When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off. The women will come and set them on fire, for they are a people of no understanding. Therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them, and he who formed them will show them no favor.
Parallel Translations
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When its boughs are withered, they will be broken off. The women will come and set them on fire, for they are a people of no understanding. Therefore he who made them will not have compassion on them, and he who formed them will show them no favor.
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When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour.
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When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off; the women shall come, and set them on fire; for it is a people of no understanding; therefore He that made them will not have compassion upon them, and He that formed them will not be gracious unto them.
Cross-references (31)
Passages linked to Isaiah 27:11 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Isaiah 1:3 The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master’s crib; but Israel doesn’t know. My people don’t consider.”
- Isaiah 43:1 But now Yahweh who created you, Jacob, and he who formed you, Israel, says: “Don’t be afraid, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by your name. You are mine.
- Isaiah 43:7 everyone who is called by my name, and whom I have created for my glory, whom I have formed, yes, whom I have made.’ ”
- Isaiah 44:24 Yahweh, your Redeemer, and he who formed you from the womb says: “I am Yahweh, who makes all things; who alone stretches out the heavens; who spreads out the earth by myself;
- Jeremiah 8:7 Yes, the stork in the sky knows her appointed times. The turtledove, the swallow, and the crane observe the time of their coming; but my people don’t know Yahweh’s law.
- Jeremiah 4:22 “For my people are foolish. They don’t know me. They are foolish children, and they have no understanding. They are skillful in doing evil, but they don’t know how to do good.”
- Ezekiel 9:10 As for me also, my eye won’t spare, neither will I have pity, but I will bring their way on their head.”
- Matthew 3:10 “Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.
- John 15:6 If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
- Genesis 6:6-7 Yahweh was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him in his heart. Yahweh said, “I will destroy man whom I have created from the surface of the ground—man, along with animals, creeping things, and birds of the sky—for I am sorry that I have made them.”
- Deuteronomy 4:6 Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples who shall hear all these statutes and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”
- Deuteronomy 32:18-25 Of the Rock who became your father, you are unmindful, and have forgotten God who gave you birth. Yahweh saw and abhorred, because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters. He said, “I will hide my face from them. I will see what their end will be; for they are a very perverse generation, children in whom is no faithfulness. They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God. They have provoked me to anger with their vanities. I will move them to jealousy with those who are not a people. I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation. For a fire is kindled in my anger, that burns to the lowest Sheol, devours the earth with its increase, and sets the foundations of the mountains on fire. “I will heap evils on them. I will spend my arrows on them. They shall be wasted with hunger, and devoured with burning heat and bitter destruction. I will send the teeth of animals on them, with the venom of vipers that glide in the dust. Outside the sword will bereave, and in the rooms, terror on both young man and virgin, the nursing infant with the gray-haired man.
- Deuteronomy 32:28-29 For they are a nation void of counsel. There is no understanding in them. Oh that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end!
- 2 Chronicles 36:16-17 but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until Yahweh’s wrath arose against his people, until there was no remedy. Therefore he brought on them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, old man or gray-headed. He gave them all into his hand.
- Psalms 80:15-16 the stock which your right hand planted, the branch that you made strong for yourself. It’s burned with fire. It’s cut down. They perish at your rebuke.
- Psalms 106:40 Therefore Yahweh burned with anger against his people. He abhorred his inheritance.
- Isaiah 9:17 Therefore the Lord will not rejoice over their young men, neither will he have compassion on their fatherless and widows; for everyone is profane and an evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
- Isaiah 44:2 This is what Yahweh who made you, and formed you from the womb, who will help you says: “Don’t be afraid, Jacob my servant; and you, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen.
- Isaiah 44:18-21 They don’t know, neither do they consider: for he has shut their eyes, that they can’t see; and their hearts, that they can’t understand. No one thinks, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, “I have burned part of it in the fire. Yes, I have also baked bread on its coals. I have roasted meat and eaten it. Shall I make the rest of it into an abomination? Shall I bow down to a tree trunk?” He feeds on ashes. A deceived heart has turned him aside; and he can’t deliver his soul, nor say, “Isn’t there a lie in my right hand?” Remember these things, Jacob and Israel; for you are my servant. I have formed you. You are my servant. Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.
