The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 39

appeal; some thread of willingness by which we can draw him; eomo plank by whichi through a thousand perils, he m:1.y yet reach the shore. "The blackest night that veils the sky Of beauty hath !t share, The darkes't soul bath signs t.o tell 'l'hat God &till lingers there." o.. Ven1. 10-----:20.-The prophetic strain. Isaiah had gone only a very little wa.y in hie testimony when he broke into the true prophetic strain. The prophets were God's witnesses against the mere shows and semblances of piety, and for the rco.lity of godliness nnd Yirtue; they lived to expose the false and to expound the true, to pierce with keen- edged sword that which was hollow and rotten, and to commend with ~lowing zeal that which wa.s sound and good. Here we have a deliverance which evidently came hot from a heart that burned with fiery indignation. l. THE UTl'ER INSUFFICIENCY OF MERE RITUAL TO COMMAND THE DIVINE FAVOUR. "To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me?" etc. (vers. 11-43). These various offerings were all according to the commandment, correct, scriptural; but they were unacceptable; they were" vain oblations," all of them. They were ineffectual, because they came from hands that were unclean, from hearts that were unholy; It is a significant and solemn fact that men may be engaged in doing those very things, using those very words which God has plainly prescribed, and yet they may be utterly failing to win bis Divine favour. The services of the simctuary, the" eat.ing of that bread and drinking of that cup," the ministries of the pulpit and the study,-all these ·may. be unimpeachably correct, but yet wholly unacceptable. If the heart be not right, if th11 life be not pure, they are unacceptable. JI. lTs POSSIBLE oorous?IESS IN THE SIGHT OF Gon. Those who ar~ rendering an abundance of formal devotion are actually denominated by a term which indicates the last extremity of wrong-doing: "Ye rulers of Sodom,"." ye people of Gomorrah; '1 they are addressed as if they were responsible citizens of those infamous cities. Jehovah not only does "not delight in the blood of bullocks" (ver.11), and not only does not require this kind of service (ver. 12); not only does he call the oblations" vain," but he.declares incem1e to be an abomination to him (ver. 13).. "Your new moons· . . . my soul hateth : they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them" (ver. 14). 'l'he thought is positively terrible that the very things we are doing with a; view to go.in God's pleasure may be bringing down upon us bis awful anger; that the very means we are taking to avert his wrath may be only adding to its weight. It is certain that the offerings of the hypocrite are of this kind. This prophetic strain is not only applicable to the specialities of the Hebrew ritual; it includes all the ordinary approaches of the human soul to the Divine Father; it embraces that which we call "prayer" (see ver. 15). .And we have to face the fact that the most devout utterances of our lips, in ihe most approved or even in biblical phraseology, may be worse than worthless m the sight of God. III. 'l'HE PRIMARY DUTY OF REPENTANCE. "Wash you, make you clean; put away the eYil of your doings," etc. (vers. 16, 17). When men are loving and practising unrighteousness. the first thing they have to do is to "put it away," both from their minds and from their lives. The drunkard must first dash down his cup, the untruthful man must at once give up his falsehoods, the licentious man his impurities, the dishonest man his rogueries ; it is a vain and even guilty thing for a man to kneel in prayer or to sit down at the Lord's table when be if, deliberately intending to go on in his sin: that is nothing less tban mockery; it is defiance assuming the attitude of devotion. "Let the wicked forsake his way," etc. (eh. Iv. 7). • IY. 'l'HE Rl':AOlNESS OF Goo TO PARDON THE PENITENT. (Ver. 18.) V. THE ALTERNATIVE WHfCH Gou PJ,ACES DEFORE ALL HIS CHILDREN-OBEY AND PROSPEn, 011 REl'lJ~E AND suF~'ER. (Vers. 19, 20.) They who now return unto the _Lord from the state of sin in which they are found-from crime, from vice, from ungodhneRs, from indecisi,m-and who attach themselves to the service of Jesus Christ-, shnll "cat the gorJd of the land ; " to them shall be granted the sunshine of God's favour, the blc:sscdness of Christ's friendship and service, the hope of a heavenly heritage, But  THE BOOK OF THE PROPHE'f ISAIAH. 23