The Pulpit Commentary — Isaiah — Volume 2 — Section 460

HOMILIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS. Vers. 1-10.-Threatenings and promises. Both, asit woulde.ppear, acldressed to the chosen people, though many, including St. Pe.ul, apply the earlier part of the passage to the conrnrsion of the Gentiles. There is a polytheistic pe.rty, and a party of true believers in the nation. I. Gon BEFOREHAND WITH MEN. He "allows himself to be consulted;" he " offers answers," or " is beard " by those who came not to consult him, He was " at hand to those who did not seek him." To a nation that did not call on him he cried, "Here I am! " (eh. I.xiv. 7; xliii. 22). It is actually he who "spreads out his hands"-" in the gesture of prayer; what a condescension! " ( cf. Prov. i. 24). And this "all the day," or continuously-" as if God did beseech you." It is a thought full of deep pathos and Di,ine beauty, that God no less seeks men than they seek him. He in a sense prays them to be reconciled to him. While, therefore, prayer is in one aspect the going forth of active desires after God, on the other hand it is the response to his action upon us. Not a day passes but the gentle mercy and love expressed in his providence offers its silent plea to heart and conscience : " Child of man I I love thee; come to me, and be at peace." H. THE snrano:am.TEss OF MAN. The people ar&- described as "unruly," and as "walking in a way which is not good, afrer their own thoughts." In the will and its licence, falsely called liberty, lies the mischief. The carnal mind is not " subject to God, neither indeed can be." In "will-worship," the indulgence of the senses and the caprices of the fancy, lies the source of idolatry. .And thus they irritate Jehovah to his face continually. They sacrifice in the gardens and on the bricks, i.e. the tiles of the houses (2 Kini!S xxiii. 12; Zepb. i. 5; Jer. xix. 13), or on altars of materials forbidden by the Law (Exod. xx. 24, 25). They appear to be guilty of necromancy, of the con- sultation of dreams or citation of the departed. They incur ceremonial pollution by eating of swine's flesh and other animals. And, initiated into some heathen rites, they had actually assumed a superior holiness to that of the people of God, thus caricaturing the true religion. ill THE WRATH AND VENGEANCE OF JEHOVAH. Here, again, the strongest figures are employed. These abominations are "a smoke in his nose, a fire burning all the day long." Nothing can more strongly express what is offensive and irritating. So in Deut. xxxii. 22, ".A fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn to the lowest hell" (cf. Ps. xviii. 5; Ezek. xxxviii. 18). And with equal force the certainty of Divine vengeance is described. Either the sin of the Jews, or the Divine decree for its puniAh• ment, is written before Jehovah. The allusion is to the custom of kinii:s of recording decreee in a volume or on a tablet, and kept in their presence, so that they might not be forgotten. Moreover, "the fortunes of men, past, present, and future, are all noted in the heavenly registers" (eh. iv. 8; Ps. lxvi. 8; Dan. vii. 10). A book of remem- brance was written before Jehovah (Mai. iii. 16). From this follows the juBtice of IJivine punishment. He will not keep ailence; nothing shall suppress his just edict or aentence. He will certainly re.compense, and in full measure ; the large and loose bosom of the Oriental garment being, by a figure, viewed as the receptacle of those Divine ou, LXV. 1-25.J THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET ISAIAH. 477