อิสยาห์ 64:9 วิจารณ์

This chapter goes on with that pathetic pleading prayer which the church offered up to God in the latter part of the foregoing chapter. They had argued from their covenant-relation to God and his interest and concern in them; now here, I. They pray that God would appear in some remarkable and surprising manner for them against his and their enemies (Isa 64:1, Isa 64:2). II. They plead what God had formerly done, and was always ready to do, for his people (Isa 64:3-5). III. They confess themselves to be sinful and unworthy of God's favour, and that they had deserved the judgments they were now under (Isa 64:6, Isa 64:7). IV. They refer themselves to the mercy of God as a Father, and submit themselves to his sovereignty (Isa 64:8). V. They represent the very deplorable condition they were in, and earnestly pray for the pardon of sin and the turning away of God's anger (Isa 64:9-12). And this was not only intended for the use of the captive Jews, but may serve for direction to the church in other times of distress, what to ask of God and how to plead with him. Are God's people at any time in affliction, in great affliction? Let them pray, let them thus pray.

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 64 The prayer of the church is continued in this chapter; in which she prays for some visible display of the power and presence of God, as in times past, Isa 64:1, and the rather, since unheard of and unseen things were prepared by the Lord for his people; and it was his usual way to meet those that were truly religious, Isa 64:4, and she acknowledges her sins and transgressions; the imperfections of her own righteousness, and remissness in duty, Isa 64:5, pleads relation to God, and implores his mercy, Isa 64:8, represents the desolate condition of Judea, Zion, Jerusalem, and the temple, and entreats divine commiseration, Isa 64:10.

Be not wroth very sore, O Lord,.... They knew not how to deprecate the displeasure of God entirely; having sinned so greatly against him, they were sensible they deserved his wrath; but entreat it might not be hot and very vehement, and carried to the highest pitch, which would be intolerable: neither remember iniquity for ever; to afflict and punish for it, but forgive it, for not to remember sin is to forgive it; and not inflict the deserved punishment of it, but take off and remove the effects of divine displeasure, which as yet continued, and had a long time, as this petition suggests; and therefore suits better with the present long captivity of the Jews than their seventy years' captivity in Babylon. Behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people; look upon all our troubles and distresses, and upon us under them, with an eye of pity and compassion; and consider that we are thy people, not only by creation, but by covenant and profession; even everyone of us; or we are all the people thou hast, the Jews looking upon themselves to be the special and peculiar people of God, and the Gentiles as having no claim to such a relation; this is the pure spirit of Judaism. The Targum is, "lo, it is manifest before thee that we are all of us thy people.''

(Verse 8 and following) And now, Lord, you are our father, and we are clay; you are our potter, and all our works are the work of your hands. Do not be exceedingly angry, Lord, and do not remember our iniquity any longer. Look, your people are all of us. The city of your holy ones has become a desert; Zion has become a desert, Jerusalem is desolate. Our house of sanctification and glory, where our fathers praised you, has become a burning ruin, and all our desirable things have turned to ruins. Will you restrain yourself from punishing us, Lord, and be silent? Will you afflict us severely? - LXX: And now, Lord, you are our father; we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand. Do not be exceedingly angry with us, Lord, and do not remember our sins forever. Look now, for we are all your people. Your holy city has become a wilderness, Zion has become a desolation, Jerusalem a curse. Our holy and glorious temple, where our ancestors praised you, has been burned with fire, and all that we treasured lies in ruins. And above all these things you have endured, O Lord. And you have remained silent and humbled us greatly. If we consider our own merits, we must despair. But if we consider your mercy, you who chastise every son whom you receive, we dare to pour forth prayers (Hebrews 12). For you are our father, who deemed to say: My firstborn son is Israel (Ezekiel 4:22). And although we are but clay and the work of your hands, and you are our creator; and not even a potter's vessel can answer why it was made thus or so: yet knowing that we are your children, we dare to say: Do not be angry, Lord, that is sufficient. We do not forbid anger, nor do we seek your patience beyond measure, through which we have stored up anger for ourselves on the day of wrath. But we beseech you, do not be excessively angry with us, do not remember the iniquity of our retaliation and vengeance at the time of our vengeance: but rather look upon your people, who were once called your people. And have mercy on the city of your sanctuary, in which your name has been invoked. This city is called Zion and Jerusalem, which the rushing of the river gladdens; and in which there was once a gazebo of virtues and contemplation of peace (Ps. 43). Moreover, your house, that is, the sanctuary of our sanctification and glory, in which our fathers praised you, has fallen into ruins and ashes, and has been destroyed by a raging fire, so that no victims are offered in it, no Passover is celebrated, nothing is done of the ceremonies that you commanded to be done, but all our desires have been turned into ruins. Therefore, since these things are so, O Lord, will you not restrain your mercy over them, and be silent to the blaspheming adversaries, and afflict and humble us, not in the usual manner, but excessively? All these things the Jews believe to have been accomplished in the times of the Assyrians and Babylonians. But according to what follows from the perspective of the Savior's person, I appeared to those who did not inquire. I was found by those who did not seek me (Isaiah 65:1); we refer everything to the time of Roman victory, which Josephus, the Jewish historian, explains in seven volumes, under the title of the Jewish Captivity, that is, περὶ ἁλώσεως. And it is superfluous to discuss these things in words, which are evident to the eyes, as all their desirable things have been turned into ruins, and the Temple, celebrated throughout the whole world, has become a dung heap in the new city, which was called Elia by its founder; and it has become a dwelling place for owls: and in vain they say every day in their synagogues: Over all these things, O Lord, you will sustain and afflict us, and you will greatly humble us. We can refer these things to the Church, or to the soul of a holy man, which can rightly be called a mirror and vision of peace, when the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit dwell in it. But if, by our fault or the fault of the people, such a Zion is abandoned by the Lord, immediately the fire of ignited devilish arrows will become evident: for all who commit adultery are like a burning oven in their hearts. And with the coldness of chastity expelled, the flame of lust will rage in the temple of God, so that whatever was glorious and renowned in us before will fall, be destroyed, and perish. And let that which is said in the Psalms be fulfilled: They have burned your sanctuary with fire, they have profaned the tabernacle of your name on earth. Which only He can extinguish, from whose belly flow the rivers of living water.

