961 lines
72 KiB
XML
961 lines
72 KiB
XML
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<div2 id="Is.ii" n="ii" next="Is.iii" prev="Is.i" progress="0.68%" title="Chapter I">
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<h2 id="Is.ii-p0.1">I S A I A H.</h2>
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<h3 id="Is.ii-p0.2">CHAP. I.</h3>
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<p class="intro" id="Is.ii-p1" shownumber="no">The first verse of this chapter is intended for a
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title to the whole book, and it is probable that this was the first
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sermon that this prophet was appointed to publish and to affix in
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writing (as Calvin thinks the custom of the prophets was) to the
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door of the temple, as with us proclamations are fixed to public
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places, that all might read them (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Hab.2.2" parsed="|Hab|2|2|0|0" passage="Hab 2:2">Hab.
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ii. 2</scripRef>), and those that would might take out authentic
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copies of them, the original being, after some time, laid up by the
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priests among the records of the temple. The sermon which is
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contained in this chapter has in it, I. A high charge exhibited, in
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God's name, against the Jewish church and nation, 1. For their
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ingratitude, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.2-Isa.1.3" parsed="|Isa|1|2|1|3" passage="Isa 1:2,3">ver. 2, 3</scripRef>. 2.
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For their incorrigibleness, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.5" parsed="|Isa|1|5|0|0" passage="Isa 1:5">ver.
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5</scripRef>. 3. For the universal corruption and degeneracy of the
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people, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.4 Bible:Isa.1.6 Bible:Isa.1.21 Bible:Isa.1.22" parsed="|Isa|1|4|0|0;|Isa|1|6|0|0;|Isa|1|21|0|0;|Isa|1|22|0|0" passage="Isa 1:4,6,21,22">ver. 4, 6, 21,
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22</scripRef>. 4. For the perversion of justice by their rulers,
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<scripRef id="Is.ii-p1.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.23" parsed="|Isa|1|23|0|0" passage="Isa 1:23">ver. 23</scripRef>. II. A sad
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complaint of the judgments of God, which they had brought upon
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themselves by their sins, and by which they were brought almost to
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utter ruin, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p1.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.7-Isa.1.9" parsed="|Isa|1|7|1|9" passage="Isa 1:7-9">ver. 7-9</scripRef>. III.
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A just rejection of those shows and shadows of religion which they
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kept up among them, notwithstanding this general defection and
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apostasy, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p1.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.10-Isa.1.15" parsed="|Isa|1|10|1|15" passage="Isa 1:10-15">ver. 10-15</scripRef>.
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IV. An earnest call to repentance and reformation, setting before
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them life and death, life if they compiled with the call and death
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if they did not, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p1.8" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.16-Isa.1.20" parsed="|Isa|1|16|1|20" passage="Isa 1:16-20">ver.
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16-20</scripRef>. V. A threatening of ruin to those that would not
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be reformed, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p1.9" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.24 Bible:Isa.1.28-Isa.1.31" parsed="|Isa|1|24|0|0;|Isa|1|28|1|31" passage="Isa 1:24,28-31">ver. 24,
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28-31</scripRef>. VI. A promise of a happy reformation at last, and
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a return to their primitive purity and prosperity, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p1.10" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.25-Isa.1.27" parsed="|Isa|1|25|1|27" passage="Isa 1:25-27">ver. 25-27</scripRef>. And all this is to be
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applied by us, not only to the communities we are members of, in
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their public interests, but to the state of our own souls.</p>
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<scripCom id="Is.ii-p1.11" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1" parsed="|Isa|1|0|0|0" passage="Isa 1" type="Commentary"/>
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<scripCom id="Is.ii-p1.12" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.1" parsed="|Isa|1|1|0|0" passage="Isa 1:1" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.ii-p1.13">
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<h4 id="Is.ii-p1.14">The Vision of Isaiah. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.ii-p1.15">b. c.</span> 738.)</h4>
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<p class="passage" id="Is.ii-p2" shownumber="no">1 The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he
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saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham,
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Ahaz, <i>and</i> Hezekiah, kings of Judah.</p>
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<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p3" shownumber="no">Here is, I. The name of the prophet,
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<i>Isaiah,</i> or <i>Jesahiahu</i> (for so it is in the Hebrew),
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which, in the New Testament is read <i>Esaias.</i> His name
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signifies <i>the salvation of the Lord</i>—a proper name for a
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prophet by whom God <i>gives knowledge of salvation to his
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people,</i> especially for this prophet, who prophesies so much of
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Jesus the Saviour and of the great salvation wrought out by him. He
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is said to be <i>the son of Amoz,</i> not Amos the prophet (the two
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names in the Hebrew differ more than in the English), but, as the
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Jews think, of Amoz the brother, or son, of Amaziah king of Judah,
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a tradition as uncertain as that rule which they give, that, where
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a prophet's father is named, he also was himself a prophet. The
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prophets' pupils and successors are indeed often called their
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<i>sons,</i> but we have few instances, if any, of their own sons
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being their successors.</p>
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<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p4" shownumber="no">II. The nature of the prophecy. It is a
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vision, being revealed to him in a vision, when he was <i>awake,
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and heard the words of God, and saw the visions of the Almighty</i>
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(as Balaam speaks, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Num.24.4" parsed="|Num|24|4|0|0" passage="Nu 24:4">Num. xxiv.
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4</scripRef>), though perhaps it was not so illustrious a vision at
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first as that afterwards, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.1" parsed="|Isa|6|1|0|0" passage="Isa 6:1"><i>ch.</i>
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vi. 1</scripRef>. The prophets were called <i>seers,</i> or seeing
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men, and therefore their prophecies are fitly called
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<i>visions.</i> It was what he saw with the eyes of his mind, and
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foresaw as clearly by divine revelation, was as well assured of it,
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as fully apprised of it, and as much affected with it, as if he had
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seen it with his bodily eyes. Note 1. God's prophets saw what they
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spoke of, knew what they said, and require our belief of nothing
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but what they themselves believed and were sure of, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p4.3" osisRef="Bible:John.6.69 Bible:1John.1.1" parsed="|John|6|69|0|0;|1John|1|1|0|0" passage="Joh 6:69,1Jo 1:1">John vi. 69; 1 John i. 1</scripRef>. 2.
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They could not but speak what they saw, because they saw how much
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all about them were concerned in it, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p4.4" osisRef="Bible:Acts.4.20 Bible:2Cor.4.13" parsed="|Acts|4|20|0|0;|2Cor|4|13|0|0" passage="Ac 4:20,2Co 4:13">Acts iv. 20; 2 Cor. iv. 13</scripRef>.</p>
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<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p5" shownumber="no">III. The subject of the prophecy. It was
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what <i>he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem,</i> the country of
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the two tribes, and that city which was their metropolis; and there
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is little in it relating to Ephraim, or the ten tribes, of whom
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there is so much said in the prophecy of Hosea. Some chapters there
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are in this book which relate to Babylon, Egypt, Tyre, and some
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other neighbouring nations; but it takes its title from that which
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is the main substance of it, and is therefore said to be
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<i>concerning Judah and Jerusalem,</i> the other nations spoken of
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being such as the people of the Jews had concern with. Isaiah
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brings to them in a special manner, 1. Instruction; for it is the
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privilege of Judah and Jerusalem that to them pertain the oracles
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of God. 2. Reproof and threatening; for if in Judah, where God is
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known, if in Salem, where his name is great, iniquity be found,
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they, sooner than any other, shall be reckoned with for it. 3.
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Comfort and encouragement in evil times; for the children of Zion
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shall be joyful in their king.</p>
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<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p6" shownumber="no">IV. The date of the prophecy. Isaiah
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prophesied <i>in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and
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Hezekiah.</i> By this it appears, 1. That he prophesied long,
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especially if (as the Jews say) he was at last put to death by
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Manasseh, to a cruel death, being sawn asunder, to which some
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suppose the apostle refers, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p6.1" osisRef="Bible:Heb.11.37" parsed="|Heb|11|37|0|0" passage="Heb 11:37">Heb. xi.
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37</scripRef>. From the year that king Uzziah died (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p6.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.6.1" parsed="|Isa|6|1|0|0" passage="Isa 6:1"><i>ch.</i> vi. 1</scripRef>) to Hezekiah's
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sickness and recovery was forty-seven years; how much before, and
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after, he prophesied, is not certain; some reckon sixty, others
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eighty years in all. It was an honour to him, and a happiness to
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his country, that he was continued so long in his usefulness; and
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we must suppose both that he began young and that he held out to
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old age; for the prophets were not tied, as the priests were, to a
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certain age, for the beginning or ending of their administration.
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2. That he passed through variety of times. Jotham was a good king,
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and Hezekiah a better, and no doubt gave encouragement to and took
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advice from this prophet, were patrons to him, and he a
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privy-counsellor to them; but between them, and when Isaiah was in
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the prime of his time, the reign of Ahaz was very profane and
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wicked; then, no doubt, he was frowned upon at court, and, it is
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likely, forced to abscond. Good men and good ministers must expect
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bad times in this world, and prepare for them. Then religion was
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run down to such a degree that the <i>doors of the house of the
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Lord were shut up</i> and idolatrous <i>altars were erected in
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every corner of Jerusalem;</i> and Isaiah, with all his divine
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eloquence and messages immediately from God himself, could not help
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it. The best men, the best ministers, cannot do the good they would
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do in the world.</p>
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</div><scripCom id="Is.ii-p6.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.2-Isa.1.9" parsed="|Isa|1|2|1|9" passage="Isa 1:2-9" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.ii-p6.4">
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<h4 id="Is.ii-p6.5">The Degeneracy of Israel; The Sinfulness of
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Israel; The Sufferings of Israel. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.ii-p6.6">b.
