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Isaiah 56:10
Verse
Context
Israel’s Sinful Leaders
9Come, all you beasts of the field; eat greedily, all you beasts of the forest. 10Israel’s watchmen are blind, they are all oblivious; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they are dreamers lying around, loving to slumber. 11Like ravenous dogs, they are never satisfied. They are shepherds with no discernment; they all turn to their own way, each one seeking his own gain:
Sermons
Bill McLeod
Joshua Daniel
J.C. Hibbard
Shane Idleman
David WilkersonSummary
Commentary
- Adam Clarke
- Keil-Delitzsch
- Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
- John Gill
- Tyndale
Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
His watchmen are blind - Kimchi observes, "The flock is intrusted to the care of these watchmen. The wild beasts come; these dogs bark not; and the wild beasts devour the flock. Thus they do not profit the flock. Yea, they injure it; for the owner trusts in them, that they will watch and be faithful; but they are not. These are the false teachers and careless shepherds." Dumb dogs, they cannot bark - See note on Isa 62:6. Sleeping "Dreamers" - הזים hozim, ενυπνιαζομενοι, Septuagint. This seems to be the best authority for the meaning of this word, which occurs only in this place: but it is to be observed, that eleven MSS. of Kennicott's and De Rossi's, and four editions, have חזים chazim, seers, or those who see; and so the Vulgate seems to have read, videntes vana, "seeing vain things." Loving to slumber - לנום lanum: but six of Kennicott's and seven of De Rossi's MSS. read לנוס lanus, to fly, "to change their residence:" but what connection such reading can have with the sense of the passage, I cannot discern. What is taken for ס samech here is, I have no doubt, a narrow formed final ם mem, which has been mistaken for the above. Many instances occur in my own MSS., where the final ם mem is similar to the samech; and yet no such change was intended by the scribe.
Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary
The prophet now proceeds with צפו (צפיו): the suffix refers to Israel, which was also the object to לאכל. "His watchmen are blind: they (are) all ignorant, they (are) all dumb dogs that cannot bark; raving, lying down, loving to slumber. And the dogs are mightily greedy, they know no satiety; and such are shepherds! They know no understanding; they have all turned to their own ways, every one for his own gain throughout his border." The "watchmen" are the prophets here, as everywhere else (Isa 52:8, cf., Isa 21:6, Hab 2:1; Jer 6:17; Eze 3:17). The prophet is like a watchman (tsōpheh) stationed upon his watch-tower (specula), whose duty it is, when he sees the sword come upon the land, to blow the shōphâr, and warn the people (Eze 33:1-9). But just as Jeremiah speaks of bad prophets among the captives (Jer 29), and the book of Ezekiel is full of reproaches at the existing neglect of the office of watchman and shepherd; so does the prophet here complain that the watchmen of the nation are blind, in direct opposition to both their title and their calling; they are all without either knowledge or the capacity for knowledge (vid., Isa 44:9; Isa 45:20). They ought to resemble watchful sheep-dogs (Job 30:1), which bark when the flock is threatened; but they are dumb, and cannot bark (nâbhach, root nab), and leave the flock to all its danger. Instead of being "seers" (chōzı̄m), they are ravers (hōzı̄m; cf., Isa 19:18, where we have a play upon החרס in ההרס). הזים, from הזה, to rave in sickness, n. act. hadhajan (which Kimchi compares to parlare in snno); hence the Targum נימים, lxx ἐνυπνιαζόμενοι A φανταζόμενοι, S ὁραματισταί, Jer. videntes vana. The predicates which follow are attached to the leading word hōzı̄m (raving), if not precisely as adjectives, yet as more minutely descriptive. Instead of watching, praying, wrestling, to render themselves susceptible of visions of divine revelations for the good of their people, and to keep themselves in readiness to receive them, they are idle, loving comfortable ease, talkers in their sleep. And the dogs, viz., those prophets who resemble the worst of them (see at Isa 40:8), are נפשׁ עזּי, of violent, unrestrained soul, insatiable. Their soul lives and moves in the lowest parts of their nature; it is nothing but selfish avarice, self-indulgent greediness, violent restlessness of passion, that revolves perpetually around itself. With the words "and these are shepherds," the range of the prophet's vision is extended to the leaders of the nation generally; for when the prophet adds as an exclamation, "And such (hi = tales) are shepherds!" he applies the glaring contrast between calling and conduct to the holders of both offices, that of teacher and that of ruler alike. For, apart from the accents, it