Yes, truth is lacking; and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. Yahweh saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.
Parallel Translations
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Yes, truth is lacking; and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. Yahweh saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice.
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Yea, truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.
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And truth is lacking, and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey. And the LORD saw it, and it displeased Him that there was no justice;
Cross-references (23)
Passages linked to Isaiah 59:15 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Micah 7:2 The godly man has perished out of the earth, and there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; every man hunts his brother with a net.
- Jeremiah 7:28 You shall tell them, ‘This is the nation that has not listened to Yahweh their God’s voice, nor received instruction. Truth has perished, and is cut off from their mouth.’
- Hebrews 11:36-38 Others were tried by mocking and scourging, yes, moreover by bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn apart. They were tempted. They were slain with the sword. They went around in sheep skins and in goat skins; being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated— of whom the world was not worthy—wandering in deserts, mountains, caves, and the holes of the earth.
- 1 John 3:11-12 For this is the message which you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; unlike Cain, who was of the evil one, and killed his brother. Why did he kill him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother’s righteous.
- Psalms 5:9 For there is no faithfulness in their mouth. Their heart is destruction. Their throat is an open tomb. They flatter with their tongue.
- Psalms 12:1-2 Help, Yahweh; for the godly man ceases. For the faithful fail from among the children of men. Everyone lies to his neighbor. They speak with flattering lips, and with a double heart.
- Jeremiah 5:1-2 “Run back and forth through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in its wide places, if you can find a man, if there is anyone who does justly, who seeks truth, then I will pardon her. Though they say, ‘As Yahweh lives,’ surely they swear falsely.”
- Romans 8:36 Even as it is written, “For your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”
- 2 Chronicles 21:7 However Yahweh would not destroy David’s house, because of the covenant that he had made with David, and as he promised to give a lamp to him and to his children always.
- Isaiah 48:1 “Hear this, house of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel, and have come out of the waters of Judah. You swear by Yahweh’s name, and make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness—
- Jeremiah 29:26 “Yahweh has made you priest in the place of Jehoiada the priest, that there may be officers in Yahweh’s house, for every man who is crazy, and makes himself a prophet, that you should put him in the stocks and in shackles.
- Hosea 9:7 The days of visitation have come. The days of reckoning have come. Israel will consider the prophet to be a fool, and the man who is inspired to be insane, because of the abundance of your sins, and because your hostility is great.
- Habakkuk 1:13-14 You who have purer eyes than to see evil, and who cannot look on perversity, why do you tolerate those who deal treacherously, and keep silent when the wicked swallows up the man who is more righteous than he, and make men like the fish of the sea, like the creeping things, that have no ruler over them?
- Mark 3:21 When his friends heard it, they went out to seize him; for they said, “He is insane.”
- Acts 9:1 But Saul, still breathing threats and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest
- Acts 9:23 When many days were fulfilled, the Jews conspired together to kill him,
- Acts 26:24 As he thus made his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, you are crazy! Your great learning is driving you insane!”
- 2 Corinthians 5:13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. Or if we are of sober mind, it is for you.
- Genesis 38:10 The thing which he did was evil in Yahweh’s sight, and he killed him also.
- 2 Samuel 11:27 When the mourning was past, David sent and took her home to his house, and she became his wife, and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased Yahweh.
- 2 Kings 9:11 When Jehu came out to the servants of his lord, and one said to him, “Is all well? Why did this mad fellow come to you?” He said to them, “You know the man and how he talks.”
- Hosea 4:1-2 Hear Yahweh’s word, you children of Israel; for Yahweh has a charge against the inhabitants of the land: “Indeed there is no truth, nor goodness, nor knowledge of God in the land. There is cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and committing adultery; they break boundaries, and bloodshed causes bloodshed.
- John 8:52 Then the Jews said to him, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, as did the prophets; and you say, ‘If a man keeps my word, he will never taste of death.’
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain The wicked will destroy him.
The wicked will destroy him.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Isa 59:15 Yea, truth faileth; and he [that] departeth…
Isa 59:15 Yea, truth faileth; and he [that] departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw [it], and it displeased him that [there was] no judgment.
Ver. 15. Yea, truth faileth.] See Isa 59:13.