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c.</span> 738.)</h4>
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<p class="passage" id="Is.ii-p7" shownumber="no">2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for
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the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.ii-p7.1">Lord</span> hath spoken, I have
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nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against
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me. 3 The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's
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crib: <i>but</i> Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
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4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of
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evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the
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<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.ii-p7.2">Lord</span>, they have provoked the Holy
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One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward. 5 Why
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should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more: the
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whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. 6 From the
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sole of the foot even unto the head <i>there is</i> no soundness in
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it; <i>but</i> wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores: they have
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not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.
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7 Your country <i>is</i> desolate, your cities <i>are</i>
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burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence,
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and <i>it is</i> desolate, as overthrown by strangers. 8 And
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the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge
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in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. 9 Except the
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<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.ii-p7.3">Lord</span> of hosts had left unto us a
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very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, <i>and</i> we
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should have been like unto Gomorrah.</p>
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<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p8" shownumber="no">We will hope to meet with a brighter and
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more pleasant scene before we come to the end of this book; but
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truly here, in the beginning of it, every thing looks very bad,
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very black, with Judah and Jerusalem. What is the wilderness of the
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world, if the church, the vineyard, has such a dismal aspect as
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this?</p>
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<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p9" shownumber="no">I. The prophet, though he speaks in God's
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name, yet, despairing to gain audience with the children of his
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people, addresses himself to the heavens and the earth, and
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bespeaks their attention (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.2" parsed="|Isa|1|2|0|0" passage="Isa 1:2"><i>v.</i>
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2</scripRef>): <i>Hear, O heavens! and give ear, O earth!</i>
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Sooner will the inanimate creatures hear, who observe the law and
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answer the end of their creation, than this stupid senseless
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people. Let the lights of the heaven shame their darkness, and the
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fruitfulness of the earth their barrenness, and the strictness of
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each to its time their irregularity. Moses begins thus in <scripRef id="Is.ii-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.1" parsed="|Deut|32|1|0|0" passage="De 32:1">Deut. xxxii. 1</scripRef>, to which the prophet
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here refers, intimating that now those times had come which Moses
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there foretold, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.31.29" parsed="|Deut|31|29|0|0" passage="De 31:29">Deut. xxxi.
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29</scripRef>. Or this is an appeal to heaven and earth, to angels
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and then to the inhabitants of the upper and lower world. Let them
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<i>judge between God and his vineyard;</i> can either produce such
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an instance of ingratitude? Note, God will be justified when he
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speaks, and both heaven and earth shall declare his righteousness,
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<scripRef id="Is.ii-p9.4" osisRef="Bible:Mic.6.1-Mic.6.2 Bible:Ps.50.6" parsed="|Mic|6|1|6|2;|Ps|50|6|0|0" passage="Mic 6:1,2,Ps 50:6">Mic. vi. 1, 2; Ps. l.
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6</scripRef>.</p>
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<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p10" shownumber="no">II. He charges them with base ingratitude,
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a crime of the highest nature. Call a man ungrateful, and you can
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call him no worse. Let heaven and earth hear and wonder at, 1.
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God's gracious dealings with such a peevish provoking people as
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they were: "I have nourished and brought them up as children; they
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have been well fed and well taught" (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p10.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.32.6" parsed="|Deut|32|6|0|0" passage="De 32:6">Deut. xxxii. 6</scripRef>); "I have magnified and exalted
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them" (so some), "not only made them grow, but made them great—not
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only maintained them, but preferred them—not only trained them up,
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but raised them high." Note, We owe the continuance of our lives
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and comforts, and all our advancements, to God's fatherly care of
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us and kindness to us. 2. Their ill-natured conduct towards him,
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who was so tender of them: "<i>They have rebelled against me,</i>"
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or (as some read it) "they have revolted from me; they have been
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deserters, nay traitors, against my crown and dignity." Note, All
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the instances of God's favour to us, as the God both of our nature
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and of our nurture, aggravate our treacherous departures from him
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and all our presumptuous oppositions to him—children, and yet
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rebels!</p>
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<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p11" shownumber="no">III. He attributes this to their ignorance
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and inconsideration (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p11.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.3" parsed="|Isa|1|3|0|0" passage="Isa 1:3"><i>v.</i>
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3</scripRef>): <i>The ox knows, but Israel does not.</i> Observe,
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1. The sagacity of the ox and the ass, which are not only brute
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creatures, but of the dullest sort; yet the ox has such a sense of
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duty as to know his owner and to serve him, to submit to his yoke
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and to draw in it; the ass has such a sense of interest as to know
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has master's crib, or manger, where he is fed, and to abide by it;
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he will go to that of himself if he be turned loose. A fine pass
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man has come to when he is shamed even in knowledge and
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understanding by these silly animals, and is not only sent to
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school to them (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p11.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.6.6-Prov.6.7" parsed="|Prov|6|6|6|7" passage="Pr 6:6,7">Prov. vi. 6,
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7</scripRef>), but set in a form below them (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p11.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.8.7" parsed="|Jer|8|7|0|0" passage="Jer 8:7">Jer. viii. 7</scripRef>), <i>taught more than the beasts
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of the earth</i> (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p11.4" osisRef="Bible:Job.35.11" parsed="|Job|35|11|0|0" passage="Job 35:11">Job xxxv.
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11</scripRef>) and yet knowing less. 2. The sottishness and
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stupidity of Israel. God is their owner and proprietor. He made us,
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and his we are more than our cattle are ours; he has provided well
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for us; providence is our Master's crib; yet many that are called
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the people of God do not know and will not consider this, but ask,
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"<i>What is the Almighty that we should serve him?</i> He is not
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our owner; and <i>what profit shall we have if we pray unto
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him?</i> He has no crib for us to feed at." He had complained
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(<scripRef id="Is.ii-p11.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.2" parsed="|Isa|1|2|0|0" passage="Isa 1:2"><i>v.</i> 2</scripRef>) of the
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obstinacy of their wills; <i>They have rebelled against me.</i>
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Here he runs it up to its cause: "<i>Therefore</i> they have
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rebelled because they do not know, they do not consider." The
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understanding is darkened, and therefore the whole soul is
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alienated from the life of God, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p11.6" osisRef="Bible:Eph.4.18" parsed="|Eph|4|18|0|0" passage="Eph 4:18">Eph.
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iv. 18</scripRef>. "<i>Israel does not know,</i> though their land
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is a land of light and knowledge; <i>in Judah is God known,</i>
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yet, because they do not live up to what they know, it is in effect
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as if they did not know. They know; but their knowledge does them
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no good, because they do not consider what they know; they do not
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apply it to their case, nor their minds to it." Note, (1.) Even
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|
among those that profess themselves God's people, that have the
|
|||
|
advantages and lie under the engagements of his people, there are
|
|||
|
many that are very careless in the affairs of their souls. (2.)
|
|||
|
Inconsideration of what we do know is as great an enemy to us in
|
|||
|
religion as ignorance of what we should know. (3.) <i>Therefore</i>
|
|||
|
men revolt from God, and rebel against him, because they do not
|
|||
|
know and consider their obligations to God in duty, gratitude, and
|
|||
|
interest.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p12" shownumber="no">IV. He laments the universal pravity and
|
|||
|
corruption of their church and kingdom. The disease of sin was
|
|||
|
epidemic, and all orders and degrees of men were infected with it;
|
|||
|
<i>Ah sinful nation!</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.4" parsed="|Isa|1|4|0|0" passage="Isa 1:4"><i>v.</i>
|
|||
|
4</scripRef>. The prophet bemoans those that would not bemoan
|
|||
|
themselves: Alas for them! Woe to them! He speaks with holy
|
|||
|
indignation at their degeneracy, and a dread of the consequences of
|
|||
|
it. See here,</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p13" shownumber="no">1. How he aggravates their sin, and shows
|
|||
|
the malignity that there was in it, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.4" parsed="|Isa|1|4|0|0" passage="Isa 1:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. (1.) The wickedness was
|
|||
|
universal. They were a sinful nation; the generality of the people
|
|||
|
were vicious and profane. They were so in their national capacity.
|
|||
|
In the management of their public treaties abroad, and in the
|
|||
|
administration of public justice at home, they were corrupt. Note,
|
|||
|
It is ill with a people when sin becomes national. (2.) It was very
|
|||
|
great and heinous in its nature. They were <i>laden with
|
|||
|
iniquity;</i> the guilt of it, and the curse incurred by that
|
|||
|
guilt, lay very heavily upon them. It was a heavy charge that was
|
|||
|
exhibited against them, and one which they could never clear
|
|||
|
themselves from; their wickedness was upon them as <i>a talent of
|
|||
|
lead,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Zech.5.7-Zech.5.8" parsed="|Zech|5|7|5|8" passage="Zec 5:7,8">Zec. v. 7, 8</scripRef>.
|
|||
|
Their sin, as it did easily beset them and they were prone to it,
|
|||
|
was a weight upon them, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:Heb.12.1" parsed="|Heb|12|1|0|0" passage="Heb 12:1">Heb. xii.
|
|||
|
1</scripRef>. (3.) They came of a bad stock, were a <i>seed of
|
|||
|
evil-doers.</i> Treachery ran in their blood; they had it by kind,
|
|||
|
which made the matter so much the worse, more provoking and less
|
|||
|
curable. They rose up in their fathers' stead, and trod in their
|
|||
|
fathers' steps, to <i>fill up the measure of their iniquity,</i>
|
|||
|
<scripRef id="Is.ii-p13.4" osisRef="Bible:Num.32.14" parsed="|Num|32|14|0|0" passage="Nu 32:14">Num. xxxii. 14</scripRef>. They were a
|
|||
|
race and family of rebels. (4.) Those that were themselves
|
|||
|
debauched did what they could to debauch others. They were not only
|
|||
|
corrupt children, born tainted, but <i>children that were
|
|||
|
corrupters,</i> that propagated vice, and infected others with
|
|||
|
it—not only sinners, but tempters—not only actuated by Satan, but
|
|||
|
agents for him. If those that are called <i>children, God's
|
|||
|
children,</i> that are looked upon as belonging to his family, be
|
|||
|
wicked and vile, their example is of the most malignant influence.
