Bible Commentaries
Isaiah 64

Verses 1-12

3. PRAYER THAT THE LORD WOULD VISIBLY INTERVENE, AND SO PROVE HIMSELF TO BE, AS OF OLD, THE GOD AND FATHERr OF ISRAEL

Isaiah 63:19 b to Isaiah 64:11. (Isaiah 64:1-12)

Chap Isaiah 63:19 b. Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens,

That thou wouldest come down,
That the mountains might flow down at thy presence,

Chap Isaiah 64:1          As when 17 18the melting fire burneth,

The fire causeth the waters to boil,
To make thy name known to thine adversaries,

That the nations may tremble at thy presence!

2     19When thou didst terrible things which we looked not for,

Thou camest down, the mountains flowed down at thy presence.

3     For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear,

Neither hath the eye 20seen, O God, beside thee,

What he hath prepared for him that waiteth for him.

4     Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness,

21Those that remember thee in thy ways:

Behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned:

22In those is continuance, and we shall be saved.

5     But we are all 23as an unclean thing,

And all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags:

And we all do fade as a leaf;
And our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

6     And there is none that calleth upon thy name,

That stirreth up himself to take hold of thee:
For thou hast hid thy face from us,
And hast 24consumed us, 25because of our iniquities.

7     But now, O Lord, thou art our father;

We are the clay, and thou our potter;

And we all are the work of thy hand.

8     Be not wroth very sore, O Lord,

Neither remember iniquity for ever:
Behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people.

9     Thy holy cities are a wilderness,

Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.

10     Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee,

Is burned up with fire:
And all our pleasant things are laid waste.

11     Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O Lord?

Wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

Isaiah 63:19 b. Regarding the division into chapters, there can be no doubt that what follows from Isaiah 63:19 b is closely connected with what precedes. There is no reason for beginning a new chapter here. It would be appropriate to make the chapter begin at Isaiah 63:15. But it is quite awkward to commence the chapter with כִּקְדֹחַ. With עליהם, Isaiah 63:19 a, the verse ought properly to close.—[Delitzsch, while he condemns the beginning of a new chapter with כִּקְדֹחַ, defends the Masoretic division of verses, and maintains that Isaiah 63:19 b could not be united with Isaiah 64:1, for the verse thus formed would be beyond measure overladen. This sigh, too, belongs really to 19 a, as it arises out of the depths of the complaint there expressed.—D. M.]—נָזֹלּוּ is probably a mongrel form from נָזַלּוּ and יִזֹלוּ. For from זָלַל. to shake, comes the perfect Niphal נָזַלּוּ. But the Prophet wished to speak not merely of a shaking, but also of a dissolving, a flowing down of the mountains (comp. Psalms 44:7 [6]). For this purpose he availed himself of the freedom allowed in forming the Niphal of verbs, עע׳. The Niphal of these verbs can be inflected, as if its normal third person masculine were an independent stem. Thus we have נָ‍ֽסְבָה, Ezekiel 41:7; נָזְלוּ, Judges 5:5, as if these were forms of the Kal, נָסַב,נָזַל. There occur, moreover, Niphal forms which suppose a Kal perfect e or o, from which they are formed: נָסֵנָּה, Ezekiel 26:2; נָבֹזּוּ, Amos 3:11; נָגֹלּוּ, Isaiah 34:4, etc. In this way נָזֹלּוּ has arisen, and the occasion of its formation seems to have been the endeavor to unite the significations of the stems זָלַל and נָזַל. The one of these stems has given the consonants and the vocalization of the first syllable, the other, the vocalization of the second syllable (comp. Olshausen, § 263, 6, p. 592).—[It is hard to imagine that the Prophet intended by the irregular form which he employed to unite in it both the meaning of זָלַל, to shake, and that of נָזַל, to flow. Most modern interpreters prefer to assume as the stem זָלַל.—D. M.]

Isaiah 64:4. The combination שׂשׂ ועשה צדק is manifestly formed in the genuine style of Isaiah for the sake of the alliteration.—[There is here no example of alliteration.—D. M.]—This combination is grammatically admissible according to the usage which allows us to add to a verb a nearer specification by means of a second verb in the same verbal form and connected by wav (comp. Job 6:9; 2 Samuel 7:29; Deuteronomy 5:19, et saepe).

