Isaiah 59

59:1 BEHOLD, the LORD’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear 2 heavy, that it cannot hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, 3 and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue mutter- 4 eth wickedness. None sueth in righteousness, and none pleadeth in truth: they trust in 5 vanity, and speak lies; they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity. They hatch basi- lisks’ eggs, and weave the spider’s web: he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and that which 6 is crushed breaketh out into a viper. Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works: their works are works of iniquity, and the act of 7 violence is in their hands. Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; desolation and destruction are in their paths. 8 The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgement in their goings: they have 9 made them crooked paths; whosoever goeth therein doth not know peace. Therefore is judgement far from us, neither doth righteousness overtake us: we look for light, but be- 10 hold darkness; for brightness, but we walk in obscurity. We grope for the wall like the blind, yea, we grope as they that have no eyes: we stumble at noonday as in the twilight; 11 among them that are lusty we are as dead men. We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgement, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us. 12 For our transgressions are multiplied before thee, and our sins testify against us: for our 13 transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we know them: in transgressing and denying the LORD, and turning away from following our God, speaking oppression and 14 revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. And judgement is turned away backward, and righteousness standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and 15 uprightness cannot enter. Yea, 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 judgement. 16 And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore 17 his own arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it upheld him. And he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put 18 on garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloke. According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to 19 the islands he will repay recompence. So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun: for he shall come as a rushing stream, which 20 the breath of the LORD driveth. And a redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that 21 turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD. And as for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD: my spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.

Chap. 59. This chapter is closely connected in sense with the preceding, and is designed to illustrate the same general sentiment—that the reason why the religious services of the nation were not accepted, their prayers answered and the nation delivered from calamity, was their hypocrisy and their other sins. The previous chapter contained a bold and energetic reproof of their false and hollow services, and of their expectation of the Divine favor when they were observing only external rites without repentance, and even when they continued to practise oppression and cruelty. This beaubeautiful chapter states more in detail their sins and the consequences of their transgressions. The following analysis of the chapter will show its design and scope at a single view.

1. It was not because Jehovah was unable to save them that they were exposed to such judgments and visited with such calamities (verse 4). They were, therefore, not to blame Him. This general principle is stated in order to prevent what commonly occurs when men suffer much—a disposition to throw the blame on God.

2. It was for their sins that they were exposed to these judgments (verses 2-8). The prophet proceeds to specify those sins in detail, with a view to bring them to conviction and to repentance. In this statement he goes over the leading offences of the nation, specifying them particularly, and showing that they deserved all that they had suffered.

3. After this statement of the prevalent sins of the nation, the prophet introduces the people as making confession that it was for these and similar sins that they were exposed to the Divine displeasure. Identifying Himself with the people, He enumerates the calamities to which they were exposed as a consequence of the sins which prevailed (verses 9-14). They were in darkness, they waited in vain for light; they stumbled at noonday; they vented their sorrows like the roaring of bears or the plaintive cry of the dove, but all in vain. They felt that their transgressions were multiplied and that they deserved the Divine displeasure, and therefore they were subjected to these severe calamities.

4. Jehovah is represented as seeing this state of deep guilt—a state where there was deep conviction of that guilt and a readiness to make confession—and as wondering that there was no intercessor, and as Himself interposing to bring deliverance and salvation (verses 15-18). It was the earnest wish of Jehovah that there should be deliverance, and in order to effect that He Himself procured it. The characteristics of Him who should come to accomplish these purposes were righteousness, salvation, vengeance and zeal (verse 17). He would come to take recompense on His foes and to reward the wicked according to their deeds (verse 18).

5. The effect of this would be that the name of Jehovah would be feared from the rising to the setting sun. Jehovah would erect a barrier against the enemy when He should come in like a flood; and the Redeemer should come to Zion to effect deliverance for those who should truly repent (verses 19, 20).

6. A covenant would be established between God and those who would turn away from transgressions (verse 21). The nature of that covenant was, that its blessings would be perpetual. The spirit which God would give and the words which He would put into their mouths would abide with them and their posterity forever.

