Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 48:22
[There is] no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked.
22. The words are taken from ch. Isa 57:21, where, however, they stand in their proper connexion. Here they are either a gloss or an editorial insertion intended to mark the close of a division of the prophecy. see the Introduction, p. x.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked – This verse contains a sentiment whose truth no one can doubt. To the transgressor of the laws of God there can be no permanent peace, enjoyment, or prosperity. The word peace is used in the Scriptures in all these senses (see the note at Isa 48:18). There may be the appearance of joy, and there may be temporary prosperity. But there is no abiding, substantial, permanent happiness, such as is enjoyed by those who fear and love God. This sentiment occurs not unfrequently in Isaiah. It is repeated in Isa 57:21; and in Isa 57:20, he says that the wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. Of the truth of the declaration here there can be no doubt; but it is not perfectly apparent why it is introduced here. It is probably a part of the song with which they would celebrate their return; and it may have been used for one of the following reasons:
1. As a general maxim, expressed in view of the joy which they had in their return to their own land. They had elevated peace and triumph and joy. This was produced by the fact that they had evidence that they were the objects of the divine favor and protection. How natural was it in view of these blessings to say, that the wicked had no such comfort, and in general, that there was no peace to them of any kind, or from any quarter. Or,
2. It may have been uttered in view of the fact that many of their countrymen may have chosen to remain in Babylon when they returned to their own land. They probably formed connections there, amassed wealth, and refused to attend those who returned to Judea to rebuild the temple. And the meaning may be, that they, amidst all the wealth which they might have gained, and amidst the idolatries which prevailed in Babylon, could never enjoy the peace which they now had in their return to the land of their fathers.
Whatever was the reason why it was used here, it contains a most important truth which demands the attention of all people. The wicked, as a matter of sober truth and verity, have no permanent and substantial peace and joy. They have none:
1. In the act of wickedness. Sin may be attended with the gratifications of bad passions, but in the act of sinning, as such, there can be no substantial happiness.
2. They have no solid, substantial, elevated peace in the business or the pleasures of life. This world can furnish no such joys as are derived from the hope of a life to come. Pleasures pall upon the sense, riches take wings; disappointment comes; and the highest earthly and sensual pleasure leaves a sad sense of want – a feeling that there is something in the capacities and needs of the undying mind which has not been filled.
3. They have no peace of conscience; no deep and abiding conviction that they are right. They are often troubled; and there is nothing which this world can furnish which will give peace to a bosom that is agitated with a sense of the guilt of sin.
4. They have no peace on a deathbed. There may be stupidity, callousness, insensibility, freedom from much pain or alarm. But that is not peace, anymore than sterility is fruitfulness; or than death is life; or than the frost of winter is the verdure of spring; or than a desert is a fruitful field.
5. There is often in these circumstances the reverse of peace. There is not only no positive peace, but there is the opposite. There is often disappointment, care, anxiety, distress, deep alarm, and the awful apprehension of eternal wrath. There is no situation in life or death, where the sinner can certainly calculate on peace, or where he will be sure to find it. There is every probability that his mind will be often filled with alarm, and that his deathbed will be one of despair.
