Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 43:28
Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches.
28. Therefore I have profaned ] is better than R.V. “Therefore I will profane,” although it requires the change of a vowel. The verb (like the one following) is pointed as a cohortative, and as this appears sometimes to express the idea of compulsion (see Driver, Tenses, 51 53) we may perhaps venture to render: and so I had to profane.
the princes of the sanctuary ] Better: consecrated princes. The priests are so named in 1Ch 24:5; it is doubtful whether here priests or kings or both are meant, the consecration by anointing being common to both.
and have given curse ] Render: and had to deliver (see on last clause) Jacob to the ban. R.V. changes the translation for the worse.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Therefore I have profaned – The princes of the sanctuary, that is, the priests, were by their office regarded as sacred, or set apart to the service of God. To depose them from that office, to subject them to punishment, and to send them into captivity, was, therefore, regarded as profaning them. They were stripped of their office, and robes, and honors, and reduced to the same condition, and compelled to meet with the same treatment, as the common people. The sense is, that he had made them common (for so the word chalal is used in Exo 31:14; Exo 19:22; Lev 19:8; Lev 21:9; Mal 1:12; Mal 2:2); he did not regard their office; he used them all alike.
The princes of the sanctuary – Margin, Holy princes. It means, either those who presided over and directed the services of the sanctuary, called in 1Ch 24:5, governors of the sanctuary; or those who were holy in office. The Septuagint renders it, Hoi archontes ta hagia mou – Who preside over my holy things, or my sanctuary. Vulgate, Principes sanctos – Holy princes. The Syriac, Thy princes have profaned the sanctuary. The sense is, that God had disregarded the official character of those who were set apart to the sacred office, and had punished them in common with the people at large for their sins.
And have given Jacob to the curse – The Septuagint renders it, I have given Jacob to be destroyed ( apolesai). The Hebrew word here ( cherem), is that which is commonly used to denote a solemn anathema, excommunication, or devotion to destruction (see the note at Isa 34:5).
To reproaches – The reproach, contempt, and scorn which they met with in their captivity, and in a land of strangers (compare Psa 137:3-4).
Thus far God states the reasons why he had punished the nation. It had been on account of the national irreligion and sins, and the destruction had come upon all, but pre-eminently on the priests and the rulers. In the arbitrary division which is made in the Bible into chapters, a very improper separation has been made by making the chapter close here. The sense of the whole passage is materially injured by this division, and the scope of the whole argument is forgotten. The design of the entire argument is, to show that God would not leave his people; that though he punished them, he would not utterly destroy them; and that he would appear again for their rescue, and restore them to their own land. This argument is prosecuted in the following chapter; and in the commencement of that chapter the thought is pursued, that though God had thus punished them, yet he would appear and save them. The beginning of that chapter is properly the continuation and completion of the argument urged here, and this chapter should have closed at what is now Isa 44:5.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 43:28
Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary
Holy princes
Then I profaned holy princes, and gave up Jacob to the ban, and Israel to revilings.
Holy princes are the hierarchs (1Ch 24:5), the highest spiritual authorities in distinction from the secular. Their profanation consisted in their being ruthlessly dragged into a foreign land, where their official work ceased of necessity. So the heads of religion fared, and the whole nation, bearing the honourable names of Jacob and Israel, fell victim to the cursing and revilings of heathen nations. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 28. I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary – “Thy princes have profaned my sanctuary”] Instead of vaachallel sarey, read vayechalelu sareycha. So the Syriac and Septuagint, , “the rulers have defiled my holy things.” kodshi, Houbigant. , “thy rulers,” MSS. Pachom. and I. D. II. and Marchal.
To reproaches – “To reproach”] ligeduphah, in the singular number; so an ancient MS. and the Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate. And, alas! what a curse do they still bear, and what reproach do they still suffer! No national crimes have ever equalled those of the Jewish nation, for no nation ever had such privileges to neglect, despise, sin against. When shall this severity of God towards this people have an end? Answ. Whenever, with one heart, they turn to him, and receive the doctrine of the Lord Jesus; and not till then.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I have profaned; as they have made themselves profane, so I have dealt with them as such, without any regard to the sacredness and dignity of their functions. I have exposed them to contempt and destruction.
The princes of the sanctuary; the highest and best of your priests, whose persons were most sacred, and therefore supposed by themselves and others to be the furthest from danger.
