 'living (people).' Probably the sense of the two clauses may be as follows:—'At noonday we stumble as in darkness; in darkness like the dead.'—P.
11 Wes roar all like bears,2 and mourn sore like doves:3 we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.
12 Fort our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them:
t Je.30.14. Ho.9.7. Ps.40.12,13. Je.ii.-ix. Eze.vii. viii.; 11.5-12; 16.15-51; 22.1-30; 23.1-14. Mi.ii. iii.; 7.1-5. ch.3.9; 1.4. Ps.90.8. Je.14.7,20. Ro.3.19,20.
13 Inu transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
u ch.48.8. Je.2.19-21. Da.9.5. Ho.4.1,2. ch.32.6. Mar.7.21,22. Mat.12.34. Ro.1.28-31; 3.10-18. Tit.3.3.
14 And vjudgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.
A.M. cir. 3306. B.C. cir. 698.
v Ec.3.16. Ps.82.2,5. Eze.22.7,12. Mi.7.3. Ps.58.1,2. 2 Ki.xxi. 2 Ch.xxxiii. See ver.4.
15 Yea, xtruth faileth; and he that ydeparteth from evil 4maketh himself a prey:5 and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him6 that there was no judgment.
16 And he saw that zthere was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: thereforea his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.
z ch.64.7; 63.5. Eze.22.30. Je.5.1. Ge.18.23-32.
a ch.63.5; 40.10; 30.30; 51.5; 52.10. Ps.98.1,9.
17 Forb he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke.
b Ep.6.14,17. 1 Th.5.8, with ch.9.7; 63.4,5; 54.17. Ps.35.2. Zec.1.14. Jn.2.17.
18 Accordingc to their deeds,7 accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompense.8
19 Sod shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun.9 Whene the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.1
d Hag.2.7. ch.2.2-4; 11.9,10; 24.14-16; 42.4; 49.1; 51.5. Da.2.41; 7.27. Re.11.15. ch.43.6; 49.12. Ps.113.3; 72.17,19. Mal.1.11.
9 From the setting to the rising sun.—Note, All the history of religion, and consequent civilization, indicates a progress westward.—C.
e Ps.60.4. Ju.6.34; 11.29; 14.6,19. 1 Sa.16.13; xvii. Zec.1.18-21. Re.12.15,16, with 11.3-6. Eze.xxxviii. xxxix. Re.xx. Zec.4.6. Ps.cx. ch.11.10. 2 Th.2.8.
1 Or, put him to flight. Ja.4.7.
20 And gthe Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.
Notes
Ver. 5, 6. With the utmost labour and care they frame villanous schemes of doctrine or practice, by which their neighbours and partners are destroyed, and themselves nothing profited.—9-11. To punish our iniquity, men deny us justice, and God refuses to plead our cause. When we expect deliverance and prosperity, our miseries are increased, our spirits are overwhelmed with despair, and our anguish and grief inexpressible. 16-21. Finding that there are scarcely any left to stand up for injured honesty and truth, or even to plead for mercy, God will exert his immediate power in the righteous and faithful salvation of his people, and the destruction of their enemies, Chaldeans, Syro-Grecians, Romans, Papists, or Mahometans, and thus shall the nations around be awed by, or turned to, the Lord. Whenever Satan, or his instruments, make any assault, God, by the preaching of the gospel, and by his providence, shall graciously and suddenly repress their attempts. Jesus, the almighty Redeemer, shall not only appear in his humble estate in the Jewish church and temple, but shall dwell in his gospel church, and by faith call to himself the remnant of the Hebrew nation along with the fulness of the Gentiles. And the Spirit and oracles of God, granted to him and his church, shall always, especially in the happy time to come, abide with his ministers and people, to direct and instruct them in everthing necessary.
Ver. 3. Your hands are defiled with blood. Either with the sacrifice of children to Molech, 2 Ki. 21. 6, or the factious and cruel administration of law in name but in violation of justice, 1 Ki. 21. 16; or by such bloody persecutions as the early Christians endured from Rome Pagan, and the blessed Reformers from Rome Papal. C.
Ver. 5. He that eateth. He that adopts their principles is destroyed; and that which is crushed, even when thwarted and disappointed (in their evil designs), still the result is the production of those violent party feuds that, like a venomous viper, poison and destroy the peace and prosperity of their country. C.
Ver. 9. Judgment. A clear perception of national sins and national duties in conformity with the law of God.—Justice. Neither are we able, with all our efforts, to obtain any due administration of justice; all is partial, one-sided, and oppressive. C.
Ver. 10. We grope. Rejecting the light of God's Word, and the end of God's glory, as the only rules in legislation, we grope about in the dark, and make one experiment after another, and all ends in greater darkness and confusion. C.
Ver. 16. Righteousness. The righteousness of the Scriptures is the work of God in the person of Christ, whom righteousness sustained in life, death, and resurrection; and whom it still sustains in the blessed work of intercession. C.
Ver. 21. Upon thee—the Redeemer. Thy seed—the children whom God hath given thee in the everlasting covenant, and by renewal of the Holy Ghost, He. 2. 13; 1 Pe. 1. 23. C.
Reflections.—It is in vain to expect favours from God while we indulge ourselves in sin; and absurd to love that which separates us from our God, and entails his judgment on our heads. Dreadful is that root of original corruption which springs up in so many abominable courses; miserable their condition who have their own conscience upbraiding them, while Jehovah and his instruments are punishing them; and awful the situation when the universal prevalency of wickedness is attended with general wretchedness, perplexity, and anguish! Thrice happy is it to reflect, that where sin abounded grace doth much more abound; and that our whole salvation, and the overthrow of the wicked depend on God himself, who loves all: that Jesus Christ and his Spirit are appointed to accomplish the whole work of our conviction and salvation, repentance and faith being left to the good management of our own free-will.