6. There is no peace to the wicked beyond the grave. A sinner can have no peace at the judgment bar of God; he can have no peace in hell. In all the future world there is no place where he can find repose; and whatever this life may be, even if it be a life of prosperity and external comfort, yet to him there will be no prosperity in the future world, and no external or internal peace there.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 22. There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked.] See below, Clarke’s note on “Isa 57:21“. As the destruction of Babylon was determined, God commands his people to hasten out of it; for, saith the Lord, there is no peace (prosperity) to the wicked; , . – Sept. “There is no rejoicing or prosperity to the wicked saith the Lord.” Their is not pese to unrytous men seith the Lord.-Old MS. Bible.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
God having in the next foregoing verses foretold, that peace and blessed deliverance which he would certainly give to his servant Jacob, Isa 48:20, he here adds an explication and limitation of this mercy, and declareth that wicked men should not enjoy the benefit of this mercy; where, by the wicked, he means either,
1. The Babylonians, who well deserved that title; who shall be destroyed, when Gods Israel shall be delivered: or rather,
2. The unbelieving and ungodly Jews, of whom these very words are used again, Isa 57:21, and to whom such a denunciation as this was far more proper and necessary, at least in this place, than to the Babylonians; for he had already said far more and worse things than this concerning them, having again and again declared that Babylon should be destroyed, in order to this deliverance of Gods people out of it. But there was great need why he should say this to the ungodly Jews, because they were exceeding prone to cry, Peace, peace to themselves, when there was no solid ground of peace; and they confidently expected a share in this great deliverance. This therefore was a very seasonable caution to the Jews in Babylon to take heed to themselves, and to prepare for this mercy, and to purify themselves from ali wickedness; because those of them who should either wickedly tarry in Babylon, when God invited and required them to go out of it, and when their godly brethren returned to their own land, and to the place of Gods worship; or continue in wickedness, when they were restored to their own country; should not enjoy that tranquillity and comfort which they promised to themselves. And the necessity of this commination appears from the event; for the Jews that returned to Canaan did, for the most part, relapse to many of their former sins, and therefore fell short of that peace and prosperity which otherwise they might have enjoyed.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
22. Repeated (Isa57:21). All the blessings just mentioned (Isa48:21) belong only to the godly, not to the wicked. Israel shallfirst cast away its wicked unbelief before it shall inherit nationalprosperity (Zec 12:10-14;Zec 13:1; Zec 13:9;Zec 14:3; Zec 14:14;Zec 14:20; Zec 14:21).The sentiment holds good also as to all wicked men (Job 15:20-25;Job 15:31-34).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked,…. To Nebuchadnezzar and his seed, says Jarchi; to the Babylonians, say Aben Ezra and Kimchi; who enjoyed no more peace and prosperity, being conquered by Cyrus, and their monarchy dissolved, and put an end to: but rather this is to be understood of the wicked among the Jews; which sense Aben Ezra mentions, though he prefers the former; and either those are meant, who refused to go out of Babylon, and the land of Chaldea, when they might, but continued among an idolatrous people, and therefore are threatened with want of peace and prosperity; or rather the Jews in the times of Christ and his apostles, who disbelieved the Messiah, despised his Gospel, and rejected his ordinances; the consequence of which was, they had no peace, no outward prosperity, but all the reverse; their nation, city, and temple, were destroyed, and they carried captive, and scattered up and down in the world; nor any inward spiritual peace, nor eternal happiness; for blaspheming and contradicting the word of the Gospel, and putting it away from them, they judged themselves unworthy of everlasting life; and the apostles were bid to turn from them to the Gentiles, and preach the Gospel to them; hence the next chapter begins,
listen, O isles, unto me, c. see Lu 19:4.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
22. There is no peace, saith Jehovah to the wicked. These words, “saith the Lord,” are included by some commentators in a parenthesis; but we view them as having this connection with what goes before, that the Lord denies to wicked men that “peace” of which they are unworthy. (242) And this is expressly added, that hypocrites might not, according to their custom, cherish false confidence in these promises; for he declares that the promises do not belong to them, in order to shut them out altogether from the hope of salvation. But Isaiah appears also to have had his eye on something else; for, since the greater part of the people, under the influence of impiety, rejected this blessing, many weak and feeble persons might hesitate and might be terrified by the opinion of the multitude; (243) as in our own day we see feeble consciences disturbed, when they see the greater part of men despise the doctrine of salvation. Beholding many persons placed in danger, he tums away their minds from such a temptation, that they may not be troubled by the multitude of wicked and unbelieving men, who reject the grace of God and this prosperous condition, but that, without paying any regard to those men, they may embrace and enjoy this benefit.
(242) Our author means that, instead of reading the words thus, “There is no peace to the wicked, saith Jehovah,” he prefers to read them, “Jehovah saith to the wicked, There is no peace.” — Ed.
(243) “These words relate to those Jews who, being obstinately devoted to idolatry, and having settled down in Babylon, chose to remain there rather than to return to their native country and the religious worship of Jehovah. He declares, therefore, that such persons shall not have the happiness that is promised to those who shall return to their native habitations.” — Rosenmuller.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE POSSESSORS OF PEACE
Isa. 48:22. There is no peace, saith the Lord, to the wicked.
