Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 59:9
Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, [but] we walk in darkness.
9. Therefore ] on account of these sins and disorders, and not on account of Jehovah’s remissness ( Isa 59:1-2).
judgment justice (R.V. righteousness) are here again synonyms for salvation, right manifested by a judicial interposition of Jehovah, as in Isa 59:11 and the latter part of ch. Isa 56:1.
overtake us ] The nation has struggled on its dreary and difficult way in the confident expectation that salvation would not tarry long behind, but hitherto this hope has been disappointed.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
9 11. The sorrow and dejection of the people is depicted in striking and pathetic images. It is the better mind of the community which is here expressed, its intense desire for the fulfilment of the divine promises, its weariness through hope deferred making the heart sick. The contrast to the buoyant enthusiasm of the second Isaiah is very great, and it is hardly credible that the state of feeling here described should have arisen in the short interval which elapsed between the announcement of deliverance and the actual release from captivity.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Therefore is judgment far from us – This is the confession of the people that they were suffering not unjustly on account of their crimes. The word judgment here is evidently to be taken in the sense of vengeance or vindication. The idea is this, we are subjected to calamities and to oppressions by our enemies. In our distresses we cry unto God, but on account of our sins he does not hear us, nor does he come to vindicate our cause.
Neither doth justice overtake us – That is, God does not interpose to save us from our calamities, and to deliver us from the hand of our enemies. The word justice here is not to be regarded as used in the sense that they had a claim on God, or that they were now suffering unjustly, but it is used to denote the attribute of justice in God; and the idea is, that the just God, the avenger of wrongs, did not come forth to vindicate their cause, and to save them from the power of their foes.
We wait for light – The idea here is, that they anxiously waited for returning prosperity.
But behold obscurity – Darkness. Our calamities continue, and relief is not afforded us.
For brightness – That is, for brightness or splendor like the shining of the sun an emblem of happiness and prosperity.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 59:9-11
Therefore is judgment far from us
Dejection and trouble the outcome of sin
The sorrow and dejection of the people is depicted in striking and pathetic images.
It is the better mind of the community which is here expressed–its intense desire for the fulfilment of the Divine promises, its weariness through hope deferred making the heart sick. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)
A sad sequence
Therefore,–on account of these sins and disorders, and not on account of Jehovahs remissness (Isa 59:1-2). (Ibid.)
We wait for light
Help for seekers of the light
I. DESCRIPTIVE.
1. These persons are in some degree aware of their natural darkness. They are looking for light.
2. They have a high idea of what the light is. Brightness.
3. They have some hope that they may yet obtain this light; in fact they are waiting for it, hopefully waiting.
4. They are such as have learned to plead their case with God, for our text is a complaint addressed to the Lord Himself.
5. The person I am desirous of comforting is quite willing to lay bare his heart before God, to confess his desires whether right or wrong, and to expose his condition whether healthy or sound.
II. ASSISTANCE. It shall be my happy task to assist into the light those who would fain flee from the darkness. We will do so by trying to answer the query, How is it that I, being desirous of light, have not found it yet?
1. You may have been seeking the light in the wrong place. You may have been the victim of the false doctrine that peace with God can be found in the use of ceremonies. It is possible, too, that you have been looking for salvation in the mere belief of a certain creed. You have thought that if you could discover pure orthodoxy, and could then consign your soul into its mould, you would be a saved man.
2. You may have sought it in the wrong spirit. Some appear to deal with God as if He were bound to give salvation; as if salvation, indeed, were the inevitable result of a round of performances, or the deserved reward of a certain amount of virtue.
3. Others have not obtained peace because they have not yet a clear idea of the true way of finding it. What thou hast to do is but to accept what Jesus has finished.
4. Perhaps thou hast not found light because thou hast sought it in a half-hearted manner.
5. Is it not possible that there may be some sin within thee which thou art harbouring to thy souls peril?
6. It may be that you have only sought peace with God occasionally.
7. The great reason, after all, why earnest souls do not get speedy rest lies in this, that they are disobedient to the one plain Gospel precept, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, etc.
III. A few words by way of AROUSING. What an unhappy state is thine! You have been in the dark year after year, when the sun is shining, the sweet flowers arc blooming, and everything waiting to lead thee forth with gladness. What joys you lose by being an unbeliever! What sin you are daily committing! for you are daffy an unbeliever! Unless Jesus Christ be your shield and help you are undone!
IV. ENCOURAGEMENT. There are many around you who have trusted Jesus and found light. They once suffered your disappointments, but have now found rest to their souls. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Therefore is judgment far from us: this seems to be spoken in the person of those Jews that did partake of these sins, giving the reason by way of complaint of those evils that they groaned under. Justice: judgment, and so justice, is herb taken for deliverance, Isa 1:27; q.d. God doth not defend our right, nor revenge our wrong, nor deliver us, because of these outrages and acts of violence, injustice, and oppression that are committed among us; so that deliverance is called here judgment and justice by a metonymy of the efficient: q.d. If he had executed judgment and equity among one another, they would not now have been far from us. As works are sometimes put for the reward of works, Job 7:2; Psa 109:20, so judgment and justice is put for the reward of judgment and justice. Or wicked men are in power and seats of judicature, that execute no judgment or justice in the behalf of the oppressed.
We wait for light: how the Hebrews use light and darkness, see before on Isa 58:8,10.
But we walk in darkness; or, mist; we are in such a thick mist, that which way soever we look, we see no way out, no hope of deliverance; we are still in captivity, and like so to be, till we see judgment and justice executed, and then we may expect good days.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. judgment farretribution inkind because they had shown “no judgment in theirgoings” (Isa 59:8). “Thevindication of our just rights by God is withheld by Him fromus.”
usIn Isa59:8 and previous verses, it was “they,” the thirdperson; here, “us . . . we,” the first person. The nationhere speaks: God thus making them out of their own mouthcondemn themselves; just as He by His prophet had condemnedthem before. Isaiah includes himself with his people and speaks intheir name.
justiceGod’s justicebringing salvation (Isa 46:13).
lightthe dawn ofreturning prosperity.
obscurityadversity(Jer 8:15).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Therefore is judgment far from us,…. These are the words of the few godly persons in those times, taking notice of prevailing sins, confessing and lamenting them, and observing that these were the source of their calamities under which they groaned; “therefore”, because of the above mentioned sins, and in just retaliation, no justice or judgment being among men; therefore, in great righteousness “judgment is far from us”; or God does not appear to right our wrongs, and avenge us of our enemies, but suffers them to afflict and distress us:
neither doth justice overtake us; the righteousness of God inflicting vengeance on our enemies, and saving and protecting us; this does not come up with us, nor do we enjoy the benefit of it, but walk on without it unprotected, and exposed to the insults of men:
we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness; or “for brightnesses” y; for much clear light; but
we walk in mists z; in thick fogs, and have scarce any light at all. The meaning is, they waited for deliverance and salvation; but instead of that had the darkness of affliction and distress; or they were expecting latter day light and glory, the clear and bright shining of Gospel truths; but, instead of that, were surrounded with the darkness of ignorance and infidelity, superstition and will worship, and walked in the mists and fogs of error and heresy of all sorts: this seems to respect the same time as in Zec 14:6.
y “in splendores”, Pagninus, Montanus; “magnum splendorem”, Vitringa. z “in ealiginibus”, Montanus, Cocceius; “in summa caligine”, Junius Tremellius, Piscator “in densa caligine”, Vitringa.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
In the second strophe the prophet includes himself when speaking of the people. They now mourn over that state of exhaustion into which they have been brought through the perpetual straining and disappointment of expectation, and confess those sins on account of which the righteousness and salvation of Jehovah have been withheld. The prophet is speaking communicatively here; for even the better portion of the nation was involved in the guilt and consequences of the corruption which prevailed among the exiles, inasmuch as a nation forms an organized whole, and the delay of redemption really affected them. “Therefore right remains far from us, and righteousness does not overtake us; we hope for light, and behold darkness; for brightness – we walk in thick darkness. We grope along the wall like the blind, and like eyeless men we grope: we stumble in the light of noon-day as in the darkness, and among the living like the dead. We roar all like bears, and moan deeply like doves: we hope for right, and it cometh not; for salvation – it remaineth far off from us.” At the end of this group of verses, again, the thought with which it sets out is palindromically repeated. The perfect denotes a state of things reaching from the past into the present; the future a state of things continuing unchangeable in the present. By m ishpat we understand a solution of existing inequalities or incongruities through the judicial interposition of God; by ts e daqah the manifestation of justice, which bestows upon Israel grace as its right in accordance with the plan of salvation after the long continuance of punishment, and pours out merited punishment upon the instruments employed in punishing Israel. The prophet’s standpoint, whether a real or an ideal one, is the last decade of the captivity. At that time, about the period of the Lydian war, when Cyrus was making one prosperous stroke after another, and yet waited so long before he turned his arms against Babylon, it may easily be supposed that hope and despondency alternated incessantly in the minds of the exiles. The dark future, which the prophet penetrated in the light of the Spirit, was indeed broken up by rays of hope, but it did not amount to light, i.e., to a perfect lighting up ( n e gohoth , an intensified plural of n e gohah , like n e khochoth in Isa 26:10, pl. of n e khochah in Isa 59:14); on the contrary, darkness was still the prevailing state, and in the deep thick darkness ( ‘ apheloth ) the exiles pined away, without the promised release being effected for them by the oppressor of the nations. “We grope,” they here complain, “like blind men by a wall, in which there is no opening, and like eyeless men we grope.” (only used here) is a synonym of the older (Deu 28:29); (with the elision of the reduplication, which it is hardly possible to render audible, and which comes up again in the pausal ) has the ah of force, here of the impulse to self-preservation, which leads them to grope for an outlet in this ; and is not quite synonymous with , for there is such a thing as blindness with apparently sound eyes (cf., Isa 43:8); and there is also a real absence of eyes, on account of either a natural malformation, or the actual loss of the eyes through either external injury or disease.