- Jeremiah 5:4-5 Then I said, “Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they don’t know the Yahweh’s way, nor the law of their God. I will go to the great men and will speak to them, for they know the way of Yahweh, and the law of their God.” But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
- Jeremiah 5:21-22 ‘Hear this now, foolish people without understanding, who have eyes, and don’t see, who have ears, and don’t hear: Don’t you fear me?’ says Yahweh ‘Won’t you tremble at my presence, who have placed the sand for the bound of the sea, by a perpetual decree, that it can’t pass it? Though its waves toss themselves, yet they can’t prevail. Though they roar, they still can’t pass over it.’
- Ezekiel 15:2-8 “Son of man, what is the vine tree more than any tree, the vine-branch which is among the trees of the forest? Will wood be taken of it to make anything? Will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel on it? Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire has devoured both its ends, and the middle of it is burned. Is it profitable for any work? Behold, when it was whole, it was suitable for no work. How much less, when the fire has devoured it, and it has been burned, will it yet be suitable for any work?” Therefore the Lord Yahweh says: “As the vine tree among the trees of the forest, which I have given to the fire for fuel, so I will give the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I will set my face against them. They will go out from the fire, but the fire will devour them. Then you will know that I am Yahweh, when I set my face against them. I will make the land desolate, because they have committed a trespass,” says the Lord Yahweh.
- Ezekiel 20:47 Tell the forest of the South, ‘Hear Yahweh’s word: The Lord Yahweh says, “Behold, I will kindle a fire in you, and it will devour every green tree in you, and every dry tree. The burning flame will not be quenched, and all faces from the south to the north will be burned by it.
- Hosea 4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you, that you may be no priest to me. Because you have forgotten your God’s law, I will also forget your children.
- Matthew 13:15 for this people’s heart has grown callous, their ears are dull of hearing, they have closed their eyes; or else perhaps they might perceive with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their heart, and would turn again; and I would heal them.’
- Matthew 13:19 When anyone hears the word of the Kingdom, and doesn’t understand it, the evil one comes, and snatches away that which has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown by the roadside.
- Romans 1:31 without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, unforgiving, unmerciful;
- 1 Thessalonians 2:16 forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, to fill up their sins always. But wrath has come on them to the uttermost.
- 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 punishing those who don’t know God, and to those who don’t obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus, who will pay the penalty: eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might,
- James 2:13 For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
- Romans 1:28 Even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting;
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain God shall not have need of mighty enemies: for…
God shall not have need of mighty enemies: for the very women shall do it to their great shame.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 27:11 When the boughs thereof are withered, they…
Isa 27:11 When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, [and] set them on fire: for it [is] a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour.
Ver. 11. For it is a people of no understanding.] Heb., Not a people of understandings - i.e., non sapiunt nisi plagis emendentur, they will not be wise without whipping; I must therefore handle them the more sharply and severely. Castigat Deus quem amat, etiamsi non amat castigare.
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Therefore he that made them.] Deus factor eius et fictor. A fearful sentence! such as should frighten those, many Ignaros that say, God that made us will surely save us.
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 When the boughs thereof are withered; when they shall…
When the boughs thereof are withered; when they shall begin to wither, as they will when they are thus gnawed and cropped by cattle.
They shall be broken off, that there may be no hopes nor possibility of their recovery.
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The women; he mentions women, either because it is their usual work in the country to make fires, and to gather fuel for them, or to signify that the men should be generally destroyed.
