Woe unto him that saith unto [his] father, What begettest thou? or to the woman, What hast thou brought forth?
10. The impropriety of contending with God exhibited in a still more repellent light. The words “his” and “the” are not expressed in Hebrew; simply “ a father,” “ a woman.” “The rudest and most outrageous intrusion into an unspeakably delicate and sacred relationship” (Delitzsch).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Wo unto him that saith unto his father … – It is wicked and foolish for a son to complain of his father or mother in regard to his birth, or of his rank and condition of life. Probably the idea is, that if a child is by his birth placed in circumstances less advantageous than others, he would have no right to com plain of his parents, or to regard them as having acted improperly in having entered into the marriage relation. In like manner it would be not less improper, certainly, to complain of God who has brought us into existence by his own power, and who acts as a sovereign in the various allotments of our lives. The design is to rebuke the spirit of complaining against the allotments of Providence – a spirit which perhaps prevailed among the Jews, and which in fact is found everywhere among people; and to show that God, as a sovereign, has a right to dispose of his creatures in the manner which he shall judge to be best. The passage proves:
1. That man is formed by God, and that all his affairs are ordered by him as really as the work of the potter is moulded by the hands of the workman.
2. That God had a design in making man, and in ordering and arranging his circumstances in life.
3. That man is little qualified to judge of that design, and not at all qualified to pronounce it unwise, anymore than the clay could charge him that worked it into a vessel with want of wisdom; and,
4. That God is a sovereign, and does as he pleases. He has formed man as he chose, as really as the potter moulds the clay into any shape which he pleases. He has given him his rank in creation; given him such a body – strong, vigorous, and comely; or feeble, deformed, and sickly, as he pleased; he has given him such an intellect – vigorous, manly, and powerful; or weak, feeble, and timid, as he pleased; he has determined his circumstances in life – whether riches, poverty, an elevated rank, or a depressed condition, just as he saw fit; and he is a sovereign also in the dispensation of his grace – having a right to pardon whom he will; nor has man any right to complain.
This passage, however, should not be adduced to prove that God, in all respects, moulds the character and destiny of people as the potter does the clay. Regard should be had in the interpretation to the fact that God is just, and good, and wise, as well as a sovereign; and that man is himself a moral agent, and subject to the laws of moral agency which God has appointed. God does nothing wrong. He does not compel man to sin, and then condemn him for it. He does not make him a transgressor by physical power, as the potter moulds the clay, and then doom him for it to destruction. He does his pleasure according to the eternal laws of equity; and man has no right to call in question the rectitude of his sovereign dispensations.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
As it were an absurd and impudent thing for a child to quarrel with his parents, either simply for begetting him, or for begetting him of this or that sex, contrary to his desire; no better is it for any persons to quarrel with God the Maker and
Father of all things, as God is called, 1Co 8:6, for disposing of them and their affairs by his providence as he sees fit, and otherwise than they desire or expect; as. the Jews quarrelled with God for bringing them into captivity, and the Babylonians for translating the empire from them to the Persians.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10. If it be wrong for a child,born in less favorable circumstances, to upbraid his parents withhaving given him birth, a fortiori, it is, to upbraid God forHis dealings with us. Rather translate, “a father . . . awoman.” The Jews considered themselves exclusively God’schildren and were angry that God should adopt the Gentiles besides.Woe to him who says to one already a father, Why dost thou begetother children? [HORSLEY].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Woe unto him that saith unto his father, what begettest thou?…. That quarrels with him, and complains of him, because he was not of the other sex, or not so wise, or so rich, or so handsome, as others:
or to the woman; disdaining to call her mother:
what hast thou brought forth? equally as absurd and impious it was in the Jews to quarrel with Christ for his conversation with sinners, and the reception of them; or for the regeneration of such persons; or to find fault with God for the conversion of the Gentiles, and resent it, and be angry at it, as they were; see Ro 10:19.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(10) Woe unto him . . .The implied argument is that men accept the accident of birth without questioning father or mother as to that which lay beyond the control of either. Should they not a fortiori accept what God orders for nations and individual men?
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 45:10 Woe unto him that saith unto [his] father, What begettest thou? or to the woman, What hast thou brought forth?
Ver. 10. Woe unto him that saith to his father. ] Are these fit words to a father? Is it not an impious morosity to talk unto him in this sort, Why hast thou begotten me at all? or if at all, why not rich, fair, wise? &c.
And to the woman,
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Deu 27:16, Mal 1:6, Heb 12:9
Reciprocal: Ecc 6:10 – neither Isa 29:16 – as the potter’s Jer 38:19 – mock
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
The same principle applies in the family realm. It is folly to tell parents that their children should not have been born or should look different. The parents are responsible for the birth of their children and the appearance of their children, and no other people have anything to do with it. Obviously grandparents and other ancestors play a part, but parents are the instruments God uses to bring children into the world. Likewise God is the Father of humanity, and He alone is ultimately responsible for His children. The use of "woman" instead of the more parallel "wife" in this verse may have been done to avoid identifying Yahweh with the mother goddesses of the ancient Near East.