In the lamentation which follows, “we stumble in the light of noon-day ( , m eridies = m esidies , the culminating point at which the eastern light is separated from the western) as if it were darkness, and , as if we were dead men,” we may infer from the parallelism that since must express some antithesis to , it cannot mean either in c aliginosis (Jer., Luther, etc.), or “in the graves” (Targ., D. Kimchi, etc.), or “in desolate places” (J. Kimchi). Moreover, there is no such word in Hebrew as , to be dark, although the lexicographers give a Syriac word , thick darkness (possibly related to Arab. atamat , which does not mean the dark night, but late in the night); and the verb shamen , to be fat, is never applied to “fat, i.e., thick darkness,” as Knobel assumes, whilst the form of the word with c. dagesh precludes the meaning a solitary place or desert (from = ). The form in question points rather to the verbal stem , which yields a fitting antithesis to , whether we explain it as meaning “in luxuriant fields,” or “among the fat ones, i.e., those who glory in their abundant health.” We prefer the latter, since the word m ishmannm (Dan 11:24; cf., Gen 27:28) had already been coined to express the other idea; and as a rule, words formed with prosth. point rather to an attributive than to a substantive idea. is a more emphatic form of (Jdg 3:29);
(Note: The name of the Phoenician god of health and prosperity, viz., Esmoun, which Alois Mller (Esmun, ein Beitrag zur Mythologie des orient. Alterthums. 1864) traces to (Psa 68:32) from = , “the splendid one ( illustris ),” probably means “the healthy one, or one of full health” (after the form , ), which agrees somewhat better with the account of Photios: .)
and indicates indirectly the very same thing which is directly expressed by in Isa 10:16. Such explanations as “ in opimis rebus ” (Stier, etc.), or “in fatness of body, i.e., fulness of life” (Bttcher), are neither so suitable to the form of the word, nor do they answer to the circumstances referred to here, where all the people in exile are speaking. The true meaning therefore is, “we stumble (reel about) among fat ones, or those who lead a merry life,” as if we were dead. “And what,” as Doederlein observes, “can be imagined more gloomy and sad, than to be wandering about like shades, while others are fat and flourishing?” The growling and moaning in Isa 59:11 are expressions of impatience and pain produced by longing. The people now fall into a state of impatience, and roar like bears ( hamah like fremere ), as when, for example, a bear scents a flock, and prowls about it ( vespertinus circumgemit ursus ovile : Hor. Ep. xvi. 51); and now again they give themselves up to melancholy, and moan in a low and mournful tone like the doves, quarum blanditias verbaque murmur habet (Ovid). , like murmurare , expresses less depth of tone or raucitas than . All their looking for righteousness and salvation turns out again and again to be nothing but self-deception, when the time for their coming seems close at hand.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Prevalence and Effects of Sin. | B. C. 706. |
9 Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. 10 We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men. 11 We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us. 12 For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them; 13 In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. 14 And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. 15 Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.
The scope of this paragraph is the same with that of the last, to show that sin is the great mischief-maker; as it is that which keeps good things from us, so it is that which brings evil things upon us. But as there it is spoken by the prophet, in God’s name, to the people, for their conviction and humiliation, and that God might be justified when he speaks and clear when he judges, so here it seems to be spoken by the people to God, as an acknowledgment of that which was there told them and an expression of their humble submission and subscription to the justice and equity of God’s proceedings against them. Their uncircumcised hearts here seem to be humbled in some measure, and they are brought to confess (the confession is at least extorted from them), that God had justly walked contrary to them, because they had walked contrary to him.
I. They acknowledge that God had contended with them and had walked contrary to them. Their case was very deplorable, v. 9-11. 1. They were in distress, trampled upon and oppressed by their enemies, unjustly dealt with, and ruled with rigour; and God did not appear for them, to plead their just and injured cause: “Judgment is far from us, neither does justice overtake us, v. 9. Though, as to our persecutors, we are sure that we have right on our side; and they are the wrong-doers, yet we are not relieved, we are not righted. We have not done justice to one another, and therefore God suffers our enemies to deal thus unjustly with us, and we are as far as ever from being restored to our right and recovering our property again. Oppression is near us, and judgment is far from us. Our enemies are far from giving our case its due consideration, but still hurry us on with the violence of their oppressions, and justice does not overtake us, to rescue us out of their hands.” 2. Herein their expectations were sadly disappointed, which made their case the more sad: “We wait for light as those that wait for the morning, but behold obscurity; we cannot discern the least dawning of the day of our deliverance. We look for judgment, but there is none (v. 11); neither God nor man appears for our succour; we look for salvation, because God (we think) has promised it, and we have prayed for it with fasting; we look for it as for brightness, but it is far off from us, as far off as ever for aught we can perceive, and still we walk in darkness; and the higher our expectations have been raised the sorer is the disappointment.” 3. They were quite at a loss what to do to help themselves and were at their wits’ end (v. 10): “We grope for the wall like the blind; we see no way open for our relief, nor know which way to expect it, or what to do in order to it.” If we shut our eyes against the light of divine truth, it is just with God to hide from our eyes the things that belong to our peace; and, if we use not our eyes as we should, it is just with him to let us be as if we had no eyes. Those that will not see their duty shall not see their interest. Those whom God has given up to a judicial blindness are strangely infatuated; they stumble at noon-day as in the night; they see not either those dangers, or those advantages, which all about them see. Quos Deus vult perdere, eos dementat–God infatuates those whom he means to destroy. Those that love darkness rather than light shall have their doom accordingly. 4. They sunk into despair and were quite overwhelmed with grief, the marks of which appeared in every man’s countenance; they grew melancholy upon it, shunned conversation, and affected solitude: We are in desolate places as dead men. The state of the Jews in Babylon is represented by dead and dry bones (Ezek. xxxvii. 12) and the explanation of the comparison there (v. 11) explains this text: Our hope is lost; we are cut off for our parts. In this despair the sorrow and anguish of some were loud and noisy: We roar like bears; the sorrow of others was silent, and preyed more upon their spirits: “We mourn sore like doves, like doves of the valleys; we mourn both for our iniquities (Ezek. vii. 16) and for our calamities.” Thus they owned that the hand of the Lord had gone out against them.
II. They acknowledge that they had provoked God thus to contend with them, that he had done right, for they had done wickedly, v. 12-15. 1. They owned that they had sinned, and that to this day they were in a great trespass, as Ezra speaks (Ezra x. 10): “Our transgressions are with us; the guilt of them is upon us, the power of them prevails among us, we are not yet reformed, nor have we parted with our sins, though they have done so much mischief. Nay, our transgressions are multiplied; they are more numerous and more heinous than they have been formerly. Look which way we will, we cannot look off them; all places, all orders and degrees of men, are infected. The sense of our transgression is with us, as David said, My sin is ever before me; it is too plain to be denied or concealed, too bad to be excused or palliated. God is a witness to them: They are multiplied before thee, in thy sight, under thy eye. We are witnesses against ourselves: As for our iniquities, we know them, though we may have foolishly endeavoured to cover them. Nay, they themselves are witnesses: Our sins stare us in the face and testify against us, so many have they been and so deeply aggravated.” 2. They owned the great evil and malignity of sin, of their sin; it is transgressing and lying against the Lord, v. 13. The sins of those that profess themselves God’s people, and bear his name, are upon this account worse than the sins of others, that in transgressing they lie against the Lord, they falsely accuse him, they misrepresent and belie him, as if he had dealt hardly and unfairly with them; or they perfidiously break covenant with him and falsify their most sacred and solemn engagements to him, which is lying against him: it is departing away from our God, to whom we are bound as our God and to whom we ought to cleave with purpose of heart; from him we have departed, as the rebellious subject from his allegiance to his rightful prince, and the adulterous wife from the guide of her youth and the covenant of her God. 3. They owned that there was a general decay of moral honesty; and it is not strange that those who were false to their God were unfaithful to one another. They spoke oppression, declared openly for that, though it was a revolt from their God and a revolt from the truth, by the sacred bonds of which we should always be tied and held fast. They conceived and uttered words of falsehood. Many ill thing is conceived in the mind, yet is prudently stifled there, and not suffered to go any further; but these sinners were so impudent, so daring, that whatever wickedness they conceived, they gave it an imprimatur–a sanction, and made no difficulty of publishing it. To think an ill thing is bad, but to say it is much worse. Many a word of falsehood is uttered in haste, for want of consideration; but these were conceived and uttered, were uttered–deliberately and of malice prepense. They were words of falsehood, and yet they are said to be uttered from the heart, because, though they differed from the real sentiments of the heart and therefore were words of falsehood, yet they agreed with the malice and wickedness of the heart, and were the natural language of that; it was a double heart, Ps. xii. 2. Those who by the grace of God kept themselves free from these enormous crimes yet put themselves into the confession of sin, because members of that nation which was generally thus corrupted. 4. They owned that that was not done which might have been done to reform the land and to amend what was amiss, v. 14. “Judgment, that should go forward, and bear down the opposition that is made to it, that should run in its course like a river, like a mighty stream, is turned away backward, a contrary course. The administration of justice has become but a cover to the greatest injustice. Judgment, that should check the proceedings of fraud and violence, is driven back, and so they go on triumphantly. Justice stands afar off, even from our courts of judicature, which are so crowded with the patrons of oppression that equity cannot enter, cannot have admission into the court, cannot be heard, or at least will not be heeded. Equity enters not into the unrighteous decrees which they decree, ch. x. 1. Truth is fallen in the street, and there she may lie to be trampled upon by every foot of pride, and she has never a friend that will lend a hand to help her up; yea, truth fails in common conversation, and in dealings between man and man, so that one knows not whom to believe nor whom to trust.” 5. They owned that there was a prevailing enmity in men’s minds to those that were good: He that does evil goes unpunished, but he that departs from evil makes himself a prey to those beasts of prey that were before described. It is crime enough with them for a man not to do as they do, and they treat him as an enemy who will not partake with them in their wickedness. He that departs from evil is accounted mad; so the margin reads. Sober singularity is branded as folly, and he is thought next door to a madman who swims against the stream that runs so strongly. 6. They owned that all this could not but be very displeasing to the God of heaven. The evil was done in his sight. They knew very well, though they were not willing to acknowledge it, that the Lord saw it; though it was done secretly, and gilded over with specious pretences, yet it could not be concealed from his all-seeing eye. All the wickedness that is in the world is naked and open before the eyes of God; and, as he is of quicker eyes than not to see iniquity, so he is of purer eyes than to behold it with the least approbation or allowance. He saw it, and it displeased him, though it was among his own professing people that he saw it. It was evil in his eyes; he saw the sinfulness of all this sin, and that which was most offensive to him was that there was no judgment, no reformation; had he seen any signs of repentance, though the sin displeased him, he would soon have been reconciled to the sinners upon their returning from their evil way. Then the sin of a nation becomes national, and brings public judgments, when it is not restrained by public justice.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Vs. 9-15b: A CONFESSION OF SIN AND ITS CONSEQUENT DISASTER