“As this chapter,” says Lowth, “is remarkable for the beauty, strength and variety of the images with which it abounds, so it is peculiarly distinguished by the eloquence of the composition and the exact construction of the sentences. From the first verse to the two last it falls regularly into stanzas of four lines.” The chapter has evidently a primary reference to the character of the nation in the times of Isaiah. But the chapter evidently also looks forward to future times; and the close of it is so manifestly applicable to the times of the Messiah that it is impossible not to apply it to Him. Barnes.

The general apostasy of the covenant people developing itself in extreme immorality, at length arouses the long-slumbering jealousy and justice of their God. He awakes to retrieve His honor and sustain His cause by extraordinary effusions of His Spirit, reclaiming some of His ancient people; gathering to Himself and to them the Gentile nations and making His word and His Spirit permanently effective for the interests of truth and salvation. The Jews perish, not because the Lord’s arm lacks power to save or His car the quick perception of the cry of prayer, but because their sins have virtually sundered their relations to Him as His people, and have forbidden Him to hear or save them in their distress. With a striking variety in his style, the prophet describes the sins of the people, first in direct address to them (verses 2, 3); then by speaking of them (verses 4-8); and finally He classes Himself with them as a common sufferer in the general calamity (verses 9-13).

The prophet cannot speak of the great facts of the Gospel age—e.g., the Messiah’s coming, the effusions of the Spirit and the calling of the Gentiles, without occasionally taking notice of the ancient covenant people to show why they were in the main excluded from participation in those magnificent changes and unparalleled blessings. In this chapter the notice of the covenant people gives prominence to their extreme and incorrigible degeneracy, in view of which the Lord, as one despairing of any help for His cause from them, rallies His energies for a new effort, relieves Himself by visiting them with deserved retribution, and puts new life into His kingdom by the effusions of His Spirit to purify the converted remnant of the Jews and to impress the fear of His name and the power of His truth upon the Gentiles. H. C.

They have fallen so low that no one seems disposed to attempt a reformation, or to think of recovery as possible. The worst feature of their condition is, that they do not appear to know to what a depth they are sunk in degradation. Jehovah Himself, by a strong figure of speech, is represented as wondering that no one attempts relief or intercession. Yet, because of this, His compassion is the more deeply stirred; and though their sins would justify Him in leaving them to destruction, He will provide a Redeemer and renew His covenant of salvation. It may be needful first to show His displeasure at sin by the judgments of His hand; and these, like an overwhelming flood, or a river swept along by a mighty wind, shall cause the nations from east to west to fear the name of the Lord. Thus was it before the coming of Christ. The wants and woes, the struggles and strifes of humanity had created a yearning for a Deliverer, had prepared the way for the Redeemer promised to Zion. The grace of God triumphs over the sins of men and turns deserved judgments into agencies of moral reformation. The very helplessness to which mankind had reduced themselves by sin was the plea for the humiliation and sacrifice of the Son of God for their recovery. J. P. T.

1. The prophet merely pauses for a moment to exonerate His master from all blame before continuing his accusation of the people. He solemnly affirms that the rejection of God’s ancient people was the fruit of their own sin, and not to be imputed either to unfaithfulness on His part or to want of strength or wisdom to protect them. A.

2. That God did not save His ancient people at the time referred to was due to no such cause, but only to their sins, which interposed a vast moral distance between Himself and them and practically turned His face away so that He could not hear. H. C.—Their sins had caused Jehovah to hide or turn away His face from their prayers from an unwillingness to hear them when they were so deeply immersed in sin. Thus the LXX: “On account of your sins He has turned away His face from you so that He will not have mercy.” It is universally true that indulgence in sin causes God to turn away His face and to withhold mercy and compassion. He cannot pardon those who indulge in transgression and who are unwilling to abandon the ways of sin. Barnes.

If our prayers be not answered and the salvation we wait for be not wrought for us, it is not because God is weary of hearing prayer, but because we are weary of praying; not because His ear is heavy when we speak to Him, but because our ears are heavy when He speaks to us. Sin hides His face from us (which denotes great displeasure), it provokes Him in anger to withdraw His gracious presence, to suspend the tokens of His favor and the ininstances of His help; He hides His face, as refusing to be seen or spoken with. H.

