Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 48:10
Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
10. Instead of cutting off Israel, Jehovah has purified it in the furnace of affliction. That the process has been fruitless of beneficial result (Dillmann) is suggested only by a particular interpretation of the words.
but not with silver ] The phrase is very obscure. Dillmann and others take it to mean “not with silver as a result,” without obtaining any pure metal. Others render “not as silver,” i.e. either “not so severely as silver is refined,” or “with a refining of a different nature.” None of the proposed interpretations is satisfactory.
I have chosen thee in the furnace &c. ] Render: I have tried thee &c. (R.V. marg.). This sense of the verb is Aramaic (cf. Job 34:4?), and since the verb “choose” is a common word of the prophet, the fact of its being found here in a different sense may be an argument against his authorship.
On the figure of the verse see ch. Isa 1:25; Jer 6:29; Jer 9:7; Zec 13:9; Mal 3:2-3; 1Pe 1:7.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Behold, I have refined thee – This refers to the Jews in their afflictions and captivity in Babylon. It states one design which he had in view in these afflictions – to purify them. The word used here, and rendered refined ( tsaraph), means properly to melt; to smelt metals; to subject them to the action of fire, in order to remove the scoria or dross from them (see the notes at Isa 1:25). Then it means to purify in any manner. Here it means that God had used these afflictions for the same purpose for which fire is used in regard to metals, in order that every impurity in their moral and religious character might be removed.
But not with silver – Margin, For. Hebrew, bekaseph. Many different interpretations of this have been proposed. Jerome renders it, Non quasi argentum – Not as silver. The Septuagint, ouch heneken arguriou – Not on account of silver. Grotius explains it, I have a long time tried thee by afflictions, but nothing good appears in thee; that is, I have not found you to be silver, or to be pure, as when a worker in metals applies the usual heat to a mass of ore for the purpose of separating the dross, and obtains no silver. Gesenius explains it to mean, I sought to make you better by afflictions, but the end was not reached; you were not as silver which is obtained by melting, but as dross. Rosenmuller supposes it means, that he had not tried them with that intensity of heat which was necessary to melt and refine silver; and remarks, that those skilled in metals observe that gold is easily liquified, but that silver requires a more intense heat to purify it. Jarchi renders it, Not by the fire of Gehenna as silver is melted by the fire. Kimchi explains it, Not as one who is smelting silver, and who removes all the scoria from it, and so consumes it that nothing but pure silver remains. If that had been done, but few of you would have been left. Vitringa supposes that it means, that God had sent them to Babylon to be purified, yet it was not to be done with silver. It was by the agency of a people who were wicked, sinful, and unbelieving. Amidst this variety of interpretation, it is difficult to determine the sense. Probably it may be, I have melted thee, and found no silver; or the result has not been that you have been shown to be pure by all your trials; and thus it will agree with what is said above, that they were perverse, false, and rebellious as a people.
I have chosen thee – Lowth renders this, I have tried thee. The Vulgate and the Septuagint, however, render it, I have chosen thee. The word used here (from bachar) means, according to Gesenius:
1. To prove, to try, to examine; and the primary idea, according to him, is that of rubbing with the lapis Lydius, or touchstone, or else of cutting in pieces for the purpose of examining.
2. To approve, choose, or select. This is the most common signification in the Hebrew Bible Gen 13:11; Exo 17:9; Jos 24:15; Job 9:14; Job 15:5; Job 29:25.
3. To delight in Gen 6:2; Isa 1:29. Probably the meaning here is, I have proved or tried thee in the furnace of affliction. It was true, however, that God had chosen or selected their nation to be his people when they were suffering in the furnace of affliction in Egypt; and it is also true that God chooses sinners now, or converts them, as the result of heavy affliction. Possibly this may be the idea, that their affliction had prepared them to embrace his offers and to seek consolation in him; and he may design to teach that one effect of affliction is to prepare the mind to embrace the offers of mercy.
