Isaiah 59:2 Kommentar

In this chapter we have sin appearing exceedingly sinful, and grace appearing exceedingly gracious; and, as what is here said of the sinner's sin (Isa 59:7, Isa 59:8) is applied to the general corruption of mankind (Rom 3:15), so what is here said of a Redeemer (Isa 59:20) is applied to Christ, Rom 11:26. I. It is here charged upon this people that they had themselves stopped the current of God's favours to them, and the particular sins are specified which kept good things from them (Isa 59:1-8). II. It is here charged upon them that they had themselves procured the judgments of God upon them, and they are told both what the judgments were which they had brought upon their own heads (Isa 59:9-11) and what the sins were which provoked God to send those judgments (Isa 59:12-15). III. It is here promised that, notwithstanding this, God would work deliverance for them, purely for his own name's sake (Isa 59:16-19), and would reserve mercy in store for them and entail it upon them (Isa 59:20, Isa 59:21).

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 59 As the former chapter declares the hypocrisy and formality of professors of religion; this expresses the errors and heresies, immorality and profaneness, which shall prevail before the spiritual reign of Christ, or the latter day glory begins; which is so fully described in the next chapter. Reasons are given of God's withdrawing his presence from a professing people, which were not want of power and readiness in him, but their own sins and transgressions, Isa 59:1 which are enumerated, such as murder, rapine, lies, &c. Isa 59:3 for which the judgments of God were upon them, darkness, distress, and misery, of which they were sensible, Isa 59:9 and confess their sins and transgressions, Isa 59:12 and lament their wretched state and condition, which was displeasing to God, Isa 59:14 who is represented as appearing for their salvation; moved to it by their want of help, and the oppression of their enemies, in which he shows his power, justice, zeal, grace, and goodness, Isa 59:16 the consequence of which shall be the conversion and salvation of many, owing to the efficacy of the divine Spirit, and to the spiritual coming of the Redeemer, Isa 59:19, and the chapter is closed with a promise of the continuance of the Spirit of God, and the Gospel of Christ in his church, unto the end of the world, Isa 59:21.

Like a partition wall dividing between them, so that they enjoy no communion with him in his worship and ordinances; which is greatly the case of the reformed churches: they profess the true God, and the worship of him, and do attend the outward ordinances of it; but this is done in such a cold formal way, and such sins and wickedness are perpetrated and connived at, that the Lord does not grant his gracious presence to them, but stands at a distance from them: and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear; or have caused him to hide himself; withdraw his gracious presence; neglect the prayers put up to him; deny an answer to them; or, however, not appear as yet for the deliverance and salvation of them, and bringing them into a more comfortable, prosperous, and happy condition.

Let us consider our sins, and reviewing the secrets of our action and mind, let us weigh the merits of our conscience.

The Lord can prohibit adversities, but the merits of sinners cause him to give no aid.… Therefore, let your sins and offences be numbered; let the wounds of your conscience be considered; and let each one cease to complain about God and about us, if he understands that he deserves what he suffers.

The enmity that God had both against Jews and Gentiles was, as it were, a middle wall. And this wall, while the law existed, was not only not abolished but rather was strengthened.

But punishments lead us back to God.… Suppose anyone has a wound, which is the more deserving of fear—gangrene or the surgeon’s knife? The steel or the devouring progress of the ulcer? Sin is gangrene; punishment is the surgeon’s knife. As then he who has a gangrene, although he is not lanced, has to sustain the malady and is then in the worse condition when he is not lanced, so also the sinner, though he is not punished, is the most wretched of people and is then especially wretched when he has no punishment and is suffering no distress.

Inasmuch, then, as this is the cause that puts us far from God, let us remove this obnoxious barrier that prevents any near approach being made.But now hear how this has actually occurred in real instances. Among the Corinthians some man of mark committed a sin such as was not named even among the Gentiles. This man was a believer and belonged to the household for Christ; and some say that he was actually a member of the priesthood. What then? Did Paul cut him off from the communion of those who were in the way of salvation? By no means, for he himself it is who rebukes the Corinthians countless times, backwards and forwards, because they did not bring the man to a state of repentance; he desired to prove to us that there is no sin that cannot be healed.