Isaiah 64:5. וַנָּבֶל is, it appears to me, Hiphil from (בָּלָה, marcuit, absumtus, confectus est.—[Delitzsch regards it as the Hiphil from בָּלַל, or from נָבֵל=בּוּל.—D.M.]—The Hiphil is directly causative, to produce withering, i. e. to wither away.

Isaiah 64:6. ותמוגנו is Kal, which is here exceptionally used in a transitive signification (comp. on בָּעָה ,קָרַח, Isaiah 64:1). ביד marks the terminus in quem, and recalls Genesis 14:20.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. In violent agitation the suppliant expresses the wish that God would put an end to all this misery by a visible and grand manifestation of His might and majesty, that He would come down upon the earth, so that all His enemies must flee trembling before Him (Isaiah 63:19 to Isaiah 64:2). And Jehovah can do this, for He alone has proved Himself by deeds to be the living God to those who hope in Him (Isaiah 64:3-4 a). God’s procedure hitherto, in ever visiting Israel with repeated punishment, has been of no avail. Israel has not reformed thereby, but has only sunk deeper in impurity, corruption and decay (Isaiah 64:4-6Isaiah 64:4-6Isaiah 64:4-6). But Jehovah is Israel’s Father, Israel is the clay in His hand, and He is the Potter. Is not Israel then, such as it is, properly His work? (Isaiah 64:7) [?] Let it please Him, then, not to exercise wrath to the utmost degree, but to consider that Israel is His people (Isaiah 64:8). All the cities of the holy land lie waste and desolate, even Zion and Jerusalem (Isaiah 64:9). The temple is burnt down, and all places in which Israel once delighted are ruins (Isaiah 64:10). Can Jehovah endure this? Can He be silent at it, and only continue to afflict His people? (Isaiah 64:11).

