Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 63:18
The people of thy holiness have possessed [it] but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary.
18. The people while ] The want of an acc. to the verb excites suspicion, for it is hardly possible to take “thy sanctuary” as the obj. common to the two clauses. The text of the LXX., which reads “mountain” instead of “people” and has the verb in the first pers. plu., is perhaps to be preferred: For a little while have we possessed Thy holy mountain. Comp. ch. Isa 57:13.
The second part of the verse speaks of a desecration of the Temple, which apparently followed the possession of the land. The difficulty of reconciling these two facts has been pointed out in the Introductory Note above. If any destruction of the second Temple were known to have taken place about the time of Ezra, the circumstances would be explained. But the stronger statements in Isa 64:10-11 make it unlikely that if such a calamity had really happened it should not have been expressly mentioned, even in the meagre historical records which have been preserved of that period.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The people of thy holiness – The people who have been received into solemn covenant with thee.
Have possessed it but a little while – That is, the land meaning that the time during which they had enjoyed a peaceable possession of it, compared with the perpetuity of the promise made, was short. Such is the idea given to the passage by our translators. But there is considerable variety in the interpretation of the passage among expositors. Lowth renders it:
It is little, that they have taken possession of thy holy mountain;
That our enemies have trodden down thy sanctuary.
Jerome renders it, It is as nothing (quasi nihilum), they possess thy holy people; our enemies have trodden down thy sanctuary. The Septuagint renders it, Return on account of thy servants, on account of the tribes of thine inheritance, that we may inherit thy holy mountains for a little time hina mikron kleronomesomen tou orous tou hagiou). It has been generally felt that there was great difficulty in the place. See Vitringa. The sense seems to be that which occurs in our translation. The design is to furnish an argument for the divine interposition, and the meaning of the two verses may be expressed in the following paraphrase: We implore thee to return unto us, and to put away thy wrath. As a reason for this, we urge that thy temple thy holy sanctuary – was possessed by thy people but a little time. For a brief period there we offered praise, and met with our God, and enjoyed his favor. Now thine enemies trample it down. They have come up and taken the land, and destroyed thy holy place Isa 64:11. We plead for thine interposition, because we are thy covenant people. Of old we have been thine. But as for them, they were never thine. They never yielded to thy laws. They were never called by thy name. There is, then, no reason why the temple and the land should be in their possession, and we earnestly pray that it may be restored to the tribes of thine ancient inheritance.
Our adversaries – This whole prayer is supposed to be offered by the exiles near the close of their captivity. Of course the language is such as they would then use. The scene is laid in Babylon, and the object is to express the feelings which they would have then, and to furnish the model for the petitions which they would then urge. We are not, therefore, to suppose that the temple when Isaiah lived and wrote was in ruins, and the land in the possession of his foes. All this is seen in vision; and though a hundred and fifty years would occur before it would be realized, yet, according to the prophetic manner, he describes the scene as actually passing before him (see the Introduction, Section 7; compare the notes at Isa 64:11).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 18. The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while – “It is little that they have taken possession of thy holy mountain”] The difficulty of the construction in this place is acknowledged on all hands. Vitringa prefers that sense as the least exceptionable which our translation has expressed; in which however there seems to be a great defect; that is, the want of that in the speaker’s view must have been the principal part of the proposition, the object of the verb, the land, or it, as our translators supply it, which surely ought to have been expressed, and not to have been left to be supplied by the reader. In a word, I believe there is some mistake in the text; and here the Septuagint help us out; they had in their copy har, mountain, instead of am, people, , the mountain of thy Holy One. “Not only have our enemies taken possession of Mount Sion, and trodden down thy sanctuary; even far worse than this has befallen us; thou hast long since utterly cast us off, and dost not consider us as thy peculiar people.” – L.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The people of thy holiness; or, thy holy people, as being set apart for his servants; holiness being to be understood for a covenant separation from other people.
But a little while. i.e.