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And he that departethfrom evil maketh himself a prey.] Praedae pater; is like to suffer for his singularity and preciseness. The luxurious Ephesians once made this decree, Oυδεις ημων ονηιστος εστω, Let there be never a sober man allowed to live among us. The Athenians were wont to cast good men out of their commonwealth by an ostracism. Thraseaes was commanded by Nero to die, because he was a better man than was fit to live in so loose an age. Josephus saith, that before the last destruction of Jerusalem, religion was not only a matter of form, but of scorn. Bede reporteth of the ancient Britons, immediately before their destruction by the Saxons, that they were come to that height of wickedness as to cast odium in religionis professores tanquam in adversarios, hatred upon professors of religion, looking upon them as their adversaries.
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 Truth faileth: q.d. Truth is more than fallen, which…
Truth faileth: q.d. Truth is more than fallen, which he had said in the former verse; it faileth. For being only fallen it may recover itself again, but failing notes the loss of its very vitals; as being every where neglected, in court, in city, in country, in inferior as well as superior ranks, in the streets, in the gates, in the markets, in the fairs, in all public places of commerce, the condition much like that under the beast coming out of the earth, Rev 13:11, &c. See Psa 10:7,8, &c. All things are amiss, neither judgment, nor justice, nor truth is to be found among us, but fraud and deceit; yet none troubled at it.
He that departeth from evil, that separateth himself from evil things and persons, will not be as vile as others,
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maketh himself a prey; or, is accounted mad; is laughed at that talks of justice, so some. Josephus tells us that immediately before the destruction of Jerusalem, it was matter of scorn to be religious. Though there be no solid ground for nor need of that marginal reading, yet is it a truth. The translators reach the meaning by prey; the wicked, like wild beasts, endeavouring to devour such as are not as bad as themselves: where wickedness rules, innocency is oppressed: in bargaining, as buying and selling, they that are simple and innocent are outwitted by the crafty and fraudulent, as not willing, or rather daring, to oppose fraud with fraud, but to do all things in sincerity.
The Lord saw it, i.e. took notice of it: it is spoken of God after the manner of men, as Gen 11:5; 18:21, and many other places.
It displeased him: q.d. If you would know why God is so angry with you, it is for such things as these; the Lord takes notice of it, and it is a great evil in his eye.
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 Yea, truth faileth,.... Or, "is deprived" (f); of its…
Yea, truth faileth,.... Or, "is deprived" (f); of its life and being; it not only falls in the street, and there lies, without any to show regard unto it; but it fails; it seems as if it had given up the ghost and expired; so very prevalent will error be, before light and truth spring up again and be victorious, as they will:
and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey; he that does not give in to the prevailing vices of the age in which he lives, now become fashionable, but abstains from them, and departs from doctrinal as well as practical evils; from all false doctrines, and from all superstitious modes of worship; becomes a prey to others; a reproach and a laughing stock to them; they scoff at him, and deride him for his preciseness in religion; for his enthusiastic and irrational notions in doctrine; and for his stiffness in matters of worship: or, "he makes himself reckoned a madman" (g); as some render it; and this is a common notion with profane men, and loose professors, to reckon such as madmen that are upright in doctrine, worship, and conversation; see Act 26:24,
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and the Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment; he took notice of all this, and resented it, though in a professing people, that there was no judgment or discretion in matters of doctrine and worship; no order or discipline observed; no justice done in civil courts, or in the church of God; no reformation in church or state.
(f) "privata"; so "privatio", often with the Rubbins. (g) "facit ut insanus habeatur", Junius & Tremellius; "habitus est pro insano", Vitringa; so Abendana, "he that fears God, and departs from evil", , "they reckon him a fool or a madman."