There is a caveat put in against the wicked, that go on still in their trespasses. Let them not think they have any benefit amongst Gods people, though in show and profession they herd themselves among themlet them not expect to come in shares. What have they to do with peace that are enemies to God? Their false prophets cried peace to them to whom it did not belong; but God tells them that there shall be no peace to the wicked.
Whatever the reason for its introduction here, this verse contains a most important truth which demands universal attention.
I. WHAT THE TEXT ASSERTSthat there is no peace to the wicked (H. E. I. 22962301).
1. Who are the wicked?
(1.) Enemies of God (Psa. 37:20; Psa. 87:1-5; Rom. 1:30; Jas. 4:4).
(2.) Enemies of the Cross of Christ (Php. 3:18).
(3.) Evil-doers (Psa. 28:3; Psa. 36:12; Psa. 37:1; 1Pe. 2:14).
(4.) Men of the world (Psa. 17:14). The wicked are not only all who think and feel and do wrong, but all who have not the right spirit within themsupreme sympathy with the supremely good. There are degrees in wickedness as well as in goodness. All bad men are not equally bad. Sin has its blade, its ear, its full corn in the ear.
2. The wicked have no true peace. They may have the semblance, but even that is transient and vain (Job. 20:6; Luk. 12:20; Ecc. 2:1; Ecc. 7:6). They have no real peace
(1.) In the act of wickedness. There can be no happiness in sinsimply the gratification of bad passions.
(2.) In the business or pleasures of life. The world in none of its forms or modifications can afford solid, substantial, elevated peace. Pleasures pall upon the sense; riches take wings; disappointment comes, and the highest earthly and sensual pleasure leaves a sad sense of wanta feeling that there is something in the capacities and wants of the undying mind which has not been filled (H. E. I. 49694974).
(3.) Of conscienceno conviction that they are right. Indeed there is often the reverse of peacecare, distress, alarm, apprehension. They and their consciences are ever and anon at drawn daggers; their consciences are still galling and terrifying them for imprisoning their convictions (Flavel). This world can furnish nothing which will give peace to the heart that is agitated with a sense of unforgiven sin (Isa. 57:20; H. E. I. 13211324).
(4.) In death. There may be callousness, insensibility, freedom from alarm, but that is not peace, any more than sterility is fruitfulness, &c. Often, however, the mind is filled with alarm, and the death-bed is a scene of blank despair (H. E. I. 1567, 1568, 15901593; P. D. 684).
(5.) Beyond the grave. A sinner can have no peace at the judgment bar of Godno peace in hell. In all the future world there is no place where he can find repose.
It is not man but GOD who says the wicked have no peaceGod who made them, redeemed them, knows them; God who has no interest of His own to serve, who is abundant in goodness and truth.
The urgent necessity of repentance and faith. The quarrel sinners have commenced with God, if not taken up in time by repentance, will be an everlasting quarrel. Christ has procured peace. Realised by penitent faith in His all-meritorious atonement (Rom. 5:1, &c.) How earnestly should all who have not this peace seek it, since the world can neither give it nor take it away. It is necessary to the enjoyment of life (Psa. 34:12; Psa. 34:14, with 1Pe. 3:10-11).
II. WHAT THE TEXT IMPLIESthat the godly have peace.
1. Who are the godly? They are frequently described in the Sacred Word (e.g., Isa. 1:10). They fear the Lord, obey His commandments, and amid providential darkness they trust in Him.
2. The godly have peace. Gods word everywhere declares it, and Christian experience uniformly confirms its statements.
(1.) They are justified by faith in Christ, and have peace with God (Rom. 5:1). Once at enmity with God, at war with the law and perfections of God, with all the truths of religion and with conscience; but now they are reconciled to God, and they acquiesce in all His claims.
(2.) They are Christs disciples, and the peace which He has left He givesHe breathes it into their hearts (Joh. 14:27; P. D. 26662669). Peace such as Jesus only can impart. Not such as worldly objects, pursuits, and pleasures give. Not such as systems of philosophy and false religion give. But such as meets and satisfies the souls deepest needs, silences the alarms of conscience, abides amidst all the changing scenes and circumstances of human life, and in the hour of death and for ever.