2. Oh, that thou wouldest rend—thy ways.—Isaiah 63:19 to Isaiah 64:4 a. At the head of the preceding paragraph (Isaiah 63:15-19 a) we read the prayer that the Lord would graciously look down from heaven on the misery of His people (Isaiah 63:15). How needful it is that He should do this is then shown by various negative and positive reasons. The suppliant is now not satisfied with a mere looking down. He has come to know (Isaiah 63:17 sqq.) how great the gulf is which separates Israel inwardly and outwardly from its God. Inwardly, a great part of the nation has gone astray from Jehovah, and is even confirmed, hardened in this apostasy: externally, the people have been expelled from the land of their inheritance and from their sanctuary. The suppliant now thinks that in order to heal all these evils, there is needed a grand and signal manifestation of the divine majesty which should strike down all unbelief and annihilate all opposition. He desires, therefore, that God would rend the heaven, remove as it were the curtain which now conceals Him from the bodily eye, and thus makes unbelief and its consequences possible. Something is here asked, which is far more than the bowing of the heaven and coming down which is described in Psalms 18:10 as having taken place, and which is implored in Psalms 144:5. In these places by the bowing of the heaven and coming down only a manifestation by means of a tempest is denoted, while Isaiah here prays that Jehovah would show Himself in His terrible majesty, as according to Ezekiel 1:1 He did really show Himself to His prophet. לוּא comp. on Isaiah 48:18. The perfect after לוּא depicts impatience. The rending of the heaven and coming down is set forth not as something merely possible, but as something in regard to which merely the wish is expressed that it may have already happened. In what way the Prophet pictures to himself the occurrence indicated by נזלו, he explains in Isaiah 44:1 by two comparisons. He supposes the δόξα which surrounds the Lord as consuming fire penetrating the mountains, though these are properly not combustible, and kindling them as easily and rapidly as fire ignites a fagot, yea, dissolving them despite their hardness and consistency into a boiling, seething mass, just as fire causes liquid water to boil (comp. Psalms 83:15; Psalms 97:5) קָדַח stands in Deuteronomy 32:22; Jeremiah 15:14 in an intransitive sense, but in the parallel passage Jeremiah 17:4, and in Isaiah 1:11, it is transitive. בָּעָה too, which from the radical meaning “ebullire” has, on the one hand, the signification of hot desire, longing, asking (Isaiah 21:12 bis), on the other, that of blowing one’s self up, swelling (Isaiah 30:13), possesses both a transitive and an intransitive power, as is the case with so many Hebrew verbal stems. הֲמָסִים, ἄπ. λεγ., which the LXX. render by κηρός, wax, and the Vulgate by tabescere, was perceived by De Dieu and Schultens to be related to the Arabic hams and haschim (dry herb, dry, brittle wood). It denotes sarmenta, dry wood of the vine or of branches, brushwood. [Instead of “as when the melting fire burneth (E. V.), translate as fire kindles brushwood.” D. M.]. The aim of this indubitable manifestation of Jehovah is that He may make His name (i.e., the knowledge of His being comprised in word) known to his enemies,i.e., to all those who stray from Him and harden themselves in this alienation (Isaiah 63:17), whether they are Israelites or heathen. The Prophet evidently hopes that this manifestation as demonstratio ad oculos will compel all Israelites, who hitherto did not believe the instruction given to them (because its evidence was not palpable enough) to know and acknowledge their God. If, however, there should be some among the גוים, who, notwithstanding this revelation apparent to the senses, should not be disposed to believe, these must at least flee vanquished and incapable of resistance. On מפניך comp. on Isaiah 63:12. בעשׂותך וגו׳ in Isaiah 63:2 is dependent on להודיע. The knowledge of the name of God will be imparted to men, so far as this rending and coming down is a deed, not merely an instruction by word. This is a thought quite after Isaiah’s manner, as may be seen from comparing Isaiah 26:8-10, the remarks on which passage may be consulted. After the statement of the design to make thy name known,etc., the manner of doing this is also declared: in thy doing terrible thingsetc. [Not: When thou didst terrible,etc.—E. V.]. And then there is mention again made of the visible event which should precede the making known of Jehovah’s name to His adversaries. For at the close of verse 2 we have a repetition of the conclusion of Isaiah 63:19 (Oh, that) thou wouldest come down, etc. [Not, as in the E. V.: Thou comest down,etc.]. By this recurrence of the same words the verses Isaiah 63:19 to Isaiah 64:2 are shown to form logically and rhetorically an inseparable whole. The words of the third verse [fourth in E. V.] stand manifestly in a causal relation to what precedes. The Prophet had expressed the bold wish that the Lord might no longer remain concealed, but might visibly display His Godhead. Can this happen? Imaginary gods cannot, indeed, comply with such a requirement. But Jehovah is no fictitious god. He is the true, the living God. And He alone has shown Himself as such from the beginning. For from primeval time men have not seen nor heard a God beside Jehovah who showed Himself by living deed to him who hopes in Him. I take ו before מעולם in a causal sense=and truly, as we had it frequently already (e.g., Isaiah 24:5; Isaiah 38:17; Isaiah 39:1, comp. with 2 Kings 20:12). That אלהים is to be taken as the accusative, and not as the vocative, is clear, because neither in itself nor in this connection is it a suitable thought to say: None but Thou, O God, has seen and heard what Thou wilt do to those who hope in Thee. For it is self-evident that no one previously saw and heard what God intends. And what, too, is intended by this strange sentence in this connection? And how explain the change of person in יעשׂה? It is objected that האזין is not in other cases followed by the accusative. But this is not the case. האזין has frequently, when in the parallelism שָׁמַע corresponds to it, the accusative after it (Genesis 4:23; Job 33:1), and we may say that in the passage before us האזינו is subordinated to the שׁמעו as a merely rhetorical repetition, and forms one idea with it. Even if the construction of האזין with the accusative could not in any way be justified, this would not signify. For the accusative אלהים can also depend on the verb ראתה alone as the nearest verb. Delitzsch rightly remarks: “We cannot in chapters 40–66 hear the words אלהים זולתך preceded by a negation, without at once receiving the impression that Jahve’s [Jehovah’s] exclusive Godhead is attested (Isaiah 45:5; Isaiah 45:21)." יעשׂה stands in a pregnant sense, as in Ps. 22:32; Psalms 37:5; 52:11; Jeremiah 14:7; Daniel 8:24; Daniel 11:17; Daniel 11:28; Daniel 11:30. The God, who from the beginning has proved Himself to be a real, living God by working, i.e., by such indubitable proofs in deeds as only a real, living power could show—this God can also do that which the Prophet (Isaiah 63:19 to Isaiah 64:2) with such intense ardor desires to see. I, too, believe that Paul freely quotes this passage in 1 Corinthians 2:9. But I think, on account of the words “καὶἐπὶ καρδίαν�,” that the place Isaiah 65:17 was also before the Apostle’s mind. [Paul’s quotation of this place is seen to be appropriate when we reflect that the Object perceived by no ear, seen by no eye, is, as Delitzsch puts it, not God in Himself, but the God who acts for His people, who justifies their waiting on Him.—D. M.]. What the Prophet had intimated by the one word יעשׂה, he expands in the first part of verse 4. פָּגַע is a strong expression, and is intended to denote a friendly impingere, but one which is right sensibly felt, an occursus which leaves no doubt as to the reality of the person who meets us, though He should be invisible. פָּגַע stands with the accusative in the general sense of meeting (Exodus 5:20; Exo 23:4; 1 Samuel 10:5; Amos 5:19; comp. Exodus 5:3; Isaiah 47:3). The Lord meets in a way that is perceptible to Him who loves righteousness and practises it, i.e., does it with joy. [“He who rejoices and works righteousness is one in whom joy and doing right are united. The expression is therefore equivalent to rejoices to do righteousness. But it is, perhaps, more correct, with Hofmann, to take צֶדֶק as the object of both verbs: Such as let what is right be their joy and their work; for שׂוּשׂ (שִׂישׂ), though it cannot immediately (see Isaiah 8:6; Isaiah 35:1), can mediately, as here and Isaiah 65:18, be joined with the accusative of the object.”—Delitzsch.—D. M.]. As the Prophet, in Isaiah 64:4 b passes over to a new, specifically different thought, הֵן אַתָּה in must begin a new verse.

