Hear, heavens, and listen, earth; for Yahweh has spoken: “I have nourished and brought up children and they have rebelled against me.
The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master’s crib; but Israel doesn’t know. My people don’t consider.”
Ah sinful nation, a people loaded with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken Yahweh. They have despised the Holy One of Israel. They are estranged and backward.
Why should you be beaten more, that you revolt more and more? The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.
From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it: wounds, welts, and open sores. They haven’t been closed, bandaged, or soothed with oil.
Your country is desolate. Your cities are burned with fire. Strangers devour your land in your presence and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv2–7 Because men were obstinate and insensible, he calleth to…
Because men were obstinate and insensible, he calleth to the dumb creatures, which were more prompt to obey God’s word, as Deut. 32:1.
He declareth his great mercy toward the Jews forasmuch as he chose them above all other nations to be his people and children, as Deut. 10:15.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv2–7 Isa 1:2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O…
Isa 1:2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
Ver. 2. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth.] Exordium patheticum! Moses-like, he calleth heaven and earth, brutas illas mutasque creaturas, to record against God’s rebels, whose stupendous stupidity is hereby taxed. {Deu 4:26; Deu 30:19; Deu 31:28} Heaven and earth do hear and obey God’s voice, for "they are all his servants," {Psa 119:91} keeping their constant course. Only man, that great heteroclite, {a} breaketh order, and is therefore worse than other creatures, because he should be better.
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For the Lord hath spoken it.] So Jer 13:15, "Hear and give ear; be not proud: for the Lord hath spoken it." Jehovah, whose voice "shaketh not the earth only, but the heavens also," {Heb 12:26 Psa 104:32} at whose dreadful presence mountains melt, rocks rend asunder, and the whole fabric of heaven and earth is astonished, horribly afraid, and very desolate; {Jer 2:12} this great Jehovah - whose name is great among the heathen. {Mal 1:11} The Pythagoreans used to swear by τετρακτην, Quaternity, the name Jehovah consisting of four letters in the Hebrew, which also they called πηγην αεναου φυσεως, the fountain of eternity - Aphihu, even he hath spoken, or ‘is about to speak’ - scil., by my mouth and ministry. {b} "Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not: fear ye not me? saith Jehovah. Will ye not tremble at my presence?" &c. {Jer 5:21-22} "Hear, ye deaf, and look, ye blind, that ye may see." {Isa 42:18} Thus must ministers preach to the conscience, cut to the quick, rouse up themselves and wrestle with their hearers, goring their very souls with smarting pain, while they speak "as the oracles of God," {1Pe 4:11} with all gravity and authority.
I have nourished and brought up children.] Or, Advanced, exalted them. Brevicula verba, sed causa querulandi maxima; a short but sharp contest. {c} God had adopted, educated, and advanced the people of Israel; but "Jesurun waxed fat, and kicked," as young mulets, when they have sucked, lift up the heel and kick the dam’s dugs, as hawks when fully fed forget their master.
And they have rebelled against me.] Or, Transgressed, blasphemed. Rebellion is a kind of blasphemy, {Num 15:30-31 Eze 20:27} and unthankfulness is, as one saith, an accumulative sin, a voluminous wickedness. Many sins are bound up in it, as Cicero saith of parricide. Solon would make no law against parricide, because he thought none would be so vile as to commit it. Lycurgus would make no law against ingratitude for like reason.
{a} A person that deviates from the ordinary rule; an ‘anomaly’.
{b} Lingua mea est calamus S.S. et guttur meum est tuba divino inflata et clangens anhelitu. - Deut. xxxii. 15.
{c} Plato Aristotelem vocabat mulum.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv2–7 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: he…
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: he directeth his speech to these senseless creatures, that thereby he might more awaken and affect the Israelites, whom he hereby proclaimeth to be so dull and stupid that they were past hearing, and therefore gives them over as desperate; and calleth in the whole creation Of God to bear witness against them.
The Lord hath spoken: this is his plea against them, of the equity whereof he is willing that all the creatures should be judges.
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I have nourished and brought up children; I first made them a people, and until this time I have sustained and blessed them above all other nations.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v2 We will hope to meet with a brighter and…
We will hope to meet with a brighter and more pleasant scene before we come to the end of this book; but truly here, in the beginning of it, every thing looks very bad, very black, with Judah and Jerusalem. What is the wilderness of the world, if the church, the vineyard, has such a dismal aspect as this?
I. The prophet, though he speaks in God's name, yet, despairing to gain audience with the children of his people, addresses himself to the heavens and the earth, and bespeaks their attention (Isa 1:2): Hear, O heavens! and give ear, O earth! Sooner will the inanimate creatures hear, who observe the law and answer the end of their creation, than this stupid senseless people. Let the lights of the heaven shame their darkness, and the fruitfulness of the earth their barrenness, and the strictness of each to its time their irregularity. Moses begins thus in Deu 32:1, to which the prophet here refers, intimating that now those times had come which Moses there foretold, Deu 31:29. Or this is an appeal to heaven and earth, to angels and then to the inhabitants of the upper and lower world. Let them judge between God and his vineyard; can either produce such an instance of ingratitude? Note, God will be justified when he speaks, and both heaven and earth shall declare his righteousness, Mic 6:1, Mic 6:2; Psa 50:6.
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II. He charges them with base ingratitude, a crime of the highest nature. Call a man ungrateful, and you can call him no worse. Let heaven and earth hear and wonder at, 1. God's gracious dealings with such a peevish provoking people as they were: "I have nourished and brought them up as children; they have been well fed and well taught" (Deu 32:6); "I have magnified and exalted them" (so some), "not only made them grow, but made them great - not only maintained them, but preferred them - not only trained them up, but raised them high." Note, We owe the continuance of our lives and comforts, and all our advancements, to God's fatherly care of us and kindness to us. 2. Their ill-natured conduct towards him, who was so tender of them: "They have rebelled against me," or (as some read it) "they have revolted from me; they have been deserters, nay traitors, against my crown and dignity." Note, All the instances of God's favour to us, as the God both of our nature and of our nurture, aggravate our treacherous departures from him and all our presumptuous oppositions to him - children, and yet rebels!
III. He attributes this to their ignorance and inconsideration (Isa 1:3): The ox knows, but Israel does not. Observe, 1. The sagacity of the ox and the ass, which are not only brute creatures, but of the dullest sort; yet the ox has such a sense of duty as to know his owner and to serve him, to submit to his yoke and to draw in it; the ass has such a sense of interest as to know has master's crib, or manger, where he is fed, and to abide by it; he will go to that of himself if he be turned loose. A fine pass man has come to when he is shamed even in knowledge and understanding by these silly animals, and is not only sent to school to them (Pro 6:6, Pro 6:7), but set in a form below them (Jer 8:7), taught more than the beasts of the earth (Job 35:11) and yet knowing less. 2. The sottishness and stupidity of Israel. God is their owner and proprietor. He made us, and his we are more than our cattle are ours; he has provided well for us; providence is our Master's crib; yet many that are called the people of God do not know and will not consider this, but ask, "What is the Almighty that we should serve him? He is not our owner; and what profit shall we have if we pray unto him? He has no crib for us to feed at." He had complained (Isa 1:2) of the obstinacy of their wills; They have rebelled against me. Here he runs it up to its cause: "Therefore they have rebelled because they do not know, they do not consider." The understanding is darkened, and therefore the whole soul is alienated from the life of God, Eph 4:18. "Israel does not know, though their land is a land of light and knowledge; in Judah is God known, yet, because they do not live up to what they know, it is in effect as if they did not know. They know; but their knowledge does them no good, because they do not consider what they know; they do not apply it to their case, nor their minds to it." Note, (1.) Even among those that profess themselves God's people, that have the advantages and lie under the engagements of his people, there are many that are very careless in the affairs of their souls. (2.) Inconsideration of what we do know is as great an enemy to us in religion as ignorance of what we should know. (3.) Therefore men revolt from God, and rebel against him, because they do not know and consider their obligations to God in duty, gratitude, and interest.
IV. He laments the universal pravity and corruption of their church and kingdom. The disease of sin was epidemic, and all orders and degrees of men were infected with it; Ah sinful nation! Isa 1:4. The prophet bemoans those that would not bemoan themselves: Alas for them! Woe to them! He speaks with holy indignation at their degeneracy, and a dread of the consequences of it. See here,
1. How he aggravates their sin, and shows the malignity that there was in it, Isa 1:4. (1.) The wickedness was universal. They were a sinful nation; the generality of the people were vicious and profane. They were so in their national capacity. In the management of their public treaties abroad, and in the administration of public justice at home, they were corrupt. Note, It is ill with a people when sin becomes national. (2.) It was very great and heinous in its nature. They were laden with iniquity; the guilt of it, and the curse incurred by that guilt, lay very heavily upon them. It was a heavy charge that was exhibited against them, and one which they could never clear themselves from; their wickedness was upon them as a talent of lead, Zac 5:7, Zac 5:8. Their sin, as it did easily beset them and they were prone to it, was a weight upon them, Heb 12:1. (3.) They came of a bad stock, were a seed of evil-doers. Treachery ran in their blood; they had it by kind, which made the matter so much the worse, more provoking and less curable. They rose up in their fathers' stead, and trod in their fathers' steps, to fill up the measure of their iniquity, Num 32:14. They were a race and family of rebels. (4.) Those that were themselves debauched did what they could to debauch others. They were not only corrupt children, born tainted, but children that were corrupters, that propagated vice, and infected others with it - not only sinners, but tempters - not only actuated by Satan, but agents for him. If those that are called children, God's children, that are looked upon as belonging to his family, be wicked and vile, their example is of the most malignant influence. (5.) Their sin was a treacherous departure from God. They were deserters from their allegiance: "They have forsaken the Lord, to whom they had joined themselves; they have gone away backward, are alienated or separated from God, have turned their back upon him, deserted their colours, and quitted their service." When they were urged forward, they ran backward, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke, as a backsliding heifer, Hos 4:16. (6.) It was an impudent and daring defiance of him: They have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger wilfully and designedly; they knew what would anger him, and that they did. Note, The backslidings of those that have professed religion and relation to God are in a special manner provoking to him.