|
|||
|
(5.) Their sin was a treacherous departure from God. They were
|
|||
|
deserters from their allegiance: "<i>They have forsaken the
|
|||
|
Lord,</i> to whom they had joined themselves; <i>they have gone
|
|||
|
away backward,</i> are alienated or separated from God, have turned
|
|||
|
their back upon him, deserted their colours, and quitted their
|
|||
|
service." When they were urged forward, they ran backward, <i>as a
|
|||
|
bullock unaccustomed to the yoke, as a backsliding heifer,</i>
|
|||
|
<scripRef id="Is.ii-p13.5" osisRef="Bible:Hos.4.16" parsed="|Hos|4|16|0|0" passage="Ho 4:16">Hos. iv. 16</scripRef>. (6.) It was an
|
|||
|
impudent and daring defiance of him: <i>They have provoked the Holy
|
|||
|
One of Israel unto anger</i> wilfully and designedly; they knew
|
|||
|
what would anger him, and that they did. Note, The backslidings of
|
|||
|
those that have professed religion and relation to God are in a
|
|||
|
special manner provoking to him.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p14" shownumber="no">2. How he illustrates it by a comparison
|
|||
|
taken from a sick and diseased body, all overspread with leprosy,
|
|||
|
or, like Job's, with sore boils, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.5-Isa.1.6" parsed="|Isa|1|5|1|6" passage="Isa 1:5,6"><i>v.</i> 5, 6</scripRef>. (1.) The distemper has
|
|||
|
seized the vitals, and so threatens to be mortal. Diseases in the
|
|||
|
head and heart are most dangerous; now the head, the whole head, is
|
|||
|
sick—the heart, the whole heart, is faint. They had become corrupt
|
|||
|
in their judgment: the leprosy was in their head. They were utterly
|
|||
|
unclean; their affection to God and religion was cold and gone; the
|
|||
|
<i>things which remained were ready to die</i> away, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Rev.3.2" parsed="|Rev|3|2|0|0" passage="Re 3:2">Rev. iii. 2</scripRef>. (2.) It has overspread the
|
|||
|
whole body, and so becomes exceedingly noisome; <i>From the sole of
|
|||
|
the foot even to the head,</i> from the meanest peasant to the
|
|||
|
greatest peer, there is <i>no soundness,</i> no good principles, no
|
|||
|
religion (for that is the health of the soul), nothing but
|
|||
|
<i>wounds and bruises,</i> guilt and corruption, the sad effects of
|
|||
|
Adam's fall, noisome to the holy God, painful to the sensible soul;
|
|||
|
they were so to David when he complained (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p14.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.38.5" parsed="|Ps|38|5|0|0" passage="Ps 38:5">Ps. xxxviii. 5</scripRef>), <i>My wounds stink, and are
|
|||
|
corrupt, because of my foolishness.</i> See <scripRef id="Is.ii-p14.4" osisRef="Bible:Ps.32.3-Ps.32.4" parsed="|Ps|32|3|32|4" passage="Ps 32:3,4">Ps. xxxii. 3, 4</scripRef>. No attempts were made for
|
|||
|
reformation, or, if they were, they proved ineffectual: The wounds
|
|||
|
<i>have not been closed, not bound up, nor mollified with
|
|||
|
ointment.</i> While sin remains unrepented of the wounds are
|
|||
|
unsearched, unwashed, the proud flesh in them not cut out, and
|
|||
|
while, consequently, it remains unpardoned, the wounds are not
|
|||
|
mollified or closed up, nor any thing done towards the healing of
|
|||
|
them and the preventing of their fatal consequences.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p15" shownumber="no">V. He sadly bewails the judgments of God
|
|||
|
which they had brought upon themselves by their sins, and their
|
|||
|
incorrigibleness under those judgments. 1. Their kingdom was almost
|
|||
|
ruined, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.7" parsed="|Isa|1|7|0|0" passage="Isa 1:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>. So
|
|||
|
miserable were they that both their towns and their lands were
|
|||
|
wasted, and yet so stupid that they needed to be told this, to have
|
|||
|
it shown to them. "Look and see how it is; <i>your country is
|
|||
|
desolate;</i> the ground is not cultivated, for want of
|
|||
|
inhabitants, the villages being deserted, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p15.2" osisRef="Bible:Judg.5.7" parsed="|Judg|5|7|0|0" passage="Jdg 5:7">Judg. v. 7</scripRef>. And thus the fields and vineyards
|
|||
|
become like deserts, <i>all grown over with thorns,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p15.3" osisRef="Bible:Prov.24.31" parsed="|Prov|24|31|0|0" passage="Pr 24:31">Prov. xxiv. 31</scripRef>. <i>Your cities are
|
|||
|
burned with fire,</i> by the enemies that invade you" (fire and
|
|||
|
sword commonly go together); "as for the fruits of your land, which
|
|||
|
should be food for your families, <i>strangers devour them;</i>
|
|||
|
and, to your greater vexation, it is <i>before your eyes,</i> and
|
|||
|
you cannot prevent it; you starve while your enemies surfeit on
|
|||
|
that which should be your maintenance. The overthrow of your
|
|||
|
country is as the overthrow of strangers; it is used by the
|
|||
|
invaders, as one might expect it should be used by strangers."
|
|||
|
Jerusalem itself, which was as the daughter of Zion (the temple
|
|||
|
built on Zion was a mother, a nursing mother, to Jerusalem), or
|
|||
|
Zion itself, the holy mountain, which had been dear to God as a
|
|||
|
daughter, was now lost, deserted, and exposed <i>as a cottage in a
|
|||
|
vineyard,</i> which, when the vintage is over, nobody dwells in or
|
|||
|
takes any care of, and looks as mean and despicable as <i>a
|
|||
|
lodge</i> or hut, <i>in a garden of cucumbers;</i> and every person
|
|||
|
is afraid of coming near it, and solicitous to remove his effects
|
|||
|
out of it, as if it were <i>a besieged city,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p15.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.8" parsed="|Isa|1|8|0|0" passage="Isa 1:8"><i>v.</i> 8</scripRef>. And some think, it is a
|
|||
|
calamitous state of the kingdom that is represented by a diseased
|
|||
|
body, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p15.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.6" parsed="|Isa|1|6|0|0" passage="Isa 1:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. Probably
|
|||
|
this sermon was preached in the reign of Ahaz, when Judah was
|
|||
|
invaded by the kings of Syria and Israel, the Edomites and the
|
|||
|
Philistines, who slew many, and carried many away into captivity,
|
|||
|
<scripRef id="Is.ii-p15.6" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.28.5 Bible:2Chr.28.17 Bible:2Chr.28.18" parsed="|2Chr|28|5|0|0;|2Chr|28|17|0|0;|2Chr|28|18|0|0" passage="2Ch 28:5,17,18">2 Chron. xxviii. 5, 17,
|
|||
|
18</scripRef>. Note, National impiety and immorality bring national
|
|||
|
desolation. Canaan, the glory of all lands, Mount Zion, the joy of
|
|||
|
the whole earth, both became a reproach and a ruin; and sin made
|
|||
|
them so, that great mischief-maker. 2. Yet they were not all
|
|||
|
reformed, and therefore God threatens to take another course with
|
|||
|
them (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p15.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.5" parsed="|Isa|1|5|0|0" passage="Isa 1:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>): "<i>Why
|
|||
|
should you be stricken any more,</i> with any expectation of doing
|
|||
|
you good by it, when you increase revolts as your rebukes are
|
|||
|
increased? <i>You will revolt more and more,</i> as you have done,"
|
|||
|
as Ahaz particularly did, who, <i>in his distress, trespassed yet
|
|||
|
more against the Lord,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p15.8" osisRef="Bible:2Chr.28.22" parsed="|2Chr|28|22|0|0" passage="2Ch 28:22">2 Chron.
|
|||
|
xxviii. 22</scripRef>. Thus the physician, when he sees the
|
|||
|
patient's case desperate, troubles him no more with physic; and the
|
|||
|
father resolves to correct his child no more when, finding him
|
|||
|
hardened, he determines to disinherit him. Note, (1.) There are
|
|||
|
those who are made worse by the methods God takes to make them
|
|||
|
better; the more they are stricken the more they revolt; their
|
|||
|
corruptions, instead of being mortified, are irritated and
|
|||
|
exasperated by their afflictions, and their hearts more hardened.