In the furnace of affliction – Referring particularly to their trials in Babylon. Afflictions are often likened to fire – from the fact that fire is used to purify or try metals, and afflictions have the same object in reference to the people of God.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 48:10
Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver
Refined, but not with silver
More severely, yet more exactly than silver (Stier)
Less strictly than silver (Cheyne)
It was a melting of a higher sort, the suffering which befell Israel doing for it the work of a furnace (Hitzig, Delitzsch)
Possibly, not with the result of gaining silver (A.
B. Davidson)
Refined, but not with silver
The Lord refines His people, but He exercises great discrimination as to the means by which He does so. A silver furnace is one of the very best for the removal of dross, and would seem to be well adapted for refining the most precious things, but it is not choice enough for the Lords purpose with His people. It is prepared with extreme care, and has great separating power, but the purging away of sin needs greater care and more cleansing energy than a silver refinery can supply. The greatest delicacy of skill is exhibited by the refiner, who watches over the process, and regulates the degree of heat and the length of time in which the precious metal shall lie in the crucible: this, then, might well serve as a figure of the best mode of sanctification, but evidently the figure falls short in its delicacy. The process of silver refining is, no doubt, one of the best arranged and most ably conducted of the works of man; but when the Lord sits as a refiner, He executes His work with greater wisdom and Diviner art. Silver refining is but rough work compared with the Lords purification of His people, and therefore He says, I have refined thee, but not with silver. The Lord hath a furnace of His own, and in this special furnace He purifies His people by secret processes unknown to any but Himself. No one would think of refining silver by the same rough means as they smelt iron, so neither will the Lord purify His precious ones, who are far above silver in value, by any but the choicest methods. More subtle and yet more searching, more spiritual and yet more true, more gentle and yet more effectual are the purifying processes of Heaven; there is no refiner like our refiner, and no purity like that which the Spirit works in us. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Gods refining furnace
The Lord has special dealings with each one of His saints, and refines each one by a process peculiar to the individual, not heaping all His precious metals into one furnace of silver, but refining each metal by itself. I have refined thee. I have chosen thee. Not you, but thee.
I. Between Gods election and the furnace there is this connection–that THE FURNACE WAS THE FIRST TRYSTING-PLACE BETWEEN ELECTING LOVE AND OUR SOULS. Before one solitary star had begun to peer through the darkness the Lord had given over His people unto Christ to be His heritage, and their names were in His book; but the first manifestation of His electing love to any one of us was–where? I venture to say it was in the furnace. Abraham knew little of Gods love to him till the voice said, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy fathers house, unto a land that I will show thee. I do not think that Isaac knew much about Gods choice of him till he went up the mountains side, and said to his father, Behold the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb for a burnt offerings. So was it with Jacob. Little did he understand the mystery of electing love till he lay down one night with the stones for his pillow, the hedges for his curtains, the skies for his canopy, and no attendant but his God. Certainly, Israel as a nation did not understand Gods election till the people were in Egypt; and then, when Goshen, the land of plenty, became a land of brickmaking and sorrow and grief, and the iron bondage entered into their souls, their cried unto God, and began to understand that secret word–I have called My son out of Egypt. They knew then that God had put a difference between Israel and Egypt. God finds His people in the place of trial, and there He reveals Himself in His special character as their God. Did He not say to Moses, I have surely seen the affliction of My people which are in Egypt, and I have heard their cry? When did you first know anything about Gods choice of you? Was it not when you were in trouble–in many cases in temporal trouble? I make no kind of exception to another rule, namely, that we first began to learn electing love when we were in spiritual distress.
II. It is very clear that THE FURNACE OF AFFLICTION DOES NOT CHANGE THE ELECTION OF GOD. If He chose us in it, then His choice stands good while we are in it and when we are out of it. If the very first knowledge we had of His electing love found us at the gates of despair, we can never be worse than we were then, nor can His love see less to rest upon. Yet have I known a great many fears cross the mind of Gods anxious people when the smoke of the furnace has brought tears into their eyes. No amount of trouble, no degree of pain, no possibility of grief can change the mind of God towards His people. The furnace may alter the believers circumstances, but not his acceptance with God. The furnace very often alters our friends. And the furnace changes us very wonderfully. Believe very firmly in the fixity of the Divine choice.