2. How he illustrates it by a comparison taken from a sick and diseased body, all overspread with leprosy, or, like Job's, with sore boils, Isa 1:5, Isa 1:6. (1.) The distemper has seized the vitals, and so threatens to be mortal. Diseases in the head and heart are most dangerous; now the head, the whole head, is sick - the heart, the whole heart, is faint. They had become corrupt in their judgment: the leprosy was in their head. They were utterly unclean; their affection to God and religion was cold and gone; the things which remained were ready to die away, Rev 3:2. (2.) It has overspread the whole body, and so becomes exceedingly noisome; From the sole of the foot even to the head, from the meanest peasant to the greatest peer, there is no soundness, no good principles, no religion (for that is the health of the soul), nothing but wounds and bruises, guilt and corruption, the sad effects of Adam's fall, noisome to the holy God, painful to the sensible soul; they were so to David when he complained (Psa 38:5), My wounds stink, and are corrupt, because of my foolishness. See Psa 32:3, Psa 32:4. No attempts were made for reformation, or, if they were, they proved ineffectual: The wounds have not been closed, not bound up, nor mollified with ointment. While sin remains unrepented of the wounds are unsearched, unwashed, the proud flesh in them not cut out, and while, consequently, it remains unpardoned, the wounds are not mollified or closed up, nor any thing done towards the healing of them and the preventing of their fatal consequences.
V. He sadly bewails the judgments of God which they had brought upon themselves by their sins, and their incorrigibleness under those judgments. 1. Their kingdom was almost ruined, Isa 1:7. So miserable were they that both their towns and their lands were wasted, and yet so stupid that they needed to be told this, to have it shown to them. "Look and see how it is; your country is desolate; the ground is not cultivated, for want of inhabitants, the villages being deserted, Jdg 5:7. And thus the fields and vineyards become like deserts, all grown over with thorns, Pro 24:31. Your cities are burned with fire, by the enemies that invade you" (fire and sword commonly go together); "as for the fruits of your land, which should be food for your families, strangers devour them; and, to your greater vexation, it is before your eyes, and you cannot prevent it; you starve while your enemies surfeit on that which should be your maintenance. The overthrow of your country is as the overthrow of strangers; it is used by the invaders, as one might expect it should be used by strangers." Jerusalem itself, which was as the daughter of Zion (the temple built on Zion was a mother, a nursing mother, to Jerusalem), or Zion itself, the holy mountain, which had been dear to God as a daughter, was now lost, deserted, and exposed as a cottage in a vineyard, which, when the vintage is over, nobody dwells in or takes any care of, and looks as mean and despicable as a lodge or hut, in a garden of cucumbers; and every person is afraid of coming near it, and solicitous to remove his effects out of it, as if it were a besieged city, Isa 1:8. And some think, it is a calamitous state of the kingdom that is represented by a diseased body, Isa 1:6. Probably this sermon was preached in the reign of Ahaz, when Judah was invaded by the kings of Syria and Israel, the Edomites and the Philistines, who slew many, and carried many away into captivity, Ch2 28:5, Ch2 28:17, Ch2 28:18. Note, National impiety and immorality bring national desolation. Canaan, the glory of all lands, Mount Zion, the joy of the whole earth, both became a reproach and a ruin; and sin made them so, that great mischief-maker. 2. Yet they were not all reformed, and therefore God threatens to take another course with them (Isa 1:5): "Why should you be stricken any more, with any expectation of doing you good by it, when you increase revolts as your rebukes are increased? You will revolt more and more, as you have done," as Ahaz particularly did, who, in his distress, trespassed yet more against the Lord, Ch2 28:22. Thus the physician, when he sees the patient's case desperate, troubles him no more with physic; and the father resolves to correct his child no more when, finding him hardened, he determines to disinherit him. Note, (1.) There are those who are made worse by the methods God takes to make them better; the more they are stricken the more they revolt; their corruptions, instead of being mortified, are irritated and exasperated by their afflictions, and their hearts more hardened. (2.) God, sometimes, in a way of righteous judgment, ceases to correct those who have been long incorrigible, and whom therefore he designs to destroy. The reprobate silver shall be cast, not into the furnace, but to the dunghill, Jer 6:29, Jer 6:30. See Eze 24:13; Hos 4:14. He that is filthy, let him be filthy still.
VI. He comforts himself with the consideration of a remnant that should be the monuments of divine grace and mercy, notwithstanding this general corruption and desolation, Isa 1:9. See here, 1. How near they were to an utter extirpation. They were almost like Sodom and Gomorrah in respect both of sin and ruin, had grown almost so bad that there could not have been found ten righteous men among them, and almost as miserable as if none had been left alive, but their country turned into a sulphureous lake. Divine Justice said, Make them as Admah; set them as Zeboim; but Mercy said, How shall I do it? Hos 11:8, Hos 11:9. 2. What it was that saved them from it: The Lord of hosts left unto them a very small remnant, that were kept pure from the common apostasy and kept safe and alive from the common calamity. This is quoted by the apostle (Rom 9:27), and applied to those few of the Jewish nation who in his time embraced Christianity, when the body of the people rejected it, and in whom the promises made to the fathers were accomplished. Note, (1.) In the worst of times there is a remnant preserved from iniquity and reserved for mercy, as Noah and his family in the deluge, Lot and his in the destruction of Sodom. Divine grace triumphs in distinguishing by an act of sovereignty. (2.) This remnant is often a very small one in comparison with the vast number of revolting ruined sinners. Multitude is no mark of the true church. Christ's is a little flock. (3.) It is God's work to sanctify and save some, when others are left to perish in their impurity. It is the work of his power as the Lord of hosts. Except he had left us that remnant, there would have been none left; the corrupters (Isa 1:4) did what they could to debauch all, and the devourers (Isa 1:7) to destroy all, and they would have prevailed of God himself had not interposed to secure to himself a remnant, who are bound to give him all the glory. (4.) It is good for a people that have been saved from utter ruin to look back and see how near they were to it, just upon the brink of it, to see how much they owed to a few good men that stood in the gap, and that that was owing to a good God, who left them these good men. It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv2–7 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth,.... To…
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth,.... To what the Lord was about to say of his controversy with his people, which was to be managed openly and publicly before them as spectators and witnesses; this designs either strictly and properly the heavens and the earth, or figuratively the inhabitants of them, angels and men. The address is solemn, and denotes something of moment and importance to be done and attended to: see Deu 32:1. The Targum is,
"hear, O ye heavens, that were moved when I gave my law to my people; and hearken, O earth, that trembleth before my word.''
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For the Lord hath spoken: not only by Moses, and the prophets that were before Isaiah, but he had spoken to him the words he was now about to deliver; for they were not his own words, but the Lord's: he spoke by the inspiration of God, and as moved by the Holy Ghost; and therefore what he said was to be received, not as the word of man, but as the word of God:
I have nourished and brought up children; meaning the Jews;
"my people, the house of Israel, whom I have called children,''
as the Targum paraphrases it; see Exo 4:22 to these, as a nation, belonged the adoption; they were reckoned the children of God; the Lord took notice and care of them in their infant state, brought them out of Egypt, led them through the wilderness, and fed them in it; brought them into Canaan's land, drove out the nations before them, and settled them there; gave them his laws and ordinances, distinguished them from all other nations by his favours, and raised them to a high estate, to much greatness and prosperity, especially in the days of David and Solomon. The words may be rendered, "I have magnified", or "made great, and have exalted children" (s); not only brought them up, but brought them to great honour and dignity; and even unto man's estate, unto the time appointed of the Father, when they should have been under tutors and governors no longer, but under the King Messiah; but they were rebellious, as follows:
and they have rebelled against me, their Lord and King; for the Jews were under a theocracy; God, who was their Father, was their King, and they rebelled against him by breaking his laws, which rebellion is aggravated by its being not only of subjects against their king, but of children against their father; the law concerning a rebellious son, see in Deu 21:18. The Targum paraphrases it, "they have rebelled against my Word"; the essential Word, the Messiah; the Septuagint version is, "but they have rejected me" (t); and the Vulgate Latin version (u), "but they have despised me": so the Jews rejected and despised the true Messiah when he came, would not have him to reign over them, would not receive his yoke, though easy, but rebelled against him. The Jews were a rebellious people from the beginning, in Moses's time, and in the prophets, and so quite down to the times of the Messiah.
(s) "magnificavi", Montanus, Vatablus; "exaltavi", Munster; "extuli", Jun. & Tremel. Sept. (t) . (u) "Spreverunt me".
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 5, 7 Hear - He directs his speech to those senseless…
Hear - He directs his speech to those senseless creatures, that he might awaken the Israelites, whom he hereby proclaims to be so dull and stupid that they were past hearing, and therefore calls in the whole creation of God to bear witness against them. The Lord - This is his plea against them, of the equity whereof he is willing that all the creatures should be Judges.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv2–7 Verse 2. Hear, O heavens - "Hear, O ye…
Verse 2. Hear, O heavens - "Hear, O ye heavens"] God is introduced as entering into a public action, or pleading, before the whole world, against his disobedient people. The prophet, as herald or officer to proclaim the summons to the court, calls upon all created beings, celestial and terrestrial, to attend and bear witness to the truth of his plea and the justice of his cause. The same scene is more fully displayed in the noble exordium of Ps 50:1, where God summons all mankind, from east to west, to be present to hear his appeal; and the solemnity is held on Sion, where he is attended with the same terrible pomp that accompanied him on Mount Sinai: -
"A consuming fire goes before him
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And round him rages a violent tempest:
He calleth the heavens from above.
