Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 1:21
How is the faithful city become a harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.
21. a harlot ] The idea conveyed is perhaps rather deterioration of character than infidelity to the marriage bond with Jehovah, an image not used by Isaiah (as by Hos.).
righteousness ( deq) is the principle of right action in individuals or the community; judgment ( mishp) the embodiment of that principle in judicial decisions, use and wont, and the like. These qualities constituted the “faithfulness,” trustworthiness, of the city.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
How is – This is an expression of deploring, or lamenting. It indicates that that had occurred which was matter of grief. The prophet had stated the principles of the divine government; had urged the people to reason with God; and had affirmed his willingness to pardon. But it was seen that they would not repent. They were so wicked and perverse, that there was no hope of their reformation. His mind is full of this subject; he repeats the charge of their wickedness Isa 1:21-23, and states what must be the consequences.
The faithful city – Jerusalem. It is represented here under the image of a wife – once faithful to her husband; once a devoted and attached partner. Jerusalem was thus once. In former days, it was the seat of the pure worship of God; the place where his praise was celebrated, and where his people came to offer sincere devotion. In the Scriptures, the church is often represented under the image of a wife, to denote the tenderness and sacredness of the union; Hos 2:19-20; Isa 62:5; Isa 54:6; Rev 21:9.
An harlot – She has proved to be false, treacherous, unfaithful. The unfaithfulness of the people of God, particularly their idolatry, is often represented under the idea of unfaithfulness to the marriage contract; Jer 3:8-9; Jer 5:7; Jer 13:27; Jer 23:14; Eze 16:32; Eze 23:37; Jos 2:2; Jos 4:2.
It was full of judgement – It was distinguished for justice and righteousness.
Lodged in it – This is a figurative expression, meaning that it was characterized as a righteous city. The word yalyn is from lun, to pass the night, to remain through the night Gen 19:2; and then to lodge, to dwell; Psa 25:13; Job 17:2; Job 29:19. In this place it has the sense of abiding, remaining, continuing permanently. Jerusalem was the home of justice, where it found protection and safety.
Now murderers – By murderers here are meant probably unjust judges; people who did not regard the interests of the poor, the widow, and the orphan; and who therefore, by a strong expression, are characterized as murderers. They had displaced justice from its home; and had become the permanent inhabitants of the city; compare the note at Isa 1:15.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 1:21
How is the faithful city become an harlot
The faithful city a harlot
A dirge in dirge metre over Jerusalem.
Harlot is unfaithful wife. In Isaiah unfaithfulness is declension from social and civil righteousness. (A. B. Davidson, LL. D.)
Spiritual harlotry
It is not merely gross outward idolatry, that makes the Church of God a harlot, but the defection of the heart, however this may, at any time, express itself; for which reason Jesus also could call the generation of His time , in spite of the strict worship of Jehovah carried on in the Pharisaic spirit. For, as shown by the verse before us, the basis of that marriage-relation was justice and righteousness in the widest sense. (F. Delitzsch.)
An aggravation of guilt
It is a great aggravation of the wickedness of any family or people that their ancestors were famed for virtue and probity; and commonly those that thus degenerate prove the most wicked of all other. Corruptio optimi est pessima–that which was originally the best becomes, when corrupted, the worst (Luk 11:26; Jer 22:15-17). (M. Henry.)
Righteousness lodged in it
Jerusalem, the righteous city
Righteousness was not merely like a passing guest in the city, but she who came down from above had there fixed her permanent abode; there she used to tarry day and night, as if it were her home. When the prophet refers to former days, he has in his mind the times of David and Solomon, but especially those of Jehoshaphat, who (about 150 years before Isaiah appeared) restored the administration of justice which had fallen into neglect since the latter years of Solomon and the days of Rehoboam and Abijah,–a point to which the reformation of Asa had not extended,–and who reorganised all in the spirit of the law. (F. Delitzsch.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 21. Become a harlot] See before, the Discourse on the Prophetic Style; and see Lowth’s Comment on the place, and De Sacr. Poes. Hebr. Prael. xxxi.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
How, a note of admiration at so strange, and sad, and sudden a change,
is the faithful city, Jerusalem, which in the reign of former kings was faithful to God,
become an harlot is filled with idolatry, which is commonly called whoredom.
It was full of judgment; judgment was duly and truly executed in all its courts. Righteousness lodged in it; it was famous for being the seat of justice, which did not only pass through it, like a wayfaring man, but had its settled abode in it.
But now murderers; under that one gross kind he comprehends all sorts of unrighteous men and practices, as may be gathered by the opposition. Only their connivance at that horrid crime of murder is noted, to assure us that Other crimes of a lower nature were not only unpunished, but even encouraged.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
21. faithfulas a wife(Isa 54:5; Isa 62:5;Hos 2:19; Hos 2:20).
harlot (Eze16:28-35).
righteousness lodged(2Pe 3:13).
murderersmurderousoppressors, as the antithesis requires (see on Isa1:15; 1Jo 3:15).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
How is the faithful city become a harlot!…. The city of Jerusalem, in which were the temple, and the pure worship of God, and was in the tribe of Judah, which ruled with God, and was very faithful with the saints when the ten tribes revolted, and fell in with the sin of Jeroboam; but now, in Isaiah’s time, was become like a treacherous wife to her husband, unfaithful to the Lord, went after other lovers, committed spiritual adultery, that is, idolatry, with stocks and stones; and in the times of Christ were a wicked and an adulterous generation, corrupting the word and worship of God; see Mt 12:39
it was full of judgment; strict justice was exercised privately between man and man, as well as in the public courts of judicature;
righteousness lodged in it; that is, righteous men, who walked in all the commandments of the Lord, and lived soberly, righteously, and godly; see 2Pe 3:13
but now murderers: of the prophets whom they stoned, who were sent unto them, and of the Lord Jesus Christ, of whom they were the betrayers and murderers; see Mt 23:37.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
“How is she become a harlot, the faithful citadel! she, full of right, lodged in righteousness, and now-murderers.” It is the keynote of an elegy ( kinah ) which is sounded here. , and but rarely , which is an abbreviated form, is expressive of complaint and amazement. This longer form, like a long-drawn sigh, is a characteristic of the kinah . The kinoth (Lamentations) of Jeremiah commence with it, and receive their title from it; whereas the shorter form is indicative of scornful complaining, and is characteristic of the m ashol (e.g., Isa 14:4, Isa 14:12; Mic 2:4). From this word, which gives the keynote, the rest all follows, soft, full, monotonous, long drawn out and slow, just in the style of an elegy. We may see clearly enough that forms like for , softened by lengthening, were adapted to elegiac compositions, from the first v. of the Lamentations of Jeremiah, where three of these forms occur. Jerusalem had previously been a faithful city, i.e., one stedfastly adhering to the covenant of Jehovah with her (vid., Psa 78:37).
(Note: We have translated the word kiryah “citadel” ( Burg), instead of “city;” but Burg also became the name of the town which sprang up around the citadel, and the persons living in and around the Burg or citadel were called burgenses , “burghers.” Jerusalem, which was also called Zion, might be called, with quite as much right, a citadel ( Burg), as a city.)
