Isaiah 63:15-17

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 63:15-19

The right of God's people to address him with complaint and expostulation. No doubt the ordinary attitude of God's people towards their Maker and Ruler should be one of the most profound resignation and submission to his will. "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" ( Genesis 18:25 ). Yet on occasions it is allowed them to "speak with him as a man speaketh with his friend" ( Exodus 33:11 ), to plead, expostulate, complain; even, in a certain sense, to reproach. Job pleaded with... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 63:15-19

The Church's prayer. One of extreme "spiritual beauty" (Cheyne). I. THE MAJESTY OF GOD . He is contemplated as in heaven, upon "a height of holiness and splendour:" and here, as in Psalms 80:14 , is besought to "look down and behold" as if "he had given up caring for his people, and withdrawn into his heavenly palace." It expresses the thought that he , to interpose for them, must ever condescend. The vastness of the distance between God and the creature is expressed—in... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 63:16

Doubtless thou art our Father ; rather, for thou art our Father. This is the ground of their appeal to God. As their Father, he must love them, and must be ready to listen to them. Abraham and Isaac, their earthly fathers, were of no service, lent them no aid, seemed to have ceased to feel any interest in them. It cannot be justly argued from this that the Jews looked to Abraham and Isaac as actual "patron saints," or directed towards them their religious regards. Had this been so, there... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 63:16

Good news concerning God. "Doubtless thou art our Father." The Jews were the children of God. But they had been for a long time so neglecting him that they had lost all the nearer and dearer thoughts of him; and imaged him to themselves through the bleared and blinded vision of their own indulgences, wickedness, and sin. He became to them only a God to be feared, in the sense of "frightened at." Then the prophet's message of a merciful God, fatherly still, recovering and saving even the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 63:17

Why hast thou made us to err from thy ways? Confession is here mingled with a kind of reproach. They have erred and strayed from God's ways, they ' allow; but why has he permitted it? Why has he, the shepherd of his flock ( Isaiah 40:11 ; Isaiah 49:10 ), not restrained his wandering sheep, and kept them in his "ways "or "paths" ? The reproach borders on irreverence, but is kept within the limits of piety by the affection and trust that underlie it. They are like wayward children... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 63:15

Look down from heaven - This commences an earnest appeal that God would have mercy on them in their present calamities and trials. They entreat him to remember his former mercies, and to return and bless them, as he had done in ancient times.And behold from the habitation - (See the notes at Isaiah 57:15).Where is thy zeal - That is, thy former zeal for thy people; where is now the proof of the interest for their welfare which was vouchsafed in times that are past.And thy strength - The might... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 63:16

Doubtless - Hebrew, כי kı̂y - ‘For;’ verily; surely. It implies the utmost confidence that he still retained the feelings of a tender father.Thou art our father - Notwithstanding appearances to the contrary, and though we should be disowned by all others, we will still believe that thou dost sustain the relation of a father. Though they saw no human aid, yet their confidence was unwavering that he had still tender compassion toward them.Though Abraham be ignorant of us - Abraham was the father... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 63:17

O Lord, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways? - Lowth and Noyes render this, ‘Why dost thou suffer us to wander from thy way?’ Calvin remarks on the passage, ‘The prophet uses a common form of speaking, for it is usual in the Scriptures to say that God gives the wicked over to a reprobate mind, and hardens their hearts. But when the pious thus speak, they do not intend to make God the author of error or sin, as if they were innocent - nolunt Deum erroris aut sceleris facere auctorem,... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 63:15-16

Isaiah 63:15-16. Look down from heaven In this excellent and pious prayer of the first-fruits of the converted Jews, in which they entreat God, for his grace and mercy, to behold them with an eye of compassion, they argue both from the goodness of his nature, and from the greatness of the works which he had formerly done for them. God sees everywhere and every thing; but he is said to look down from heaven, because there is his throne, whereon he reigns in majesty. Behold, &c. Not... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 63:17-19

Isaiah 63:17-19. O Lord, why hast thou made us to err Suffered us to err; from thy ways Thy commandments. And hardened our heart from thy fear That is, the fear of thee? Why hast thou withdrawn thy grace, and left us to our own hardness of heart? See on Isaiah 6:10. Return for thy servants’ sake Be reconciled to us for the sake of our godly progenitors, Abraham, Isaac, &c.; namely, for the sake of thy promises made to them; or rather, for our sakes, that little remnant who are thy... read more

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