3. Behold, thou art wroth——us away. Isaiah 64:4-6. With these words the Prophet sets that procedure which the Lord had hitherto pursued over against that which he himself so ardently longs for as certainly leading to the desired end. Hitherto the Lord has been wroth. Although individuals might experience the assisting grace of their God, yet, on the whole, His conduct toward His people was characterized by anger. And what was the result? Was Israel thereby reformed? No. The old sin ever succeeded punishment. Sin, punishment, and sin again, that has been the whole history of Israel from the beginning. This is, in my judgment, the meaning of the words בָּהֶם עוֹלָם. Thus קצפת retains its full force as a perfect, and ונחטא retains unimpaired the signification of an aoristic imperfect. בָּהֶם has a neuter force: in (with, during) these (things) which are indicated by thou wast angry, and we sinned, is (contained, elapsed) an עוֹלָם, i.e., an eternity, a period of incalculable duration. The writer means the עוֹלָם so often spoken of previously (Isaiah 63:9; Isaiah 63:11; Isaiah 63:16; Isaiah 63:19; Isaiah 64:3): the past of the people of Israel. Its history was really since the journeying in the wilderness an uninterrupted series of transgressions and punishments. It cannot be objected that הָעוֹלָם would be required. For the Prophet will not press the idea “time past,” or even “the past of the Israelitish people.” He just wishes to say that an eternity has passed in such an alternation of things. That בָּהֶם can be used thus indefinitely, is beyond doubt (comp. Isaiah 38:16; Ezekiel 33:18; Jeremiah 18:13, etc.). So, in the main, Delitzsch. But he translates: “In this state we have been already long.” It appears to me, that in order to express this, the Prophet would have written מֵעוֹלָם. I, too, take וְנִוָּשֵׁעַ as a question (comp., e.g., Ezekiel 20:31). If punishing and correcting have already lasted for an eternity without good result, can this be the right way to save Israel? [This question is hardly becoming. And such correction is really God’s successful way of turning Israel from their sins (comp. Isaiah 27:9; Hosea 5:5, etc.). If under בָּהֶם we understand God’s wrath and Israel’s sin, then we must take ונושע as a question, which looks a somewhat arbitrary construction. The translators of the English version evidently regarded בָּהֶם as referring to בדרכיך in the preceding hemistich. This view is still held by many interpreters, and it is, perhaps, on the whole entitled to the preference. Adopting it Alexander thus paraphrases this verse: “Although Thou hast cast off Israel as a nation, Thou hast nevertheless met or favorably answered every one rejoicing to do righteousness, and in Thy ways or future dispensations such shall still remember and acknowledge Thee: Thou hast been angry, and with cause, for we have sinned; but in them, Thy purposed dispensations, there is perpetuity, and we shall be saved.”—D. M.] That the discipline hitherto applied has not been of any help is shown by the Prophet still more in detail in what follows. Very far from being healed and sanctified, the whole people became rather as a man rendered unclean by leprosy, who must be expelled from human society (Leviticus 13:44 sqq.). The people, therefore, that had become unclean through the leprosy of sin, must as one man be cast out of the holy land into exile. The same thing is declared under another image. The moral habitus of the people (their righteousness, i.e., juste facta, Isaiah 33:15; Isaiah 45:24) is compared with a menstruous garment(עִדִּים, ἅπ. λεγ. from עָדַד, counted time), whose touch makes unclean. But moral pollution deprives people of firmness and strength. Therefore the suppliant further acknowledges that they are withered as a leaf. But leaves when they are dry and fall off, become the prey of the wind. Thus iniquities (עַוֹנֵנוּ is defectively written plural for עַוֹנְינוֹ, Isaiah 64:6; Jeremiah 14:7; Daniel 9:13) have mediately swept the people into exile with the irresistible force of a tempest. And in exile the mass of the people have not been improved. Although, as this prayer itself proves, the stem is not quite dead (Isaiah 6:13), it may yet be said, if we consider the great mass of the people, that there is no one who calls upon the name of the Lord, no one who would have roused himself as a man to make the necessary moral effort to take fast hold of Jehovah. [God’s hiding his face stood in a causal relation to the absence of prayer on the part of the people. The neglect of calling on Jehovah’s name and the want of importunity in prayer are traced to the withdrawal of the divine favor and to the abandonment of the people to the consequences of their sins.—D. M.]

