Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 30:9

That this [is] a rebellious people, lying children, children [that] will not hear the law of the LORD:

9. lying children ] or faithless sons; see on ch. Isa 1:2, cf. Mal 1:6 the law ] the instruction, as ch. Isa 1:10.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

9 11. The documents (as in Isa 8:16) are a protest against the persistent disobedience of the people. Render with R.V. For it is, &c.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

That this is a rebellious people – (see the note at Isa 1:2).

Lying children – They had promised in solemn covenant to take Yahweh as their God, but they had been unfaithful to their vows.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Isa 30:9-11

This is a rebellious people

Dislike to ministerial fidelity

The Jews have very many followers under the Christian dispensation.

I. STATE THE TRUTHS WHICH ARE USUALLY OBNOXIOUS TO SUCH PERSONS. There are many doctrines to which every faithful preacher of Gods Word feels bound to give ample room in his stated ministry, that are by no means welcome to many of his hearers; such, for instance, as the spirituality and unbending strictness of the Divine law, the deep depravity of human nature, the exceeding sinfulness of mans conduct, the universal necessity of regeneration, the inefficacy of works for justification, and the indispensable obligation to a separation from the world. The Scriptures, not only of the Old Testament, but of the New, abound with the most appalling descriptions of the Divine displeasure against sin. It is a striking fact, that He who was love incarnate–who was named Jesus, because He was to be the Saviour of His people–delivered, during the course of His personal ministry, more fearful descriptions of Divine justice and the punishment of the wicked, than are to be found in any other part of the Word of God. No man can fulfil his ministry, therefore, without frequently alluding to the justice of God in the punishment of sin. But such a subject frequently calm up all the enmity of the carnal mind.

II. THE CAUSES TO WHICH WE MUST TRACE THIS DISLIKE OF MINISTERIAL FIDELITY, and this love of smooth and delusive preaching.

1. In some cases it is occasioned by absolute unbelief. Multitudes who admit in gross the authority of the Bible, deny it in detail.

2. The refinements of modern society and taste lead many to ask for smooth things. There is no respect of persons with God; before Him the distinctions of society have no place.

3. Wounded pride is with some the cause of a dislike of faithful preaching. They hate the doctrine which disturbs their self-complacency, and revile the man who attempts to sink them in their own esteem.

4. But in by far the greater number of instances, this dislike of the truth, and this love of smooth things, is the result of painful forebodings of future misery.

III. THE FOLLY, THE SIN, AND THE DANGER OF A DESIRE TO SUPPRESS THE FAITHFUL VOICE OF TRUTH, and to be flattered with the soothing language of deceit.

1. Its folly is apparent from the consideration that no concealment of the situation of the sinner can alter his condition in the sight of God, or change the relation in which he stands to eternity.

2. The sin of this disposition is equal to its folly. It is sinful alike in its origin, its nature, and its consequences. Why does a person wish to have a false representation of his state? For this one reason, that as he is determined to go on in sin, he may be left to sin with less reluctance and remorse. As it is sinful in its origin, it is manifestly so in its nature, for it is the love of falsehood; a desire to confound the distinction between sin and holiness. Nor is this all; in aiming to suppress the voice of warning and the note of alarm, he acts the part of that infatuated and cruel wretch, who would bribe the sentinel to be silent when the foe is about to rush, sword in hand, into the camp; or would seduce the watchman to be quiet, when the fire had broken out at midnight, and was raging through the city. For thus saith the Lord, O son of man, I have set thee a watchman over the house of Israel, etc. (Eze 33:7-8).

3. The danger of such a disposition to the individual himself, is as great as its sin and its folly. The man who is unwilling to hear of approaching misery, is not likely to use any means by which it may be averted.

By way of APPLICATION I infer, how great are the importance, responsibility, and difficulty which attach to the ministerial office, and how anxious should those be who sustain it, to discharge its duties with uncompromising fidelity.

