Isaiah 57:9 Ulasan

The prophet, in this chapter, makes his observations, I. Upon the deaths of good men, comforting those that were taken away in their integrity and reproving those that did not make a due improvement of such providences (Isa 57:1, Isa 57:2). II. Upon the gross idolatries and spiritual whoredoms which the Jews were guilty of, and the destroying judgments they were thereby bringing upon themselves (Isa 57:3-12). III. Upon the gracious returns of God to his people to put an end to their captivity and re-establish their prosperity (Isa 57:13-21).

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 57 This chapter contains complaints of the stupidity and idolatry of the people, described in the latter part of the preceding chapter; and some promises of grace to the people of God. The stupidity of the former is observed, Isa 57:1 they not taking notice of the death of good men, nor of impending calamities they were taken from, whose happiness is described, Isa 57:2, then these idolatrous people are summoned before the Lord, Isa 57:3 and are charged with deriding the saints with idolatry and murder, Isa 57:4 and their idolatry is represented under the notion of adultery, attended with very aggravating circumstances, Isa 57:7 and yet these people still entertained presumptuous hopes of happiness, and boasted of, and trusted in, their righteousness and good works, which would be exposed, and be of no advantage to them, Isa 57:10, next follow promises of grace to the saints, that such that trusted in Christ should inherit the holy mountain, Isa 57:13 that the stumblingblock of his people should be removed, Isa 57:14, that he should dwell with the humble and contrite, Isa 57:15, and not be always wroth and contend with them, for a reason given, Isa 57:16 and that though he had smote them, and hid his face from them because of their sins, yet would heal them, lead them, and comfort them, and speak peace unto them, Isa 57:17 and the chapter is concluded with the character of the wicked, and an assurance that there is no peace for them, Isa 57:20.

And thou wentest to the king with ointment,.... To the kings of the earth, the singular for the plural, with whom the whore of Rome has committed fornication or idolatry, in allusion to harlots, who, in order to render themselves the more agreeable to their lovers, anointed themselves with ointment: this may respect the grace of the Spirit of God, which the church of Rome pretends to give by administration of the sacraments, which it is said confer grace "ex opere operato"; and the extreme unction given as a meetness for heaven, in the last moments of life: and didst increase thy perfumes; after the manner of harlots, who, to ingratiate themselves with men, use much perfumes: this may signify the many ways the whore of Rome takes to make herself regarded by the kings and nations of the earth; pretending to antiquity, infallibility, power of working miracles, works of supererogation, primacy and superiority over all other churches; using great pomp and splendour in places of worship, and in all religious services: and didst send thy messengers far off; not only into neighbouring kingdoms and states, into all the nations of Europe; but even into the most distant parts of the world, into both the Indies, in order to make proselytes, spread the religion of the see of Rome, and increase its power. The pope's "nuncios" and "legates a latere", may be here pointed at, as well as the Jesuits his emissaries, sent into all parts to promote his interest. Jarchi's note is, "to exact tribute of the kings of the nations;'' which has been the business of the pope's legates: and didst debase thyself even unto hell; or lay thyself low; prostitute thyself as harlots do to every lover; or didst feign thyself very lowly and humble, as the pope does when he calls himself "servus servorum"; or rather, "thou didst depress", or "bring low, even unto hell" (t); that is, multitudes of men and women, who are brought down to hell by the false doctrine and worship of the church of Rome; and the followers of the man of sin say, that if he brings down thousands into hell, none ought to say, what dost thou? Cocceius thinks it may have respect to his pretended power over hell, to send as many there as do not please him; arrogating to himself the keys of heaven and hell; or over purgatory, a figment of his brain, where he pretends the souls of men are for a time, and from whence, for a sum of money, he delivers them. The Targum is, "thou hast depressed the strength of the people; or, as some copies, the strong of the people unto hell.'' (t) "et demisti usque ad infernum", Cocceius.

Whoever walks along the one royal way does not labor. Indeed, God issued a commandment about this through Moses: “You shall walk along the royal way and not deviate to your right or to your left.” The one way is the way of truth, as it says in the Gospel: “I am the way, the truth and the life.” But there are various ways of deception, along which Jerusalem is now demonstrated to have walked. God, who knows the difference between such ways, said earlier to those who were wandering: “Your ways are not like my way.” And those who trust in the Lord said, “You have caused our ways not to depart from your ways.” With knowledge of the one royal way, then, let us beware of deviations to the left and right, along which we are forbidden to walk. The royal way is temperance, having neither too little nor too much. For example, the royal and right way entails prudence; we deviate to the right if we understand more than is proper for us to understand and if we prefer cleverness above prudence, by which measure the serpent was more prudent than all the animals in paradise and the children of darkness are more prudent than the children of light. We deviate to the left, however, when we are foolish and have less understanding than is necessary. Concerning such people, it is said, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ ”