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 Faileth - All things are amiss, neither judgment or…
Faileth - All things are amiss, neither judgment or justice, or truth, is to be found among us. A prey - Or, as some render it, is accounted mad, is laughed at. Josephus tells us, that immediately before the destruction of Jerusalem, it was matter of scorn to be religions. The translators reach the meaning of the word by prey: the wicked, like wild beasts, endeavouring to devour such as are not as bad as themselves: where wickedness rules, innocency is oppressed.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 15. And the Lord saw it - "And…
Verse 15. And the Lord saw it - "And JEHOVAH saw it -----"] This third line of the stanza appears manifestly to me to be imperfect by the loss of a phrase. The reader will perhaps more perfectly conceive my idea of the matter if I endeavour to supply the supposed defect, I imagine it might have stood originally in this manner: -
לו ויחר יהוה וירא
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lo veyachar Yehovah vaiyar
משפט אין כי בעיניו וירע
mishpat ein ki beeyinaiv veyera
"And JEHOVAH saw it, and he was wroth;
And it displeased him, that there was no judgment."
We have had already many examples of mistakes of omission; this, if it be such, is very ancient, being prior to all the versions. - L.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Yea, truth faileth - That is, it is not…
Yea, truth faileth - That is, it is not to be found, it is missing. The word used here (from עדר ‛âdar) means “to be left, to remain” 2Sa 17:22; then “to be missing or lacking” 1Sa 30:19; Isa 40:26. Here it means that truth had no existence there.
And he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey - Margin, ‘Is accounted mad.’ Noyes renders this, ‘And he that departeth from evil is plundered.’ Grotius renders it, ‘The innocent man lies open to injury from all.’ The Septuagint, ‘They took away the mind from understanding;’ or, ‘They substituted opinion in the place of knowledge.’ (Thompson’s Translation.) The phrase, ‘He that departeth from evil,’ means evidently a man who did not, and would not, fall in with the prevailing iniquitous practices, but who maintained a life of honesty and piety. It was one of the evils of the times that such a man would be harassed, plundered, ill-treated. The word rendered ‘maketh himself a prey’ (משׁתולל mishetôlēl from שׁלל shâlal), is a word usually signifying to strip off, to plunder, to spoil. Some have supposed that the word means to make foolish, or to account mad, in Job 12:17, Job 12:19. Thus, in the passage before us, the Septuagint understood the word, and this sense of the word our translators have placed in the margin. But there is no reason for departing here from the usual signification of the word as denoting to plunder, to spoil; and the idea is, that the people of honesty and piety were subject to the rapacity of the avaricious, and the oppression of the mighty. They regarded them as lawful prey, and took every advantage in stripping them of their property, and reducing them to want. This completes the statement of the crimes of the nation, and the existence of such deeds of violence and iniquity constituted the basis on which God was led to interpose and effect deliverance. Such a state of crime and consequent suffering demanded the divine interposition; and when Yahweh saw it, he was led to provide a way for deliverance and reform.
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The passage before us had a primary reference to the prevalence of iniquity in the Jewish nation. But it is language also that will quite as appropriately describe the moral condition of the world as laying the foundation for the necessity of the divine interposition by the Messiah. Indeed, the following verses undoubtedly refer to him. No one, it is believed, can attentively read the passage, and doubt this. The mind of the prophet is fixed upon the depravity of the Jewish nation. The hands, the tongue, the eyes, the feet, the fingers, were all polluted. The whole nation was sunk in moral corruption; and this was but a partial description of what was occurring everywhere on the earth. In such a state of things in the Jewish nation, and in the whole world, the question could not but arise, whether no deliverer could be found. Was there no way of pardon; no way by which deserved and impending wrath could be diverted? From this melancholy view, therefore, the prophet turns to him who was to be the Great Deliverer, and the remainder of the chapter is occupied with a most beautiful description of the Redeemer, and of the effect of his coming. The sentiment of the whole passage is, “that the deep and extended depravity of man was the foundation of the necessity of the divine interposition in securing salvation, and that in view of the guilt of people, God provided one who was a Glorious Deliverer, and who was to come to Zion as the Redeemer.”
And the Lord saw it - He saw there was no righteousness; no light; no love; no truth. All was violence and oppression: all was darkness and gloom.
And it displeased him - Margin, ‘Was evil in his eyes.’ So Jerome, ‘It appeared evil in his eyes.’ Septuagint, Καὶ οὐκ ἤρεσεν αὐτῷ Kai ouk ēresen autō - ‘And it did not please him.’ The Hebrew, וירע vayēra‛ means, literally, ‘It was evil in his eyes.’ That is, it was painful or displeasing to him. The existence of so much sin and darkness was contrary to the benevolent feelings of his heart.