This covenant was a marriage covenant. And she had broken it, and had thereby become a zonah (harlot) – a prophetic view, the germs of which had already been given in the Pentateuch, where the worship of idols on the part of Israel is called whoring after them (Deu 31:16; Exo 34:15-16; in all, seven times). It was not, however, merely gross outward idolatry which made the church of God a “harlot,” but infidelity of heart, in whatever form it might express itself; so that Jesus described the people of His own time as an “adulterous generation,” notwithstanding the pharisaical strictness with which the worship of Jehovah was then observed. For, as the v. before us indicates, this marriage relation was founded upon right and righteousness in the broadest sense: mishpat , “right,” i.e., a realization of right answering to the will of God as positively declared; and tzedek , “righteousness,” i.e., a righteous state moulded by that will, or a righteous course of conduct regulated according to it (somewhat different, therefore, from the more qualitative tzedakah ). Jerusalem was once full of such right; and righteousness was not merely there in the form of a hastily passing guest, but had come down from above to take up her permanent abode in Jerusalem: she tarried there day and night as if it were her home. The prophet had in his mind the times of David and Solomon, and also more especially the time of Jehoshaphat (about one hundred and fifty years before Isaiah’s appearance), who restored the administration of justice, which had fallen into neglect since the closing years of Solomon’s reign and the time of Rehoboam and Abijah, to which Asa’s reformation had not extended, and re-organized it entirely in the spirit of the law. It is possible also that Jehoiada, the high priest in the time of Joash, may have revived the institutions of Jehoshaphat, so far as they had fallen into disuse under his three godless successors; but even in the second half of the reign of Joash, the administration of justice fell into the same disgraceful state, at least as compared with the times of David, Solomon, and Jehoshaphat, as that in which Isaiah found it. The glaring contrast between the present and the past is indicated by the expression “and now.” In all the correct MSS and editions, mishpat is not accented with zakeph , but with rebia ; and bah , which ought to have zakeph , is accented with tiphchah, on account of the brevity of the following clause. In this way the statement as to the past condition is sufficiently distinguished from that relating to the present.
(Note: It is well known that rebia has less force as a disjunctive than tiphchah, and that zakeph is stronger then either. With regard to the law, according to which bah has rebia instead of zakeph , see Br, Thorath Emeth, p. 70. To the copies enumerated by Luzzatto, as having the correct accentuation (including Brescia 1494, and Venice, by J. B. Chayim, 1526), we may add Plantin (1582), Buxtorf (1618), Nissel (1662), and many others (cf., Dachselt’s Biblia accentuata, which is not yet out of date).)
Formerly righteousness, now “murderers” ( merazzechim ), and indeed, as distinguished from rozechim , murderers by profession, who formed a band, like king Ahab and his son (2Ki 6:32). The contrast was as glaring as possible, since murder is the direct opposite, the most crying violation, of righteousness.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Degeneracy of Jerusalem; Reformation of the Church. | B. C. 738. |
21 How is the faithful city become a harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. 22 Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water: 23 Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them. 24 Therefore saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies: 25 And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin: 26 And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city. 27 Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness. 28 And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed. 29 For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen. 30 For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water. 31 And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.
Here, I. The woeful degeneracy of Judah and Jerusalem is sadly lamented. See, 1. What the royal city had been, a faithful city, faithful to God and the interests of his kingdom among men, faithful to the nation and its public interests. It was full of judgment; justice was duly administered upon the thrones of judgment which were set there, the thrones of the house of David, Ps. cxxii. 5. Men were generally honest in their dealings, and abhorred to do an unjust thing. Righteousness lodged in it, was constantly resident in their palaces and in all their dwellings, not called in now and then to serve a turn, but at home there. Note, Neither holy cities nor royal ones, neither places where religion is professed nor places where government is administered, are faithful to their trust if religion do not dwell in them. 2. What it had now become. That beauteous virtuous spouse was now debauched, and become an adulteress; righteousness no longer dwelt in Jerusalem (terras Astra reliquit–Astrea left the earth); even murderers were unpunished and lived undisturbed there; nay, the princes themselves were so cruel and oppressive that they had become no better than murderers; an innocent man might better guard himself against a troop of banditti or assassins than against a bench of such judges. Note, It is a great aggravation of the wickedness of any family or people that their ancestors were famed for virtue and probity; and commonly those that thus degenerate prove the most wicked of all men. Corruptio optimi est pessima–That which was originally the best becomes when corrupted the worst,Luk 11:26; Ecc 3:16. See Jer. xxii. 15-17. The degeneracy of Jerusalem is illustrated, (1.) By similitudes (v. 22): Thy silver has become dross. This degeneracy of the magistrates, whose character is the reverse of that of their predecessors, is a great a reproach and injury to the kingdom as the debasing of their coin would be and the turning of their silver into dross. Righteous princes and righteous cities are as silver for the treasury, but unrighteous ones are as dross for the dunghill. How has the gold become dim! Lam. iv. 1. Thy wine is mixed with water, and so has become flat and sour. Some understand both these literally: the wine they sold was adulterated, it was half water; the money they paid was counterfeit, and so they cheated all they dealt with. But it is rather to be taken figuratively: justice was perverted by their princes, and religion and the word of God were sophisticated by their priests, and made to serve what turn they pleased. Dross may shine like silver, and the wine that is mixed with water may retain the colour of wine, but neither is worth any thing. Thus they retained a show and pretence of virtue and justice, but had no true sense of either. (2.) By some instances (v. 23): “Thy princes, that should keep others in their allegiance to God and subjection to his law, are themselves rebellious, and set God and his law at defiance.” Those that should restrain thieves (proud and rich oppressors, those worst of robbers, and those that designedly cheat their creditors, who are no better), are themselves companions of thieves, connive at them, do as they do, and with greater security and success, because they are princes, and have power in their hands; they share with the thieves they protect in their unlawful gain ( Ps. l. 18) and cast in their lot among them,Pro 1:13; Pro 1:14. [1.] The profit of their places is all their aim, to make the best hand they can of them, right or wrong. They love gifts, and follow after rewards; they set their hearts upon their salary, the fees and perquisites of their offices, and are greedy of them, and never think they can get enough; nay, they will do any thing, though ever so contrary to law and justice, for a gift in secret. Presents and gratuities will blind their eyes at any time, and make them pervert judgment. These they love and are eager in the pursuit of, Hos. ix. 18. [2.] The duty of their places is none of their care. They ought to protect those that are injured, and take cognizance of the appeals made to them; why else were they preferred? But they judge not the fatherless, take no care to guard the orphans, nor does the cause of the widow come unto them, because the poor widow has no bribe to give, with which to make way for her and to bring her cause on. Those will have a great deal to answer for who, when they should be the patrons of the oppressed, are their greatest oppressors.