It is a people of no understanding; they do not understand either me or themselves, either my word or works; they know not the things which concern their own peace and happiness, but, like brute beasts made to be destroyed, they blindly and wilfully go on in those courses which will bring them to certain ruin. He that made them; both as they are creatures, and as they are his people; for this also is expressed by making or forming, as Psa 100:3; 102:18; 149:2. Thus he overthroweth their false and presumptuous conceits, that God would never destroy the work of his own hands, nor the seed of Abraham his friend for ever; and plainly declareth the contrary.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be…
When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off,.... This city is compared to a tree, whose branches are not only gnawed and consumed by cattle, as in the former verse Isa 27:10; but which, in a hot dry summer, are withered and dried up, and so are easily broken, and are fit for nothing but the fire; hence it follows:
the women come and set them on fire; or "gather" them (f) in order to burn them; as is commonly done with withered branches, Joh 15:6 it may design the burning of the whore of Rome by the kings of the earth; for as antichrist is signified by a woman, so the ten kings that shall hate her, and burn her flesh with fire, may be signified by women; see Rev 17:16. The word here used signifies to illuminate, or give light, which is done when wood is set on fire; hence the Vulgate Latin renders it, "women coming, and teaching it"; and so the Targum,
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"women shall come into the house of their gods, and teach them;''
as the woman Jezebel does, Rev 2:20 the former sense is best:
for it is a people of no understanding; or "understandings": that is, the people that inhabit the above city, they are sottish and stupid, have no understanding of God and divine things, of the Scriptures, and the doctrines of them; among whom this maxim obtains, that ignorance is the mother of devotion; they are under a judicial blindness, are given up to strong delusions to believe a lie, Th2 2:10,
therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them; and he that formed them will show them no favour; but his wrath shall be poured out upon them to the uttermost, which will be fulfilled in the seven vials, and in the destruction of Rome, and the everlasting ruin of the worshippers of the man of sin; see Rev 16:1 no argument can be taken from men's being God's creatures and offspring, and from his being the former and maker of them, to their salvation; or because they are so, therefore shall be saved when they are sinful and sottish; for, being like brutes without understanding, they shall perish as they, without mercy.
(f) So Abendana in Miclol Yophi observes, this is the sense some give of the word, taking it to be the same as is used in Cant. v. 1.
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 Broken - That there may be no hopes of…
Broken - That there may be no hopes of their recovery. Women - He mentions women, because the men would be destroyed. Not understanding - They know not the things which concerns their peace, but they blindly and wilfully go on in sin. Therefore - Thus he overthrows their conceit that God would never destroy the work of his own hands.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 11. The boughs thereof - "Her boughs"] קציריה…
Verse 11. The boughs thereof - "Her boughs"] קציריה ketsireyha, MS. and Vulg.; that is, the boughs of the vineyard, referring still to the subject of the dialogue above.
The scarcity of fuel, especially wood, in most parts of the east is so great, that they supply it with every thing capable of burning; cow-dung dried, roots, parings of fruit, withered stalks of herbs and flowers; see Mt 6:21-30. Vine-twigs are particularly mentioned as used for fuel in dressing their food, by D'Arvieux; La Roque, Palestine, p. 198. Ezekiel says, in his parable of the vine, used figuratively for the people of God, as the vineyard is here: "Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon? Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel;" Eze 15:3-4. "If a man abide not in one," saith our Lord, "he is cast forth as a branch of the vine and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned;" Joh 15:6. They employed women and children to gather these things, and they laid them up in store for use. The dressing and pruning their vines afforded a good supply of the last sort of fuel; but the prophet says that the vines themselves of the beloved vineyard shall be blasted, withered, and broken, and the women shall come and gather them up, and carry away the whole of them to make their fires for domestic uses. See Harmer's Observations, vol. i., p. 254, &c.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain When the boughs thereof are withered - This is…
When the boughs thereof are withered - This is a further description of the desolation which would come upon Babylon. The idea is, that Babylon would be forsaken until the trees should grow and decay, and the branches should fall to be collected for burning. That is, the desolation should be entire, undisturbed, and long continued The idea of the desolation is, therefore, in this verse carried forward, and a new circumstance is introduced to make it more graphic and striking. Lowth, however, supposes that this refers to the vineyard, and to the fact that the vine-twigs are collected in the East from the scarcity of fuel for burning. But it seems to me that the obvious reference is to Babylon, and that it is an image of the great and prolonged desolation that was coming upon that city.
They shall be broken off - That is, by their own weight as they decay, or by the hands of those who come to collect them for fuel.
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The women come - Probably it was the office mainly of the women to collect the fuel which might be necessary for culinary purposes. In eastern climates but little is needed; and that is collected of the twigs of vineyards, of withered stubble, straw, hay, dried roots, etc., wherever they can be found.
And set them on fire - That is, to burn them for fuel.
Of no understanding - Of no right views of God and his government - wicked, sinful Pro 6:32; Pro 18:2; Jer 5:21.
