1.
Behold, the LORD's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear:
1. hand . . . shortened—(See
on Isaiah 59:5).
ear heavy— (Isaiah 59:5).
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.
2. hid—Hebrew, "caused
Him to hide" (Lamentations 3:44).
3.
For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.
3. (Isaiah 1:15;
Romans 3:13-15).
hands . . . fingers—Not
merely the "hands" perpetrate deeds of grosser
enormity ("blood"), but the "fingers" commit more
minute acts of "iniquity."
lips . . . tongue—The
lips "speak" openly "lies," the
tongue "mutters" malicious insinuations
("perverseness"; perverse misrepresentations of others)
(Jeremiah 6:28; Jeremiah 9:4).
4.
None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth: they trust in vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.
4. Rather, "No one calleth
an adversary into court with justice," that is, None bringeth a
just suit: "No one pleadeth with truth."
they trust . . . iniquity—(So
Job 15:35; Psalms 7:14).
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.
5. cockatrice—probably the
basilisk serpent, cerastes. Instead of crushing evil in the
egg, they foster it.
spider's web—This
refers not to the spider's web being made to entrap, but to
its thinness, as contrasted with substantial "garments,"
as Isaiah 59:6 shows. Their works
are vain and transitory (Job 8:14;
Proverbs 11:18).
eateth . . . their eggs—he
who partakes in their plans, or has anything to do with
them, finds them pestiferous.
that which is crushed—The
egg, when it is broken, breaketh out as a viper; their plans,
however specious in their undeveloped form like the egg, when
developed, are found pernicious. Though the viper is viviparous (from
which "vi-per" is derived), yet during gestation, the young
are included in eggs, which break at the birth [BOCHART];
however, metaphors often combine things without representing
everything to the life.
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.
6. not . . . garments—like the
"fig leaves" wherewith Adam and Eve vainly tried to cover
their shame, as contrasted with "the coats of skins" which
the Lord God made to clothe them with (Isaiah 64:6;
Romans 13:14; Galatians 3:27;
Philippians 3:9). The artificial
self-deceiving sophisms of human philosophy (1 Timothy 6:5;
2 Timothy 2:16; 2 Timothy 2:23).
7.
Their feet run to evil, and they make hast to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.
7. feet—All their
members are active in evil; in , the "hands, fingers, lips, and tongue," are
specified.
run . . . haste— (). Contrast David's "running and hasting" in the
ways of God (Psalms 119:32; Psalms 119:60).
thoughts—not merely
their acts, but their whole thoughts.
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.
8. peace—whether in relation
to God, to their own conscience, or to their fellow men (Isaiah 57:20;
Isaiah 57:21).
judgment—justice.
crooked—the opposite of
"straightforward" (Proverbs 2:15;
Proverbs 28:18).
9.
Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.
9. judgment far—retribution in
kind because they had shown "no judgment in their
goings" (Isaiah 59:8). "The
vindication of our just rights by God is withheld by Him from
us."
us—In Isaiah 59:8 and previous verses, it was "they," the third
person; here, "us . . . we," the first person. The nation
here speaks: God thus making them out of their own mouth
condemn themselves; just as He by His prophet had condemned
them before. Isaiah includes himself with his people and speaks in
their name.
justice—God's justice
bringing salvation (Isaiah 46:13).
light—the dawn of
returning prosperity.
obscurity—adversity
(Jeremiah 8:15).
10.
We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.
10. grope—fulfilling Moses'
threat (Deuteronomy 28:29).
stumble at noon . . . as . .
. night—There is no relaxation of our evils; at the time when
we might look for the noon of relief, there is still the night of our
calamity.
in desolate places—rather,
to suit the parallel words "at noonday," in fertile
(literally, "fat"; Deuteronomy 28:29) fields [GESENIUS]
(where all is promising) we are like the dead (who have no
hope left them); or, where others are prosperous, we
wander about as dead men; true of all unbelievers (Isaiah 26:10;
Luke 15:17).
11.
We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.
11. roar—moan plaintively,
like a hungry bear which growls for food.
doves— (Isaiah 38:14;
Ezekiel 7:16).
salvation—retribution
in kind: because not salvation, but "destruction" was "in
their paths" (Isaiah 59:7).
12.
For 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;
13.
In 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.
13. The particulars of
the sins generally confessed in (Isaiah 48:8; Jeremiah 2:19;
Jeremiah 2:20). The act, the word, and
the thought of apostasy, are all here marked: transgression
and departing, c. lying (compare Jeremiah 2:20), and speaking, c. conceiving and uttering
from the heart.
14.
And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.
