Isaiah 63:15

Look down from heaven,.... Here begins the prayer of the church and people of God, which continues to the end of the chapter, goes through the next, and the answer to which begins at Isaiah 65:1.

Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory: where is thy zeal and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies toward me? are they restrained?

Look down from heaven: now they, or the prophet, begin to pray, and expostulate with God, and to argue both from the goodness of his nature, and from the greatness of his works that he had done. God sees every where and every thing, but he is said to look down from heaven, because there is his throne, whereon he sits in great majesty and splendour. Behold is added to note that he would not only barely see and look on, but that he would behold with regard, and respect his poor people in captivity. The habitation of thy holiness; a description of heaven by a periphrasis, frequently used and explained, . W here is thy zeal? what is become of that love which of old would not let time suffer thy people to be wronged? . Thy strength; that power of thine manifested in those valiant acts which thou didst put forth for thy people, ,12 150:2: see . The sounding of thy bowels: by the sounding thereof may be understood those sympathizing sighs and compassionate groans that proceed from the bowels when they are affected, which being thought the subject of pity are often by a metonymy put for compassion, and hence proceed those rumblings of the bowels occasioned by strong passions called yearnings: it is spoken of God after the manner of men. Is all this shut up from me? Thou art naturally so compassionate, dost thou lay a restraint upon thyself, that thy bowels shall not move towards me? Are they restrained? or canst thou be thus straitened? ; an expostulation, that agrees very well with the next verse, Doubtless, & c. How can this come to pass?

Isaiah 63:15 Look down from heaven, and behold from the habitation of thy holiness and of thy glory: where [is] thy zeal and thy strength, the sounding of thy bowels and of thy mercies toward me? are they restrained?Ver. 15. Look down from heaven.] Affectus dolentium atque ardenter petentium scite exprimuntur, a pathetic and pithy prayer. And behold from the habitation of thy holiness, &c.] They pray otherwise now than when the temple stood; now they look higher, and oh that they would do so! The modern Jews pray thus daily; but because not from a right principle, they are not heard. Where is thy zeal?] Thine ancient fervour and forwardness in vindicating thy people, and being avenged of their enemies. The sounding (rumbling or yearning) of thy bowels, &c.] Sometimes God seemeth to lose his mercy, and then we must find it for him, as here; sometimes to sleep or delay, and then we must waken, quicken him. Are they restrained?] Chrysostom exhorteth people, whether God grant or not, to pray still; for when God denies, it is as good as if he grants. And if we pray for any temporal mercy, the very ability to pray is better than the thing we pray for; for "whosoever calleth upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." Hom. 30, in Genes.

(15) Look down from heaven . . .—The form of the prayer reminds us of 2 Chronicles 6:21. Perhaps there is a latent remonstrance, as though Jehovah, like an Eastern king, had withdrawn to the recesses of His palace, and had ceased to manifest His care and pity for His people, as He had done of old. The sounding of thy bowels.—See Note on Isaiah 16:11. The words jar upon modern ears, but were to the Hebrew what “the sighs of thy heart” would be to us.

Verse 15. And thy strength - "And thy mighty power" ] For גבורתיך geburotheycha, plural, thirty-two MSS. (seven ancient) and twenty-one of De Rossi's, and seven editions, have גבורתך geburathecha, singular. Are they restrained?] For אלי elai, from (or in regard to) me, the Septuagint and Syriac read אלינו eleynu, from us. - L.

Ch. Isaiah 63:7 to Isaiah 64:12. A Prayer of the People for the Renewal of Jehovah’s former Lovingkindness(1) Isaiah 63:7-9. The prayer begins with thankful commemoration of Jehovah’s goodness to the nation in the days of old (Isaiah 63:7). The reference is to the time of Moses and Joshua, when Jehovah’s loving confidence in His children had not yet been betrayed (Isaiah 63:8), and when He continuously manifested Himself as their Saviour, bearing them safely through all dangers (Isaiah 63:9). (2) Isaiah 63:10-14. This ideal relation between Israel and its God has indeed long since been broken, through the rebellion and ingratitude of the people (Isaiah 63:10). But in seasons of distress the better mind of the nation dwells wistfully on those ancient wonders of grace, and longs that Jehovah may again put forth His strength and vindicate His glorious name (Isaiah 63:11-14). (3) Isaiah 63:15-16. From the past the writer turns to the gloomy present, be seeching Jehovah to take notice of and have compassion on the affliction of His people. For He alone, and not Abraham or Israel, is the Father of the nation, and its Redeemer from of old. (4) Isaiah 63:17-19. From this point the increasing impetuosity of the language reveals for the first time the extremity of the Church’s anguish. The prophet remonstrates with God for so withdrawing Himself from the people as to harden them in sin (Isaiah 63:17) and cause them to be as if He had never ruled over them (Isaiah 63:19). (5) Isaiah 64:1-3. A passionate wish that Jehovah might now rend asunder the solid firmament, and melt the mountains, and make Himself known to the nation by terrible acts, surpassing the expectations of His people. (6) Isaiah 63:4-7. In a more reflective strain the writer appears to seek for a reconciliation of Jehovah’s attitude to Israel with His eternally righteous character. He, the only God known who meets the righteousman, is yet wroth with His people so that they fall into sin (Isaiah 63:4-5). The lamentable consequences of this hiding of God’s face on the religious condition of the people are described in Isaiah 63:6-7. (7) Isaiah 63:8-12. Final appeal to the Fatherhood of God, and His consideration for the work of His hands (Isaiah 63:8). Let Him moderate His wrath and remember that we are His people (Isaiah 63:9). For surely the punishment of sin has been sufficient,—the holy cities ruined, Jerusalem a desolation, the Temple burned with fire (Isaiah 63:10-11). Can Jehovah look on these things and yet restrain His compassion (Isaiah 63:12)? The passage is one of the most instructive of O.T. prayers, and deserves careful study as an expression of the chastened and tremulous type of piety begotten in the sorrows of the Exile. Along with much that is of the permanent essence of prayer,—thanksgiving, confession of sin, and supplication,—it contains utterances which may cause surprise to a Christian reader, although they are paralleled in some of the Psalms, and in other portions of the literature.

Look down from heaven - This commences an earnest appeal that God would have mercy on them in their present calamities and trials.

THE LAST WITH ISRAEL, Isaiah 63:7 to Isaiah 65:25.Israel’s former Mercies and Sins.There are various schemes of division of the matter now following.