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 Women. The princes shall be weak and irresolute. (Calmet)…
Women. The princes shall be weak and irresolute. (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "Hither, ye women, coming from the shew. For it is not an intelligent people."
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 boughs . . . broken off--so the Jews are…
boughs . . . broken off--so the Jews are called (Rom 11:17, Rom 11:19-20).
set . . . on fire--burn them as fuel; "women" are specified, as probably it was their office to collect fuel and kindle the fire for cooking.
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no understanding--as to the ways of God (Deu 32:28-29; Jer 5:21; Hos 4:6).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 11. women come, and set them on fire] i.e.…
11. women come, and set them on fire] i.e. come thither to gather fuel.
a people of no understanding] (lit. “not a people of discernment”) because it does not perceive that deliverance is delayed solely by its continued impenitence (ch. Isa_44:18).
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 (11) When the boughs thereof are withered . .…
(11) When the boughs thereof are withered . . .—The picture of the wasted city receives another touch. Shrubs cover its open spaces (perhaps the prophet thinks of the gardens and parks within the walls of a city like Babylon), and women come, without fear of trespassing, to gather them for firewood.
For it is a people of no understanding.—The words are generic enough, and may be applied, like similar words in Isa_1:3; Jer_8:7; Deu_32:28, to Israel as apostate, or to the world-power, which was the enemy of Israel. In this case, as we have seen, the context turns the scale in favour of the latter reference. So taken, the words are suggestive, as witnessing to the prophet’s belief that the God of Israel was also the Maker and the Former of the nations of the heathen world.
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 When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be…
When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off. By a sudden introduction of metaphor, the city becomes a tree, the prophet"s thought going back, perhaps, to ver. 6. "Withered boughs" are indications of internal rottenness, and must be "broken off" to give the tree a chance of recovery. Samaria may be viewed as such a "bough," if the "tree" be taken as "the Israel of God" in the wider sense. Otherwise, we must suppose a threat against individual Judaeans. The women come. Weak women are strong enough to break off dead branches; they fall at a touch, and "their end is to be burned". (Heb_6:8) For it is a people of no understanding. It was folly, madness, to turn away from Jehovah, and go after other gods. Only through having "no understanding" could Israel have been so foolish. (comp. Deu_32:28 2Ki_17:15 Jer_4:22) He that made them... he that formed them. (scrap. Isa_43:7) God "hateth nothing that he has made" (Collect for Ash Wednesday). He made all men, but he "made" and "formed" Israel with exceptional care, and exceptional care leads on to exceptional love. Will not have mercy... will show them no favor; i.e. "will not spare." No contradiction of vers. 7, 8 is intended. God will have "measure" and "mercy" in his punishment of Israel, but will not so have mercy as not to punish severely.
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 It is a people of no understanding
Isa_27:11
It is a people of no understanding
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A dreadful denunciation of judgment
I.
THE JUDGMENT DENOUNCER.
1. Great desolation as to their outward state (Isa_27:10, and former part of Isa_27:11).
2. Utter destruction, final ruin. He that made them will not have mercy on them. It is the highest severity, where no Saviour is to be found, where judgment is executed without mercy. And this is amplified by the consideration--
(1) Partly of the inflicter of the judgment. He that made them, They were not to fall into the hands merely of men like themselves, their fellow creatures; but into the hands of the living God.
(2) Partly of kindness formerly received from Him. He that made them; He that formed them; that is, He that created them, gave them their being, or He that not only made them as His creatures, but formed them to be His servants, formed them into a State and into a Church, and so had given them their being, not only a natural one, but a civil and ecclesiastical one:
He that had formerly done so much for them, vouchsafed them such choice mercies, yet now would renounce all kindness to them.
II. THE CAUSE OF THE JUDGMENT TO BE INFLICTED. It is a people of no understanding, a sottish, ignorant people, such as take no notice of anything, know not God, observe not His works, understand not their duty. Other sins, no doubt, they were chargeable with; but the Lord takes notice especially of their ignorance, and it is for that they are here threatened. Hence we take notice, that,--
1. Ignorance of God, His truths or ways, is no security against His judgments (Jer_10:25).
2. The knowledge of the will and ways of God is necessary for them that expect to find favour with God. They that desire God would save them, must labour to know Him. (E. Veal, B. D.)