|
|||
|
(2.) God, sometimes, in a way of righteous judgment, ceases to
|
|||
|
correct those who have been long incorrigible, and whom therefore
|
|||
|
he designs to destroy. The reprobate silver shall be cast, not into
|
|||
|
the furnace, but to the dunghill, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p15.9" osisRef="Bible:Jer.6.29-Jer.6.30" parsed="|Jer|6|29|6|30" passage="Jer 6:29,30">Jer. vi. 29, 30</scripRef>. See <scripRef id="Is.ii-p15.10" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.24.13 Bible:Hos.4.14" parsed="|Ezek|24|13|0|0;|Hos|4|14|0|0" passage="Ezek 24:13,Ho 4:14">Ezek. xxiv. 13; Hos. iv. 14</scripRef>. He
|
|||
|
that is <i>filthy, let him be filthy still.</i></p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p16" shownumber="no">VI. He comforts himself with the
|
|||
|
consideration of a remnant that should be the monuments of divine
|
|||
|
grace and mercy, notwithstanding this general corruption and
|
|||
|
desolation, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.9" parsed="|Isa|1|9|0|0" passage="Isa 1:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. See
|
|||
|
here, 1. How near they were to an utter extirpation. They were
|
|||
|
almost like Sodom and Gomorrah in respect both of sin and ruin, had
|
|||
|
grown almost so bad that there could not have been found <i>ten
|
|||
|
righteous men among them,</i> and almost as miserable as if none
|
|||
|
had been left alive, but their country turned into a sulphureous
|
|||
|
lake. Divine Justice said, <i>Make them as Admah; set them as
|
|||
|
Zeboim;</i> but Mercy said, <i>How shall I do it?</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Hos.11.8-Hos.11.9" parsed="|Hos|11|8|11|9" passage="Ho 11:8,9">Hos. xi. 8, 9</scripRef>. 2. What it was that
|
|||
|
saved them from it: <i>The Lord of hosts left unto them a very
|
|||
|
small remnant,</i> that were kept pure from the common apostasy and
|
|||
|
kept safe and alive from the common calamity. This is quoted by the
|
|||
|
apostle (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:Rom.9.27" parsed="|Rom|9|27|0|0" passage="Ro 9:27">Rom. ix. 27</scripRef>), and
|
|||
|
applied to those few of the Jewish nation who in his time embraced
|
|||
|
Christianity, when the body of the people rejected it, and in whom
|
|||
|
the promises made to the fathers were accomplished. Note, (1.) In
|
|||
|
the worst of times there is a remnant preserved from iniquity and
|
|||
|
reserved for mercy, as Noah and his family in the deluge, Lot and
|
|||
|
his in the destruction of Sodom. Divine grace triumphs in
|
|||
|
distinguishing by an act of sovereignty. (2.) This remnant is often
|
|||
|
a very small one in comparison with the vast number of revolting
|
|||
|
ruined sinners. Multitude is no mark of the true church. Christ's
|
|||
|
is a little flock. (3.) It is God's work to sanctify and save some,
|
|||
|
when others are left to perish in their impurity. It is the work of
|
|||
|
his power as the Lord of hosts. Except he had left us that remnant,
|
|||
|
there would have been none left; the corrupters (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p16.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.4" parsed="|Isa|1|4|0|0" passage="Isa 1:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>) did what they could to debauch
|
|||
|
all, and the devourers (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p16.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.7" parsed="|Isa|1|7|0|0" passage="Isa 1:7"><i>v.</i>
|
|||
|
7</scripRef>) to destroy all, and they would have prevailed of God
|
|||
|
himself had not interposed to secure to himself a remnant, who are
|
|||
|
bound to give him all the glory. (4.) It is good for a people that
|
|||
|
have been saved from utter ruin to look back and see how near they
|
|||
|
were to it, just upon the brink of it, to see how much they owed to
|
|||
|
a few good men that stood in the gap, and that that was owing to a
|
|||
|
good God, who left them these good men. <i>It is of the Lord's
|
|||
|
mercies that we are not consumed.</i></p>
|
|||
|
</div><scripCom id="Is.ii-p16.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.10-Isa.1.15" parsed="|Isa|1|10|1|15" passage="Isa 1:10-15" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.ii-p16.7">
|
|||
|
<h4 id="Is.ii-p16.8">The Vanity of Mere Ritual
|
|||
|
Obedience. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.ii-p16.9">b. c.</span> 738.)</h4>
|
|||
|
<p class="passage" id="Is.ii-p17" shownumber="no">10 Hear the word of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.ii-p17.1">Lord</span>, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law
|
|||
|
of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. 11 To what purpose
|
|||
|
<i>is</i> the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.ii-p17.2">Lord</span>: I am full of the burnt offerings of
|
|||
|
rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of
|
|||
|
bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. 12 When ye come to
|
|||
|
appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my
|
|||
|
courts? 13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an
|
|||
|
abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of
|
|||
|
assemblies, I cannot away with; <i>it is</i> iniquity, even the
|
|||
|
solemn meeting. 14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts
|
|||
|
my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear
|
|||
|
<i>them.</i> 15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will
|
|||
|
hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not
|
|||
|
hear: your hands are full of blood.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p18" shownumber="no">Here, I. God calls to them (but calls in
|
|||
|
vain) to hear his word, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p18.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.10" parsed="|Isa|1|10|0|0" passage="Isa 1:10"><i>v.</i>
|
|||
|
10</scripRef>. 1. The title he gives them is very strange; <i>You
|
|||
|
rulers of Sodom,</i> and <i>people of Gomorrah.</i> This intimates
|
|||
|
what a righteous thing it would have been with God to make them
|
|||
|
like Sodom and Gomorrah in respect of ruin (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p18.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.9" parsed="|Isa|1|9|0|0" passage="Isa 1:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>), because that had made themselves
|
|||
|
like Sodom and Gomorrah in respect of sin. The men of Sodom were
|
|||
|
<i>wicked, and sinners before the Lord exceedingly</i> (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p18.3" osisRef="Bible:Gen.13.13" parsed="|Gen|13|13|0|0" passage="Ge 13:13">Gen. xiii. 13</scripRef>), and so were the men
|
|||
|
of Judah. When the rulers were bad, no wonder the people were so.
|
|||
|
Vice overpowered virtue, for it had the rulers, the men of figure,
|
|||
|
on its side; and it out-polled it, for it had the people, the men
|
|||
|
of number, on its side. The streams being thus strong, no less a
|
|||
|
power than that of the Lord of hosts could secure a remnant,
|
|||
|
<scripRef id="Is.ii-p18.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.9" parsed="|Isa|1|9|0|0" passage="Isa 1:9"><i>v.</i> 9</scripRef>. The rulers are
|
|||
|
boldly attacked here by the prophet as rulers of Sodom; for he knew
|
|||
|
not how to give flattering titles. The tradition of the Jews is
|
|||
|
that for this he was impeached long after, and put to death, as
|
|||
|
having cursed the gods and <i>spoken evil of the ruler of his
|
|||
|
people.</i> 2. His demand upon them is very reasonable: "<i>Hear
|
|||
|
the word of the Lord,</i> and <i>give ear to the law of our
|
|||
|
God;</i> attend to that which God has to say to you, and let his
|
|||
|
word be a law to you." The following declaration of dislike to
|
|||
|
their sacrifices would be a kind of new law to them, though really
|
|||
|
it was but an explication of the old law; but special regard is to
|
|||
|
be had to it, as is required to the like, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p18.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.50.7-Ps.50.8" parsed="|Ps|50|7|50|8" passage="Ps 50:7,8">Ps. l. 7, 8</scripRef>. "Hear this, and tremble; hear
|
|||
|
it, and take warning."</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p19" shownumber="no">II. He justly refuses to hear their prayers
|
|||
|
and accept their services, their sacrifices and burnt-offerings,
|
|||
|
the fat and blood of them (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p19.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.11" parsed="|Isa|1|11|0|0" passage="Isa 1:11"><i>v.</i>
|
|||
|
11</scripRef>), their attendance in his courts (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p19.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.12" parsed="|Isa|1|12|0|0" passage="Isa 1:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>), their oblations, their
|
|||
|
incense, and their solemn assemblies (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p19.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.13" parsed="|Isa|1|13|0|0" passage="Isa 1:13"><i>v.</i> 13</scripRef>), their new moons and their
|
|||
|
appointed feasts (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p19.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.14" parsed="|Isa|1|14|0|0" passage="Isa 1:14"><i>v.</i>
|
|||
|
14</scripRef>), their devoutest addresses (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p19.5" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.15" parsed="|Isa|1|15|0|0" passage="Isa 1:15"><i>v.</i> 15</scripRef>); they are all rejected, because
|
|||
|
their hands were full of blood. Now observe,</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p20" shownumber="no">1. There are many who are strangers, nay,
|
|||
|
enemies, to the power of religion, and yet seem very zealous for
|
|||
|
the show and shadow and form of it. This sinful nation, this seed
|
|||
|
of evil-doers, these rulers of Sodom and people of Gomorrah,
|
|||
|
brought, not to the altars of false gods (they are not here charged
|
|||
|
with that), but to the altar of the God of Israel, sacrifices, a
|
|||
|
multitude of them, as many as the law required and rather more—not
|
|||
|
only peace-offerings, which they themselves had their share of, but
|
|||
|
burnt-offerings, which were wholly consumed to the honour of God;
|
|||
|
nor did they bring the torn, and lame, and sick, but fed beasts,
|
|||
|
and the fat of them, the best of the kind. They did not send others
|
|||
|
to offer their sacrifices for them, but came themselves to appear
|
|||
|
before God. They observed the instituted <i>places</i> (not in high
|
|||
|
places or groves, but in God's own courts), and the instituted
|
|||
|
<i>time,</i> the new moons, and sabbaths, and appointed feasts,
|
|||
|
none of which they omitted. Nay, it should seem, they called
|
|||
|
extraordinary assemblies, and held solemn meetings for religious
|
|||
|
worship, besides those that God had appointed. Yet this was not
|
|||
|
all: they applied to God, not only with their ceremonial
|
|||
|
observances, but with the exercises of devotion. They prayed,
|
|||
|
prayed often, made many prayers, thinking they should be heard for
|
|||
|
their much speaking; nay, they were fervent and importunate in
|
|||
|
prayer, they spread forth their hands as men in earnest. Now we
|
|||
|
should have thought these, and, no doubt, they thought themselves,
|
|||
|
a pious religious people; and yet they were far from being so, for
|
|||
|
(1.) Their hearts were empty of true devotion. They came to
|
|||
|
<i>appear</i> before God (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p20.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.12" parsed="|Isa|1|12|0|0" passage="Isa 1:12"><i>v.</i>
|
|||
|
12</scripRef>), <i>to be seen</i> before him (so the margin reads
|
|||
|
it); they rested in the outside of the duties; they looked no
|
|||
|
further than to be seen of men, and went no further than that which
|
|||
|
men see. (2.) Their hands were full of blood. They were guilty of
|
|||
|
murder, rapine, and oppression, under colour of law and justice.
|
|||
|
The people shed blood, and the rulers did not punish them for it;
|
|||
|
the rulers shed blood, and the people were aiding and abetting, as
|
|||
|
the elders of Jezreel were to Jezebel in shedding Naboth's blood.