The royal road also involves fortitude and constancy, from which the impulsive and rash deviate to the right and the timid and fearful deviate to the left. Hence, a holy person desiring to walk along the right way prays, “Lead me, Lord, on the right path,” and, in another passage, “Make known to me, O Lord, the way in which I should walk, for to you I lift my eyes.” … Then it continues, according to the Hebrew: “You found life by your own hand, so you did not beseech” [Is 57:10], which has the following sense and meaning: Because you were abounding in all things and flowing in riches, you neglected the Lord, whereas Solomon refused such riches precisely so that he would not forget God.… For not only riches but poverty also tests a person, which is why it was written above: “I tested you on the road of poverty,” the same road on which Lazarus the poor man was tested, who sustained debilitating illness as well as poverty.

(Verse 9.) Because you uncovered yourself beside me and took in an adulterer, you spread your bed and made a covenant with them. You loved their bed openly and adorned yourself with royal ointment and multiplied your perfumes. You sent your messengers afar and lowered yourself even to the depths. You thought that if you would depart from me, you would have more. You loved those who slept with you and multiplied your adultery with them, and you made many far from you and sent messengers beyond your borders, and you humbled yourself even to the depths. First, let us discuss the Hebrew text, which differs greatly from the LXX in this passage. As mentioned above, to the place where it says: 'You have set your bed on a high and lofty mountain,' and it accuses and rebukes her as a prostitute, in the entrance of houses and in dark places, a harlot behind the doors, so that anyone who wished to enter the house would have the pleasure exposed before their eyes. Now it accuses and refutes her as an adulterous wife, because while she was sleeping with her husband, she secretly received an adulterous man and uncovered his cloak, or even widened her bed and made an agreement, composing instruments of deception with adulterers. But he says this to show that not only in the fields and houses did they worship idols, but also in the Temple they placed the image of Baal, which Ezekiel also says he saw when the wall was pierced. 'You loved their bed,' he says, 'with an open hand' (Ezek. VIII), so that you would not be ashamed of your sin and desire to hide the shame of your fornication, but rather sin freely. And you adorned yourself with royal ointment and multiplied your idols. And the meaning is this: You sought various ornaments, so that you could attract adulterers both by sight and by smell. But what is said, 'You have adorned yourself with ointment for a king,' is understood in two ways: either for the king God, when you adorn yourself with those things which he has given you and prostitute yourself to idols; or certainly for the idol king of the Ammonites, who is called Moloch, and in our language, 'king sounds': which we read as Melchom in other places according to the LXX (Zephaniah 1). And you sent your ambassadors far away, so that you would have an inclination for fornicating not only with the idols of nearby nations but also with those of distant nations. But the Babylonians and Egyptians have their own meaning. And you have been humbled, it says, even to the underworld. Not the humility that is praiseworthy, but the one in which Ammon humbled his own sister Thamar (2 Kings 13). And truly great is this humility, or rather a descent even to the underworld, from the light and pinnacle of chastity into the darkness of a brothel, or rather a plunge into the abyss of lust. To whom it is said in another place: You will be led even to the underworld. According to the Septuagint, in those things which differ, this seems to me to be the meaning: You thought, O harlot, that if you had left me and joined yourself to your lovers, you would have found something more. To whom also God speaks through Ezekiel: Every harlot receives wages; but you, on the other hand, have given wages, and that act has become perverse for you (Ezek. 16:33). For not only did you receive nothing from your lovers, but you also lost what you had received from your husband. And what follows: You have enlarged your bed, and made a covenant with them; you love their bed where you see their blind spies and mute dogs dreaming vain dreams while they sleep. And you have multiplied your prostitution, so that you have not only slept with one, but frequently and with many. Because of this, you have caused many to withdraw from you: angels who were in your protection, or holy men who have departed from the company of such a harlot. Indeed, we can say the same about heretics who, having abandoned God, follow their own errors and believe they have something more when they embrace falsehood. They have lost the truth and multiplied their fornication, not in one doctrine, but in many. They have even caused the leaders of the Churches, who were like angels, to depart from themselves. Not satisfied with the fornication in their own vicinity, they send messengers beyond their own borders to spread the doctrines and errors of barbarian nations, in order to deceive those who listen with the novelty of their words.

Second, as to eagerness to please, because they adorned themselves: and you have adorned yourself for the king with ointment, and have multiplied your perfumes, that is, using my incense for worshipping them: I have perfumed your bed with incense (Prov 7:17). Third, as to eagerness to invite: you have sent your messengers far off, for they brought in various idols even from far off lands, and thus you were debased even to hell, that is, to the depths of sin: she doted upon them (Ezek 23:16).

