이사야 59:6 주석

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.

Their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works,.... As spiders' webs are not fit to make garments of, are too thin to cover naked bodies, or shelter from bad weather, or injuries from different causes; so neither the false doctrines of men will be of any use to themselves, or to others that receive them; particularly the doctrine of justification by works: these are not proper garments to cover the nakedness of a sinner from the sight of God, or screen him from avenging justice; but his hope which is placed on them will be cut off, and his trust in them will be a spider's web, of no avail to him, Job 8:14, their works are works of iniquity: both of preacher and hearer; even their best works are sinful; not only as being imperfect, and having a mixture of sin in them, and so filthy rags, and insufficient to justify them before God; but because done from wrong principles, and with wrong views, and tending to set aside the justifying righteousness of Christ, and God's way of justifying sinners by it, which is abominable to him: and the act of violence is in their hands; they persecuting such that preach and profess the contrary doctrine.

(Verse 5, 6.) They conceived labor and gave birth to iniquity: they broke the eggs of vipers and wove spider webs. Whoever eats their eggs will die, and what is hatched will break out into a viper. Their webs will not be turned into clothing, nor will they be covered with their works. LXX: For they bring forth pain and generate iniquity. They broke the eggs of vipers and wove spider webs. And whoever wants to eat their eggs, breaking them open, will find something rotten, and in the end a viper; their webs will not be used for clothing, nor will they be covered with their works. Those who await the coming of the Antichrist cannot say: 'We have conceived and brought forth from fear of you, O Lord, and we have made the spirit of your salvation come upon the earth' (Isaiah 26:18), they conceive pain correctly, and give birth to wickedness, so that they receive iniquity instead of what they seek with much effort; of whom it is written in the Psalms: 'They conceived pain, and brought forth wickedness' (Psalm 7:15). They break and shatter the eggs of asps, so that they may receive their venom in their own minds, of whom it is said in the Gospel: 'You offspring of vipers' (Matthew 3:7). And beautifully they have laid the eggs of asps and serpents, which eggs are said to generate first. And because they not only retain the poisons of malice in their hearts, but also meditate on old wives' fables day and night, they are therefore said: And they weave webs of spiders: by which they catch flies and mosquitoes and small creatures; to which when something happens by chance, it flies through the empty air. Whoever eats, he says, of their eggs, will die, that is, whoever agrees with their counsels, as Abel agreed to Cain when he said, Let us go into the field (Genesis IV, 8), will instantly be killed: or as the Seventy have translated it: Whoever wants to eat of their eggs, he will find decay when crushed, and in it a ruler. For whoever, being deceived by mere appearance, thinks that the eggs of hens and other birds, the consumption of which is harmless, if he breaks them before eating, will immediately recognize the most foul odor and stench, and will find what is cooked, the rule. Or according to Symmachus and Theodotion, the asp. But the eagle put the viper; for which in Hebrew it is read Ephee (). Therefore, whoever, hearing the Jewish traditions, wishes to prepare himself for the pleasures of a thousand years, and being ensnared by the promises, reaches out his hand to the egg: if before he eats, that is, he agrees with deadly words, he wishes first to consider what is said, and to examine each word, and to handle their meaning, he will immediately discover that the Antichrist is being prepared in them. Therefore, according to the Hebrew text, whoever eats from their eggs will die. But according to the Septuagint, whoever breaks them beforehand and carefully looks and sees what lies hidden will discover a most foul stench and the prince of all serpents, the devil, lurking in their traditions. And because he had said above, 'They weave spider webs,' he explains that the weaving of these webs is not profitable. Their labor, he says, and all their teaching does not make the garment of Christ, nor the cloak by which the nakedness of the soul is protected, but they sweat in vain labor, as the same Prophet says: 'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.' But they worship me in vain, teaching doctrines and precepts of men (Isaiah 29:13): which following, they neglect the law of God. And that we may know that their works are like a spider's web, he added: Neither shall their works cover them. Some have explained this passage thus: They have crushed, or broken, the eggs of asps, that is, they have disregarded all the words of the prophets and have woven for themselves the flattering words of false prophets: of whom whoever partakes, shall be bitten by the serpent; and he will understand that the words of lies have profited him nothing.

And as to the second: their webs shall not be for clothing; that is, as spider webs do not avail for clothing, so their counsels avail nothing for them, if they gain no advantage, above: they shall be confounded that wrought in flax, combing and weaving fine linen (Isa 19:9). 1041. Second, he explains the metaphor. And first, as to action: their works are unprofitable, as to one part, the work of iniquity, as to the other, above: their works shall not profit them (Isa 57:12).

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.

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).

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 (Isa 64:6; Rom 13:14; Gal 3:27; Phi 3:9). The artificial self-deceiving sophisms of human philosophy (Ti1 6:5; Ti2 2:16, Ti2 2:23).

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.