The two statements that forgiveness is the communication of the love of God unhindered by man’s sin, and that forgiveness is the removal of the punishment of sin, are really but two ways of saying the same thing. If we rightly understand what is the death of death, what is the consequence of transgression, how it comes and in what sense it is that every man, by every sinful act, carries a coal to the hellfire that may have to consume him—if we understand that the real misery and punishment is what the old prophet proclaimed it to be—“Your sins have separated between you and your God,” then we shall understand how the two representations coincide and flow together and how the real penalty passes away where the love is welcomed and received. A. M.

3. The general charge of great sin must now be substantiated. For the greater force, the prophet represents every physical organ of their body—hands, fingers, lips and tongue—as actively engaged in sinning, as if to show that every power of their being was pressed to its utmost capacity of wrong-doing. H. C.

4-8. The wider meaning of the whole description is evident from Paul’s combining parts of it with phrases drawn from several Psalms remarkably resembling it, in proof of the depravity of human nature (Rom. 3: 15-17).

7. The first clause expresses not a mere disposition, but an eager proclivity to wrong. The word translated thoughts has here and elsewhere the specific sense of purposes, contrivances, devices. Their paths are the paths in which their feet run to evil and make haste to shed innocent blood. The two nouns combined in the last clause strictly denote desolation and crushing—i.e., utter ruin. A.

9-13. In the passage beginning here, embracing at least verses 9-13, the prophet classes himself with the sinning people, either from his sympathy with them under these great public calamities or as one actually suffering under them in common with the whole people. The former is the more probable supposition. This use of the first person plural therefore avails nothing toward proving that the writer was not the original Isaiah, but was some second or pseudo-Isaiah who lived near the close of the exile at Babylon. For (1) there is nothing in the passage to prove, but much to disprove the theory that this chapter was written near the close of the exile, and describes the state of morals at that time; and (2) it is entirely legitimate for a prophet whose heart sympathizes warmly with the fortunes of his people to conceive and speak of himself as suffering with them, though the time be far remote. Cases under this law abound in the prophecies. (See Isa. 15:5; 16:11 and 21:2, 4, 10) Besides, the use of the third person, “they,” in verses 4-8 in this same connection will just as much prove that the writer was not living then and there, as the use of the first person in verses 9-13 proves that he was. H. C.

9,10. That is a deceptive notion which attributes the want of unction in prayer to an arbitrary, or even inexplicable, withdrawing of God from the soul. Aside from the operation of physical causes, where is the warrant, in reason or revelation, for ascribing joylessness in prayer to any other cause than some wrong in the soul itself? What says an old prophet? “Behold, the Lord’s ear is not heavy that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated between you and your God. Your sins have hid His face from you. Therefore, we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness. We grope for the wall like the blind; we grope as if we had no eyes; we stumble at noon, lay as in the night; we are in desolate places, as dead men.” Could words describe more truthfully or explain more philosophically that phenomenon of religious experience which we call the “hiding of God’s countenance?” Phelps.

13. The original of verse 13 is a model of compact and forcible description which can scarcely be transferred to our language. This approximates to it, They are sinning and lying against the Lord and turning away from after our God; speaking of oppression and revolt. H. C.

14. The verse contains a further confession of the evil of their course of life, and among other things they acknowledged that they had been unjust and oppressive in their legal decisions. They had been influenced by partiality and by bribes; they had condemned the innocent, they had acquitted the guilty. Judgment had thus been turned back by their sins when it seemed to be approaching and entering the city. And justice standeth afar off. This is a beautiful figure. Justice is represented as standing at a distance from the city. Deterred by their sins, it would not enter. They prevented its approach, and it was unknown among them. For truth is fallen in the street. Or rather perhaps in the gate—the place of concourse and the place where justice was administered. Barnes.