After mentioning the removal of righteous persons as an awful symptom of the approach of Divine judgments, Isa 57:1, Isa 57:2, the prophet goes on to charge the nation in general with idolatry, and with courting the unprofitable alliance of idolatrous kings, Isa 57:3-12. In opposition to such vain confidence, the prophet enjoins trust in God, with whom the penitent and humble are sure to find acceptance, and from whom they should obtain temporal and spiritual deliverances, Isa 57:13-19. Awful condition of the wicked and finally impenitent, Isa 57:20, Isa 57:21. I shall give Bishop Lowth's translation of the two first verses, and give the substance of his criticisms with additional evidence. Isa 57:1. The righteous man perisheth, and no one considereth;And pious men are taken away, and no one understandeth,That the righteous man is taken away because of the evil. Isa 57:2. He shall go in peace: he shall rest in his bed;Even the perfect man: he that walketh in the straight path.

And thou wentest to the king with ointment "And thou hast visited the king with a present of oil" - That is, the king of Assyria, or Egypt. Hosea, chap, Hos 12:1, reproaches the Israelites for the same practice: - "They make a covenant with Assyria, And oil is carried to Egypt." It is well known, that in all parts of the east, whoever visits a great person must carry him a present. "It is counted uncivil," says Maundreg, p. 26, "to visit in this country without an offering in hand. All great men expect it as a tribute due to their character and authority; and look upon themselves as affronted, and indeed defrauded, when the compliment is omitted." Hence שור shur, to visit a person, is equivalent to making him a present; and תשורה teshurah signifies a present made on such occasions; as our translators have rightly rendered it, Sa1 9:7; on which Jarchi says Menachem exponit תשורה teshurah, quod significat oblationem sive manus, ut aliquis aspiciat faciem regis, aut alicuius magnatis. "Menachem expounds תשורה teshurah of an offering or gift which is presented in order to be admitted into the presence of the king or some great man."

THE PEACEFUL DEATH OF THE RIGHTEOUS FEW: THE UNGODLINESS OF THE MANY: A BELIEVING REMNANT SHALL SURVIVE THE GENERAL JUDGMENTS OF THE NATION, AND BE RESTORED BY HIM WHO CREATES PEACE. (Isa. 57:1-21) no man layeth it to heart--as a public calamity. merciful men--rather, godly men; the subjects of mercy. none considering--namely, what was the design of Providence in removing the godly. from the evil--Hebrew, from the face of the evil, that is, both from the moral evil on every side (Isa 56:10-12), and from the evils about to come in punishment of the national sins, foreign invasions, &c. (Isa 56:9; Isa 57:13). So Ahijah's death is represented as a blessing conferred on him by God for his piety (Kg1 14:10-13; see also Kg2 22:20).

the king--the idol which they came to worship, perfumed with oil, like harlots (Jer 4:30; Eze 23:16, Eze 23:40). So "king" means idol (Amo 5:26; Zep 1:5); (malcham meaning "king") [ROSENMULLER]. Rather, the king of Assyria or Egypt, and other foreign princes, on whom Israel relied, instead of on God; the "ointment" will thus refer to the presents (Hos 12:1), and perhaps the compliances with foreigners idolatries, whereby Israel sought to gain their favor [LOWTH] (Isa 30:6; Eze 16:33; Eze 23:16; Hos 7:11). send . . . messengers far off--not merely to neighboring nations, but to those "far off," in search of new idols, or else alliances. even unto hell--the lowest possible degradation.

