Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 9:17
Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one [is] a hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand [is] stretched out still.
17. A sentence of utter rejection. The unwonted severity of the threat against the widows and orphans is justified by the universal corruptness of the nation.
a hypocrite ] Rather, profane (R.V.), “impious.” Cf. ch. Isa 10:6, Isa 32:6, Isa 33:14; Job 8:13; Psa 35:16.
every mouth speaketh folly ] ch. Isa 32:6 (“villany” A.V.). In the O.T. folly and wickedness are practically synonymous.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Shall have no joy – He shall not delight in them so as to preserve them. The parallel part of the verse shows that the phrase is used in the sense of having mercy.
In their young men – The hope and strength of the nation. The word used here commonly denotes those who are chosen, particularly for purposes of war. The sense is, that the hope and strength of the nation, that on which the chief reliance would be placed, would be cut off.
Neither shall have mercy … – Judgment would sweep through the nation, even over those who were the usual objects of the divine protection – widows and orphans; compare Psa 10:14, Psa 10:18; Psa 48:5; Deu 10:18; Jer 49:11; Hos 14:3. These passages show that the fatherless and the widow are the special objects of the divine favor; and when, therefore, it is said that the Lord would not have mercy been on these, it shows the extent and severity of the divine judgments that were coming on the nation.
For every one is a hypocrite – A deceiver; a dissembler. The word used here, however. chaneph, means rather a profane or profligate man, a man who is defiled or polluted, than a dissembler. It is applied often to idolaters and licentious persons, but not to hypocrites; see Job 8:13; Job 13:16; Job 15:34; Job 17:8; Dan 11:32.
Every mouth speaketh folly – The word rendered folly, may denote foolishness, but it is also used to denote wickedness or crime; 1Sa 25:23. Probably this is the meaning here. That the character here given of the Ephraimites is correct, is abundantly shown also by other prophets; see particularly Hosea.
For all this – Notwithstanding all the judgments that should come thus upon the young men, and widows, and orphans, still his anger was not turned away. This is the close of the second strophe or part of this prophecy.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 9:17
Therefore the Lord shall have no Joy in their young men
The Lord shall have no joy in their young men
The meaning is full of suggestion God delights in the young.
God has made the young a ministry of instruction and comfort to old age. God keeps the world young by keeping children in it, and helpless ones. But God shall cease to see in young men any hope for the future. Henceforth God withdraws from the young, and they become old; He takes from them His all-vitalising and all-blessing smile, and they wither as flowers die when the sun turns away. (J. Parker, D. D.)
General corruption followed by general desolation
The desolation should be as general as the corruption has been, and none should escape it.
1. Not those that were the objects of complacency; none shall be spared for love. The Lord shall have no joy in their young men. etc.
2. Not those that were the objects of compassion; none shall be spared for pity. He shall not have mercy on their fatherless and widows. They had corrupted their way like the rest; and if the poverty and helplessness of their state was not an argument with them to keep them from sin, they could not expect it should be an argument with God to protect them from judgments (M. Henry.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 17. The Lord – “JEHOVAH”] For Adonai, a great number of MSS. read Yehovah.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Shall have no joy in their young men; shall not rejoice over them to do them good, as he doth to his people, Isa 62:5; Zep 3:17; will not have mercy or pity on them, as the next clause explains it. but will abhor and utterly destroy them; for more is here intended than is expressed, as Pro 17:21.
Neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows, who are the special objects of his care and pity, Deu 16:11,14; 24:19,20, and much less upon others.
Every one; not precisely, for there were seven thousand elect persons among them, when they seemed to Elijah to be universally corrupt, 1Ki 19:18; but the body or generality of the people.
Is an hypocrite; for though they professed to worship and serve the true God, yet indeed they had forsaken him. Or, a profane person, as this word is rendered, Jer 23:15, as also Isa 32:6.
An evil-doer; elsewhere called a worker of iniquity, as Job 31:3; Psa 5:5; Mat 7:23; one that gives up himself to a constant course and custom of sinning.