III. THE FURNACE IS THE VERY ENSIGN OF ELECTION. The escutcheon the coat of arms–of election is the furnace. You know that it was so in the old covenant which God made with Abraham. He gave him a type when the victim was divided. When a deep sleep fell upon the patriarch there passed before him a smoking furnace and a burning lamp, two signs that always mark the people of God. There is a lamp to light them, but there is also a smoking furnace to try them. No cross, no crown. If you think of our great Masters dying will and testament, what is its prominent codicil? In the world ye shall have tribulation. That the Lord refines us shows His value of us.
IV. THE FURNACE IS THE WORKSHOP OF ELECTING LOVE. God has chosen us unto holiness. There is no man in this world chosen to go to heaven apart from being made fit to go there. Electing love uses the furnace to consume our dross. The Lord uses the furnace also to prepare the soul for a more complete fashioning. The metal must be melted before it can be poured into the mould, and affliction is used by the Holy Ghost to melt the heart and to fit it to receive the fashion and take the shape of the sacred mould into which heavenly wisdom delivers it. Besides, affliction has much to do in loosening a Christian from this world.
V. THE FURNACE IS A GREAT SCHOOL WHEREIN WE LEARN ELECTION ITSELF.
1. In the furnace we learn the graciousness of election. When a child of God in the time of trouble sees the corruption of his heart he begins to say,
How can the Lord ever love me? If He has loved me, His affection must be traced to free sovereign grace.
2. There, too, we learn the holiness of election, for while we lie suffering, a voice says, God will not spare thee, because there is still sin in thee: He will cleanse thee from every false way.
3. Then, too, we see what a loving thing election is, for never is God so loving to His people consciously as when they are in the flames of trouble.
4. It is at such times that Gods people know the power of electing love.
5. And it is at such times that the sweetness of Gods electing love comes home to the Christian heart, for he rejoices in his tribulation while he is conscious of the love of God.
VI. BY THE FURNACE SOME OF THE HIGHER ENDS OF A YET MORE SPECIAL ELECTION ARE OFTEN REVEALED, for there is not only an election of grace, but there is an election from among the elect to the highest position and to the noblest service. Jesus Christ had many choice disciples, but it is written, I have chosen you twelve. Out of the twelve there were three; and out of the three there was one, elect of the elect–that loving, tender John, who leaned upon his Masters bosom. The furnace has much to do with this, as a rule, since it usually attends and promotes the higher states of grace, and the wider ranges of usefulness.
1. With the preacher this truth is seen; affliction makes him eminent. I do not think that the preacher will long feed Gods saints if he does not read in that volume which Luther said was one of the three best books in his library, namely, affliction. That book is printed in the black letter, but it has some wonderful illuminations in it, and he who would teach the people must often weep over its chapters. Men never bake bread so well as when the oven is well heated, nor do we prepare sermons so well as when the fire burns around us.
2. So is it with the Christian hero, he could never lead the host if he had not been chastened of the Lord in secret places. Calvin, that mightiest master in Israel, clear, upright, and profound, suffered daily under a list of diseases, any one of which would have made a constant invalid of a less courageous man; and, although always early in the morning at the cathedral delivering his famous expositions which have enriched the Church of God, yet he always bore about with him a body full of anguish. Nor could England find a Wycliffe, nor Scotland a Knox, nor Switzerland a Zwingle, except it be where the refiner sits at the furnace door. It must be so. No sword is fit for our Lords handling till it has been full oft annealed. So it will be with us if we would rise. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction
The use of the furnace
The twofold use of the furnace is–
I. TO PROVE OR TEST METALS.
II. TO PURIFY THEM, OR REFINE THEM BY SEPARATING THE DROSS FROM THE GENUINE. Discipline of every kind, is Gods chosen furnace to test and purify His people. (Homiletic Review.)
The furnace of affliction
A furnace is a fireplace or crucible for melting and refining gold or other metals (Pro 17:3; Pro 27:21). Sometimes it is the emblem of cruel bondage (Deu 4:20; Jer 11:4). Also of judgments and severe and grievous afflictions, by which God punishes the rebellious (Eze 22:18-20). By the furnace of affliction He also tries and proves His people. This furnace is–
I. AFFLICTIVE. It is composed of many severe trials, which are designed by the great proprietor and manager of this furnace, to purge and refine the souls of His people.