1. In verses 9-11 one hears the lamentation of the rebellious nation – stricken because of her sin.
a. Isaiah identifies himself with his people and leads them in this lamentation – and in the confession that follows, (comp. Isa 6:5; Isa 53:4-6; Isa 1:21; Isa 5:7).
b. Because God did not execute swift judgment upon Israel’s foes, they were left defenseless, (comp. Isa 5:26-30).
c. They looked for light and encouragement; but, rejecting the light of God’s word, were left to walk in thick darkness, (comp. Isa 8:21-22).
d. Groping for stability and guidance (toward an exit from their calamities), they were as blind men (Isa 6:9-10; Isa 56:10) – stumbling at noon-day (Isa 8:13-15; Isa 28:13); among those who were full of life and vigor, they were as dead men, (La 3:6).
e. Impatiently groaning under the weight of their self-imposed exile, they desperately pined for deliverance; but, their lot seemed to be getting worse instead of better. Here is pain, misery, disappointment, disillusionment and condemnation, (comp. Isa 38:14; Eze 7:14-18).
2. Finally, there comes a recognition and confession of individual and national guilt, (vs. 12-15b).
a. The burden of sin has a way of steadily increasing until one is crushed beneath its weight; finally turning their eyes upon the Lord, they are deeply conscious of their crookedness in His sight, (vs. 12).
b. In verse 14 there is an enumeration of Israel’s sins: transgression, (Isa 58:1; Ezr 9:6); denial of Jehovah, (Jos 24:27; Pro 30:7-9; Tit 1:16); apostacy – a deliberate turning away from the truth of God, (Exo 32:1; Jdg 2:17; Eze 36:20); false accusation, which led to the oppression of others, (Isa 5:7; Isa 30:12; Jer 9:3-4); rebellion, (1Sa 8:7; 1Sa 15:22; Neh 9:26; Isa 1:5; Hos 7:14); conceiving and uttering from the heart, words of falsehood, (vs. 3-4; Mar 7:21-22).
c. Thus, “justice” is turned away and “righteousness” required to stand afar off, (Isa 1:21; Isa 46:12; Hab 1:2-4).
d. Greed has slaughtered Truth in the place of business, (Isa 48:1); and whoever departs from evil renders himself subject to plunder, (Isa 5:23; Isa 10:1-2; Isa 29:21; Isa 32:7).
Vs. 15c-21: DIVINE INTERVENTION AND GRACIOUS DELIVERANCE
1. The Lord was highly displeased with the reign of injustice in Zion’s courts, (vs. 15c).
a. He saw and wondered (was highly displeased) that there was no one who would stand (against these abominations) and plead His righteous cause, (vs. 16a; Isa 41:28; Isa 64:7).
b. Thus, His own heart was stretched out in behalf of truth and righteousness, (vs. 16b; Isa 63:5; Isa 52:10; Psa 98:1).
2. Various figures are used to describe the manifestation of God’s holy character, (vs. 17); He clothes himself:
a. With “righteousness as a breastplate”, (comp. Eph 6:14).
b. With the “helmet of salvation” upon His head, (comp. Eph 6:17).
c. With “garments of vengeance” for His clothing, (Isa 63:2-3).
d. And with “zeal as a cloak”, (Isa 9:7; Isa 37:22; Zec 1:13-17).
3. Then follows a prophecy of judgment, (vs. 18-19).
a. Upon Israel, because of her persistent rebellion, (Isa 65:6-7; Isa 66:6; Jer 17:9-10).
b. Upon His foes in the Gentile world.
1) These are seen as rising up against His sovereign authority, (Psa 2:1; Psa 46:6; Psa 83:2-5; Rev 11:18).
2) But “the Spirit of the Lord” will lift up such a standard against this enemy as will result in its overthrow!
c. As a result of this manifestation of His power, His name will be remembered and His glory revealed, (Isa 66:18).
4. The Redeemer Himself will come to Zion, (vs. 20-21).
a. Bringing deliverance to the Holy City – and to a holy remnant who “turn from transgression” in Jacob, (vs. 20). But, before redemption, there must first be a recognition, repudiation, and repentance from sin!
b. Then He will restore them to covenant-fellowship with Himself so that they may be perpetual witnesses of His grace throughout the millennial era, (vs. 21; Rom 11:26-27; Isa 44:3; Isa 44:26; Isa 54:10; Jer 32:40-42; Heb 8:10-12; Heb 10:16-18; Heb 12:22-24).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
9. Therefore is judgment far from us. After having described how corrupt and depraved was the condition of that people, he likewise shows that the severe chastisements inflicted on them are richly deserved, that they may not complain of being treated with greater harshness and severity than was proper. Thus he has painted, as in a picture, those vices which were publicly known, that they might more fully perceive in how many and how various ways they were guilty before God; and now he again repeats that we need not wonder if God treat such obstinate dispositions with greater severity, and render to them a just reward. He says that “Judgment is far off, because they were the most wretched of all men, and had not God for their protector as formerly.”
And justice doth not overtake us. He employs the words “judgment” and “justice” as denoting God’s guardianship, when he defends us, and shows that he takes care of us. He calls it “justice” when he defends us, and “judgment” when he revenges the injuries done to us. Here he declares that God had cast away the care of his people, and had deprived them of his countenance and aid, because they were unworthy of it; and hence we ought to observe the particle על כן ( gnal ken) “therefore;” for he draws the conclusion that we ought not to blame God, as if he acted unjustly towards his people, since in so many ways they had insulted his majesty.
Of the same import is what he adds, that while they look for light, continual darkness sits down upon them; for the metaphor shows that they were almost consumed by their calamities, and that, when they promised to themselves any alleviation, they were disappointed of their hope. Light is a word very frequently employed to denote prosperity, and darkness to denote adversity. He means, therefore, that it will be vain to expect that their condition shall be changed for the better; and his object is, that the people may learn to ascribe their calamities to themselves, and may not imagine that those calamities happen by chance, or that the Lord is excessively severe; for he always endeavors to bring his people to the doctrine of repentance.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
HELP FOR SEEKERS OF THE LIGHT
Isa. 59:9. We wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.
I. I address myself, through the words of the text, to persons who are desirous of obtaining the true and heavenly light, who have waited hoping to receive it, but instead of obtaining it are in a sadder state than they were, and they are almost driven into the dark foreboding that for them no light will ever come; they shall be prisoners chained for ever in the valley of the shadow of death.
1. These persons are in some degree aware of their natural darkness. They are looking for light. They are not content with their obscurity, they are waiting for brightness. They discover in their nature much of evil, they would fain be rid of it; they find in their understanding much ignorance, and they would fain be illuminated. They pant to escape from this ignorance, they desire to know the truth which saves the soul; and their desire is not only to know it in theory, but to know it by its practical power upon the inner man.
2. They have a high idea of what the light is. In the text they call it brightness. They wait for it, and are grieved because it comes not.
3. They have some hope that they may yet obtain this light; in fact, they are waiting for it, hopefully waiting, and are somewhat disappointed that after waiting for the light, behold, obscurity has come. They are evidently astonished at the failure of their hopes.
4. They have learned to plead their case with God, for our text is a complaint addressed to the Lord Himself. It is a declaration of inward feelings, a laying bare of the hearts agonies to the Most High.
II. It shall now be my happy task to endeavour to assist into the light those who would fain flee from the darkness, by trying to answer the query, How is it that I, being desirous of light, have not found it yet? Why has not the Lord revealed Himself to me?
1. You may have been seeking the light in the wrong place. Many, like Mary, seek the living amongst the dead. You may have been the victim of the false doctrine that peace with God can be found in the use of ceremonies, &c. You may have been looking for salvation in the mere belief of a certain creed.
2. You may have sought it in the wrong spirit. When we ask for pardon, reconciliation, salvation, we must remember to whom we speak, and who we are who ask the favour. Some appear to deal with God as if He were bound to give salvation; as if salvation indeed were the inevitable result of a round of performances (H. E. I. 3431, 3432), or the deserved reward of a certain amount of virtue. You must come down from such vainglorious notions; you must sue out your pardon, as our law courts put it, in form pauperis; you must come before God as a humble petitioner, pleading the promises of mercy, abhorring all idea of merit, confessing that if the Lord condemn, He has a right to do it; and that if He save, it will be an act of pure, gratuitous mercy.