would be quite at variance with the general use of the personal pronoun המה, to apply it to any other persons than those just described (viz., in any such sense as this: "And those, who ought to be shepherds, do not know"). Nor is it admissible to commence an adversative minor clause with והמה, as Knobel does, "whereas they are shepherds;" for, since the principal clause has הכלבים (dogs) as the subject, this would introduce a heterogeneous mixture of the two figures, shepherds' dogs and shepherds. We therefore take רעים והמה as an independent clause: "And it is upon men of such a kind, that the duty of watching and tending the nation devolves!" These רעים (for which the Targum reads רעים) are then still further described: they know not to understand, i.e., they are without spiritual capacity to pass an intelligible judgment (compare the opposite combination of the two verbs in Isa 32:4); instead of caring for the general good, they have all turned to their own way (ledarkâm), i.e., to their own selfish interests, every one bent upon his own advantage (בּצע from בּצע, abscindere, as we say, seinen Schnitt zu machen, to reap an advantage, lit., to make an incision). מקּצהוּ, from his utmost extremity (i.e., from that of his own station, including all its members), in other words, "throughout the length and breadth of his own circle;" qâtseh, the end, being regarded not as the terminal point, but as the circumference (as in Gen 19:4; Gen 47:21, and Jer 51:31).
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
His watchmen--Israel's spiritual leaders (Isa 62:6; Eze 3:17). dumb dogs--image from bad shepherds' watchdogs, which fail to give notice, by barking, of the approach of wild beasts. blind-- (Mat 23:16). sleeping, lying down--rather, "dreamers, sluggards" [LOWTH]. Not merely sleeping inactive, but under visionary delusions. loving to slumber--not merely slumbering involuntarily, but loving it.
John Gill Bible Commentary
His watchmen are blind,.... A sad character of watchmen; who, of all men, ought to have good sight, to see who is coming, to discover an enemy, to discern approaching danger, and so be capable of giving notice thereof. This some apply to the Scribes and Pharisees, who are often called blind guides, and blind leaders of the blind, Mat 15:14 and well suits the character of the Popish clergy, bishops, and priests, those ecclesiastical watchmen, whose business should be to look after the souls of men, and feed them with knowledge and understanding; but very ill qualified for it, being blind and ignorant as to the knowledge of things divine and spiritual. The first letter in this clause is larger than usual, perhaps designed to strike the eye, and raise the attention to what follows, as being something remarkable and extraordinary, as indeed the character given of these men is, and directing to beware of them. The first word, which is the word for "watchmen", has the letter "jod" wanting; which, being a note of multitude, shows, it is observed (u), that all the watchmen were universally deficient in the light of their minds, and not one of them did their duty, as it follows: they are all ignorant; or "know not" (w), or "nothing", not the Scriptures, and the meaning of them; the Gospel, and the doctrines of it; Christ, and the way of salvation by him; the Spirit of God, and his operations on the souls of men; and so very unfit to be spiritual watchmen, or to have the care of immortal souls. A Popish bishop in Scotland declared he did not know neither the Old nor the New Testament; and Bishop Albert, reading the Bible, could not tell what book it was, only he found it was contrary to their religion. They are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; and so useless; as a house dog, or one that is set to keep the sheep, if it barks not at the noise of a thief, or the approach of a wolf, to give notice to the family, or the shepherd, it is of no service. It may design such who call themselves ministers of the word, and yet either cannot or will not preach, such as are non-preaching bishops; or in their ministry do not reprove the errors and vices of men, and warn them of their danger: sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber; as dogs do; slothful, indolent, do not care to be concerned in business, but take their ease and pleasure, and are very improper persons for watchmen. The first word (x) used is observed to signify speaking vain things in dreams, things delirious; and agrees well with the dreaming doctrines and delirious notions of the Romish clergy. (u) Buxtorf. Tiberias, c. 14. p. 39. Vid. Hiller. De Arcano Cethib & Keri, I. 1. c 7. p. 55. (w) "nesciverunt", Pagninus, Montanus; "nil sciunt", Piscator. (x) "deliria loquentes", Montanus; "videntes vans", V. L. So Ben Melech interprets it of such that speak vain things in their sleep.
