Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 59:8
The way of peace they know not; and [there is] no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.
8. judgment here means right (R.V. marg.).
goings ] tracks, a common word in the Book of Proverbs.
they have made them &c. ] they have made their paths crooked. Cf. Pro 2:15; Pro 10:9; Pro 28:18.
whosoever goeth therein ] i.e. makes common cause with them.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The way of peace they know not – The phrase way of peace may denote either peace of conscience, peace with God, peace among themselves, or peace with their fellow-men. Possibly it may refer to all these; and the sense will be, that in their whole lives they were strangers to true contentment and happiness. From no quarter had they peace, but whether in relation to God, to their own consciences, to each other, or to their fellow-men, they were involved in continual strife and agitation (see the notes at Isa 57:20-21).
And there is no judgment in their goings – Margin, Right. The sense is, that there was no justice in their dealings. there was no disposition to do right. They were full of selfishness, falsehood, oppression, and cruelty.
They have made them crooked paths – A crooked path is an emblem of dishonesty, fraud, deceit. A straight path is an emblem of sincerity, truth, honesty, and uprightness (see Psa 125:5; Pro 2:15; and the notes at Isa 40:4). The idea is, that their counsels and plans were perverse and evil. We have a similar expression now when we say of a man that he is straightforward, meaning that he is an honest man.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 8. Whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace – “Whoever goeth in them knoweth not peace”] For bah, singular, read bam, plural, with the Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, and Chaldee. The he is upon a rasure in one MS. Or, for nethibotheyhem, plural, we must read nethibatham, singular, as it is in an ancient MS., to preserve the grammatical concord. – L.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The way of peace they know not; they are of such turbulent spirits, living in such continual contentions and discords, that, breaking in pieces the very bonds of society, they neither know,
1. How to make and keep peace; neither,
2. Do they feel or enjoy the sweet fruits of it; and therefore by consequence,
3. They take not the course that leads to prosperity and happiness. They are not friends to peace.
There is no judgment, i.e. no justice, equity, faith, or integrity, which are the foundation of judgment,
in their goings; as paths did note their habitual way or manner of living, so goings do signify their actual progress in that way, or their works; thus Job 14:16.
They have made them crooked paths; they walk by no rule, which should discover the crooked from the straight; they are full of unevennesses and uncertainties, contrary to what David speaks, Psa 26:12. The LXX. render it perverse. Moses joins them both together, Deu 32:5; and so doth Solomon, speaking what wisdom shall deliver from, Pro 2:15; and it stands in opposition to them that walk uprightly, Pro 28:18. It may note,
1. Their hypocrisy, that pretend one thing and do another, that oppress under a pretence of justice. Or,
2. Their professed and owned irregularities and deviations from the rule of justice. Shall not know peace, i.e. shall not experience it; whosoever do as they do will be turbulent and perverse, as they are, and have as little peace within, or happiness without, as they have, Isa 57:21. They shall be poisoned by having converse with them, as in Isa 59:5, which the next words do intimate.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. peacewhether in relationto God, to their own conscience, or to their fellow men (Isa 57:20;Isa 57:21).
judgmentjustice.