That there was no judgment - No righteousness; no equity; and that iniquity and oppression abounded.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain faileth--is not to be found.
faileth--is not to be found.
he that departeth . . . prey--He that will not fall in with the prevailing iniquity exposes himself as a prey to the wicked (Psa 10:8-9).
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Lord saw it--The iniquity of Israel, so desperate as to require nothing short of Jehovah's interposition to mend it, typifies the same necessity for a Divine Mediator existing in the deep corruption of man; Israel, the model nation, was chosen to illustrate his awful fact.
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 15-17. The Lord saw it — Dramatic for the…
15-17. The Lord saw it — Dramatic for the statement that he accepts the confession as he promised. Isa_58:8-14.
It displeased — Literally, It was evil in his eyes.
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No judgment — That there was no just judgment (always so dear to him, Isa_61:8) among the Jewish people.
Saw that… no man — No man who executed justice and sought truth.
Wondered — Amazed. He sees with dismay that no one is there to interfere or to intercede.
Therefore — Upon knowledge of what was wanting. This passage is strongly dramatic, figuring God as a human supervision.
His arm — Symbol of omnipotence. “His right hand and his holy arm hath gotten him the victory.” Psa_98:1. His own equity came to the rescue.
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 15. Yea, truth faileth] Lit. And truth is missing,—conspicuous…
15. Yea, truth faileth] Lit. And truth is missing,—conspicuous by its absence.
maketh himself a prey] i.e. must submit to extortion (Psa_76:6). Another, and possibly a better rendering is, “withdraws himself”; compare the peculiar use of the simple verb in Rth_2:16 (= “draw out” corn from the sheaf).
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15b introduces the peroration of the discourse, in which the prophet describes the manner in which salvation shall at last “overtake” the sinful and misgoverned community. The logical development of the argument seems to be arrested by the conviction that the existing situation is hopeless, and only to be terminated through the personal intervention of Jehovah. This conviction clothes itself first of all in a prophetic vision of Jehovah as He appears to judgement; which is followed by an announcement of the consequences of His interposition for the two classes within Israel and for mankind at large. Although the transition in the middle of this verse is abrupt and unexpected there is no sufficient reason to doubt the unity of the discourse.
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 (15) Truth faileth—i.e., is banished, and becomes as a…
(15) Truth faileth—i.e., is banished, and becomes as a missing and lost thing. The man who departs from evil is but the victim of the evil-doers. Other renderings are (1) is outlawed, and (2) is counted mad, but the Authorised Version is quite tenable. The words remind us of the terrible picture of Greek demoralisation in Thuc. iii.
And the Lord saw it . . .—The verse at first suggests the thought that what Jehovah saw were the sins thus described. The sequence of thought, however, tends to the conclusion that the words are properly the beginning of a new section, and that the supplied pronoun refers to the repentance and confession of the people. It displeased Him—literally, was evil in His eyes—that the penitents were still subject to oppression, that they found no leader and deliverer, and therefore He came, as it were, alone and unaided, to the rescue. (Comp. Joe_2:17-19.)
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 Yea, truth faileth. Truth itself is altogether gone, is…
Yea, truth faileth. Truth itself is altogether gone, is missing, not forthcoming. "Tetras Astraea reliquit." This is the worst of all. For truth is the basis of the social fabric, the groundwork of all morality. Once let there be no regard for truth in a state, no discredit attaching to lying, and all virtue is undermined, all soundness is vanished nothing remains but "wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores". (Isa_1:6) He that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey. Evil-doers prosper. The man who "eschews evil," and declines to employ (as others do) the weapons of fraud and violence, simply gives himself over as a prey to those who are less scrupulous than himself.
Vers. 15-21. A PROMISE OF DELIVERANCE. TO OPPRESSED ISRAEL. The godly in Israel were suffering a double oppression:
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(1) at the hand of their ungodly brethren;
(2) at the hand of the heathen.
The prophet promises a deliverance from both. The deliverance will be followed by the establishment of Messiah"s kingdom, which will continue for ever.