And the earth, that he may contend in
judgment with his people."
Ps 50:3-4.
By the same bold figure, Micah calls upon the mountains, that is, the whole country of Judea, to attend to him, Isa 6:1-2: -
"Arise, plead thou before the mountains,
And let the hills hear thy voice.
Hear, O ye mountains, the controversy of JEHOVAH;
And ye, O ye strong foundations of the earth:
For JEHOVAH hath a controversy with his people,
And he will plead his cause against Israel."
With the like invocation, Moses introduces his sublime song, the design of which was the same as that of this prophecy, "to testify as a witness, against the Israelites," for their disobedience, De 31:21: -
"Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak;
And let the earth hear the words of my mouth."
De 32:1.
This, in the simple yet strong oratorical style of Moses, is, "I call heaven and earth to witness against thee this day; life and death have I set before thee; the blessing and the curse: choose now life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy seed." De 30:19. The poetical style, by an apostrophe, sets the personification in a much stronger light.
Hath spoken - "That speaketh"] I render it in the present time, pointing it דבר dober. There seems to be an impropriety in demanding attention to a speech already delivered. But the present reading may stand, as the prophet may be here understood to declare to the people what the Lord had first spoken to him.
I have nourished] The Septuagint have εγεννησα, "I have begotten." Instead of גדלתי giddalti, they read ילדתי yaladti; the word little differing from the other, and perhaps more proper; which the Chaldee likewise seems to favour; "vocavi eos filios." See Ex 4:22; Jer 31:9.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 5, 7 Isa 1:2. Hear, O heavens, &c. — “God is…
Isa 1:2. Hear, O heavens, &c. — “God is introduced as entering upon a solemn and public action, or pleading, before the whole world, against his disobedient people. The prophet, as herald, or officer, to proclaim the summons to the court, calls upon all created beings, celestial and terrestrial, to attend and bear witness to the truth of his plea, and the justice of his cause.” — Bishop Lowth. See the same scene more fully displayed, Psa 50:3-4. With the like invocation Moses begins his sublime song, Deu 32:1; see also Mic 6:1-2. For the Lord hath spoken — Or, It is Jehovah that speaketh, as Bishop Lowth renders it, there seeming to be an impropriety in demanding attention to a speech already delivered. I have nourished, &c. — I first made them a people, and, until this time, I have sustained and blessed them above all other nations: God’s care over them is compared to that of parents in nursing and training up their children. And they have rebelled against me — Or, as פשׁעו ביmay be rendered, have revolted from me — Even they, peculiarly favoured as they have been, have proved deserters, nay, traitors, against my crown and dignity. This is the Lord’s plea against them, of the equity of which he is willing that all the creatures should be judges.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv2–7 Hear, O heavens - This is properly the beginning…
Hear, O heavens - This is properly the beginning of the prophecy. It is a sublime commencement; and is of a highly poetic character. The heavens and the earth are summoned to bear witness to the apostasy, ingratitude, and deep depravity of the chosen people of God. The address is expressive of deep feeling - the bursting forth of a heart filled with amazement at a wonderful and unusual event. The same sublime beginning is found in the song of Moses, Deu 32:1 :
Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak;
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And hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
Compare Psa 4:3-4. Thus also the prophets often invoke the hills and mountains to hear them; Eze 6:3 : ‘Ye mountains of Israel, hear the words of the Lord God: Thus saith the Lord God to the mountains, and to the hills, and to the rivers, and to the valleys;’ compare Eze 36:1. ‘Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the Lord,’ Jer 2:12. By the heavens therefore, in this place, we are not to understand the inhabitants of heaven, that is, the angels, anymore than by the hills we are to understand the inhabitants of the mountains. It is high poetic language, denoting the importance of the subject, and the remarkable and amazing truth to which the attention was to be called.
Give ear, O earth - It was common thus to address the earth on any remarkable occasion, especially anyone implying warm expostulation, Jer 5:19; Jer 22:29; Mic 1:2; Mic 6:2; Isa 34:1; Isa 49:13.
For - Since it is Yahweh that speaks, all the universe is summoned to attend; compare Psa 33:8-9 : ‘Let all the earth fear the Lord; let all the inhabitants of the World stand in awe of him. For he spake and it was done; he commanded and it stood fast.’
The Lord - - יהוה yehovâh, or Jehovah. The small capitals used here and elsewhere throughout the Bible in printing the word Lord, denote that the original word is Yahweh. It is derived from the verb היה hâyâh, “to be;” and is used to denote “being,” or the fountain of being, and can be applied only to the true God; compare Exo 3:14 : ‘And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am, אהיה אשׁר אהיה 'eheyeh 'ăsher 'eheyeh; Exo 6:3; Num 11:21; Isa 47:8. It is a name which is never given to idols, or conferred on a creature; and though it occurs often in the Hebrew Scriptures, as is indicated by the small capitals, yet our translators have retained it but four times; Exo 6:3; Psa 83:18; Isa 12:2; Isa 26:4. In combination, however, with other names, it occurs often. Thus in Isaiah, meaning the salvation of Yahweh; “Jeremiah,” the exaltation or grandeur of Yahweh, etc.; compare Gen 22:14 : ‘Abraham called the name of the place “Jehovah-jireh,’” Exo 17:15; Jdg 6:24; Eze 48:35. The Jews never pronounced this name, not even in reading their own Scriptures. So sacred did they deem it, that when it occurred in their books, instead of the word Yahweh, they substituted the word אדני 'ădonāy, “Lord.” Our translators have shown respect to this feeling of the Jews in regard to the sacredness of the name; and hence, have rendered it by the name of Lord - a word which by no means conveys the sense of the word Yahweh. It would have been an advantage to our version if the word Yahweh had been retained wherever it occurs in the original.
I have nourished - Hebrew “I have made great;” גדלתי gı̂daletı̂y. In Piel, the word means “to make great, to cause to grow;” as e. g., the hair; Num 6:5, plants, Isa 44:14; then to educate or bring up children; Isa 49:21; 2Ki 10:6
And brought up - רוממתי romamethı̂y, from רום rûm, “to lift up” or “exalt.” In Piel it means to bring up, nourish, educate; Isa 23:4. These words, though applied often to the training up of children, yet are used here also to denote the elevation to which they had been raised. He had not merely trained them up, but he had trained them up to an elevated station; to special honor and privileges. “Children.” Hebrew בנים bânnı̂ym - sons.” They were the adopted children of God; and they are represented as being weak, and ignorant, and helpless as children, when he took them under his fatherly protection and care; Hos 11:1 : ‘When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt;’ compare the note at Mat 2:15; Isa 63:8-16.
They have rebelled - This complaint was often brought against the Jews; compare Isa 63:10; Jer 2:6-8. This is the sum of the charge against them. God had shown them special favors. He recounted his mercy in bringing them out of Egypt; and on the ground of this, he demanded obedience and love; compare Exo 20:1-3. And yet they bad forgotten him, and rebelled against him. The Targum of Jonathan, an ancient Chaldee version, has well expressed the idea here. ‘Hear, O heavens, which were moved when I gave my law to my people: give ear, O earth, which didst tremble before my word, for the Lord has spoken. My people, the house of Israel, whom I called sons - I loved them - I honored them, and they rebelled against me.’ The same is true substantially of all sinners; and alas, how often may a similar expostulation be made with the professed people of God!
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv2, 5 Earth. He apostrophises these insensible things, (Calmet) because they…
Earth. He apostrophises these insensible things, (Calmet) because they contain all others, and are the most durable. (Theodoret) (Deuteronomy xxxi. 1.)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2–7 The very words of Moses (Deu 32:1); this implies…
The very words of Moses (Deu 32:1); this implies that the law was the charter and basis of all prophecy (Isa 8:20).
Lord--Jehovah; in Hebrew, "the self-existing and promise-fulfilling, unchangeable One." The Jews never pronounced this holy name, but substituted Adonai. The English Version, LORD in capitals, marks the Hebrew "Jehovah," though Lord is rather equivalent to "Adonai" than "Jehovah."
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children-- (Exo 4:22).
rebelled--as sons (Deu 21:18) and as subjects, God being king in the theocracy (Isa 63:10). "Brought up," literally, "elevated," namely, to peculiar privileges (Jer 2:6-8; Rom 9:4-5).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 5, 7 2. Hear, O heavens… give ear, O earth —…
2. Hear, O heavens… give ear, O earth — Here begins a solemn reprehensory appeal against Judah and Jerusalem, filled with digressive yet relevant points, and ending with the fifth chapter. It is in the style of Deu_32:1, for earth and heaven are unchanging witnesses from the time of Moses to that of Isaiah of the clearness with which God, by his prophets, sets forth his requirements, and their rejection by the people. They are summoned to listen again, for a crisis is reached, and Jehovah speaks.
The Lord — Hebrew, יהוה, Yehovah, a name which the Jews never uttered, but used אדני, Adonai, in stead, which means Master, Lord. The other chief name of deity, אלהים, Elohim, designates in the Old Testament a being of power; while Jehovah is the word which expresses what Deity is in himself. More need not here be said of this name, other than that it was the national name of Israel’s God, yet so awfully sacred that it was pronounced only by the substitute name — Adonai.
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Hath spoken — The preterit is here used for the present — he speaks, though this is not the first time. Heb_1:1. He has repeatedly spoken, and still speaks.
