Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 1:12
When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?
12. to appear before me ] R.V. marg. (following one Hebr. MS.) suggests to see my face, which is grammatically easier. It is thought that here and elsewhere the traditional text has substituted the passive for the active so as to avoid the appearance of anthropomorphism. On either view the phrase is a technical one, denoting the act of worship in the sanctuary: Exo 23:15; Exo 23:17; Exo 34:20; Exo 34:23; Deu 16:16; Deu 31:11; 1Sa 1:22.
to tread ] Better to trample; the idea of desecration is implied. This ending of the question seems weak: LXX. transfers the clause to the beginning of the next verse: “My courts ye shall no more trample; to bring oblations is vain, &c.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
When you come to appear before me – The temple was in Jerusalem, and was regarded as the habitation, or dwelling-place, of the God of Israel. Particularly, the most holy place of the temple was deemed the place of his sacred abode. The Shekinah – from shakan, to dwell – the visible symbol of his presence, rested on the cover of the ark, and from this place he was accustomed to commune with his people, and to give responses to their requests. Hence, to appear before God, Hebrew to be seen before my face, lera’oth panay for ‘et panay, means to appear in his temple as a worshipper. The phrase occurs in this sense in the following places: Exo 34:23-24; Deu 31:11; 1Sa 1:22; Psa 42:3.
Who hath required this – The Jews were required to appear there to worship God Exo 23:17; Deu 16:16; but it was not required that they should appear with that spirit and temper. A similar sentiment is expressed in Psa 50:16.
At your hand – From you. The emphasis in this expression is to be laid on your. Who has asked it of you? It was indeed the duty of the humble, and the sincere, to tread those courts, but who had required such hypocrites as they were to do it? God sought the offerings of pure worshippers, not those of the hypocritical and the profane.
To tread my courts – The courts of the temple were the different areas or open spaces which surrounded it. None entered the temple itself but the priests. The people worshipped God in the courts assigned them around the temple. In one of those courts was the altar of burnt-offerings; and the sacrifices were all made there; see the notes at Mat 21:12. To tread his courts was an expression therefore, equivalent to, to worship. To tread the courts of the Lord here, has the idea of profanation. Who has required you to tread those courts with this hollow, heartless service? It is often used in the sense of treading down, or trampling on, 2Ki 7:17-20; Dan 8:7-10; Isa 63:3-16.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 12. When ye come to appear] Instead of leraoth, to appear, one MS. has liroth, to see. See De Rossi. The appearing before God here refers chiefly to the three solemn annual festivals. See Ex 23:14.
Tread my courts (no more)] So the Septuagint divide the sentence, joining the end of this verse to the beginning of the next: , ; “To tread my court ye shall not add-ye shall not be again accepted in worship.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
When ye come to appear before me, upon the three solemn feasts, Exo 23:17; 34:23, or upon other occasions.
Who hath required this at your hands, to wit, in this manner, and upon these terms? The thing that I commanded was not only nor chiefly that you should offer external sacrifices to me, but that you should do it with true repentance for all your sins, with faith in my promises, with hearty love to me, and sincere resolutions of devoting yourselves to my service, without which you offer me a dead carcass instead of a living sacrifice.
My courts; the courts of my temple, which were two, that of the priests, and that where the people assembled, 2Ch 4:9. So this reproof seems to be directed against both priests and people, as unworthy to enjoy this privilege.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. appear before mein thetemple where the Shekinah, resting on the ark, was the symbol ofGod’s presence (Exo 23:15;Psa 42:2).
who hath required thisasif you were doing God a service by such hypocritical offerings (Job35:7). God did require it (Ex23:17), but not in this spirit (Mic 6:6;Mic 6:7).
