Behind the doors also and the posts hast thou set up thy remembrance: for thou hast discovered [thyself to another] than me, and art gone up; thou hast enlarged thy bed, and made thee [a covenant] with them; thou lovedst their bed where thou sawest [it].
8. The first part of the verse seems to allude to some form of household idolatry. Many commentators explain the expression as a violation of the command in Deu 6:9; Deu 11:20. In these passages the Israelites are directed to write certain sentences of Scripture on the doorposts of their houses, and it is supposed that the practice here denounced is placing the texts at the back of the door so as to be out of sight! This is an utterly improbable interpretation. The thing called “remembrance” ( zikkarn, better memorial, as R.V.) must be some heathen emblem, whose exact nature cannot be determined; and from the fact that it stood at the entrance of the house, it may be presumed to have represented the patron deity of the family.
for thou hast discovered bed ] The last word appears to be the object to each of the three verbs: for away from me thou hast uncovered and ascended and enlarged thy bed. The connexion (“for”) may lie in the thought that they sought every possible opportunity of being unfaithful to Jehovah, their household cults being an expression of their irresistible inclination to idolatry.
and made thee a covenant with them &c. ] The sense is uncertain: either, “and thou hast made a contract with them” &c. (?); or, substituting a verb meaning “purchase” (in Deu 2:6; Hos 3:2), “and thou didst procure for thee (some) of those whose bed thou lovest.” For the idea, cf. Eze 16:16 ff., Eze 16:32 ff.
where thou sawest it ] Lit. “thou hast seen a hand.” The rendering of E.V. cannot be maintained, but the real meaning of the expression is altogether obscure.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Behind the doors – In every part of their habitations – behind the doors and posts and beams of their houses, they had erected the memorials of idolatrous worship.
Hast thou set up thy remembrance – That is, they had filled their houses with the images of tutelary gods, or with something dedicated to them. The Greeks and Romans had their Lares and Penates – their household or domestic gods – the images of which were in every family. The same was true of the apostate Hebrews. They had filled their houses with the memorials of idol-worship, and there was no part of their dwellings in which such memorials were not to be found. When a people forget God, the memorials of their apostasy will be found in every part of their habitations. The shrines of idol-gods may not be there; the beautiful images of the Greek and Roman mythology, or the clumsy devices of less refined pagans, may not be there; but the furniture, the style of living, will reveal from behind every door and the posts of the house that God is forgotten, and that they are influenced by other principles than a regard to his name. The sofa, the carpet, the chandelier, the center-table, the instruments of music, the splendid mirror, may be of such workmanship as to show, as clearly as the image of a pagan god, that Yahweh is not honored in the dwelling, and that his law does not control the domestic arrangements. It may be added here that this custom of the Hebrews of placing the images of idols in their dwellings, was in direct violation of the law of Moses. They were expressly directed to write the laws of God on the posts of the house and on the gates Deu 6:9; Deu 11:20; and a curse was denounced against the man who made a graven or molten image and put it in a secret place Deu 27:15.
For thou hast discovered thyself – This language is taken from adulterous intercourse, and is designed to show the love which they had for idolatrous worship, and the extent of their unfaithfulness to God.
And made thee a covenant with them – Margin, Hewed it for thyself larger than theirs. The true sense is, that they had made an agreement with idolaters, or had entered into a covenant with them.
Thou lovedst their bed – Margin, Thou providest room. Literally, Thou lovest their bed; thou hast provided a place for it. The word yad, rendered here where, means literally a hand; then a side, a place (see the notes at Isa 56:5). The passage means, that they had delighted in the temples, altars, groves, and sacrifices of idolatry, and had provided a place for them in their own land.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 8. Behind the doors also and the posts hast thou set up thy remembrance – “Behind the door, and the door-posts, hast thou set up thy memorial”] That is, the image of their tutelary gods, or something dedicated to them; in direct opposition to the law of God, which commanded them to write upon the door-posts of their house, and upon their gates, the words of God’s law; De 6:9; De 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; De 27:15. An ancient MS., with another, has achar, without the conjunction vau, and.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Behind the doors also and the posts; which by a figure called hendiaduo may be put for the door-posts, as it is expressed, Deu 11:20. Behind the posts of the doors of thine house; where the heathens are said to have placed their tutelar gods, to whose protection they committed themselves and their houses, that so they might have their eyes and minds upon them, whensoever they went out or came in. Here also the Israelites might put them in some close corner, that they might keep them secret, it being opprobrious, and ofttimes dangerous, for them to worship idols.
Thy remembrance; those images or monuments and tokens which thou didst make and set up there as remembrances of those idol-gods whom they represented, or to whom they belonged. He saith,
thy remembrance, in opposition to Gods remembrances, or to that writing of Gods law upon their door-posts, which God prescribed to keep him and his law in their remembrance, Deu 6:9; 11:20.