Nourished and brought up children — From his infancy as a nation God reared Israel. This strain is followed by other prophets. See Hos_11:1; Jer_2:2-3. “The Lord” made Israel great, and set him on high. Eze_31:4. Still he rebelled. Such conduct of a covenant people was the greatest of wonders, and heaven and earth are called to attest this fact.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv2–7 2. the Lord hath spoken] The inner ear of…
2. the Lord hath spoken] The inner ear of the prophet has heard the words which follow; he will utter them in trumpet-tones which shall cause all creation to hear and shudder. The apostrophe to the heavens and the earth has probably no other force than this (cf. Deu_32:1; Mic_6:1-2; Jer_2:12), although Dillmann thinks they are appealed to as witnesses of all that has passed between the Lord and His people. The dramatic conception of a formal Assize, with Heaven and Earth for Assessors, the prophet for Herald, and so on, although a favourite one with commentators, is merely fanciful, and weakens the rhetorical effect of the passage.
nourished and brought up] The two expressions may be synonymous, as in ch. Isa_23:4; Eze_31:4. More probably, however, the second means “set on high [among the nations]” (cf. R.V. marg.).
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children] sons; the position of the word is emphatic. (Israel, the son of Jehovah, as Exo_4:22 f.; Deu_16:1; Deu_32:5-6; Deu_32:18; Hos_11:1 ff.) The “sons” are not named here, attention being concentrated on the tragic fact that He who is Lord of all should know
“How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is
To have a thankless child.”
have rebelled] The charge of rebellion in the mouth of Isaiah (only here and Isa_1:28) would include three things: (1) the sin of idolatry, (2) breaches of the moral law, (3) rejection of his own prophetic message (cf. Isa_1:4). It is possible that the occasion of this revelation may have been some particular incident of the kind last mentioned, such as e.g. the decision of Ahaz to call in the help of Assyria (ch. 7), or Hezekiah’s treaty with Egypt in 701 (cf. ch. Isa_30:9-15).
2, 3. The heart-rending complaint of Jehovah.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 4, 5, 7 (2) Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth.—The…
(2) Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth.—The prophet opens the great indictment by calling the universe to listen to it. The words remind us of Deu_30:19; Deu_32:1, but the thought was the common inheritance of Hebrew poets (Psa_50:4; Jer_6:19; Jer_22:29), and we can draw no inference from the parallelism as to the date of either book.
I have nourished and brought up children. The last word has in the Hebrew the emphasis of position: Sons I have reared and brought up. From those who had thus grown up under a father’s care filial duty might have been expected; but it was not so. The sons had rebelled against their father’s control. It is significant that the prophet starts from the thought of the fatherhood of God in His relation to Israel. The people might be unworthy of their election, but He had chosen them (Exo_4:22; Deu_14:1; Hos_11:1).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv2–7 GOD"S COMPLAINT AGAINST HIS PEOPLE. The groundwork of Isaiah"s…
GOD"S COMPLAINT AGAINST HIS PEOPLE. The groundwork of Isaiah"s entire prophecy is Judah"s defection from God. God"s people have sinned, done amiss, dealt wickedly. The hour of vengeance approaches. Punishment has begun, and will go on, continually increasing in severity. National repentance would avert God"s judgments, but the nation will not repeat. God"s vengeance will fall, and by it a remnant will be purified, and return to God, and be his true people. In the present section the indictment is laid. Judah"s sins are called to her remembrance.
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth. "A grave and magnificent exorilium! All nature is invoked to hear Jehovah make complaint of the ingratitude of his people" (Rosenm The invocation is cast in the same form with that so common in Deuteronomy, (Deu_4:26 Deu_30:19 Deu_31:28 Deu_32:1) and seems to indicate familiarity with that book. The idea extends widely among sacred and other poets. (see Psa_1:3, 4 Mic_6:1, Mic_6:2; Aesch., "P. V," 11. 88-92) The Lord hath spoken; rather, the Lord (literally, Jehovah) speaketh (so Lowth, Cheyne, and Gesenius). The speech of Jehovah follows in vers. 2, 3. I have nourished and brought up children; literally, (my) sons I have made great and high; i.e. I have raised Israel to greatness and exalted him among the nations. Notwithstanding their disobedience, God still acknowledges them as his "sons." They have rebelled against me. The verb used is generally rendered in our version "transgressed"; (see Jer_3:13; Hosea Amo_4:4) but it may also have the stronger sense here assigned it. Lowth translates, "revolted from me;" Gesenius, "fallen away from me;" Cheyne, "broken away from me.
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Vers. 2, 3. God"s arraignment of his people.
God claims his people"s willing obedience on three grounds.
1. They are his children.
2. He has made them great.
3. He has exalted them to eminence among the nations.
I As HIS CHILDREN, they are bound to love and serve him, to be grateful to him for his manifold mercies, and to yield him entire obedience. He is the Author of their being; he sustains their life; he feeds them, supports them, gives them every blessing which they enjoy. In return, what less can they do than love him unfeignedly, serve him truly, and obey him implicitly? Earthly children are bound to act thus towards their earthly parents: how much more God"s children towards their heavenly Father!
II AS RAISED BY HIM TO POWER AND GREATNESS, they are yet more bound to serve him. Every gift of God to us increases our responsibilities, lays us under a more stringent obligation to make a due return to our Benefactor. Israel was increased from a family into a nation, was multiplied in numbers, given a land flowing with milk and honey, raised from the bondage of Egypt to an independent and commanding position. Each step in their progress constituted a demand on them for greater love, profounder gratitude, more exact observance of every Divine commandment.
III As EXALTED AMONG THE NATIONS, they are at once called upon for additional thankfulness, and required to manifest to the heathen that God"s favor has not been bestowed on them by mere caprice, but with some reference to their capacity of profiting by it. "A city set on a hill cannot be hid". (Mat_5:14) Eminence of whatever kind calls upon us for increased exertion. Noblesse oblige. If men are bound to serve God in the lowest walks of life, still more are they bound to serve him when he has "raised them out of the dust, and lifted them out of the dunghill, that he may set them with princes, even with the princes of his people". (Psa_113:7, Psa_113:8) And as with individuals, so with nations. Eminence among the powers of the earth calls on them to set a good example to "let their light shine before men, "to make a decided profession of religion, and to carry out their profession in their acts.
Israel, however, had acknowledged none of these obligations. They had "rebelled against God, "turned away from following him, cast his words behind their back. More dull than either ox or ass, they had refused to "know God, "to have him in their thoughts, to "consider his operations". (Isa_5:10) Have not multitudes of Christians also followed their example? They too are God"s children, (Rom_8:16 1Jn_3:1, etc.) created by him, regenerated by him, adopted by him in his beloved Son, Jesus Christ. They too have been raised by him to greatness, increased from a "little flock" to hundreds of millions, "carried on eagles" wings", (Exo_19:4) borne safely through the storms of centuries. And they have been exalted among the nations of the earth, given the chief place, manifestly elevated above both Jews and heathen. Must not Christians, if they rebel, if they refuse to "know God" or "consider "him, expect the same terrible punishments as overtook the Israelites, or others similar to them? "If we sin willfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries". (Heb_10:26, Heb_10:27) "It is fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God". (Heb_10:31)
Sin as broken sonship.
Literally, the verse reads, "Sons I have made great and high, and they have broken away from me." The later conception of the Jewish covenant embraced the ideas of fatherhood and sonship, and thus prepared for the revelation of the fatherhood of God in the teachings of the Lord Jesus, and for the apprehension of the "sonship of men" through Christ"s own sonship. It is the point of impression, that this relation intensifies the guilt of the people"s unfaithfulness and rebellion, just as Absalom"s relation, as son, to David aggravates the criminality of his deceptions and his revolt. In addition to the actual relation of father and son, the text suggests the exceptional goodness and considerateness of Israel"s Father-God. He had brought the nation to its maturity, and given it a high place among the kingdoms. And still the extreme painfulness of sin is not its breaking of law, its insult to kingly majesty, or the necessarily bitter consequences that must attend upon it; it is its filial ingratitude, its dishonor of the sacred claims and duties of sonship. All heaven and earth may be called to see this shameful sight children turning against their father.
I THE SIN OF THE UNFILIAL SON. Dwell upon its characteristic features. We estimate the motive and spirit of the wrongs rather than the precise nature of the acts. Show the aggravations of such sin. Every persuasion of dependence, love, and duty must be pushed aside ere unfilial sin can become possible.
II ITS POSSIBLE EXCUSE IN AN UNWORTHY FATHER. This is the only excuse that can be urged, and this does not count for much. The natural relation sustains the demand for obedience, and nothing can conflict with parental law save the supreme law of God. If even parents command what is contrary to God"s revealed will, we must obey the Father in heaven rather than the father on earth. Illustrate how this conflict of the human and Divine law was the burden of the Greek dramas. Short of this, obedience must be fully rendered, even when fatherly requirements cannot be approved.
III THE ABSENCE OF ALL SUCH EXCUSE WHEN THE FATHER IS GOD. His will is right, is love. Apprehend what he is. Apprehend what he has been to our forefathers and to us. Realize the "goodness" of him in whom our breath is, and whose are all our ways, and then the unspeakable iniquity must be to grieve him, disobey him, and revolt from him. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv2–5 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for…
Isa_1:2-31
Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken
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God finds vindication in nature
I well remember two funerals going out of my house within a few brief months during my residence in London.