|
|||
|
Malice is heart-murder in the account of God; he that hates his
|
|||
|
brother in his heart has, in effect, his hands full of blood.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p21" shownumber="no">2. When sinners are under the judgments of
|
|||
|
God they will more easily be brought to fly to their devotions than
|
|||
|
to forsake their sins and reform their lives. Their country was now
|
|||
|
desolate, and their cities were burnt (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p21.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.7" parsed="|Isa|1|7|0|0" passage="Isa 1:7"><i>v.</i> 7</scripRef>), which awakened them to bring
|
|||
|
their sacrifices and offerings to God more constantly than they had
|
|||
|
done, as if they would bribe God Almighty to remove the punishment
|
|||
|
and give them leave to go on in the sin. <i>When he slew them, then
|
|||
|
they sought him,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p21.2" osisRef="Bible:Ps.78.34" parsed="|Ps|78|34|0|0" passage="Ps 78:34">Ps. lxxviii.
|
|||
|
34</scripRef>. <i>Lord, in trouble have they visited thee,</i>
|
|||
|
<scripRef id="Is.ii-p21.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.26.16" parsed="|Isa|26|16|0|0" passage="Isa 26:16"><i>ch.</i> xxvi. 16</scripRef>. Many
|
|||
|
that will readily part with their sacrifices will not be persuaded
|
|||
|
to part with their sins.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p22" shownumber="no">3. The most pompous and costly devotions of
|
|||
|
wicked people, without a thorough reformation of the heart and
|
|||
|
life, are so far from being acceptable to God that really they are
|
|||
|
an abomination to him. It is here shown in a great variety of
|
|||
|
expressions that <i>to obey is better than sacrifice;</i> nay, that
|
|||
|
sacrifice, without obedience, is a jest, an affront and provocation
|
|||
|
to God. The comparative neglect which God here expresses of
|
|||
|
ceremonial observance was a tacit intimation of what they would
|
|||
|
come to at last, when they would all be done away by the death of
|
|||
|
Christ. What was now made little of would in due time be made
|
|||
|
nothing of. "<i>Sacrifice and offering,</i> and prayer made in the
|
|||
|
virtue of them, <i>thou wouldest not; then said I, Lo, I come.</i>"
|
|||
|
Their sacrifices are here represented,</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p23" shownumber="no">(1.) As fruitless and insignificant; <i>To
|
|||
|
what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices?</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p23.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.11" parsed="|Isa|1|11|0|0" passage="Isa 1:11"><i>v.</i> 11</scripRef>. They are <i>vain
|
|||
|
oblations,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p23.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.13" parsed="|Isa|1|13|0|0" passage="Isa 1:13"><i>v.</i>
|
|||
|
13</scripRef>. <i>In vain do they worship me,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p23.3" osisRef="Bible:Matt.15.9" parsed="|Matt|15|9|0|0" passage="Mt 15:9">Matt. xv. 9</scripRef>. Their attention to God's
|
|||
|
institutions was all lost labour, and served not to answer any good
|
|||
|
intention; for, [1.] It was not looked upon as any act of duty or
|
|||
|
obedience to God: <i>Who has required these things at your
|
|||
|
hands?</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p23.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.12" parsed="|Isa|1|12|0|0" passage="Isa 1:12"><i>v.</i> 12</scripRef>.
|
|||
|
Not that God disowns his institutions, or refuses to stand by his
|
|||
|
own warrants; but in what they did they had not an eye to him that
|
|||
|
required it, nor indeed did he require it of those whose hands were
|
|||
|
full of blood and who continued impenitent. [2.] It did not
|
|||
|
recommend them to God's favour. He delighted not in the blood of
|
|||
|
their sacrifices, for he did not look upon himself as honoured by
|
|||
|
it. [3.] It would not obtain any relief for them. They pray, but
|
|||
|
God will not hear, because they regard iniquity (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p23.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.66.18" parsed="|Ps|66|18|0|0" passage="Ps 66:18">Ps. lxvi. 18</scripRef>); he will not deliver them, for,
|
|||
|
though they make many prayers, none of them come from an upright
|
|||
|
heart. All their religious service turned to no account to them.
|
|||
|
Nay,</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p24" shownumber="no">(2.) As odious and offensive. God did not
|
|||
|
only not accept them, but he did detest and abhor them. "They are
|
|||
|
<i>your</i> sacrifices, they are none of mine; I am full of them,
|
|||
|
even surfeited with them." He needed them not (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p24.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.50.10" parsed="|Ps|50|10|0|0" passage="Ps 50:10">Ps. l. 10</scripRef>), did not desire them, had had
|
|||
|
enough of them, and more than enough. Their coming into his courts
|
|||
|
he calls <i>treading them,</i> or trampling upon them; their very
|
|||
|
attendance on his ordinances was construed into a contempt of them.
|
|||
|
Their incense, though ever so fragrant, was an abomination to him,
|
|||
|
for it was burnt in hypocrisy and with an ill design. Their solemn
|
|||
|
assemblies he could not <i>away with,</i> could not see them with
|
|||
|
any patience, nor bear the affront they gave him. <i>The solemn
|
|||
|
meeting is iniquity;</i> though the thing itself was not, yet, as
|
|||
|
they managed it, it became so. It is a <i>vexation</i> (so some
|
|||
|
read it), a provocation, to God, to have ordinances thus
|
|||
|
prostituted, not only by wicked people, but to wicked purposes:
|
|||
|
"<i>My soul hates them; they are a trouble to me,</i> a burden, an
|
|||
|
incumbrance; I am perfectly sick of them, and <i>weary of bearing
|
|||
|
them.</i>" God is never weary of hearing the prayers of the
|
|||
|
upright, but soon weary of the costly sacrifices of the wicked. He
|
|||
|
hides his eyes from their prayers, as that which he has an aversion
|
|||
|
to and is angry at. All this is to show, [1.] That sin is very
|
|||
|
hateful to God, so hateful that it makes even men's prayers and
|
|||
|
their religious services hateful to him. [2.] That dissembled piety
|
|||
|
is double iniquity. Hypocrisy in religion is of all things most
|
|||
|
abominable to the God of heaven. Jerome applies the passage to the
|
|||
|
Jews in Christ's time, who pretended a great zeal for the law and
|
|||
|
the temple, but made themselves and all their services abominable
|
|||
|
to God by filling their hands with the blood of Christ and his
|
|||
|
apostles, and so filling up the measure of their iniquities.</p>
|
|||
|
</div><scripCom id="Is.ii-p24.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.16-Isa.1.20" parsed="|Isa|1|16|1|20" passage="Isa 1:16-20" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.ii-p24.3">
|
|||
|
<h4 id="Is.ii-p24.4">A Call to Repentance; Repentance and
|
|||
|
Reformation Urged. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.ii-p24.5">b. c.</span> 738.)</h4>
|
|||
|
<p class="passage" id="Is.ii-p25" shownumber="no">16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil
|
|||
|
of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; 17
|
|||
|
Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the
|
|||
|
fatherless, plead for the widow. 18 Come now, and let us
|
|||
|
reason together, saith the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.ii-p25.1">Lord</span>:
|
|||
|
though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;
|
|||
|
though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. 19
|
|||
|
If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
|
|||
|
20 But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the
|
|||
|
sword: for the mouth of the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.ii-p25.2">Lord</span>
|
|||
|
hath spoken <i>it.</i></p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p26" shownumber="no">Though God had rejected their services as
|
|||
|
insufficient to atone for their sins while they persisted in them,
|
|||
|
yet he does not reject them as in a hopeless condition, but here
|
|||
|
calls upon them to forsake their sins, which hindered the
|
|||
|
acceptance of their services, and then all would be well. Let them
|
|||
|
not say that God picked quarrels with them; no, he proposes a
|
|||
|
method of reconciliation. Observe here,</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p27" shownumber="no">I. A call to repentance and reformation:
|
|||
|
"If you would have your sacrifices accepted, and your prayers
|
|||
|
answered, you must begin your work at the right end: <i>Be
|
|||
|
converted to my law</i>" (so the Chaldee begins this exhortation),
|
|||
|
"make conscience of second-table duties, else expect not to be
|
|||
|
accepted in the acts of your devotion." As justice and charity will
|
|||
|
never atone for atheism and profaneness, so prayers and sacrifices
|
|||
|
will never atone for fraud and oppression; for righteousness
|
|||
|
towards men is as much a branch of pure religion as religion
|
|||
|
towards God is a branch of universal righteousness.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p28" shownumber="no">1. They must <i>cease to do evil,</i> must
|
|||
|
do no more wrong, shed no more innocent blood. This is the meaning
|
|||
|
of washing themselves and <i>making themselves clean,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p28.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.16" parsed="|Isa|1|16|0|0" passage="Isa 1:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>. It is not only
|
|||
|
sorrowing for the sin they had committed, but breaking off the
|
|||
|
practice of it for the future, and mortifying all those vicious
|
|||
|
affections and dispositions which inclined them to it. Sin is
|
|||
|
defiling to the soul. Our business is to wash ourselves from it by
|
|||
|
repenting of it and turning from it to God. We must put away not
|
|||
|
only that evil of our doings which is before the eye of the world,
|
|||
|
by refraining from the gross acts of sin, but that which is before
|
|||
|
God's eyes, the roots and habits of sin, that are in our hearts;
|
|||
|
these must be crushed and mortified.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p29" shownumber="no">2. They must <i>learn to do well.</i> This
|
|||
|
was necessary to the completing of their repentance. Note, It is
|
|||
|
not enough that we cease to do evil, but we must learn to do well.
|
|||
|
(1.) We must be doing, not cease to do evil and then stand idle.