14,15. The passage affirms that truth and justice were utterly prostrate in the courts. Verse 15 thus: “And so truth is missing (not to be found), and whoever abstains from wrongdoing subjects himself to violence and spoil”—a state of society in which might makes right and the innocent and non-resistant become the prey and plunder of ruffians. Of course the Lord saw this, and it was grievous in His eyes that there was no justice there. The picture delineates with historic fidelity the religious and mostly the moral state of the scribes and Pharisees, the leading civil and religious influences among the Jews, shortly before their destruction by the Romans. This degeneracy had been in progress for several generations, and during the life of Christ on earth was far advanced toward the condition described here. It was ancient Judaism, effete, palsied of its moral power, perverted to the extreme of formality and self-righteousness, and therefore solemnly abandoned of God, and given up to be superseded by the Gospel system. This is the point of transition described in the passage now before us. H. C.

The passage before us had a primary reference to the Jews and to the prevalence of iniquity in the Jewish nation which rendered the Divine interposition proper. 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. Everywhere iniquity prevailed. 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 this state of things to continue forever? 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 men God provided one who was a glorious deliverer, and who was to come to Zion as the Redeemer. Barnes.

16. What was wanting was not merely a qualified man, but any man whatever, to maintain the cause of Israel and Jehovah. A like absolute expression is employed in 2 K. 14 : 26, where it is said that Jehovah saw the affliction of Israel, that it was very bitter and that there was no helper for Israel, not merely no sufficient one, but none at all. The desperate nature of the case is then described in terms still stronger, and only applicable to Jehovah by the boldest figure. A.

16, 17. “Man” in the sense of a whole man, a hero, and “intercessor” in the sense of one who intervenes for help are equivalent expressions, meaning that God saw no helper and no help for this state of things, and therefore aroused Himself to the needful work. “His own arm saved” (i.e., His cause and people) “for Himself.” His sense of right and love of justice sustained His energy and fired His soul for vigorous action. Verse 17 should begin, “And so, or consequently, He put on righteousness,” etc., girding Himself with His armor as a hero for the battle. The sentiment is that His regard for His earthly kingdom and people, His love of justice and righteousness, arouse His soul to special retribution. He will therefore bring vengeance upon His enemies and deliverance to His friends. It is supposable that the first two clauses which name righteousness and salvation refer to His deliverance of His friends, and the other two to vengeance on His enemies. H. C.

The whole figure here is that drawn from a warrior or a conqueror; a hero prepared alike for defence and for offence. The idea is, that He would be able to defend and vindicate His people, and to carry an aggressive warfare against His enemies. But it was not to be a warfare literally of blood and carnage. It was to be such as would be accomplished by righteousness, and zeal, and a desire to secure salvation. The triumph of righteousness was the great object still; the conquests of the Redeemer were to be those of truth. Barnes.

Because they have no strength of their own nor any active men that will set to it in good earnest to redress the grievances either of their iniquities or of their calamities, therefore “His own arm shall bring salvation to Him,” to His people, or to Him whom He would raise up to be the Deliverer, Christ, the Power of God and Arm of the Lord, that Man of His right hand, whom He made strong for Himself. H.—The Divine man commenced and finished the mightiest work of the universe alone. He was aided by no human arm. Not even a single, whole-hearted encouragement cheered him along His path. He suffered and died for a world of sinners in profound solitude. A being thus situated and thus acting has a soul to pity where no pity is wanted and a compassion to exercise toward the most abandoned of men that awakens no thankfulness or praise. Sympathy reaches a height of grandeur, when forgotten and unappreciated it toils and travails for the eternal good of a world. Reid.

All barriers were broken down in Him, the atoning sacrifice, the mediating Lord—all barriers between man and man, between man and God, between earth and heaven. No barriers of race could destroy the unity of the humanity He had deigned to take, not as a mutable vesture, but as another nature; no barriers of past sin could divide the most guilty who believed in Him from God and from purity; no impenetrable, brazen gates of Hades could separate, really, the dead and the living, since the seen and the unseen were alike His kingdom. Where any wall of partition had stood He stood, and said, “I am the Door.” Where the gates of exclusion stood, He stands, with the compassionate countenance to welcome and the irresistible, pierced hands to bless and to unite. Anon.

18. The only satisfactory solution is the one afforded by the hypothesis that the salvation here intended is salvation in the highest sense from sin and all its consequences, and that by Israel and the isles (or Gentiles) we are to understand the Church or people of God and the world considered as its enemies and His.