They entreat God insistently concerning his removal from friendship with them. Since they had come to this situation through their many sins, they wove their prayers with great skill. For since they are unable to mollify the one who could save them with their own works and blameless lives, they now take another route. They ask him as the creator of his own work to be reasonable and sparing with those who were brought into being and life by him.… “We are not unaware that we have offended you; we confess that we showed ourselves to deserve judgment and acted savagely towards the Son.”

The Lord gives to each person according to his deeds; against those who sin greatly and often he is very angry indeed, but he is angry in a mild way against those who do wrong in a few things and only for a short time. He has also said concerning the instruments of his wrath that are his punishments, “I was not all that angry, but they insisted on doing evil.” And they who charge themselves with transgressions make a loud cry to the merciful and compassionate Lord, “Do not be exceedingly angry with us.” For as he “judges with justice, strength and magnanimity, without extending his wrath from day to day,” he moderates his anger against those he judges, not counting up all their faults.

And he offers the petition: "be not angry enough," that is, exceedingly, or according to what our merits demand: "remember not our former iniquities: let your mercies speedily prevent us" (Ps 79:8). Second, he sets out their misery: "behold, Lord, see we are all."

The whole of this chapter, which is very pathetic and tender, may be considered as a formulary of prayer and humiliation intended for the Jews in order to their conversion, Isa 64:1-12.

Neither remember iniquity - For לעד תזכר laad tizcor, one of my MSS. has לעד תקצף laad tiktsoph, "be not angry," as in the preceding clause. This has been partially obliterated, and תזכר tizcor, written in the margin by a later hand: but this MS. abounds with words of this kind, all altered by later hands.

TRANSITION FROM COMPLAINT TO PRAYER. (Isa 64:1-12) rend . . . heavens--bursting forth to execute vengeance, suddenly descending on Thy people's foe (Psa 18:9; Psa 144:5; Hab 3:5-6). flow down-- (Jdg 5:5; Mic 1:4).

(Psa 74:1-2). we are . . . thy people-- (Jer 14:9, Jer 14:21).