Speaketh folly, i.e. wickedness, which is commonly called folly. They are not ashamed to proclaim their own wickedness, and the corruption of their hearts breaketh forth into ungodly speeches.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
17. no joythe parallelism,”neither . . . mercy,” shows that this means, He shall haveno such delight in their youthful warriors, however much theybe the nation’s delight and reliance, as to save them from theenemy’s sword (Isa 31:8;compare Jer 18:21).
fatherless, c.not eventhe usual objects of His pity (Psa 10:14Psa 10:18; Psa 68:5;Jer 49:11; Hos 14:3)shall be spared.
hypocriterather, alibertine, polluted [HORSLEY].
follywickedness (Ps14:1).
stillNotwithstandingall these judgments, more remain.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men,…. Take no delight and pleasure in them; but, on the contrary, detest and abhor them, and so destroy them, being depraved and corrupted by the bad instructions and examples of their parents:
neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows; who are objects of pity and compassion; yet these being wicked, as well as the fathers of the one, and the husbands of the other, shall be no more spared than they have been; so that this expresses both the general corruption and destruction of this people:
for everyone [is] a hypocrite and an evildoer; a hypocrite, as Aben Ezra on the place observes, is one that is outwardly good, and inwardly wicked; which was the general character of the people of Israel in Isaiah’s time, as it was of the Jews in the times of Christ, see Mt 23:25 they pretended to do good, but were doers of evil, workers of iniquity, continually committing sin; and yet would be thought to be very upright and sincere, both in their religion towards God, and in their dealings with men; but deceitful in both:
and every mouth speaketh folly; or falsehood; a lie, as the Targum, as all lies are foolish; as also all vain words, all impious ones; or the savour of irreligion or superstition, and indeed every idle word, and all unsavoury and corrupt speech, and there is particularly foolish talking, which is not convenient, Eph 5:4:
for all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand [is] stretched out still; which is repeated from Isa 9:12.
[See comments on Isa 9:12].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
17. Therefore the LORD will not delight in their young men. Isaiah describes more clearly how dreadful will be that vengeance of God against all ranks; for so far will more flagrant transgressors be from escaping, that neither boys nor youths, nor widows, will be exempted, who are usually spared even amidst dreadful slaughter; which was usually done even among heathens at the sacking of towns, as we learn from history. But here the Lord threatens that he will pay no regard either to sex or to age. Yet the following view will not be unsuitable. “Although the carnage will rob many women of their husbands, and will deprive many children of their parents, still God will not shrink from punishing women by making them widows, and children by making them orphans.” But as it does not greatly affect the general meaning, I do not dwell upon it. Again, that they may not accuse God of cruelty, he at the same time shows that there are good reasons why he is so severe, because they are all wicked, and therefore that they deserve to be cast headlong to ruin without any distinction.
For all are hypocrites and evil-doers. As to this word, I was unwilling to depart from the opinion commonly entertained, though חנף ( chaneph) means an ungodly, deceitful, or treacherous and wicked man. He appears to point out the source of all the evils, that there was no true fear of God among them. By this he does not mean any slight dissimulation, but inward contempt seated in the heart, by which consciences are stupified, so that no instructions produce any effect on them; as if he had said that they were deeply sunk in their depravity. But as wickedness, when it has taken possession of the mind, drags the hands and feet, and the rest of the members of the body along with it, so the Prophet adds, that they are all evil-doers
And every mouth speaketh villany. (154) Thirdly, he adds that they have proceeded to such a pitch of open wickedness, that they boast of their crimes without shame. The Hebrew word נבלה ( niblah), which is translated folly, has frequently a more extensive meaning; for it denotes baseness, villany, and madness. (Gen 34:7; Jos 7:15; Jud 19:24.) Here, in my opinion, the Prophet means that they are so entirely abandoned to wicked courses, that we need not seek any other proof of it than from their tongues.
