Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy bed: even thither wentest thou up to offer sacrifice.
7. As in the valleys, so on the hill-tops, the people had sacrificed to strange gods. Cf. Hos 4:13; Jer 2:20; Eze 6:13.
hast thou set thy bed ] The image is suggested by the frequent comparison of idolatry (in Israel) to adultery. Cf. Hos 4:12; Jer 2:20; Jer 3:2; Eze 16:25.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Upon a lofty and high mountain – The design of this verse and the following, is, to show the extent, the prevalence, the publicity, and the grossness of their idolatry. The language is that which would appropriately express adulterous intercourse, and is designed to show the abhorrence in which God held their conduct. The language is easy to be understood, and it would not be proper to go into an extended explanation of the phrases used. It is common in the Scriptures to compare idolatry among the people of God, with unfaithfulness to the marriage vow. The declaration that they had placed their bed on a high mountain, means, that in the rites of idolatrous worship, there was no concealment. It was public and shameless.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Upon a lofty and high mountain, in high places, which were much used for religious worship, both by Israelites and by heathens,
hast thou set thy bed; thine altar, as appears from the sacrifice here following, in which thou didst commit spiritual whoredom with idols. Compare Eze 23:17,41.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
7. Upon . . . high mountain . . .bedimage from adultery, open and shameless (Eze23:7); the “bed” answers to the idolatrous altar,the scene of their spiritual unfaithfulness to their divine husband(Eze 16:16; Eze 16:25;Eze 23:41).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy bed,…. Temples and altars, which are usually built on high places, where they commit spiritual adultery; that is, idolatry, in imitation of the Heathens, who had their temples and altars on high places; and the idolatry of the church of Rome, in this context, is all along expressed in language agreeable to the Heathen idolatry, and in allusion to it. Some think this phrase denotes impudence in their idolatrous worship; for not content to worship under trees, in valleys, and under clifts of rocks, and such dark places; now, as not blushing at, or being ashamed of their actions, erect their altars in the most public places. Perhaps some reference may be had to the city of Rome itself, built on seven mountains, the seat of antichrist, and where the principal bed for idolatry is set up. The Targum is,
“on a high and lofty mountain thou hast the place of the house of thy dwelling;”
which agrees very well with the great city, the seat of the beast.
Even thither wentest thou up to offer sacrifice; the sacrifice of the mass, to do which the idolaters go to their high places, their temples, and to their high altars, and especially in the great city.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The prophet now proceeds with perfects, like and (addressed to the national community generally, the congregation regarded as a woman). The description is mostly retrospective. “Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set up thy bed; thou also ascendedst thither to offer slain offerings. And behind the door and the post thou didst place thy reminder: for thou uncoveredst away from me, and ascendedst; thou madest thy bed broad, and didst stipulate for thyself what they had to do: thou lovedst their lying with thee; thou sawest their manhood.” The lovers that she sought for herself are the gods of the heathen. Upon lofty mountains, where they are generally worshipped, did she set up her bed, and did all that was needed to win their favour. The zikkaron , i.e., the declaration that Jehovah is the only God, which the Israelites were to write upon the posts of their houses, and upon the entrances (Deu 6:9; Deu 11:20), for a constant reminder, she had put behind the door and post, that she might not be reminded, to her shame, of her unfaithfulness. That this explanation, which most of the commentators adopt, is the true one, is proved by the expression which follows, and according to which is something inconvenient, which might and was intended to remind them of Jehovah. , away, far from me, as in Jer 3:1, and like , which is still more frequently used. It is unnecessary to take gillth with understood (Eze 23:18) as equivalent to “thou makest thyself naked,” or with reference to the clothes = . is the common object of all three verbs, even of (with double m etheg), after Gen 49:4. On for (cf., Jer 3:5), see Ewald, 191, b. The explanation “thou didst bind,” or “thou didst choose (some) of them to thyself,” is contrary to the general usage, according to which signifies spondere (2Ch 7:18), and ( pacisci (1Sa 22:8), in both cases with to be supplied, so that ( ) would mean stipulari ab aliquo , i.e., to obtain from a person a solemn promise, with all the force of a covenant. What she stipulated from them was, either the wages of adultery, or the satisfaction of her wanton lust. What follows agrees with this; for it is there distinctly stated, that the lovers to whom she offered herself gratified her lust abundantly: adamasti concutibum eorum ( m ishkab , cubile, e.g., Pro 7:17, and concubitus , e.g., Ezra 23:17), manum conspexisit . The Targum and Jewish commentators adopt this explanation, loco quem delegisti , or ( postquam ) locum delegisti . This also is apparently the meaning of the accents, and most of the more modern commentators have adopted it, taking in the sense of place or side. But this yields only a very lame and unmeaning thought. Doederlein conjectured that was employed here in the sense of ; and this is the explanation adopted by Hitzig, Ewald, and others. The Arabic furnishes several analogies to this obscene use of the word; and by the side of Eze 16:26 and Eze 23:20, where the same thing is affirmed in even plainer language, there is nothing to astonish in the passage before us. The meaning is, that after the church of Jehovah had turned away from its God to the world and its pleasures, it took more and more delight in the pleasures afforded it by idolatry, and indulged its tastes to the full.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
7. Upon a lofty and high mountain. He again repeats that metaphor at which we have formerly glanced. Superstitious persons commit fornication with their idols, because, by forsaking the simplicity of the word, they violate the bond of that holy marriage into which God has entered with them, and prostitute themselves to Satan. But now Isaiah intended to express something more; for, when he says that they set up their bed on a lofty place, he means that they are not at all ashamed of their shameful conduct. As a harlot, who has lost all shame, dreads not the sight of men, and cares not about her reputation, so they openly and shamefully committed fornication in a lofty and conspicuous place. He compares altars and groves to “beds” on which that accursed crime is committed, and he compares men who sacrifice on them to impudent and abandoned harlots. As to the opinion entertained by some, that this relates to the couches on which they reclined at their sacrificial feasts, there is no good foundation for it.
