Bible Commentaries
Isaiah 64

Verses 7-12

Past Deliverances and Present Needs

Isaiah 63:7-14. Commemoration of Jehovah’s mercies to Israel in the past.

Isaiah 64:5 a. Prayer that He will interpose to deliver His people from their present calamities.

Isaiah 64:5-12. Acknowledgment that these are due to their sins. Appeal to Jehovah that He will look upon the pitiable state of His people and sanctuary.

Verses 1-12

1-3. The imagery is taken from the account of the divine manifestation at Sinai (Exodus 19:18).

2. RV ’As when fire kindleth the brushwood, and the fire causeth,’ etc.

4. O God, etc.] RV ’a God beside thee, which worketh for him that waiteth for Him.’ St. Paul (1 Corinthians 2:9) alludes to this passage to emphasise the fact that human wisdom cannot fathom the working of God. Meetest] i.e. as a friend.

Art] RV ’wast.’ In those, etc.] RV ’in them’ (i.e. our sins) ’have we been of long time, and shall we be saved?’

6. An unclean thing] RV ’one that is unclean.’ Filthy rags] RV ’a polluted garment’: such as was ceremonially unclean.

8. Cp. Isaiah 63:16; Romans 9:20. An appeal to God that He will not abandon the work of His own hands.

10, 11. Another motive for Jehovah’s interference—the present desolation of the land and sanctuary dedicated to Him.

10. Holy cities] Elsewhere Jerusalem only is so called, but the attribute is here extended to the whole land (Zechariah 2:12).

11. Pleasant things] the same word as ’goodly vessels,’ 2 Chronicles 36:19.

12. Refrain thyself] i.e. refuse to give way to natural tenderness (Genesis 45:1).