II. A resolution is taken up to redress these grievances (v. 24): Therefore saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel–who has power to make good what he says, who has hosts at command for the executing of his purposes, and whose power is engaged for his Israel–Ah! I will ease me of my adversaries. Observe,
1. Wicked people, especially wicked rulers that are cruel and oppressive, are God’s enemies, his adversaries, and shall so be accounted and so dealt with. If the holy seed corrupt themselves, they are the foes of his own house.
2. They are a burden to the God of heaven, which is implied in his easing himself of them. The Mighty One of Israel, that can bear any thing, nay, that upholds all things, complains of his being wearied with men’s iniquities,Isa 43:24; Amo 2:13.
3. God will find out a time and a way to ease himself of this burden, by avenging himself on those that thus bear hard upon his patience. He here speaks as one triumphing in the foresight of it: Ah. I will ease me. He will ease the earth of the burden under which it groans (Rom 8:21; Rom 8:22), will ease his own name of the reproaches with which it is loaded. He will be eased of his adversaries, by taking vengeance on his enemies; he will spue them out of his mouth, and so be eased of them, Rev. iii. 16. He speaks with pleasure of the day of vengeance being in his heart, ch. lxiii. 4. If God’s professing people conform not to his image, as the Holy One of Israel (v. 4), they shall feel the weight of his hand as the Mighty One of Israel: his power, which was wont to be engaged for them, shall be armed against them. In two ways God will ease himself of this grievance:–
(1.) By reforming his church, and restoring good judges in the room of those corrupt ones. Though the church has a great deal of dross in it, yet it shall not be thrown away, but refined (v. 25): “I will purely purge away thy dross. I will amend what is amiss. Vice and profaneness shall be suppressed and put out of countenance, oppressors displaced, and deprived of their power to do mischief.” When things are ever so bad God can set them to rights, and bring about a complete reformation; when he begins he will make an end, will take away all the tin. Observe, [1.] The reformation of a people is God’s own work, and, if ever it be done, it is he that brings it about: “I will turn my hand upon thee; I will do that for the reviving of religion which I did at first for the planting of it.” He can do it easily, with the turn of his hand; but he does it effectually, for what opposition can stand before the arm of the Lord revealed? [2.] He does it by blessing them with good magistrates and good ministers of state (v. 26): “I will restore thy judges as at the first, to put the laws in execution against evil-doers, and thy counsellors, to transact public affairs, as at the beginning,” either the same persons that had been turned out or others of the same character. [3.] He does it by restoring judgment and righteousness among them (v. 27), by planting in men’s minds principles of justice and governing their lives by those principles. Men may do much by external restraints; but God does it effectually by the influences of his Spirit, as a Spirit of judgment,Isa 4:4; Isa 28:6. See Psa 85:10; Psa 85:11. [4.] The reformation of a people will be the redemption of them and their converts, for sin is the worst captivity, the worst slavery, and the great and eternal redemption is that by which Israel is redeemed from all his iniquities (Ps. cxxx. 8), and the blessed Redeemer is he that turns away ungodliness from Jacob (Rom. xi. 26), and saves his people from their sins, Matt. i. 21. All the redeemed of the Lord shall be converts, and their conversion is their redemption: “Her converts, or those that return of her (so the margin), shall be redeemed with righteousness.” God works deliverance for us by preparing us for it with judgment and righteousness. [5.] The reviving of a people’s virtues is the restoring of their honour: Afterwards thou shalt be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city; that is, First, “Thou shalt be so;” the reforming of the magistracy is a good step towards the reforming of the city and the country too. Secondly, “Thou shalt have the praise of being so;” and a greater praise there cannot be to any city than to be called the city of righteousness, and to retrieve the ancient honour which was lost when the faithful city became a harlot, v. 21.
(2.) By cutting off those that hate to be reformed, that they may not remain either as snares or as scandals to the faithful city. [1.] it is an utter ruin that is here threatened. They shall be destroyed and consumed, and not chastened and corrected only. The extirpation of them will be necessary to the redemption of Zion. [2.] It is a universal ruin, which will involve the transgressors and the sinners together, that is, the openly profane that have quite cast of all religion, and the hypocrites that live wicked lives under the cloak of a religious profession–they shall both be destroyed together, for they are both alike an abomination to God, both those that contradict religion and those that contradict themselves in their pretensions to it. And those that forsake the Lord, to whom they had formerly joined themselves, shall be consumed, as the water in the conduit-pipe is soon consumed when it is cut off from the fountain. [3.] It is an inevitable ruin; there is no escaping it. First, Their idols shall not be able to help them, the oaks which they have desired, and the gardens which they have chosen; that is, the images, the dunghill-gods, which they had worshipped in their groves and under the green trees, which they were fond of and wedded to, for which they forsook the true God, and which they worshipped privately in their own garden even when idolatry was publicly discountenanced. “This was the practice of the transgressors and the sinners; but they shall be ashamed of it, not with a show of repentance, but of despair, v. 29. They shall have cause to be ashamed of their idols; for, after all the court they have made to them, they shall find no benefit by them; but the idols themselves shall go into captivity,” Isa 46:1; Isa 46:2. Note, Those that make creatures their confidence are but preparing confusion for themselves. You were fond of the oaks and the gardens, but you yourselves shall be, 1. “Like an oak without leaves, withered and blasted, and stripped of all its ornaments.” Justly do those wear no leaves that bear no fruit; as the fig-tree that Christ cursed. 2. “Like a garden without water, that is neither rained upon nor watered with the foot (Deut. xi. 10), that had no fountain (Cant. iv. 15), and consequently is parched, and all the fruits of it gone to decay.” Thus shall those be that trust in idols, or in an arm of flesh,Jer 17:5; Jer 17:6. But those that trust in God never find him as a wilderness, or as waters that fail, Jer. ii. 31. Secondly, They shall not be able to help themselves (v. 31): “Even the strong man shall be as tow not only soon broken and pulled to pieces, but easily catching fire; and his work (so the margin reads it), that by which he hopes to fortify and secure himself, shall be as a spark to his own tow, shall set him on fire, and he and his work shall burn together. His counsels shall be his ruin; his own skin kindles the fire of God’s wrath, which shall burn to the lowest hell, and none shall quench it.” When the sinner has made himself as tow and stubble, and God makes himself to him as a consuming fore, what can prevent the utter ruin of the sinner?
Now all this is applicable, 1. To the blessed work of reformation which was wrought in Hezekiah’s time after the abominable corruptions of the reign of Ahaz. Then good men came to be preferred, and the faces of the wicked were filled with shame. 2. To their return out of their captivity in Babylon, which had thoroughly cured them of idolatry. 3. To the gospel-kingdom and the pouring out of the Spirit, by which the New-Testament church should be made a new Jerusalem, a city of righteousness. 4. To the second coming of Christ, when he shall thoroughly purge his floor, his field, shall gather the wheat into his barn, into his garner, and burn the chaff, the tares, with unquenchable fire.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
Verse 21-31: A VISION OF JUDGMENT AND REDEMPTION
1. Here is a lamentation in which Jerusalem, the once-faithful city, is likened to a prostitute; by her idolatry she has departed from and corrupted God’s ways, (Verse 21a; Isa 57:3-9; Jer 2:20).
a. At one time justice reigned within her gates and righteousness made its dwelling within her walls; now she is a habitation of murderers! (Isa 59:7).
b. Corruption and disintegration are everywhere in evidence. Her silver is impure, unrefined and full of dross (Eze 22:18); her once-sterling character shamefully compromised. Her wine is diluted with water- the “joy of the Lord” having faded in the breach of fellowship with her divine husband.
c. Her rebel-hearted princes are the associates of thieves -loving bribes and chasing after reward, (Isa 3:14-15; Mic 7:3; Exo 23:6-8).