courtsareas, in whichthe worshippers were. None but priests entered the temple itself.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
When ye come to appear before me,…. At the grand festivals of the passover, pentecost, and tabernacles, at which times all the males in Israel appeared before God, Ex 23:17
who hath required this at your hand; either to appear at such times, these feasts being no more to be observed; or to offer the above sacrifices; these were not required of the Israelites when they first came out of Egypt, Jer 7:22 nor were they necessary to appear before God with, or to introduce them to the throne of his grace, Mic 6:6 and much less under the Gospel dispensation, being abolished by the sacrifice of Christ; or this relates to what follows,
to tread my courts? in that unbecoming and hypocritical way they did, and with such wicked hearts and bloody hands. “Courts” are mentioned, because, as Kimchi observes, the Israelites stood in the courts of the Lord’s house, and did not go into the temple, only the priests.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Jeremiah says this with regard to the sacrifices (Isa 7:22); Isaiah also applies it to visits to the temple: “When ye come to appear before my face, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?” is a contracted infinitive niphal for (compare the hiphil forms contracted in the same manner in Isa 3:8; Isa 23:11). This is the standing expression for the appearance of all male Israelites in the temple at the three high festivals, as prescribed by the law, and then for visits to the temple generally (cf., Psa 42:3; Psa 84:8). “My face” ( panai ): according to Ewald, 279, c, this is used with the passive to designate the subject (“to be seen by the face of God”); but why not rather take it as an adverbial accusative, “in the face of,” or “in front of,” as it is used interchangeably with the prepositions , , and ? It is possible that is pointed as it is here, and in Exo 34:24 and in Deu 31:11, instead of – like for , in Exo 23:15; Exo 34:20, – for the purpose of avoiding an expression which might be so easily misunderstood as denoting a sight of God with the bodily eye. But the niphal is firmly established in Exo 23:17; Exo 34:23, and 1Sa 1:22; and in the Mishnah and Talmud the terms and are applied without hesitation to appearance before God at the principal feasts. They visited the temple diligently enough indeed, but who had required this at their hand, i.e., required them to do this? Jehovah certainly had not. “ To tread my courts ” is in apposition to this, which it more clearly defines. Jehovah did not want them to appear before His face, i.e., He did not wish for this spiritless and undevotional tramping thither, this mere opus operatum , which might as well have been omitted, since it only wore out the floor.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
12. Who hath required this at your hand ? What an admirable confutation of false worship, when God declares that they will not come before him according to the appointed manner, and makes a general declaration, that in vain do they offer to him anything which he does not require; for he does not choose to be worshipped in any other way than that which has been enjoined! For how comes it that men are so highly delighted with those inventions, but because they do not consider that all their services are neither profitable to themselves nor acceptable to God? Otherwise they would immediately recollect that obedience is all that remains for them to do; (1Sa 15:22😉 and they would not so insolently vaunt of their exertions, which the Lord looks upon with scorn, not only because he derives no advantage from it, but because he does not wish that men should attribute to him what they have rashly undertaken without his authority, or suffer the caprice of men to pass for a law: Yet in order to express still stronger contempt, he immediately adds, that they improperly give the name of obedience to that which he considers to be labor thrown away; namely, that their close attendance at the temple amounts to nothing more than treading its pavements; as if, in reference to their hypocritical prayers, he had said, “Truly they lay me under deep obligations by stunning my ears.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(12) When ye come to appear before me.Literally, before my face. This is the meaning given by the present Hebrew text, and it is, of course, adequate. The Syriac version and some modern scholars (e.g., Cheyne) adopt a reading which gives to see my face. In either case the implied thought is that the worshippers believed they came into the more immediate presence of Jehovah when, they entered the Temple courts. To appear before God was the normal phrase for visiting the Temple at the three great Feasts and other solemn occasions (Exo. 34:23; Psa. 42:3; Psa. 84:7).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
12. Who hath required this That is, to appear in this formal, heartless, undevout way. The true way of appearing before the Lord is prescribed in Exo 34:23-24; Deu 16:16-17.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 1:12 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?
Ver. 12. When ye come to appear before me. ] Heb., To be seen; else all had been lost. Hypocrisy is very ostentous, it would be noted and noticed; whereas true devotion desireth not to be seen of any save him who seeth in secret.
Who hath required this at your hand?
To tread my courts.
a Calcatis atria et teritis pavimentum. – A Lap.
b Sandys’s Relat, of West. Relig., sec. 8.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
to appear, &c. Reference to Pentateuch. See note (Exo 23:15).
tread = trample, and thus profane. Hebrew. ramas. Eze 26:11; Eze 34:18. Dan 8:7, Dan 8:10.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
When: Isa 58:1, Isa 58:2, Exo 23:17, Exo 34:23, Deu 16:16, Ecc 5:1, Mat 23:5
appear: Heb. be seen
required: Psa 40:6, Mic 6:8
Reciprocal: Eze 20:3 – Are Zec 7:5 – did Mal 1:13 – should I accept Mar 7:8 – laying