4. But now, O Lord—

Very sore.

Isaiah 64:7-11. וְעַתָּה is emphatic, Isaiah 64:7. It is as if he would say: “Our condition is very dreadful. The worst is to be feared. But now, Thou art our Father. Therefore there is still hope.” With אבינו he returns to the thought which he had already expressed, Isaiah 63:16. [“Instead of relying upon any supposed merits of their own, they appeal to their own dependence upon God as a reason why He should have mercy upon them. The paternity ascribed to God is not that of natural creation in the case of individuals, but the creation of the church or chosen people, and of Israel as a spiritual and ideal person. The figure of the potter and the clay, implying absolute authority and power, is used twice before (Isaiah 29:6; Isaiah 45:9), and is one of the connecting links between this book and the acknowledged Isaiah.” Alexander.—D. M.] On the double declaration that the Lord is not only Father, but also Potter, the prayer, Isaiah 64:8, is founded that He would not be wroth very sore, nor remember iniquity forever, but rather consider that all Israel is His people. This short emphatic exclamation הן הבט־נא עמך כלנו forms plainly the highest point of the prayer, and here it could accordingly come to an end. [?] I regard it as possible that the verses 9–11 have been inserted by an Israelite living in the Exile, to whom the sad condition of the holy land, of the holy city and of the holy house seemed to be for God and Israel the thing most unendurable.