Tyndale Open Study Notes
56:10 The leaders of Israel failed to guide and protect God’s people from the sins that led to the Exile. • sleeping and dreaming: See 29:10.
Isaiah 56:10
Israel’s Sinful Leaders
9Come, all you beasts of the field; eat greedily, all you beasts of the forest. 10Israel’s watchmen are blind, they are all oblivious; they are all mute dogs, they cannot bark; they are dreamers lying around, loving to slumber. 11Like ravenous dogs, they are never satisfied. They are shepherds with no discernment; they all turn to their own way, each one seeking his own gain:
- Scripture
- Sermons
- Commentary
Beware of Dogs
By Bill McLeod3.0K24:48False TeachersPSA 119:97PSA 119:162ISA 56:10MAL 1:10LUK 12:151CO 10:242TI 2:152TI 3:2JAS 1:5In this sermon, the speaker shares personal anecdotes to emphasize the importance of not remaining silent about one's faith. He recounts a plane journey where he noticed people wearing red suits with only their hands and faces visible, but he did not speak to them about his faith. He urges listeners to wake up and not let Satan silence them. The speaker also shares a story of being stuck in a ditch and being helped by a stranger, highlighting the importance of helping others. He concludes by urging listeners to ask God for forgiveness and to rid themselves of self-seeking attitudes.
A Blind Watchman
By Joshua Daniel1.3K14:30WatchmanPSA 107:20ISA 21:6ISA 56:10MAT 6:33In this sermon, Joshua Daniel challenges listeners to be watchmen for God and to declare His truth to the world. He references Isaiah 21:6 and 56:10, highlighting the importance of watchmen who are not blind or ignorant but can discern and proclaim the truth. He also discusses the decline of a nation that has turned away from advancing the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Joshua Daniel calls for a revival of the power of the Gospel and urges listeners to pray for forgiveness and to fulfill their duty as disciples of Christ.
God Speaking to America - Part 1
By J.C. Hibbard1.1K53:09AmericaPRO 6:9ISA 56:10MAT 24:42MRK 13:35ROM 13:11EPH 5:141TH 5:6In this sermon, the preacher discusses two individuals who were raised in a Pentecostal environment but have strayed from serving God. The preacher had a dream where he saw their sinful condition and built a square box with handles and slots labeled "This way to hell" and "This way to heaven." The preacher then mentions a newspaper article about a failed rescue mission and relates it to the power of God. He emphasizes that our success does not come from our own abilities, but from God's presence and intervention. The preacher references biblical stories like the Israelites crossing the channel and the protection of the cloud to illustrate God's power and protection.
Taking Back Our Nation - Today We Fight
By Shane Idleman1544:17Spiritual WarfareLeadership in FaithPSA 91:1ISA 56:10JER 23:21MAT 5:141CO 16:132CO 10:4EPH 6:121TH 5:6JAS 5:16REV 3:2Shane Idleman emphasizes the urgent need for Christians to reclaim the nation through spiritual warfare, advocating for prayer, humility, and love as the true weapons against societal evils. He highlights America's foundation on God's Word and the importance of men stepping up as spiritual leaders in their families and communities. Idleman warns against spiritual apathy and encourages believers to be watchful and bold in their faith, especially in the face of rising moral challenges. He calls for a return to righteousness and the necessity of prayer and worship to combat the darkness in society. Ultimately, he stresses that true change begins with individuals trusting in God and actively engaging in spiritual battles.
A Drink Offering!
By David Wilkerson0Self-DenialSacrificial LivingISA 56:10David Wilkerson passionately addresses the rampant self-centeredness and greed within the church, drawing parallels between the warnings of Old Testament prophets and the current state of Christianity. He emphasizes the need for believers to pour out their lives as a drink offering to God, rather than indulging in materialism and self-ambition. Wilkerson calls for a return to humility and sacrificial living, urging Christians to reject the false teachings of prosperity and instead embrace a life of service and self-denial. He warns of impending judgment for those who continue to prioritize personal gain over God's will, and encourages a remnant to rise up and be poured out for His glory. Ultimately, he reminds the church of the importance of being a sweet aroma to God through genuine sacrifice and love.