There were cards sent by post and left at the door, in all kindliness; but one dark night when my grief overwhelmed me I looked at some of the cards and could find no vibration of sympathy there. I had not felt the touch of the hand that sent them. I went out into the storm that moaned and raged alternately, and walked round Regents Park through the very heart of the hurricane. It seemed to soothe me. You troy I could not find sympathy there. Perhaps not, but I at least found affinity: the storm without seemed to harmonise with the storm within; and then I remembered that He who sent that storm to sweep over the earth loved the earth still, and then remembered that He who sent the storm to sweep over my soul, and make desolate my home, loved me still. I got comfort there in the darkness, and the wild noise of a storm on an autumn night, which I found not in cards of condolence, sincere as in many instances the sympathy of the senders was. Ah me! when man not only failed to sympathise, but also forgot all gratitude and rebelled against his Heavenly Father, I can imagine God looking out to His own universe, to the work of His own hand, and seeking vindication, if not sympathy, as He spoke of man, his rebellion and folly. (D. Davies.)
The sinful nation
I. THE PRIVILEGES OF THE NATION. It was no mean prerogative to become the chosen people of God, but for what was that choice made? Not because of perfect characters surely; but rather to declare among the nations the messages of God; not a nation holy in character, but with a holy errand. When the ten tribes revolted, leaving only a remnant, that remnant must do the errand appointed. Thus did God speak of them as My people, My children. Our privileges cannot save us, and even our blessings may become a curse. God cannot give to us personally what we will not receive.
II. THE NATIONAL CORRUPTION. What the first chapter of the Epistle to the Romans is in the New Testament, that is the first chapter of Isaiahs prophecy in the Old. Deeper degradation than that of Israel it would be hard to find. In Isaiahs time, gold and silver idols glittered on every street of Jerusalem. By royal authority, worship was given to the sun and moon. At the opening of each new season, snow-white horses, stalled in the rooms at the temple entrance, were driven forth harnessed to golden chariots to meet the sun at its rising. Incense ascended to heathen gods from altars built upon the streets. Vice had its impure rites in the temple itself. The valley of Hinnom echoed the dying screams of children offered as sacrifices in the terrible flames of the hideous Moloch. Words fail in depicting the deep corruption. There is the sting of sin in the plain statement of the awful history, They have forsaken the Lord, etc.
III. THE RELATION OF RITUAL TO MORALITY. The more pronounced the ceremonial, the more tenaciously will men cling to it. Thus, in Isaiahs day, they who had swung their incense to the sun and moon; who had worshipped Baal upon the high places and in the groves; who had cast their children into the burning arms of Moloch, turned immediately from these heathenish practices to worship in the temple. Of burnt offerings and sacrifices there was no end. The purest spiritual worship, like that of Enoch and Abraham and Melchizedek, did not need it; it was given when a nation of slaves, degraded by Egyptian bondage, could appreciate nothing higher, and it was taken away when the true, light was come. There was neither perfection nor spirituality in such a ritual; yet in such a system God tried to elevate the nation to spiritual truths they could not yet apprehend. The ritual could not make morality.
IV. ANY WORSHIP TO PLEASE GOD MUST BE REASONABLE. The Divine appeal claims the undivided attention of the profoundest thoughts; Come, now, and let us reason together. (Sermons by the Monday Club.)
The sinful nation
The message to the sinful nation with which the book of Isaiah begins has for ourselves the tremendous force of timeliness as well as truth.
I. We are led to consider, that STATE AND NATION ARE INVOLVED TOGETHER. The country is desolate, the cities are burned with fire, and the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city. We remember indeed that the saints have survived in the dens and caves of the earth. But these victories of truth and righteousness--Gods power to overrule wickedness--by no means contradict Isaiahs vision. If it is true that the Founder of the Church can maintain its strength notwithstanding civil turmoil and decay, let us also consider how God magnifies the Church through days of peace and virtue. Jesus Himself waited until the nations were still And what may be the possibilities for His kingdom of the continued growth and happiness of our own country, it is entrancing to contemplate. The treasuries of love, how full they may be! The pastors and teachers for every dark land,--what hosts there may be prepared!
II. Aroused to the consideration of such a problem, we readily appreciate the prophets reference to THE RESPONSIBILITY OF RULERS (verse 10). Our own happy visions of the future may all be over clouded if there be but one Ahab in authority. The exhortation, therefore, addresses those who as citizens are to be charged with the duty of placing men in power.
III. We find the prophet distinctly TRACING THE NATIONAL CALAMITIES TO THE NATIONS WICKEDNESS (verses 4-8).
IV. THE PROPHETS MESSAGE TO HIS COUNTRYMEN IS PARTICULARLY DIRECTED AGAINST THEIR IMPIETY. They have forms of religion enough, indeed. But out of the peoples worship the heart and life have departed. Only the husks remain. Perhaps it will be seen in the end that the Pharisee is not only as bad, but as bad a citizen too, as the glutton and the winebibber. The Pharisaic poison works with a more stealthy force and makes its attacks upon more vital parts. We are to look not only for a sinful nations natural decay, but besides for those mighty interpositions of Providence in flood and famine, in pestilence and war, directly for its punishment and overthrow.
V. THE VALUE OF A REMNANT. God has been saving remnants from the beginning--Noah, Abraham, Moses, Nehemiah--and the little companies of which such souls are the centre and the life in every age. Gods plans are not spoiled by mans madness. If many rebel against Him, He saves the few and multiplies their power. The leaven leavens the whole lump again.
VI. Most impressive, therefore, is THE TENDER AND EMPHATIC PROCLAMATION OF MERCY AND PARDON in this chapter. (Hanford A. Edson, D. D.)
I. THE WRITER (verse 1).
The sinful nation
II. THE CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE (Isa_1:2-6).
III. THE FRUITS OF THIS CHARACTER (Isa_1:7-9).
IV. FALSE EFFORTS TO OBTAIN RELIEF (Isa_1:10-15). Murderers may be found at church, making their attendance a cloak for their iniquity or an atonement for their crime. God cannot become a party to such horrible trading.
V. THE TRUE WAY OF DELIVERANCE (Isa_1:16-18). God not only describes the disease, but provides the remedy. The fountain is provided; sinners must wash in it--must confess, forsake, get the right spirit, and do right. (J. Sanderson, D. D.)
Isaiahs sermon
The sermon which is contained in this chapter hath in it--
I. A HIGH CHARGE exhibited in Gods name against the Jewish Church and nation.
1. For their ingratitude (verses 2, 3).
2. For their incorrigibleness (verse 5).
3. For the universal corruption and degeneracy of the people (verses 4, 6, 21, 22).
4. For their rulers perverting of justice (verse 23).
II. A SAD COMPLAINT OF THE JUDGMENTS OF GOD which they had brought upon themselves by their sins, and by which they were brought almost to utter ruin (rots. 7-9).
III. A JUST REJECTION OF THOSE SHOWS AND SHADOWS OF RELIGION which they kept up among them, notwithstanding this general defection and apostasy (verses 10-15).
IV. AN EARNEST CALL TO REPENTANCE AND REFORMATION, setting before them life and death (verses 16-20).
V. A THREATENING OF RUIN TO THOSE THAT WOULD NOT BE REFORMED (verses 24, 28-31).
VI. A PROMISE OF A HAPPY REFORMATION AT LAST, and a return to their primitive purity and prosperity (verses 25-27). And all this is to be applied by us, not only to the communities we are members of, in their public interests, but to the state of our own souls. (M. Henry.)
A last appeal
The prophets are Gods storm signals. This was a crisis in Israels history. Mercy and judgment had alike failed. The mass of the people had become more hardened. Judgment alone had now become the only real mercy. The prophet was sent to make a last appeal; to warn of judgment.
I. THE CHARGE. They have proved unnatural children. Have disowned their Father. Have failed to meet the claims due from them. Have frustrated the purpose of their national existence. Have, as a nation, wholly abandoned themselves to sin. In spite of exceptional privileges, they have lowered themselves beneath the level of the brutes. Nature witnesses against them, and puts them to shame.
II. THE DEFACE. The prophet imagines them to point to their temple services,--so regular, elaborate, costly,--in proof that their natural relations to their Father have been maintained. But this common self-delusion is disallowed, exposed, repelled. Not ritual, not laborious costly worship is required, but sincerity of heart, integrity of purpose, rightness of mind. Acceptable religious observance must be the spontaneous expression of an inward religious life.
III. THE OFFER OF MERCY. But the day of grace is not even yet past. One last attempt is yet made to arouse the sleeping spiritual sensibilities of the nation by the offer of pardon. Reconciliation is possible only upon amendment.
IV. THE THREAT OF JUDGMENT. Fire alone can now effect the change desired. God cannot be evaded. He is as truly merciful in threatening as in offering pardon. The nation shall be purged, yet not destroyed. Evil shall be consumed. But thereto who, like gold, can stand the fire and come out purified shall be the nucleus of an ideal society, and remodel the national life. All social amendment has its roots in complete purification of individual hearts. The prophets dream was never realised. Yet it was not therefore wasted. It was an ideal, an inspiration to the good in after ages. It will one day be realised through the Gospel. (Lloyd Robinson.)
I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me
The Fatherhood of God in relation to Israel
Israel is Jehovahs men Exo_4:22, etc.); all the members of the nation are His children Deu_14:1; Deu_32:20); He is the Father of Israel, whom He has begotten (Deu_32:6; Deu_32:18). The existence of Israel as a nation, like that of other nations, is effected, indeed, by means of natural reproduction, not by spiritual regeneration; but the primary ground of Israels origin is the supernaturally efficacious word of grace addressed to Abraham (Gen_17:15, etc.); and a series of wonderful dealings in grace has brought the growth and development of Israel to that point which it had attained at the Exodus from Egypt. It is in this sense that Jehovah has begotten Israel. (F. Delitzsch.)