3. Others have not obtained peace because they have not yet a clear idea of the true way of finding it. The way of peace with God is seen through a haze by most men, so that if you put it ever so plainly, they will, if it be possible, misunderstand you. They will not give a simple look to the Saviour, and rely alone on Him. The waters of Abana and Pharpar are preferred by proud human nature, but the waters of Jordan alone can take away the leprosy.
4. Perhaps you have not found light because you have sought it in a half-hearted manner. None enter heaven who are but half inclined to go there. Cold prayers ask God to refuse them (H. E. I. 38313835).
5. There may be some sin within thee which thou art harbouring to thy souls peril. Art thou willing to give sin up? If not, it is all lost time for me to preach Christ to thee, for He is not meant to be a Saviour of those who persevere in sin. He came to save His people from their sins, not in them; and if thou still must needs cling to a darling sin, be not deceived, for within the gates of heaven thou canst never enter (H. E. I. 2823, 2856, 45974602).
6. It may be that you have only sought peace with God occasionally. After an earnest sermon you have been awakened, but when the sermon has been concluded, you have gone back to your slumber like the sluggard who turns again upon his bed. After a sickness, or when there has been a death in the family, you have then zealously bestirred yourself; but anon you have declined into the same carelessness as before. Oh! fool that you are, remember he wins not the race who runs by spurts, but he who continues running to the end.C. H. Spurgeon: Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, No. 884.
Isa. 59:12. Conviction of sin. I. Our transgressions are revealed in the light of Gods countenance. II. Testify against us. III. Produce condemnation in the conscience. IV. Cannot be evadedwe know them.
Confession of sin. IncludesI. A perception of its guiltcommitted against Godmultiplied. II. An acknowledgment of its guiltThey testify, &c. Justly awaken Gods displeasure. III. A sense of its misery. Condemnationcompensation. IV. A full conviction of our own demerit and helplessness.Dr. Lyth.
Isa. 59:13. Sin and its aggravation. I. In its lowest form it is transgression against God. II. Is aggravated by apostacy. III. Still more by its propagation. IV. Most of all, when it is conceived and uttered of set purpose.
Isa. 59:14-15. Society in a demoralised condition. I. Right and justice perverted. II. Truth and equity excluded. III. Falsehood predominant. IV. The good oppressed. V. God justly displeased.
Isa. 59:16-19. Gods interposition for His people. I. The occasion. They were in distresshelplessno deliverer. II. The display of His power. He brings salvationby righteousnessHis own. III. His weapons. Righteousnesssalvationvengeance. IV. The glorious issue. Recompense to His enemies. Deliverance for His people.Dr. Lyth.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
2. THE CONSEQUENCES
TEXT: Isa. 59:9-15 a
9
Therefore is justice far from us, neither doth righteousness overtake us: we look for light, but, behold, darkness; for brightness, but we walk in obscurity.
10
We grope for the wall like the blind; yea, we grope as they that have no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the twilight; among them that are lusty we are as dead men.
11
We roar all like bears, and moan sore like doves: we look for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.
12
For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them:
13
transgressing and denying Jehovah, and turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
14
And justice is turned away backward, and righteousness standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and uprightness cannot enter.
15
Yea, truth is lacking; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey.
QUERIES
a.
Who is the we doing the pleading for light?
b.
Is the confession of wickedness sincere?
PARAPHRASE
Yes, it is on account of our crimes that our nation is in such a state of chaos. There is no justice or righteousness in our society. It is no wonder that this generation which has expected light finds nothing but darkness and ignorance. It is no wonder we grope and grasp at things like blind men; no wonder we stumble around wounding ourselves like blind men in broad daylight; no wonder we are like a nation of dead corpses. Our whole nation is filled with confusion and turmoil and some people run around like bears roaring at the agitation they are suffering. Others go moaning like troubled doves. This disordered and disturbed society looks everywhere for justice and salvation but they never find it. There is no way this society can deny the multiplicity of its sins. Our sinfulness manifests itself to us in the consequences we are suffering. We know we are a sinful, disobedient people, rebelling against the Law of Jehovah. We have deliberately turned away from Him, we have advocated oppression of our fellow man and revolt against our leaders and we are a nation of liars. Injustice is the order of the day; justice has been completely perverted. Righteousness is unheard of in this country; truth is dead in the wicked streets of the cities and honesty and fairness could not come into this society if it wanted to because it is banned. Indeed, there is no truth here, it is all falsehood, and the man who tries to quit his wickedness becomes an outcast and a hunted man!
COMMENTS
Isa. 59:9-11 CONFUSION: The first part of chapter 59 is Jehovahs indictment. In Isa. 59:1-8 the Lord, speaking through Isaiah, tells Judah that He knows their sin. This section (Isa. 59:9-15) is an evaluation of Judahs predicament from mans (Isaiah) perspective. It is, as it were, Isaiah concurring with the Lords indictment. It cannot be a penitent confession of sin by the nation of Judah. The attitude of the populace grew more and more rebellious and not penitent as evidenced clearly by Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Isaiah says, in effect, Lord, You are correct! This nation is filled with confusion because of its sin. The stupefying effect of the rejection of Gods truth is seen in their clamoring, roaring, moaning for light and salvation while at the same time clamoring for more and more wickedness. They were like disoriented blind men groping, feeling, grasping for some object by which they might find their way. The way is there but they cannot see it because they have deliberately chosen not to see it. One is reminded of King Zedekiah who when faced with the consequences of his disobedience to God, sent for Jeremiah the prophet and asked, Is there any word from the Lord? (Jer. 37:17). Jeremiah had been preaching the word from the Lord for at least 23 years (Jer. 25:3)why had Zedekiah been unable to find the way for 23 years? Why all of a sudden roar and moan for salvation, Zedekiah? Because he had come to the end of his rope. He could no longer solve his problems by himself.
The nation of Judah was fast approaching the end of its rope. Isaiah recognized it. Many of the people, however, had not yet admitted it. Not until they had been violently dragged off into pagan captivity and had gotten their fill of idolatry did they confess their own helplessness and turn to God for salvation.
The interesting thing in our text here is the incongruity of moaning for salvation while running to evil and making haste to shed innocent blood (Isa. 59:7). But what they are doing is nothing new. Israel did the same thing during the wilderness wandering, during the period of the Judges, during the period of the Seleucids and during the Roman occupation and the days of Jesus. Nation after nation has acted in the same stupid waymoaning for light while increasingly practicing darkness and roaring for salvation while continuing to. enslave itself with falsehood and wickedness. This senseless paradox fits certain segments of our own society and our own country. Some Americans run around roaring for liberty while burning and looting and shedding innocent blood. Others moan for truth in politics and religion while cheating on their income tax, stealing their neighbors wife, violating every law they can without getting caught. People want their sins but they do not want the consequences. Judah was no different from every other generation.
Isa. 59:12-15 CONFESSION: AS we stated earlier, this is not so much a confession of repentance as it is an admission, on Isaiahs part, that the Lord is correct about His charge against Judah. Even if this does represent a confession of sin by the nation, it is one thing to confess ones sins and another thing to repent of them. Sin and its consequences may even be regretted and still not repented of. Judas regretted betraying Christ but did not repenthe hanged himself.
As a matter of fact, it would be difficult for a nation as saturated with wickedness as Judah was not to be aware of its sin! The consequences of sin are usually apparent even to the sinner himself. When the consequences of sin are felt more by the society as a whole than by the individual sinner it is easier to admit the sin and the consequences, than it is when those consequences cause individual catastrophe. Individual sinners profiteering from their sin without any privations or calamity may hypocritically bemoan the sins of others in their society and go right on sinning themselves.
Apparently these verses are the righteous moanings of Isaiah the prophet concurring with God that Judah is a wicked nation. The depravity of the entire society was plainly evident. Anyone could see the nation had deliberately turned away from Jehovah and had become idolatrous. Anyone could see there was no truth anywhere in that nation; not in government, not in business, not in religion! Truth had fallen dead in the streets. Honesty and uprightness was not permitted. Any man who tried to give up his wickedness made himself a victim, a prey! He became a hunted man! Could any society become that wicked! Jeremiah was told to run through the streets of Jerusalem . . . to see if he could find a man, one who does justice. . . . (Jer. 5:1). Jeremiah, only some 80 or 90 years removed from Isaiah, found the people of Judah totally committed to wickedness. Not only so, they loved it that way (Jer. 5:30-31); they could not be shamed (Jer. 6:15); no one repented of wickedness (Jer. 8:5-6); and Jeremiah was told not to pray for that people (Jer. 7:16-17; Jer. 11:14; Jer. 14:11; Jer. 15:1). Yes, a society can become that wicked! And it happens to any nation when its preachers do not proclaim the word of the Lord and when its rulers transgress Gods commandments (cf. Jer. 2:7-13).
QUIZ
1.
Why are these verses probably not to be considered as a penitent confession of the nation of its sins?
2.
How is it possible for a people to bemoan the consequences of their sins and yet keep on sinning?
3.
Did Israel ever do this before? When?
4.
Why is it nearly impossible for a society not to be aware of its sins?
5.
How far into wickedness did the nation go as recorded by Jeremiah?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(9) Therefore is judgment.The pleading of the prophet is followed by the confession which he makes on their behalf. They admit that the delay in the manifestation of Gods judgment against their enemies, and of His righteousness (i.e., bounty) towards themselves, has been caused by their own sins.
We wait for light.The cry of the expectant Israelites is, mutatis mutandis, like that of the How long? of Zec. 1:12; Rev. 6:10. On the assumption that the words come ideally from the Babylonian exiles, the first of these passages presents an interesting coincidence.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9-14. In these six verses the prophet includes himself, as he makes confession for the people, as Jeremiah does in Isa 14:19-20 of his book.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
9. Therefore As the consequence of the foregoing.
Is judgment Or, real vindication.
Far from us We as a people are utterly undeserving.