1. Sometimes they are tried by the scantiness of temporal things. This may be induced by want of employment; it may be the result of sickness; it may result from the injustice of man.
2. Frequently the saints are chastised with bodily afflictions.
3. Sometimes they suffer from bereavements.
4. They too have domestic trials of various kinds from ungodly relatives, refractory and disobedient children, &c. Thousands of Gods people have been in this furnace. Moses, David, &c. Even Jesus was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
II. THIS FURNACE IS DIVINELY APPOINTED. It is not the result of chance; afflictions arise not out of the dust; they are not the works of our enemies merely. They imply the moral government of God, and the wise and gracious arrangement of His providence. Every event is either His appointment, or has His all-wise permission. Such views of the subject have reconciled and supported the minds of the godly under their various afflictions. What a blessing that all is arranged by infinite Wisdom and Love!
III. THIS FURNACE IS NOT VINDICTIVE, BUT GRACIOUS. Divine chastisement may be a kind of punishment for sin committed. It supposes some fault, which it is intended to correct. But when men are persecuted for righteousness sake, it does not appear to be for sin. It may be for righteousness sake on the part of man, and for unrighteousness sake on Gods part. God will suffer persecution and reproach to befall us, when we are cold and indifferent in His cause. But such punishment is not like that inflicted on the wicked.
IV. THIS FURNACE IS DESIGNED FOR THE SPIRITUAL AND EVERLASTING BENEFIT OF THE CHURCH ONLY. Even as a furnace is prepared for the refining of gold, so afflictions are appointed for the saints who are compared to gold (Lam 4:2; Job 23:10). This intimates to us the high value which the Divine Being places upon His people. They are His jewels, His chosen, a peculiar people. &c., and it is His will that they should shine in the world, and exhibit the glory and power of His grace.
V. THIS FURNACE IS PROPORTIONATE. He will regulate its heat according to the circumstances of His people who may be placed there. He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver, &c. As a refiner adopts this posture for minute inspection, and that he may quicken the fire, or lower its temperature, as a view of the process may intimate, so the Divine presence, inspection, and compassion may well comfort the afflicted saint (1Co 10:13; Isa 43:2; Heb 4:15). There can be no caprice, no unwise or intemperate anger in Him. Compassion is mixed with the severest dispensations, and a wise distinction made between the different members of His family. God often tries the faith and patience of such as have been long under tuition, and are like the elder branches of His household, while He spares the young and inexperienced.
VI. THE TENDENCY OF THIS FURNACE IS BENEFICIAL. I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. A more proper translation would have been, I have tried thee, &c. By affliction of various kinds I have proved thy faith, hope, patience, and love. The root of the matter is within thee. Matthew Henry gives this beautiful exposition, I have made thee a choice one by the good which the furnace has done thee. God has nevertheless chosen some in the furnace of affliction. He has met them there, and by His Spirit has subdued them, and brought them to repentance, faith, and consecration to Himself. The design of a position in this furnace is to purify the Christian from sin, to wean from the world, &c. Application–
1. Let the sublime design of this furnace induce patience and submission.
2. Remember the time of trial is but short. Weeping may endure, &c. Called the day of adversity; the hour of affliction; but for a moment.
3. What a furnace of infliction awaits the ungodly in the world to come. (Helps for the Pulpit.)
Gods people in the furnace
1. All persons in the furnace of affliction are not chosen. It is a great truth that every child of God is afflicted, but it is a lie that every afflicted man is a child of God.
2. The second preliminary remark I would make is on the immutability of Gods love to His people. Think not, when you are in trouble, that God has cast you off.