Whilst watchmen and shepherds, prophets and rulers, without troubling themselves about the flock which they have to watch and feed, are thus indulging their own selfish desires, and living in debauchery, the righteous man is saved by early death from the judgment, which cannot fail to come with such corruption as this. "The righteous perisheth, and no man taketh it to heart; and pious men are swept away, without any one considering that the righteous is swept away from misfortune. He entereth into peace: they rest upon their beds, whoever has walked straight before him." With "the righteous" the prophet introduces, in glaring contrast to this luxurious living on the part of the leading men of the nation, the standing figure used to denote the fate of its best men. With this prevailing demoralization and worldliness, the righteous succumbs to the violence of both external and internal sufferings. אבד, he dies before his time (Ecc 7:15); from the midst of the men of his generation he is carried away from this world (Psa 12:2; Mic 7:2), and no one lays it to heart, viz., the divine accusation and threat involved in this early death. Men of piety (chesed, the love of God and man) are swept away, without there being any one to understand or consider that (kı̄ unfolds the object to be considered and laid to heart, viz., what is involved in this carrying away when regarded as a providential event) the righteous is swept away "from the evil," i.e., that he may be saved from the approaching punishment (compare Kg2 22:20). For the prevailing corruption calls for punishment from God; and what is first of all to be expected is severe judgment, through which the coming salvation will force its way. In Isa 57:2 it is intimated that the righteous man and the pious do not lose the blessings of this salvation because they lose this life: for whereas, according to the prophet's watchword, there is no peace to the wicked, it is true, on the other hand, of the departing righteous man, that "he enters into peace" (shâlōm, acc. loci s. status; Ges. 118, 1); "they rest upon their beds," viz., the bottom of the grave, which has become their mishkâb (Job 17:13; Job 21:26), "however has walked in that which lay straight before him," i.e., the one straight plain path which he had set before him (נכחו acc. obj. as in Isa 33:15; Isa 50:10, Ewald, 172, b, from נכח, that which lies straight before a person; whereas נכח with נכח נכחו, signifying probably fixedness, steadiness of look, related to Arab. nkḥ, to pierce, נכה, percutere, is used as a preposition: compare Pro 4:25, לנכח, straight or exactly before him). The grave, when compared with the restlessness of this life, is therefore "peace." He who has died in faith rests in God, to whom he has committed himself and entrusted his future. We have here the glimmering light of the New Testament consolation, that the death of the righteous is better than life in this world, because it is the entrance into peace.

In the closest reciprocal connection with this God-forgetting, adulterous craving for the favour of heathen gods, stood their coquetting with the heathen power of the world. "And thou wentest to the king with oil, and didst measure copiously thy spices, and didst send thy messengers to a great distance, and didst deeply abase thyself, even to Hades. Thou didst become weary of the greatness of thy way; yet thou saidst not, It is unattainable: thou obtainedst the revival of thy strength: therefore thou wast not pained." The first thing to be noticed here, is one that has been overlooked by nearly all the modern commentators, viz., that we have here a historical retrospect before us. And secondly, a single glance at Isa 57:11 is sufficient to show that the words refer to a servile coquetry from the fear of man, and therefore to a wicked craving for the favour of man; so that "the king," is not Baal, or any heathen god whatever (according to Isa 8:21 and Zep 1:5), but the Asiatic ruler of the world. Ahaz sent messengers, as we read in Kg2 16:7., to Tiglath-pileser, the king of Assyria, to say to Him, "I am thy servant and thy son." And Ahaz took the silver and gold that were in the house of Jehovah, and in the treasures of the palace, and sent a bribe to the king of Assyria. And again, at Kg2 16:10., Ahaz went to Damascus to meet the king of Assyria, and there he saw an altar, and sent a model of it to Jerusalem, and had one like it put in the place of the altar of burnt-offering. Such acts as these are here described in the figure of Israel travelling with oil to the king, and taking a quantity of choice spices with it to gain his favour, and also sending messengers, and not only bowing itself to the earth, but even stooping to Hades, that is to say, standing as it were on its head in its excessive servility, for the purpose of obtaining allies. It seems most natural to take בּשׁמן as equivalent to בשמן משׁוּחה: thou wentest in oil (dripping with pomade), and didst apply to thyself many spices; but Beth after verbs of going signifies to go with anything, to take it with one and bring it, so that the oil and spices are thought of here as presents, which she took with her as sensual stimulants, with a view to the amorous pleasures she was seeking (Eze 23:41, cf., Hos 12:2). השׁפּיל signifies to go deep down in Jer 13:18; the meaning here is, to bow very low, or to degrade one's self. By "the greatness or breadth of the way" (a similar expression to that in Jos 9:13), all the great sacrifices are intended which it cost her to purchase the favour of the heathen ruler. Although they were a great trouble to her, yet she did not say נואש, "it is hopeless;" the niphal of יאשׁ signifies in Sa1 27:1, to betake one's self to a thing with despair of its success. The participle in Job 6:26 means a despairing person; it also occurs in a neuter sense in Jer 2:26; Jer 18:12, viz., given up, i.e., absolutely in vain. She did not give up hope, although the offerings nearly exhausted her strength; on the contrary, she gained יד חיּת, "life of her arm," i.e., (according to the use of חיה in the sense of reviving, and החיה, to bring to life again) new life in her arm, in other words, "the renewing of her strength" (recentem vigorem virium suarum). Thus, without noticing the sighs and groans forced from her by the excessive toil and fatigue, but stirring herself up again and again, she pursued the plan of strengthening her alliances with the heathen. Ezekiel's picture of Aholah and Aholibah is like a commentary on Isa 57:3-10 (see Ezek 23).