Neither doth justice overtake us The meaning is, God doth not interpose for us. Note here, that the verbs are all of the Hebrew future-present, indicating prospective continuance of action.
We wait for light For divine favour.
Behold, obscurity No guiding relief comes. Same meaning in parallel member.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Iniquities Make Blind and Helpless
v. 9. Therefore is judgment far from us, v. 10. We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as If we had no eyes, v. 11. We roar all like bears, v. 12. For our transgressions are multiplied before Thee, v. 13. in transgressing, v. 14. And judgment, v. 15.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Isa 59:9-11. Therefore is judgment far from us After an enumeration of the grievous sins and offences which deformed the church, the company of the faithful ministers of Jesus Christ, and the remaining true believers of the church, burst forth into a bitter complaint in these verses, and in the subsequent ones humbly confess their deplorable state before God. In either part the miserable and afflicted state of the church is supposed; and the most fatal consequences are apprehended, unless God should interpose with immediate help; concerning which we shall see more in the 16th and following verses. The present verse may be rendered, Therefore is remedy, redress, or vindication, far from us, neither does deliverance reach, or come at us. The subsequent expressions in these verses are metaphorical, and denote a state of the utmost confusion and perplexity, of peril and solicitude. In Isa 59:11 for judgment we may read vindication.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2.THE TRANSITION UPWARD
a) The transition from the Mournful Present to the Blessed Future by means of the Nations Penitent Confession
Isa 59:9-15 a
9Therefore Isaiah 11 judgment far from us,
Neither doth justice overtake us:
We wait for light, but behold obscurity;
For brightness, but we walk in darkness.
10We grope for the wall like the blind,
And we grope as if we had no eyes:
We stumble at noonday as in the 12night;
13We are in desolate places as dead men.
11We roar all like bears,
And mourn sore like doves:
We look for ajudgment, but there is none;
For salvation, but it is far off from us.
12For our transgressions are multiplied before thee,
And our sins testify against us:
For our transgressions are with us;
And as for our iniquities, we know them.
13In transgressing and lying against the Lord,
And departing away from our God,
Speaking oppression and revolt,
Conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
14And ajudgment is turned away backward,
And justice standeth afar off:
For truth is fallen in the street,
And equity cannot enter.
15aYea, truth faileth;
And he that departeth from evil 14maketh himself a prey.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
See List for the recurrence of the words: Isa 59:9. Isa 59:10. , comp. .
Isa 59:10. He parag. accented the first time, the second time unaccented, seems to me to be with reference to merely rhetorical effect, corresponding only to the outward difference between and (Isa 40:29). with the preposition omitted, comp. Isa 1:25; Isa 5:18; Isa 5:29; Isa 10:14; Isa 28:21. is an adjective form from pinguis fuit, like , ,. The Prophet could write , but he coined a new word in order to intimate that he would have the word taken in more than the common, in an intensified sense. Jdg 3:29 is used parallel with : they smote ten thousand Moabites . Also in Psa 78:31 is placed in parallelism with (comp, Isa 10:16). Since the words as far as stand in the same grammatical relation as , and correspond to these words in parallelism, they must have an analogous sense. There lies in the former the same antithesis as in the latter. See Exeg. and Crit..
Isa 59:12. comp. Isa 3:9; and as regards the singular predicate with the plural subject comp. Isa 1:6; Isa 34:13; Isa 35:9.
Isa 59:13. inf. absol. Niph. from , comp. Zep 1:6. , are inff. abss. Poel from and ; they both occur only here. They are evidently meant for a paronomasia.
Isa 59:14. The discourse returns to the verb. fin.
Isa 59:15. , with reflexive-causal meaning; comp. Psa 76:6.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. From the present, whose contemplation he begins in chap, 58, the Prophet would prepare a way for himself to behold the remote future. The sins and vices of the present, which he had to oppose to the peoples charge of injustice on Gods part, prevent the coming of the salvation to which the people had a certain right as to something promised. But these sins can be blotted out, a way to Israels right to salvation can be made, if Israel repents. That will come about. Hence in the present section the Prophet describes the penitent Israel. That this repentance may appear spontaneous and real, he lets Israel itself speak. He was the more moved to do this, as he comprehends together relative and absolute present, and accordingly would include himself and his own time. With , therefore (Isa 59:9), the Israelites join on to the charge of the Prophet. They admit thereby that their sins are the cause of their sad condition, which they now proceed to describe (Isa 59:9-11). To this therefore corresponds the causal , for, Isa 59:12 : what they should know as the consequence of the Prophets charges, that they now prove by a candid confession of sin (Isa 59:12-15 a). In direct contrast, therefore, with that bold statement, Isa 58:2-3, that Jehovah was unjust toward His people, Israel here confesses emphatically, in a double turn of discourse intertwined like a chain, and in connection with the mirror of its sins that the Prophet holds before it, Isa 59:2-8, that its wretchedness is the consequence of its sin (Isa 59:9-11), and its sin is the cause of its wretchedness (Isa 59:12-15 a).
2. Thereforefar off from us, Isa 59:9-11. With therefore begins a great and important turn in the discourse. Israel no longer boasts of its righteousness and innocence, as in Isa 58:2-3, but confesses that the Prophet was entirely right in his accusations, Isa 59:2-8; it confesses that on account of these sins its right is far from it. But what strange confession of sin is this when Israel says: On account of my sins I rightly do not receive my right; right is done me that I suffer wrong. Evidently there is implied here a double right. On the one hand there exists for Israel an absolute right, that is founded on its election to be a peculiar people, and on the promise given to the fathers and often repeated afterwards. This is the right () and the righteousness () spoken of in Isa 59:9; Isa 59:11. By virtue of this right a wrong seems to have happened to Israel when it has been conquered, oppressed, carried off captive by the heathen. But such times of distress are only obscurations of right, i.e. transitory veilings of that right that stands immovable as the sun, occasioned by Israels sin for the time being, that makes necessary the manifestations of Gods relative right, i.e. transitory moments and periods of punishment. In Isa 59:9 now, the people confess that the present obscuration of its (absolute) right is not an absolute, but only a relative injustice, i. e. in relation to its present misbehaviour a well founded right. That Israel itself speaks, and that it is not solely the Prophet that declares of Israel that it has come to a right view, is evidently intended, so that Israels confession of repentance may be heard from its own mouth, thus from the most reliable source, and also as a voluntary one.The expression recalls the or of Deu 28:2; Deu 28:15. Comp. also Isa 35:10; Isa 51:11. From Isa 59:9 b and on, this condition of Israel devoid of its right is described in figures. The people compare it to the situation of those that in darkness hope for light, and yet never see the hope fulfilled. Next they compare themselves in their helplessness and want of counsel to blind men that grope along by touching the wall. Further they compare themselves to the blind that stumble at midday as in the twilight; then to the dead, i.e. to the shades of the dead that move among the living, strengthless and without support, with tottering gait (comp. the or Fr. V. Naegelsbach,Homer. Theol. VII., 25). The word , which occurs only here, can, in my opinion, only mean the fat, i.e. those in vigorous life, in contrast with the unsubstantial shades. So also Delitzsch, Seinecke, Rohling, etc. See Text. and Gram. The light of midday does not help the blind; he stumbles any way. It does not help the shade of a dead man to move about in the environment of men rejoicing in life; he totters and is unsteady just the same. One might say that then it ought to read . But the intention of making the last member of the parallelism like the first prevails. The explanations: as the dead in darkness, or in desolate places, or in fat regions, partly do not correspond to the parallelism, partly are ungrammatical. But one must now distinguish the substance from the image. What would the Prophet say by this figure? I am surprised that even Delitzsch here follows in the steps of Knobel, and thinks he must find the Prophets point of view in the last decade of the Exile, and that the meaning is: When, after his conquest over Croesus, Cyrus hesitated to march against Babylon, hope and fear unceasingly alternated in the souls of the Exiles. Verily, the Prophets standpoint is one much higher, his circuit of vision a much broader one. He would here even pave the way to the distant views of chapters 60. sqq. The thing that hinders the appearance of the deeds of salvation there promised, is Israels sin. Let the partition wall of sin be cleared away by knowledge of it and proper fruits of repentance, then can the Lord arise to put Israel in possession of its right. Wherever and whenever Israel truly recognizes its misery and the cause of it, it must so speak as is here represented. For there it must measure its situation by the measure of Gods promises, and must ask itself: Am I what, as the people of God, I ought to be? Then it must see the imperfection and uncertainty of its situationsnow high up, then deep down; at one time unrighteously dominated over, at another unrighteously dominatingand confess that Israel can only find its eternal, inalienable right in and with its God.
Isa 59:11. Israel compares itself to bears growling for hunger (illustrative passages from the classics find in Bochart, Hieroz. II., p. 134), and to doves that for like reason plaintively coo and sigh (ibid. II., p. 539 sq.). and are nearly related in sound and meaning. The first is used of the dove, Eze 7:16; the latter is used also of the lion (Isa 27:8; Isa 31:4). We had it for the sighing of the dove already, Isa 38:14. By comparing themselves to the growling of the bear and to the sighing of the dove, the Israelites let it be understood that both the strong and the weak, each in his way, make audible complaint concerning the prevailing distress.