I. IF YOU WANT GODS PEOPLE YOU MUST GENERALLY LOOK FOR THEM IN THE FURNACE. Look at the world in its primeval age, when Adam and Eve are expelled the garden. They have begotten two sons, Cain and Abel: which of them is the child of God? Yonder one who lies there smitten by the club, a lifeless corpse; he who has just now been in the furnace of his brothers enmity and persecution. A few hundred years roll on, and where is the child of God? There is one man whose ears are continually vexed with the conversation of the wicked and who walks with God, even Enoch, and he is the child of God. Descend further still till you come to the days of Noah. You will find the man who is laughed t, hooted as a fool, building a ship upon dry land, standing in the furnace of slander and laughter: that is the elect of God. Go on still through history; let the names of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob pass before you, and you may write upon all of them: These were Gods tried people. Then go down to the time when Israel went into Egypt. Do you ask me to find out Gods people? I take you not to the palaces of Pharaoh, but to the brick-kilns of Egypt. As we follow on in the paths of history, where were Gods family next? They were in the furnace of the wilderness, suffering privation and pain. Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, against whom the people took up stones to stone them: these were distinguished above their fellows as being elect out of the chosen nation. Pass through Judges and come to the time of Saul, and where was Gods servant then? He is in the furnace–wandering in the caves of Engedi, climbing the goat tracks, hunted like the partridge by a remorseless foe. And after his days where were the saints? Not in the halls of Jezebel, nor sitting at the table of Ahab. They are hidden by fifties in the cave, and fed by bread and water. I might tell you of the days of Maccabees, when Gods children were put to death without number, by all manner of tortures till then unheard of. I might tell you of the days of Christ, and point to the despised fishermen, to the laughed at and persecuted apostles. I might go on through the days of popery, and point to those who died upon the mountains or suffered in the plains. I suppose it shall be so until the latest age.
II. THE REASON FOR THIS.
1. It is the stamp of the covenant.
2. All precious things have to be tried. The diamond must be cut. Gold, too, must be tried. It was one of the laws of God, Everything that may abide the fire, ye shall make go through the fire, and it shall be clean Num 31:23). It is a law of nature, it is a law of grace, that everything that can abide the fire–every-thing that is precious–must be tried.
3. The Christian is said to be a sacrifice to God. Now every sacrifice must be burned with fire.
4. Another reason why we must be put in the furnace is, because else we should not be at all like Jesus Christ. If He walked through the flames, must not we do the same?
III. WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF THE FURNACE?
1. It purifies us.
2. It makes us more ready to be moulded. What could our manufacturers do if they could not melt the metal they use? They could not make half the various things we see around us, if they were not able to liquify the metal, and afterwards mould it. There could be no good men in the world if it were not for trouble. We could none of us be made useful if we could not be tried in the fire.
3. Then the furnace is very useful to Gods people because they get more light there than anywhere else. If you travel in the neighbourhood of Birmingham, or in other manufacturing districts, you will be interested at night by the glare of light which is cast by all those furnaces. It is labours own honourable illumination. There is no place where we learn so much, and have so much light cast upon Scripture, as we do in the furnace.
4. One more use of the furnace–and I give this for the benefit of those who hate Gods people–is, that it is useful for bringing plagues on our enemies. Do you not remember the passage in Exodus, where the Lord said unto Moses and unto Aaron, take to you handfuls of ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward the heaven in the sight of Pharaoh. And it shall become small dust in all the land of Egypt, and shall be a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast? There is nothing that so plagues the enemies of Israel, as handfuls of ashes of the furnace that we are able to cast upon them. The devil is never more devoid of wisdom than when he meddles with Gods people, and tries to run down Gods minister. Run him down! Sir, you run him up! Persecution damages our enemies; it cannot hurt us.
IV. THE COMFORTS IN THE FURNACE.
1. The comfort of the text itself–election. Let affliction come–God has chosen me.
2. You have the Son of Man with you in the furnace. Conclusion–There is another great furnace. The pile thereof is of wood and much smoke, the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, shall kindle it. Would you be saved? There is but one way. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
Gods glory concerned in our holiness
(with Isa 48:11):–We have a right to be made as pure as God can make us. This is our claim upon Him. He created us, and we have a right to demand that He should make out of us the best He can, and should do this refining work on the creatures He has called into being. It is His duty to burn up our dross, and bring out our full beauty and worth. Love demands that He should. (Mrs. H. W. Smith.)
