The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 1 — Section 475

groves. and broken in pieoee the bmzen eer, Underhand tiroceedings are at all tlmea )'<'nt." because the people burnt inoenae to it suspicious, "l\len love darkness rather th1m (2 King11 X'l'iii. 4). But her religion wa.s " light, because their deeds a,·e evil." The very 1'711'Te lip-eervioe, which God deteeted-it fact of concealment was an indication that wns outward, formal, hypocritica.l (comp. the worlcs in whfoh the rulers were engO:ged <'h. i. ll-17). Jerusalem, therefore, no less wcro evil, and thnt they knew them to 'be than Same.ria, deserved and would rccei'l'e evil. They say, Who seeth 1li 1 (comp. Ps. 11. se'<'ere chBStisement. But have removed lxxiii. 11, "Tush, they sny, How should their heart far from me. Here lies the gist God pcrcdve? Is there knowledge iu the of 1he chnrge. It wa.s not that there was Most High?"). The wicked persunde them- too much outward religion, but that there seh·os that God does not see their actions. ,ms no inward religion corresponding to it. Ver. 16.-Surely your turning of things Lip-service without inward religion is a. upside down shall be esteemed as •the mockery, though it is not always felt as potter's ole.y; ro.ther, 0 for your pen,erse- suc!1. Thair fBB.r toward me is taught by ness ! Shall the potter be reclconed as clay 1 the precept of men. Mr. Cheyne conjec- They were so perverse and wrong-headed tures that ritual books ha.d been already that they inverted the relation in which published by the authority of the priests, they stood to God and God to them. God and that these were followed. on account was to be pa.ssive, or merely give oppor- o[ the huma.n authority which had issued tunities of action, and they were to mould them, without any reference to the Law. their own plane and carve out their own des- 'l'hus ritual obedience became mere obe- tinies. For shall the work so.y, etc.? ro.ther, <lience to "the precept of men." for the wor1' saith. Taking their destinies 'fer. 14.-I will proceed to do a marvel- into their own ba.nds was equivalent to loua work. Commentators are not agreed saying that they were their own masters, what this "marvellous work " was. Some, which they could not be if God made them; with Delitzsch, consider it to be the ba.rden- Shall the thing fre.med say, etc. ? ro.ther, ing of the hearts of the Jews to such an yea, the thing formed hath said. To refuse extent that even the appearance of wis- to take counsel of God, o.nd direct . the dom and understanding, which the rulers nationo.l policy by the light of their own of the people had hitherto retained, would rea.son, was . to te.x God with having no completely disappear. Others, with Mr. understandmg. Cheyne, regard it as the coming siege, Vers. 17-2!.-A RENEWAL OF PRomsE: with those extreme sufferings and perils God's judgruent (ver. 14), whatever it is, ('l'ers. 3, 4) which the Jews would have to will pass. In a little while there will be a 11ndergo--B11fferings and perils barely con- sisLcnt with tlte previous ccrrenant-promises great change. The lowly will be exalted, made to the nation. It is difficult to decide the proud abased. From the " meek" and Letween these two views ; but, on the whole, "poor" will be raised e. body of true wor- Mr. Cheyne's view seems prefemble. A shippers, who will possess spiritual disceri).- marvellous work and a wonder; rather, a ment (ver. 18), while the oppressors' ancl mart!ellmu u,or1' and a m.an>el. The repeti- "scorners" will be brought to nought. tion is for the sake of emphasis. For the willdom; rather, and the ,u;isdmn; i.e. "when When Isaiah expected this change is un- I do my marvel, then the wisdom of. the certain; but he holds out the hope of it wise men shall perish "-all their crafty here, as elsewhere so frequently (eh. i. 24--'- designs and plans shall be of no avail, but 31; ii. 2-5; iv. 2-6; v. 13, etc:), to keep come wholly to nought. The chief of these up the spirits of the people and prevent designs was that alluded t;o in tho next them from sinking into a state of depression verse. Ver. 15.-Woe 11J1.to them that aeek deep and despair. to hide their o011J1.Bel from the Lord. The Ver. 17.-Lebanon shall be turned into a allusion is to the schemes which were afloat fruitful field. Lebanon, the wild forest, for calling in the aid of Egypt. As Isaiah shall become smiling garden-ground, while had long since denounced these schemes garden-ground shall revert into wild un- c,s the height of folly (eh. xix. 11-17), cultivated forest. An inversion of the moral and prophesied their failure (eh. xx. 5, 6), condition of Judma is she.dowed forth _by every effort was made to conceal them from the metaphor. hie knowledge and from the knowlerlge of Ver. 18.-In that ds.y-i.e. when tho.t all who were like-minded (comp. eh. xxx. time comes-shall the deaf hear the words l, 2). Steps were probably even now being of the book; the spiritually deaf she.ll ho.ve taken for the carryiug out of the schemea, their ears opened, many of them, and ehnll wbicb were studiously concealed from the not only bear, but understa.nd, tho words of. propl.et. Their works are ill the dark. Scripture addreslled to them by God's mes- I 011, :r.ux. 1---24,] Tilt BOOK OF 'l'IlE PROPHF:T ISAIAlt. 475