Isaiah 1:12

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 1:10-15

Here, I. God calls to them (but calls in vain) to hear his word, Isa. 1:10. 1. The title he gives them is very strange; You rulers of Sodom, and people of Gomorrah. This intimates what a righteous thing it would have been with God to make them like Sodom and Gomorrah in respect of ruin (Isa. 1:9), because that had made themselves like Sodom and Gomorrah in respect of sin. The men of Sodom were wicked, and sinners before the Lord exceedingly (Gen. 13:13), and so were the men of Judah. When the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 1:12

When ye come to appear before me ,.... At the grand festivals of the passover, pentecost, and tabernacles, at which times all the males in Israel appeared before God, Exodus 23:17 . who hath required this at your hand ; either to appear at such times, these feasts being no more to be observed; or to offer the above sacrifices; these were not required of the Israelites when they first came out of Egypt, Jeremiah 7:22 nor were they necessary to appear before God with, or to introduce... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 1:12

When ye come to appear - Instead of לראות leraoth , to appear, one MS. has לראות liroth , to see. See De Rossi. The appearing before God here refers chiefly to the three solemn annual festivals. See Exodus 23:14 . Tread my courts (no more) - So the Septuagint divide the sentence, joining the end of this verse to the beginning of the next: Πατειν την αυλην μου, ου προσθησεσθε ; "To tread my court ye shall not add - ye shall not be again accepted in worship." read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 1:1-31

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 1:10-15

THE PEOPLE 'S PLEA NO EXCUSE , BUT AN AGGRAVATION OF THEIR GUILT . The prophet supposes the people, by the mouth of their rulers, to meet the charge of rebellion with an appeal to the fact that they maintain all the outward ordinances of religion, as required by the Lawn and are therefore blameless. This draws from him a burst of indignant eloquence, which the Holy Spirit directs him to put, mainly, into the mouth of God ( Isaiah 1:11-15 ), denouncing such a pretence of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 1:10-17

The people's plea considered. The leading men of Jerusalem are supposed to reply to the charge of Jehovah, pointing to the elaborate manner in which his worship is kept up. And Jehovah rejects their plea with scorn. I. THE DIVINE INDIGNATION AGAINST WICKEDNESS . No more scathing denunciation could there be than to term the rulers of the holy city "chiefs of Sodom," and the people in general "people of Gomorrah." Those were names of horror and shame. Christ used them in the same... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 1:10-20

The prophetic strain. Isaiah had gone only a very little way in his testimony when he broke into the true prophetic strain. The prophets were God's witnesses against the mere shows and semblances of piety, and for the reality of godliness and virtue; they lived to expose the false and to expound the true, to pierce with keen edged sword that which was hollow and rotten, and to commend with glowing zeal that which was sound and good. Here we have a deliverance which evidently came hot from a... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 1:11-13

Mere ceremonial an offense to God. What a painful sight it would be to see some of our houses with the fronts off!—to look into the abodes of vice; to witness the impurity and profanity, and wretchedness and wild license, and seething corruption of our large towns! That sight we may escape, but we must see ourselves with the fronts off—those false fronts with which self-worship hides the truth from view. We must look behind the gaily painted scenes of a decent moral life and conformity with... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 1:11-14

The outward form of religion, without inward piety, an offence to God. It is strange how deeply ingrained the idea is in man, that formal acts of worship, outward acknowledgment, ritual, ceremonial, pageantry, constitute religion, and will be accepted by God in lieu of the inward devotion of the heart. Heathenism was full of the notion. Plato tells us that the Greeks thought they might commit any number and any kind of sins or crimes, and obtain pardon for them at the hands of the gods, if... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 1:12

When ye come to appear before me. Mr. Cheyne translates, "to see my face;" but most other commentators (Gesenius, Delitzsch, Ewald, Kay) regard the phrase used as equivalent to that employed in Exodus 23:17 ; Exodus 34:23 ; Deuteronomy 16:16 ; and the passage as referring to that attendance in the temple at the three great annual festivals, which was required of all adult male Israelites. The requirement of the Law was still observed in the letter, but not in the spirit . They came... read more

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