Chosen in the furnace
In 1553 Sir Thomas Palmer was led from the Tower to be executed. He leaped upon the scaffold, red with the blood of four companions previously executed. Good-morning to you all, good people, he said, looking round him with a smile; ye come hither to see me die, and to see what nerve I have. Marry, I will tell you: I have seen more in yonder terrible place (the Tower) than ever I saw before throughout all the realms that ever I wandered in: for there I have seen God. I have seen the world, and I have seen myself: and when I beheld my life, I saw nothing but slime and clay, full of corruption: I saw the world nothing else but vanity, and all the pleasure thereof nothing worth: I saw God omnipotent, His power infinite, His mercy incomprehensible: and when I saw this, I submitted myself to Him, beseeching of His mercy and pardon, and I trust He hath forgiven me: for He called me once or twice before, but I would not turn to Him, but even now, by this sharp kind of death, He hath called me unto Him. (H. O. Mackey.)
The furnace needed for perfection of character
He would be a nice person, wrote George Eliot in one of her letters concerning one, who might have been many a modern prosperous man, if he had another soul added to the one he has by nature–the soul that comes by sorrow and love.
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 10. I have chosen thee – “I have tried thee”] For becharticha, “I have chosen thee,” a MS. has bechanticha, “I have tried thee.” And so perhaps read the Syriac and Chaldee interpreters; they retain the same word bechartach; but in those languages it signifies, I have tried thee. kecheseph, quasi argentum, “as silver.” Vulgate.
I cannot think becheseph, WITH silver, is the true reading. kecheseph, LIKE silver, as the Vulgate evidently read it, I suppose to have been the original reading, though no MS. yet found supports this word; the similarity of the two letters, beth and caph, might have easily led to the mistake in the first instance; and it has been but too faithfully copied ever since. cur, which we translate furnace, should be rendered crucible, the vessel in which the silver is melted. The meaning of the verse seems to be this: I have purified you, but not as silver is purified; for when it is purified, no dross of any kind is left behind. Had I done this with you, I should have consumed you altogether; but I have put you in the crucible of affliction, in captivity, that you may acknowledge your sins, and turn unto me.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I have refined thee; or, I will refine thee. Although I will not cut thee off, or utterly destroy thee, as I now said; yet I will put thee into the furnace, not to consume thee, but to purify thee from that dross which cleaveth to thee, and needs such afflictions to purge it away.
Not with silver; or, not among silver; or, not as silver; which is put into and kept in the furnace so long till all the dross be purged away from it. I will not deal so rigorously with thee, for then I should wholly consume thee; in judgment I will remember mercy.
I have chosen thee; or, I will choose thee; or, I will yet choose thee, as it is expressed, Isa 14:1; Zec 1:17. Or, I will choose thee again, as Zec 2:12. For it must be considered that God had in a manner rejected Israel, when he sent them into captivity, and given her a bill of divorce, as he saith, Jer 3:8; see also Isa 1:1; and therefore it was necessary that God should choose this people a second time, that they might be betrothed to him again, as is expressed and promised, Hos 2:19,20. This seems to me the true sense; although it may be thus understood, I will choose thee, i.e. I will manifest by my carriage to thee that I have chosen thee; or, that thou art my chosen people. Things are oft said to be done when they are manifested, as was observed on Isa 48:7.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10. (See on Isa1:25).
with silverrather,”for silver.” I sought by affliction to purify thee,but thou wast not as silver obtained by melting, but as dross[GESENIUS]. Thy repentanceis not complete: thou art not yet as refined silver. ROSENMULLERexplains, “not as silver,” not with the intense heatneeded to melt silver (it being harder to melt than gold), that is,not with the most extreme severity. The former view is better(Isa 1:25; Isa 42:25;Eze 22:18-20; Eze 22:22).