And the Lord saw it. The division of the verses here requires alteration. The opening clause of ver. 15 belongs to what precedes; the second clause to what follows. "The Lord saw" that condition of things in Israel which is described in vers. 3-15; and it displeased him; literally, it was evil in his eyes, especially in that there was no judgment. Justice was not done between man and man; no one thought of pronouncing just judgments. The circumstances were such as to invite a Divine interposition.
Vers. 15-21. Jehovah as Champion of the people.
I HE IS THE INTERESTED SPECTATOR OF HUMAN AFFAIRS. He "considers in his dwelling-place". (Isa_18:4) He "causes his ear to hear to judge the fatherless and oppressed, that the man of the earth may no more oppress. (Psa_10:18) He is not like the gods of the Epicureans, "sitting apart, careless of mankind." He is a God who can feel pleasure in goodness and the good, displeasure in the prevalence of wrong and injustice. To doubt it is to doubt of the existence of God himself.
II HE TAKES UPON HIMSELF THE CAUSE OF THE OPPRESSED. He saw that there was "no man," no champion, and was "stupefied," or in "consternation", (cf. Jer_14:9) that none was at baud to interpose in battle on behalf of his own. He therefore armed himself with sword and bow, with coat of mail and helmet, and the garments of zeal and vengeance. A great world-struggle is coming on, in which he will inflict retribution upon his foes.
III THE REVERENCE OF THE NATIONS FOR HIM. The Gentiles who are spared are imagined as hastening from their distant abodes in tremulous anxiety to meet Jehovah. His Name (cf. Deu_28:58 Mic_6:9 Neh_1:11 Psa_86:11 Psa_102:15) shall be universally feared. His advance will be like that of a rushing stream, driven by the might of the wind, and so as a Goel he will come to Zion, and to all the obedient those that have "turned from rebellion." The effect of his coming will be the turning of men from their sins, and only to such regenerate ones will he come.
IV HIS COVENANT. He makes solemn promises to men conditional on their compliance with his terms. To the repentant his Spirit will be imparted, as a continuous gift. His words, or revelations, shall be in their mouth, therefore in their minds and hearts, for ever flowing on, a holy stream of tradition, from generation to generation. (cf. Deu_7:9 Deu_4:37 Deu_5:29 Psa_89:24-36 Jer_32:39, Jer_32:40) The majority of religious people are descendants of those who were the friends of God. A large proportion of American piety has descended from the Pilgrim Fathers. Barnes says "I am acquainted with the descendants of John Rogers, the first martyr in Queen Mary"s reign, of the tenth and eleventh generations. With a single exception, the eldest son in the family has been a clergyman some of them eminently distinguished for learning and piety. J.
Vers. 15-17. Human hopelessness and Divine redemption.
This vivid picture of the nation"s demoralization, and of its incapacity to produce a citizen who could regenerate and reform, may appropriately suggest
I THE HOPELESS CONDITION OF THE HUMAN RACE UNDER THE LONG TYRANNY OF SIN. Man had fallen so far that there was not the smallest prospect of redemption from anything he could originate. The all-seeing eye of God rested on "no man, no intercessor." Reformer there might be, but Redeemer there was none. No human arm could uplift a sin-slain and fallen race from its degradation and ruin. Hence came
II THE REDEEMING POWER OF ALMIGHTY GOD. "It displeased the Lord;" the iniquity of the world pained, grieved, distressed, his pure and pitiful heart. And his compassion found fitting utterance in redemption. "His arm brought salvation." The redemption of the world by Jesus Christ was indeed a work wrought; it was a putting forth of Divine power; it was the mighty act of God"s righteous "arm." The work of the strong brute is to carry great weights, of the human giant to deal mighty blows, of the trained intellect to solve subtle problems or make intricate calculations; but the work of the holy and merciful Spirit of God is by self-sacrifice to redeem and to restore. Here is the exercise of the truest, noblest, most beneficent power. In comparison with this all other power is weakness itself.
III THE QUALIFICATIONS OF THE DIVINE REDEEMER.
1. A sense of perfect rectitude. "His righteousness, it sustained him." It was much, it was everything to the aspersed and incriminated Saviour to know that he was absolutely right in the sight of the holy Father.