3. For our transgressionshimself a prey, Isa 59:12-15 a. As already remarked, the , for, that begins Isa 59:12, corresponds to the therefore that begins Isa 59:9. It is the same chain-like succession as that of e. g.Isa 51:12-13; Isa 53:4-5; Isa 53:12. The people strike up the Widduj (the confession) that is marked by the rhyming inflexions anu and enu (Delitzsch).The second for, in Isa 59:12 is not co-ordinate with the first, but subordinate. For Israel would not have been able to say: Our sins stand before thee and testify against us, had it not before owned to having such sins. The consciousness of its sinfulness betrayed in Isa 59:12 b was alone able to determine it to the declaration of Isa 59:12 a. In Isa 59:13 follows a specification of the sins of which Israel is conscious. The first and chief is apostacy from Jehovah, idolatry. It is characterized in a three fold way. We may understand to denote the inward revolt against the Lord, the denial of Him practised in words ( is to be referred to both, comp. Isa 1:2; Isa 43:27; then Hos 9:2; Jer 5:12), , the outward actual falling away by exchanging the worship of Jehovah for heathen worship. One may say that Isa 59:13 a treats of transgressions against the first table of the law, Isa 59:13 b of transgressions against the second. For Isa 59:13 b speaks of violations of the duties we owe our neighbors. is to carry on discourse (conversation, agreement) that aims at oppression of others and departure from the law. The expression , wherever else it occurs (Deu 13:6; Jer 28:16; Jer 29:32), is used only of the false doctrine of the false prophets. Thus here Isaiah would have principally in mind the seductive discourses of false prophets. In antithesis to , concepit, can here only mean breathing forth, the proferre by means of speech.
Isa 59:14, At first sight and by comparison with Isa 59:9, one is tempted to understand 14a (with Hitzig and others) to refer again to the hindrance in the way of Israel having the right belonging to it in the theocratic sense (see above). But Isa 59:14 b conflicts with that; for there the fides publica is evidently spoken of that must underlie the administering of justice and all trade and conduct. Where fidelity wavers, and no one can any more believe and trust another; where all propriety and decorousness, all honestum is formally held aloof, excluded, put under the ban, there can be no mention of right and justice in the market (, in foro); of course there fidelity must gradually be wholly missing (Isa 34:16; Isa 40:26), while if any one only does not join in, would let the wickedness alone, he incurs the danger of being singled out for plunder.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Isa 58:2-3. There are also to-day many men that hold up their good works to God (Luk 18:11 sqq.), and who, out aloud or silently, reproach Him for not adequately rewarding them for them. But one can distinguish here two classes: those that boast of having done works of undoubted moral worth; and such as found their pretensions essentially on works that are morally indifferent, as ceremonies of worship and the like. Of course there is a difference between these, for the former can, under some circumstances, really deserve praise; whereas the latter under all circumstances accomplish something more or less morally worthless, yea, possibly, as miserable hypocrites, directly provoke the wrath of God. But never has the creature the right to accuse God. It may be debated whether such accusation is more folly or wickedness. It is tinder all circumstances a presumptuous judgment. For, as long as we live, results are not assured, and we lack ability to see all. Only the day will make it clear what is the relation between Gods doing and ours, and that He has not let the just recompense be wanting (Isa 1:18; Isa 43:26).
2. On Isa 58:4 sqq. The Prophet finds fault with the fasting of the Jews in two respects. First, because they combined them with works of unrighteousness. Second, because they held the bodily exercise to be the chief thing. Perhaps in the Sermon on the mount our Lord had our text in mind when He said: When ye fast, be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance. Mat 6:11. He makes prominent one particular that probably hovered before our Prophet also. For it is possible that he saw in the hanging the head an artificial, affected, and so hypocritical expression of a piety that did not exist inwardly; although it is not absolutely necessary that this letting the head hang and making ones bed in sand and ashes took place with hypocritical intent. But our Lord expressly demands that one do not let appear the harassed, sickly look, that was the perhaps quite natural consequence of fasting. He says (Mat 6:17): but thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy head and wash thy face, that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father, which is in secret. One sees, therefore, that in the Sermon on the mount the Lord by no means rejects corporeal fasting. He only shows abhorrence of mens hypocritically abusing fasting for the gratification of pride. But the Prophet also does not reject fasting. But he would have corporeal fasting be the faithful expression of a simultaneous moral doing of penitent self-denial and compassionating love.
3. On Isa 58:6-9. As the apostle James pressingly urges against dead works, that even Abrahams faith was in itself a grand moral act, so here, too, the Prophet insists on right works as opposed to false works. But neither declares essentially anything concerning the true ground and origin of the works that they mean, because the context of their discourses does not call for it. We are to supply this from passages that professedly speak to this point, which they silently take for granted, according to the measure of intelligence given to them. For even Isaiah knows right well that that which satisfies and strengthens is not to be obtained by ones own labor and effort (55).
4. On Isa 58:7. Flesh denotes here in this context something more still, which J. von Mueller has remarked: The remembrance of universal brotherhood, and how we are all exposed to like thingsas . Verily flesh has need of covering. When therefore thou seest the naked, then see and feel therein the need of thine own flesh, and do not, proudly selfish, conceal or cover only thyself with thy garment that belongs to the other as also being thy flesh. Stier.
5. On Isa 58:7. Concerning the expression see Doctrinal and Ethical on Jer 16:7.
6. [On Isa 58:13-14. From the closing portion of this chapter we may derive the following important inferences respecting the Sabbath. (1) It is to be of perpetual obligation. The whole chapter occurs in the midst of statements that relate to the times of the Messiah. There is no intimation that the Sabbath was to be abolished, but it is fairly implied that its observance was to be attended with most happy results in those future times…. (2) We may see the manner in which the Sabbath is to be observed. In no place in the Bible is there a more full account of the proper mode of keeping that holy day. We are to refrain from ordinary travelling and employments; we are not to engage in doing our own pleasure; we are to regard it with delight, and to esteem it a day worthy to be honored. And we are to show respect to it by not performing our own ordinary works, or pursuing pleasures, or engaging in the common topics of conversation. In this description there occurs nothing of peculiar Jewish ceremony, and nothing which indicates that it is not to be observed in this manner at all times. Under the gospel assuredly, it is as proper to celebrate the Sabbath in this way as it was in the times of Isaiah, and God doubtless intended that it should be perpetually observed in this manner. (3) Important benefits result from the right observance of the Sabbath. In the passage before us these are said to be, that they who thus observed it would find pleasure in Jehovah, and would be signally prospered and be safe. But those benefits are by no means confined to the Jewish people. It is as true now as it was then, and they who observe the Sabbath in a proper manner find happiness in the Lordin His existence, perfections, promises, law, and in communion with Himwhich is to be found no where else… And it is as true that the proper observance of the Sabbath contributes to the prosperity and safety of a nation now as it ever did among the Jewish people. It is not merely from the fact that God promises to bless the people who keep His holy daythough this is of more value to a nation than all its armies and fleets; but it is that there is in the institution itself much that tends to the welfare and prosperity of a country…. Any one may be convinced of this who will be at the pains to compare a neighborhood, a village, or a city where the Sabbath is not observed with one where it is; and the difference will convince him at once that society owes more to the Sabbath than to any single institution beside. Barnes.]
7. On Isa 59:2. Quia quotidie apud nos crescit culpa, cur non et simul crescat poena? Augustine. The public sins are compared to a thick cloud, that sets itself between heaven and earth, and as it were hinders prayers from passing through (Lam 3:44). Starke. There is great power in sin, for it separates God and us from one another. Cramer. There are times when the hand of the Lord lies long and heavy on His children. One feels that God has withdrawn from him and hidden His countenance. But one does not sufficiently investigate the cause. One seeks it in God, and it lies in us, who, by sins unacknowledged and not repented of, make it impossible to God to turn to us in grace. Weber.
8. On Isa 59:3-8. The register of sins that Isaiah here holds up to the Jews is a mirror in which many a Christian, many a nation, many a time may recognize its own image. The Prophet declares here very plainly the poison nature, the serpent origin of sin. Sin is the poison that the old serpent knew how to bring into our nature. He that has stolen a taste of a product of this poison, as Eve did of the tree of knowledge, supposing that he will thereby receive some good, will go to ruin by it. But he that would be no lover of sin, but would stand forth as its opponent, may count upon it that the reptile will press its malignant fang in his heel, as was even held in prospect to the great trampler of the serpents head Himself (Gen 3:15).
9. On Isa 59:9-15 a. Here is for once an honest and thorough confession of sins. Nothing is palliated here, nothing excused. It is freely confessed that Israel is itself to blame for all its wretchedness, and this guilt is acknowledged to be the consequence of the apostacy from Jehovah and of the workings of a depraved heart, whose malignant fruits have become manifest in words and works. Comp. Jer 3:21 sqq.Here therefore is given a model for all who would know wherein true repentance must consist.
10. On Isa 59:15 b sqq. Si tu recordaberis peccatorum tuorum, Dominus non recordabitur. Augustine. God wonders that men let sin become so great and His righteousness so small. Oetinger in Stier.It is a divine privilege to need no helper. With God there is no difference between willing and being able. With Him the being able follows the willing ad nutum. And there is nothing to which God, when He wills, has not also the right. We men, when we have the will and the power, are often without the right, and this takes the foundation from under our feet.
Isa 59:17. This is the original source of the Apostle Pauls extended description of the spiritual armor, Eph 6:14; Eph 6:17. Also in 1Th 5:8 there underlies the same representation of the equipment required by Christians. On the other hand God is conceived of as an equipped warrior, e.g., Psa 7:13-14; Psa 35:2-3. In Exo 15:4 He is directly called a man of war.
11. On Isa 59:18-20. Regarding the time of the fulfilment of this prophecy, the honorable and thorough confession of sin in Isa 59:9-15 a, assumes the conclusion of the judgments against Israel and the conversion of the Gentiles. So Paul understood our passage, who cites it, Rom 11:26, to prove that only then will the Jews partake of the salvation when the fulness of the Gentiles shall have come in. Therefore the Prophet distinguishes three great periods of time. The first comprehends all the stages of time in which Israel will be impenitent, and hence deprived of its theocratic rights. This period will conclude with a condition wherein Israels scale, as too light, hurries upwards to the highest elevation, while the scale of the Gentiles, by reason of its weight, will sink deep down. Just this situation will bring about the turning of the scale. Israel will repent; but those Gentiles and those Israelites that will not have repented will be overtaken by the judgment (Isa 59:18; Isa 59:20 ). For neither the fulness of the Gentiles, nor all Israel excludes there being still unconverted Gentiles and Jews. The third period is then the period of salvation, when the Goel [Redeemer] will come to Zion and raise up the covenant (Isa 59:21).