chosenor else [LOWTH],tried . . . proved: according to GESENIUS,literally, “to rub with the touchstone,” or to cut inpieces so as to examine (Zec 13:9;Mal 3:3; 1Pe 1:7).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver,…. But it is not usual to refine with silver; not silver with silver, nor any other metal with it; that itself is what is refined; this therefore cannot be the sense of the words; wherefore they are, by others, differently rendered; by some, “not in silver” d; not in a furnace of silver, as Aben Ezra; “but in a furnace of poverty”, as the Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, and Syriac versions render the next clause; and to the same sense the Targum; that is, I have tried, and purified, and refined thee, not by prosperity, but adversity; not with riches, which has its snares, temptations, trials, and exercises, but with poverty, which also has the same, or greater; and therefore Agur desired neither,
Pr 30:8. By others, “but not into silver” e, so as to make silver of them, whereby all the labour was lost; but this is contrary to the following clause: by others, “not for the sake of silver” f; so the Septuagint version; or for the gain of it, as the Arabic; which sense suggests that God was no gainer by their afflictions; what he did was freely, without money or price, and all the use and profit were to themselves; see Ps 44:12. Others think, that instead of “beth”, “in”, it should be “caph”, “as”, a note of similitude, and be rendered, “but not as silver” g: but that the text is corrupted, and ought to be thus altered, there is no authority for it, and besides is contrary to several express passages of Scripture, Ps 66:10. Rather therefore it should be rendered, “but not among silver” h; along with that, which requires a fierce fire, is kept in the furnace or melting pot until all the dross is consumed: but if God was to afflict his people to such a degree, they would not be able to bear it; and if they were to continue under his afflicting hand till all their dross, sin, and corruption were removed, they would be utterly consumed; was he to contend, or be wroth for ever, the spirit would fail before him, and the souls that he has made; wherefore he does not afflict in this fierce and furious manner, but gently and gradually, in measure, in mercy, and not in strict justice,
1Co 10:13 and by such gentle means he refines and brightens the graces of his people, tries and proves their principles and profession, and reforms their manners: I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction; such was the affliction of Israel in Egypt, called the iron furnace, De 4:20 and as God has his furnace to punish and consume his enemies, so he has his furnace to try, purge, and purify his people, Isa 31:9, and which is a fiery one, and very grievous and distressing, especially when the wrath of God is apprehended in it, though fury is not in him: when he afflicts, it is all in love, and therefore is said to choose his people at such a time; which is to be understood not of their election to grace and glory; for that is not done in time, but in eternity, and is of them, not as transgressor, or as in the corrupt mass, but as in the pure mass of creatureship: rather of calling, which is the fruit, and effect, and evidence of election, and is expressed by choosing, Joh 15:19, and sometimes afflictions have been the means of it; or God has in them, or by them, brought them to himself, as he did Manasseh: but it seems best of all to understand it of the manifestation of election; God sometimes under afflictive providences appears to his people, and tells them that he has loved them with an everlasting love, and assures them that they are his chosen ones; he knows their souls, and owns them as his own in their adversities; besides, in afflicting them, he deals with them as his children and chosen ones; and because they are so, he takes the pains he does with them, which he does not with others, to purge and purify them, Ps 31:7. Moreover, he makes them choice and excellent persons by afflictions; they come forth out of them as choice silver and pure gold; they gain thereby many choice experiences of the love and grace of God, and of the truths of the Gospel, and of the promises of it: afflicted saints are commonly the choicest believers; they become thriving and flourishing Christians, humble and Holy Ones; more fit for their master’s use, more weaned from the world, and wrought up for heaven and happiness. Some, as Jarchi and Aben Ezra, render the words, “I have chosen for thee the furnace of affliction” i, or “thee for the furnace of affliction”; afflictions are chosen and appointed for the people of God, and they are chosen for and appointed unto affliction,
Job 23:14. Some, as Aben Ezra and Kimchi observe, by the change of a letter, read “bachantica”, “have proved thee”, or “tried thee”, instead of “bachartica”, “I have chosen thee”; but without any reason.
d “in argento”, Montanus; “in fornace argenti”, Vatablus. e “Non in argentum”, Grotius. f , Sept. “non pro pecunia”, Tigurine version. g “Quasi argentum”, V. L. “tanquam argentum”, Munster, Pagninus, Calvin. h “Inter argentum”, Syr. i “elegi tibi, [sive] pro te fornacem affictionis”, Gataker,
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
10. Lo, I have tried thee. The Lord shews that he exercises such moderation in chastising his people, that he makes provision for their salvation. Formerly he had said that he had spared or would spare them, because he had regard to his glory. He now declares that he does indeed lay stripes upon them, but of such a nature as to be serviceable to them; for it is for the purpose of “proving and trying” that he chastises them, and we “prove” that which we do not wish to be lost. Since therefore he has this end in view, it follows that he makes provision for our salvation. Besides, it is by way of anticipation that he mentions the “trial,” lest any one should object that God’s forbearance did not, at all appear amidst such severe afflictions. The Prophet therefore comes forward early to meet this objection, and points out that, although God does not permit his people altogether to go free, yet he deals gently with them.