We could thus explain the singularly vivid and exact description of the state in which the home of the exiles was at the time here supposed. For certainly the words of Isaiah 64:9 and Isaiah 64:10 do not sound as those of one who viewed the things from a distance, but as the words of one who saw them most closely. [Here our author’s arbitrary theory of prophecy misleads him, comp. Introduction, foot-note, pp. 17,18. Dr. Naegelsbach has himself told us in the heading of this fourth discourse, Isaiah 63:7 to Isaiah 64:11, that “the Prophet transports himself in spirit into the situation of the church of the Exile.” He lives in spirit in the Exile, and speaks of the misery prevailing in it as if he were an immediate eye-witness. This is in accordance with the custom of the Prophet. That condition of things which Isaiah by prophetic anticipation here describes as existing, is clearly predicted by his cotemporary Micah (Micah 3:12). It was after the Prophet had described the treading down of the sanctuary (Isaiah 63:18) that he exclaimed, Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens and come down,etc.; and it is strange that Isaiah 63:9-10 should not be considered by our author as a most appropriate close to the prayer, and that these verses should be regarded by him as the language of carnal Israel, and as an interpolation by a later hand.—D. M.]. Thy holy cities are the cities of the land. קדשׁ is to be taken in an abstract sense: urbes tuae sanctitatis, thy holy cities (comp. Psalms 78:54; Zech. 2:16). Zion is here the mount Zion, the seat of the kingdom, the political centre of the theocracy; Jerusalem is the entire holy city, the national centre. There is added in Isaiah 64:10 the religious centre, the temple. [“The people call it house of our holiness and our glory; Jahve’s holiness and glory have in the temple transplanted, as it were, heaven on the earth (comp. Isaiah 63:15 with Isaiah 60:7), and this earthly dwelling-place of God is Israel’s possession, and thereby Israel’s קדשׁ and תפארת. The relative sentence tells what sacred historical recollections are attached to it. אֲשֶׁר is here=אֲשֶׁר שָׁםwhere, as Genesis 39:20; Numbers 20:13 et saepe” Delitzsch.—D. M.]. אֵשׁ שְׂרֵפַת is found only here. But comp. Isaiah 9:4. כֹּל with the predicate in the singular is uncommon; this urns loquendi does not occur elsewhere in Isaiah (comp. Ew. Gr. § 317 c; Proverbs 15:2; Ezekiel 31:15). We shall not err if we understand under our pleasant things, in opposition to the previously mentioned sacred localities, the buildings in private possession. [Delitzsch holds that the parallelism leads us under pleasant things to think of objects connected with the worship of God in which the people had a holy joy.—D. M.]. The singular חָרְבָּה is found in Isaiah only here (see the List). The expression הָיָה לְחָרְבָּה occurs no where else in Isaiah. But it is found frequently in Jeremiah, and in Ezekiel 38:8. After the Prophet had set this sad picture before the Lord, he closes with the question, whether the Lord can in such circumstances restrain himself (Isaiah 42:14; Isaiah 63:15) be silent (Isaiah 42:14; Isaiah 57:11; Isaiah 62:1; Isaiah 62:6; Isaiah 65:6) and so let His people be oppressed to the utmost (comp. Isaiah 40:27 sqq.)?

Footnotes:

[17]Heb. the fire of meltings.

[18]As fire kindles brushwood.

[19]When thou dost terrible deeds which we did not expect,—that thou wouldest come down, that mountains might flow down before thee!

[20]Or, seen a God beside thee, which doeth so for him, etc.

[21]In thy ways they remember thee.

[22]for a long time it is so; and shall we, be saved?

[23]We were all as the unclean (person), etc.

[24]Heb. melted.

[25]Heb. by the hand of.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. On Isaiah 63:7. [“God does good because He is good; what He bestows upon us must be run up to the original, it is according to His mercies, not according to our merits, andaccording to the multitude of His loving-kindnesses, which can never be spent. Thus we should magnify God’s goodness, and speak honorably of it, not only when we plead it (as David Psalms 51:1), but when we praise it.” Henry. D. M.].

2. On Isaiah 63:9. The angel of the face or presence belongs to “the deep things of God" (1 Corinthians 2:10). It is not right to imagine that a certain and exhaustive knowledge is possible in reference to these things. The humility which becomes even science, imposes on it the duty to write everywhere a non liquet, where, through the nature of things, limits are placed to human knowledge. Not to regard these limitations is the manner of the pseudo-scientific, immodest scholasticism. What, therefore, we have said regarding the angel of the face makes no higher pretension than that of a modest hypothesis. [Comp. in Hengstenberg’s Christology, Vol. Isaiah 1:0 : The Angel of the Lord in the books of Moses and in the book of Joshua.—D. M.].