To the curse; to utter destruction, to which persons or things accursed were devoted, of which this Hebrew word is constantly used. To reproaches; to be the objects of their enemies scorn and reproaches.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
28. profaned the princes(Psa 89:39; Lam 2:2;Lam 2:6; Lam 2:7).I have esteemed, or treated, them as persons not sacred. I have leftthem to suffer the same treatment as the common people, stripped oftheir holy office and in captivity.
princes of thesanctuary“governors of” it (1Ch24:5); directing its holy services; priests.
curseHebrew,cherim, a “solemn anathema,” or “excommunication.”
reproaches (Psa 123:3;Psa 123:4).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary,…. Or will do it; the past tense for the future, common in prophetic writings; these are not Moses and Aaron, or the kings, but the priests of the temple, who had the care and government of things there, and therefore called “princes”; these, when this prophecy was fulfilled, were treated as common persons, and divested of their office, and laid aside; their priesthood and the honour of it were taken from them; sacrifices were abolished, and the law concerning them; this was more especially true when Jerusalem was destroyed, the temple burnt, and the daily sacrifice made to cease, by the Romans:
and have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches; to be cursed and reproached, as the Jews are in all places to this day, wherever they be, and that very righteously, and in just retaliation for their behaviour to Christ, and their usage of his followers; for they both hung him upon the accursed tree, and imprecated his blood on them and their children, and anathematized, or delivered to an anathema u, as the word here used signifies, and cast those who professed his name out of their synagogues, as well as reproached and blasphemed him, his person, offices, miracles, and doctrines; and therefore have been justly given up to the curse of God and man, and to be a taunt, proverb, and byword throughout the world, Jer 24:9.
u “in anathema”, Montanus; “anathemati”, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Vitringa.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Consequently the all-holy One was obliged to do what had taken place. “Then I profaned holy princes, and gave up Jacob to the curse, and Israel to blasphemies.” might be an imperfect, like , “I ate,” in Isa 44:19, and , “I looked,” in Isa 63:5; but by the side of it shows that the pointing sprang out of the future interpretation contained in the Targum; so that as the latter is to be rejected, we must substitute , (Ges. 49, 2). The “holy princes” ( sare qodesh ) are the hierarchs, as in 1Ch 24:5, the supreme spiritual rulers as distinguished from the temporal rulers. The profanation referred to was the fact that they were ruthlessly hurried off into a strange land, where their official labours were necessarily suspended. This was the fate of the leaders of the worship; and the whole nation, which bore the honourable names of Jacob and Israel, was give up to the ban ( c herem ) and the blasphemies ( gidduphm ) of the nations of the world.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
28. Therefore I will pollute. The copulative ו (vau) here means therefore, and the preterite tense, I have polluted, ought to have a future signification, though it may also be rendered in the past tense; but I have preferred the future, in order to apply it to the time of the captivity; for he directly addresses those who were to live under the captivity. If it be thought preferable to extend it to various calamities, by which God had covered his people with disgrace, and at the same time to connect with it their exile in Babylon, there will be no impropriety; and indeed it will be more appropriate to view it as a description of what frequently happened to them in former times, that they may be warned for the future, that they have no privilege which can defend them from receiving again with the deepest disgrace the punishment of their ingratitude, tie shews, therefore, the cause of this destruction. It was because the transgressions of the fathers and of the children must be punished, that is, when there was no end of sinning, but when they daily kindled the wrath of God against them, till he at length punished them.
The Lord is said to “pollute” or “profane” his Church, when he despises and throws it aside as a thing of no value. In this sense the word is used in Psa 89:39, and in many other passages. Having been set apart and sanctified by him, we dwell under his protection and guardianship, so long as we are holy; and in like manner when we are deprived of it, we are said to be “profaned,” because we cease to be sacred, and are rendered unworthy of his protection; and he exposes as a prey to enemies those whom he formerly called “his anointed,” and forbade men to “touch.” (Psa 105:15.) But it may be thought strange that the priests, who were Christ’s representatives, should be “profaned;” and the reason is, that they transgressed, while they ought to have been “teachers” of others.
And I will make Jacob a curse. The Hebrew word הרם, (herem,) which we have translated a curse, signifies “destruction,” but likewise signifies “a curse;” and I have thought that the latter meaning is more appropriate to this passage, for it afterwards follows, a reproach. These statements are borrowed by the Prophet from Moses, whose description he follows so closely, that it is easy to perceive the style of Moses in these words, and to see that the prophets bring forward nothing that is new or strange. The words of Moses are:
“
And thou shalt be an astonishment, a proverb, and a by-word among all the nations to which the Lord shall lead thee.” (Deu 28:37.)
He therefore threatens that he will afflict the people in such a manner as to make them “accursed” by all; so that whoever shall wish to pronounce a “curse” may take it for an example, and that it may be a form of “cursing;” that he will expose them to the ridicule of men, so that they shall serve as a proverb in the mouth of all who wish to utter scorn; just as at the present day we see that the name of a Jew, though in itself honorable, is in the highest degree ignominious and disgraceful. The Lord pronounced those dreadful threatenings by Isaiah, that they might know that a punishment sufficiently severe, as compared with the enormity of their transgressions, could not be inflicted; that when the Lord should chastise them, they might not complain that the punishments which they endured were too severe, or think that the Prophet’s reproofs were too sharp.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(28) I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary.Better, holy princes. The title is given to the chief priests in 1Ch. 24:5. In the exile their priestly functions were in abeyance. They were practically desecrated.
The curse.The cherem, or ban, answering to the anathema. The state described answers to that of Hos. 3:4.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
28. Therefore I have profaned Have esteemed less than sacred.
The princes of the sanctuary Because of the stains upon them. Your princes in themselves are of little honour to you. The so-called least sin is my abhorrence. It is such in the gross as sends Jacob to the curse. The curse of exile becomes a solemn anathema.