- Adam Clarke
- Keil-Delitzsch
- Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
- John Gill
- Tyndale
Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
His watchmen are blind - Kimchi observes, "The flock is intrusted to the care of these watchmen. The wild beasts come; these dogs bark not; and the wild beasts devour the flock. Thus they do not profit the flock. Yea, they injure it; for the owner trusts in them, that they will watch and be faithful; but they are not. These are the false teachers and careless shepherds." Dumb dogs, they cannot bark - See note on Isa 62:6. Sleeping "Dreamers" - הזים hozim, ενυπνιαζομενοι, Septuagint. This seems to be the best authority for the meaning of this word, which occurs only in this place: but it is to be observed, that eleven MSS. of Kennicott's and De Rossi's, and four editions, have חזים chazim, seers, or those who see; and so the Vulgate seems to have read, videntes vana, "seeing vain things." Loving to slumber - לנום lanum: but six of Kennicott's and seven of De Rossi's MSS. read לנוס lanus, to fly, "to change their residence:" but what connection such reading can have with the sense of the passage, I cannot discern. What is taken for ס samech here is, I have no doubt, a narrow formed final ם mem, which has been mistaken for the above. Many instances occur in my own MSS., where the final ם mem is similar to the samech; and yet no such change was intended by the scribe.
Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary
The prophet now proceeds with צפו (צפיו): the suffix refers to Israel, which was also the object to לאכל. "His watchmen are blind: they (are) all ignorant, they (are) all dumb dogs that cannot bark; raving, lying down, loving to slumber. And the dogs are mightily greedy, they know no satiety; and such are shepherds! They know no understanding; they have all turned to their own ways, every one for his own gain throughout his border." The "watchmen" are the prophets here, as everywhere else (Isa 52:8, cf., Isa 21:6, Hab 2:1; Jer 6:17; Eze 3:17). The prophet is like a watchman (tsōpheh) stationed upon his watch-tower (specula), whose duty it is, when he sees the sword come upon the land, to blow the shōphâr, and warn the people (Eze 33:1-9). But just as Jeremiah speaks of bad prophets among the captives (Jer 29), and the book of Ezekiel is full of reproaches at the existing neglect of the office of watchman and shepherd; so does the prophet here complain that the watchmen of the nation are blind, in direct opposition to both their title and their calling; they are all without either knowledge or the capacity for knowledge (vid., Isa 44:9; Isa 45:20). They ought to resemble watchful sheep-dogs (Job 30:1), which bark when the flock is threatened; but they are dumb, and cannot bark (nâbhach, root nab), and leave the flock to all its danger. Instead of being "seers" (chōzı̄m), they are ravers (hōzı̄m; cf., Isa 19:18, where we have a play upon החרס in ההרס). הזים, from הזה, to rave in sickness, n. act. hadhajan (which Kimchi compares to parlare in snno); hence the Targum נימים, lxx ἐνυπνιαζόμενοι A φανταζόμενοι, S ὁραματισταί, Jer. videntes vana. The predicates which follow are attached to the leading word hōzı̄m (raving), if not precisely as adjectives, yet as more minutely descriptive. Instead of watching, praying, wrestling, to render themselves susceptible of visions of divine revelations for the good of their people, and to keep themselves in readiness to receive them, they are idle, loving comfortable ease, talkers in their sleep. And the dogs, viz., those prophets who resemble the worst of them (see at Isa 40:8), are נפשׁ עזּי, of violent, unrestrained soul, insatiable. Their soul lives and moves in the lowest parts of their nature; it is nothing but selfish avarice, self-indulgent greediness, violent restlessness of passion, that revolves perpetually around itself. With the words "and these are shepherds," the range of the prophet's vision is extended to the leaders of the nation generally; for when the prophet adds as an exclamation, "And such (hi = tales) are shepherds!" he applies the glaring contrast between calling and conduct to the holders of both offices, that of teacher and that of ruler alike. For, apart from the accents, it would be quite at variance with the general use of the personal pronoun המה, to apply it to any other persons than those just described (viz., in any such sense as this: "And those, who ought to be shepherds, do not know"). Nor is it admissible to commence an adversative minor clause with והמה, as Knobel does, "whereas they are shepherds;" for, since the principal clause has הכלבים (dogs) as the subject, this would introduce a heterogeneous mixture of the two figures, shepherds' dogs and shepherds. We therefore take רעים והמה as an independent clause: "And it is upon men of such a kind, that the duty of watching and tending the nation devolves!" These רעים (for which the Targum reads רעים) are then still further described: they know not to understand, i.e., they are without spiritual capacity to pass an intelligible judgment (compare the opposite combination of the two verbs in Isa 32:4); instead of caring for the general good, they have all turned to their own way (ledarkâm), i.e., to their own selfish interests, every one bent upon his own advantage (בּצע from בּצע, abscindere, as we say, seinen Schnitt zu machen, to reap an advantage, lit., to make an incision). מקּצהוּ, from his utmost extremity (i.e., from that of his own station, including all its members), in other words, "throughout the length and breadth of his own circle;" qâtseh, the end, being regarded not as the terminal point, but as the circumference (as in Gen 19:4; Gen 47:21, and Jer 51:31).
