5 Thou meetest him that rejoiceth to do righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: (behold, thou wast wroth, and we have sinned:) in those is perpetuity, and we shall be saved.
For we are consumed by thine anger, and by thy fury are we troubled. Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, our secret [sins] in the light of thy countenance. For all our days pass away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a [passing] thought.
I have indeed heard Ephraim bemoaning himself [thus]: Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised as a bullock not trained: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art Jehovah my God. Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after I knew myself, I smote upon [my] thigh. I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, for I bear the reproach of my youth. Is Ephraim a dear son unto me? is he a child of delights? For whilst I have been speaking against him, I do constantly remember him still. Therefore my bowels are troubled for him: I will certainly have mercy upon him, saith Jehovah.
Brethren, *I* do not count to have got possession myself; but one thing -- forgetting the things behind, and stretching out to the things before, I pursue, [looking] towards [the] goal, for the prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus. As many therefore as [are] perfect, let us be thus minded; and if ye are any otherwise minded, this also God shall reveal to you.
pious, and fearing God with all his house, [both] giving much alms to the people, and supplicating God continually, -- saw plainly in a vision, about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming unto him, and saying to him, Cornelius. But he, having fixed his eyes upon him, and become full of fear, said, What is it, Lord? And he said to him, Thy prayers and thine alms have gone up for a memorial before God.
Thus saith Jehovah: Keep ye judgment and do righteousness; for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that holdeth fast to it; that keepeth the sabbath from profaning it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil. And let not the son of the alien, that hath joined himself to Jehovah, speak saying, Jehovah hath entirely separated me from his people; neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree; for thus saith Jehovah: Unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and hold fast to my covenant, even unto them will I give in my house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. Also the sons of the alien, that join themselves to Jehovah, to minister unto him and to love the name of Jehovah, to be his servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from profaning it, and holdeth fast to my covenant; even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar: for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all the peoples.
Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O Jehovah, have we waited for thee; the desire of [our] soul is to thy name, and to thy memorial. With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.
It shall be a continual burnt-offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before Jehovah, where I will meet with you, to speak there with thee. And there will I meet with the children of Israel; and it shall be hallowed by my glory.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Isaiah 64
Commentary on Isaiah 64 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 64
Isa 64:1-12. Transition from Complaint to Prayer.
1. rend … heavens—bursting forth to execute vengeance, suddenly descending on Thy people's foe (Ps 18:9; 144:5; Hab 3:5, 6).
flow down—(Jud 5:5; Mic 1:4).
2. Oh, that Thy wrath would consume Thy foes as the fire. Rather, "as the fire burneth the dry brushwood" [Gesenius].
3. When—Supply from Isa 64:2, "As when."
terrible things—(Ps 65:5).
we looked not for—far exceeding the expectation of any of our nation; unparalleled before (Ex 34:10; Ps 68:8).
camest down—on Mount Sinai.
mountains flowed—Repeated from Isa 64:1; they pray God to do the very same things for Israel now as in former ages. Gesenius, instead of "flowed" here, and "flow" in Isa 64:1, translates from a different Hebrew root, "quake … quaked"; but "fire" melts and causes to flow, rather than to quake (Isa 64:2).
4. perceived by the ear—Paul (1Co 2:9) has for this, "nor have entered into the heart of man"; the virtual sense, sanctioned by his inspired authority; men might hear with the outward ear, but they could only by the Spirit "perceive" with the "heart" the spiritual significancy of God's acts, both those in relation to Israel, primarily referred to here, and those relating to the Gospel secondarily, which Paul refers to.
O God … what he … prepared—rather, "nor hath eye seen a god beside thee who doeth such things." They refer to God's past marvellous acts in behalf of Israel as a plea for His now interposing for His people; but the Spirit, as Paul by inspiration shows, contemplated further God's revelation in the Gospel, which abounds in marvellous paradoxes never before heard of by carnal ear, not to be understood by mere human sagacity, and when foretold by the prophets not fully perceived or credited; and even after the manifestation of Christ not to be understood save through the inward teaching of the Holy Ghost. These are partly past and present, and partly future; therefore Paul substitutes "prepared" for "doeth," though his context shows he includes all three. For "waiteth" he has "love Him"; godly waiting on Him must flow from love, and not mere fear.
5. meetest—that is, Thou makest peace, or enterest into covenant with him (see on Isa 47:3).
rejoiceth and worketh—that is, who with joyful willingness worketh [Gesenius] (Ac 10:35; Joh 7:17).
those—Thou meetest "those," in apposition to "him" who represents a class whose characteristics "those that," &c., more fully describes.
remember thee in thy ways—(Isa 26:8).
sinned—literally, "tripped," carrying on the figure in "ways."
in those is continuance—a plea to deprecate the continuance of God's wrath; it is not in Thy wrath that there is continuance (Isa 54:7, 8; Ps 30:5; 103:9), but in Thy ways ("those"), namely, of covenant mercy to Thy people (Mic 7:18-20; Mal 3:6); on the strength of the everlasting continuance of His covenant they infer by faith, "we shall be saved." God "remembered" for them His covenant (Ps 106:45), though they often "remembered not" Him (Ps 78:42). Castellio translates, "we have sinned for long in them ('thy ways'), and could we then be saved?" But they hardly would use such a plea when their very object was to be saved.
6. unclean thing—legally unclean, as a leper. True of Israel, everywhere now cut off by unbelief and by God's judgments from the congregation of the saints.
righteousness—plural, "uncleanness" extended to every particular act of theirs, even to their prayers and praises. True of the best doings of the unregenerate (Php 3:6-8; Tit 1:15; Heb 11:6).
filthy rags—literally, a "menstruous rag" (Le 15:33; 20:18; La 1:17).
fade … leaf—(Ps 90:5, 6).
7. stirreth—rouseth himself from spiritual drowsiness.
take hold—(Isa 27:5).
8. father—(Isa 63:16).
clay … potter—(Isa 29:16; 45:9). Unable to mould themselves aright, they beg the sovereign will of God to mould them unto salvation, even as He made them at the first, and is their "Father."
9. (Ps 74:1, 2).
we are … thy people—(Jer 14:9, 21).
10. holy cities—No city but Jerusalem is called "the holy city" (Isa 48:2; 52:1); the plural, therefore, refers to the upper and the lower parts of the same city Jerusalem [Vitringa]; or all Judea was holy to God, so its cities were deemed "holy" [Maurer]. But the parallelism favors Vitringa. Zion and Jerusalem (the one city) answering to "holy cities."
11. house—the temple.
beautiful—includes the idea of glorious (Mr 13:1; Ac 3:2).
burned—(Ps 74:7; La 2:7; 2Ch 36:19). Its destruction under Nebuchadnezzar prefigured that under Titus.
pleasant things—Hebrew, "objects of desire"; our homes, our city, and all its dear associations.
12. for these things—Wilt Thou, notwithstanding these calamities of Thy people, still refuse Thy aid (Isa 42:14)?