2. Thus, judgment is perverted: the orphan is defenseless, and a deaf ear is turned to the widow’s plea – a situation concerning which the righteous Lord cannot remain silent, (Isa 10:1-2; Jer 5:28-29; Zec 7:9-12).
3. In setting forth His purpose of redemption, the rightful King of Israel identifies Himself by three divine titles, (Verse 24).
a. He is the “Lord” of all creation.
b. He is “LORD (Jehovah) of Hosts” – whose will and command the heavenly creatures eagerly await.
c. And He is “the Mighty One of Israel” – by whose power the covenant-nation may prevail, (Gen 49:24; Psa 132:1-5; cf. Isa 49:26; Isa 60:16).
4. He to whom vengeance belongs (Rom 12:19) will relieve Himself of His adversaries and deal justly with His enemies.
5. By means of justice and judgment the Lord will purge, refine and purify His people, (Eze 22:19-22; Mal 3:2-3). The concept of a “remnant” of Israel – cleansed through fiery trials and brought into harmony with God’s holy purpose – is a constantly-recurring theme in Isaiah, (Isa 4:2-4; Isa 10:20-22; Isa 37:30-32, etc.).
a. Her judges and counselors will be restored to function according to the righteous principles that were to be inherent in their offices from the beginning, (Isa 60:17-18; Isa 32:1).
b. Restored to the divine pattern, Jerusalem will be known as a stronghold of righteousness – “the Faithful City”, (Isa 33:5; Isa 60:14; Isa 62:1-2; Zec 8:3).
c. So, Zion will be justly ransomed, and a repentant remnant -which is permitted to return, according to righteous principles, (Isa 35:9-10; Isa 62:12).
6. When the Lord is roused to anger, rebel transgressors and sinners will fall together; those who forsake Him, for idols, will be consumed by His fiery indignation, (Isa 24:20: Psa 9:5; 2Th 1:8-9; Isa 66:15-16).
a. When they stand before Him they will be ashamed of the “oaks” under which they have practiced their idolatries, (Isa 57:5).
b. And, under His searching gaze, they will blush in remembrance of the shameless sensualities practiced in their choice gardens, (Isa 65:3; Isa 66:17).
7. When the fire of divine judgment is unleashed, they will be as a withered oak and a parched garden, (Isa 64:6-7).
a. The sinner and his sin will be consumed together by the wrath of divine indignation, (Isa 5:24; Isa 33:11-14; Heb 12:29).
b. Nor will there be anyone to deliver them from the consequences of their folly! (Mat 3:12; Mar 9:43).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
21. How is the faithful city become an harlot ! In order to make the rebuke more forcible, and the crime of the people more shocking, in having thus departed from God and from all uprightness, he cries aloud as if he had seen some monstrous thing; and certainly it was a change fitted to awaken horror, that a nation devoted to God, and chosen to a royal priesthood, (Exo 19:6,) had fallen from lofty piety to the lowest sink of wickedness. More especially he speaks of the city of Jerusalem, which was God’s sanctuary and royal abode. He complains that the city which had formerly been a guardian of justice is a den of robbers; that she who formerly was a chaste and pure virgin hath become a harlot, To strike the deeper shame into the degenerate Jews, who had departed widely from their holy fathers, he assumes the air of a person astonished, and asks himself how this could possibly have happened.
The faithful city By the word faithful he alludes, in my opinion, to the conjugal fidelity which a wife ought to preserve to her husband. The signification is undoubtedly more extensive; but when I look at the connection of the passage I do not hesitate to say that faithful means chaste; for immediately afterwards he employs another term in contrast with it, calling her an harlot. Whereas she once was a virtuous wife, faithful to the marriage-contract, she has now become an harlot, and her base conduct brings not a blush on her countenance. The Scriptures frequently call the Church the wife of God. (Hos 2:19.) That honorable rank Jerusalem held, so long as she maintained spiritual chastity, and continued in the pure and lawful worship of God; but as soon as she departed from it she became an harlot.
This astonishment of the Prophet was undoubtedly joined with the deepest grief; for we ought to look upon it as something monstrous when men revolt from God, and refuse that allegiance which they have promised to render; nor is it possible that right-hearted men, when they behold such a revolt, can fail to be affected with the most poignant grief. We read that the angels in heaven rejoice at the conversion of one sinner; (Luk 15:7😉 and therefore they cannot but mourn over the final ruin of any sinner. How much more then will they bewail the ruin and destruction of a whole state and Church!
Besides, that astonishment conveys also a complaint; as if the Prophet had said, “O Jerusalem, from what a flourishing condition hast thou fallen! Into what distress hast thou plunged thyself! What shame and disgrace hast thou brought upon thee!” When the flourishing state in which she had been, and the respect that had been paid to her in former times, are called to her remembrance, it ought to produce a still deeper impression on her mind; for she who was at one time the respected mother of a family is naturally more careful about her honor and reputation than one who has spent her whole life in base and licentious conduct.
It was full of judgment He shows what fruits were produced by that allegiance to God at a former period. We may take judgment as but another name for uprightness; or, if it be thought preferable, we may call it justice when men render to every man his own, and judgment when the cause of the innocent is defended, and the poor and needy are avenged; for such is the use of the words in Scripture when they are employed together; but as they are not perfectly connected in this passage, I consider judgment to denote uprightness; so that the same thing is twice expressed for the purpose of explaining it more fully.
But now murderers He shows in what manner Jerusalem became an harlot. It was, that the city, which had formerly been distinguished for the love of justice and equity, was now full of murders. The meaning is, as we have formerly said, not that they were assassins or robbers, but that, by fraudulent and dishonest methods, under the pretense of justice, they had gained the property of others. In short, he means that they did not act fairly and justly towards their fellow-men, whatever might be the estimation in which they were held; for sometimes, and indeed very frequently, it happens that very wicked men are held in high esteem.
The condition to which Jerusalem was reduced should lead us to consider how often Satan exercises what may be called unbounded tyranny over the Church of God; for if ever there was a Church, there was one at that time in Jerusalem; and yet Isaiah affirms that it was a den of robbers, or a slaughterhouse, where they cut men’s throats. But if Satan could freely riot in that Church, let us not wonder that the same thing takes place among us; but let us labor not to suffer ourselves to be corrupted by such wicked examples.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
AN ILLUSTRIOUS INHABITANT
Isa. 1:21. Righteousness lodged in it.
I. A High Commendation. Righteousness lodged in the citynot merely visited it as a passing guest, but dwelt in it as a permanent abode [Alexander and Kayhad its home there]. No greater praise could be spoken of any city, nor can be uttered of any man.