1. The conversion of sinners should be the leading object of every minister of Christ.

2. This must be sought by suitable means. The means for awakening the unconverted are, of course, various. What might be called the alarming style of preaching is most adapted to convert the impenitent.

3. Ministers are under a great temptation to preach smooth things, and to shrink from what may emphatically be called the burden of the Lord. A false charity leads them, in some instances, to be unwilling to disturb the peace or distress the feelings of their hearers; or, perhaps, there are some in their congregation who may feel an objection to what they contemptuously call the harrowing style. But most of all are those in danger of compromising their duty, who are appointed to minister to well educated and wealthy audiences.

4. A word of admonition is here needed for professing Christians. Are there not many who are dissatisfied with everything but words of comfort and statements of privilege? They object to everything of a searching and practical tendency. (J. A. James.)

Church and world

I. A chief part of the work of the pulpit is THE PLAIN AND FERVENT TEACHING OF DAILY LIFE MORALITY. There is no Gospel without morality, and the morality of Christ, i.e., a morality whose inspiration is the Spirit of Christ, is a very large part of the Gospel indeed. What of our Lords own teachings? Are they chiefly moral teachings or theological? It is needless to answer the question. What do we mean when we talk of being saved from sin? Just what the words say,–that sin shall be taken away; that is, that men shall obey Gods law instead of the devils; that is, that they shall live pure, virtuous, and moral lives.

II. And do not MORALS OCCUPY A VERY FOREMOST PLACE IN THE WELFARE OF MANKIND. What is it makes the world often so miserable? It is sin, that is, immorality; and if we can do away with the sin and immorality, and bring in virtue and morality, then we shall do much to diminish the miseries of our fellow men. And if it is important that morals should be taught for the welfare and happiness of mankind, who are to teach morals, if not the ministers of religion! It is for us to educate the public conscience, until men feel each moral distinction as a solemn fact, until the force of public opinion fall heavily upon him who violates the moral law, until a fairer morality take its place among us.

III. But why have we succeeded so ill? WHY IS THE GENERAL MORALITY SO LOW! It is because the people have said, Speak unto us smooth things, and we have yielded to their words. If you tell men the faults which are diseases in their characters, slowly but surely bringing them down to the grave, they cannot bear it, but keep the disease and dismiss the physician. Whether it hurts or not, the truth must be said, if men are to be saved from the error of their ways. (W. Page-Roberts, B. A.)

Speak unto us smooth things

The smooth things by which men are apt to be deceived

I propose to instance a few of these smooth things which teachers may address to the people who love to be deceived, or wherewith the people themselves lay a flattering unction to their own souls.

I. The first of these, which though not generally ranked among the smooth things, I hold to be the universal deceit, and that in virtue of which we so MAGNIFY THE PRESENT WORLD, give such an exaggerated importance to things present and things sensible, regard time as if it had all the worth and endurance of eternity, and look on eternity as a thing of remote and shadowy insignificance, the care and consideration of which may be indefinitely postponed.

II. A MEAGRE AND SUPERFICIAL IMAGINATION OF THEIR GUILT, AND PROPORTIONALLY TO THIS, A SLIGHT APPREHENSION OF THEIR DANGER.

III. A man who feels his disease so slight, will be satisfied with a very slight remedy; and accordingly the remedy which men are satisfied with, is RESTING ON THE GENERAL MERCY OF GOD. God is represented as a Being full of tenderness, thus making it the whole character of the Godhead, and in this way lulling themselves into a deceitful security–not thinking of one set of attributes, justice, truth, and righteousness, but keeping these in the background, and bringing in the foreground, God being of universal tenderness and benignity, and who will not be severe on the follies of His poor erring creatures.