2. Compassion. "The helmet of salvation.
3. Holy indignation. "He put on the garments of vengeance." Hatred of sin is quite as indispensable to a Saviour as pity for its victim (vide Matthew 23).
4. Consecration. "Clad with zeal as a cloak;" with that utter and entire devotedness which led him to drink quite up that bitter cup which the Father placed in his hands. C.
Vers. 15, 16. Salvation by God through man.
This text contains, in part, the confession of social iniquity. "Truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil is accounted mad. There is no judgment that is, no social righteousness, no sense of the "right" manifestly ruling in the common relations of life. God looked down upon this degenerate and hopeless condition. He knew how far the evil spread, until the whole people was corrupted, and there was no man able to plead against the prevailing evil; no days-man to stand up for righteousness and truth; no intercessor to check the on-coming judgments, and plead for their withdrawal none such as Moses, or as Aaron, or as Phinehas. As no human intercessor could be found among the exiles, God himself wrought salvation; "his arm brought salvation unto him." The point suggested is this: Social and moral evils, being but inadequately dealt with by man, demand Divine intervention; but the Divine operations for redemption from evil are committed to men, as agents, to apply and carry out.
I MAN CANNOT SAVE MAN. In every age the experiment has been tried. In every form of the trial it has proved a failure. There have been a great variety of religions in the world; they were all just this man trying to save man. Great teachers and reformers have appeared they were men trying to save man. There have been philosophical, and moral, and educational, and scientific, and ceremonial, and artistic systems, but no one of them was ever anything more than this man trying to save man. The issue of nineteenth-century humanity schemes will exactly repeat the old story; it has been proved, over and over again, until we wonder that any one should be foolish enough to try a fresh experiment, that man cannot save man.
II GOD ALONE CAN SAVE MAN. This is stating the truth again, with an important addition. It is entirely a question between man saving himself, and God saving him. There is no third party to the question. And God can save man. He has always been ridding out man"s extremity, and making it his gracious opportunity; ever saving tribes, saving cities, saving societies, saving families, saving individuals. God, the Redeemer, is the name for God that is blazoned on the history of every age and clime. "God can save man" is the great truth written in the large record of the whole human race. Spared for four thousand years that he might try to save himself, man]earned at last to put away the schemes in which he had trusted, and then, when the fulness of the times had come, God sent forth his Son, and called his name Jesus Immanuel, because he was to be in the world, "God himself saving men from their sins.
III GOD ONLY SAVES MAN BY MAN. One of the most difficult truths for which to get men"s acceptance is the truth that man"s salvation is a moral miracle, for the accomplishment of which man is made the agent. God"s salvation for moral beings is not a display of august force, as is his correction of disorder in his world of created things; it is the exertion of moral power upon them through moral influences and moral agents. The great deliverance of Israel from the Egyptian bondage was manifestly God"s redemption, altogether God"s; and yet even in that case God only saved man by man. He found an instrument and agent by whom to carry out his purposes. The man Moses is prominent throughout the whole scene, and yet he never stands before God; he is only the agent. Illustrate further by the salvation from Babylon. In that case too a man was found. Cyrus was the Divine agent. The law is working in all the society around us. God is in the midst of men, saving still. But he is only saving men through human agencies. Social and moral evils cannot lie mastered by merely human forces, since man cannot, of himself, reach those deeper religious evils that lie at the root of the social ones. God is saving men. This is the glory of our present-day life, with all its seeming failures and oppressive burdens and amazing self-will. He is saving men, and we are to be his witnesses, co-workers together with him. As we preach Christ to men, we have no power to save men; but as we lift Christ up in sight of men, we become God"s agents, and through our words of faith and persuasion God moves and sways careless hearts, and wins sinners unto himself. This is our honour, our trust, our sacred burden. God would save this country, but he will only save it by us by the Christian people in it. We must prophesy and preach to these dry bones, and then only will the breath of Heaven give them life. We must spend the strength of our manhood in giving, preaching, visiting, pleading, and then only will the ends of the land see the salvation of the Lord. 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.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 59:15-17 The Lord goes out as a warrior intent…
59:15-17 The Lord goes out as a warrior intent on achieving victory against the wicked (cp. Eph 6:14).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.