12. On Isa 59:21 Does the Spirit of God remain, then does also His word; does the word remain, then preachers also remain; do preachers remain, then also hearers do; do hearers remain, then there remain also believers, and therefore the Christian church remains also, to which ever some still will be gathered out of the Jews (Rom 11:26).Although in general God has promised that His word and Spirit shall not depart from the church of God, still no one must become so secure about that (comp. Jer 18:18) as if it were impossible that this or that particular church (and even the Romish church is nothing more) could err. Cramer.
HOMILETICAL HINTS
1. On Isa 58:1. Penitential Sermon. The text teaches us two things: 1) What one ought to preach on a day of repentance [fast-day]; viz., hold up to the people their sins. 2) How one should preach: a. boldly, b. without sparing, loud as a trumpet.
2. On Isa 58:2-9 This text contains the outlines of a popular theodicy. First we hear, Isa 58:2-3 a, the popular complaint that the divine Providence that guides the affairs of the world is unjust, and that He is not fair to the claims of reward that each individual fancies he has. Then in Isa 58:3 b9, we hear the divine justification. It consists of two parts. In the first part God shows that the claims of men are unfounded in two respects. First for this reason, because they do not do good purely, but along with the good have still room in their hearts for evil, consequently imagine that they can serve two masters (Isa 58:3 a., 4). Second, their claims are unfounded, because founded in the illusion that it is sufficient to fulfil the divine commands in a rude, outward manner. Thus men suppose, e.g., that they can satisfy the divine command to fast by harassing the body by hunger, and lying on sack-cloth and ashes (Isa 58:5). In the second part God shows what must be the nature of the performances that would satisfy the demand of His holiness, and give a claim on His righteousness for reward. That is to say, men must first of all, by practical repentance, make restoration for all injustice done by them, and make manifest by works of mercy their love to God and their neighbor (Isa 58:7). Then divine salvation and divine blessing will be constantly with them, and in every necessity their prayer for help will find certain hearing (Isa 58:8-9 a).
3. [On Isa 58:3. Having gone about to put a cheat on God by their external services, here they go about to pick a quarrel with God for not being pleased with their services, as if He had not done justly or fairly by them. M. Henry.]
4. [On Isa 58:4. Behold, you fast for strife and debate. When they proclaimed a fast to deprecate Gods judgments, they pretended to search for those sins that provoked God to threaten them with His judgments, and under that pretence, perhaps, particular persons were falsely accused, as Naboth in the day of Jezebels fast, 1Ki 21:12. Or the contending parties among them upon those occasions were bitter and severe in their reflections one upon another, one side crying out, It is owing to you, and the other, It is owing to you, that our deliverance is not wrought. Thus, instead of judging themselves, which is the proper work of a fast-day, they condemned one another. M. Henry.]
5. [On Isa 58:5; Isa 58:7. Plain instructions given concerning the true nature of a religious fast. 1. In general a fast is intended: (1) For the honoring and pleasing of God (Isa 58:5, a fast that I have chosen, an acceptable day to the Lord). (2) For the humbling and abasing of ourselves, Lev 16:29. That must be done on a fast-day which is a real affliction to the soul, as far as it is unregenerate and unsanctified, though a real pleasure and advantage to the soul as far as it is itself. II. What will be acceptable to God and afflict our corrupt nature to its mortification. (1) Negatively, what does neither of these, a. To look demure, put on a melancholy aspect and bow the head like a bulrush, Mat 6:16. Though that were well enough so far, Luk 18:13. b. It is not enough to mortify the body a little, while the body of sin is untouched. (2) Positively, a. That we be just to those with whom we have dealt hardly (Isa 58:6). b. That we be charitable to those that stand in need of charity (Isa 58:7). After M. Henry.]
6. On Isa 58:7. The compassionate love of the Samaritan. 1) What does it give? a. food, b. housing, c. clothing. 2) To whom does it give? To its flesh, i. e., to its neighbor in the sense of Luk 10:29 sqq.
7. On Isa 58:9. What if the Lord were to make us priests, and if He were to give us the light and righteousness that Aaron bore on his heart as often as he went in unto the Lord, and by which the Lord gave him answer when He inquired,if He were to give all of us that in our hearts, who are priests of the new covenant? And assuredly I believe that He will also do this. What He has already promised by the Prophets, He will much more fulfil in us: Thou shalt call, and the Lord shall answer thee; when thou shalt cry, He will say: here I am. Tholuck.
8. On Isa 58:7-9. O God, our great, sore, horrible blindness, that we so disregard such a glorious promise! To whom are we harsh, when we do not help poor people? Are they not our flesh and blood? As in heaven and earth there is no creature so nearly related to us, it ought to be our way: what we would that men should do to us in like case, that let us do to others. But there that detestable Satan holds our eyes, so that we withdraw from our own flesh and become tyrants and blood-hounds to our neighbors. But what do we accomplish by that? What do we enjoy? We load ourselves with Gods disfavor, curse and all misfortune, who might otherwise have temporal and eternal blessing. For he that takes on him the distress of his neighbor, his light shall break forth like the morning dawn, i.e., he shall find consolation and help in time of need. His recovery shall progress rapidly, i.e., God will again bless him, and replace what he has given away. His righteousness shall go before him, i.e., he shall not only have a good name with every one, but God will shelter him from evil, and ward off from him temporal misfortune, as one may see that God wonderfully protects His own when common punishments go about. And the glory of the Lord will take him to itself, i. e., God will interest Himself for him, [as follows Isa 58:9]. Lo, of such great mercy as this does greed rob us, when we do not gladly and kindly help the poor! Veit Dietrich.
9. [On Isa 58:12. Thou shalt be called (and it shall be to thy honor) the repairer of the breach, the breach made by the enemy in the wall of a besieged city, which whoso has courage and dexterity to make up, or make good, gains great applause. Happy are those who make up the breach at which virtue is running out, and judgments are breaking in. M. Henry].
10. On Isa 59:1-2. It is often in human life as if heaven were shut up. No prayer seems to penetrate through to it. To all our cries, no answer. Then people murmur (Isa 8:21 sq.; Lam 3:39) and accuse God, as if He were lame or deaf. But they ought rather to seek the blame in themselves. There still exists a wall of partition between them and God, a guilt unatoned for, the sight of which still continuously provokes the anger of God, and hinders the appearance of His mercy (Isa 1:15 sqq.; Isa 64:5 sqq.; Dan 9:5 sqq.: Pro 1:24 sqq.). Hence Christians must be pointed to what they must guard against in seasons of long-continued visitation and what they should strive after at such times before all things. As they would avoid great harm to soul and body, they must beware of laying any blame on God, as if He were wanting in willingness or ability. Rather, by sincere repentance, their endeavor should be that heaven may be pure and clear, that their guilt may be forgiven for Christs sake, and that, as children of God, with the testimony of the Holy Spirit (Rom 8:16) in their hearts, they may have free access to the heart of their heavenly Father.
11. On Isa 59:3-8. The description the Prophet gives here of the depraved moral condition of Israel is also a description of human sinfulness generally. And the Apostle Paul has adopted parts of it in the portrait he gives of the condition of the natural man (comp. Isa 59:7 with Rom 3:15). Therefore, where one would draw the picture of the natural man, he may make good use of this text.
12. [On Isa 59:13. Conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. They were words of falsehood, and yet they were said to be uttered from the heart, because though they differed from the real sentiments of the heart, and therefore were words of falsehood, yet they agreed with the malice and wickedness of the heart, and were the natural language of that; it was a double heart, Psa 12:2. M. Henry.]
13. On Isa 59:15 b21. One may preach on this text in times of great distress and conflict for the Church. The Lord the protection of His Church. 1) The distress of the Church does not remain concealed from Him, for He sees: a. that the Church encounters injustice (Isa 59:15 b), b. that no one on earth takes its part (Isa 59:16) 2) He stirs Himself (Isa 59:16 b; Isa 59:17 a, Isa 59:19 b): a. to judgment against the enemy (Isa 59:17 b, Isa 59:18), b. to salvation for the Church (Isa 59:17 helmet of salvation): a. with reference to its deliverance from outward distress (Isa 59:20), . with reference to inward preservation and quickening of the Church (Isa 59:20 b, 21), c. to rescue the honor of His own name (Isa 59:19 a), because the Church is even His kingdom, the theatre for the realization of His decrees of salvation. Comp. Homil. Hints on Isa 49:1-6.
14. [On Isa 59:16 sqq. How sin abounded we have read, to our great amazement, in the former part of the chapter; how grace does much more abound we read in these verses. And as sin took occasion from the commandment to become more exceedingly sinful, so grace took occasion from the transgression to appear more exceedingly gracious. M. Henry.]
Footnotes:
[11]right.
[12]twilight.
[13]Among the flourishing (with life) as the dead.
[14]Or, is accounted mad.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
Isa 59:9 Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, [but] we walk in darkness.
Ver. 9. Therefore is judgment far from us. ] Here followeth the complaint of the godly party, together with their confession; this they knew well to be the readiest way to get off with comfort. God, say they here, hath neither avenged us on our enemies, nor showed us favour; he letteth our foes deal with us as we have dealt one with another.
We wait for light, but behold obscurity.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
justice = righteousness. Same as “judgment”, Isa 59:8.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Isa 59:9-14
Isa 59:9-14
“Therefore is justice far from us, neither doth righteousness overtake us: we look for light, but, behold, darkness; for brightness, but we walk in obscurity. We grope for the wall like the blind; yea, we grope as they that have no eyes; we stumble at noonday as in the twilight; among them that are lusty, we are as dead men. We roar all like bears, and moan sore like doves: we look for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us. For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us; our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them: transgressing and denying Jehovah, and turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. and justice is turned away backward, and righteousness standeth afar off; for truth is fallen in the street, and uprightness cannot enter. Yea, truth is lacking: and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey.”