IV. A CERTAIN ANTINOMIAN SECURITY which they connect with the doctrines of grace and justification by faith. When we see people reposing on their orthodoxy, and making use of it as a soporific to lull themselves, we should ply them with questions founded on the true representation which the New Testament gives. Are they running so as that they may obtain? Are they fighting so as that they may gain a hard won victory? Are they striving so as that they may force an entrance at the strait gate? (T. Chalmers, D. D.)

The craving for the entertaining

What did the speakers want? They wanted what is desired by every age, namely, to be entertained. It is entertainment that is often frittering away the noblest courage and finest faculty of the Church. There may be parts of the service which are instructive, and they are tolerated that the entertainment may be enjoyed: entertain us with ritual, with music, with stories, with something that will give us intellectual excitement and even a degree of intellectual delight: but do not prophesy, do not teach, do not become rigorously moral: let the day of judgment alone; if we have to go to hell let us go down a bank covered with velvet moss. The people make the pulpit. (J. Parker, D. D.)

The demand for smooth things

What was the utility of the Hebrew prophet, and what were the errors to which he was more particularly exposed?

I. It was THE DUTY AND THE PRIVILEGE OF ISRAEL to keep alive monotheism in the world. It was no less the duty of the prophetic school to preserve in the chosen nation itself the spirituality of religion. Both agents were in the same relative position–a hopeless minority. And both had but an imperfect success. Yet the nation and the institution served each an important purpose. Monotheism languished, but did not die. And though the prophets were not very successful in imbuing the nation generally with their own spirituality, yet they kept the flame alive. They served to show to the people the true ideal of spiritual, not ritualistic, Judaism, and thus supplied a corrective to priest taught Judaism.

II. WHAT WAS THE GREAT SOURCE OF ERROR IN THE PROPHETS UTTERANCES? What was the great pressure that pushed, or tended to push him aside from the path of duty? The text has told us. Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things. The desire of man–king or peasant–to hear from the prophet, or the courtier, or the demagogue, not truth, but flattery,–it was that fatal longing which led them to put a pressure on the prophet which often crushed the truth within him.

III. FLATTERY EXISTS STILL. If nations have not prophets to flatter them, they have those whom they trust as much. Far from attempting to correct their faults, the guides whom they trust are constantly labouring to impress on them that they are the most meritorious and the most ill-used nation in the world. Eyes blinded to present faults; eyes sharpened to past wrongs,–there is no treatment which will more completely and more rapidlydemoralise the nation which is subjected to it. There will be no improvement where there is no consciousness of fault; and no forgiveness where the mind is invited, almost compelled, to a constant brooding over wrong. With the growth of such feelings no nation can thrive; and he who encourages them is not the saviour but the destroyer of his country. (J. H.Jellett.)

Cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us

The Holy One of Israel repudiated

The meaning is not, of course, that the people disown Jehovah as the national Deity, but that they repudiate Isaiahs conception of Him as the Holy One of Israel, and the teaching based on that conception. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)

Flattery

Smooth talk proves often sweet poison. Flattery is the very spring and mother of all impiety. It unmans a man, it makes him call black white, and white black; it makes a man change pearls for pebbles, and gold for counters; it makes a man judge himself wise, when foolish; knowing, when he is ignorant; holy, when he is profane; free, when he is a prisoner; rich, when he is poor; high, when he is low; full, when he is empty; happy, when he is miserable. (J. Bate.)

Truth sometimes unpopular

An animated debate took place whether Martinelli should continue his History of England to the present day.
Goldsmith: To be sure he should. Johnson: No, sir; he would give great offence. He would have to tell of almost all the living great what they do not wish told. Goldsmith: There are people who tell a hundred political lies every day, and are not hurt by it. Surely, then, one may tell truth with safety. Johnson: Why, sir, in the first place, he who tells a hundred lies has disarmed the force of his lies. But besides, a man had rather have a hundred lies told of him than one truth which he does not wish to be told. Goldsmith: For my part, Id fen the truth, and shame the devil. Johnson: Yes, sir; but the devil will be angry. I wish to shame the devil as much as you do, but I should choose to be out of the reach of his claws. Goldsmith: His claws can do you no harm when you have the shield of truth. (Boswells Johnson.)

