Isaiah 1

Isaiah 1:10

10. — ye rulers of Sodom; — ye people of Gomorrah.] The incidental mention of these places in the preceding verse suggested to the Prophet this spirited address to the rulers and inhabitants of Jerusalem, under the character of princes of Sodom, and people of Gomorrah. Bp. Lowth

Isaiah 1:11

11. To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices &c.] Those hypocritical services which had no godliness, no sincerity, no true love of God in them, were not the services which God required, (ver. 12,) or took delight in. God would not accept of vain compliments, nor be bribed with pretended gifts, offered only to excuse from duty, to compound for sin, and to palliate unjust dealing. Dr. Waterland.

Isaiah 1:15

15. — I will hide mine eyes from you: — I will not hear:] What is the reason of all this? Because they were defective in the moral duties of religion; as it follows, “your hands are full of blood,” &c. No instituted service, no positive part of religion whatsoever, was ever acceptable, when moral duties were neglected: nay, so far from this are they, that God rejects them with abhorrence and disdain. We see from this what was acceptable to God for itself and its own sake in the Jewish religion: and under the Gospel our Saviour prefers a moral duty before any gift, Matt. v. 23, 24. Abp. Tillotson.

What God says here to the Jews for their over-multiplied fasts, and uncommanded sacrifices, He will say to all, who do any thing that agrees not with his laws, however specious and plausible, however good and acceptable it may seem to them. God “cannot

in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city.

Isaiah 1:16

16. Wash you, make you clean:] This refers to the preceding verse, “your hands are full of blood,” and alludes to the legal washings commanded on several occasions. Bp. Lowth. The pardon of sin upon repentance is expressed in Scripture by cleansing and purifying, to denote that the outward cleansing of the flesh was designed to put men in mind of the inward purification from sin and unrighteousness. Dr. Jenkin.

16, 17. — cease to do evil; Learn to do well:] The order in which these words are placed was evidently designed to teach us that the foundation of acting right is the avoiding of every thing wrong: several parts of Scripture lay down the same rule in almost the same terms, (see Amos v. 15, and places there quoted in the margin,) and many express or imply the same doctrine. Scarce any words are strong enough to express how much good bare cessation from doing evil would produce, and how great is the importance of the plain humble duty of an inoffensive life; in proportion as we root out hurtful inclinations, right ones will not fail to shoot up, and bring forth fruit, if in less quantity, yet such as will be accepted, but probably in plenty. Abp. Secker.

Isaiah 1:21

21. How is the faithful city become an harlot!] See the note on Exod. xxxiv. 16.

Isaiah 1:22

22. Thy silver is become dross.] Those good graces, which thou didst once profess to have, are now utterly corrupted and depraved; thine obedience, which was once sincere and pure, is now adulterated with abominable wickedness. Bp. Hall.

— thy wine mixed with water:] An image used for the adulteration of wine, with more propriety than may

Before CHRIST about 760. e Prov. 1. 23. Jer. 14. 12. Mic. 3. 4. multiply prayer. b Chap. 59. 3.

Isaiah 1:24

24. — Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries.] See the notes on Gen. vi. 6.

Isaiah 1:25

25. — take away all thy tin.] A very small quantity of tin makes silver extremely brittle, and it is difficult to separate these two metals; this gives peculiar force to the expression of the Prophet in this passage, as he had employed an allusion to silver at ver. 22. Parkhurst.

Isaiah 1:26

26. — I will restore thy judges as at the first, &c.] This relates, at least in its primary sense, to the restoration of the Jews after the seventy years of captivity. The promise contained in the latter part of this verse, taken in its full extent, relates to more flourishing times of the Church than the world has yet seen. W. Lowth.

Isaiah 1:29

29. For they shall be ashamed of the oaks &c.] The sacrificing in groves and shady places was an ancient rite of idolatry. This kind of worship is expressly forbidden in the law, Deut. xii. 2, 3; xvi. 21: and yet prevailed so much in the times of idolatrous kings, that the practice was not quite laid aside under religious princes. See 1 Kings xv. 14; xxii. 43. W. Lowth.

Isaiah 1:30

30. — as a garden that hath no water.] To enter into the energy of this comparison, we must consider, that in the hotter parts of the Eastern countries, a constant supply of water is necessary for the cultivation and even to the existence of a garden. There are none therefore without such a certain supply, either from some neighbouring river, or reservoirs collected from springs, or filled with rain-water in the proper season. The im-

mense works made by the ancient kings of Egypt for receiving the waters of the Nile, when it overflowed, for such uses, are well known: Solomon mentions his own works of the kind, Eccles. ii. 5, 6. All the gardens of Aleppo, according to Dr. Russell, are on the banks of the river that runs by that city, or on the sides of the rill that supplies their aqueduct; and Maundrell informs us, that at Damascus there is not a garden that has not a fine quick stream running through it. Harmer, Bp. Lowth.

Isaiah 1:31

31. — and the maker of it] The marginal reading, “and his work,” expresses the sense better, namely, that the idolaters and their devices shall perish together, however supported by secular power, or recommended by worldly grandeur. W. Lowth.

The same sense is conveyed by understanding the text in the following manner: And that mighty idol, whereto ye trust, shall be as tow; and the maker and worshipper of that idol shall be as a spark; and both of them shall burn together with unquenchable fire. Bp. Hall.

Chap. II. The prophecy, contained in the second, third, and fourth chapters, makes one continued discourse. The first five verses of this chapter foretel the kingdom of Messiah, the conversion of the Gentiles, and their admission into the Church. From the sixth verse to the end is foretold the punishment of the unbelieving Jews for their idolatrous practices, their confidence in their own strength, and distrust of God’s protection; and moreover the destruction of idolatry in consequence of the establishment of Messiah’s kingdom. The whole of the third chapter, with the first verse of the fourth, is a prophecy of the calamities of the Babylonian invasion and captivity; with a particular amplification of the distress of the proud and luxurious daughters of Zion. Chap. IV. 2—6, promises to the remnant, which shall have escaped this severe purgation, a future restoration to the favour and protection of God. This prophecy was probably delivered in the time of Jotham, or perhaps in that of Uzziah. Bp. Lowth.

Ver. 1. The word that Isaiah—saw] That is, the vision. W. Lowth.