Isaiah 64

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 64:11

Our holy and our beautiful house - The temple. It was called ‘holy,’ because it was dedicated to the service of God; and ‘beautiful,’ on account of its extraordinary magnificence. The original word more properly means glorious.Where our fathers praised thee - Few attachments become stronger than that which is formed for a place of worship where our ancestors have long been engaged in the service of God. It was now a great aggravation of their sufferings, that that beautiful place, consecrated... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 64:12

Wilt thou refrain thyself - Wilt thou refuse to come to our aid? Wilt thou decline to visit us, and save us from our calamities?Wilt thou hold thy peace - Wilt thou not speak for our rescue, and command us to be delivered? Thus closes this chapter of great tenderness and beauty. It is a model of affectionate and earnest entreaty for the divine interposition in the day of calamity. With such tender and affectionate earnestness may we learn to plead with God! Thus may all his people learn to... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 64

A.M. 3298. B.C. 706. Here the prayer begun in the preceding chapter is continued, in the name of the church and people of the Jews, languishing and disconsolate under the long rejection they at present suffer. (1,) They express an earnest wish that God would show himself as visibly in favour of his ancient people as he did when he came down upon mount Sinai, amidst thunder, and lightning, and tempests, that shook heaven and earth, and testified his presence, Isaiah 64:1-3 . (2,) They... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 64:1-2

Isaiah 64:1-2. O that thou wouldest rend the heavens This God is said to do, or to bow the heavens, and come down, when he gives a very signal display of his power. It is a metaphor taken from men who, when they would resolutely and effectually help a person in distress, break through every opposition and obstacle. That the mountains might flow down, &c. Or, melt; that all impediments might be removed out of the way. There seems to be an allusion to God’s coming down upon mount... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 64:3-4

Isaiah 64:3-4. When thou didst terrible things This may relate to what he did first in Egypt, and afterward in the wilderness; which we looked not for Such things as we could not have expected; the mountains flowed down See Exodus 19:18; Deuteronomy 32:22; Psalms 18:7, with the notes. But Lowth proposes another interpretation, which he thinks agrees better with what follows, namely, When thou shalt do terrible and unexpected things, when thou shalt come down, (and visibly interpose for... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 64:5

Isaiah 64:5. Thou meetest him that rejoiceth, &c. “Thou preventest, with the blessings of thy goodness, those that take pleasure in the ways of thy commandments, and live under a continual sense of thy providence.” Behold, thou art wroth Or greatly angry; for, or because, we have sinned Have been guilty of many and great offences, whereby we have provoked thy heavy displeasure. In those Those ways of thine, thy ways of mercy, in which we have remembered thee; is continuance ... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 64:6-7

Isaiah 64:6-7. We are all as an unclean thing Or, unclean person, as שׂמא equally signifies. He seems to allude to persons unclean through the leprosy, which was the highest degree of uncleanness among the Jews. He means that the body of the people were like one under a ceremonial pollution, who was not admitted into the courts of the tabernacle; or like one labouring under some loathsome disease. We are all, by sin, not only become obnoxious to God’s justice, but odious to his holiness.... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 64:8-9

Isaiah 64:8-9. But now, O Lord, thou art our Father Notwithstanding all this, thou art our Father, having both created and adopted us; therefore pity us thy children; we are the clay, and thou our potter We are in thy hands as clay in the hands of the potter: thou canst form us, and dispose of us as thou pleasest. And we will not quarrel with thee, however thou art pleased to deal with us. We are all the work of thy hands Therefore forget us not, forsake us not, but spare, and preserve,... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 64:10-12

Isaiah 64:10-12. Thy holy cities Zion and Jerusalem, mentioned immediately after; or other cities also in the land of Judea besides these two; called holy, because God had his synagogues in them, in which he was worshipped, Psalms 74:8. Zion is a wilderness, &c. Utterly waste: not only the ordinary cities, but Zion and Jerusalem themselves are in a state of ruin and desolation. Our holy and beautiful house Our temple. Not only our principal cities, but even our temple, which we... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Isaiah 64:1-12

A prayer for Israel (63:7-64:12)The prophet’s prayer for God’s suffering people begins by recalling God’s great acts of love in the past (7). Because Israel was his people, God saved them from slavery in Egypt, though when they rebelled against him, they were punished (8-10). Nevertheless, God forgave them. Therefore, asks the prophet, could not this God of mercy and love, who has done such great things for Israel in the past, also save his people from captivity in Babylon now (11-14)?It seems... read more

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 64:11

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Isaiah 64:12

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 64

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 64:1-2

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 64:3-4

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 64:5

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 64:6-7

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 64:8-9

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Isaiah 64:10-12

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Isaiah 64:1-12

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