Harmless preaching

Two Chinese jugglers have been making a public exhibition of their skill. One of these is set up as a target, and the other shows his dexterity by hurling knives which stick into the board at his comrades back, close to the mans body. These deadly weapons fix themselves between his arms and legs, and between his fingers; they fly past his ears, and over his head and each side of his neck. The art is not to hit him. Are there not to be found preachers who are remarkably proficient in the same art in the mental and spiritual departments? (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Faithful preaching

Our preaching must not be general, but particular. It is not lawful for thee to have her to wife. This was John Baptists style. We must collar men. Thou art the man–I mean you, sir. We are not half enough convinced of the evil of general preaching. The beef must have the salt of truth, and the saltpetre of life, but it must be rubbed in by particular application, and rubbed into every part by a comprehensive mind, and rubbed in by clean hands. (R. Cecil.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Lying children; which profess one thing, and practise another.

The law of the Lord; the commands of God, either contained in Scripture, or delivered by my mouth, whereby these practices are expressly forbidden to them.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

9. lyingunfaithful toJehovah, whose covenant they had taken on them as His adoptedchildren (Isa 59:13;Pro 30:9).

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

That this [is] a rebellious people,…. This, with what follows, is what the Lord would have written and engrossed, and remain for ever; or this is a reason why he would have it, for so the words be rendered, “for”, or “because, this [is] a rebellious people l”; rebellious against God and his commands; they are called “rebellious children” before, Isa 30:1 and, as it follows,

lying children; false spurious ones, only called, not truly, the children of God, and lied when they called themselves so, and were guilty of lying also, not only to God, but to one another:

children [that] will not hear the law of the Lord; either read, or explained, at least, not so as to be obedient to it; and such must be rebellious ones, and deserve not to be called the children of God. The Targum is,

“children that like not to receive the doctrine of the law of the Lord.”

l “nam populus”, Forerius, Junius Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius “quia”, Pagninus, Montanus.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

It was necessary that the worthlessness of the help of Egypt should be placed in this way before the eyes of the people. “For it is a refractory people, lying children, children who do not like to hear the instruction of Jehovah, who say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things! Speak flatteries to us! Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, remove from our face the Holy One of Israel.” On the expression am m e r (a people of stubbornness), see at Isa 3:8. The vowel-pointing of follows the same rule as that of . The prophet traces back their words to an unvarnished expression of their true meaning, just as he does in Isa 28:15. They forbid the prophets of Jehovah to prophesy, more especially n e khochoth , straight or true things (things not agreeable to their own wishes), but would rather hear c halaqoth , i.e., smooth, insinuating, and flattering things, and even mahathalloth (from hathal , Talm. tal , ludere ), i.e., illusions or deceits. Their desire was to be entertained and lauded, not repelled and instructed. The prophets are to adopt another course ( only occurs here, and that twice, instead of the more usual = , after the form , ), and not trouble them any more with the Holy One of Israel, whom they (at least Isaiah, who is most fond of calling Jehovah by this name) have always in their mouths.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

9. For this is a rebellious people. The word for or because points to the explanation of what has been already said; for the Prophet explains what the Lord intends to declare to posterity, namely, that the perverseness of this nation is desperate, because they cannot submit to be restrained by any doctrine. That the honorable appellation of the “people” wounded to the quick the hearts both of the ordinary ranks and of the nobles, may be inferred from their loud vaunting; for they boasted that they were the holy and elect seed of Abraham; as if God’s adoption had been a veil to cover the grossest crimes. But God commands that their crimes shall nevertheless be brought to light and openly proclaimed.