1. Comparatively to the promise, which was for ever, though they had possessed it about one thousand four hundred years. Or,
2. It seeming to them so, as things, especially such as are desirable, seem when they are past, Job 9:25,26; Psa 90 4. Or,
3. They enjoyed but small spaces of time in quietness, so they had small enjoyment of it. Or,
4. It may respect the temple, which stood but four hundred years.
Have trodden down thy sanctuary; the temple, called the sanctuary from the holiness of it; this our adversaries the Babylonians have trodden down, 2Ch 36:19; and this also implies their ruining of their whole ecclesiastical policy.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
18. people of . . . holinessIsraeldedicated as holy unto God (Isa 62:12;Deu 7:6).
possessednamely, theHoly Land, or Thy “sanctuary,” taken from the followingclause, which is parallel to this (compare Isa 64:10;Isa 64:11; Psa 74:6-8).
thyan argument why Godshould help them; their cause is His cause.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while,…. Either the land of Canaan, which the Jews, the Lord’s holy people, whom he had separated from others, possessed about fourteen hundred years, which was but a little while in comparison of “for ever”, as was promised; or they enjoyed it but a little while in peace and quiet, being often disturbed by their neighbours; or else the sanctuary, the temple, as it is to be supplied from the next clause, which stood but little more than four hundred years:
our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary; the temple; the first temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar; and the second temple by the Romans; and Antiochus, and Pompey, and others, profaned it, by treading in it.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
But the existing condition of Israel looks like a withdrawal of this grace; and it is impossible that these contrasts should cease, unless Jehovah comes down from heaven as the deliverer of His people. Isa 63:8, Isa 63:19 (Isa 64:1). “For a little time Thy holy people was in possession. Our adversaries have trodden down Thy sanctuary. We have become such as He who is from everlasting has not ruled over, upon whom Thy name was not called. O that Thou wouldst rend the heaven, come down, the mountains would shake before thy countenance.” It is very natural to try whether yar e shu may not have tsarenu for its subject (cf., Jer 49:2); but all the attempts made to explain the words on this supposition, show that lammitsar is at variance with the idea that yar e shu refers to the foes. Compare, for example, Jerome’s rendering “ quasi nihilum (i.e., ad nihil et absque allo labore ) possederunt populum sanctum tuum ;” that of Cocceius, “ propemodum ad haereditatem ;” and that of Stier, “for a little they possess entirely Thy holy nation.” Mitsar is the harsher form for m izar , which the prophet uses in Isa 10:25; Isa 16:14; Isa 29:17 for a contemptibly small space of time; and as is commonly used to denote the time to which, towards which, within which, and through which, anything occurs (cf., 2Ch 11:17; 2Ch 29:17; Ewald, 217, d), lammitsar may signify for a (lit. the well-known) short time ( per breve tempus ; like , a year long). If m iqdash could mean the holy land, as Hitzig and others suppose, m iqdashekha might be the common object of both sentences (Ewald, 351, p. 838). But m iqdash Jehovah (the sanctuary of Jehovah) is the place of His abode and worship; and “taking possession of the temple” is hardly an admissible expression. On the other hand, yarash ha’arets , to take possession of the (holy) land, is so common a phrase (e.g., Isa 60:21; Isa 65:9; Psa 44:4), that with the words “Thy holy people possessed for a little (time)” we naturally supply the holy land as the object. The order of the words in the two clauses is chiastic. The two strikingly different subjects touch one another as the two inner members. Of the perfects, the first expresses the more remote past, the second the nearer past, as in Isa 60:10. The two clauses of the v. rhyme – the holiest thing in the possession of the people, which was holy according to the choice and calling of Jehovah, being brought into the greatest prominence; boses = , Luk 21:24; Rev 11:2. Hahn’s objection, that the time between the conquest of the land and the Chaldean catastrophe could not be called m itsar (a little while), may be answered, from the fact that a time which is long in itself shrinks up when looked back upon or recalled, and that as an actual fact from the time of David and Solomon, when Israel really rejoiced in the possession of the land, the coming catastrophe began to be foreboded by many significant preludes.
