Isaiah 59

Isa 59:1-21.

THE

PEOPLE'S

SIN THE

CAUSE OF

JUDGMENTS:

THEY AT

LAST

OWN

IT

THEMSELVES: THE

REDEEMER'S

FUTURE

INTERPOSITION IN

THEIR

EXTREMITY.

The reason why Jehovah does not deliver His people, notwithstanding

their religious services

(Isa 58:3),

is not want of power on His part, but because of their sins

(Isa 59:1-8);

Isa 59:9-15

contain their confession;

Isa 59:16-21,

the consequent promise of the Messiah.

1. hand . . . shortened--(See on

Isa 50:2).

ear heavy--

(Isa 6:10).

2. hid--Hebrew, "caused Him to hide"

(La 3:44).

3.

(Isa 1:15;

Ro 3:13-15).

hands . . . fingers--Not merely the "hands" perpetrate deeds of

grosser enormity ("blood"), but the "fingers" commit more minute acts of "iniquity."

lips . . . tongue--The lips "speak" openly "lies," the

tongue "mutters" malicious insinuations

("perverseness"; perverse misrepresentations of others)

(Jer 6:28; 9:4).

4. Rather, "No one calleth an adversary into court with justice,"

that is, None bringeth a just suit: "No one pleadeth with truth."

they trust . . . iniquity--(So

Job 15:35;

Ps 7:14).

5. cockatrice--probably the basilisk serpent, cerastes. Instead

of crushing evil in the egg, they foster it.

spider's web--This refers not to the spider's web being made to

entrap, but to its thinness, as contrasted with substantial

"garments," as

Isa 59:6

shows. Their works are vain and transitory

(Job 8:14;

Pr 11:18).

eateth . . . their eggs--he who partakes in their plans, or

has anything to do with them, finds them pestiferous.

that which is crushed--The egg, when it is broken, breaketh out as

a viper; their plans, however specious in their undeveloped form like

the egg, when developed, are found pernicious. Though the viper is

viviparous (from which "vi-per" is derived), yet during gestation, the

young are included in eggs, which break at the birth

[BOCHART]; however,

metaphors often combine things without representing everything to the

life.

6. not . . . garments--like the "fig leaves" wherewith Adam and Eve

vainly tried to cover their shame, as contrasted with "the coats of

skins" which the Lord God made to clothe them with

(Isa 64:6;

Ro 13:14;

Ga 3:27;

Php 3:9).

The artificial self-deceiving sophisms of human philosophy

(1Ti 6:5;

2Ti 2:16, 23).

7. feet--All their members are active in evil; in

Isa 59:3,

the "hands, fingers, lips, and tongue," are specified.

run . . . haste--

(Ro 3:15).

Contrast David's "running and hasting" in the ways of God

(Ps 119:32, 60).

thoughts--not merely their acts, but their whole thoughts.

8. peace--whether in relation to God, to their own conscience, or to

their fellow men

(Isa 57:20, 21).

judgment--justice.

crooked--the opposite of "straightforward"

(Pr 2:15; 28:18).

9. judgment far--retribution in kind because they had shown "no

judgment in their goings"

(Isa 59:8).

"The vindication of our just rights by God is withheld by Him from

us."

us--In

Isa 59:8

and previous verses, it was "they," the third person; here, "us

. . . we," the first person. The nation here speaks: God thus

making them out of their own mouth condemn themselves; just as

He by His prophet had condemned them before. Isaiah includes

himself with his people and speaks in their name.

justice--God's justice bringing salvation

(Isa 46:13).

light--the dawn of returning prosperity.

obscurity--adversity

(Jer 8:15).

10. grope--fulfilling Moses' threat

(De 28:29).

stumble at noon . . . as . . . night--There is no relaxation of our

evils; at the time when we might look for the noon of relief, there is

still the night of our calamity.

in desolate places--rather, to suit the parallel words "at noonday,"

in fertile (literally, "fat";

Ge 27:28)

fields [GESENIUS] (where all is promising) we

are like the dead (who have no hope left them); or, where

others are prosperous, we wander about as dead men; true

of all unbelievers

(Isa 26:10;

Lu 15:17).

11. roar--moan plaintively, like a hungry bear which growls for food.

doves--

(Isa 38:14;

Eze 7:16).

salvation--retribution in kind: because not salvation, but

"destruction" was "in their paths"

(Isa 59:7).

12.

(Da 9:5,

&c.).

thee . . . us--antithesis.

with us--that is, we are conscious of them

(Job 12:3,

Margin;

Job 15:9).

know--acknowledge they are our iniquities.