Israels apostasy
Two things that ought never to have been conjoined--
I. THE GRACIOUS AND FILIAL RELATION OF ISRAEL TO JEHOVAH.
II. ISRAELS BASE APOSTASY FROM JEHOVAH. (F. Delitzsch.)
The Fatherhood of God in the Old Testament
Sometimes we imagine that the Fatherhood of God is a New Testament revelation; we speak of the prophets as referring to God under titles of resplendent glory and overpowering majesty, and we set forth in contrast the gentler terms by which the Divine Being is designated in the new covenant. How does God describe Himself in this chapter? Here He claims to be Father: I have nourished and brought up sons--not, I have nourished and brought up slaves--or subjects--or creatures--or insects--or beasts of burden--I have nourished and brought up sons: I am the Father of creation, thefountain and origin of the paternal and filial religion. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Ingratitude
As the Dead Sea drinks in the river Jordan and is never the sweeter, and the ocean all other rivers and is never the fresher, so we are apt to receive dally mercies from God and still remain insensible to them--unthankful for them. (Bishop Reynolds.)
God mans truest Friend
We are obliged to speak of the Lord after the manner of men, and in doing so we are clearly authorised to say that He does not look upon human sin merely with the eye of a judge who condemns it, but with the eye of a friend who, while he censures the offender, deeply laments that there should be such faults to condemn. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me, is not merely an exclamation of surprise, or an accusation of injured justice, but it contains a note of grief, as though the Most High represented Himself to us as mourning like an ill-treated parent, and deploring that after having dealt so well with His offspring they had made Him so base a return. God is grieved that man should sin. That thought should encourage everyone who is conscious of having offended God to come back to Him. If thou lamentest thy transgression, the Lord laments it too. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The parental grief of God, and its pathetic appeal
(with Isa_1:3):--I look upon this text as a fragment of Divine autobiography, and as such possessing the greatest significance to us.
I. It presents to us in a striking manner THE SOCIAL SIDE OF GODS CHARACTER. It is well for us to remember that all that is tender and lovable in our social experience, so far as it is pure and noble, is obtained from God. The revelation which we have of God presents Him to us, not as isolated from all His creatures, but as finding His highest joy in perfect communion with exalted spirits whom He has created. I love to think that man exists because of this exalted social instinct in God. Further, when God said, It is not good that the man should be alone, methinks I hear but the echo of a Divine, of a God felt feeling. Among the mysteries of Christs passion we find an element of suffering which, as God and man, He felt--Ye shall leave Me alone; My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me! Our God is to us an object of supremest interest because He holds with us the most sacred relationship.
II. Our text represents GOD ON THE DOMESTIC SIDE OF HIS CHARACTER. It is the parental rather than the paternal that we see here. The word father does not express all that God is to us. The illustrations of this Book are not exhausted with those that refer to His fatherhood: Can a woman forget her sucking child, etc. (Isa_49:15). All that is tender in motherhood,as well as all that is strong in fatherhood, is to be found in Him. It is as a parent that He speaks here: I have nourished--or given nutriment. In other words, Out of My rich resources of blessing have I provided for their need; I have nourished and brought up children. Here we have Gods grief revealed in the light which can only come through such tender and loving channels as parental patience and wounded love.
III. Our text reveals GODS CHARACTER IN ITS REPROVING ASPECT. The folly is emphasised by the comparison with two creatures, by no means noted for their intelligence. Yet both are domesticated creatures, and feel the ties of ownership. What is it that domesticates a creature? The creature that recognises man as his master, by that very act becomes domesticated. The higher type of knowledge possessed by the domesticated animal is a direct recognition of its master. The finest creatures possess that. There is a lower grade of knowledge, but yet one which stamps the creature as domesticated. That is an acknowledgment, not of the master directly, but a recognition of the provision which the master has made for its need. The ox knoweth his owner. The ass does not do that; but the ass knoweth his masters crib. The ass knows the stall where it is fed, and it goes and is fed there. By that act it indirectly acknowledges the sovereignty of its owner, because it recognises his protection.
IV. The text presents to us THE TENDER AND PATHETIC SIDE OF GODS CHARACTER. This is Gods version of human sin. His rebukes are full of pathos. With the great mantle of charity that covers over a multitude of sins, and with the Divine pity that puts the best construction upon human rebellion, He puts all down to ignorance and folly. Observe further, that although they have rebelled against Him, He does not withdraw the name He gave them, Israel--Israel doth not know: My people doth not consider. He does not repudiate them. The last thing that love can do is that. There is something exceedingly pathetic in God here making an appeal to creation relative to His relationship with man. What if it gave a relief to the heart of God to exclaim to His own creation that groaned with Him over human sin, Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth! Am I imagining? Do we not find a Divine as well as human feeling in Christs going to the wilderness or the mountain top in the hours of His greatest need? There, amid Gods creation, He found His Father very near. Here the fact that the child does not know his Heavenly Father is represented as the burden of Gods grief. But in this case the ignorance was wilful This was the burden on the heart of Christ in His prayer (Joh_17:1-26). There everything is made to depend upon men knowing God as their Father. That is just why we preach. We seek to make it impossible for you to pass through Gods world, and receive from His hands blessings great and boundless, and yet not know Him. We seek to make it impossible for you to look at the Cross and listen to the story of an infinite sacrifice, and yet forget that God so loved the world, etc. (D. Davies.)
The heinousness of rebellion against Gods paternal government
The criminality of rebellion must, of course, be affected by the nature of the government and administration against which it is exerted. It must be measured by the mildness and propriety of the system whose authority it renounces, and by the patience, lenity, and wisdom with which that system is administered. If the government be despotic in its character, and administered with implacable or ferocious sternness, it can hardly be unlawful, and may be deserving of commendation. If the government be paternal in its character and administered with paternal sensibilities, then criminal to a degree absolutely appalling.
I. THE PATERNAL GOVERNMENT OF GOD. This is seen in--
1. The object of its precepts. The entire and simple aim of all and every one of His commands, and the motives by which He urges them, appear to be an advancement in knowledge, holiness, and felicity, that we may be fitted for His own presence and intimate communion; for the exalted dignities and interminable bliss of the realms where His honour dwelleth.
2. The length of His forbearance. Who but a father, surpassing all below that have honoured this endearing name, could have borne so long and so meekly, with the thankless, the wayward, the audacious, the provoking! Who but a father, such as Heaven alone can furnish, would return good for evil, and blessing for cursing, hundreds and thou sands of years, and then, when any finite experimenter had utterly despaired, resolve to vanquish his enemies, not by terror, wasting and woe, but by the omnipotence of grace and mercy! Who but a GOD, and a paternal GOD, would have closed such a strange and melancholy history as that of Israel, by sending His Son into the world, not to condemn the world, etc.
3. The nature of His tenderness. The philanthropist commiserates the distresses of his fellow creatures, and magnanimously resolves to meliorate them. But he is not animated by that lively, that overpowering, self-sacrificing tenderness which prompts the exertions of a father in behalf of his suffering child. No; that tenderness shrinks from no expenditure, falters before no obstacles. And such was the tenderness of God, for it is not said that He so pitied, but that He so loved the world as to give His only begotten Son, etc.
II. IF SIN BE THE RESISTANCE OF THE COMMANDS AND CLAIMS, THE MOTIVES AND EXPOSTULATIONS, THE GRACE AND MERCY OF ONE WHO HAS GIVEN US SUCH ILLUSTRIOUS PROOFS OF HIS PATERNAL REGARD AND
GOODNESS--CAN IT BE OTHER THAN REBELLION? Can it be other than rebellion of a most aggravated character? The consideration should silence every whisper of pretension to meritorious virtue, and stir up the sentiments of profound contrition. It should take every symptom of stubbornness away, and make us self-accusing, lowly, and brokenhearted. (T. W.Coit.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv2–5 Isa_1:2. The Lord hath spoken.
PROPHECY THE VOICE OF GOD
Isa_1:2. The Lord hath spoken.
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Thus at the very outset of this book Divine authority is claimed for the utterances contained in it. Three views may be taken of the writings of the Hebrew prophets.
1. They are the writings of men who knew they were uttering that which is false when they claimed to be messengers of the Most High.
2. They are the writings of enthusiasts who mistook the ecstasies of their excited imaginations for Divine inspirations.
3. They are the writings of holy men who were inspired by the Holy Ghost.
Against the first of these views is to be set the fact that the whole influence of the prophets was exerted on behalf of national righteousness and individual virtue; that for these things they suffered; that for these things some of them died. Is it credible that men who so sought to promote such ends would begin and continue their mission with a blasphemous lie?
Against the second is to be set the fact that many of their predictions have been fulfilled—fulfilled after intervals, so long, and with such minute accuracy, that sceptics have sought to account for such fulfilments by asserting that the prophecies were written subsequently to the events to which they refer; an assertion which the most competent scholars repel even with contempt.
There remains then only the third view; and in support of it may be urged—in addition to the conclusive fact just named—such considerations as these:
1. That their conceptions of God and of human duty are such as to satisfy the loftiest demands of the most enlightened reason and the best instructed conscience. Give examples (Isa_40:12-26; Isa_58:3-7, &c.)
2. That their conceptions of God and of human duty have not been surpassed by those of the sublimest poets or the ablest philosophers of any subsequent age.
3. That their sublime conceptions of God and of human duty, which still stand as the Alps or Himalaya of human thought, were given to the world in an age when, with the exception only of the prophets and those who accepted their teaching, the whole human race was given over to the most debasing idolatries and superstitions.