|
|||
|
(2.) We must be doing good, the good which the Lord our God
|
|||
|
requires and which will turn to a good account. (3.) We must do it
|
|||
|
well, in a right manner and for a right end; and, (4.) We must
|
|||
|
learn to do well; we must take pains to get the knowledge of our
|
|||
|
duty, be inquisitive concerning it, in care about it, and accustom
|
|||
|
ourselves to it, that we may readily turn our hands to our work and
|
|||
|
become masters of this holy art of doing well. He urges them
|
|||
|
particularly to those instances of well-doing wherein they had been
|
|||
|
defective, to second-table duties: "<i>Seek judgment;</i> enquire
|
|||
|
what is right, that you may do it; be solicitous to be found in the
|
|||
|
way of your duty, and do not walk carelessly. Seek opportunities of
|
|||
|
doing good: <i>Relieve the oppressed,</i> those whom you yourselves
|
|||
|
have oppressed; ease them of their burdens, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p29.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.58.6" parsed="|Isa|58|6|0|0" passage="Isa 58:6"><i>ch.</i> lviii. 6</scripRef>. You, that have power in
|
|||
|
your hands, use it for the relief of those whom others do oppress,
|
|||
|
for that is your business. Avenge those that suffer wrong, in a
|
|||
|
special manner concerning yourselves for the fatherless and the
|
|||
|
widow, whom, because they are weak and helpless, proud men trample
|
|||
|
upon and abuse; do you appear for them at the bar, on the bench, as
|
|||
|
there is occasion. Speak for those that know not how to speak for
|
|||
|
themselves and that have not wherewithal to gratify you for your
|
|||
|
kindness." Note, We are truly honouring God when we are doing good
|
|||
|
in the world; and acts of justice and charity are more pleasing to
|
|||
|
him than all burnt-offerings and sacrifices.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p30" shownumber="no">II. A demonstration, at the bar of right
|
|||
|
reason, of the equity of God's proceedings with them: "<i>Come now,
|
|||
|
and let us reason together</i> (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p30.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.18" parsed="|Isa|1|18|0|0" passage="Isa 1:18"><i>v.</i> 18</scripRef>); while your hands are full of
|
|||
|
blood I will have nothing to do with you, though you bring me a
|
|||
|
multitude of sacrifices; but if you wash, and make yourselves
|
|||
|
clean, you are welcome to draw nigh to me; come now, and let us
|
|||
|
talk the matter over." Note, Those, and those only, that break off
|
|||
|
their league with sin, shall be welcome into covenant and communion
|
|||
|
with God; he says, <i>Come now,</i> who before forbade them his
|
|||
|
courts. See <scripRef id="Is.ii-p30.2" osisRef="Bible:Jas.4.8" parsed="|Jas|4|8|0|0" passage="Jam 4:8">Jam. iv. 8</scripRef>. Or
|
|||
|
rather thus: There were those among them who looked upon themselves
|
|||
|
as affronted by the slights God put upon the multitude of their
|
|||
|
sacrifices, as <scripRef id="Is.ii-p30.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.58.3" parsed="|Isa|58|3|0|0" passage="Isa 58:3"><i>ch.</i> lviii.
|
|||
|
3</scripRef>, <i>Wherefore have we fasted</i> (say they) <i>and
|
|||
|
thou seest not?</i> They represented God as a hard Master, whom it
|
|||
|
was impossible to please. "Come," says God, "let us debate the
|
|||
|
matter fairly, and I doubt not but to make it out that <i>my ways
|
|||
|
are equal, but yours are unequal,</i>" <scripRef id="Is.ii-p30.4" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.18.25" parsed="|Ezek|18|25|0|0" passage="Eze 18:25">Ezek. xviii. 25</scripRef>. Note, Religion has reason
|
|||
|
on its side; there is all the reason in the world why we should do
|
|||
|
as God would have us do. The God of heaven condescends to reason
|
|||
|
the case with those that contradict him and find fault with his
|
|||
|
proceedings; for <i>he will be justified when he speaks,</i>
|
|||
|
<scripRef id="Is.ii-p30.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.51.4" parsed="|Ps|51|4|0|0" passage="Ps 51:4">Ps. li. 4</scripRef>. The case needs
|
|||
|
only to be stated (as it is here very fairly) and it will determine
|
|||
|
itself. God shows here upon what terms they stood (as he does,
|
|||
|
<scripRef id="Is.ii-p30.6" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.18.21-Ezek.18.24 Bible:Ezek.33.18-Ezek.33.19" parsed="|Ezek|18|21|18|24;|Ezek|33|18|33|19" passage="Eze 18:21-24,33:18,19">Ezek. xviii. 21-24;
|
|||
|
xxxiii. 18, 19</scripRef>) and then leaves it to them to judge
|
|||
|
whether these terms are not fair and reasonable.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p31" shownumber="no">1. They could not in reason expect any more
|
|||
|
then, if they repented and reformed, they should be restored to
|
|||
|
God's favour, notwithstanding their former provocations. "This you
|
|||
|
may expect," says God, and it is very kind; who could have the face
|
|||
|
to desire it upon any other terms? (1.) It is very little that is
|
|||
|
required, "only that you <i>be willing and obedient,</i> that you
|
|||
|
<i>consent to obey</i>" (so some read it), "that you subject your
|
|||
|
wills to the will of God, acquiesce in that, and give up yourselves
|
|||
|
in all things to be ruled by him who is infinitely wise and good"
|
|||
|
<i>Here is no penance imposed for their former stubbornness, nor
|
|||
|
the yoke made heavier or bound harder on their necks; only,
|
|||
|
"Whereas hitherto you have been perverse and refractory, and would
|
|||
|
not comply with that which was for your own good, now be tractable,
|
|||
|
be governable</i>" He does not say, "If you be <i>perfectly</i>
|
|||
|
obedient," but, "If you be <i>willingly</i> so;" for, if there be a
|
|||
|
willing mind, it is accepted. (2.) That is very great which is
|
|||
|
promised hereupon. [1.] That all their sins should be pardoned to
|
|||
|
them, and should not be mentioned against them. "Though they be as
|
|||
|
red as scarlet and crimson, though you lie under the guilt of
|
|||
|
blood, yet, upon your repentance, even that shall be forgiven you,
|
|||
|
and you shall appear in the sight of God as white as snow." Note,
|
|||
|
The greatest sinners, if they truly repent, shall have their sins
|
|||
|
forgiven them, and so have their consciences pacified and purified.
|
|||
|
Though our sins have been as scarlet and crimson, as deep dye, a
|
|||
|
double dye, first in the wool of original corruption and afterwards
|
|||
|
in the many threads of actual transgression—though we have been
|
|||
|
often dipped, by our many backslidings, into sin, and though we
|
|||
|
have lain long soaking in it, as the cloth does in the scarlet dye,
|
|||
|
yet pardoning mercy will thoroughly discharge the stain, and, being
|
|||
|
by it purged as <i>with hyssop, we shall be clean,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p31.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.51.7" parsed="|Ps|51|7|0|0" passage="Ps 51:7">Ps. li. 7</scripRef>. If we make ourselves clean
|
|||
|
by repentance and reformation (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p31.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.16" parsed="|Isa|1|16|0|0" passage="Isa 1:16"><i>v.</i> 16</scripRef>), God will make us white by a
|
|||
|
full remission. [2.] That they should have all the happiness and
|
|||
|
comfort they could desire. "Be but willing and obedient, and <i>you
|
|||
|
shall eat the good of the land,</i> the land of promise; you shall
|
|||
|
have all the blessings of the new covenant, of the heavenly Canaan,
|
|||
|
all the good of the land." Those that go on in sin, though they may
|
|||
|
dwell in a good land, cannot with any comfort eat the good of it;
|
|||
|
guilt embitters all; but, if sin be pardoned, creature-comforts
|
|||
|
become comforts indeed.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p32" shownumber="no">2. They could not in reason expect any
|
|||
|
other than that, if they continued obstinate in their disobedience,
|
|||
|
they should be abandoned to ruin, and the sentence of the law
|
|||
|
should be executed upon them; what can be more just? (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p32.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.20" parsed="|Isa|1|20|0|0" passage="Isa 1:20"><i>v.</i> 20</scripRef>); "<i>If you refuse and
|
|||
|
rebel,</i> if you continue to rebel against the divine government
|
|||
|
and refuse the offers of the divine grace, <i>you shall be devoured
|
|||
|
with the sword,</i> with the sword of your enemies, which shall be
|
|||
|
commissioned to destroy you—with the sword of God's justice, his
|
|||
|
wrath, and vengeance, which shall be drawn against you; for this is
|
|||
|
that which <i>the mouth of the Lord has spoken,</i> and which he
|
|||
|
will make good, for the maintaining of his own honour." Note, Those
|
|||
|
that will not be governed by God's sceptre will certainly and
|
|||
|
justly be devoured by his sword.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p33" shownumber="no">"And now life and death, good and evil, are
|
|||
|
thus set before you. <i>Come, and let us reason together.</i> What
|
|||
|
have you to object against the equity of this, or against complying
|
|||
|
with God's terms?"</p>
|
|||
|
</div><scripCom id="Is.ii-p33.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.21-Isa.1.31" parsed="|Isa|1|21|1|31" passage="Isa 1:21-31" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Is.ii-p33.2">
|
|||
|
<h4 id="Is.ii-p33.3">The Degeneracy of Jerusalem; Reformation of
|
|||
|
the Church. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.ii-p33.4">b. c.</span> 738.)</h4>
|
|||
|
<p class="passage" id="Is.ii-p34" shownumber="no">21 How is the faithful city become a harlot! it
|
|||
|
was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now
|
|||
|
murderers. 22 Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed
|
|||
|
with water: 23 Thy princes <i>are</i> rebellious, and
|
|||
|
companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after
|
|||
|
rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of
|
|||
|
the widow come unto them. 24 Therefore saith the Lord, the
|
|||
|
<span class="smallcaps" id="Is.ii-p34.1">Lord</span> of hosts, the mighty One of
|
|||
|
Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of
|
|||
|
mine enemies: 25 And I will turn my hand upon thee, and
|
|||
|
purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin: 26
|
|||
|
And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors
|
|||
|
as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of
|
|||
|
righteousness, the faithful city. 27 Zion shall be redeemed
|
|||
|
with judgment, and her converts with righteousness. 28 And
|
|||
|
the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners <i>shall
|
|||
|
be</i> together, and they that forsake the <span class="smallcaps" id="Is.ii-p34.2">Lord</span> shall be consumed. 29 For they shall
|
|||
|
be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be
|
|||
|
confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen. 30 For ye
|
|||
|
shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no
|
|||
|
water. 31 And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of
|
|||
|
it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall
|
|||
|
quench <i>them.</i></p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p35" shownumber="no">Here, I. The woeful degeneracy of Judah and
|
|||
|
Jerusalem is sadly lamented. See, 1. What the royal city had been,
|
|||
|
a faithful city, faithful to God and the interests of his kingdom
|
|||
|
among men, faithful to the nation and its public interests. <i>It
|
|||
|
was full of judgment;</i> justice was duly administered upon the
|
|||
|
thrones of judgment which were set there, the <i>thrones of the
|
|||
|
house of David,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p35.1" osisRef="Bible:Ps.122.5" parsed="|Ps|122|5|0|0" passage="Ps 122:5">Ps. cxxii.