His anger will not be turned away. He again repeats this statement, which ought to be frequently repeated; for it is not enough to have been once informed how dreadful are the judgments of the Lord against the wicked; so easily and quickly will there steal upon us that forgetfulness of them which banishes uneasiness, as well as fear, about the future. Besides, we are led astray and blinded by that deception, for we think that the infliction of a single punishment has exhausted the power of God. There can be nothing better, therefore, than to hold by this principle, that whenever God chastises us he threatens something more dreadful, if we do not quickly repent. (Lev 26:18.)
But his hand is stretched out still. since the Prophet repeats this warning, let us unceasingly call to our remembrance, that the indignation of God is not yet appeased, though we may think that he has already punished us severely for our sins. What then ought we to conclude, when he has given us but a light chastisement? At the present day, for instance, we have endured some punishment; but what is it as compared with those dreadfully severe calamities which that nation had suffered, when Isaiah foretold that new chastisements were still awaiting them? What then will become of us? The Lord will undoubtedly continue to perform what belongs to him, and will always be like himself. If this dread do not arouse us, our insensibility is evidently beyond endurance. I have translated the verb שב ( shab) in the future sense, will not be turned away, to make the meaning more clear; for though he speaks as if it had been a past transaction, still he threatens a continuance of punishments against the rebellious.
(154) And every mouth speaketh folly (margin, or, villany). — Eng. Ver.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
LEADERSHIP [940]
[940] See outline: BLIND LEADERS, p. 92.
(An Ordination Sermon.)
Isa. 9:15-16. The prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail, &c.
I. The world is so constituted that leaders of the people are at present a necessity. It is no disparagement of oak trees to say that few of them are sixty feet high; and it is no disparagement of our fellow-men to say that few of them are qualified to lead others. In both cases we have to do with an ordinance of God. We are all included in it. We all need, in some respect or other, to be led. This arises from the disparity between human needs and human powers. Our faculties and time are too limited to allow any man to dispense with guidance. Even the accomplished statesman needs to be guided in the matter of health by the physician; the skilled physician needs to be guided in building by an architect, and so on through all the grades of human life. Men need guidance in commerce, politics, literature, art, philosophy, and in religion. There is to be a time when in this last respect guidance will not be needed (Jer. 31:33-34), but that time is not yet. The people still need guidance in religion, because,
1. While in some of its aspects it is so simple that a child is capable of it, in others it is so profound that they need the most thoughtful instruction concerning it.
2. There are many false forms of religion seeking to win acceptance (Mat. 24:24; 2Pe. 2:1; 1Jn. 4:1).
3. The natural tendency of the human heart inclines it to the acceptance of those forms of faith which are most unscriptural. This is the real secret of the power of Romanism. To-day, therefore, the people still need religious leaders, and leaders of the highest order. Even with the Bible in their hands, most men need guidance (Act. 9:30-31). Woe to them, if they take as their guides men who have not themselves been taught of the Holy Ghost!
II. Leadership involves for the leaders the highest honour or the deepest shame. Many aspire to lead: few think of the difficulties and responsibilities of leadership.
1. The man who leads his fellow-men well is entitled to the highest honour. He cannot do it without noble qualities of mind and heart. Those who are well led are, as a rule, not slow to acknowledge and reward the service that has been rendered them.
2. But leadership does not necessarily involve any honour at all. The post of prominence may only bring out into view the leaders incompetency, mental and moral. The fierce light that beats upon a throne, and upon a pulpit, reveals every speck and flaw in its occupant. It is a perilous thing to exchange the pew for the pulpit.
3. Through leadership a man may reach the most utter degradation and shame. He may do this
(1.) through his incompetency. Admiral Byng might have lived and died a respectable English gentleman, if he had not been made an admiral. Many envied him when he was so gazetted: none envied him when he was shot. Many a stickit minister would have made a highly respectable and useful church-member.