Thou hast discovered thyself to another than me; thou hast uncovered thy nakedness, i.e. prostituted thy body, (as the phrase commonly signifies,) to others besides me, thine Husband. Heb. from with me (departing from me, or as it were rising out of my bed) thou hast uncovered or prostituted thyself to others, like an impudent and insatiable strumpet. Art gone up into the adulterous bed, as this very word is used, Gen 49:4.
Thou hast enlarged thy bed, that it might receive many adulterers together. Thou hast multiplied thine idols and altars. Made a covenant with them; thou hast covenanted to serve them, and to expect help from them. But because the verb here used being thus put by itself never signifies to make a covenant, it seems to be better rendered in the margin of our Bible, and by others, hast hewed it (to wit, thy bed, which is expressed both in the next foregoing and in the next following words) for thyself (for thine idolatrous uses) larger than theirs; than their bed, as it follows: or thus, didst hew down (to wit, trees, which is easily understood, both from the verb, and from the nature of the thing) to or for thyself (to make images or other things relating to thy false gods) more than they; more than the heathens, of whom thou hast learned these practices, as God complains, 2Ki 21:9; Eze 16:46,47,52. Thou lovedst their bed where thou sawest it; no sooner didst thou see their idols but thou wast enamoured with them, and didst fall down and worship them, like an unchaste and lewd woman, who upon all occasions, and at the very first view of any man, is inflamed with lust towards them. Heb. thou lovedst their bed (i.e. their filthy conversation) in the place (for so this Hebrew word frequently signifies, as Deu 23:12; Isa 22:18, and elsewhere) where thou sawest it. Or thus, thou lovedst their bed, thou didst provide (as this word signifies, Exo 18:21, and so doth a word of the very same signification, Gen 22:8) a place for it, to receive their bed, to set up their idols in thine own house.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. “Remembrance,” thatis, memorials of thy idolatry: the objects which thou holdest inremembrance. They hung up household tutelary gods “behindthe doors”; the very place where God has directed them to writeHis laws “on the posts and gates” (Deu 6:9;Deu 11:20); a curse, too, waspronounced on putting up an image “in a secret place” (De27:15).
discovered thyselfimagefrom an adulteress.
enlarged . . . bedsoas to receive the more paramours.
made . . . covenantwithidols: in open violation of thy “covenant” with God(Exo 19:5; Exo 23:32).Or, “hast made assignations with them for thyself”[HORSLEY].
thy bed . . . their bedTheJews’ sin was twofold; they resorted to places of idolatry (“theirbed”), and they received idols into the temple of God (“thybed”).
whererather, “eversince that” [HORSLEY].The Hebrew for “where” means “room“(Margin), a place; therefore, translate, “thou hastprovided a place for it” (for “their bed”), namely, byadmitting idolatrous altars in thy land [BARNES];or “thou choosest a (convenient) place for thyself” intheir bed [MAURER] (Isa56:5).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Behind the doors also and the posts hast thou set up thy remembrance,…. The memorial of thine idols, as the Targum. As the Heathens had their “lares” and “penates”, their household gods, so the Papists have their tutelar images, which they place in their houses, and in their bedchambers; their images of saints, their crucifixes and superstitious pictures, which they call “memories”, and “laymen’s books”:
for thou hast discovered thyself to another than me; or, “from me” n; departing from me, and leaving my bed; rejecting Christ as King of saints, deserting his worship and ordinances; thou hast uncovered thyself to another, prostituted thyself to another, been guilty of spiritual adultery or idolatry; receiving and acknowledging another for head of the church, according to whose will all things in worship are directed:
and art gone up; to the bed set up in the high place; to idolatrous temples and altars, there to offer sacrifice:
thou hast enlarged thy bed; to take in many adulterers, and idolatrous worshippers; and so, as Musculus observes, many small chapels, at first erected for this and the other saint, through the vast concourse of people to them, and the gifts they have brought, have, in process of time, become large and magnificent temples:
and made a covenant with them; with idols, and idol worshippers; agreeing to receive the mark and name of the beast, and to worship his image, Re 13:15, or, “thou hast cut for thyself more than they” o; more trees to make idols of, or to make more room for the placing of idols in groves than the Heathens: or, “thou hast hewed it for thyself”,
a bed larger p than theirs; that is, thy bed thou hast made larger than theirs: or, “thou hast cut for thyself from them” q; taken away from emperors and kings part of, their dominions, and joined them to thy patrimony, and appropriated them to thine own use:
thou lovedst their bed where thou sawest it; took delight and pleasure in places of idolatrous worship, and in their idolatry, wherever they were: or, “thou lovedst their bed, a hand thou hast seen” r; stretched out to help thee, or give thee power, or to invite, encourage, and receive thee into the idolatrous bed; or rather any pillar, monument s, or statue, erected for idolatry, which seen, they fell down to and worshipped.
n “a me”, Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Vitringa. o “et caedis tibi arbores plusquam illi”, Piscator. p “Caedens tibi amplius Cubile quam illorum sit”, Junius & Tremellius. q “Et excidisti tibi ex eis”, Montanus. r “manum vidisti”, Montanus, Cocceius. s “Ubi monumentum vidisti”, Vitringa.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
8. Behind the door. He dwells largely on the crime of which we have already spoken, that the people may no longer flatter themselves in their inventions. It is probable that Isaiah alludes to the words of Moses, by which God commanded them to have the Law continually placed before them, to attach it to the posts of their houses, and to keep it written and wrapped around their arms and the fringes of their garments, that they might be constantly reminded of their duty. (Deu 6:9) But the Jews, on the contrary, polluted the doors and posts of their houses by tokens of idolatry, and left no corner free or pure from such pollutions. Thus they came to forget everywhere God and the Law, and substituted in their room the excitements of their own lust.
