Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 10:2

To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and [that] they may rob the fatherless!

2. The effect and real purpose of this legislative activity.

To turn aside the needy from judgment ] See on ch. Isa 1:23.

my people ] as Isa 3:12; Isa 3:15.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

To turn aside – Their sentences have the effect, and are designed to have, to pervert justice, and to oppress the poor, or to deprive them of their rights and just claims; compare Isa 29:21; Pro 27:5.

The needy – daliym – dalym. Those of humble rank and circumstances; who have no powerful friends and defenders. From judgment. From obtaining justice.

And to take away – To take away by violence and oppression. The word gazal, is commonly applied to robbery, and to oppression; to the taking away of spoils in battle, etc.

That widows may be their prey – That they may rob widows, or obtain their property. This crime has always been one particularly offensive in the sight of God; see the note at Isa 1:23. The widow and the orphan are without protectors. Judges, by their office, are particularly bound to preserve their rights; and it, therefore, evinces special iniquity when they who should be their protectors become, in fact, their oppressors, and do injustice to them without the possibility of redress. Yet this was the character of the Jewish judges; and for this the vengeance of heaven was about to come upon the land.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 2. My people] Instead of ammi, my people, many MSS., and one of my own, ancient, read ammo, his people. But this is manifestly a corruption.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

From judgment; or, from their right, as it is in the next clause; or, from obtaining a just sentence, because they either denied or delayed to hear their causes, or gave a wrong sentence.

From the poor, whom I have in a special manner committed to your care.

Of my people; of Israelites. who profess themselves to be my people, and whom I did take into covenant with myself; and therefore this is an injury not only to them, but to me also.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

2. To turn aside, &c.Theeffect of their conduct is to pervert the cause of the needy[HORSLEY]. In EnglishVersion “from judgment” means “from obtainingjustice.”

take away the right“makeplunder of the right” (rightful claim) [HORSLEY].

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

To turn aside the needy from judgment,…. Such laws being made as discouraged them from any application for justice; and, when they did, were harassed with such long, vexatious, and expensive suits, as obliged them to desist, and the cause being generally given against them, and for the rich:

and to take away the right from the poor of my people; for not to do justice to the poor is the same as to rob and plunder them, and take away by force what of right belongs to them; wherefore it follows:

that widows may be their prey, and [that] they may rob the fatherless; who have none to protect and defend them, and whose protectors judges ought to be, in imitation of God, whom civil magistrates represent, who is the Judge of the widows and the fatherless; and therefore this is observed as an aggravation of their sin, which was very great indeed: it is very wicked in a judge to pervert the judgment of the poor and needy, the widow and the fatherless, contrary to laws that are made by God and men; but to make and prescribe wicked and unrighteous laws, that wickedness may be framed, and mischief committed by a law, that the poor and the needy, the widows and fatherless, may be injured under colour and pretence of law and justice, is the height of injustice. See Ps 94:20.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

2. To keep back. (156) Others render it, to cause them to turn aside; but the true meaning is, to keep back the poor from judgment, or make them lose their cause. This is the iniquity and oppression which he had mentioned in the former verse, that the poor are deprived of their rights, and are robbed for the sake of the rich, and go away mocked from the judgment-seat, while everything is laid open to plunder. He chiefly mentions the poor, because for the most part they are destitute of help and assistance. While magistrates and judges ought to have assisted them more than others, they allow themselves greater liberty, and indulge more contemptuously in oppressing them. Those who have wealth, or friends, or favor, are less liable to be oppressed; for they have arms in their hands to defend, and even to revenge themselves. But the Lord says that he takes peculiar care of the poor, (Exo 22:23,) though they are commonly despised; and that he takes such care of them that he does not allow oppression inflicted on them to pass unpunished; for it is not without good ground that he calls himself the protector and defender of such persons. (Psa 68:5.) From this consideration, therefore, the poor and weak ought to derive consolation, and more calmly to endure distresses and afflictions, because they learn that God takes care of them, and will not permit any injustice done to them to pass unpunished. The powerful and wealthy are at the same time warned not to take it as an incentive to sin that they have not been punished; for though no avenger be now seen, still the Lord will avenge, and will undertake the cause of those whom they imagined to be destitute of all assistance.

(156) To turn aside. — Eng. Ver.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

2. This verse specifies some of those decisions. See further on chapter Isa 29:21.

To take away Or, tear away, the right. Or, as rendered in Ecc 5:8, violent perverting.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments