Isaiah 59:2-5

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 59:1-8

The prophet here rectifies the mistake of those who had been quarrelling with God because they had not the deliverances wrought for them which they had been often fasting and praying for, Isa. 58:3. Now here he shows, I. That it was not owing to God. They had no reason to lay the fault upon him that they were not saved out of the hands of their enemies; for, 1. He was still as able to help as ever: His hand is not shortened, his power is not at all lessened, straitened, or abridged. Whether we... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 59:2

Like a partition wall dividing between them, so that they enjoy no communion with him in his worship and ordinances; which is greatly the case of the reformed churches: they profess the true God, and the worship of him, and do attend the outward ordinances of it; but this is done in such a cold formal way, and such sins and wickedness are perpetrated and connived at, that the Lord does not grant his gracious presence to them, but stands at a distance from them: and your sins have hid his... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 59:3

For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity ,.... From a general charge, the prophet proceeds to a particular enumeration of sins they were guilty of; and idolatry not being mentioned, as Jerom observes, shows that the prophecy belongs to other times than Isaiah's, when that sin greatly prevailed. He begins the account with the sin of shedding blood; the blood of innocents, as the Targum; designing either the sin of murder, now frequently committed in Christian... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 59:4

None calleth for justice ,.... Or, "righteousness"; not for civil justice in courts of judicature, as if there were no advocates for it there; or that put those in mind of it, to whom the administration of it belongs; or that see to put the laws against sin in execution, and to relieve those that are oppressed; though of this there may be just cause of complaint in some places: but there are none or few that call for evangelical righteousness, either that preach it, proclaim and publish it... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 59:5

They hatch cockatrice eggs, and weave the spider's web ,.... Invent false doctrines according to their own fancies, which may seem fair and plausible, but are poisonous and pernicious; as the "eggs of the cockatrice", which may look like, and may be taken for, the eggs of creatures fit to eat; and spin out of their brains a fine scheme of things, but which are as thin, and as useless, and unprofitable, as "the spider's web"; and serve only to ensnare and entangle the minds of men, and will... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 59:2

His face - For פנים panim , faces, I read panaiv , his face. So the Syriac, Septuagint, Alexandrian, Arabic, and Vulgate. פני panai , MS. Forte legendum פני panai , nam מ mem , sequitur, et loquitur Deus ; confer cap. Isaiah 58:14 . "We should perhaps read פני panai ; for מ mem follows, and God is the speaker." - Secker. I rather think that the speech of God was closed with the last chapter, and that this chapter is delivered in the person of the prophet.... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 59:3

Your tongue "And your tongue" - An ancient MS., and the Septuagint and Vulgate, add the conjunction. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 59:4

They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity - There is a curious propriety in this mode of expression; a thought or purpose is compared to conception; a word or act, which is the consequence of it, to the birth of a child. From the third to the fifteenth verse inclusive may be considered a true statement of the then moral state of the Jewish people; and that they were, in the most proper sense of the word, guilty of the iniquities with which they are charged. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 59:1-2

The true and the false account of Divine inactivity. How comes it to pass that the people of the Lord are in such distress? How do we account for the fact that the cause of Christ makes such slow progress or even shows symptoms of decline and failure? Where is the Lord God of Israel? Is the Spirit of God present in the midst of the Churches? I. THE APPARENTLY INEXHAUSTIBLE FORCES AT OUR COMMAND . For our resources we have: 1 . The fulness of Divine pity. The ear of... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 59:1-8

A GENERAL REBUKE OF ISRAEL FOR ITS MANIFOLD SINS , The command given to the prophet in Isaiah 58:1 to "show God's people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins "—partly executed in Isaiah 58:4-7 and Isaiah 58:13 —is now further carried out by a scathing denunciation of various forms of wickedness, more or less prevalent in Israel, the effect of which has been to separate between Israel and God, to "shorten God's hand" and "make his ears heavy." The... read more

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