Who refuse to hear the law of Jehovah. By accusing them of this, he points out the source of all evils, namely, contempt of the word, which discovers their wickedness and their contempt of God himself; for it is idle to pretend that they worship God, when they are disobedient to his word. Isaiah likewise aggravates their guilt, by saying that they reject the remedy which doctrine offers for curing their diseases. On this account he calls them not only “rebellious,” and untameable or abandoned, but liars or treacherous persons; for they who refuse to obey the word of God, openly revolt from him, as if they could not endure his authority; and at the same time, they shew that they are given up to vanity and the delusions of Satan, so that they take no pleasure in sincerity.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

DISLIKE TO MINISTERIAL FIDELITY

Isa. 30:9-11. This is a rebellious people, &c.

Many wish to be deceived. They have made truth their enemy and shrink from the light, desiring present relief and peace, even at the expense of future happiness. Many a man does not like to be told the truth about his business or his health. The Jews did not like to be told the truth about their national prospects. The incessant reference of the prophets to the holiness of God was offensive to them, and they tried to silence their faithful monitors. Faithful ministers of Christ meet with the same reception from many of their hearers. These cannot bear to have their consciences roused, their fears alarmed, and their minds rendered uneasy.
I. THE TRUTHS WHICH ARE USUALLY OBNOXIOUS TO SUCH PERSONS. The spirituality and unbending strictness of the divine law, the deep depravity of human nature, the exceeding sinfulness of mans conduct, the universal necessity of regeneration, the inefficacy of works for justification, the indispensable obligation to a separation from the world, the holiness of God, His irreconcilable hatred to all sin, and His irrevocable purpose to punish it, and the awfulness and interminableness of the doom of the impenitent. Such subjects call up the enmity of the carnal mind. They distress those who are wrongfully at ease in Zion, and they demand that the preacher shall leave them, and discourse on more pleasing themes.
II. THE CAUSE OF THIS DISLIKE OF MINISTERIAL FIDELITY.

1. Unbelief. Multitudes who admit in gross the authority of the Bible deny it in detail. Its unpalatable truths are rejected.

2. The refinements of modern society and taste. It is allowed that the curses of a violated law may be uttered in barns or churches for the poor, and may fall on the rude ears of the multitude, but the doctrine and style of preaching to the congregations of rank and fashion must be smooth and soft.

3. Wounded pride. Persons of outwardly blameless life hate the doctrine which disturbs their self-complacency, and revile the man who attempts to sink them in their own esteem.

4. Painful forebodings of future misery. Resolutely cleaving to their sins, they do not like to be reminded of the doom to which they are hastening.

III. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THIS DISLIKE OF MINISTERIAL FIDELITY.

1. It is foolish. Is it wise in the victim of vice to ask the physician to tell him that he is in good health, and is carrying on a harmless course of indulgence, &c., &c.? No concealment of the situation of the sinner can alter his condition in the sight of God or change the relation in which he stands to eternity.

2. It is sinful.

(1.) In its origin. It springs from a determination to go on in sin.
(2.) In its nature. It is a love of falsehood, a desire to confound the distinction between sin and holiness. Nor is this all; in aiming to suppress the voice of warning, he acts the part of that infatuated and cruel wretch who would bribe the sentinel to be silent when the foe is about to rush into the camp, or would seduce the watchman to be quiet when the fire had broken out at midnight and was raging through the city. The attempt to induce the preacher to utter smooth things, is an attempt to induce him to destroy himself and to contribute to the destruction of them that hear him.
(3.) In its consequences. Notwithstanding the most faithful warnings, they are hurried on by it to ruin. Like infatuated Balaams, they force a passage to destruction.
3. It is dangerous. It leads men to close their ears to what it concerns them especially to know. It is only by a faithful disclosure of their situation that they can escape, but they will not hear it.

APPLICATION.