1. Let us do what we can to make our city worthy of this high commendation. Much can be done in this direction by the combined, resolute, and persevering efforts of good men.
2. Let us try to deserve it individually. This may involve many sacrifices, but they will be more than compensated. Righteousness is a royal guest, ennobling and enriching those with whom she dwells, and peace, prosperity, and joy invariably follow in her train.
II. A mournful condemnation. Righteousness lodged in the city; lodged, not lodges! That noble and Divine inhabitant is departed. The palace in which she dwelt is in ruins.
1. Of how many cities may this mournful declaration be made! The cities in which Christianity achieved some of its first and noblest triumphs are now Mohammedan and semi-heathen. They did not hold fast the truth, and now they are given over to error. We boast that this is a Christian land, but its relapse into practical heathenism is not impossible. In every action there is a constant gravitation towards evil, which can only be resisted and overcome by constant effort and earnest prayer. Let the churches of this land lay this solemn fact to heart.
2. Of how many men may this declaration be made! How many even of the openly vicious and criminal were once respectable members of societyyea, even honoured members of churches! They were men subject to like passions as we are; and in what they are we have solemn warnings as to what we may become. Let those who are most exalted, not in privileges only, but in moral excellence, also watch and pray, lest sin enter even their hearts, and expel that Divine guest whose presence secures so many blessings and warrants so many hopes.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
MORAL DECLENSION
Isa. 1:21-23. How is the faithful city become an harlot! [430] It was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers [433] Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water: thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.
[430] The faithful city is become an harlot:Jerusalem, the daughter of Zion, the wife of the Holy One of Israel, has broken the bond of her covenant with Him, has set at nought the Divine constitution and order in which He originally placed, and has continued to sustain her: and, as the outward consequence and sign of this spiritual defection, has actually fallen to the worship of other gods. Throughout this prophecy Isaiah dwells chiefly on the sins of the princes and rulers of the nation, and only incidentally on those of the people; and accordingly he now dilates on the characteristic vices of the former, which are the fruits of their national unfaithfulness. Social and political morality have vanished along with religious faith; thieves and murderers are found instead of virtuous citizens; the nobles and men in authority are the first to break the laws they should enforce; the administration of justice is so corrupt that the judges take bribes, connive at the robbers whose booty they share, and permit the rich man to pervert the law for the oppression of the fatherless and widow, who have no patrons to demand, and no money to buy, justice: and thus the aristocracy, setting aside all belief that they hold their wealth and power in trust from God for the benefit of the people under them, do but employ these as irresistible engines for breaking down all rights that can oppose them in their pursuit of luxury and vice.Strachey.
[433] Jerusalem was once full of such right; and Righteousness was not merely there in the form of a hastily-passing guest, but had come down from above to take up her permanent abode in Jerusalem: she tarried there day and night, as if it were her home. The prophet had in his mind the times of David and Solomon, and also more especially the time of Jehoshaphat (about one hundred and fifty years before Isaiahs appearance), who restored the administration of justice, which had fallen into neglect since the closing years of Solomons reign and the time of Rehoboam and Abijah, to which Asas reformation had not extended, and reorganised it entirely in the spirit of the law. It is possible also that Jehoiada, the high priest in the time of Joash, may have revived the institutions of Jehoshaphat so far as they had fallen into disuse under his three godless successors; but even in the second half of the reign of Joash the administration of justice fell into the same disgraceful state, at least as compared with the times of David, Solomon, and Jehoshaphat, as that in which Isaiah found it. The glaring contrast between the present and the past is indicated by the expression and now.Delitsch.
I. Moral declensions may take place in the best of men. The faithful citysilverwineprinces, the very best things depraved.
II. There are no limits to the moral declensions that may take place in the best of men. The faithful city is become an harlot, &c. We have here an argument
1. For universal humility (1Co. 10:12; Gal. 6:1).
2. For universal watchfulness (Mar. 14:38).
3. For universal prayer (Psa. 19:12-13; Psa. 139:23-24).
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
2. THE JUDGMENT ANNOUNCED Isa. 1:21-31
a. REASON FOR JUDGMENT, THE CORRUPT CITY
TEXT: Isa. 1:21-23
21
How is the faithful city become a harlot! she that was full of justice! righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.
22
Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water
23
Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves; every one loveth bribes, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.
QUERIES
a.
Why use the word harlot to describe Jerusalem?
b.
Why the condemnation of the princes?
PARAPHRASE
Jerusalem, once My faithful wife! And now a prostitute! Running after other gods. Once the city of Fair Play, but now a gang of murderers. Once like sterling silver; now mixed with worthless alloy! Once so pure, but now diluted like watered-down wine! Your leaders are rebels, companions of thieves; all of them take bribes and wont defend the widows and orphans.
COMMENTS
Isa. 1:21 JERUSALEM HAD BECOME A HARLOT: a profligate, sensual, mercenary city, worshipping idols. It was no longer wed to God, sharing His nature and His goals. People make up a city. The city is what the people make it. Some cities have parks, flowers, trees, churches, justice and peace some have saloons, brothels, gambling halls, law-breaking and fear. The spirit of harlotry is the spirit of promiscuousness (see our comments on Hosea, in Minor Prophets, by Paul T. Butler, College Press). Jerusalem left her first love and prostituted herself to pagan idolatry (which is in reality selling oneself to Satan who exploits for his own prideful purposes anyone who will do so),
Isa. 1:21 WISDOM AND JUSTICE WERE LOST: Justice and righteousness had found permanent residence in Jerusalem before (probably in the days of David and Solomon, 1Ki. 3:9-28; 2Ch. 19:5-11, or the days of Jehoshaphat). Jerusalem had been known throughout the world for her wise and just menbut now she was known for her profligacy, injustice and murderers.
Isa. 1:22 GREAT MEN HAVE BECOME CONTAMINATED: Silver represents nobilitybut it had been mixed with dross (the scum or refuse matter thrown off from molten ore or metal). Her great men had deteriorated. They had been weakened by mixing in sin like wine is weakened when mixed with water. The further a nation gets from God, the harder to find men with elements of greatness; faith, vision, initiative, moral integrity, humility, unselfishness. When a nation allows its young men to be taught unbelief and sin, its noble manhood is weakened to little men with enlarged egosself-serving, greedy, stupid men, drunk with the intoxication of their self-importance.
Isa. 1:23 REBELLIOUS PRINCES: The royal household (princes) were in rebellion against the true king (God). The princes were companions of thievesin league with criminals, involved in bribery and graft. Men sworn to uphold law and decency using their position and power to defraud the very people they are supposed to govern and protect. They are greedy shepherds devouring the flock over which they have been made overseers (Cf. Ezekiel 34; John 10). They use the law for lawless purposesfor selfish ends. Could such a scathing condemnation be true of some of the leaders of Gods kingdom (the Church) today? Unquestionably!
QUIZ
1.
What makes a city a harlot?
2.
What does Satan do with those who prostitute themselves spiritually?
3.
In what era was Jerusalem known for righteousness and justice?