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
His watchmen--Israel's spiritual leaders (Isa 62:6; Eze 3:17). dumb dogs--image from bad shepherds' watchdogs, which fail to give notice, by barking, of the approach of wild beasts. blind-- (Mat 23:16). sleeping, lying down--rather, "dreamers, sluggards" [LOWTH]. Not merely sleeping inactive, but under visionary delusions. loving to slumber--not merely slumbering involuntarily, but loving it.
John Gill Bible Commentary
His watchmen are blind,.... A sad character of watchmen; who, of all men, ought to have good sight, to see who is coming, to discover an enemy, to discern approaching danger, and so be capable of giving notice thereof. This some apply to the Scribes and Pharisees, who are often called blind guides, and blind leaders of the blind, Mat 15:14 and well suits the character of the Popish clergy, bishops, and priests, those ecclesiastical watchmen, whose business should be to look after the souls of men, and feed them with knowledge and understanding; but very ill qualified for it, being blind and ignorant as to the knowledge of things divine and spiritual. The first letter in this clause is larger than usual, perhaps designed to strike the eye, and raise the attention to what follows, as being something remarkable and extraordinary, as indeed the character given of these men is, and directing to beware of them. The first word, which is the word for "watchmen", has the letter "jod" wanting; which, being a note of multitude, shows, it is observed (u), that all the watchmen were universally deficient in the light of their minds, and not one of them did their duty, as it follows: they are all ignorant; or "know not" (w), or "nothing", not the Scriptures, and the meaning of them; the Gospel, and the doctrines of it; Christ, and the way of salvation by him; the Spirit of God, and his operations on the souls of men; and so very unfit to be spiritual watchmen, or to have the care of immortal souls. A Popish bishop in Scotland declared he did not know neither the Old nor the New Testament; and Bishop Albert, reading the Bible, could not tell what book it was, only he found it was contrary to their religion. They are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; and so useless; as a house dog, or one that is set to keep the sheep, if it barks not at the noise of a thief, or the approach of a wolf, to give notice to the family, or the shepherd, it is of no service. It may design such who call themselves ministers of the word, and yet either cannot or will not preach, such as are non-preaching bishops; or in their ministry do not reprove the errors and vices of men, and warn them of their danger: sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber; as dogs do; slothful, indolent, do not care to be concerned in business, but take their ease and pleasure, and are very improper persons for watchmen. The first word (x) used is observed to signify speaking vain things in dreams, things delirious; and agrees well with the dreaming doctrines and delirious notions of the Romish clergy. (u) Buxtorf. Tiberias, c. 14. p. 39. Vid. Hiller. De Arcano Cethib & Keri, I. 1. c 7. p. 55. (w) "nesciverunt", Pagninus, Montanus; "nil sciunt", Piscator. (x) "deliria loquentes", Montanus; "videntes vans", V. L. So Ben Melech interprets it of such that speak vain things in their sleep.
Tyndale Open Study Notes
56:10 The leaders of Israel failed to guide and protect God’s people from the sins that led to the Exile. • sleeping and dreaming: See 29:10.