Isaiah 1:12

When ye come to appear before me,.... At the grand festivals of the passover, pentecost, and tabernacles, at which times all the males in Israel appeared before God, Exodus 23:17 who hath required

When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?

When ye come to appear before me, upon the three solemn feasts, 34:23, or upon other occasions. Who hath required this at your hands, to wit, in this manner, and upon these terms? The thing that I commanded was not only nor chiefly that you should offer external sacrifices to me, but that you should do it with true repentance for all your sins, with faith in my promises, with hearty love to me, and sincere resolutions of devoting yourselves to my service, without which you offer me a dead carcass instead of a living sacrifice. My courts; the courts of my temple, which were two, that of the priests, and that where the people assembled, . So this reproof seems to be directed against both priests and people, as unworthy to enjoy this privilege.

Isaiah 1:12 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?Ver. 12. When ye come to appear before me.] Heb., To be seen; else all had been lost. Hypocrisy is very ostentous, it would be noted and noticed; whereas true devotion desireth not to be seen of any save him who seeth in secret. Who hath required this at your hand?] This is God’ s voice to all superstitious will-worshippers and carnal gospellers. "Friend, how camest thou in hither?" Who sent for thee to my service? Who hath forewarned this generation of vipers to flee from the wrath to come? What hast thou to do to take up my name? &c., to tread my courts, to pollute my presence? "This is the gate of the Lord, into which the righteous" only "should enter." "The sacrifice of the wicked is abomination; how much more when he bringeth it with a wicked mind." To tread my courts.] Or, Trample on; to foul it, and wear it out with their feet, as in some places marble crosses graven in pavements of Popish churches, with indulgences annexed for every time they are kissed, are even worn by the kisses of the devouter sex especially. Diodate noteth here that a phrase is picked out on purpose to show that these false appearances were rather acts of profane contempt than of right religion. The Greeks gave such honour to their temples that they durst not tread on the threshold thereof, but leap over it. The priests at their solemn services cried aloud εκαςεκαςοστιςαλιτρος, Gressus removete prophani. The Jews at this day, before they come to the synagogue, wash themselves, and scrape their shoes with an iron fastened in a wall at the entrance. The Habassines, a mongrel kind of Christians in Africa, do neither walk, nor talk, nor sit, nor spit, nor laugh in the church, nor admit dogs into the churchyards. Sed quorsum haec omnia? to what end is all this, without an honest care to lift up pure hands and holy hearts in God’ s presence? See Jeremiah 7:3-4; Jeremiah 7:9-11. Calcatis atria et teritis pavimentum. - A Lap. Sandys’ s Relat, of West. Relig., sec. 8.

(12) When ye come to appear before me.—Literally, before my face. This is the meaning given by the present Hebrew text, and it is, of course, adequate. The Syriac version and some modern scholars (e.g., Cheyne) adopt a reading which gives to see my face. In either case the implied thought is that the worshippers believed they came into the more immediate presence of Jehovah when, they entered the Temple courts. To “appear before God” was the normal phrase for visiting the Temple at the three great Feasts and other solemn occasions (Exodus 34:23; Psalms 42:3; Psalms 84:7).

Verse 12. When ye come to appear] Instead of לראות leraoth, to appear, one MS. has לראות liroth, to see. See De Rossi. The appearing before God here refers chiefly to the three solemn annual festivals. See Exodus 23:14. Tread my courts (no more)] So the Septuagint divide the sentence, joining the end of this verse to the beginning of the next: Πατειντηναυληνμου, ουπροσθησεσθε; "To tread my court ye shall not add-ye shall not be again accepted in worship."

12. to appear before me] R.V. marg. (following one Hebr. MS.) suggests to see my face, which is grammatically easier. It is thought that here and elsewhere the traditional text has substituted the passive for the active so as to avoid the appearance of anthropomorphism. On either view the phrase is a technical one, denoting the act of worship in the sanctuary: Exodus 23:15; Exodus 23:17; Exodus 34:20; Exodus 34:23; Deuteronomy 16:16; Deuteronomy 31:11; 1 Samuel 1:22. to tread] Better to trample; the idea of desecration is implied. This ending of the question seems weak: LXX. transfers the clause to the beginning of the next verse: “My courts ye shall no more trample; to bring oblations is vain, &c.”

When you come to appear before me - The temple was in Jerusalem, and was regarded as the habitation, or dwelling-place, of the God of Israel.

12. Who hath required this — That is, to appear in this formal, heartless, undevout way. The true way of appearing before the Lord is prescribed in Exodus 34:23-24; Deuteronomy 16:16-17.