The similes which follow cannot be attached to this nâzōllū, however we may explain it. Yet Isa 64:1 (2) does not form a new and independent sentence; but we must in thought repeat the word upon which the principal emphasis rests in Isa 63:19 (Isa 64:1). "(Wouldst come down) as fire kindles brushwood, fire causes water to boil; to make known Thy name to Thine adversaries, that the heathen may tremble before Thy face! When Thou doest terrible things which we hoped not for; wouldst come down, (and) mountains shake before Thy countenance!" The older expositors gave themselves a great deal of trouble in the attempt to trace hămâsı̄m to mâsas, to melt. But since Louis de Dieu and Albert Schultens have followed Saadia and Abulwlid in citing the Arabic hms, to crack, to mutter, to mumble, etc., and hšm, to break in pieces, confringere, from which comes hashim, broken, dry wood, it is generally admitted that hămâsim is from hemes (lit. crackling, rattling, Arab. hams), and signifies "dry twigs," arida sarmenta. The second simile might be rendered, "as water bubbles up in the fire;" and in that case mayim would be treated as a feminine (according to the rule in Ges. 146, 3), in support of which Job 14:19 may be adduced as an unquestionable example (although in other cases it is masculine), and אשׁ = בּאשׁ would be used in a local sense, like lehâbhâh, into flames, in Isa 5:24. But it is much more natural to take אשׁ, which is just as often a feminine as מים is a masculine, as the subject of תּבעה, and to give to the verb בּעה, which is originally intransitive, judging from the Arabic bgâ, to swell, the Chald. בּוּע, to spring up (compare אבעבּעות, blisters, pustules), the Syr. בּגא, to bubble up, etc., the transitive meaning to cause to boil or bubble up, rather than the intransitive to boil (comp. Isa 30:13, נבעה, swollen = bent forwards, as it were protumidus). Jehovah is to come down with the same irresistible force which fire exerts upon brushwood or water, when it sets the former in flames and makes the latter boil; in order that by such a display of might He may make His name known (viz., the name thus judicially revealing itself, hence "in fire," Isa 30:27; Isa 66:15) to His adversaries, and that nations (viz., those that are idolaters) may tremble before Him (מפּניך: cf., Psa 68:2-3). The infinitive clause denoting the purpose, like that indicating the comparison, passes into the finite (cf., Isa 10:2; Isa 13:9; Isa 14:25). Modern commentators for the most part now regard the optative lū' (O that) as extending to Isa 64:2 also; and, in fact, although this continued influence of lū' appears to overstep the bounds of the possible, we are forced to resort to this extremity. Isa 64:2 cannot contain a historical retrospect: the word "formerly" would be introduced if it did, and the order of the words would be a different one. Again, we cannot assume that נזלּוּ הרים מפּניך ירדתּ contains an expression of confidence, or that the prefects indicate certainty. Neither the context, the foregoing נוראות בּעשׂותך נו (why not עשׂה?), nor the parenthetical assertion נקוּה לא, permits of this. On the other hand, וגו בעשׂותך connects itself very appropriately with the purposes indicated in Isa 64:1 (2.): "may tremble when Thou doest terrible things, which we, i.e., such as we, do not look for," i.e., which surpass our expectations. And now nothing remains but to recognise the resumption of Isa 63:19 (Isa 64:1) in the clause "The mountains shake at Thy presence," in which case Isaiah 63:19b-64:2 (Isa 64:1-3) forms a grand period rounded off palindromically after Isaiah's peculiar style.

The re-erection of the ruins of the promised land requires the zeal of every one, and this state of ruin must not continue. It calls out the love and faithfulness of Jehovah. "The cities of Thy holiness have become a pasture-ground; Zion has become a pasture-ground, Jerusalem a desert. The house of our holiness and of our adorning, where our fathers praised Thee, is given up to the fire, and everything that was our delight given up to devastation. Wilt Thou restrain Thyself in spite of this, O Jehovah, be silent, and leave us to suffer the utmost?" Jerusalem by itself could not possibly be called "cities" (‛ârē), say with reference to the upper and lower cities (Vitringa). It is merely mentioned by name as the most prominent of the many cities which were all "holy cities," inasmuch as the whole of Canaan was the land of Jehovah (Isa 14:25), and His holy territory (Psa 78:54). The word midbâr (pasture-land, heath, different from tsiyyâh, the pastureless desert, Isa 35:1) is repeated, for the purpose of showing that the same fate had fallen upon Zion-Jerusalem as upon the rest of the cities of the land. The climax of the terrible calamity was the fact, that the temple had also fallen a prey to the burning of the fire (compare for the fact, Jer 52:13). The people call it "house of our holiness and of our glory." Jehovah's qōdesh and tiph'ereth have, as it were, transplanted heaven to earth in the temple (compare Isa 63:15 with Isa 60:7); and this earthly dwelling-place of God is Israel's possession, and therefore Israel's qōdesh and tiph'ereth. The relative clause describes what sublime historical reminiscences are attached to the temple: אשׁר is equivalent to שׁם אשׁר, as in Gen 39:20; Num 20:13 (compare Psa 84:4), Deu 8:15, etc. הללּך has chateph-pathach, into which, as a rule, the vocal sheva under the first of two similar letters is changed. Machămaddēnū (our delights) may possibly include favourite places, ornamental buildings, and pleasure grounds; but the parallel leads us rather to think primarily of things associated with the worship of God, in which the people found a holy delight. כל, contrary to the usual custom, is here followed by the singular of the predicate, as in Pro 16:2; Eze 31:15 (cf., Gen 9:29). Will Jehovah still put restraint upon Himself, and cause His merciful love to keep silence, על־זאת, with such a state of things as this, or notwithstanding this state of things (Job 10:7)? On התאפּק, see Isa 63:15; Isa 42:14. The suffering would indeed increase עד־מאד (to the utmost), if it caused the destruction of Israel, or should not be followed at last by Israel's restoration. Jehovah's compassion cannot any longer thus forcibly restrain itself; it must break forth, like Joseph's tears in the recognition scene (Gen 45:1).