|
|||
|
5</scripRef>. Men were generally honest in their dealings, and
|
|||
|
abhorred to do an unjust thing. <i>Righteousness lodged in it,</i>
|
|||
|
was constantly resident in their palaces and in all their
|
|||
|
dwellings, not called in now and then to serve a turn, but at home
|
|||
|
there. Note, Neither holy cities nor royal ones, neither places
|
|||
|
where religion is professed nor places where government is
|
|||
|
administered, are faithful to their trust if religion do not dwell
|
|||
|
in them. 2. What it had now become. That beauteous virtuous spouse
|
|||
|
was now debauched, and become an adulteress; righteousness no
|
|||
|
longer dwelt in Jerusalem (<i>terras Astræa reliquit—Astrea left
|
|||
|
the earth</i>); even murderers were unpunished and lived
|
|||
|
undisturbed there; nay, the princes themselves were so cruel and
|
|||
|
oppressive that they had become no better than murderers; an
|
|||
|
innocent man might better guard himself against a troop of banditti
|
|||
|
or assassins than against a bench of such judges. Note, It is a
|
|||
|
great aggravation of the wickedness of any family or people that
|
|||
|
their ancestors were famed for virtue and probity; and commonly
|
|||
|
those that thus degenerate prove the most wicked of all men.
|
|||
|
<i>Corruptio optimi est pessima—That which was originally the best
|
|||
|
becomes when corrupted the worst,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p35.2" osisRef="Bible:Luke.11.26 Bible:Eccl.3.16" parsed="|Luke|11|26|0|0;|Eccl|3|16|0|0" passage="Lu 11:26,Ec 3:16">Luke xi. 26; Eccl. iii. 16</scripRef>. See
|
|||
|
<scripRef id="Is.ii-p35.3" osisRef="Bible:Jer.22.15-Jer.22.17" parsed="|Jer|22|15|22|17" passage="Jer 22:15-17">Jer. xxii. 15-17</scripRef>. The
|
|||
|
degeneracy of Jerusalem is illustrated, (1.) By similitudes
|
|||
|
(<scripRef id="Is.ii-p35.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.22" parsed="|Isa|1|22|0|0" passage="Isa 1:22"><i>v.</i> 22</scripRef>): <i>Thy
|
|||
|
silver has become dross.</i> This degeneracy of the magistrates,
|
|||
|
whose character is the reverse of that of their predecessors, is a
|
|||
|
great a reproach and injury to the kingdom as the debasing of their
|
|||
|
coin would be and the turning of their silver into dross. Righteous
|
|||
|
princes and righteous cities are as silver for the treasury, but
|
|||
|
unrighteous ones are as dross for the dunghill. <i>How has the gold
|
|||
|
become dim!</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p35.5" osisRef="Bible:Lam.4.1" parsed="|Lam|4|1|0|0" passage="La 4:1">Lam. iv. 1</scripRef>.
|
|||
|
<i>Thy wine is mixed with water,</i> and so has become flat and
|
|||
|
sour. Some understand both these literally: the wine they sold was
|
|||
|
adulterated, it was half water; the money they paid was
|
|||
|
counterfeit, and so they cheated all they dealt with. But it is
|
|||
|
rather to be taken figuratively: justice was perverted by their
|
|||
|
princes, and religion and the word of God were sophisticated by
|
|||
|
their priests, and made to serve what turn they pleased. Dross may
|
|||
|
shine like silver, and the wine that is mixed with water may retain
|
|||
|
the colour of wine, but neither is worth any thing. Thus they
|
|||
|
retained a show and pretence of virtue and justice, but had no true
|
|||
|
sense of either. (2.) By some instances (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p35.6" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.23" parsed="|Isa|1|23|0|0" passage="Isa 1:23"><i>v.</i> 23</scripRef>): "Thy princes, that should keep
|
|||
|
others in their allegiance to God and subjection to his law, are
|
|||
|
themselves rebellious, and set God and his law at defiance." Those
|
|||
|
that should restrain thieves (proud and rich oppressors, those
|
|||
|
worst of robbers, and those that designedly cheat their creditors,
|
|||
|
who are no better), are themselves companions of thieves, connive
|
|||
|
at them, do as they do, and with greater security and success,
|
|||
|
because they are princes, and have power in their hands; they share
|
|||
|
with the thieves they protect in their unlawful gain ( <scripRef id="Is.ii-p35.7" osisRef="Bible:Ps.50.18" parsed="|Ps|50|18|0|0" passage="Ps 50:18">Ps. l. 18</scripRef>) and <i>cast in their lot
|
|||
|
among them,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p35.8" osisRef="Bible:Prov.1.13-Prov.1.14" parsed="|Prov|1|13|1|14" passage="Pr 1:13,14">Prov. i. 13,
|
|||
|
14</scripRef>. [1.] The profit of their places is all their aim, to
|
|||
|
make the best hand they can of them, right or wrong. They love
|
|||
|
gifts, and follow after rewards; they set their hearts upon their
|
|||
|
salary, the fees and perquisites of their offices, and are greedy
|
|||
|
of them, and never think they can get enough; nay, they will do any
|
|||
|
thing, though ever so contrary to law and justice, for a gift in
|
|||
|
secret. Presents and gratuities will blind their eyes at any time,
|
|||
|
and make them pervert judgment. These they love and are eager in
|
|||
|
the pursuit of.
|
|||
|
[2.] The duty of their places is none of their care. They ought to
|
|||
|
protect those that are injured, and take cognizance of the appeals
|
|||
|
made to them; why else were they preferred? But <i>they judge not
|
|||
|
the fatherless,</i> take no care to guard the orphans, <i>nor does
|
|||
|
the cause of the widow come unto them,</i> because the poor widow
|
|||
|
has no bribe to give, with which to make way for her and to bring
|
|||
|
her cause on. Those will have a great deal to answer for who, when
|
|||
|
they should be the patrons of the oppressed, are their greatest
|
|||
|
oppressors.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p36" shownumber="no">II. A resolution is taken up to redress
|
|||
|
these grievances (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p36.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.24" parsed="|Isa|1|24|0|0" passage="Isa 1:24"><i>v.</i>
|
|||
|
24</scripRef>): <i>Therefore saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the
|
|||
|
Mighty One of Israel</i>—who has power to make good what he says,
|
|||
|
who has hosts at command for the executing of his purposes, and
|
|||
|
whose power is engaged for his Israel—<i>Ah! I will ease me of my
|
|||
|
adversaries.</i> Observe,</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p37" shownumber="no">1. Wicked people, especially wicked rulers
|
|||
|
that are cruel and oppressive, are God's enemies, his adversaries,
|
|||
|
and shall so be accounted and so dealt with. If the holy seed
|
|||
|
corrupt themselves, they are the foes of his own house.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p38" shownumber="no">2. They are a burden to the God of heaven,
|
|||
|
which is implied in his easing himself of them. The <i>Mighty One
|
|||
|
of Israel,</i> that can bear any thing, nay, that upholds all
|
|||
|
things, complains of his being <i>wearied with men's
|
|||
|
iniquities,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p38.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.43.24 Bible:Amos.2.13" parsed="|Isa|43|24|0|0;|Amos|2|13|0|0" passage="Isa 43:24,Am 2:13"><i>ch.</i>
|
|||
|
xliii. 24. Amos ii. 13</scripRef>.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p39" shownumber="no">3. God will find out a time and a way to
|
|||
|
ease himself of this burden, by avenging himself on those that thus
|
|||
|
bear hard upon his patience. He here speaks as one triumphing in
|
|||
|
the foresight of it: <i>Ah. I will ease me.</i> He will ease the
|
|||
|
earth of the burden under which it <i>groans</i> (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p39.1" osisRef="Bible:Rom.8.21-Rom.8.22" parsed="|Rom|8|21|8|22" passage="Ro 8:21,22">Rom. viii. 21, 22</scripRef>), will ease his
|
|||
|
own name of the reproaches with which it is loaded. He will be
|
|||
|
eased of his adversaries, by <i>taking vengeance on his
|
|||
|
enemies;</i> he will <i>spue them out of his mouth,</i> and so be
|
|||
|
eased of them, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p39.2" osisRef="Bible:Rev.3.16" parsed="|Rev|3|16|0|0" passage="Re 3:16">Rev. iii. 16</scripRef>.
|
|||
|
He speaks with pleasure of the <i>day of vengeance</i> being <i>in
|
|||
|
his heart,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p39.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.63.4" parsed="|Isa|63|4|0|0" passage="Isa 63:4"><i>ch.</i> lxiii.