(Chapter 59, Verses 1, 2) Behold, the hand of the Lord is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither is His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear. (Chapter 70) Is the Lord's hand shortened, that He cannot save, or His ear heavy, that He cannot hear? But your sins have separated you from your God, and because of your sins, He has turned His face away from you, so that He will not show mercy. I could do what I said I would do: You will be confident in the Lord, and He will lift you up to the good things of the land, and He will feed you with the inheritance of Jacob your father, before the completion. For my hand is not shortened, nor is it contracted, that I cannot stretch it out to deliver my people: nor do I have deaf ears, that I cannot hear. From this it is shown that the ears of the Lord, which listen to the righteous and do not listen to sinners, are in no way similar to our ears, which equally hear the spoken word of either justice or injustice; but your sins, like a certain wall in the middle, separate you and God. And so, the Savior in His passion made both one (Ephesians 2), and by breaking down the middle wall of partition, He destroyed enmity in His flesh, so that the blood of Christ might unite those whom the wall of sin had divided. He opened the door of paradise, which had been closed for a long time (Genesis 3), and He extinguished the fiery sword with His own blood, so that the thief might hear: Today you will be with me in paradise (Luke 23:43). And what follows: And because of your sins, He turned His face away from you; to not hear, or to not show mercy, he demonstrates this, that he was not able to bear the stench of sins and their iniquities, but he turned his face away, so as to not see their shamefulness, and he would immediately be forced to strike. In the psalm, when the sinner desiring to see the face of the Lord says: How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? (Ps. XII, 1). And elsewhere: Show your face, and we shall be saved. (Ps. LXXIX, 4).

Scripture is accustomed to call hatred “toil.” For the word has more than one meaning. Hatred wastes and withers up the hearts of those who receive it. Thus says the psalmist about someone or about Israel as a whole, “He conceived toil and bore iniquity.”

Rising again with the same flesh as that with which he was buried, [Christ] stands behind the wall of our unbelief, the wall that as we sinned we built with our muddy, dirty works. About these works God spoke through the prophet Isaiah, “But your sins have made a wall between you and God.” Behind the wall stands Christ the Lord, and he waits to be called on by the ungodly, and he summons the sinful soul to penitence. Behind the wall where [Christ] stands, he waits for the unbelieving to believe in him until such time as they reach baptism or penitence.

Therefore, since bodies that cannot exist without a place cannot be spatially separated from God, without a doubt neither are the spirits that God created spatially separated from God.For every spirit that God created exists in some place, and God is there. [God], through the grace by means of which he grants to whom he wishes a holy and blessed life, is not in evil spirits; still he is always in all his creatures through his natural power. Thus there is no creature than can be found in whom God is not present through his power. Therefore, that nature can be separated from God that was or is able to be subject to sin. There is no other thing that can go away from God except that substance that is able or has been able to sin with its own will. For Isaiah says, “See, the Lord’s hand is not too short to save or his ear too dull to hear. Rather, your iniquities have been barriers between you and your God.”

But since we say that God is plenteous in mercy, why is it that when amidst temptations we unceasingly knock and pray, we are not heard and He disregards our prayer? This we are clearly taught by the Prophet when he says, “The Lord’s hand is not little, that it cannot save; nor is He hard of hearing, that He cannot hear: but our sins have separated us from Him.” … Remember God at all times, and He will remember you whenever you fall into evils.

Second, he adds the true cause, namely, their own fault, first touching upon their fault in general: but your iniquities, as to great sins, have divided, like a wall or clouds might be interposed, and your sins, as to common sins: he said: I will hide my face from them (Deut 32:20). 1048. Note on the words, your iniquities have divided between you and your God (Isa 59:2), that sin divides first, from one's neighbor through dissension: every kingdom divided against itself shall be brought to desolation (Luke 11:17); second, from oneself, through contrary affection: their heart is divided: now they shall perish (Hos 10:2); third, from God, through aversion: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and have dug to themselves broken cisterns (Jer 2:13); fourth, from the kingdom, through disinheritance: he shall separate him (Luke 12:46); fifth, from the assembly of the saints through dissimilarity, above: the Lord will divide and separate me from his people (Isa 56:3).