4. That the Hebrew prophets stood out in regard to these conceptions not only distinct from the men of their own age, but from the men of their own nation, from whom they had only words of rebuke, and against whose most cherished convictions and steadfast tendencies they set themselves in resolute opposition. Give examples (Isa_1:11-15; Isa_66:1-2, &c.) If due weight be given to these considerations, we shall see that there is no escape from the conclusion that the Hebrew prophets owed their conceptions of God and duty to God Himself. They spake and wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
If this be so, then—
1. We should earnestly study the prophetic utterances. How mentally as well as morally debased is the man who is not alert and concerned to hear and understand what “the LORD hath spoken”!
2. Such of their utterances as are predictive should kindle within us confident and joyful hopes. They are the promises of Him who cannot lie, and who has ample power to perform.
3. To those which are preceptive we should give prompt, comprehensive, and careful obedience. To withhold such obedience, is to array against ourselves omnipotent power; to yield it, is to secure for ourselves eternal rewards (Isa_3:10-11).
AN APPEAL AND AN ARGUMENT
Isa_1:2-3. Hear, O heavens; and give ear, O earth: for the Lord hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
I. The unnaturalness of sin. The heavens and the earth obey the laws to which they have been subjected; the very beasts are faithful to their instincts; it is only man who fails in duty and goes astray.
II. The baseness of ingratitude: as displayed—
1. By man to man [129]
2. By children to their parents [132]
3. By men to their Heavenly Father [135]
[129] All should unite to punish the ungrateful:
[132] Sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is
[135] An ungracious soul may be burdened with many sins; but she never makes up her full load till she hath added the sin of unthankfulness. He leaves out no evil in a man who calls him unthankful. Ingratitude dissolves the joints of the whole world. A barren ground is less blamed, because it hath not been dressed. But till it with the plough; trust it with seed; let the clouds bless it with their rain, the sun with his heat, the heavens with their influence, and then if it be unfertile, the condition is worse; before it was contemned, now it is cursed (Heb_6:8).—Adams, 1654.
Some are such brutes, that, like swine, their nose is nailed to the trough in which they feed; they have not the use of their understanding so far as to lift their eye to heaven, and say, “There dwells that God that provides this for me, that God by whom I live.”—Gurnall.
You would count it a sad spectacle to behold a man in a lethargy, with his senses and reason so blasted by his disease that he knows not his nearest friends, and takes no notice of those that tend him, or bring his daily food to him. How many such senseless wretches are at this day lying upon God’s hands! He ministers daily to their necessities, but they take no notice of His care and goodness.—Gurnall, 1617–1679.
The frozen snake in the fable stingeth him that refreshed it. Thus is it with all unthankful men: God ladeth them daily with benefits and blessings, and they load Him with sins and trespasses.—Stapleton, 1535–1598.
Some are such brutes, that, like swine, their nose is nailed to the trough in which they feed; they have not the use of their understanding so far as to lift their eye to heaven, and say, “There dwells that God that provides this for me, that God by whom I live.”—Gurnall.
You would count it a sad spectacle to behold a man in a lethargy, with his senses and reason so blasted by his disease that he knows not his nearest friends, and takes no notice of those that tend him, or bring his daily food to him. How many such senseless wretches are at this day lying upon God’s hands! He ministers daily to their necessities, but they take no notice of His care and goodness.—Gurnall, 1617–1679.
The frozen snake in the fable stingeth him that refreshed it. Thus is it with all unthankful men: God ladeth them daily with benefits and blessings, and they load Him with sins and trespasses.—Stapleton, 1535–1598.
Some are such brutes, that, like swine, their nose is nailed to the trough in which they feed; they have not the use of their understanding so far as to lift their eye to heaven, and say, “There dwells that God that provides this for me, that God by whom I live.”—Gurnall.
You would count it a sad spectacle to behold a man in a lethargy, with his senses and reason so blasted by his disease that he knows not his nearest friends, and takes no notice of those that tend him, or bring his daily food to him. How many such senseless wretches are at this day lying upon God’s hands! He ministers daily to their necessities, but they take no notice of His care and goodness.—Gurnall, 1617–1679.
The frozen snake in the fable stingeth him that refreshed it. Thus is it with all unthankful men: God ladeth them daily with benefits and blessings, and they load Him with sins and trespasses.—Stapleton, 1535–1598.
To have a thankless child.—Shakespeare.
Ingratitude is treason to mankind.
—Thomson.
He that’s ungrateful has no guilt but one;
All other crimes may pass for virtues in him.
—Young.
III. The reasonableness of God’s claim to our obedience and love.
1. He is our Father [138]
2. To all parental duties He has been faithful.
2. He has been more than faithful; He has caused our cup to run over with His lovingkindness [141]
[138] It is an excellent representation of St Austin: if a sculptor, after his fashioning a piece of marble in a human figure, could inspire it with life and sense, and give it motion and understanding and speech, can it be imagined but the first act of it would be to prostrate itself at the feet of the maker in subjection and thankfulness, and to offer whatever it is, and can do, as homage to him? The almighty hand of God formed our bodies, He breathed into us the spirit of life, and should not the power of love constrain us to live wholly to His will?—Bates, 1625–1629.
[141] We find the fiercest things that live,
The savage born, the wildly rude,
When soothed by Mercy’s hand, will give
Some faint response of gratitude.
But man!—oh! blush, ye lordly race!—
Shrink back, and question thy proud heart!
Dost thou not lack that thankful grace
Which ever forms the soul’s best part?
Wilt thou not take the blessings given,
The priceless boon of ruddy health,
The sleep unbroken, peace unriven,
The cup of joy, the mine of wealth?
Wilt thou not take them all, and yet
Walk from the cradle to the grave
Enjoying, boasting, and forget
To think upon the God that gave?
Thou’lt even kneel to blood-stained kings,
Nor fear to have thy serfdom known;
Thy knee will bend for bauble things,
Yet fail to seek its Maker’s throne.
—Eliza Cook.
IV. Privilege is the measure of responsibility and the aggravation of guilt. The point of the condemnation in these verses does not lie in the contrast between the conduct of animals and men, but in the contrast between the conduct of animals and that of God’s people. “Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider!” This is the wonder and the monstrosity. That privilege is the measure of responsibility and the aggravation of guilt, is a very familiar truth; a truth often forgotten; and yet absolutely certain and tremendously important (Luk_12:48; Heb_6:7-8). What need we have to lay it to heart!
GOD’S INDICTMENT AGAINST ISRAEL
Isa_1:2-6. Hear, O heavens, &c.
God sometimes speaks to man abruptly; when this is done, the truth expressed demands the most profound attention. In our text the heavens and the earth are suddenly called to attend to what is about to be said; God is charging the human race with fearful wrongs; the matter at issue is between creature and Creator, child and Parent. Our attention is called to—
I. The Fatherhood of God. “I have nourished,” &c. Divine paternity is a truth which runs through the whole Bible, here and there shining out with resplendent lustre, as in our text. The fatherhood of God was manifested towards Israel—
1. In supply. As it affected the Jewish nation this declaration (I have nourished, &c.) pressed with tremendous force. Their supplies were marked by miracle, at least all the time they were in the wilderness; and the utterance has weight to-day. All nature is made to minister to man’s necessities.
2. In guardianship. “Brought up children.” This should have been sufficient to strike the ear as a thunderclap, seeing how far they had strayed from Him. Out of a mean, despised, and enslaved people He had developed a wealthy, mighty nation; and His guardianship reaches to all to-day.
3. In defence. The early history of these people was one unbroken chain of Divine interpositions. From the first day Moses stood before the king, until they were fully established in Palestine, God’s arm was stretched out to defend them. The blood on the door-post, their sea-path, and the sea-grave of the Egyptians, together with the hovering cloud in the wilderness, all speak of strong defence; and still there are evidences of defence in the life of every man.
II. The wickedness of man. Men are universally the same; as the father so is the son, as the Jew so is the Gentile; and hence in this chapter we have a true picture of the whole human family. Let us mark some of the many features of guilt:
1. Degeneracy. God bears with weaknesses and infirmities, but wilful backsliding He abhors. The Jews were evil-doers; they went away from God and all that was good. It is the wilful sinning of men that now grieves Him.
2. Insensibility. Wrong-doing is sure to produce wrong feeling, or, what is worse, no feeling at all. A sinful life results in a dark heart. Here is a people more insensible of good bestowed than the stupid ox or more stupid ass; and there are still persons to be found less acquainted with the source of their supplies than the dumb, unconscious brute [144]
3. Defiance. They rebelled against God. Fear ceased to check them, and hatred led them to bold, defiant deeds. The day was to them as the night, and oppression and murder were but small sins to be indulged in. So it is with many to-day; they have no shame, remorse, or compunction for sin, openly defying the living God.
[144] The stall-fed ox, that is grown fat, will know
His careful feeder, and acknowledge too;
The generous spaniel loves his master’s eye,
And licks his fingers though no meat be by:
But man, ungrateful man, that’s born and bred
By Heaven’s immediate power; maintained and fed
By His providing hand; observed, attended,
By His indulgent grace; preserved, defended,
By His prevailing arm; this man, I say,
Is more ungrateful, more obdure than they.
Man, O most ungrateful man, can ever
Enjoy Thy gift, but never mind the Giver;
And like the swine, though pampered with enough,
His eyes are never higher than the trough.
—Francis Quarles.
III. The purpose of Divine chastisement. No true parent finds any pleasure in chastising his children, and any pain inflicted without pure motives would be an evil. God corrects—
1. To restrain from sin. This explains much that happened to the Israelites, and also much that transpires in the history of all men. God sees the danger, the leaning to wrong, and with Him prevention is better than cure [147]
2. To show the consequences of sin. Men profess to be practical, and wish to be practically dealt with; hence they say, “Words are not enough; there must be blows.” The transgressor must feel as well as hear, or he will run mad. God has always taught men that His laws are more than mere word-rules; there is force in them, and he that breaks them must suffer.