(2.) Through his dishonesty. Many a leader, claiming to be the head of a community, has really been its tail, carried by it, not carrying it on in paths of truth and honesty. His aim has been, not the welfare of his followers, but his own aggrandisement and popularity; his concern has been, not to speak the truth, but to say what would be pleasant. This was the sin of many who claimed to be prophets in Israel (Isa. 3:12; Isa. 5:20; Jer. 5:31). It is a common sin to-day, both in the political and religious world. Let those who claim to be ministers of God shun it. Self-seeking, everywhere despicable, is in the pulpit most hateful and criminal (P. D. 2482). Let every preacher regard as warnings those base prophets of Israel; let him endeavour to realise that wonderful picture of a true leader drawn by Christs enemies (Mat. 22:16).
III. Leadership involves for the led salvation or destruction. It is not a trivial matter to be well or ill led. How true this is politically, commercially, legally; it is not less true religiously. That community shows little wisdom that chooses its leaders carelessly. That community is insane which demands that its prophets shall prophesy unto it only smooth things (Isa. 30:10). The following of righteous leaders who are themselves led by the Spirit of God will result in temporal and eternal well-being; but trust in religious demagogues, whose aim is not to speak the truth, but to flatter those who listen to them, results inevitably in social and spiritual ruin. In self-defence, then, demand of your minister that he speak to you, not what is pleasant, but what is true; and count him not your enemy, but your best friend, when he utters what, just because it is the truth of God, shall smite and wound as if it were a sharp two-edged sword (Heb. 4:12).
TWO CONSTANT FEELINGS IN THE MIND OF GOD
Isa. 9:17. Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows.
From one point of view, this is a terrible text! it shows us that a people may arrive at such a condition of desperate and incorrigible wickedness, that God may feel constrained, as the upholder of truth and righteousness in the world, to destroy them. But, on the other hand, how worthy of thought and thanksgiving is this revelation of Gods constant feelings towards two very opposite classes of personsthose who are most joyful, and those who are most sorrowful.
I. Gods feelings toward young men. He has joy in them, a fact of which young men seldom think. Doubtless He has joy in them, 1, because of what they are; and 2, because of what they may become. He has this joy in them as their Creator. The great Artist has a delight in all His works (Gen. 1:31; Pro. 8:31). Young men are a realisation, more or less perfect, of a thought, an ideal in the Divine mind. Strength and comeliness of body, courage and vivacity of mind, modesty and generosity of heart, are the ideal characteristics of a young man, and precisely as they are actually found in any young man, God has joy in him, just as He has joy in the strength of the horse, the beauty of the swan, or the melody that is poured forth by the lark or the nightingale. We frequently see a young man who is obviously a glorious work of God; and had not sin so terribly cursed and marred our race, all young men would have been such as the British youths whose beauty called forth the old pleasant jest, Not Angles but angels.
All this is, of course, equally true of young women. For the Bible is in this respect to be interpreted like our English laws, concerning which it is decreed that the word man shall mean woman also in all cases in which nature herself does not forbid such an interpretation. A young woman is more than a pleasing mass of flesh and blood; she is a realisation of a thought of God, a work of the unseen Artist, to whom all that is beautiful in the universe owes its existence [943] Many a young woman is so beautiful that the human artist counts himself happy indeed if he can make on the canvas any fair transcript of her loveliness; and, what is better still, the beautiful body is but a casket in which a more beautiful body is enshrined.
[943] The world is Gods journal, wherein He writes His thoughts and traces His tastes. The world overflows with beauty. Beauty should no more be called trivial, since it is the thought of God.Beecher.
Young men and women, think of thisGod delights in you! What effects will a realisation of this thought have upon you?
1. It will check that vanity by which the strength of the young man and the beauty of the young woman are often so pitifully marred (1Co. 4:7).
2. It will cause you to reverence yourselves. Those who think that no one cares for them, are apt not to care for themselves; but consciousness that we are observed leads us to circumspection and self-control. If the observation be friendly and approving, it is a stimulus to endeavour to merit it. Respect kindles self-respect. Remembering how God looks upon you, you will shrink from doing anything that will lessen His joy in you; you will not voluntarily permit faults or vices to mar the nobleness and beauty that call it forth, any more than the roses, if they had power of self-defence, would give a lodgment to those insects which blight the beauty that causes beholders to joy in them.