The lamentation in Isa 63:19 proceeds from the same feeling which caused the better portion of the past to vanish before the long continuance of the mournful present. Hitzig renders “we were;” Hahn, “we shall be;” but here, where the speaker is not looking back, as in Isa 26:17, at a state of things which has come to an end, but rather at one which is still going on, it signifies “we have become.” The passage is rendered correctly in S.: (or better, ) . The virtual predicate to haynu commences with m eolam : “we have become such (or like such persons) as,” etc.; which would be fully expressed by , or merely , or without , and simply by transposing the words, (cf., Oba 1:16): compare the virtual subject in Isa 48:14, and the virtual object in Isa 41:25 (Ewald, 333, b). Every form of “as if” is intentionally omitted. The relation in which Jehovah placed Himself to Israel, viz., as its King, and as to His own people called by His name, appears not only as though it had been dissolved, but as though it had never existed at all. The existing state of Israel is a complete practical denial of any such relation. Deeper tones than these no lamentation could possibly utter, and hence the immediate utterance of the sigh which goes up to heaven: “O that Thou wouldst rend heaven!” It is extremely awkward to begin a fresh chapter with (“as when the melting fire burneth”); at the same time, the Masoretic division of the vv. is unassailable.
(Note: In the Hebrew Bibles, Isa 64:1-12 commences at the second v. of our version; and the first v. is attached to Isa 63:19 of the previous chapter. – Tr.)
For Isa 63:19 (Isa 64:1) could not be attached to Isa 64:1-2, since this v. would be immensely overladen; moreover, this sigh really belongs to Isa 63:19 (Isa 63:19), and ascends out of the depth of the lamentation uttered there. On utinam discideris = discinderes , see at Isa 48:18. The wish presupposes that the gracious presence of God had been withdrawn from Israel, and that Israel felt itself to be separated from the world beyond by a thick party-wall, resembling an impenetrable black cloud. The closing member of the optative clause is generally rendered ( utinam ) a facie tua montes diffluerent (e.g., Rosenmller after the lxx ), or more correctly, defluerent (Jerome), as nazal means to flow down, not to melt. The meaning therefore would be, “O that they might flow down, as it were to the ground melting in the fire” (Hitzig). The form nazollu cannot be directly derived from nazal , if taken in this sense; for it is a pure fancy that nazollu may be a modification of the pausal with o for a , and the so-called dagesh affectuosum). Stier invents a verb med. o. . The more probable supposition is, that it is a niphal formed from zalal = nazal (Ewald, 193, c). But zalal signifies to hang down slack, to sway to and fro (hence zolel , lightly esteemed, and zalzallm , Isa 18:5, pliable branches), like zul in Isa 46:6, to shake, to pour down;
(Note: Just as the Greek has in addition to – the much simpler and more root-like – ; so the Semitic has, besides , the roots , : compare the Arabic , , , all three denoting restless motion.)
and nazollu , if derived from this, yields the appropriate sense concuterentur (compare the Arabic zalzala , which is commonly applied to an earthquake). The nearest niphal form would be (or resolved, , Jdg 5:5); but instead of the a of the second syllable, the niphal of the verbs has sometimes o , like the verb (e.g., , Isa 34:4; Ges. 67, Anm. 5).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
18. For a little time. It is wonderful that the people should call it “a little time;” for fourteen hundred years had elapsed since the people began to possess that land. But we must take into account the promise by which he said that the seed of Abraham should have it as an everlasting inheritance; and therefore that was a short time, when compared with eternity. (Gen 17:8.) Believers, therefore, represent to God the shortness of that time; not that they accuse him of insincerity, but that he may remember the promise and covenant, and may have more regard to his own goodness than to the chastisements which they justly deserved. Thus the ancient Church complains that
“
her strength was weakened in the journey, that her days were shortened, and prays that she may not be cut off in the middle of her course,” (Psa 102:23,)
that is, because the fullness of age depended on the coming of Christ.