4.
What does silver symbolize?
5.
What is the figurative picture induced by water-weakened wine?
6.
In what way were the princes rebelling?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(21) How is the faithful city become an harlot! . . .The opening word, as in Lam. 1:1, is the key-note of an elegiac wail, which opens a new section. The idea of prostitution as representing apostasy from Jehovah was involved in the thought that Israel was the bride whom He had wooed and won (Hosea 1-3; Jer. 2:2). The imagery was made more impressive by the fact that actual prostitution entered so largely into the ritual of many of the forms of idolatry to which the Israelites were tempted (Num. 25:1-2). So Ezekiel (Eze. 16:1-14) develops the symbolism with an almost terrible fulness. So our Lord spoke of the Pharisees as an adulterous generation (Mat. 12:39). The fact that Hosea, an earlier contemporary, had been led to tell how he had been taught the truth thus set forth by a living personal experience, is not without significance in its bearing on the genesis of Isaiahs thoughts.
Righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.Better, assassins. The word implies not casual homicide, but something like the choice of murder and robbery as a profession. Hosea (Hos. 6:9) had painted a like picture as true of Samaria. The traveller who sojourned in Jerusalem, the poor who lived there, were exposed to outrage and murder; and all this was passing before mens eyes at the very time when they were boasting, as it were, of their glorious reformation.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
AN EXCLAMATION AGAINST THE CITY, Isa 1:21-31.
21-23. By a Hebrew character called Piskah, after Isa 1:20 a long pause is indicated. Though invited to repent, the people, it seems, make no promise, not even a response, and the prophet’s tone now becomes elegiac.
How is the faithful city The once faithful. Lam 1:3. Reading it thus, the rhythm is better seen: “How is she become a harlot the faithful citadel. She that was full of judgment, wherein righteousness did lodge, and now murderers.” The “city,” or citadel, is Zion. Isa 1:27. (Just this was the case with Jerusalem when destroyed by the Chaldaeans, and afterward by the Romans.)
Thy silver is dross, thy wine mixed with water These are symbols of great moral deterioration. So far, figures; but in the next verse, plain, bluntly-literal predicates occur.
Princes rebellious Are utterly corrupt and lawless.
Companions of thieves In public responsibilities they are confederate with plunderers. No justice done without bribery; no hearing given to the fatherless and widow, because the latter are too poor to give bribes.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
A Further Description of Their State Before God ( Isa 1:21-23 ).
Isa 1:21
‘How is the faithful city,
Become a prostitute?
She who was full of discerning judgment.
Righteousness lodged in her,
But now murderers.’
The question now is, how has Israel got herself into this state? The description of her downfall is potent. She had been ‘a faithful city’, like a faithful wife to Yahweh, but now she was behaving like a prostitute. She had been true living, but now she was loose living. She had been full of discerning judgment, with righteousness lodging in her, but now she was indwelt by murderers.
Isaiah is possibly looking back to the time of David, who for all his faults was a good and wise king, and to the first part of the reign of Solomon, both somewhat idealised. And possibly in more recent memory to the time of the good king Uzziah, again idealised (‘the good old days’). Then Jerusalem had been faithful, a faithful wife to Yahweh. But now she had become a prostitute.
This may well to some extent have in mind the idolatry into which Ahaz had led Jerusalem and Judah, especially his dalliance with child sacrifice, partly by choice, and partly because of his treaty with the Assyrians (2 Kings 16). But it goes further than that. The whole city is in mind. The failure is widespread. They have followed the king’s lead, and idolatry and injustice have become rampant. They seize every opportunity for pagan worship, and are taken up with everything but God.
As always the result of their ignoring the covenant and following such ideas was immoral behaviour and unfair and unreliable ‘justice’. She who had been full of discerning judgment in accordance with the covenant, who had been the dwellingplace of righteousness as determined by that covenant, had now sunk to the level of other nations. They had become ‘murderers’, men of blood (compare ‘bloods’ Isa 1:15). This could include the idea of the child sacrifices, which were seen by God as an abomination. But it also had prominently in mind the use by evil men of the judicial system to get rid of those who opposed them, or to weaken the position and resolve of others from whom they sought to gain advantage, even to the point of the calling on the death sentence. Life had become relatively cheap because justice had become slack and open to manipulation by bribes and pressure.
Isa 1:22
‘Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water.’
This may have in mind that dishonest trading had become rampant. That silver sold as pure was in fact impure, or even a sham, and that wine was being watered down for sale. But it almost certainly also includes the wider idea that their lives and behaviour have suffered in the same way. Men are no longer pure and trustworthy. They can no longer stand the test. They have become dross (compare Jer 6:28-30; Eze 22:18). They are watered down, their fullness spoiled. They have become insipid to the taste.
Isa 1:23
‘Your princes are rebellious,
And companions of thieves.
Every one loves gifts,
And follows after rewards.
They do not judge the fatherless,
Nor does the cause of the widow come to them.’
The chief men of the city are in rebellion against the covenant, ignoring God’s laws. The very ones who are the focus of justice are consorting with those who are dishonest and untrustworthy. Everyone is out for what they can get, looking for backhanders and not being willing to do anything without being rewarded, and the cause of the needy goes unresolved because it is not worth either time or consideration. And this is because the needy bring no gifts, only their needs.
This is always the sign of a decaying society. Politicians ignore God’s laws and consort with those who are dishonest, even resorting to threats or worse. Bribery and backhanders in business and civic life become rife. Justice is made a show of, but is not really available to all or carried into effect. Outwardly all is well. Inwardly all is rotten. And the result is the continual deterioration of society. How much we see of it today. We must ensure that we are not a part of it.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
God’s Purpose For The Future ( Isa 1:21-26 ).
The call having been made to Israel for response, God describes their present state and guarantees that in the end He will bring their transformation about.
a How is the faithful city, become a prostitute? She who was full of discerning judgment. Righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers (Isa 1:21).
b Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water. Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves (Isa 1:22-23 a).
c Every one loves gifts, and follows after rewards. They do not judge the fatherless, nor does the cause of the widow come to them (Isa 1:23 b).
c Therefore thus says the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel. “Ah, I will ease myself of my adversaries, and avenge myself on my enemies” (Isa 1:24).
b “And I will turn my hand on you, and purge away your dross as with lye, and will take away all your impurity (literally ‘tin’). And I will restore your judges as at the first, and your counsellors as at the beginning” (Isa 1:25-26 a).
a “Afterwards your city will be called, ‘The city of righteousness, the faithful city’. Zion will be redeemed with justice (judgment), and her converts (those who return) with righteousness” (Isa 1:26-27).
In this remarkable passage we find ‘the faithful city which has become a prostitute’ (Isa 1:21), being finally restored to being ‘the city of righteousness the faithful city’ (Isa 1:26-27); perverted justice (Isa 1:21) becoming true justice (Isa 1:26), the dross that filled her (Isa 1:22) being removed (Isa 1:25); the rebellious princes (Isa 1:23) being finally restored (Isa 1:26 a), injustice (Isa 1:23 b) being dealt with by the Mighty One of Israel avenging Himself on those who are enemies of His covenant (Isa 1:24). Note again the characteristic chiastic construction on which it is based, the remedies being in inverted order to the problems.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
God’s Third Indictment Against Israel (Spiritual) Isa 1:21-23 contains God’s third indictment against Israel. This indictment will focus upon their spiritual depravity, revealing how their problems have originated from a heart of idolatry and rebellion against Him.
