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Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 59:4

None calleth for justice - Or rather, there is no one who brings a suit with justice; no one who goes into court for the purpose of obtaining justice. There is a love of litigation; a desire to take all the advantage which the law can give; a desire to appeal to the law, not for the sake of having strict justice done, but for the sake of doing injury to others, and to take some undue advantage.Nor any pleadeth for truth - Or, no one pleadeth with truth. He does not state the cause as it is. He... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 59:5

They hatch cockatrice’ eggs - Margin, ‘Adders’.’ On the meaning of the word rendered here ‘cockatrice,’ see the notes at Isaiah 11:8. Some poisonous serpent is intended, probably the adder, or the serpent known among the Greeks as the basilisk, or cerastes. This figurative expression is designed to show the evil nature and tendency of their works. They were as if they should carefully nourish the eggs of a venomous serpent. Instead of crushing them with the foot and destroying them, they took... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 59:6

Their webs shall not become garments - The spider’s web is unfit for clothing; and the idea here is, that their works are as unfit to secure salvation as the attenuated web of a spider is for raiment. The sense is, says Vitringa, that their artificial sophisms avail nothing in producing true wisdom, piety, virtue, and religion, or the true righteousness and salvation of people, but are airy speculations. The works of the self-righteous and the wicked; their vain formality, their false opinions,... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 59:7

Their feet run to evil - In accordance with the design of the prophet to show the entireness of their depravity, he states that all their members were employed in doing evil. In Isaiah 59:3-6. he had remarked that depravity had extended to their hands, their fingers, their lips, and their tongue; he here states that their feet also were employed in doing evil. Instead of treading the paths of righteousness, and hastening to execute purposes of mercy and justice, they were employed in... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 59:8

The way of peace they know not - The phrase ‘way of peace’ may denote either peace of conscience, peace with God, peace among themselves, or peace with their fellow-men. Possibly it may refer to all these; and the sense will be, that in their whole lives they were strangers to true contentment and happiness. From no quarter had they peace, but whether in relation to God, to their own consciences, to each other, or to their fellow-men, they were involved in continual strife and agitation (see... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 59:9

Therefore is judgment far from us - This is the confession of the people that they were suffering not unjustly on account of their crimes. The word ‘judgment’ here is evidently to be taken in the sense of vengeance or vindication. The idea is this, ‘we are subjected to calamities and to oppressions by our enemies. In our distresses we cry unto God, but on account of our sins he does not hear us, nor does he come to vindicate our cause.’Neither doth justice overtake us - That is, God does not... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 59:10

We grope for the wall like the blind - A blind man, not being able to see his way, feels along by a wall, a fence, or any other object that will guide him. They were like the blind. They had no distinct views of truth, and they were endeavoring to feel their way along as well as they could. Probably the prophet here alludes to the threatening made by Moses in Deuteronomy 28:28-29, ‘And the Lord shall smite thee with madness, and blindness, and astonishment of heart; and thou shalt grope at... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 59:11

We roar all like bears - This is designed still further to describe the heavy judgments which had come upon them for their sins. The word rendered here ‘roar’ (from המה hâmâh, like English, to hum, German, hummen, spoken of bees), is applied to any murmuring, or confused noise or sound. It sometimes means to snarl, as a dog Psalms 59:7, Psalms 59:15; to coo, as a dove Ezekiel 7:16; it is also applied to waves that roar Psalms 46:4; Isaiah 51:15; to a crowd or tumultuous assemblage Psalms... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 59:12

Our sins testify against us - Hebrew, ‘Answer against us.’ The idea is, that their past lives had been so depraved that they became witnesses against them (compare the notes at Isaiah 3:9).We know them - We recognize them as our sins, and we cannot conceal from ourselves the fact that we are transgressors. read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 59:13

In transgressing - That is, we have been guilty of this as a continuous act.And lying against the Lord - We have proved false to Yahweh. Though we have been professedly his people, yet we have been secretly attached to idols, and have in our hearts been devoted to the service of false gods.And departing away from our God - By the worship of idols, and by the violation of his law.Speaking oppression and revolt - Forming plans to see how we might best take advantage of the poor and the... read more

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