Isaiah 65:2

I have spread out mine hands all the day unto a rebellious people,.... Meaning Israel, as the apostle explains it, Romans 10:21, whom he calls a "disobedient and gainsaying people"; who believed not

I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts; Spread out my hands - inviting them earnestly (Proverbs 1:24).

I have spread out my hands; applied to the Jews, , I have stretched out my hands; that is, I have used all probable means to reduce them, I have stretched out the hands of a passionate orator to persuade them, of a tender mother to protect and defend them, of a liberal benefactor to lead them with my benefits; this I have done continually in the whole course of my providence with them, yet they are a rebellious people. Paul expounded it by, apeiyounta kai antigegonta, a people not persuaded, not believing, but contradicting the will of God. Which walketh in a way that was not good; that term, is not good, often signifies what is very bad: see 28:21 . Though all sins be not equal, yet what is not good is bad. After their own thoughts: what is here called after their own thoughts, is elsewhere called a walking after the imaginations of their hearts; an ordinary phrase, by which sins (especially sins in the matter of the worship of God) are expressed. Eight times, in the prophet Jeremiah sinning is thus expressed, 7:24 9:14 11:8 13:10 16:12 18:12 23:17; so also . Errors in matter of worship are ordinarily thus expressed, certainly to let us know that all worship must be according to God’ s revealed will, and of such errors this text seemeth, by what followeth, to speak; though indeed the reason of all sin is men’ s fondness of their own imaginations in opposition to God’ s revealed will, whence it is that self-denial is made the law of a discipleship to Christ.

Isaiah 65:2 I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way [that was] not good, after their own thoughts;Ver. 2. I have spread out my hands.] As preachers use to do, or as those that invite and beckon others to themselves with the hand. See Matthew 11:28. Unto a rebellious people.] Whose destruction therefore is of themselves, since they will not be ruled, reclaimed. After their own thoughts.] Which were evil, only evil, continually so. A toad may as easily spit a cordial, as a natural man think a good thought.

(2) I have spread out my hands . . .—Here, of course, the words were meant for Israel, as St. Paul applies them. It may not be without interest to note the fact that the words stand over the portal of the Church of Santa Maria, which stands at the entrance of the Ghetto at Rome. Of how many churches at Rome and elsewhere might it not be said, “Thou art the man,” “The beam is in thine own eye”?

2. spread out mine hands] The attitude of supplication; cf. Proverbs 1:24. a rebellious (refractory, Hosea 4:16) people] LXX. has; λαὸνἀπειθοῦντακαὶἀντιλέγοντα; and so the citation Romans 10:21. a way that was not good] “A not-good way” (litotes). The same phrase in Psalms 36:4; Proverbs 16:29. The people referred to here are necessarily the same as those described in the sequel. If these be the paganised Israelites of the North who had not shared the Captivity the two verses reveal an important fact not otherwise recorded. The prophetic representatives of Jehovah in the post-exilic community must, in that case, have sought to win over these outcasts to the pure worship of Jehovah, and the acceptance of the Law. This might appear to be inconsistent with what is told in Ezra 4:1-3, where the friendly advances of the Samaritans are met with a stern refusal on the part of the Jews. But the contradiction is perhaps only apparent. The Jewish leaders might very well have declined the co-operation of these people while they maintained their impure religion, and at the same time been eager to incorporate them in the Theocracy on the terms offered to foreigners in ch. Isaiah 56:6 f. In Romans 10:20-21, St Paul quotes parts of these verses, applying Isaiah 65:1 to the conversion of the Gentiles and Isaiah 65:2 to the unbelief of Israel. Possibly this exegesis may have been traditional in the Apostle’s time (Delitzsch), although the primary sense of the passage is that the same persons are referred to throughout.

I have spread out my hands - To spread out the hands is an action denoting invitation or entreaty Proverbs 1:24.

1, 2. Sought of them that asked not — The first verse refers to the Gentiles; the second to the Jews. So St. Paul in Romans 10:20-21.