To offer a sacrifice. Here he describes without a figure that kind of fornication which he rebukes, namely, that they offered sacrifices to idols. They imagined, indeed, that in doing so they were rendering obedience to God; but the Lord rejects all that men contrive according to their own pleasure, and abhors that licentiousness.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(7) Set thy bed . . .Idolatry being as adultery, the bed follows naturally as representing the locality of the idol-worship. Comp. Eze. 16:31; Eze. 23:17.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
7, 8. High mountain thy bed Places of idol and adulterous worship. Accounts of dells also, as such places are obscure. Groves in either place were doubtless sought.
Behind the doors posts Namely, of houses.
Hast thou set up thy remembrance Perhaps inscriptions are meant, in allusion to God’s command, (Deu 6:9,) to write the great words of their creed, their duty also, upon the door-posts. The same was practised, it may be, also in idolaters’ houses. Possibly, however, lascivious sketches, drawn on these “doors” and “posts,” are intended.
Another than me For thy divinity.
Enlarged thy bed Of whoredoms.
Covenant with them Seeking safety under their protection instead of that of Jehovah.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 57:7 Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy bed: even thither wentest thou up to offer sacrifice.
Ver. 7. Upon a lofty and high mountain. ] In all places hast thou poured out thy whoredoms, setting thy sin “upon the cliff of the rock,” as it were sunning, so shameless art thou grown.
Thy bed,
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Jer 2:20, Jer 3:2, Eze 16:16, Eze 16:25, Eze 20:28, Eze 20:29, Eze 23:17, Eze 23:41
Reciprocal: Deu 20:3 – be ye terrified Pro 7:17 – perfumed Isa 65:7 – burned Jer 2:33 – Why Jer 3:6 – she is Jer 13:27 – abominations Eze 16:17 – and didst Eze 16:24 – and hast Hos 2:5 – I will Hos 4:13 – sacrifice Amo 2:8 – by
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 57:7-8. Upon a lofty and high mountain In high places, which were much used for religious worship, both by the Israelites and heathen: hast thou set thy bed Thine altar, as appears from the sacrifice mentioned in the next clause, where thou didst commit spiritual whoredom with idols. Behind the doors also and the posts Behind the posts of the doors of thy house; hast thou set up thy remembrance That is, the images of their tutelary gods, or some monuments or tokens, placed there as memorials of them, in direct opposition to the law of God, which commanded them to write upon the door-posts of their houses, and upon their gates, the words of his law, Deu 6:9; Deu 11:20. If they chose for them such a situation as more private, it was in defiance of a particular curse denounced in the law against the man who should make a graven or a molten image, and put it in a secret place, Deu 27:15. For thou hast discovered thyself, &c. The prophet describes their idolatry under the metaphor of a womans being false to her husbands bed, Isa 57:3. So he tells them that they had committed spiritual adultery, when they went up to the high places to sacrifice, Isa 57:7. That they had multiplied their idolatries, as an unchaste woman does her lovers; that they had broken their covenant with God, whom they had acknowledged to be their lord and husband, and made a new contract with idols to serve them. Lowth. Thou lovedst their bed where thou sawest it No sooner didst thou see the heathen idols, but thou wast enamoured with them, and didst fall down and worship them, like a lewd woman, who is inflamed with lust toward almost every man she sees.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
57:7 Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy {g} bed: even there thou wentest up to offer sacrifice.
(g) That is, your altars in an open place, like an impudent harlot, that cares not for the sight of her husband.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Israelites also worshipped idols on mountains, as the pagans did to get closer to their gods. Such worship constituted infidelity to the Lord and adultery with loved idols. Thus Israel had made her bed and slept with another man when she worshipped as she did. However, Isaiah’s language was more than figurative since worship of these nature deities involved sacred prostitution.