Our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary. This was a much heavier complaint, that wicked men had profaned the land which the Lord had consecrated to himself. Undoubtedly this was far more distressing to the people than the rest of their calamities, and justly; for we ought not to care so much about ourselves as about religion and the worship of God. And this is also the end of redemption, that there may be a people that praises the name of the Lord and worships him in a right manner.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(18) The people of thy holiness . . .Better, For a little while have they possessed thy sanctuary, or, with a various reading, thy holy mountain. The plea is addressed to Jehovah, on the ground of His promise that the inheritance was to be an everlasting one. Compared with that promise, the period of possession, from Joshua and David to the fall of the monarchy, was but as a little while. (Comp. Psa. 90:4.) The seeming failure of the promise was aggravated by the fact that the enemies of Israel had trodden down the sanctuary.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
18, 19. The people of thy holiness People adhering to principles of the divine holiness, is an expression stronger than the phrase, thy holy people, and is to be preferred. God’s interposition in their behalf is pleaded for in the preceding, and continued in this verse, on the ground that, as the covenant people with God, they held peaceable possession of the land of promise but a little while, because their sins had made him to become their enemy; but now that they return in penitence, they plead for spiritual and eternal possession on the ground of such having been the intent of the covenant on God’s part. Besides, the original and literal promised possession is now trodden down by foes, and this gives reason for his people’s stronger and more persistent pleading. Besides, still further, say they, We are thine. Thy foes are not thy people. They will not have thee as their ruler. We are of old. We belong to the line who always held sacred thy spiritual covenant. Yet “but a little while” have we held spiritual possession.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
A Plea for God’s Interference
v. 18. The people of Thy holiness have possessed it but a little while, v. 19. We are Thine; Thou never barest rule over them, they were not called by Thy name,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Isa 63:18-19. The people of thy holiness Or, Thy holy people have possessed [the land] but for a little time, &c. Isa 63:19. We have been as they over whom thou never bearest rule, and upon whom thy name was not called. There is no doubt but that the calamity of the external state of the Jewish people is here described. If we compare this description with the repetition of the same calamity, Isa 63:10-11 of the next chapter, we can have no doubt that these words pertain to the state of the Jewish people, banished as they are, and have been for a long time, from the land which, in comparison of this tedious exile, they possessed but a little while; their sanctuary and holy city being possessed and trodden down by their bitterest enemies: so that they are in such a state as to seem like people who never were the chosen and peculiar people of God. See chap. Isa 42:7 Isa 44:5 compared with chap. Isa 4:1. There cannot be any thing more striking than the miserable state of this once-favoured people, now dispersed and distressed throughout all the kingdoms of the world.
REFLECTIONS.1st, The former chapter closed with the promise of the Saviour’s appearing; this opens with the fulfilment of that promise, and the glorious victory obtained by the Redeemer over the powers of darkness, through his incarnation; or it points to the overthrow of all the enemies of his church in the last days.
1. The prophet, as suddenly surprised with the appearance of this glorious personage, with abrupt inquiry asks, Who is this? Is the form human or divine, that I behold? He cometh from Edom, the country of the professed enemies of the church, with dyed garments from Bozrah; like some victorious conqueror, who, having sacked the capital of his foes, returns in triumph, his sword yet reeking from the slaughter, and his garments dyed with the blood of the slain: this that is glorious in his apparel, bearing in his person, aspect, and dress, the marks of transcendant dignity: travelling in the greatness of his strength; not faint through fatigue, nor weary with his march; but with power irresistible, and zeal unquenchable, advancing with majestic stateliness to new conquests, till every foe becomes his footstool.
2. The great God-man approaches this devout inquirer; and, terrible as his aspect seemed, his lips are full of grace, and his answer unspeakably kind and gracious. I that speak in righteousness, whose word is truth itself, and his promises to be fully relied upon by every faithful soul: or of righteousness; that glorious plan of redemption, to accomplish which is the great design of my appearance, and to reveal it, the office of my Spirit; in virtue whereof I am mighty to save; to save to the uttermost from sin, corruption, death, and hell; and none so guilty, none so desperate, as to be beyond the power of my grace.
3. Encouraged by the condescensions he had experienced, the prophet humbly presumes to renew his inquiry. If thou art not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save, Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the wine-fat? These bloody ensigns seem to bespeak destruction, not salvation; and mark the arm of inexorable justice, rather than forbearing mercy. Note; Though doubts disturb, and fears dismay, the farther we inquire into the divine word, the more will they be removed and silenced.