crookedthe opposite of”straightforward” (Pro 2:15;Pro 28:18).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The way of peace they know not,…. Neither the way of peace with God, supposing it is to be made by man, and not by Christ; and are ignorant of the steps and methods taken to procure it; nor do they know the way of peace of conscience, or how to attain to that which is true and solid; nor the way to eternal peace and happiness, which is alone by Christ, and the Gospel of peace reveals, to which they are strangers; nor the way of peace among men, which they are unconcerned about, and do not seek after, make use of no methods to promote, secure, and establish it; but all the reverse:
and there is no judgment in their goings; no justice in their actions, in their dealings with men; no judgment in their religious duties, which are done without any regard to the divine rule, or without being able to give a reason for them; they have no judgment in matters of doctrine or worship; they have no discerning of true and false doctrines, and between that which is spiritual and superstitious in worship; they have no knowledge of the word of God, which should be their guide both in faith and practice; but this they do not attend unto:
they have made them crooked paths: they have devised paths and modes of worship of their own, in which they walk, and which they observe, that are not according to the rule of the word; but deviate from it; and so may be said to be crooked, as not agreeable to that:
whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace; the way of peace with God, as before; or he shall not have any experience of true, solid, and substantial peace in his own conscience now, and shall not attain to eternal peace hereafter.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Their whole nature is broken up into discord. “The way of peace they know not, and there is no right in their roads: they make their paths crooked: every one who treads upon them knows no peace.” With , the way upon which a man goes, the prophet uses interchangeably (here and in Isa 59:7) , a high-road thrown up with an embankment; (with the plural in m and oth ), a carriage-road; and , a footpath formed by the constant passing to and fro of travellers. Peaceable conduct, springing form a love of peace, and aiming at producing peace, is altogether strange to them; no such thing is to be met with in their path as the recognition of practice of right: they make their paths for themselves ( , dat. ethicus) , i.e., most diligently, twisting about; and whoever treads upon them ( bah , neuter, as in Isa 27:4), forfeits all enjoyment of either inward or outward peace. Shalom is repeated significantly, in Isaiah’s peculiar style, at the end of the verse. The first strophe of the prophecy closes here: it was from no want of power or willingness on the part of God, that He had not come to the help of His people; the fault lay in their own sins.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
8. The way of peace they know not. Some give an ingenious interpretation of the word “peace” as meaning a “peaceful” conscience; because the wicked must endure continual agony. But the Prophet summons wicked men to judgment, in order to show, by the transgression of the Second Table, that they have no sincerity and no kindness, and, in a word, that they are ἀστόργους without natural affection. He says that “they know not the way of peace;“ because their cruelty deprives them of justice and equity, by which human society is maintained, the very food of which is mutual peace and kindness; for justice and integrity are nourished by peace. And if every person, with unbridled rage, rush on his neighbors and attack them, there is then open war; for harmony cannot be preserved among us, unless equity be observed by every individual. (138)
And judgment is not in their steps. What he had just before said is expressed more clearly by the word “Judgment;” as if he had said, that they excite terror wherever they go, because they lay aside all integrity.
Whosoever walketh by them. The last clause may be taken in various senses; either, “Whosoever walketh in them shall also be a stranger to peace,” or, “He who falleth into the hands of the wicked shall find them to be savage and barbarous.” Either of those meanings is admissible, and I do not think it worth while to dispute much about them. Thus, after having spoken in general terms, and after having shown that it is not God who prevents the Jews from being prosperous, the Prophet descends to particulars, by which he explains more fully the manner in which they have become estranged from God, and have rendered themselves unworthy of his favor.
Here arises a difficulty; for Paul (Rom 3:17) quotes this passage for the purpose of condemning all mankind as being sinful and corrupted, and as having nothing good; while the Prophet appears to apply it especially to the men of his own time. But the answer is easy; for, while he expressly addresses the Jews, who thought that they were holier than other men, the Gentiles must also be included along with them. If it be objected that the Gentiles, while they live uprightly, “are a law to themselves,” (Rom 2:14) and that “uncircumcision is counted as circumcision,” (Rom 2:26) I reply that the Prophet represents God as complaining of all who have not been renewed by the Spirit of God. In this manner no man can be excepted, if he be viewed in his own nature; but the Prophet speaks of himself as not belonging to their number, because he had been regenerated and was guided by the Spirit of God.
Paul’s quotation of this passage was therefore appropriate; because he intended to show what sort of men they are whom God hath forsaken, and who are under the influence of their own nature. Although the depravity of men does not always break out into gross vice, and the Prophet’s design is to rebuke a very corrupt age; yet whenever crimes become so prevalent, we may behold, as in a mirror, what a pool and how deep a pool of every evil thing is the nature of man. And yet this discourse was undoubtedly very distasteful to the Jews, who were puffed up with vain glorying of the family from which they were descended; but since even they were not spared by the Spirit of God, there is no reason why other nations, who are not less sinful by nature, should wallow in their pleasures.