|
|||
|
4</scripRef>. If God's professing people conform not to his image,
|
|||
|
as the Holy One of Israel (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p39.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.4" parsed="|Isa|1|4|0|0" passage="Isa 1:4"><i>v.</i>
|
|||
|
4</scripRef>), they shall feel the weight of his hand as the Mighty
|
|||
|
One of Israel: his power, which was wont to be engaged for them,
|
|||
|
shall be armed against them. In two ways God will ease himself of
|
|||
|
this grievance:—</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p40" shownumber="no">(1.) By reforming his church, and restoring
|
|||
|
good judges in the room of those corrupt ones. Though the church
|
|||
|
has a great deal of dross in it, yet it shall not be thrown away,
|
|||
|
but refined (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p40.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.25" parsed="|Isa|1|25|0|0" passage="Isa 1:25"><i>v.</i> 25</scripRef>):
|
|||
|
"<i>I will purely purge away thy dross.</i> I will amend what is
|
|||
|
amiss. Vice and profaneness shall be suppressed and put out of
|
|||
|
countenance, oppressors displaced, and deprived of their power to
|
|||
|
do mischief." When things are ever so bad God can set them to
|
|||
|
rights, and bring about a complete reformation; when he begins he
|
|||
|
will make an end, will take away all the tin. Observe, [1.] The
|
|||
|
reformation of a people is God's own work, and, if ever it be done,
|
|||
|
it is he that brings it about: "<i>I will turn my hand upon
|
|||
|
thee;</i> I will do that for the reviving of religion which I did
|
|||
|
at first for the planting of it." He can do it easily, with the
|
|||
|
turn of his hand; but he does it effectually, for what opposition
|
|||
|
can stand before the arm of the Lord revealed? [2.] He does it by
|
|||
|
blessing them with good magistrates and good ministers of state
|
|||
|
(<scripRef id="Is.ii-p40.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.26" parsed="|Isa|1|26|0|0" passage="Isa 1:26"><i>v.</i> 26</scripRef>): "<i>I will
|
|||
|
restore thy judges as at the first,</i> to put the laws in
|
|||
|
execution against evil-doers, <i>and thy counsellors,</i> to
|
|||
|
transact public affairs, <i>as at the beginning,</i>" either the
|
|||
|
same persons that had been turned out or others of the same
|
|||
|
character. [3.] He does it by restoring judgment and righteousness
|
|||
|
among them (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p40.3" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.27" parsed="|Isa|1|27|0|0" passage="Isa 1:27"><i>v.</i> 27</scripRef>),
|
|||
|
by planting in men's minds principles of justice and governing
|
|||
|
their lives by those principles. Men may do much by external
|
|||
|
restraints; but God does it effectually by the influences of <i>his
|
|||
|
Spirit,</i> as a <i>Spirit of judgment,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p40.4" osisRef="Bible:Isa.4.4 Bible:Isa.28.6" parsed="|Isa|4|4|0|0;|Isa|28|6|0|0" passage="Isa 4:4,28:6"><i>ch.</i> iv. 4; xxviii. 6</scripRef>. See
|
|||
|
<scripRef id="Is.ii-p40.5" osisRef="Bible:Ps.85.10-Ps.85.11" parsed="|Ps|85|10|85|11" passage="Ps 85:10,11">Ps. lxxxv. 10, 11</scripRef>. [4.]
|
|||
|
The reformation of a people will be the redemption of them and
|
|||
|
their converts, for sin is the worst captivity, the worst slavery,
|
|||
|
and the great and eternal redemption is that by which <i>Israel is
|
|||
|
redeemed from all his iniquities</i> (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p40.6" osisRef="Bible:Ps.130.8" parsed="|Ps|130|8|0|0" passage="Ps 130:8">Ps. cxxx. 8</scripRef>), and the <i>blessed Redeemer</i>
|
|||
|
is he that <i>turns away ungodliness from Jacob</i> (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p40.7" osisRef="Bible:Rom.11.26" parsed="|Rom|11|26|0|0" passage="Ro 11:26">Rom. xi. 26</scripRef>), and <i>saves his people
|
|||
|
from their sins,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p40.8" osisRef="Bible:Matt.1.21" parsed="|Matt|1|21|0|0" passage="Mt 1:21">Matt. i.
|
|||
|
21</scripRef>. All the redeemed of the Lord shall be converts, and
|
|||
|
their conversion is their redemption: "<i>Her converts,</i> or
|
|||
|
<i>those that return of her</i> (so the margin), shall be redeemed
|
|||
|
with righteousness." God works deliverance for us by preparing us
|
|||
|
for it with judgment and righteousness. [5.] The reviving of a
|
|||
|
people's virtues is the restoring of their honour: <i>Afterwards
|
|||
|
thou shalt be called the city of righteousness, the faithful
|
|||
|
city;</i> that is, <i>First,</i> "Thou shalt <i>be</i> so;" the
|
|||
|
reforming of the magistracy is a good step towards the reforming of
|
|||
|
the city and the country too. <i>Secondly,</i> "Thou shalt have the
|
|||
|
<i>praise</i> of being so;" and a greater praise there cannot be to
|
|||
|
any city than to <i>be called the city of righteousness,</i> and to
|
|||
|
retrieve the ancient honour which was lost when <i>the faithful
|
|||
|
city became a harlot,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p40.9" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.21" parsed="|Isa|1|21|0|0" passage="Isa 1:21"><i>v.</i>
|
|||
|
21</scripRef>.</p>
|
|||
|
<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p41" shownumber="no">(2.) By cutting off those that hate to be
|
|||
|
reformed, that they may not remain either as snares or as scandals
|
|||
|
to the faithful city. [1.] it is an utter ruin that is here
|
|||
|
threatened. They shall be destroyed and consumed, and not chastened
|
|||
|
and corrected only. The extirpation of them will be necessary to
|
|||
|
the redemption of Zion. [2.] It is a universal ruin, which will
|
|||
|
involve the transgressors and the sinners together, that is, the
|
|||
|
openly profane that have quite cast of all religion, and the
|
|||
|
hypocrites that live wicked lives under the cloak of a religious
|
|||
|
profession—they shall both be destroyed together, for they are
|
|||
|
both alike an abomination to God, both those that contradict
|
|||
|
religion and those that contradict themselves in their pretensions
|
|||
|
to it. <i>And those that forsake the Lord,</i> to whom they had
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formerly joined themselves, <i>shall be consumed,</i> as the water
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in the conduit-pipe is soon consumed when it is cut off from the
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fountain. [3.] It is an inevitable ruin; there is no escaping it.
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<i>First,</i> Their idols shall not be able to help them, <i>the
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oaks which they have desired, and the gardens which they have
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chosen;</i> that is, the images, the dunghill-gods, which they had
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worshipped in their groves and under the green trees, which they
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were fond of and wedded to, for which they forsook the true God,
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and which they worshipped privately in their own garden even when
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idolatry was publicly discountenanced. "This was the practice of
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the transgressors and the sinners; but they shall be ashamed of it,
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not with a show of repentance, but of despair, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p41.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.29" parsed="|Isa|1|29|0|0" passage="Isa 1:29"><i>v.</i> 29</scripRef>. They shall have cause to be
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ashamed of their idols; for, after all the court they have made to
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them, they shall find no benefit by them; but the idols themselves
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<i>shall go into captivity,</i>" <scripRef id="Is.ii-p41.2" osisRef="Bible:Isa.46.1-Isa.46.2" parsed="|Isa|46|1|46|2" passage="Isa 46:1,2"><i>ch.</i> xlvi. 1, 2</scripRef>. Note, Those that
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make creatures their confidence are but preparing confusion for
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themselves. You were fond of the oaks and the gardens, but you
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yourselves shall be, 1. "<i>Like an oak without leaves,</i>
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withered and blasted, and stripped of all its ornaments." Justly do
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those wear no leaves that bear no fruit; as the fig-tree that
|
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Christ cursed. 2. "<i>Like a garden without water,</i> that is
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neither rained upon nor <i>watered with the foot</i> (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p41.3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.11.10" parsed="|Deut|11|10|0|0" passage="De 11:10">Deut. xi. 10</scripRef>), that had no
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|
<i>fountain</i> (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p41.4" osisRef="Bible:Song.4.15" parsed="|Song|4|15|0|0" passage="So 4:15">Cant. iv.
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15</scripRef>), and consequently is parched, and all the fruits of
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|
it gone to decay." Thus shall those be that trust in idols, or in
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|
an <i>arm of flesh,</i> <scripRef id="Is.ii-p41.5" osisRef="Bible:Jer.17.5-Jer.17.6" parsed="|Jer|17|5|17|6" passage="Jer 17:5,6">Jer. xvii.
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5, 6</scripRef>. But those that trust in God never find him as a
|
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|
wilderness, or as waters that fail, <scripRef id="Is.ii-p41.6" osisRef="Bible:Jer.2.31" parsed="|Jer|2|31|0|0" passage="Jer 2:31">Jer. ii. 31</scripRef>. <i>Secondly,</i> They shall not
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|
be able to help themselves (<scripRef id="Is.ii-p41.7" osisRef="Bible:Isa.1.31" parsed="|Isa|1|31|0|0" passage="Isa 1:31"><i>v.</i>
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31</scripRef>): "<i>Even the strong man shall be as tow</i> not
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|
only soon broken and pulled to pieces, but easily catching fire;
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and <i>his work</i> (so the margin reads it), that by which he
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hopes to fortify and secure himself, shall be as a spark to his own
|
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|
tow, shall set him on fire, and he and his work shall burn
|
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|
together. His counsels shall be his ruin; his own skin kindles the
|
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|
fire of God's wrath, which shall burn to the lowest hell, and none
|
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|
shall quench it." When the sinner has made himself as tow and
|
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|
stubble, and God makes himself to him as a consuming fore, what can
|
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|
prevent the utter ruin of the sinner?</p>
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<p class="indent" id="Is.ii-p42" shownumber="no">Now all this is applicable, 1. To the
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blessed work of reformation which was wrought in Hezekiah's time
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|
after the abominable corruptions of the reign of Ahaz. Then good
|
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|
men came to be preferred, and the faces of the wicked were filled
|
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|
with shame. 2. To their return out of their captivity in Babylon,
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|
which had thoroughly cured them of idolatry. 3. To the
|
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gospel-kingdom and the pouring out of the Spirit, by which the
|
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|
New-Testament church should be made a new Jerusalem, a city of
|
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|
righteousness. 4. To the second coming of Christ, when he shall
|
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|
thoroughly purge his floor, his field, shall gather the wheat into
|
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|
his barn, into his garner, and burn the chaff, the tares, with
|
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|
unquenchable fire.</p>
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|
</div></div2>
|