(3.) They love Gods law, and have great peace (Psa. 119:156). They have great calmness of mind. They are not troubled and anxious. They believe and feel (Rom. 8:28). Great because divine, satisfying, abiding (P. D. 2673, 2677). Great because powerful: It keeps the heart and mind. Great because incomprehensible. It passeth all understanding.
(4.) They cultivate the devotional spirit in relation to everything, and consequently have the peace of God (Php. 4:6-7). How desirable in a world of anxiety and care to possess this peacethis rest from corroding care and distressing anxiety (Isa. 26:3).Alfred Tucker.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(22) There is no peace.The warning was needed even for the liberated exiles. There was an implied condition as to all Gods gifts. Even the highest blessings, freedom and home, were no real blessings to those who were unworthy of them.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 48:22. There is no peace, &c. “There is no peace, no serenity of mind and conscience,more desirable than every earthly blessing, superior to all conception;there is no durable prosperity on earth, no eternal salvation, or hope of salvation to the hypocrites, unbelievers and profane, the despisers of God and his prophetic word, they who honour him with their lips, but in their heart are far from him: because they have no part in the favour of God, which, without faith, reverence of the divine word, and an humble obedience to the divine commands, cannot exist.” The same persons are here spoken of, as in Isa 48:1-2 and chap. Isa 46:12. See Eze 20:38. Amo 9:10.
REFLECTIONS.1st, The prophet here addresses the house of Jacob, in order to bring them to a conviction of their hypocrisy and idolatry, and to engage their humble return to God, from whom they had so greatly departed.
1. He charges them with the false and hypocritical professions which they made. They valued themselves highly, as being called by the name of Israel, and boasted their lineage from Jacob; they were of the royal race of Judah, the tribe that adhered to the temple, and the successors of David, when the rest revolted; they swore by the name of the Lord, owning him as their God and king, and engaging their fidelity to him, and made mention of the God of Israel, addressing him in their prayers and exercises of religious worship: they called themselves of the holy city, as counting it an honour to have a name in the church of God; and staid themselves upon the God of Israel, at least pretended to do so, as if the Lord of Hosts was the name on which alone their dependance was fixed; but all was false and faithless, not in truth, nor in righteousness. Note; (1.) Many claim the name of Christian, who continue strangers to the power of christianity. (2.) It is mere hypocrisy when persons only draw near to God with their lips, while their hearts are far from him. (3.) We have to do with a heart-searching God; and if our souls be insincere before him, vain is all the pageantry of external profession.
2. He urges what he had done to convince and convert their souls to him as the only true God, and to preserve and reclaim them from the shameful idolatry to which they were so addicted: from the beginning he had foretold what should happen to them, their sojourning in Egypt, deliverance, conquest of Canaan; and all came to pass suddenly and certainly; God’s power in the fulfilment of his prophetic word appearing as evident as his prescience in the prediction. This they might easily discern, and ought to declare to the glory of God: a new revelation also God now gave them, which they never could have known, nor could their idols have informed them of, concerning their captivity in Babylon, and their deliverance by Cyrus; with all those other prophesies more immediately relative to the Gospel dispensation: and in all these things God intended to engage them to cleave to, and depend upon, him, as the only true God, besides whom there was no other.
3. God gives the reasons of his dispensations towards them. [1.] Because he knew they were obstinate, their neck an iron sinew, and their brow brass; stubborn and hard-hearted, rigid against conviction, and impudently disposed to deny God’s work, if by his prophesies foregoing he had not indisputably proved that he was the author of all their mercies. [2.] He would cut off all pretence of ascribing these events to their idols, as they would else be vainly disposed to do; it being evident, by his foretelling those things which their idol priests never could, that the work was from God alone. [3.] He would stop their boasting, who might pretend, when the event came to pass, that they had foreseen it; but now it was clear, that they had not the apprehension of what was coming till God’s prophets revealed the counsels of God, hidden from the beginning, but now created and brought to light in the prophetic word. [4.] He would leave them inexcusable. Notwithstanding all he had spoken, their ear was not opened, and their hearts inattentive to the predictions which God had given: he knew them to be treacherous dealers, who had often backslidden from him, and from their first formation into a people had been transgressors; but he now left them without excuse, if they still refused to pay regard to his word, so plain, evident, and clear. Note; (1.) It is the true and humbling character of every man, that he is a transgressor from the womb. (2.) Original sin, in which we are born, is the pregnant source of all the actual evil that afterwards appears in our hearts and lives. (3.) God knows and remarks the inmost disposition of our souls, and an apostate nature is in his eyes the sin exceeding sinful. (4.) The word of God is designed to stain all human glory, and to show us how ignorant, as well as wicked, we must have been without Divine revelation. (5.) They who proudly and obstinately reject God’s word, are deservedly left to perish in their native guilt and blindness.