1. To ministers.

(1.) The guilt of ministers who do not discharge the duties of their office with uncompromising fidelity is indescribable. They are mere pulpit agents of the devil, receiving the wages of the sanctuary while they do his work; keeping all still and quiet among his slaves, preventing all attempts to throw off his hateful yoke by flattering them with the idea that they are the servants of God.
(2.) The conversion of sinners should be the chief object of every minister of Christ. They constitute the majority of every congregation; they will soon be beyond the reach of salvation.
(3.) The conversion of the impenitent must be sought by suitable means. What may be called the alarming style of preaching is most adapted to convert the impenitent. Not gross and revolting descriptions of eternal torment; these are offensive and disgusting, and generally defeat their purpose, especially when done in a harsh, unfeeling manner. But a ministers habitual preaching should be so discriminating as to leave no unconverted sinner at a loss with whom to class himself, whether with believers or with unbelievers; and it should not unfrequently contain those allusions to and descriptions of the wrath of God which, like the distant rumblings of the gathering and approaching storm, should drive men to the refuge provided by infinite mercy in the cross of Christ.
(4.) It is at our peril that we soften down the terrors of the Lord to please any man; we must not shun to declare the whole counsel of God; we must stand clear of the blood of the rich as well as of the poor. Did Paul regard the feelings of Felix?
2. To professing Christians.

(1.) Many would have the preacher confine himself to words of comfort, and object to everything searching and practical as legal. Upon their principles, all parts of Gods Word but the promises are unnecessary; they are useless to believers, for they are above them by privilege; useless to sinners, for they are below them in respect to obligation. What is this but a requesting that the Holy One of Israel may cease from before His people?
(2.) Inconsistent professors are likewise anxious that the preacher should confine himself to consolatory topics. Hypocrites! he gives you that which belongs to you. Consolation would be to you a deadly poison, a fatal opiate.
(3.) Sometimes even those who have only the ordinary imperfections of even the best men wish to hear less of the alarming parts of divine truth. But have you no concern for the salvation of others? Besides, who can tell but what you dislike may be necessary for keeping you awake?
(4.) Let those who cannot bear to hear the descriptions of future punishment think with themselves how they shall be able to endure it.John Angell James, Sermons, ii. 181214.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

(9) That this is a rebellious people.The words that follow were those which were thus written on the tablet. The people did not know the law of the Lord, the eternal law of right, themselves. They wished the seers, like Isaiah, to be as blind as themselves, and would fain have made the prophets tune their voice according to the time.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

9-11. The thing witnessed to is, that this is a rebellious people, lying children, etc. See note on Isa 1:2. They were a people unwilling to know any thing about the will of Jehovah; who desired their prophets to speak flatteries, not truths: or to adopt another line of thought, such as should encourage worldly plans, and utter no more of the eternal din, (as they wickedly deem it,) about the Holy One of Israel.

Cause the Holy One to cease They would that the prophet should “cease” troubling them with God’s denunciations.

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

Isa 30:9 That this [is] a rebellious people, lying children, children [that] will not hear the law of the LORD:

Ver. 9. That this is a rebellious people. ] Isaiae concepta verba praeit Deus; God dictateth to the prophet Isaiah what very words he shall set down. So he did to Moses, to Jeremiah, Jer 36:4 to Habakkuk, Hab 2:2 to John the divine. Rev 14:13 The whole Scripture was inspired by God; not for matter only, but for words also; 2Ti 3:16 and is therefore more than a bare commonitory or warning, as Bellarmine calls it, a kind of storehouse for advice in matters of religion. We account them the surest rule of life, a the divine beam, and most exact balance. b But the Papists see well enough that while the authority of the Scriptures standeth, the traditions of their Popes cannot be established, which they account the touchstone of doctrine and foundation of faith. And in favour of their unwritten verities, as they call them, they tell us, but falsely, that Christ commanded his apostles to preach, but not to write.

Lying children. ] And therefore not God’s children. Isa 63:8

a Divina statera. – Aug.

b Exactissima trutina – Chrysost.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)