(138) “J. D. Michaelis and Umbreit go to opposite extremes in their interpretation of the first clause. The former makes the way of peace denote the way to happiness; the latter understands the clause to mean that they refuse all overtures of reconciliation. The obvious and simple meaning is, that their lives are not pacific but contentious.” Alexander.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
DISCOURSE: 995
NO PEACE IN THE WAY OF SIN
Isa 59:8. They have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.
THIS chapter deserves especial notice, not merely on account of its historical import, but particularly on account of the use made of it by the Apostle Paul. As written by the prophet, it seems descriptive of some peculiarly abandoned characters, who committed all manner of iniquity. But, as quoted by the Apostle, it is descriptive of mankind in general, and marks the entire depravity of our fallen nature. Now, in reading the Epistle to the Romans, we are apt to wonder how an inspired writer could deduce such a doctrine from passages which appear to afford so little foundation for it: for it seems strange to say, that because some pre-eminently wicked persons, of one age and country, were guilty of the most flagrant enormities, all persons, in all ages and countries, must have the same propensities. But I hesitate not to say, that the Apostles inference is just: for, if any persons enjoying the light of revelation were, notwithstanding all their advantages, so wicked, the fault was not in their accidental circumstances, but in their nature itself; and, consequently, all who possess the same nature must be partakers of the same propensities: and if they yield not to those propensities in the same manner as others, they must owe it, not to any superior goodness of their own, but to the preventing grace of God. It is not my intention to prosecute the subject before us to the extent that the Apostles example would justify: I shall satisfy myself with exhibiting,
I.
The characters here described
Of human nature, as born into the world, I forbear to speak: but of mens actions our text gives a just and universal description. We need not go back to the Jews: we need only to look amongst ourselves; and we shall find that all of us, without exception, whilst in our natural and unconverted state, are guilty of the crime here spoken of; We make us crooked paths. In proof of which, I will shew you our deviations,
1.
From the line of duty prescribed by the law
[You need not be told, I trust, what the law of God requires: it requires that we love God with all our heart, and mind, and soul, and strength; and that we love our neighbour as ourselves. But who amongst us has obeyed it? who has obeyed it for any one day or hour of his whole life? The truth is, that our whole life has been one continued scene of departure from it. Instead of loving God supremely, we have loved the creature above him, and have sought our happiness in it, rather than in him; and, instead of loving our neighbours as ourselves, we have lived in one continued state of selfishness; preferring our own ease, honour, interest, to that of others; and, in many instances, seeking our own welfare at the expense of that of others. But this matter admits of no doubt: we shall all readily acknowledge our deviations from the perfect law of God; and that, when tried by that standard, every mouth must be stopped, and all the world become guilty before God.]
2.
From the line of duty prescribed by the Gospel
[The Gospel is given us to remedy our departures from the law; and it prescribes repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And how have we obeyed that? Have we mourned over our sins as it became us? Have we, like the Publican, been so oppressed with a sense of our own unworthiness, that we have not ventured to look up to heaven, but, with downcast eyes, have smitten on our breasts, and cried, God be merciful to me, a sinner? Have we also implored mercy in Gods appointed way; pleading the merits of the Redeemers blood, and seeking reconciliation solely through his all-atoning sacrifice? And, under a full conviction of the insufficiency of every other help, have we lived altogether by faith on the Son of God; and determined to know nothing, and trust in nothing, but Jesus Christ, and him crucified? Say, Brethren, can you indeed appeal to God, that, from day to day, he witnesses your sighs and groans and tears, in your secret chamber, and sees you fleeing to the Lord Jesus Christ, just as the manslayer fled from the pursuer of blood to the city of his refuge? Alas! alas! if the truth be spoken, there have been in you as great and habitual deviations from the Gospel, as even from the law itself!]