2nd, Their guilt was a circumstance very discouraging; how could they hope for God’s interposition? and their oppressors were so powerful that no prospect of human relief appeared. To support them, therefore, against their just fears,
1. God, not out of respect to them, but for his own glory, declares that he will deliver them: though they deserved to be utterly cut off, he will defer his anger; and, lest the Heathen nations might reproach him, as if he was unable to save his people, or might count their gods above him, he will refrain his arm from destroying them, and save them from their enemies. Behold, and admire the grace, I have refined thee; by these sufferings to which they had been exposed, but not with silver, or among silver; have not kept them in the furnace till all their dross was purged away, for then the spirit must fail before him, if he dealt with them in strict justice; but I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction; he made the afflictions they endured the means of calling them home to himself, and by their trials exercised and brightened their graces, and purified their souls from sin. Note; (1.) If God dealt with us according to our iniquities, then could no flesh living be saved. (2.) It is not for our deserts, but to manifest the glory of his grace, that God is pleased to spare and pardon. (3.) Affliction is often the blessed means of bringing those home to God who had before wandered far from the right way. (4.) It is a gracious sign of God’s paternal affection toward us, when he is pleased in measure to correct us, and not to leave us wholly unpunished.
2. Though they could not help themselves, God will raise up a deliverer for them, who shall overthrow the kingdom of Babylon. Let Jacob hear the Divine determination, and Israel believe what he speaks, who is the self-existent, eternal, and immutable Jehovah. He whose hand laid the foundations of the earth, and stretched out the heavens with such ease as if they had been but a span’s breadth, at whose word the assembled hosts of both stand up, ready to execute his high behests; he is able to accomplish their salvation; let Israel therefore attend to the prophetic word, of which none among the gods of the heathen, or the wise men, could ever inform them. Cyrus, the beloved of the Lord, is appointed for their deliverer, to execute God’s pleasure on Babylon, and to lay his arm of vengeance on the Chaldeans. God hath spoken, and his word is irreversible; he will enable him for the work, bring him to the siege from a far country, and make his way prosperous, giving him victory in the battle, and success in all his enterprizes. Note; (1.) Cyrus is the type of God’s beloved Son, sent down from heaven, and riding on prosperously; the conqueror of death, hell, and sin, and the glorious Redeemer of his faithful people. (2.) We may safely depend on the fulfilment of God’s promises, however to human view the difficulties in the way of their accomplishment seem insurmountable. Is any thing too hard for God? (3.) They who have a Divine call, and are under Divine guidance, may be sure that their way shall be prosperous.
3rdly, We have,
1. The call of God to attend the ministry of the prophet, or rather the call peculiarly of Christ, who seems to be spoken of, to the Jews to hear and receive his Gospel, and acknowledge his Divine mission. I have not spoken in secret from the beginning, but preached publicly in the synagogues, from the time that it was, from the beginning of his ministry, there am I, openly teaching the Gospel of the kingdom; or, before the time that was, ere he was become incarnate, there was I, existing from eternity in the bosom of the Father: and now the Lord God and his Spirit hath sent me, or the Lord hath sent me, having the fullest commission for the execution of the work of redemption, and his Spirit to make that work effectual, by bringing it near to the souls of men. Note; (1.) We have here the Trinity of persons in the Godhead clearly asserted. (2.) When God sends, he will qualify us for his service. (3.) It becomes us to hear with solemn reverence and attention the words of him whom God hath sent.