4. The Saviour with fullest satisfaction resolves his question. I have trodden the wine-press, and underneath my feet sin, death, and hell, as vanquished foes, are fallen; and with the blood of these my adversaries is my raiment discoloured. This victory have I gained alone, too great to need an associate, and infinitely too jealous of mine own honour to accept assistance. Of the people there was none with me; none of the inhabitants of heaven or earth to afford the least succour, or take the least share in the glorious work. The salvation of sinners, their eternal redemption from wrath to glory, is my act alone: yours be the benefit, mine the honour. For I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; my former victories ensure my future: what foes soever yet remain, in wrath unquenchable, and fury irresistible, will I tread into the dust; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment: the powers of antichristian tyranny shall be broken, and my garments dipt in blood, Rev 19:13 for the day of vengeance is in mine heart; fixed and immutable is the decree, the day determined, when the blood of my martyrs and suffering saints shall be recompensed; and the year of my redeemed is come, when all my faithful ones shall be collected, and their triumphs begin. And I looked, and there was none to help; as at the first, when, sunk in helpless misery, the race of men lay weltering in their blood; so under the power of antichrist, prostrate in the dust, the Redeemer beholds his church in the latter day: and I wondered that there was none to uphold the sinking cause, and the afflicted people. None, none were found able or willing to espouse their quarrel, or attempt their deliverance; therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me; that arm of omnipotence, which alone could accomplish it: and my fury, it upheld me; zeal for his people’s safety and honour, indignation against their enemies, burned in his bosom, and urged him to take vengeance to the uttermost. And I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury; putting into their hands the cup of the wine of the wrath of God, and making them drink the dregs thereof: and I will bring down their strength to the earth, giving them an utter overthrow, and covering them with everlasting desolations. Note; (1.) When all other help fails, Christ never fails those who trust him. (2.) Though our deliverance may seem long delayed and our enemies triumphant, the decree is gone forth against them, and he that cometh, will come, and will not tarry. (3.) They who persist in drinking of the intoxicating cup of sin, will shortly be made to drink the cup of trembling.
2nd, As an encouragement to hope for future mercies, the prophet takes a review of the past, so wonderfully and graciously vouchsafed unto them.
1. He makes a grateful acknowledgment in general of all the mercies and loving-kindnesses of God to his people, so numberless, so great, that they were more than he is able to express, and all the effects of his boundless grace and undeserved favour. Note; (1.) When we review God’s mercies toward us with an enlightened mind, we shall be lost in wonder, love, and praise. (2.) Every blessing that we can enjoy of providence, grace, or glory, in time or eternity, flows not from the least merit in us, for we have none, but from God’s infinitely rich and gratuitous mercy.
2. He mentions some especial instances of his kindness. For he said, Surely they are my people; he had proffered to them all his unsearchable riches, and justly expected that they would approve themselves to him in all fidelity and truth: children that will not lie; neither be false to their vows, nor hypocritical in his service: so he was their Saviour, from their house of bondage in Egypt particularly, and as he ever was and is, of every faithful soul, from every enemy, from every danger. In all their affliction he was afflicted; he felt with tender sympathy every burden under which they groaned, and came with kindest compassion and welcome relief to deliver them. Or it may read, In all their affliction there was no affliction; the sense of his love alleviated their sorrows, and made every burden light; and the angel of his presence saved them; the Lord Jesus Christ, the uncreated angel who was with Israel in the wilderness, and whose voice they were enjoined to obey, Exo 23:20-21. In his love and in his pity he redeemed them from their state of hard servitude; and he bare them in his arms, as a shepherd the weak lambs of his flock; and carried them all the days of old; while he cut off the rebellious generation, he brought his obedient people safe to their promised rest in Canaan. And thus doth the Redeemer regard and care for and protect all those who simply, faithfully, and perseveringly rely upon him. Note; (1.) The children of God will not lie; for they who do so, prove their parentage to be of their father the devil. (2.) It is a comfort to God’s afflicted people, that they have a compassionate high-priest, who can be touched with the feeling of their infirmities. (3.) They who look for their portion in a better world, sit easy under this world’s troubles: they know that they are both light and momentary. (4.) If the angel of God’s presence had not borne us up, many a time must we already have utterly fainted in our journey towards the heavenly Canaan.