3. Kindly, loving feelings towards God will spring up in you. Friendliness and love tend to call forth friendship and love; just as the sunshine and rain that in early summer descend from the natural heavens cause flowers to spring forth from the earth.
Consider what joy God must have had in the young man Jesus of Nazareth, and why He had it, and resolve that the same causes for this Divine joy shall exist in you.
II. Gods feelings toward orphans and widows. Mercy on their fatherless and widows. A more familiar thought, but let us not therefore overlook its preciousness. How frequent and how emphatic are the declarations of Gods pity for orphans and widows (Exo. 22:22; Deu. 10:18; Psa. 10:14; Psa. 10:18; Psa. 68:5; Psa. 82:3; Psa. 146:9; Jer. 49:11, &c.) Yea, we are taught that at least one-half of religion consists in being like God in this respect (Jas. 1:27). Gods pity is practical; let those to whom it is promised trust in it confidently [946] And let Gods people make it their businessput themselves to pain and troubleto be like Him in this respect: this is the way to secure His favour for themselves.
[946] There are no such promises to those who are free from sorrow and trial as are full and abundant to the afflicted. A good country physician in New England went to a neighbours house to tell a wife and mother of the sudden death of her absent husband. She was more than ordinarily frail and dependent. She had a large family. Her husband had acquired no property. The fresh blow was indeed terrible to her. When the first wild burst of sorrow was over, she looked up through her tears to her sympathising friend, and said in agony, But, Doctor, what shall I do?My dear woman, I dont know, said the kind-hearted physician. All I can say is, I only wish I had as many promises of God to take right home to myself as you have just now. The Bible is full of promises to those who are in your case. And the stricken woman lived to realise the truth and preciousness of the richest of those promises.Trumbull.
DIVINE ANGER
Isa. 9:17. For all this His anger is not turned away, but His hand is stretched out still.
I. Anger in God is a calm and just sense of displeasure against sin [949] II. Has its expression in the judgments executed upon men in this life. III. These under an administration of mercy are designed to be corrective. IV. Cannot in the case of failure satisfy the purposes of the Divine anger. V. Hence in all cases of impenitence Gods anger is not turned away, &c.J. Lyth, D.D.: Homiletical Treasury. Part I. p. 15.
[949] The anger which God feels and displays is always anger against sin. It is never against sinners as offenders against Himself personally, but as violators of the eternal laws of righteousness and love. It is not possible for the most daring transgressor to injure God in the slightest degree, and therefore He can never feel anything approaching to that personal vindictiveness which we feel against those who have wronged us. There are some passages which at first sight convey a different impression, as when it is said, Know therefore that the Lord thy God repayeth them that hate Him to their face, to destroy them; He will not be slack to him that hateth Him; He will repay him to his face (Deu. 7:10); and again, God is jealous, and the Lord revengeth, and is furious; the Lord will take vengeance upon His adversaries, and He reserveth wrath for His enemies (Nah. 1:2). But terrible as such passages are, they admit of a ready explanation. In them God manifestly speaks as the Judge of all the earth, as the Representative and Administrator of righteousness. Some years ago, proclamations denouncing the severest penalties against Fenianism were issued in the name of our beloved Queen; but no one imagined that she cherished any personal hostility against those offenders against her authority. Every month it is her melancholy duty to sign documents that consign convicted murderers to the scaffold, but no one regards these death-warrants as any proof that she delights in the sufferings of those whose sentence she confirms. Nor will any thoughtful person interpret such passages as setting forth anything else than Gods resolve to be faithful to His duties as the supreme administrator of justice, notwithstanding that in being so He must perform many things that are revolting to His infinite tenderness and compassion. His expostulations with sinners to repent and turn from their transgressions are a sufficient confirmation of this interpretation (Eze. 18:31-32, &c.) His anger against sin and sinners is no passion of personal vindictiveness, but is the natural revulsion of purity from impurity, of honesty from fraud, of truthfulness for falsehood; the instinctive abhorrence of generosity for meanness, of benevolence for malice, of kindness for cruelty.