2. The Lord Jesus informs them of his character and design. I am the Lord thy God, without which he could not have been the Redeemer of mankind, nor could his faithful people have been able comfortably and confidently to trust their souls in his hands, which teacheth thee to profit, or profitable things; the doctrines of truth and holiness, such as their fallen state, their guilt and danger, the grace revealed for sinners in the Gospel, the perfection of the atonement wrought out by him, and the fulness of the Spirit which resided in him, to be communicated to all believers; which leadeth thee by the way which thou shouldest go; Christ himself is the living way, his word is our guide, his grace our support, and the dispensations of his providence concur to lead his faithful ones toward their glorious rest.
3. He laments over those poor souls that sinned against their own mercies. Mat 23:37. O that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments! which though some did, yet we see that the generality of the Jewish people rejected Christ and his Gospel, and thereby forfeited all the mercies which had been promised to the obedient, and brought their final desolations upon them. Had they heard and believed, then their peace had been as a river, and their righteousness as the waves of the sea, abundant and permanent. Their nation would have been increased exceedingly, and their stability secured for ever; but now, for their unbelief and impenitence, the very reverse is their case. Note; (1.) Sin robs us of all our joys. (2.) The remembrance of the mercies they have forfeited, as well as the torment they endure, will aggravate the miseries of the ungodly. (3.) It is a grief to the Saviour, to see poor souls rejecting their own mercies, and rushing on their ruin. (4.) They who perish eternally will have no blame to cast on God’s mercy, but must confess that their own obstinacy and hardness of heart procured their destruction.
4. By the proclamation given to the Jews to depart from Babylon, is prefigured the great deliverance of sinners’ souls from the bondage of corruption; which, through the preaching of the Gospel, should be effected in the faithful. They are called to go forth from Babylon and flee, not as by stealth, but with the voice of singing, openly exulting in their escape. With gladness they are commanded to publish their glorious redemption, wrought out for them by the power of God; and as God, in their first great deliverance from Egypt, led them through the wilderness safely, and brought water from the rock to slake their thirst, such would be still his care over them in their return from Babylon to Judaea. And this is most applicable to the state of all God’s faithful people who go forth with joy from the house of their prison, and from the bonds of sin and Satan; publish to God’s glory the redemption wrought out by Jesus for them; are safely led through all the dangers of this world, to them a howling wilderness; refreshed and comforted with the streams of divine grace; and brought at last to their native land, better than Canaan, even the inheritance provided for them among the saints in light.
5. The obstinately impenitent are excluded from all the promised mercies. There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked; which may refer to those who chose their abode in Babylon, preferably to a return to Judaea; or more particularly to the Jewish nation, who, after their rejection of Christ and his Gospel, became a miserable, harassed, and troubled people, and continue so to this day. Or, more generally, it includes all impenitent sinners, who have no peace with God, no solid rest in their own consciences, no comfort in death, no hope in eternity, but the wrath of God present and eternal abideth on them.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
6. THE CONTRASTIVE CONCLUSION
Isa 48:22
22There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
These words do not fit on to Isa 48:20-21. They could better connect with Isa 48:19 as the negative proof of the thought, that Israel, had it hearkened to the commandments of the Lord, would have found abundant salvation (comp. especially thy peace had been as a river, Isa 48:18). But if Isa 48:22 were only to belong to Isa 48:17-19, then the words would not occur in another place and connection. But such is the case at the close of 57. This circumstance proves that the words are meant to form a similar and hence the like-sounding conclusion of the first two Enneads. Indeed even chap. 66 concludes, not with the same words, yet with the same thought, and that in an enhanced and drastic form. It is certainly not accidental that chaps. 4066. are in general a book of consolation, that the three chief parts begin with words of consolation, and yet all of them conclude with the words so threatening. Doubtless the Prophet would thereby impress on his readers that the consolation is not unconditional for all, but that only the pious shall partake of it. This threatening earnestness of the respective conclusions, so harshly emphasized and directly in contrast with the predominating consolatory character of the book, should lead the wicked to a thorough introspection.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
REFLECTIONS
READER! stand still, and see the salvation of God! Behold, as this Chapter most blessedly sets forth, from whom that salvation comes; by whom it is accomplished; in whom it is alone found; and to whom the whole glory results. The song of heaven, and the hymn of the church upon earth, are both tuned upon the same note: To Jesus the praise is given, for he was slain, and hath redeemed us to God by his blood.