Isa 1:21 How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.
Isa 1:21
Isa 1:22 Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water:
Isa 1:22
1Ki 14:26-27, “And he took away the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king’s house; he even took away all: and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made. And King Rehoboam made in their stead brasen shields, and committed them unto the hands of the chief of the guard, which kept the door of the king’s house.”
Isa 1:23 Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.
Isa 1:23
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Lord’s Complaint against Jerusalem
v. 21. How is the faithful city, v. 22. Thy silver, v. 23. thy princes are rebellious, v. 24. Therefore saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, v. 25. and I will turn My hand upon thee, v. 26. and I will restore thy judges as at the first, v. 27. Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, v. 28. And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, v. 29. For they shall be ashamed of the oaks, v. 30. For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, v. 31. And the strong shall be as tow,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Isa 1:21. How is the faithful city become an harlot Though the Lord, in the preceding part of the chapter, had suggested to the wicked and the hypocrites a method of returning to his favour, yet he foresaw that they would not hearken. He begins, therefore, afresh, (as if he repented of having indulged them so much, speaking after the manner of men,) to deplore their calamitous state, and to shew what this corrupt people were hereafter to expect. The first part of this new discourse contains a preface, from the 21st to the 24th verse, and a prediction of future events, from the 24th to the end of the chapter. In the preface the prophet complains, first, of the corruption of the whole city in general; which was become a harlot, violating her covenant, revolting from God by idolatry, or, what seems principally intended here, transgressing the laws of the covenant made with God; for, to violate the faith of the covenant, is, in the style of Scripture, to commence harlot. The 22nd verse expresses metaphorically, what is expressed plainly at the latter end of the 21st and in the 23rd verse; namely, that the princes, the judges, and chief men of the Jews, had declined from the paths of purity and integrity. See Vitringa.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Under these figures of speech, are represented the sad fall of our nature. It forms in language a beautiful, though in reality, an awful account. But, Reader, painful as it is to know, yet it is profitable, in order to lead the heart to Jesus. This is among the methods which the Holy Ghost is pleased to adopt, in bringing the soul to God in Christ. He first convinces of sin, and then of righteousness. I think that those parts of scripture are eminently blessed, which bring with them proofs of his divine teaching; and that, it is one and the same in both Testaments of God’s word. Joh 16:7-11 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 1:21 How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.
Ver. 21. How is the faithful city. ] Here beginneth, as some think, a new sermon; and it beginneth, as Jeremiah’s Lamentations do, with an Ecack, “How!” a particle of admiration mixed with grief a – q.d., Proh pudor! proh dolor! Oh shameful! oh doleful! What a strange business is this! and how unworthily is this matter carried! Here is a city so altered that ye can scarce know her to be the same. Ye may seek Jerusalem in Jerusalem and not find her; tota est iam Roma lupanar. b See Eze 16:15 ; Eze 16:23 ; Eze 23:3-21 .
Become an harlot?
It was full of judgment.
Righteousness lodged there.
But now murderers.
a Nota et admirantis, et deplorantis.
b Mantuan.
c Ex aurea factam argenteam, ex argentea ferream, ex ferrea terream, superesse ut in stercus abiret. – Theod.
d Urias Augustinianus, circa A.D. 1414.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 1:21-23
21How the faithful city has become a harlot,
She who was full of justice!
Righteousness once lodged in her,
But now murderers.
22Your silver has become dross,
Your drink diluted with water.
23Your rulers are rebels
And companions of thieves;
Everyone loves a bribe
And chases after rewards.
They do not defend the orphan,
Nor does the widow’s plea come before them.
Isa 1:21-23 This section deals with Jerusalem of Isaiah’s day, the special place where YHWH caused His name to dwell (cf. Deu 12:5; Deu 12:11; Deu 12:14). It has become unfaithful and does not fulfill covenant stipulations (cf. Isa 1:23). This section is characterized by Hebrew lament meter or beats, which is another common prophetic literary device (i.e., funeral dirge).
Notice her covenant violations.
1. murderers (cf. Exo 20:13, premeditated, intentional taking of life, BDB 953, KB 1283, cf. Jer 7:9; Hos 4:2)
2. rulers as rebels
3. rulers as companions of thieves
4. lovers of bribes (cf. Isa 5:23; Exo 23:6; Exo 23:8; Deu 16:19; 1Sa 8:3; Psa 26:10; Amo 5:12; Mic 3:11; Mic 7:3)
5. chasers of rewards
6. not defenders of orphans
7. not supplicants for widows (cf. Exo 22:21-24; Jer 5:28; Jer 7:6; Jer 22:3; Eze 22:7; Zec 7:10)
These are violations of the Mosaic covenant summarized in Deuteronomy. Note that Judah is condemned for covenant violations, not idolatry in this context (unless the word harlot in Isa 1:21 implies Canaanite fertility worship).
Isa 1:21 faithful See Special Topic: Believe, Trust, Faith, and Faithfulness in the OT .
Isa 1:22 These are two metaphors for Judah’s moral corruptness. She was initially pure, but now she has become corrupted by her own choices and actions!
NASBdrink
NKJV, NRSV,
TEV, NJBwine
This is not the normal term for wine (see Special Topic following). This SINGULAR FEMININE occurs only here. Because of the related cognate root in Akkadian, it may refer to beer, beer that has been diluted (i.e., ruined) by water.
SPECIAL TOPIC: BIBLICAL ATTITUDES TOWARD ALCOHOL AND ALCOHOLISM
Isa 1:23
NASB, NKJV,
LXX, PESHITTArewards
NRSV, TEV,
REBgifts
NJBpresents
This term (BDB 1024) occurs only here in the OT. BDB says it means rewards or bribe (parallel to bribe [BDB 1005] in the previous line). The basic root may be related to (1) shalom (BDB 1024), peace, health, wholeness, or (2) recompense (BDB 1024, cf. Isa 59:18; NIDOTTE, vol. 4, p. 143). In Jerusalem the only peace was for wicked, wealthy, powerful groups in society.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
is = [is it that she].
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Isa 1:21-23
Isa 1:21-23
“How is the faithful city become a harlot! she that was full of justice! righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers. Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water. Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves; everyone loveth bribes, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.”
This is further lament over the extensive apostasy of Jerusalem. The message of Isaiah here is very similar to that repeated so frequently in practically all of the twelve minor prophets. Social justice simply did not exist any longer in Israel nor in Judah. Israel had, at the times of Isaiah, just about filled up the cup of their wickedness. They had become “traffickers,” that is Canaanites, meaning that they were at that time no better than the godless Canaanites whom God had driven out of Palestine in order to re-populate the land with Israel. At this period in their history, the time was as when God would remove them from what, at one time, had been “their land.” Israel at that point fully deserved to be removed from Palestine. Why then did God spare “a remnant,” bring them back from Babylon and repatriate them in Palestine? There can be but one answer. Due to the Divine promises to the great patriarchs of Israel’s history, God had no honorable course except to retain his watchfulness over the apostate nation till Messiah should come, fulfilling the ancient promises.