3. On Isaiah 63:10. “There are two ways in which the Holy Ghost is offended or vexed. One way is of a less dreadful nature. It is when a man takes from the Holy Spirit the opportunity to work in the soul for its joy, as He is wont to communicate to it His gracious influence and His gracious operations. When such is the case, then as an offended friend when He perceives that no heed is given to most of His counsels, the Holy Spirit is grieved, and, although reluctantly, ceases for a time to advise the stubborn, ut carendo discat quantum peccaverit. Of this kind of grieving Paul speaks Ephesians 4:30. It can be committed by the godly and the elect. But the Holy Spirit can be offended and vexed in a gross and flagitious way, when one not only does not believe and follow Him, but also obstinately resists Him, despises all His counsel, reviles and blasphemes Him, will none of His reproof (Proverbs 1:24-25), gives the lie to His truth, and so speaks against the sun… This the Scripture calls ἀντιπίπτειν (Acts 7:51), ἐνυβρίζειν (Hebrews 10:29), βλασφημεῖν (Matthew 12:31), θεομαχεῖν (Acts 5:39). Let us, therefore, not grieve the Holy Spirit with evil desires, words and deeds, that we may be able on the future day of redemption to show that seal uninjured with which we were sealed on that day of our redemption when we were regenerated. To this end let us assiduously breathe forth the prayers of David Psalms 143:10; Psalms 51:12-14.” Leigh.

4. On Isaiah 63:10. [They rebelled and vexed His Holy Spirit. This statement implies the personality of the Holy Ghost, or the Spirit of God’s holiness. He is represented as a person whom we can grieve. We have in this passage clear indications of the doctrine of the Trinity. In Isaiah 63:9 we have the Angel of God’s face, and in Isaiah 63:10 we have the Spirit of His holiness, both clearly distinguished from God the fountain of their being.—D. M.].

5. On Isaiah 63:11. “Faith asks after God and so does unbelief, but in different ways. Both put the question, Where? Faith does it to seek God in time of need, and to tell Him trustfully of His old kindnesses. Unbelief does it to tempt God, to deny Him, to lead others into temptation, and to make them doubt regarding the divine presence and providence. Therefore it asks: “Where is the God of judgment” (Malachi 2:17)? “Where is now thy God "(Psalms 42:4; Psalms 42:11; Psalms 79:10; Psalms 115:2)? If you, as the praying Church here does, ask in the former manner diligently after God, you will be preserved from the other kind of asking.” Leigh.

6. On Isaiah 63:15. “Meritum meum miseratio Domini. Non sum meriti inops, quando ille miserationum Dominus non defuerit, et si misericordiae Domini multae, multus ego sum in meritis.” Augustine.

7. On Isaiah 63:16. “We can from this sentence [?] cogently refute the doctrine of the invocation of the Saints. For the Saints know nothing of us, and are not personally acquainted with us, much less can they know the concerns of our hearts, or hear our cry, for they are not omnipresent. If it be alleged that God makes matters known to them and that they then pray for us, what a round-about business this would be! It would justify the prayer said to have been made by a simple man: “Ah Lord God! tell it, I beseech thee, to the blessed Mary that I have told thee to tell it again to her, that she should tell thee that I have wished to say to her by so many Ave Marias and Pater Nosters, that she should say to thee to be pleased to be gracious unto me.” Meyer, de Rosariis, cap. III., thes. V., p. 52). With how much more brevity and efficacy do we pray with the penitent publican: God be merciful to me, a sinner! ”Leigh.

8. On Isaiah 63:17. “There is no more heinous sin than to accuse God of being the cause of our sin. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God (James 1:13; Psalms 5:5; Deuteronomy 32:4; Ps. 92:16). He commands what is good, forbids and punishes what is evil. How then could He be the cause of it? But when He punishes sin with sin, i.e., when He at last withdraws from the sinner His grace that has been persistently despised, then He acts as a righteous Judge who inflicts the judgment of hardening the heart on those who wilfully resist His Spirit.” Leigh.

9. On Isaiah 66:0 [“This chapter is a model of affectionate and earnest entreaty for the divine interposition in the day of calamity. With such tender and affectionate earnestness may we learn to plead with God! Thus may all His people learn to approach Him as a Father; thus feel that they have the inestimable privilege in the times of trial of making known their wants to the High and Holy One. Thus when calamity presses on us; when as individuals or families we are afflicted; or when our country or the church is suffering under long trials, may we go to God, and humbly confess our sins, and urge His promises, and take hold of His strength, and plead with Him to interpose. Thus pleading, He will hear us; thus presenting our cause, He will interpose to save us.” Barnes. D. M.].