19. And they shall fear from the west the name of Jehovah, and from the rising of the sun His glory; for it shall come like a straitened stream, the spirit of Jehovah raising a banner in it. The name and glory of Jehovah are here not only parallels, but synonyms, as we learn from other places where the two terms are jointly or severally used to signify the manifested excellence or glorious presence of Jehovah. (See above, chaps. 30 : 27 ; 35 : 2 ; 40 : 5 ; 42 : 11.) On the whole, the meaning of the verse appears to be, that the ends of the earth shall see and fear the name and glory of Jehovah; because when He approaches as their enemy, it will be like an overflowing stream (chaps. 8 : 7, 8 ; 28 : 15), in which His spirit bears aloft the banner or the signal of victory. A.—They shall see His hand in judgment on His enemies and in salvation to His people.

They of the west and they of the east will alike behold these demonstrations of God. All people of the remotest lands are embraced under these two of the cardinal quarters of the globe. The Spirit and the word of the living God will constitute the moving forces which are to subdue the nations to the love and the fear of His name.

20. The salvation of those from Jacob who could be brought (by wise means) to accept of Christ was first in the order of time in the Gospel work, an object dear to the Messiah’s heart. The Christian reader will notice with interest that Paul (Rom. 11 : 26) associates this prophecy with a glorious era when “the fulness of the Gentiles shall come in” (i.e., to the Gospel communion), and “So, all Israel shall be saved.” H. C.

21. Israel is here, as in many other parts of this great prophecy, regarded not merely as a receiver, but as a dispenser of the truth, an office with which, as we have seen, the body is invested in connection with the head and in perpetual subordination to Him. Israel, as well as the Messiah, and in due dependence on Him, was to be the light of the Gentiles, the reclaimer of apostate nations; and in this high mission and vocation was to be sustained and prospered by the never-failing presence of the Holy Spirit, as the author and the finisher of all revelation. (See above, chaps. 42 : 1-7 ; 44 : 3 ; 49 : 1-9 ; 51 : 16 ; 54 : 3 ; 56 : 6-8 ; 58 : 12. And compare Jer. 31 : 31 ; Joel 2 : 28 ; Ezek. 36 : 27 ; 39 : 29.) A.

The Spirit of God shall come to us, to be our sanctifier. In the Redeemer there was a new covenant made with us, a covenant of promises; and this is the great and comprehensive promise of that covenant, that God will give and continue His word and Spirit to His Church and people throughout all generations. The Spirit that was upon Christ shall always continue in the hearts of the faithful; there shall be some in every age on whom He shall work and in whom He shall dwell, and thus the “Comforter shall abide with the Church forforver” (John 14 : 16). The word of Christ shall always continue in the mouths of the faithful; there shall be some in every age who, “believing with the heart unto righteousness, shall with the tongue make confession unto salvation.” The word shall never depart out of the mouth of the Church, for there shall still be a seed to speak Christ’s holy language and profess His holy religion. The Spirit and the word go together, and by them the Church is kept up. For the word in the mouths of our ministers, nay, the word in our own mouths, will not profit us unless the Spirit work with the word, and give us an understanding. But the Spirit does His work by the word and in concurrence with it; and whatever is pretended to be a dictate of the Spirit must be tried by the Scriptures. On these foundations the Church is built, stands firm and shall stand forever, Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. H.

My words shall not depart out of the mouth of thy seed nor of thy seed’s seed. It is the great law by which religion and virtue are spread and perpetuated in the world that God is faithful to this covenant, and that He blesses the efforts of His friends in endeavoring to train up generations for His service. Christian parents should repose on this promise of a faithful God. They may and should believe that it is His design to perpetuate religion in the families of those who truly serve and obey Him. They should be faithful in imparting religious truth; faithful in prayer; faithful in a meek, holy, pure and benevolent example; they should so live that their children may safely tread in their footsteps; they should look to God for His blessing on their efforts, and their efforts will not be in vain. They shall see their children walk in the ways of virtue; and when they die, they may leave the world with unwavering confidence that God will not suffer His faithfulness to fail; that He will not break His covenant nor alter the thing that is gone out of His lips. Barnes.