3. To bring to Himself [150] Hence we often hear Him say, “Why will ye be stricken any more?” Remonstrance always precedes the lash to show His love and tenderness.—Charles Jupe.
[147] The consequences of sin are meant to wean from sin. The penalty annexed to it is, in the first instance, corrective, not penal. Fire burns the child, to teach it one of the truths of this universe—the property of fire to burn. The first time it cuts its hand with a sharp knife, it has gained a lesson which it will never forget. Now, in the case of pain, this experience is seldom, if ever, in vain. There is little chance of a child forgetting that fire will burn, and that sharp steel will cut; but the moral lessons contained in the penalties annexed to wrong-doing are just as truly intended to deter men from evil, though they are by no means so unerring in enforcing their application. The fever, in the veins and the headache which succeed intoxication are meant to warn against excess. On the first occasion they are simply corrective; in every succeeding one they assume more and more a penal character, in proportion as the conscience carries with them the sense of ill-desert.—F. W. Robertson, 1816–1853.
[150] If a sheep stray from his fellows, the shepherd sets his dog after it, not to devour it, but to bring it again: even so our Heavenly Shepherd, if any of us, His sheep, disobey Him, sets His dog of affliction after us, not to hurt us, but to bring us home to consideration of our duty towards Him.—Cawdray.
As the child, fearing nothing, is so fond of his play that he strays and wanders from his mother, not so much as thinking of her; but if he be scared or frighted with the sight or apprehension of some apparent or approaching danger, presently runs to her, casts himself into her arms, and cries out to be saved and shielded by her: so we, securely enjoying the childish sports of worldly prosperity, do so fondly dote on them that we scarce think of our Heavenly Father; but when perils and dangers approach, and are ready to seize upon us, then we flee to Him, and cast ourselves into the arms of His protection and providence, crying and calling to Him by earnest prayer for help and deliverance in this our extremity and distress.—Downame, 1644.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv3–4
Isaiah
THE GREAT SUIT: JEHOVAH VERSUS JUDAH
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THE STUPIDITY OF GODLESSNESS
Isa 1:3.
This is primarily an indictment against Israel, but it touches us all. ‘Doth not know’ i.e. has no familiar acquaintance with; ‘doth not consider,’ i.e. frivolously ignores, never meditates on.
I. This is a common attitude of mind towards God.
Blank indifference towards Him is far more frequent than conscious hostility. Take a hundred men at random as they hurry through the streets, and how many of them would have to acknowledge that no thought of God had crossed their minds for days or months? So far as they are concerned, either in regard to their thoughts or actions, He is ‘a superfluous hypothesis.’ Most men are not conscious of rebellion against Him, and to charge them with it does not rouse conscience, but they cannot but plead guilty to this indictment, ‘God is not in all their thoughts.’
II. This attitude is strange and unnatural.
That a man should be able to forget God, and live as if there were no such Being, is strange. It is one instance of that awful power of ignoring the most important subjects, of which every life affords so many and tragic instances. It seems as if we had above us an opium sky which rains down soporifics, go that we are fast asleep to all that it most concerns us to wake to. But still stranger is it that, having that power of attending or not attending to subjects, we should so commonly exercise it on this subject. For, as the ox that knows the hand that feeds him, and the ass that makes for his ‘master’s crib’ where he is sure of fodder and straw, might teach us, the stupidest brute has sense enough to recognise who is kind to him, or has authority over him, and where he can find what he needs. The godless man descends below the animals’ level. And to ignore Him is intensely stupid. But it is worse than foolish, for III. This attitude is voluntary and criminal.
Though there is not conscious hostility in it, the root of it is a subconscious sense of discordance with God and of antagonism between His will and the man’s When we are quite sure that we love another, and that hearts beat in accord and wills go out towards the same things, we do not need to make efforts to think of that other, but our minds turn towards him or her as to a home, whenever released from the holding-back force of necessary occupations. If we love God, and have our will set to do His will, our thoughts will fly to Him, ‘as doves to their windows.’
It is fed by preoccupation of thought with other things. We have but a certain limited amount of energy of thought or attention, and if we waste it, as much as most of us do, on ‘things seen and temporal,’ there is none left for the unseen realities and the God who is ‘eternal, invisible.’ It is often reinforced by theoretical uncertainty, sometimes real, often largely unreal. But after all, the true basis of it is, what Paul gives as its cause, ‘they did not like to retain God in their knowledge.’
The criminality of this indifference! It is heartlessly ungrateful. Dogs lick the hand that feeds them; ox and ass in their dull way recognise something almost like obligation arising from benefits and care. No ingratitude is meaner and baser than that of which we are guilty, if we do not requite Him ‘in whose hands our breath is, and whose are all our ways,’ by even one thankful heart-throb or one word shaped out of the breath that He gives.
IV. This attitude is fatal.
It separates us from God, and separation from Him is the very definition of Death. A God of whom we never think is all the same to us as a God who does not exist. Strike God out of a life, and you strike the sun out of the system, and wrap all in darkness and weltering chaos. ‘This is life eternal, to know Thee’; but if ‘Israel doth not know,’ Israel has slain itself.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v2 Hear, O heavens
Hear, O heavens
The chapter, down to Isa 1:23, states the case of Jehovah against Judah. Chastening, according to Deuteronomy 28-29, had been visited upon Israel in the land (Isa 1:5-8), and now the time of expulsion from the land is near. But just here Jehovah renews the promise of the Palestinian Covenant of future restoration and exaltation Isa 1:26; Isa 1:27; Isa 2:1-4.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v5 The Desolation of Zion
The Desolation of Zion
v. 5. Why, that is, to what end and purpose, should ye be stricken any more? Ye will revolt more and more, or, "while ye are revolting more and more. " The case was such that Israel heaped rebellion upon blasphemy, always becoming subject to more severe forms of punishment, and yet no beneficial result showed. The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint, that is, the entire nation, leaders and followers, within and without, were suffering from the consequences of tile many wounds received at the hands of God.
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v. 6. From the sole of the foot even unto the head, that is, the whole body of the people, from the lowest to the highest and most honorable, there is no soundness in it, not a healthy spot, but wounds, gaping as from the stroke of a sword, and bruises, contusions as from the blows of fists, and putrefying sores, from which the pus must be drawn; they have not been closed, by pressing the gaping edges together, both to remove all foreign matter and to cause an even healing, neither bound up, by a cool and softening bandage, neither mollified with ointment, to hasten the healing process. In other words, when the prophets tried to heal the various wounds and bruises of Israel by using the knife of the Law, by calling the people to repentance, in order to apply the cooling ointment of the Gospel afterwards, the people resented the treatment and hindered the healing; they refused the assistance of the Lord and repudiated His mercy. The prophet now abandons his figurative language for a concrete description of the situation in Judah and Jerusalem at that time.
v. 7. Your country is desolate, it has been made a desert by the inroads of the enemies, your cities are burned with fire, laid waste by plundering hordes; your land, strangers devour it in your presence, that is, the fruits of the ground, of fields and orchards, were taken by the invaders, and it is desolate, turned into a wilderness, as overthrown by strangers, conditions such as barbarians usually bring about.
v. 8. And the daughter of Zion, the city of Jerusalem with its inhabitants, is left as a cottage in a vineyard, the shack of a watchman, offering meager shelter, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, a similar shelter in a truck-garden, temporary and frail, as a besieged city, for the devastated country is inhabited by enemies, and therefore the inhabitants of Jerusalem were practically cut off from all outside intercourse.
v. 9. Except the Lord of hosts, Jehovah Sabaoth, in whose hands, after all, are the destinies of all people and especially of His Church Militant, had left unto us a very small remnant, some who had escaped the general desolation behind the walls of Jerusalem, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah, visited by a total destruction. Thus far God’s judgment upon the backsliding Jews had proceeded. But the climax of His punishment had not yet struck Jerusalem; there were still such as had escaped. Let all sinners everywhere heed the warning of the Lord, lest the final judgment strike them.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv2, 4, 5, 7 General Information:
General Information:
Isaiah speaks to the people of Judah in the form of a poem. (See: Parallelism)
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Hear, heavens, and give ear, earth
Although these prophecies were meant for the people of Jerusalem and Judah to hear, Isaiah knows they will not listen. Possible meanings are 1) he speaks in apostrophe, as though the "heavens" and "earth" would be able to listen to what Yahweh said, or 2) the words "heavens" and "earth" are metonyms and a merism for all living beings everywhere. AT: "you who live in the heavens ... you who live on the earth" (See: Apostrophe and Personification and Merism)
Yahweh
This is the name of God that he revealed to his people in the Old Testament. See the translationWord page about Yahweh concerning how to translate this.
I have nourished ... does not understand
Words that Yahweh spoke and which Isaiah is speaking to the Israelites for Yahweh.
I have nourished and brought up children
Yahweh speaks as if his words were food and as if the Israelites were his children. AT: "I have taken care of the people living in Judah like they were my children" (See: Metaphor)
the donkey his master's feeding trough
You can make clear the understood information. AT: "the donkey knows his master's feeding trough" or "the donkey knows where his master gives him food" (See: Ellipsis)
but Israel does not know, Israel does not understand
This probably means "but the people of Israel do not know me, they do not understand that I am the one who cares for them."
Israel
This is a metonym for the people of Israel. Judah is part of what had been the nation of Israel. AT: "the people of Israel" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
heaven
Yahweh
rebel
Israel
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv2–7 1:2 heavens . . . earth: All of creation…
1:2 heavens . . . earth: All of creation is called to witness the trial that God convened against Judah (cp. Deut 31:28; 32:1).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.