Israel to reproaches That is, such as are endured in exile life.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
REFLECTIONS
LISTEN, my soul, to what the Lord speaks, in this most blessed and precious chapter, to Jesus, as the Head of his church, and to his redeemed in him. Read first, the promises, everyone of them, as made to the Person of thy great Surety and Saviour; and then, from thy union and interest in him, take them all, in Jesus, and with Jesus, for thy portion. Say, my soul, hath not the Lord created thee, and formed thee; not only in the original creation of nature, but in the new creation by grace? Hath not the Lord called thee, redeemed thee, and declared thee to be his own, both by the purchase of his blood and the conquests of his grace? And is it not true that while the Lord saith, This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth my praise; thou art earnestly longing to praise and glorify him for all the tokens of his distinguishing grace? Take then the comfort of in these sweet promises, and let neither fiery flames nor stormy seas, in the most tribulated path yet remaining for thee to go through, distress; for Jesus (he saith it himself) is with thee, and will conduct thee, and carry thee safely through them all. Oh! thou gracious Lord of all my mercies; thou Holy One of Israel, my Saviour!
But, my soul, pause over the blessed view which this chapter opens to thy contemplation, of the price thy Jesus gave for his Church in redemption. He saith, it was Egypt for her ransom, and Ethiopia and Seba. Yes, thou bleeding Lamb of God! thou didst indeed make a dear, dear purchase of thy Church, and didst buy her, out of the hands of infinite justice with a sum perfectly incalculable. All the riches and treasures of Egypt, and all the pearls and gold of Ethiopia and Seba, sink to nothing, in comparison of the infinite, and never-to-be-fully compensated in value, blood of Christ. Oh! how precious must have been thy Church in thy sight, thou dear Redeemer, when neither
Jesus stopped short in giving himself for her, nor God the Father kept back the Son, the only Son of his bosom, for her redemption? My soul, never lose sight of this; but, in the blessedness of the contemplation, continually say with the apostle, He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all; how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
Be humbled to the dust, my soul, while, in the view of such divine goodness thou callest to mind thine own undeservings. Oh, thou kind, thou tender, thou compassionate Lord Jesus! Have I caused thee to serve with my sins, and wearied thee with mine iniquities? Do I remit my visits to a throne of grace, and seldom go there unless necessities constrain me? Is it so, my honoured Lord, that there is a backwardness in my very nature to the love of thee, and the desire after thy company? Lord! how is it, that I am every day condemning what I every day again trespass in; and find occasion still to mourn over, what still again marks my conduct? Oh, precious Jesus! undertake for me; and deliver me, Lord, in thine own time, which is the best time, from the body of sin and death, into the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Jesus will make me free, and I shall be free indeed! Amen.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 43:28 Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches.
Ver. 28. Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary. ] Or, Of holiness; that is, those that under a pretence of religion affected a kind of hierarchy, as did the scribes and Pharisees, who, with the whole Jewish state, were taken away by the Romans, both their place and their nation, as they had feared. Joh 11:48
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
princes = priests, whose great duty it was to “teach” the people the Law and Word of God (see notes on Deu 17:11; Deu 33:10).
Jacob . . . Israel. Including the whole Nation: the subject of this prophecy concerning Jehovah’s “servant”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
I have: Isa 47:6, 2Sa 1:21, Psa 89:39, Lam 2:2, Lam 2:6, Lam 2:7, Lam 4:20
princes: or, holy princes, Psa 82:6, Psa 82:7
and have: Isa 42:24, Isa 42:25, Isa 65:15, Deu 28:15-20, Deu 29:21-28, Psa 79:4, Jer 24:9, Dan 9:14, Zec 8:13, Luk 21:21-24, 1Th 2:16
Reciprocal: Deu 28:16 – in the city Neh 1:3 – reproach Psa 119:21 – cursed Jer 12:10 – trodden Jer 26:6 – a curse Eze 22:16 – take thine inheritance in thyself Zec 5:3 – the curse Mal 3:9 – General Mal 4:6 – and smite Gal 3:10 – under
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
43:28 Therefore I have {f} profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches.
(f) That is, rejected, abhorred, and destroyed them in the wilderness and at other times.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
God would also pollute the priests with guilt since they had for generations polluted His sacrifices with their guilt (cf. 2Ch 24:5). They, of all people, should have been holy since they dealt with the holy things connected with Israel’s worship (cf. Isa 65:2-5; Lev 10:3). God would consign the whole nation to the ban (Heb. herem), something devoted to destruction. Israel had become like Canaan (cf. Isa 1:9-10; Jos 6:17; 1Sa 15:21), and it would become the object of Gentile reviling as Canaan had been for the Israelites.
God would make His people the proof of His deity by delivering them from captivity in Babylon (Isa 43:14-21) and from their sins (Isa 44:1-5). The next pericope expands the focus of God’s promise from physical to spiritual deliverance, and extends it from an approaching to a more distant fulfillment.