3. Their repeated and long-continued ingratitude at last brought his rod upon them. They rebelled, and vexed his Holy Spirit; rejected God from being their king, cast off their allegiance; and, by their unbelief, murmuring, and idolatry, forsook his covenant, deaf to the warnings of Moses and the prophets; as the Scribes and Pharisees in our Lord’s day, the true children of their fathers, always resisted the Holy Ghost; in consequence of which, God, that offended God whose favour they had so abused, turned to be their enemy, and fought against them, with repeated strokes of his indignation, both in the wilderness, and after their settlement in Canaan, till their captivity in Babylon; and as he did afterwards, till the Romans came and destroyed them. Note; Sin is the cause of all our misery: if God from our friend becomes our foe, surely this makes the quarrel.
4. They reflect upon the particular favours of God, when first he formed them into a people. Some understand these as the words of God, calling to mind his own mercies of old, as an argument still to do them good, and manifest his pity towards them. Others suppose these to be the reflections of the few faithful among them, still encouraging themselves from past experience to hope for his mercy. Then he remembered the days of old, Moses and his people, saying, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea, with the shepherd, or shepherds of his flock, Moses, Aaron, and the elders of Israel? where is he that put his Holy Spirit within him? in Moses, or the people of Israel, who were taught and instructed of God: and this they mention as mourning over the sad change, and complaining of the absence of God’s Spirit; or as an humble expostulation and prayer for the return of his blessed influences: that led them by the right hand of Moses, strengthening and prospering him as their captain, with his glorious arm, enabling their leader to perform miracles for their preservation; dividing the water before them, at the Red Sea, to make himself an everlasting name? by their miraculous deliverance, and the destruction there brought upon their enemies: that led them through the deep, as an horse in the wilderness, or in the plain, that they should not stumble? as easy their passage between the divided waters, as dry and safe, as when a horse travels on a level road: As a beast goeth down into the valley, softly and gently, so the Spirit of the Lord caused them to rest; either when they descended from the shore into the depths of the sea, they did it gently, and without precipitation, secure in the divine protection; or it refers to their several stations in the wilderness, where, under God’s direction, they rested safe under his divine support. So didst thou lead thy people, to make thyself a glorious name; his honour being concerned in protecting them; and this being the ultimate design of all his works and ways to manifest his own glory, and engage the everlasting praise of his faithful people. Note; (1.) If God call us to pass through the depths of the sea, the sorest trials, or the most imminent dangers, he can make the path plain, and enable us in confidence and peace to go safely through. (2.) If we ever find true rest to our souls, it must come from the Eternal Spirit; for this world saith, It is not in me. (3.) When God’s glory is the great end we aim at in all our works and ways, then we truly correspond with the divine will.
3rdly, We have the importunate prayer of God’s people, which is continued through the following chapter. It was penned for their use in captivity, either in Babylon, or in their present dispersion, and is applicable to the church of God during its afflicted state, as well as to particular believers.
1. They desire a gracious hearing. Look down from heaven; not that his eyes ever cease to go to and fro in the earth, but they beg a look of tender pity and regard, and that God would bend his ear to the voice of their humble petitions; and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory; the place where he is pleased to fix his radiant throne, within the highest heavens, where the Most Holy dwells, and holy angels celebrate his praise. Note; When we consider what a holy God we approach, and what sinful dust and ashes we are, it becomes us ever to appear before him with deeper humility, reverence, and godly fear.
2. They lament their miserable case. O Lord, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways? and hardened our heart from thy fear? They had erred from God’s ways and worship, and hardened themselves against his fear and his warnings, and God had now given them up to their own hard hearts in just judgment; and this was matter of deep complaint to those whose eyes were opened to see their people’s state. They did not charge God with their sins, as the author of them, but lamented the sore visitations they had provoked by them; and no sufferings are more deplorable than those spiritual judgments. Our adversaries also have trodden down thy sanctuary: the ruin of their lands the losses of their own family, were to the pious, no doubt, heavy afflictions; but God’s temple fallen, his service interrupted, this swallowed up every other grief.