3.
From the line of duty prescribed even by your own conscience
[Every one has some line which he has prescribed to himself. Now it is not my intention to inquire how far the line of any man accords either with the law or with the Gospel. The point to ascertain is, how far your conduct has agreed with the dictates of your own conscience? You have seen no evil in many of those things which are practised by the world at large: and it is not my intention to arraign your conduct in relation to any thing which your own mind has approved. But the question is, Have you not deviated, and very widely too, from the path which you yourselves have acknowledged to be right? Have you not left undone much which you were persuaded it was your duty to do; and done many things which you knew to be wrong? I again say, whatever latitude your own conscience has allowed you, have you not, in ten thousand instances, gone beyond it; and erred, both by defect and excess, from the very line which you have marked out for yourselves? I cannot doubt one moment what the testimony of your own consciences must be; and that you stand convicted, even in your own minds, of having made to yourselves crooked paths.]
Having declared the habits of those spoken of in my text, I proceed to mark,
II.
The awful condition of their souls
Whosoever walketh in the paths before described, cannot know peace. He cannot know it,
1.
In life
[I grant that those who are young and gay, and those who are prospering in the world, may enjoy something which they call peace: they may, for the most part, be free from anxieties and troubles in relation to their souls; and may go on in a round of pleasure without any material abatement, so as to account themselves, and be accounted by others, happy. But this continues only whilst they are able to shake off all sense of Gods presence, and all thought of death and judgment. Let but the thoughts of eternity rush into their minds, and there is an end of their gaiety at once: their mind is appalled: and they can find no relief, but in dissipating their unwelcome reflections, and drowning them in business or pleasure. Their peace, even at the best, is only like that which is enjoyed by the brute creation: it is not such as becomes a rational and immortal being. Scriptural peace consists in a state of reconciliation with God, and in the testimony of a good conscience. But how can this be possessed by one who is walking in crooked ways? It cannot be. As the prophet says, in the words before my text, The way of peace they know not: yea, rather, when they reflect at all, they are like the troubled sea, which cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked [Note: Isa 57:20-21.]. And for the truth of this, I appeal to you, even to the most gay and thoughtless among you. Why are you so averse to think of death and judgment? Is it not that such reflections are a source of pain to you, rather than of holy delight and pleasure? Yes, if once you come to the light, your boasted satisfactions issue in nothing but fear and terror.]
2.
In death
[Here again I must acknowledge, that many delude themselves with a persuasion of their own goodness; or of Gods mercy, which prevents him from executing the judgments he has threatened: and by these vain conceits they are buoyed up with a kind of hope, which yet rises but little above a brutish insensibility. As for looking up to God as a reconciled God and Father, and contemplating the blessedness of dwelling in his presence, they have no such thought: the utmost that they hope for, is a freedom from pain. They know not what it is to sprinkle their consciences with the blood of Christ, and to lay hold on the great and precious promises of the Gospel: they have no realizing views of Christ, as their Intercessor with God, or as their Forerunner, who is gone to prepare a place for them in heaven. These are the great constituents of scriptural peace: but of these things they know nothing: it is the upright soul alone whose end resembles this: his end is peace, in the best and highest sense: but of this, the man who walks in paths of his own has no conception: and, if he be at all awakened to a sense of his condition, he has nothing but a certain fearful looking-for of judgment and fiery indignation to consume him.]
3.