If God did not feel and manifest this anger against sin, it would be impossible to respect and love Him. If He could look down on the mean and dastardly things that are done every day, and yet remain cold and emotionless as an iceberg, as indifferent to the sufferings of His creatures as some Oriental despots have been to the miseries of their wretched subjects, our whole soul would rise up in righteous condemnation of Him.R. A. B.
See outlines: GOD OPPRESSED, pp. 2832; A TERRIBLE RESOLVE, pp. 61, 62; THE PURPOSE OF PUNISHMENT, pp. 63, 64.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(17) Therefore the Lord shall have no joy . . .The Hebrew tenses are in the past, The Lord had no joy. The severity of the coming judgment is represented as not sparing even the flower of the nations youth, the widows and orphans who were the special objects of compassion both to God and man. The corruption of the time was universal, and the prophets formula, For all this his anger is not turned away . . . tolls again like the knell of doom.
Folly.Better, blasphemy or villainy.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
17. No joy in their young men God, because of the perversity of even their “young men,” can take no delight in them; for they are not, as they should be, the hope of the nation. And if due judgment is to sweep through the nation, it will take all.
Fatherless and widows The Old Testament religion enjoins extreme care of these classes; hence the expression that he will have no mercy on these implies an utter exhaustion of divine forbearance.
Every one a hypocrite There is no sincere recognition of God among them, but every so-called service of him is a pretence.
Folly Wickedness.
For all this Because of all this: Israel’s resolute impenitence.
Stretched out still Notwithstanding severe judgments already, more will follow.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 9:17 Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men, neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows: for every one [is] an hypocrite and an evildoer, and every mouth speaketh folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand [is] stretched out still.
Ver. 17. Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men. ] Nay, he shall laugh at their destruction. Pro 1:26
Neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows.
Because every one is an hypocrite and an evildoer.
And every mouth speaketh folly.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
have no joy: Isa 10:2, Isa 13:18, Isa 27:11, Isa 62:5, Isa 65:19, Psa 147:10, Jer 18:21, Zec 9:17
for every: Isa 10:6, Job 15:34, Jer 5:1, Mic 7:2, Mat 16:3
every mouth: Isa 32:6, Isa 32:7, Mat 12:34
folly: or, villany
For all: Isa 9:12, Isa 9:21, Isa 5:25, Isa 10:4, Eze 20:33
Reciprocal: Exo 6:6 – redeem Deu 33:7 – let his hands Psa 138:7 – thou shalt stretch Isa 31:3 – stretch Isa 33:14 – the hypocrites Isa 40:30 – General Jer 4:8 – the Jer 6:12 – I will Jer 21:5 – with an Eze 6:14 – will I Eze 14:9 – and I will Eze 16:27 – I have Mat 6:2 – as Mat 24:8 – General
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Therefore the Lord would not give the young men success in battle, nor would He take care of the defenseless at home. The people’s corruption had descended to disregarding God, doing evil, and saying right is wrong and wrong is right. Consequently judgment would proceed.
"What is the wrath of God? His wrath is his active, resolute opposition to all evil. His delight is spontaneous and intrinsic to his being, but his wrath is provoked by the defiance of his creatures. His love will never make peace with our evil. What we must understand is that God’s wrath is perfect, no less perfect than ’the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience’ (Rom 2:4). His wrath is not moody vindictiveness; it is the solemn determination of a doctor cutting away the cancer that’s killing his patient. And for God, the anger is personal, not detached and clinical. This Doctor hates the cancer, because he loves the carriers of the disease and he will rid the universe of all their afflictions. He has already scheduled ’the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed’ (Rom 2:5)." [Note: Ortlund, p. 102.]