13. The particulars of the sins generally confessed in

Isa 59:12

(Isa 48:8;

Jer 2:19, 20).

The act, the word, and the thought of apostasy, are all here marked:

transgression and departing, &c.; lying (compare

Isa 59:4),

and speaking, &c.; conceiving and uttering from the

heart.

14. Justice and righteousness are put away from our legal courts.

in the street--in the forum, the place of judicature, usually at the

gate of the city

(Zec 8:16).

cannot enter--is shut out from the forum, or courts of justice.

15. faileth--is not to be found.

he that departeth . . . prey--He that will not fall in

with the prevailing iniquity exposes himself as a prey to the wicked

(Ps 10:8, 9).

Lord saw it--The iniquity of Israel, so desperate as to require

nothing short of Jehovah's interposition to mend it, typifies the same

necessity for a Divine Mediator existing in the deep corruption of man;

Israel, the model nation, was chosen to illustrate his awful fact.

16. no man--namely, to atone by his righteousness for the

unrighteousness of the people. "Man" is emphatic, as in

1Ki 2:2;

no representative man able to retrieve the cause of fallen men

(Isa 41:28; 63:5, 6;

Jer 5:1;

Eze 22:30).

no intercessor--no one to interpose, "to help . . . uphold"

(Isa 63:5).

his arm--

(Isa 40:10; 51:5).

Not man's arm, but His alone

(Ps 98:1; 44:3).

his righteousness--the "arm" of Messiah. He won the victory for us,

not by mere might as God, but by His invincible righteousness, as man having "the Spirit without measure"

(Isa 11:5; 42:6, 21; 51:8; 53:11;

1Jo 2:1).

17. Messiah is represented as a warrior armed at all points, going

forth to vindicate His people. Owing to the unity of Christ and His

people, their armor is like His, except that they have no "garments of

vengeance" (which is God's prerogative,

Ro 12:19),

or "cloak of zeal" (in the sense of judicial fury

punishing the wicked; this zeal belongs properly to God,

2Ki 10:16;

Ro 10:2;

Php 3:6;

"zeal," in the sense of anxiety for the Lord's honor, they have,

Nu 25:11, 13;

Ps 69:9;

2Co 7:11; 9:2);

and for "salvation," which is of God alone

(Ps 3:8),

they have as their helmet, "the hope of salvation"

(1Th 5:8).

The "helmet of salvation" is attributed to them

(Eph 6:14, 17)

in a secondary sense; namely, derived from Him, and as yet only in

hope, not fruition

(Ro 8:24).

The second coming here, as often, is included in this

representation of Messiah. His "zeal"

(Joh 2:15-17)

at His first coming was but a type of His zeal and vengeance against

the foes of God at His second coming

(2Th 1:8-10;

Re 19:11-21).

18. deeds--Hebrew, "recompenses"; "according as their

deeds demand" [MAURER].

This verse predicts the judgments at the

Lord's second coming, which shall precede the final redemption of His

people

(Isa 66:18, 15, 16).

islands--(See on

Isa 41:1).

Distant countries.

19.

(Isa 45:6;

Mal 1:11).

The result of God's judgments

(Isa 26:9; 66:18-20).

like a flood--

(Jer 46:7, 8;

Re 12:15).

lift up a standard--rather, from a different Hebrew root, "shall

put him to flight," "drive him away" [MAURER].

LOWTH, giving a different

sense to the Hebrew for "enemy" from that in

Isa 59:18,

and a forced meaning to the Hebrew for "Spirit of the Lord,"

translates, "When He shall come as a river straitened in its

course, which a mighty wind drives along."

20. to Zion--

Ro 11:26

quotes it, "out of Zion." Thus Paul, by inspiration, supplements

the sense from

Ps 14:7:

He was, and is come to Zion, first with redemption, being sprung

as man out of Zion. The Septuagint translates "for the

sake of Zion." Paul applies this verse to the coming restoration of

Israel spiritually.

them that turn from--

(Ro 11:26).

"shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob"; so the Septuagint,

Paul herein gives the full sense under inspiration. They turn

from transgression, because He first turns them from it, and it from

them

(Ps 130:4;

La 5:21).

21. covenant with them . . . thee--The covenant is with Christ, and with them only as united to Him

(Heb 2:13).

Jehovah addresses Messiah the representative and ideal Israel. The

literal and spiritual Israel are His seed, to whom the promise is to be

fulfilled

(Ps 22:30).

spirit . . . not depart . . . for ever--

(Jer 31:31-37;

Mt 28:20).