But oh! amidst this pleasing assurance, how painful is the thought that neither the consciousness of grace freely given, in all that is past: nor the continuance of grace in all that is present: nor all the hopes and expectations of grace for all that is to come; are found sufficient in their persuasive pleadings, to keep alive in the soul, obedience and the dedication of the heart to the Lord. Thou knowest, Lord, that transgressors thy children would be from the womb; but this did not stop thy bowels of love from yearning over us in our lost estate. Precious Jesus! be thou to us still Jesus. Lord, teach us to profit; lead us by the way we should go: and grant that, amidst all our unworthiness, thy grace may never depart from us: but keep us by thine almighty power through faith unto salvation. And while to the wicked there is no peace; give us that peace, in thee and thy righteousness, keeping the heart and mind in Jesus Christ Amen.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 48:22 [There is] no peace, saith the LORD, unto the wicked.
Ver. 22. There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked. ] Babylon’s best days are past: therefore go ye forth of her. Isa 48:20 The wicked of what nation soever that hearken not to God’s commandments, as Isa 48:18 well they may have a truce, but no true peace certainly. That which they have is pax infida, pax incerta a (as that of the Romans with the Samnites), a peace no peace; and how can it be better so long as their wickednesses and witchcrafts are so many? 2Ki 9:22 Tranquillitas illa tempestas erit; as after a south wind arose Euroclydon, Act 27:13-14 so, after a false peace, storm and tempest everlasting: this shall be the portion of their cup Psa 11:6 See Isa 57:20-21 .
a Liv. Hist., lib. ix.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
no peace, &c. Compare Isa 57:20.
the wicked = lawless ones: i.e. the wicked in Israel.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Isa 57:21, Job 15:20-24, Luk 19:42, Rom 3:17
Reciprocal: 2Sa 17:3 – shall be 1Ki 2:6 – in 2Ki 9:18 – What hast thou to do Psa 50:16 – wicked Isa 3:11 – Woe Isa 43:19 – rivers Isa 59:8 – whosoever Eze 13:16 – and there Luk 1:79 – to guide Luk 11:24 – seeking Rom 2:10 – and peace Phi 4:7 – the peace
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 48:22. There is no peace unto the wicked God having, in the foregoing verses, foretold that blessed deliverance which he would give to his servant Jacob, (Isa 48:20,) here adds an explication and limitation of the blessing, and declares that wicked men should not enjoy the benefit of this mercy. And by the wicked, he means the unbelieving and ungodly Jews; of whom these very words are used again, (Isa 57:21,) and for whom such a denunciation was very proper and necessary, because they were exceeding prone to cry, Peace, Peace, to themselves, when there was no solid ground of peace. This, therefore, was a very seasonable caution to the Jews in Babylon, to take heed to themselves, and prepare for this mercy. For those of them who should either wickedly tarry in Babylon, when God invited and required them to go out of it, and return to their own land; or who should continue in wickedness when they had returned, should not enjoy the tranquillity and comfort which they promised themselves. There is no peace, says Vitringa, no serenity of mind and conscience; more desirable than all blessings, superior to all conception; there is no durable prosperity on earth, no eternal salvation or hope of salvation to hypocrites, unbelievers, and profane persons; to despisers of God and his prophetic word; to those who honour him with their lips, but in mind and affection are alienated and removed to a great distance from him, remaining in a state of impenitence. But why? Because they have no part in the righteousness and favour of God, which is not obtained without faith, reverence for the divine word, and an humble obedience to the divine commands.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
48:22 [There is] no {a} peace, saith the LORD, to the wicked.
(a) Thus he speaks that the wicked hypocrites should not abuse God’s promise, in whom was neither faith nor repentance, as in Isa 57:21
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
God’s final word that His people needed to hear was a word of warning (cf. Isa 57:21). For the wicked there is no peace (Heb. shalom, the fullness of divine blessing, cf. Isa 48:18). The wonderful promise just summarized (Isa 48:20-21) was no guarantee that Israel would enjoy God’s richest blessing if she continued to practice wickedness. The wicked Babylonians would not enjoy His shalom, and neither would they.
By way of application, God has similarly promised to build His church (Mat 16:18). But that is no excuse for Christians to conclude that because our election is secure, we can sin with impunity and disregard God’s commands.