glory ... reward--like the pillar of cloud and fire, the symbol of God's "glory," which went behind Israel, separating them from their Egyptian pursuers ([Is 52:12]; [Ex 14:19], ).
9. Then ... call ... answer--when sin is renounced ([Is 65:24]). When the Lord's call is not hearkened to, He will not hear our "call" ([Psa 66:18]; [Pr 1:24], ; ; 28:9).
putting forth of ... finger--the finger of scorn pointed at simple-minded godly men. The middle finger was so used by the Romans.
speaking vanity--every injurious speech [Lowth].
10. draw out thy soul--"impart of thine own subsistence," or "sustenance" [Horsley]. "Soul" is figurative for "that wherewith thou sustainest thy soul," or "life."
light ... in obscurity--Calamities shall be suddenly succeeded by prosperity ([Psa 112:4]).
11. satisfy ... in drought--([Is 41:17], ). Literally, "drought," that is, parched places [Maurer].
make fat--rather, "strengthen" [Noyes]. "Give thee the free use of thy bones" [Jerome], or, "of thy strength" [Horsley].
watered garden--an Oriental picture of happiness.
fail not--Hebrew, "deceive not"; as streams that disappoint the caravan which had expected to find water, as formerly, but find it dried up ([Job 6:15-17]).
12. they ... of thee--thy people, the Israelites.
old waste places--the old ruins of Jerusalem ([Is 61:4]; [Eze 36:33-36]).
foundations of many generations--that is, the buildings which had lain in ruins, even to their foundations, for many ages; called in the parallel passage ([Is 61:4]), "the former desolations"; and in the preceding clause here, "the old waste places." The literal and spiritual restoration of Israel is meant, which shall produce like blessed results on the Gentile world ([Am 9:11], ; [Ac 15:16], ).
be called--appropriately: the name truly designating what thou shalt do.
breach--the calamity wherewith God visited Israel for their sin ([Is 30:26]; [1Ch 15:13]).
paths to dwell in--not that the paths were to be dwelt in, but the paths leading to their dwellings were to be restored; "paths, so as to dwell in the land" [Maurer].
13. ([Is 56:2]; [Ne 13:15-22]). The Sabbath, even under the new dispensation, was to be obligatory ([Is 66:23]).
foot--the instrument of motion (compare [Pr 4:27]); men are not to travel for mere pleasure on the Sabbath ([Ac 1:12]). The Jews were forbidden to travel on it farther than the tabernacle or temple. If thou keep thy foot from going on thy own ways and "doing thy pleasure," &c. ([Ex 20:10], ).
my holy day--God claims it as His day; to take it for our pleasure is to rob Him of His own. This is the very way in which the Sabbath is mostly broken; it is made a day of carnal pleasure instead of spiritual "delight."
holy of the Lord--not the predicate, but the subject; "if thou call the holy (day) of Jehovah honorable"; if thou treat it as a day to be honored.
him--or else, it, the Sabbath.
not doing ... own way--answering to, "turn away thy foot from the Sabbath."
nor finding ... pleasure--answering to, "doing thy pleasure." "To keep the Sabbath in an idle manner is the sabbath of oxen and asses; to pass it in a jovial manner is the sabbath of the golden calf, when the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose again to play; to keep it in surfeiting and wantonness is the sabbath of Satan, the devil's holiday" [Bishop Andrewes].
nor speaking ... words--answering to, "call Sabbath a delight ... honorable." Man's "own words" would "call" it a "weariness"; it is the spiritual nature given from above which "calls it a delight" ([Am 8:5]; Mal 1:13).
14. delight ... in ... Lord--God rewards in kind, as He punishes in kind. As we "delight" in keeping God's "Sabbath," so God will give us "delight" in Himself ([Ge 15:1]; [Job 22:21-26]; [Psa 37:4]).
ride upon ... high places--I will make thee supreme lord of the land; the phrase is taken from a conqueror riding in his chariot, and occupying the hills and fastnesses of a country [Vitringa], ([De 32:13]; [Mi 1:3]; [Ha 3:19]). Judea was a land of hills; the idea thus is, "I will restore thee to thine own land" [Calvin]. The parallel words, "heritage of Jacob," confirm this ([Ge 27:28], ; [28:13-15]).
mouth of ... Lord ... spoken it--a formula to assure men of the fulfilment of any solemn promise which God has made ([Is 40:5]).
Chapter 59
Is 59:1-21. The People's Sin the Cause of Judgments: They at Last Own It Themselves: the Redeemer's Future Interposition in Their Extremity
The reason why Jehovah does not deliver His people, notwithstanding their religious services ([Is 58:3]), is not want of power on His part, but because of their sins ([Is 59:1-8]); [Is 59:9-15] contain their confession; [Is 59:16-21], the consequent promise of the Messiah.
1. hand ... shortened--(See on [Is 50:2]).
ear heavy--([Is 6:10]).
2. hid--Hebrew, "caused Him to hide" ([La 3:44]).
3. ([Is 1:15]; [Ro 3:13-15]).
hands ... fingers--Not merely the "hands" perpetrate deeds of grosser enormity ("blood"), but the "fingers" commit more minute acts of "iniquity."
lips ... tongue--The lips "speak" openly "lies," the tongue "mutters" malicious insinuations ("perverseness"; perverse misrepresentations of others) ([Jr 6:28]; ).
4. Rather, "No one calleth an adversary into court with justice," that is, None bringeth a just suit: "No one pleadeth with truth."
they trust ... iniquity--(So [Job 15:35]; [Psa 7:14]).
5. cockatrice--probably the basilisk serpent, cerastes. Instead of crushing evil in the egg, they foster it.
spider's web--This refers not to the spider's web being made to entrap, but to its thinness, as contrasted with substantial "garments," as [Is 59:6] shows. Their works are vain and transitory ([Job 8:14]; [Pr 11:18]).
eateth ... their eggs--he who partakes in their plans, or has anything to do with them, finds them pestiferous.
that which is crushed--The egg, when it is broken, breaketh out as a viper; their plans, however specious in their undeveloped form like the egg, when developed, are found pernicious. Though the viper is viviparous (from which "vi-per" is derived), yet during gestation, the young are included in eggs, which break at the birth [Bochart]; however, metaphors often combine things without representing everything to the life.
6. not ... garments--like the "fig leaves" wherewith Adam and Eve vainly tried to cover their shame, as contrasted with "the coats of skins" which the Lord God made to clothe them with ([Is 64:6]; [Ro 13:14]; [Ga 3:27]; [Php 3:9]). The artificial self-deceiving sophisms of human philosophy ([1Ti 6:5]; [2Ti 2:16], 23).
7. feet--All their members are active in evil; in [Is 59:3], the "hands, fingers, lips, and tongue," are specified.
run ... haste--([Ro 3:15]). Contrast David's "running and hasting" in the ways of God ([Psa 119:32], ).