Isaiah 59

/Thou shalt be such a proficient in godliness, that God’s service shall become delightful unto thee; (see Psal. xxxiv. 8.) not burdensome, as it was to those Jews whom the prophet Amos reproves, (viii. 5.) v And I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth.] I will exalt thee above thy neighbouring nations,,and give thee possession of their mountains, whither they,use to betake themselves, as to an impregnable fortress. (Compare Deut. xxxii. 13. xxxiii. 29. Ezek. xxxvi. 2.) And feed thee tvith the heritage of Jacob thy father J] Thou shaltenjoy the land I gave to him, and all those bless- Jngs which I promised to him and his posterity. The Jews seem to call God’s power into question, because he did not deliver them from their enemies, as he had formerly done. In answer to which cavil, the prophet tells them, it is not defect of power in God, but their own sins which hinder him from shewing his former favours towards them. However, he promises that God will at length visit and redeem them, not out of any regard to their merits, but purely for the sake of his own honour, and to make good his former promises*. [CtfAP. LX, severely punish the* foreign nations which have hecn the oppressors of God’s people; (see ver. 10, 11.) and make them feci the same miseries they have inflicted upon others. (See the note upon xxi. 2.) The Jews call all countries islands which they go to by sea: (See note on xi. 11.)

Isaiah 59:1

JSeIIOLD, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor his ear heavy, that he cannot hear, &c. The reason of the continuance of your calamities is not want, either of power in God to deliver you, or of goodness to hear your prayers: but your own iniquities make -him a stranger to you, interrupt the correspondence that used to lie between God and his people, and stop the course of his blessings.

Isaiah 59:4

None calleth for justice, nor any pleadeth for truth, &c.) There is no consideration had for justice, either in the public judicatories, or in men’s private dealings. »The arguments taken from right and wrong have no place in resolutions. Tliey conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity.] They form mischievous designs in their minds, which they afterward put in execution. (Compare Job xv. 35. Psal.,vii.l4.)

Isaiah 59:5

They hatch cockatrice’s eggs, and weave the spi- • ders web, &c. The same sense couched in metaphorical terms; their villanous contrivances being compared, first to a cockatrice’s eggs, which are rank poison in themselves, and when they arc hatched produce a venomous serpent: and then to a spidcr’sweb, both for the artificial fineness of them, and because they arc as so many nets to entrap -others.

Isaiah 59:6

Their webs shall not become garments, neither sltall they cover thetflselves tvith their ivoi*7cs. Though their contrivances arc finely wrought, yet they arc too thin and weak to be of any real advantage: (see Job viii. 14.) and their works can neither cover nor defend the actors.

Isaiah 59:8

They have made them crooked paths. They have turned, aside out of the way of God’s commandments, which are a plain and straight way. (Compare Psal. exxv. 5. Prov. ii. 15. j v. 27.)

Isaiah 59:9

Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us.~. Because we have no regard to justice nor honesty, God -will not plead our cause against our oppressors.. We wait for light, but behold obscurity.] Wo still hop6 for better times, but are under a cloud, in a dismal-conation. Compare lviii. 8. where happiness is expressed by the breaking forth of light.

Isaiah 59:10

• We grope for the wall like the blind. “We are surrounded with darkness, and have no glimmering of light or comfort; so that we know not which way to turn ourselves. ■ (Compare Deut. xxviii. 29.) We arein desolate places as dead men.] We are banished from the world, as the dead that have no longer any portion in it: the same sense is thus expressed, Psal. xliv.19. Thou hast smitten us into the place of dragons, (or serpents, that frequent solitary places: see the note upon xiii. 19.) and covered us with the shadow of death.

Isaiah 59:11

We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves. Sometimes we cry aloud; at other times we bemoan ourselves after a more silent manner. (Compare xxxviii. 14.)

Isaiah 59:12

For our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities we know them. Our sins are so public and notorious, that’ they fly in our faces, as it were,- and our conscience gives full evidence against us.

Isaiah 59:13

In transgressing and lying against the Lord. 1 See IvhMl..

Isaiah 59:14

And justice slandeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the streets, and equity cannot enter. Justice is described as if it were afraid to venture itself among such a crew of miscreants, where truth and integrity can find no admittance, or else are trampled under foot, and treated with the utmost contempt and insolence. Ver. 1G. And he saw that there was no man, and he wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation to him.] The words are parallel with those of Ezek. xxii. 30. " I sought for a man” among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land — but I found none." To the same purpose God saith here, That it was just matter of wonder, that scarce a righteous man should be found that might intercede with him by his prayers for the averting the Divine judgments.* (Compare Ixiv. 7.) When things were come to this pass, he wrought for his own name’s sake, and was resolved to exert his power for the delivering of his people, not out of any regard to their merits, but purely for his own honour, and to make good his former promises. (Compare lxiii. 5.) And his righteousness,it sustained him.] His justice in protecting the innocent, and punishing the wicked, made him go through with the undertaking in spite of all opposition.

Isaiah 59:17

For he put on righteousness as a breast-plate, and a helmet of solvation upon his head. The prophet describes God as a warrior completely armed: the two most considerable pieces of armour are those which defend the vital parts, the head and breast, /fo these he compares God’s faithfulness in performing his promises, and that salvation, or deliverance, which he will work for his people. And he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad tvith zeal as a cloak.] His indignation against his enemies, and his zeal for his own honour, (see the note on ix. 7.)* supplied the place of other accoutrements which belong to a soldier.

Isaiah 59:18

To the islands he will pay recompence. He will

Isaiah 59:19

So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. God’s thus appearing in behalf of his people, shall make his name and power known far and near. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.] When nothing seems able to withstand the enemy, but ho carries all before him’, as the flood overturns a country, then God himself will give him a remarkable check, and visibly interpose in behalf of his oppressed people. (Compare xxxi. 9.)

Isaiah 59:20

And the Redeemer shall come to Zion. This and the following verse are expounded by St. Paul of that general restoration of the Jewish nation, which ho assures us shall come to pass in the latter times. (See Rom. xi. 26, 27. compare Obad. ver. 17. 21.) And the words of the foregoing verse, which speak of God’s name being feared from one end of the world to the other, do plainly look that way, asralso the following chapter. And unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob.] God’s promises ate only made to the penitent. (Compare Ivii. 15. IS. lviii. 8. and see the notes upon xxvh. 12. xlviii. 22. liv. 13.)

Isaiah 59:21

My Spirit which is upon thee, and tny words which I have put into thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, &c. This must be understood of Christ, the great prophet and oracle of the church, who came from heaven to declare unto us the whole counsel of God, and whom we are to hear and obey in all things. (Compare li. 16. Ixi.l.) The words contain a promise to the church, his spiritual children, (compare viii. 18.) of being giddedby God’s Spirit into all truth, and that this Spirit shall continue with them for ever. Which promise shall receive its utmost completion, when God’s people shall be all righteous, and shall be taught of him. (See liv. 13. Ix. 21.)