3. They make their plea for mercy to the God of all mercy.
[1.] They urge his former dealings with them. Where is thy zeal, thy jealousy for thy own glory, while the enemies of Zion blaspheme; thy fervent love towards thy people, which of old appeared; and thy strength? Is thine arm shortened, that it cannot save? the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies, that used to melt over every distress of Israel, are they restrained? Hath the Lord forgotten to be gracious? will he be no more intreated? No; it cannot be: thou wilt surely turn and refresh us, and bring us from the depths of the earth again. For,
[2.] Doubtless thou art our Father; provoking as our transgressions have been, we cannot quit the dear relation in which we once stood: and shall not the meltings of thy paternal heart still admit the claim, and receive the returning prodigals? Though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not; either they are gone, neither know our case, nor can assist us with their advice and prayers; or rather, though, were they again on earth, they might be led to disown such degenerate children; yet, greater are thy compassions, thou, O Lord, art our Father; faith cannot quit the plea, unworthy as we are to be called thy sons; our Redeemer, thy name is from everlasting, the same in mercy and goodness for ever.
[3.] They plead the covenant established with their fathers and them. Return for thy servants’ sake; return in mercy, or turn from thy wrathful indignation, for the sake of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with whom the covenant was made; or for the sake of the few faithful which remained, the tribes of thine inheritance, by right thine, and in duty and gratitude bound to be thy servants; save us, that we may be such; nor suffer us longer to serve strangers, or strange gods, in a strange land.
[4.] They urge the short enjoyment they had of the promised land and the sanctuary of God. The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while: separated as they were from all others, and consecrated to God, they hoped to have possessed the land for ever; but short, comparatively, was their abode in Canaan, about 1400 years in all, and seldom in peace and quietness; while their temple had a much shorter duration, and stood little more than 400.
[5.] They plead, We are thine: they were so in profession, and promised to be such in practice, when the Lord should turn their captivity. Thou never barest rule over them, their conquerors and oppressors, to whom God had not stood in that dear relation, in which he had done to the Jews: they were not called by thy name; not regarded as his peculiar people, nor professed his blessed service: and surely God will not suffer these to trample down that people, who, though they have been unfaithful, yet bore his name, and desire to be re-admitted to his favour, and to yield themselves up to his service. Note; When we return unto God, we may be fully sure that he will return unto us.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Isa 63:18 The people of thy holiness have possessed [it] but a little while: our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary.
Ver. 18. The people of thine holiness have possessed it but a little while, ] viz., In respect of that perpetuity promised them by thee; Gen 17:8 ; Gen 26:3 ; Gen 28:13 Exo 32:13 besides the many calamities that have befallen us, whereby we have had small enjoyment of this thine inheritance. All the days of the afflicted are evil, Pro 15:15 their life lifeless, and not to be reckoned on.
Our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The People of Thy holiness = Thy holy People. Figure of speech Enallage. See note on Exo 3:5. Reference to Pentateuch (Deu 7:6; Deu 26:19).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
people: Isa 62:12, Exo 19:4-6, Deu 7:6, Deu 26:19, Dan 8:24, 1Pe 2:9
our: Isa 64:11, Isa 64:12, Psa 74:3-7, Lam 1:10, Lam 4:1, Mat 24:2, Rev 11:2
Reciprocal: Gen 13:15 – General Deu 4:20 – a people Deu 30:18 – General Psa 89:45 – The Isa 29:17 – yet a very Jer 12:10 – trodden Lam 1:5 – adversaries Lam 2:6 – he hath violently Lam 5:2 – General Dan 8:13 – to be Mic 2:4 – he hath changed Luk 21:24 – Jerusalem
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
63:18 The people of thy holiness have possessed [it] but a little {x} while: our adversaries have trodden down thy sanctuary.
(x) That is, in respect to the promise, which is perpetual: even though they had now possessed the land of Canaan for 1400 years: and thus they lament, to move God rather to remember his covenant, than to punish their sins.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The holy people that the Lord had redeemed were dispossessed following the Exile. They had possessed the temple only briefly. The first temple stood in Jerusalem from about 959-586 B.C. or approximately 374 years. Instead of God treading down Israel’s adversaries, those adversaries had trodden down the temple.