10. On Isaiah 64:3-4 a. [4, 5 a]. The God who appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, called Moses, and led by him the people of Israel out of Egypt, who chose Joshua, Samuel, David and others to be His servants and glorified Himself by them, this God alone has shown Himself to be the true and living God, and we can hope from Him that He will yet do more, and manifest Himself still more signally.

11. On Isaiah 64:4 [5]. [“Note what God expects from us in order to our having communion with Him. First, We must make conscience of doing our duty in everything, we must work righteousness, must do that which is good, and which the Lord our God requires of us, and must do it well. Secondly, We must be cheerful in doing our duty; we must rejoice and work righteousness, must delight ourselves in God and His law, must be pleasant in His service and sing at our work. God loves a cheerful giver, a cheerful worshipper; we must serve the Lord with gladness. Thirdly, We must conform ourselves to all the methods of His providence concerning us, and be suitably affected with them; must remember Him in Hisways, in all the ways wherein He walks, whether He walks towards us, or walks contrary to us; we must mind Him, and make mention of Him, with thanksgiving, when His ways are ways of mercy, for in a day of prosperity we mustbe joyful, with patience and submission when He contends with us, for in a day of adversity we must consider.” Henry. D. M.].

12. On Isaiah 64:7 [8]. [“This whole verse is an acknowledgment of the sovereignty of God. It expresses the feeling which all have when under conviction of sin, and when they are sensible that they are exposed to the divine displeasure for their transgressions. Then they feel that if they are to be saved, it must be by the mere Sovereignty of God; and they implore His interposition to ‘mould and guide them at His will.’ It may be added, that it is only when sinners have this feeling that they hope for relief; and then they will feel that if they are lost, it will be right; if saved, it will be because God moulds them as the potter does the clay.” Barnes. D. M.].

HOMILETICAL HINTS

1. On Isaiah 63:7. Text for a Thanksgiving Sermon. What is our duty after that the Lord has shown us great loving kindness? 1) To remember what He has done to us. 2) To be mindful of what we ought to render to Him for the same.

2. On Isaiah 63:8-17. The history of the people of Israel a mirror in which we too may perceive the history of our relation to God. 1) God is to us from the beginning a loving and faithful Father (Isaiah 63:8-9). 2) We repay His love with ingratitude, as Israel did (Isaiah 63:10 a). 3) God punishes us for this as He punished Israel (Isaiah 63:10 b). 4) God receives us again to His favor when we, as Israel, call on Him in penitence (Isaiah 63:11-17).

On Isaiah 63:7-17. “If God in Christ has become our Father, He remains our Father to all eternity. 1) He is our Father in Christ. 2) He abides faithful even when we waIsa Isaiah 63:3) When we have fallen, His arms still stand open to receive us.” Deichert in Manch. G. u. ein Geist, 1868, page 65.

4. On Isaiah 64:5-7. Joh. Ben. Carpzov has a sermon on this text, in which he treats of righteousness, and shows 1) justitiam salvantem, i. e., the righteousness with which one enters the kingdom of heaven; 2) justitiam damnantem, i. e., the righteousness with which a man enters the fire of hell; 3) justitiam testantem, i. e., the righteousness by which a man testifies that he has attained the true righteousness.

5. On Isaiah 64:6-9. “Let us hear from our text an earnest and affecting confession of sin, and at the same time consider 1) the doctrine of repentance; 2) the comfort of forgiveness which believers receive.”—Eichhorn.

6. On Isaiah 64:6. (We all do fade, etc.) “These are very instructive words, from which we learn what a noxious plant sin is, and what fruit it brings forth. First, says he, we fade as a leaf. This means that sin brings with it the curse of God, and deprives us of His blessing both for the body and the soul, so that the heart is dissatisfied and distressed. Then it robs us of the highest treasure, confidence in the grace of God. For sin and an evil conscience awaken dread of God. As it is impossible to call upon God aright without faith and a sure persuasion of His aid, it follows that sin hinders prayer also, and thus robs us of the highest comfort. When men have no faith and cannot pray, then the awful punishment comes upon them, that God hides His face and leaves them to pine in their sins. For they cannot help themselves, and have lost the consolation and protection which they need in life.”—Veit Diet.