The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 68

of hie very essence; and tbue "provoking themselves women, aud hie women meo; •• the eyes of his glory" is simply provol..-ing and see also Virg., • lEueid •- him tc look on them with anger. Yer. 9.-The show of their oountenanoJ " 0 vere P\rygim, neque enim Phrygea." doth witness against them. Thie is not The rulers wel'G wom1mly, i.e. weak, wnvering, in itself a sin, but it is a sign of frequent timid, impulsive, passionate, and 11ro there- 11nd hnbitual sin. Vice, long indulged in, fore called actual " women." Thero is no stamps its mark upon the oountenan<'.e. allusion to femnle sovereigns. They whioh gi11ing men what is called "a bad ex• lead thee oaue thee to err ; or, they wllich preesion "-a guilty and hardened look. It direct thee lead thee astray. Professing to does not require a skilled physiognomist point out the right path, they led men to detect Rt a glance the habitual orimiual away from it. Destroy the way j literally, or sensualist. They deolare their sin as swallow u up, or obliterate it. Sodom. Not only does their countenance Ver. 13.-The Lord atandeth up to plead. betray them, but, like the Sodomites (Gen. The great sin of the time was oppression of xix. 5, 9), they boldly and impudently the poor by the rich, and especially by the declare their wicked purposes beforehand, rulers (eh. i. 15, 17, 21). In noticing this, and mRke no attempt at concealment. the prophet, to give more weight to his Hypocrisy hns been said to be the homage denunciation, introduces Jehovah .as stand- that r-ice pays to virtue. Where there is ing up, and coming forward on the popular none, where vice has ceased to shroud or side, to plead the people's cause, and re- veil itself, a very advanced stage of wicked- monstrate with their oppressors. There is ness has been reached. They have rewarded great foroe in this sudden entrance on the evil unto themselves. They have" received scene of Jehovah himself, as Pleader and in the11U1elou the recompense of their error Judge. And ... judge the people; rather, the which was meet" (Rom. i. 27). Their sine peoples. Primarily, Israel is Gocl's care; have at once marred their countenance and but be does not stop at this point. All the injured their moral nature. nations of the earth are also under -his Ver. 10.-Say ye to the righteou. The protection. mention of the fact that the men of J ern- Ver, 14.-The anoiente . . . the prinoea. ealem have permanently injured their morel These were the chief oppressors. They de- natures by sin, and thus " rewarded evil to livered the judgmenta, and it was by them themselves," leads the prophet to declare at that justice we.a perverted. Jehovah there- this point, parenthetically, the general law, fore enters specially into judgment with which extends alike to the evil and the them. For ye have eaten up ; rather, So good-that men recefre in themselves the ye have eaten up. Jehovah is supposed to recompense of their deeds. The righteous addreaa the unjust judges, He reproaches raise their moral nature, become better, and, them with hav;!ng." ea~en up," ?r rather in becoming better, become happier. "It •• scorched up, his vmeyard, i.e. Israel is well with them, for of the fruit of their (comp. eh. v. 1-7), and taxea them with doings they eat." The wicked deprave having atill their ill-gotten gains in their and corrupt themselves, lower their moral houses. " So ye," he says, " have thus acted nature, become worse than they were, and. -ye whose duty it was to have acted so in becoming worse, become more miserable. difl'erently." " Woe an to them I with them it is ill ; for Ver. 15.-What mean ye 1 i.e." What has the achievement of their hands is given come over you?" or "What strange per- them." versity has possessed you?" (Kay). That Ver. 12.-As for my people. Return is ye beat my people to pieoes, etc. The now made to the sine of the d wellere strongest possible expreeaiona are need to in Jerusalem, and the first thing noted mark God's abhorrence of the oppression to is that the people suffer from the child- which the poor were ~ubjecled. Und~r the ishness and effeminacy of their rulers. Law he constituted himself the champion of The rulers are called "oppressors" by the such peraone (see Exod. uii. 22-24). way here, the sin of oppression being dwelt 2. The BinB of the women. (Vere. 16- on later (vers. 14, 15). Here the emphatic 26.) These me.y be aummed up under the words are "children," " women." Children (see ver. 4). The rulers are "children," three heads of pride, wanton manners (ver. or rather " babes "-foolish, capricious, 16), and love of dress and ornament (vers. cowardl v. It is not clear that any prince 18-23). It was natuHl that, with in- in particular is meant ; rather, by the creased commerce (2 Kings xiv. 22; oh. ii. plural form, the upper class generally seems 16) and more frequent communication with to be intended, as in eh. i. 10, 17, 23, etc. Women; comp. Herod., viii. 88, where foreign nations, auch e.s Asayrie. (2 Kinga Xerxes ea.ye that "his men have shown xvi. 7-10) e.nd Babylon (2 Kings u. 12, (lH, Ill, 1-26.] 1'HE BOOK 01<' 'l'HE PROPHET ISAIAII. 53