Isa 1:21 JERUSALEM HAD BECOME A HARLOT: a profligate, sensual, mercenary city, worshipping idols. It was no longer wed to God, sharing His nature and His goals. People make up a city. The city is what the people make it. Some cities have parks, flowers, trees, churches, justice and peace some have saloons, brothels, gambling halls, law-breaking and fear. The spirit of harlotry is the spirit of promiscuousness. Jerusalem left her first love and prostituted herself to pagan idolatry (which is in reality selling oneself to Satan who exploits for his own prideful purposes anyone who will do so),
Isa 1:21 WISDOM AND JUSTICE WERE LOST: Justice and righteousness had found permanent residence in Jerusalem before (probably in the days of David and Solomon, 1Ki 3:9-28; 2Ch 19:5-11, or the days of Jehoshaphat). Jerusalem had been known throughout the world for her wise and just men-but now she was known for her profligacy, injustice and murderers.
Isa 1:22 GREAT MEN HAVE BECOME CONTAMINATED: Silver represents nobility-but it had been mixed with dross (the scum or refuse matter thrown off from molten ore or metal). Her great men had deteriorated. They had been weakened by mixing in sin like wine is weakened when mixed with water. The further a nation gets from God, the harder to find men with elements of greatness; faith, vision, initiative, moral integrity, humility, unselfishness. When a nation allows its young men to be taught unbelief and sin, its noble manhood is weakened to little men with enlarged egos-self-serving, greedy, stupid men, drunk with the intoxication of their self-importance.
Isa 1:23 REBELLIOUS PRINCES: The royal household (princes) were in rebellion against the true king (God). The princes were companions of thieves-in league with criminals, involved in bribery and graft. Men sworn to uphold law and decency using their position and power to defraud the very people they are supposed to govern and protect. They are greedy shepherds devouring the flock over which they have been made overseers (Cf. Ezekiel 34; John 10). They use the law for lawless purposes-for selfish ends. Could such a scathing condemnation be true of some of the leaders of Gods kingdom (the Church) today? Unquestionably!
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
a Nation Purged of Dross by Disaster
Isa 1:21-31
The great lover of our souls does not abandon His people even when they spurn the first overtures of His appealing pity. Though they refuse to yield to them, He refuses to cast them off; and sets Himself by the cleansing judgments of His providence to wean them from the evil ways they have chosen and to win them back to Himself. If only Jerusalem had now listened to Isaiahs earnest pleadings, she would never have been carried away into the seventy years captivity in a land of strangers. This is the cleansing fire referred to in Isa 1:25. Their ground of confidence, whether in themselves or their allies, would be destroyed, Isa 1:29-30; the ringleaders of the evil which had brought them to desolation would be exterminated; and there would emerge a new and purified people as in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. Let us thank God for the cleansing fires in national and personal experience. Let us not fear them when plied by the hand of love. See Mal 3:3 and Joh 15:2-3.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
the faithful: Isa 48:2, Neh 11:1, Psa 46:4, Psa 48:1, Psa 48:8, Hos 11:12, Zec 8:3, Heb 12:22
become: Jer 2:20, Jer 2:21, Jer 3:1, Lam 1:8, Lam 1:9, Eze 16:1-63, Eze 22:1 – Eze 23:49, Luk 13:34, Rev 11:2, Rev 11:8
it was full: Isa 5:7, 2Sa 8:15, 2Ch 19:9, Eze 22:3-7, Mic 3:2, Mic 3:3, Zep 3:1-3, Act 7:52
Reciprocal: 2Ki 17:13 – all Ezr 4:12 – bad city Psa 12:1 – godly Isa 1:26 – thou shalt Isa 5:2 – he looked Isa 59:3 – your hands Jer 30:15 – for the Jer 31:23 – O Lam 1:6 – from Lam 4:1 – How is the gold Eze 5:13 – I will cause Eze 16:15 – and playedst Eze 16:35 – O harlot Hos 2:5 – their mother Hos 4:18 – drink Hab 1:4 – for Luk 18:3 – a widow Act 24:25 – righteousness Rev 21:2 – the holy
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 1:21. How is the faithful city Jerusalem, which in the reign of former kings was faithful to God; become a harlot Filled with idolatry, called whoredom in the Scriptures. It was full of judgment, &c. Judgment was truly and duly executed in all its courts, and righteousness, or justice, lodged, or had its seat in it; but now murderers Under that one gross kind, he comprehends all sorts of unrighteous men and practices.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 1:21-26. A complete poem, of uncertain date, in elegiac rhythm. How has the city once loyal to Yahweh become faithless to her husband! Her silver has become dross, her wine adulterated. Her princes rebel against Yahweh; the thieves bribe them to secure acquittal, but the widow and orphan cannot even get their case before the courts. So Yahweh will take vengeance and purify the city in the furnace of trial, smelting out all the lead alloy (mg.). Then He will restore righteous judges as in Davids time, when Jerusalem became an Israelite city, and give her a new name expressive of her true nature.
Isa 1:22. mixed: generally supposed to mean circumcised, i.e. diluted, or flat, if with water is omitted. Perhaps we should read thy wine is a thick juice (mohal).
Isa 1:25. throughly: as with alkali (cf. mg.), but read in the furnace (bakkur).
Isa 1:21 f. An insertion. It is colourless and generalising, and has several points of contact with later writings; it implies the division of the people into sharply distinguished classes. Judgment and righteousness appear to mean Yahwehs acts of deliverance, as in the later sections of the book; Isaiah never seems to use the word redeem (see Isa 29:22).
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
1:21 How is the {d} faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now {e} murderers.
(d) That is, Jerusalem, which had promised happiness to me, as a wife to her husband.
(e) Given to covetousness and extortion, which he signified before by blood, Isa 1:15 .
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
4. Israel’s response 1:21-31
While God’s invitation to repent was genuine (Isa 1:16-20), the nation had so thoroughly departed from Him that repentance was not forthcoming and discipline was inevitable. The prophet bemoaned the depth of Israel’s apostasy and announced that the Lord would have to purify His people in the furnace of affliction before they would become what He intended them to be. The structural form of Isa 1:21-26 is palistrophic, with Isa 1:23-24 forming the center and focal point of the chiasm.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The depth of Judah’s apostasy 1:21-23
Spiritual rot had penetrated even the capital of Israel, and what marked Jerusalem characterized the whole nation. The people, seen in the personification of their capital, who had formerly been devoted to the Lord, had become unfaithful to Him by pursuing other gods. Former glories were now tarnished, and what was once strong was now weak. The leaders of the nation, who formerly had been pure and valuable, were now adulterated and cheap. Rather than serving the people, they served themselves. Idolatry had led to social injustice, as it always does unless checked.