In the eternal world
[No, verily, there is no peace for the wicked there. At the instant of the departure of the soul from the body, all delusions vanish, and every thing which God has spoken is fulfilled. Then how glad would the sinner be, if rocks or hills could fall upon him, and hide him from the face of his offended God! But that cannot be: into the presence of his Judge must he go; and from him must he receive his eternal doom, even in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, prepared for the devil and his angels. What peace can be possessed there, let the rich man inform you, who wanted a drop of water to cool his tongue. Alas! they rest not day nor night, but drink incessantly of the cup of Gods wrath and indignation; and to all eternity will they be occupied in weeping and wailing, and gnashing their teeth. Such will be the issue of walking in the broad road which leadeth to destruction; nor will any escape it, but those who enter in at the strait gate, and walk in the narrow way that leadeth unto life.]
Address
1.
The erring
[Pause, I pray you, Brethren, and consider whither your feet are tending: for, whether you will believe it or not, they who walk in crooked paths shall never know peace. But, having warned you of this, let me tell you how you may have peace. Blessed be God! there is peace to be obtained through the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Peace. Yes: the day-spring from on high has visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace. Do you ask, How shall I obtain this? I answer, Come to him in penitence and faith; and you shall surely find rest unto your souls. Let me propose to you the pattern which is to be realized by innumerable multitudes in the latter day: They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble [Note: Jer 31:9.]. Return to God in this way, and then you may rest assured that your past iniquities shall not be your ruin.]
2.
Those who are walking in the right way
[Who is it that has made you to differ? You were once walking in crooked paths, even as others: but God, in his mercy, has stopped you, as he did the persecuting Saul, and brought you into the paths of righteousness for his names sake. Let a sense of this mercy fill you with thankfulness to the Lord, and with compassion to those who are yet ignorant and out of the way In particular, if a brother be drawn aside into any crooked path, be careful to restore him in a spirit of meekness; considering yourselves, lest you also be tempted [Note: Gal 6:1. Heb 12:12-13.] In truth, you must never forget how liable you yourselves are to be drawn aside by the cunning craftiness of men, or by the wiles of Satan, or by the power of your indwelling corruptions [Note: 2Pe 2:18.]. To this you are exposed, even after you have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; and your last end may actually become worse than your beginning [Note: 2Pe 2:20.]. And should you thus depart from your righteousness, your righteousness wherein you have lived will no more be remembered; but in the sin which you commit you will die [Note: Eze 33:18.]. Of this you are most solemnly warned by the Prophet David: As for such as turn aside to their crooked ways, the Lord will lead them forth with the workers of iniquity: but peace shall be upon Israel [Note: Psa 125:5.]. Be much therefore in prayer to God, to hold up your goings in his paths, that your footsteps slip not. And never imagine, for a moment, that you are beyond the danger of falling; but let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. In order to this, take diligent heed to your ways; and be careful to maintain a conscience void of offence towards both God and man. And despise not little things; for they will open the way for greater. In a word, let it be your constant endeavour to be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, shining among them as lights in the world [Note: Php 2:15.]. Then shall you possess the peace of God, which passeth all understanding; and I also shall rejoice, in that I have not run in vain nor laboured in vain [Note: Php 2:16.].]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 59:8 The way of peace they know not; and [there is] no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goeth therein shall not know peace.
Ver. 8. The way of peace they know not. ] Like salamanders, they love to live in the fire of contention, to swim against the stream with the trout, to sow sedition, as the devil, &c.
Shall not know peace.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The way, &c. See Rom 3:17.
Judgment = righteousness.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
way: Pro 3:17, Luk 1:79, Rom 3:17
no: Isa 59:14, Isa 59:15, Isa 5:7, Jer 5:1, Hos 4:1, Hos 4:2, Amo 6:1-6, Mat 23:23
judgment: or, right, Psa 58:1, Psa 58:2
crooked: Psa 125:5, Pro 2:15, Pro 28:18
whosoever: Isa 48:22, Isa 57:20, Isa 57:21
Reciprocal: 2Sa 17:1 – I will arise 2Ki 9:18 – What hast thou to do Psa 14:3 – all gone Isa 65:2 – which Eze 7:25 – and they Rom 3:12 – They are Rom 3:15 – General