Spiritual knowledge
I. WHAT IS THAT KNOWLEDGE WE ARE TO SEEK AFTER.
II. DIRECTIONS FOR ATTAINING IT. (E. Veal, B. D.)
Spiritual knowledge necessary
1. Supposing it were certainly defined, how much knowledge, and the knowledge of what truths, were sufficient to salvation; yet no man, that is in a capacity of getting more knowledge, ought to acquiesce in just so much.
2. Men should in their seeking knowledge first study those truths which are most confessedly necessary to salvation before those which are apparently less necessary.
3. Men should labour after such a knowledge of the truth, as that they may be able to give a reason of the hope that is in them.
4. Men should especially give themselves to the study, and labour after the knowledge of the present truths (2Pe_1:12), i.e., those which are the special truths of the times, and ages, and places in which men live.
5. Men should labour for such knowledge as may defend them from the errors of the times and places in which they live.
6. Men should seek especially for such knowledge, and study such truths, as have the greatest influence upon practice.
7. Every man should labour to get as much spiritual knowledge as he can, by the means of the knowledge he hath gotten, and as he can get without the neglect of other necessary duties. (E. Veal, B. D.)
Mans forfeiture of the love of his Creator
I. THE RELATION OF A CREATOR STRONGLY ENGAGES GOD TO PUT FORTH ACTS OF LOVE AND FAVOUR TOWARDS HIS CREATURE. This is clear from the strength of the antithesis in these words, He that made them will not save them: where, for the advantage of the expression, it is redoubled, He that formed them will show them no favour. As if He should have, it may seem strange to you that your Creator, which very name speaks nothing but bowels of love and tenderness, should utterly confound and destroy you. Yet thus it must be; though the relation make it strange, yet your sins will make it true. The strength of this obligement appears in these two considerations.
1. It is natural; and natural obligements, as well as natural operations, are always the strongest.
2. God put this obligement upon Himself; therefore it must needs be a great and a strong one: and this is clear, because the relation of a Creator is, in order of nature, antecedent to the being of the creature; which not existing, could not oblige God to create it, or assume this relation. There are three engaging things that are implied in the creatures relation to God, that oblige Him to manifest Himself in a way of goodness to it.
(1) The extract or signal of the creatures being, which is from God Himself. It is the nature of every artificer to tender and esteem his own work: and if God should not love His creature, it would reflect some disparagement upon His workmanship, that He should make anything which He could not own. God is not a heathen god, a Saturn, to devour His children. Now the creatures denying its being from God, includes in it two other endearing considerations. It puts a certain likeness between God and the creature. Whatsoever comes from God, by way of creation, is good; and so, by reason of the native agreement that is, between that and the will of God, there naturally does result an act of love: for where there is nothing but goodness on the creatures part, there can be nothing but love on Gods.
(2) The dependence of its being upon God.
(3) The end of the creatures being is Gods glory. Now God, that loves His own glory must needs also respect the instrument that advances it.
II. SIN DISENGAGES AND TAKES OFF GOD FROM ALL THOSE ACTS OF FAVOUR THAT THE RELATION OF A CREATOR ENGAGED HIM TO.
1. It turns that which, in itself, is an obligation of mercy, to be an aggravation of the offence. True it is, to make a creature, to give It being upon a rational ground, is an argument of love. But for a creature to sin against Him from whom it had its whole being; and that a puny creature, the first born of nothing, a piece of creeping clay, one whom, as God created, so He might uncreate with a breath; for such a one to fly in his Creators face, this gives a deeper dye to sin.
2. Sin disengages God from showing love to the creature, by taking away that similitude that is between God and him, which was one cause of that love. The creature, indeed, still retains that resemblance of God that consists in being; but the greatest resemblance that consists in moral perfections, this is totally lost and defaced.
3. Sin discharges God from snowing love to the creature, by taking off the creature from his dependence upon God. It cannot dissolve his natural dependence (Act_17:28). But our moral dependence, which is a filial reliance upon God, this it destroys. For in sin the creature quits his hold of God, and seeks to shift for himself and to find his happiness within the circle of his own endeavours.