14. Justice and righteousness
are put away from our legal courts.
in the street—in the
forum, the place of judicature, usually at the gate of the city ().
cannot enter—is shut
out from the forum, or courts of justice.
15.
Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.
15. faileth—is not to be
found.
he that departeth . . .
prey—He that will not fall in with the prevailing iniquity
exposes himself as a prey to the wicked (Psalms 10:8;
Psalms 10:9).
Lord saw it—The
iniquity of Israel, so desperate as to require nothing short of
Jehovah's interposition to mend it, typifies the same necessity for a
Divine Mediator existing in the deep corruption of man; Israel, the
model nation, was chosen to illustrate his awful fact.
16.
And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.
16. no man—namely, to atone by
his righteousness for the unrighteousness of the people. "Man"
is emphatic, as in 1 Kings 2:2; no
representative man able to retrieve the cause of fallen men (Isaiah 41:28;
Isaiah 63:5; Isaiah 63:6;
Jeremiah 5:1; Ezekiel 22:30).
no intercessor—no one
to interpose, "to help . . . uphold" (Ezekiel 22:30).
his arm— (Isaiah 40:10;
Isaiah 51:5). Not man's arm,
but His alone (Psalms 98:1;
Psalms 44:3).
his righteousness—the
"arm" of Messiah. He won the victory for us, not by mere
might as God, but by His invincible righteousness, as
man having "the Spirit without measure" (Isaiah 11:5;
Isaiah 42:6; Isaiah 42:21;
Isaiah 51:8; Isaiah 53:11;
1 John 2:1).
17.
For 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.
17. Messiah is represented as a
warrior armed at all points, going forth to vindicate His people.
Owing to the unity of Christ and His people, their armor is like His,
except that they have no "garments of vengeance"
(which is God's prerogative, ), or "cloak of zeal" (in the sense of
judicial fury punishing the wicked; this zeal belongs properly
to God, 2 Kings 10:16; Romans 10:2;
Philippians 3:6; "zeal," in the
sense of anxiety for the Lord's honor, they have, Numbers 25:11;
Numbers 25:13; Psalms 69:9;
2 Corinthians 7:11; 2 Corinthians 9:2);
and for "salvation," which is of God alone (2 Corinthians 9:2), they have as their helmet, "the hope of
salvation" (1 Thessalonians 5:8). The
"helmet of salvation" is attributed to them (Ephesians 6:14;
Ephesians 6:17) in a secondary sense;
namely, derived from Him, and as yet only in hope, not
fruition (Romans 8:24). The second
coming here, as often, is included in this representation of Messiah.
His "zeal" (Romans 8:24) at His first coming was but a type of His zeal and
vengeance against the foes of God at His second coming (2 Thessalonians 1:8-10;
Revelation 19:11-21).
18.
According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence.
18. deeds—Hebrew,
"recompenses"; "according as their deeds demand"
[MAURER]. This verse
predicts the judgments at the Lord's second coming, which shall
precede the final redemption of His people (Isaiah 66:18;
Isaiah 66:15; Isaiah 66:16).
islands—(See on Isaiah 66:16). Distant countries.
19.
So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.
19. (Isaiah 45:6;
Malachi 1:11). The result of God's
judgments (Isaiah 26:9; Isaiah 66:18-20).
like a flood— (Jeremiah 46:7;
Jeremiah 46:8; Revelation 12:15).
lift up a standard—rather,
from a different Hebrew root, "shall put him to flight,"
"drive him away" [MAURER].
LOWTH, giving a different
sense to the Hebrew for "enemy" from that in Revelation 12:15, and a forced meaning to the Hebrew for "Spirit
of the Lord," translates, "When He shall come as a river
straitened in its course, which a mighty wind drives
along."
20.
And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD.
20. to Zion— quotes it, "out of Zion." Thus Paul, by
inspiration, supplements the sense from : He was, and is come to Zion, first with redemption,
being sprung as man out of Zion. The Septuagint
translates "for the sake of Zion." Paul applies this
verse to the coming restoration of Israel spiritually.
them that turn from—
(Romans 11:26). "shall turn
away ungodliness from Jacob"; so the Septuagint, Paul
herein gives the full sense under inspiration. They turn from
transgression, because He first turns them from it, and it from them
(Psalms 130:4; Lamentations 5:21).
21.
As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.
21. covenant with them . . .
thee—The covenant is with Christ, and with them
only as united to Him (Hebrews 2:13).
Jehovah addresses Messiah the representative and ideal Israel. The
literal and spiritual Israel are His seed, to whom the promise is to
be fulfilled (Psalms 22:30).
spirit . . . not depart . . .
for ever— (Jeremiah 31:31-37;
Matthew 28:20).