And not like silver. He adds that he does not “try us like silver,” because we should be altogether consumed; for “silver” contains something that is pure, but in us nothing will be found but chaff; and even if God did not make us “silver,” we should be reduced, like chaff or stubble, to ashes and to nothing. Chastisement itself would undoubtedly bring out nothing that is pure. Accordingly, in the very “trial” the Lord considers what we can endure, so as not to proceed beyond measure; and, at the same time, by the secret influence of his Spirit, he makes those punishments to be profitable to us which would otherwise have been destruction.
I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. To “choose” means here to “distinguish.” We “choose” that which we desire to preserve and defend, as he formerly said in the same sense,
“
to choose the good and refuse the bad.” (Isa 7:15.)
By this word, therefore, he shews how wide is the difference between the punishment which is inflicted on good men and that which wicked men endure, and which ends in their destruction. We, on the other hand, though the Lord bums and pierces us, are accepted by him; and he retains his kindness toward us in the midst of afflictions, and even causes us to come out of them more fully tried, and to be to him a sacrifice of good savor. In a word, he means that God, even when he appears to abandon his people to destruction, is still gracious to them.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(10) I have refined thee, but not with silver . . .The meaning is obscure, and perhaps depends on some unknown process in ancient metallurgy. Commonly the refining of silver is taken as a parable of Gods dealings with His people (Isa. 1:25; Eze. 22:18-22; Mal. 3:3). Here the thought seems to be that the discipline had been less fierce than that of the refiners fire. Silver was purified seven times in the fire (Psa. 12:6); but that would have brought about the destruction of Israel, and He sought to spare them.
I have chosen thee.Better, I have tested thee.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 48:10 Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
Ver. 10. Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver. ] Much less as gold, which is wont to be fined most exactly, and to the uttermost, because these precious metals will not perish by fire. But thou hast more dross in thee than good ore; therefore I have refined thee with favour, Psa 118:18 Ne totus disperires, lest I should undo thee; for if thy punishment should be commensurate to thine offence thou must needsly perish. a
I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction,
a Non agam summo iure tecum. – Jun.
affliction = humiliation, or oppression.
I have refined: Isa 1:25, Isa 1:26, Job 23:10, Psa 66:10, Pro 17:3, Jer 9:7, Eze 20:38, Eze 22:18-22, Zec 13:8, Zec 13:9, Mal 3:2, Mal 3:3, Heb 12:10, Heb 12:11, 1Pe 1:7, 1Pe 4:12, Rev 3:19
with silver: or, for silver
I have chosen: Deu 4:20
Reciprocal: Job 6:9 – that he would Job 28:1 – where they fine it Isa 27:9 – this therefore Jer 11:4 – iron
48:10 Behold, I have refined thee, but {l} not with silver; I have {m} chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
(l) For I had respect to your weakness and infirmity: for in silver there is some pureness, but in us there is nothing but dross.
(m) I took you out of the furnace where you would have been consumed.
By allowing the Babylonian exile, God was not casting off His people, but disciplining them so they would come to their senses, and follow Him more faithfully thereafter. The difficult times Israel had been through were fires of refining, not fires of destruction. Fire was one of Isaiah’s favorite figures for judgment, and often it was God’s people whom he described as in the fire. Unfortunately many readers think only of hell when they read of judgment fire in Scripture. In refining silver, the craftsman burns away all the dross. If God had refined Israel that way, there would have been nothing left of the nation. Affliction is a sign that God has chosen and loves His people; it is not a sign that He has not chosen and does not love them (cf. Heb 12:3-13).
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)