Thy chapter contains a more general reproof of the wickedness of the Jews, Isa 59:1-8. After this they are represented confessing their sins, and deploring the unhappy consequences of them, Isa 59:9-15. On this act of humiliation God, ever ready to pardon the penitent, promises that he will have mercy on them; that the Redeemer will come, mighty to save; and that he will deliver his people, subdue his enemies and establish a new and everlasting covenant, Isa 59:16-21. The foregoing elegant chapter contained a severe reproof of the Jews, in particular for their hypocrisy in pretending to make themselves accepted with God by fasting and outward humiliation without true repentance; while they still continued to oppress the poor, and indulge their own passions and vices; with great promises however of God's favor on condition of their reformation. This chapter contains a more general reproof of their wickedness, bloodshed, violence, falsehood, injustice. At Isa 59:9 they are introduced as making, themselves, an ample confession of their sins, and deploring their wretched state in consequence of them. On this act of humiliation a promise is given that God, in his mercy and zeal for his people, will rescue them from this miserable condition, that the Redeemer will come like a mighty hero to deliver them; he will destroy his enemies, convert both Jews and Gentiles to himself, and give them a new covenant, and a law which shall never be abolished. As this chapter is remarkable for the beauty, strength, and variety of the images with which it abounds; so is it peculiarly distinguished by the elegance 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, (see Prelim. Dissert. p. xxi.), which I have endeavored to express as nearly as possible in the form of the original. - L.

His face - For פנים panim, faces, I read panaiv, his face. So the Syriac, Septuagint, Alexandrian, Arabic, and Vulgate. פני panai, MS. Forte legendum פני panai, nam מ mem, sequitur, et loquitur Deus; confer cap. Isa 58:14. "We should perhaps read פני panai; for מ mem follows, and God is the speaker." - Secker. I rather think that the speech of God was closed with the last chapter, and that this chapter is delivered in the person of the prophet. - L.

THE PEOPLE'S SIN THE CAUSE OF JUDGMENTS: THEY AT LAST OWN IT THEMSELVES: THE REDEEMER'S FUTURE INTERPOSITION IN THEIR EXTREMITY. (Isa. 59:1-21) hand . . . shortened--(See on Isa 50:2). ear heavy-- (Isa 6:10).

hid--Hebrew, "caused Him to hide" (Lam 3:44).

This second prophetic address continues the reproachful theme of the first. In the previous prophecy we found the virtues which are well-pleasing to God, and to which He promises redemption as a reward of grace, set in contrast with those false means, upon which the people rested their claim to redemption. In the prophecy before us the sins which retard redemption are still more directly exposed. "Behold, Jehovah's hand is not too short to help, nor His ear too heavy to hear; but your iniquities have become a party-wall between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He does not hear." The reason why redemption is delayed, is not that the power of Jehovah has not been sufficient for it (cf., Isa 50:2), or that He has not been aware of their desire for it, but that their iniquities (עונתיכם with the second syllable defective) have become dividers (מבדּלים, defective), have grown into a party-wall between them and their God, and their sins (cf., Jer 5:25) have hidden pânı̄m from them. As the "hand" (yâd) in Isa 28:2 is the absolute hand; so here the "face" pânı̄m) is that face which sees everything, which is everywhere present, whether uncovered or concealed; which diffuses light when it unveils itself, and leaves darkness when it is veiled; the sight of which is blessedness, and not to see which is damnation. This absolute countenance is never to be seen in this life without a veil; but the rejection and abuse of grace make this veil a perfectly impenetrable covering. And Israel had forfeited in this way the light and sight of this countenance of God, and had raised a party-wall between itself and Him, and that משּׁמוע, so that He did not hear, i.e., so that their prayer did not reach Him (Lam 3:44) or bring down an answer from Him.