4. Sin disengages the love of God to the creature, because it renders the creature useless, as to the end for which it was designed. The soul, by reason of sin, is unable to act spiritually; for sin has disordered the soul, and turned the force and edge of all Its operations against God: so that now it can bring no glory to God by doing, but only by suffering, and being made miserable.
Application--
1. First use is to obviate and take off that usual and common argument that is frequently in the mouths of the ignorant, and in the hearts of the most knowing; that certainly God would never make them to destroy them; and therefore since He has made them, they roundly conclude that He will not destroy them. God formed thee: true; but since thou hast sinned agent so dear a relation, this very thing is an argument that He should destroy thee; God has imprinted His image upon thee, but sin has defaced it. Thou art Gods possession, a creature designed for His use: true; but sin has made thee totally useless. Now the reasons whence men frame these kind of objections may be these two.
(1) A self-love and a proneness to conceive some extraordinary perfection in themselves, which may compound for their misdemeanours.
(2) Our readiness to think that God is not so exceeding jealous of His honour, but He may easily put up the breach of it without the rum of His creature. Nay, we are even apt to doubt whether or no our sins make any breach upon it at all.
2. Second use: This may serve to inform us of the curse, provoking nature of sin. Certainly there is something in it more than ordinary, that should make the great and merciful God take a poor creature, and shake it almost into nothing, to rid His hands of it, to disown and let it fall out of His protection into endless unspeakable woe and misery.
3. Third use: This may inform us under what notion we are to make our addresses to God; not as Creator, for so He is noways suitable to our necessities. He is offended and provoked, and we stand as outlaws and rebels to our Maker. What shall poor sinners do? whither shall they repair? Why there is yet hope: Gods wisdom has reconciled His justice to His mercy, and consequently us to Himself. And now He represents Himself under a more desirable relation, as a reconciled God. And although, under the former relation, He drives us from Him; yet, under this, He tenderly invites us to Him. (R. South, D. D.)
A class of sinners excluded from mercy
I. THE CHARACTERS HERE MENTIONED are described as persons of no understanding. But what is here meant by understanding! No one can suppose that the persons here censured and threatened were idiots or madmen. Had this been their character, they would have been incapable of sin, and consequently undeserving of punishment. The word understanding is obviously used in this passage, as in very many others, to signify spiritual understanding, or a knowledge of religious truth. But some may ask, if all men are naturally without spiritual understanding, and if, as the text asserts, God will not have mercy on such as sustain this character, will it not follow that He can have mercy on none? Though all men are naturally without spiritual under standing, this declaration does not refer to all. It refers to those only who, like the Jews, have long enjoyed, but have abused or neglected means of grace and opportunities of acquiring religious knowledge.
II. THE TERRIBLENESS OF THIS THREATENING. There is something terrible in its very sound. But its meaning is much more terrible. It includes everything, dreadful, everything which man has reason to deprecate. This threatening implies--
1. That God will either deny them the common blessings of His providence, or grant them those blessings in anger, and send a curse with them.
2. That God will either deprive sinners of their religious privileges, means, and opportunities, or withhold His blessing and thus render them useless. Thus He dealt with the Jews. He still sent them messengers and instructions and warnings, but did not send a blessing with them.
3. That God will withhold from such characters the awakening, enlightening, and sanctifying influences of His Spirit.
4. That at the judgment day God will condemn such characters to depart accursed into everlasting fire. There is no medium between mercy and condemnation.
III. IT IS PERFECTLY JUST.
1. Because the persons against whom this threatening is denounced never ask for mercy, never seek the favour of God.
2. These persons have long rejected and abused the offered mercy and grace of God.
3. This threatening is just because the characters to whom it refers must be guilty of many other aggravated offences. They must have been destitute of the fear of God; for to fear Him is the beginning of wisdom. They must have refused to renounce their sins; for to depart from evil is understanding. They must have loved darkness rather than light; for they rejected the latter and chose the former; and the reason was, their deeds were evil. They must have followed and imitated sinners; for this all do who are void of understanding. They must have disobeyed Gods commands; for all who obey them have a good understanding. (E. Payson, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 27:11 The people were outside of God’s covenantal care;…
27:11 The people were outside of God’s covenantal care; they foolishly turned away from him.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.