Thou hast enlarged thy bed. He again repeats what he formerly said, and returns to that clause, that the Jews most basely commit fornication with idols when they think that they are worshipping God; because they do not follow the rule of the word. It is the same as if a woman, having forsaken her husband, should prostitute herself in a brothel, and freely receive all that came, as if the bed had been a large plain, and capable of containing a vast multitude.
For this reason he says that she was detected by him, because, having laid aside the modesty of the married state, she allowed herself to be dishonored and ravished by others; for God holds the place of a husband, to whom she ought to have been subject, but she sought new husbands, and broke the bond of marriage, he describes their aggravated guilt, by saying that the Jews of their own accord devoted themselves to idols, as if a base woman ran after a man with blind eagerness.
Thou lovedst their bed in the place which thou sawest. By a different figure he accuses them of that hasty love, because, as if by a single glance, they were suddenly and eagerly hurried on to any place whatever. Yet he blames the rashness of men, who think that they are sagacious in worshipping God, and select places according to their own pleasure. But this sagacity is diabolical; for God commands us to keep our eyes fixed on himself and his word, so as to be closed against everything else.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(8) Hast thou set up thy remembrance . . .The noun has been commonly referred to the Mesusah, or memorial text, Jehovah is our God; Jehovah is one, which was to be written on the door-posts of each house (Deu. 6:9; Deu. 11:20); and the prophet is supposed to point to the fact that this had been written behind the door, as showing that Israel had been ashamed to confess her creed. The explanation seems tenable, but it is possible that remembrance may stand for some idolatrous symbol or inscription which had been substituted for the true confession.
Thou hast discovered thyself.The figure of the unfaithful wife is carried into its details almost with Ezekiels boldness.
Made thee a covenant with them . . .The noun, as the italics show, is implied in the verb. The faithless wife forsook the covenant of her youth with her husband, and made a fresh compact with the adulterers.
Where thou sawest it.And thou sawest the place, the words being used euphemistically for the obscene image of a Chemosh-liko idol.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 57:8. Behind the doors, &c. Thy remembrance, or memorial, signifies, thy idol. “thy tutelar image, which at going in and out thou mayest adore.” The reader will continue to bear in mind, that the ideas are here all taken from the expression of ancient times. See Rev 2:14-20.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Isa 57:8 Behind the doors also and the posts hast thou set up thy remembrance: for thou hast discovered [thyself to another] than me, and art gone up; thou hast enlarged thy bed, and made thee [a covenant] with them; thou lovedst their bed where thou sawest [it].
Ver. 8. Behind the doors also, and the posts. ] Where my law should have been written. Deu 6:9 ; Deu 11:20
Hast thou set up thy remembrance?
Thou hast discovered thyself
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
remembrance = symbols.
where thou sawest it = a hand thou hast seen: as beckoning.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
the doors: Eze 8:8-12, Eze 23:14, Eze 23:41
for: Eze 16:32
made thee a covenant with them: or, hewed it for thyself larger than theirs
thou lovedst: Eze 16:25-28, Eze 23:2-20
where thou sawest it: or, thou providest room
Reciprocal: Deu 6:9 – General Deu 20:3 – be ye terrified Eze 16:15 – and playedst Eze 16:17 – and didst Hos 2:5 – I will
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
57:8 Behind the {h} doors also and the door posts hast thou set up thy remembrance: for thou hast uncovered [thyself to another] than me, and hast gone up; thou hast {i} enlarged thy bed, and made thee [a covenant] with them; thou didst love their bed where thou sawest [it].
(h) Instead of setting up the word of God in the open places on the posts and doors to have it in remembrance, De 6:9,27:1 you have set up signs and marks of your idolatry in every place.
(i) That is, increased your idolatry more and more.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The unfaithful Israelites were evidently setting up memorial objects to the idols in their homes as well. The Scripture portions that they were to place on their doorframes (Deu 6:9; Deu 11:20) were to remind them of the Lord, but they had installed rival reminders inside their homes. The holder of these Scripture portions is called a mezuzah, and many observant Jews still install them on their doorframes, even today. The Lord’s "wife" had turned her back on Him and had gone to bed with other lovers. She had been unfaithful to her covenant with Yahweh and had covenanted to worship idols, since she loved the physical aspects of their worship.