The meaning of these verses is simple enough. The thrust of the passage is that “We, the Jewish nation, are suffering the wretched consequences of our wickedness.” Take it verse by verse. Isa 59:9 means `We wait in vain for deliverance from the cruel Romans.’ Isa 59:10 means that, `We stumble around like blind men, unable to discern truth everyone but us can see.’ Isa 59:11, `In our misery we groan like suffering animals.’ Isa 59:12-13, `Our consciences are guilty and they burden us with condemnation.’ Isa 59:14-15 a, `Justice in our land is dead and truth is not available anywhere.’
Isa 59:10 is especially interesting, because the blindness of Israel to the reality of Messiah when he came was simply phenomenal. Mar 10:46 ff has the story of the physically blind man screaming to high heaven for “Jesus thou Son of David (the True Messiah, properly addressed), (to) have mercy on us!” and the spiritually blind public trying to silence him! Also, the blind man (having then received his sight from Jesus) said, “Herein is the marvel, that ye know not whence he is, and yet he opened my eyes” (Joh 9:30)! Here are two New Testament examples of truth which blind men saw clearly but which were hidden to Israel. The hopelessness of a people so blinded and hardened and deluded by wickedness was expressed by Wardle: “No gleam of hope brightens our darkness. We grope like blind men along a wall instead of treading firmly; we stumble in broad daylight.
Sin is described with an impressive vocabulary in this chapter. Muilenburg wrote that, “Few chapters in the Bible are so rich and diverse in their vocabulary of sin.
Isa 59:9-11 CONFUSION: The first part of chapter 59 is Jehovahs indictment. In Isa 59:1-8 the Lord, speaking through Isaiah, tells Judah that He knows their sin. This section (Isa 59:9-15) is an evaluation of Judahs predicament from mans (Isaiah) perspective. It is, as it were, Isaiah concurring with the Lords indictment. It cannot be a penitent confession of sin by the nation of Judah. The attitude of the populace grew more and more rebellious and not penitent as evidenced clearly by Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Isaiah says, in effect, Lord, You are correct! This nation is filled with confusion because of its sin. The stupefying effect of the rejection of Gods truth is seen in their clamoring, roaring, moaning for light and salvation while at the same time clamoring for more and more wickedness. They were like disoriented blind men groping, feeling, grasping for some object by which they might find their way. The way is there but they cannot see it because they have deliberately chosen not to see it. One is reminded of King Zedekiah who when faced with the consequences of his disobedience to God, sent for Jeremiah the prophet and asked, Is there any word from the Lord? (Jer 37:17). Jeremiah had been preaching the word from the Lord for at least 23 years (Jer 25:3)-why had Zedekiah been unable to find the way for 23 years? Why all of a sudden roar and moan for salvation, Zedekiah? Because he had come to the end of his rope. He could no longer solve his problems by himself.
The nation of Judah was fast approaching the end of its rope. Isaiah recognized it. Many of the people, however, had not yet admitted it. Not until they had been violently dragged off into pagan captivity and had gotten their fill of idolatry did they confess their own helplessness and turn to God for salvation.
The interesting thing in our text here is the incongruity of moaning for salvation while running to evil and making haste to shed innocent blood (Isa 59:7). But what they are doing is nothing new. Israel did the same thing during the wilderness wandering, during the period of the Judges, during the period of the Seleucids and during the Roman occupation and the days of Jesus. Nation after nation has acted in the same stupid way-moaning for light while increasingly practicing darkness and roaring for salvation while continuing to. enslave itself with falsehood and wickedness. This senseless paradox fits certain segments of our own society and our own country. Some Americans run around roaring for liberty while burning and looting and shedding innocent blood. Others moan for truth in politics and religion while cheating on their income tax, stealing their neighbors wife, violating every law they can without getting caught. People want their sins but they do not want the consequences. Judah was no different from every other generation.
Isa 59:12-15 CONFESSION: AS we stated earlier, this is not so much a confession of repentance as it is an admission, on Isaiahs part, that the Lord is correct about His charge against Judah. Even if this does represent a confession of sin by the nation, it is one thing to confess ones sins and another thing to repent of them. Sin and its consequences may even be regretted and still not repented of. Judas regretted betraying Christ but did not repent-he hanged himself.
As a matter of fact, it would be difficult for a nation as saturated with wickedness as Judah was not to be aware of its sin! The consequences of sin are usually apparent even to the sinner himself. When the consequences of sin are felt more by the society as a whole than by the individual sinner it is easier to admit the sin and the consequences, than it is when those consequences cause individual catastrophe. Individual sinners profiteering from their sin without any privations or calamity may hypocritically bemoan the sins of others in their society and go right on sinning themselves.
Apparently these verses are the righteous moanings of Isaiah the prophet concurring with God that Judah is a wicked nation. The depravity of the entire society was plainly evident. Anyone could see the nation had deliberately turned away from Jehovah and had become idolatrous. Anyone could see there was no truth anywhere in that nation; not in government, not in business, not in religion! Truth had fallen dead in the streets. Honesty and uprightness was not permitted. Any man who tried to give up his wickedness made himself a victim, a prey! He became a hunted man! Could any society become that wicked! Jeremiah was told to run through the streets of Jerusalem . . . to see if he could find a man, one who does justice. . . . (Jer 5:1). Jeremiah, only some 80 or 90 years removed from Isaiah, found the people of Judah totally committed to wickedness. Not only so, they loved it that way (Jer 5:30-31); they could not be shamed (Jer 6:15); no one repented of wickedness (Jer 8:5-6); and Jeremiah was told not to pray for that people (Jer 7:16-17; Jer 11:14; Jer 14:11; Jer 15:1). Yes, a society can become that wicked! And it happens to any nation when its preachers do not proclaim the word of the Lord and when its rulers transgress Gods commandments (cf. Jer 2:7-13).
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
is judgment: Lam 5:16, Lam 5:17, Hab 1:13
we wait: Isa 5:30, Job 30:26, Jer 8:15, Jer 14:19, Amo 5:18-20, Mic 1:12, 1Th 5:3
Reciprocal: Pro 4:19 – General Isa 50:10 – that walketh Jer 13:16 – before Lam 3:2 – brought Lam 4:14 – have wandered Amo 8:9 – that I Zep 1:17 – they shall
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 59:9-11. Therefore is judgment far from us Because we have no regard for justice or honesty, God will not plead our cause against our oppressors; neither doth justice overtake us He does not defend our rights, nor avenge our wrongs; as if he had said, If we had executed judgment and equity among one another, they would not now have been far from us. We wait for light In what sense the Hebrews use the terms light and darkness, see before, on Isa 58:8; Isa 58:10. But behold obscurity We are in a state of such thick darkness, that, which way soever we look, we see no hope of deliverance. We grope for the wall like the blind As a blind man, that hath no other means of perceiving and distinguishing objects than his hands, feels for the wall, from whence he expects either direction or a resting-place to lean on; so we expect salvation, as it were, blindfold, not taking direction from the prophets, but hoping to obtain it by our cries and fasts, though we continue in our sins; and therefore may be well said to grope after it. And, or rather, yea, we grope as if we had no eyes As if we were stark blind; we stumble at noon-day This denotes their exceeding blindness, as a man must needs be exceedingly blind who can discern no more at noon-day than if it were midnight. We are in desolate places as dead men He compares their calamitous state to that of men dead, without hope of restoration. We roar like bears, &c. Thus he expresses the greatness of their anguish, which forced from them loud outcries and sorrowful lamentations. We look for judgment, &c. See note on Isa 59:9.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 59:9-15 a. The People Confess that their Piteous Plight is the Fruit of their Wrongdoing.The poet now joins himself to his people and, speaking in their name, owns the truth of the indictment in Isa 59:1-4. True! that is why we do not attain our right, and victory is not ours! No gleam of hope lightens our darkness. We grope like blind men along a wall instead of treading firmly. We stumble in broad daylight. We moan and murmur like growling bears or cooing doves. Right and deliverance seem ever further off, for our numberless rebellions bear witness before Thee against us. Their guilt is ever on our heartsrebellion and transgression against Yahweh, uttering perverseness (so read for oppression), defection, and lying words. So Right turns her back upon us and Victory keeps her distance, since Truth stumbles in our market-square, and Straight-dealing cannot make her way in. So Truth is not to be seen, and Insight departs from the city (cf. LXX).
Isa 59:10. Read (cf. mg.) We dwell in darkness like the dead (in the gloomy underworld).
Isa 59:13. in: delete.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
59:9 Therefore is {f} judgment far from us, neither doth {g} justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, [but] we walk in darkness.
(f) That is, God’s vengeance to punish our enemies.
(g) God’s protection to defend us.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Israel’s confession 59:9-15a
Isaiah, speaking for the sinful Israelites in captivity (cf. Isa 6:5), first acknowledged the consequences of their behavior (Isa 59:9-11) and then confessed their guilt (Isa 59:12-15 a).
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Because they had denied justice and righteousness to others, the Israelites had not experienced justice or righteousness themselves, from the hands of God or men.
"Justice is not ’the just society’ as such but the rule of God which will set everything to rights; righteousness has the same meaning as in Isa 56:1, the coming act of God in which he will vindicate and display his righteousness and fulfil [sic] all his righteous purposes." [Note: Motyer, p. 486.]
They had hoped for a bright future in view of God’s promises, but their present condition was dark. They had expected to walk in the brightness of His presence, but they were groping in gloom because He had withdrawn the light of His presence from them (cf. Isa 58:10).