Isaiah 63:17-19

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Isaiah 63:15-19

The foregoing praises were intended as an introduction to this prayer, which is continued to the end of the next chapter, and it is an affectionate, importunate, pleading prayer. It is calculated for the time of the captivity. As they had promises, so they had prayers, prepared for them against that time of need, that they might take with them words in turning to the Lord, and say unto him what he himself taught them to say, in which they might the better hope to prevail, the words being of... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 63:17

O Lord, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear ?.... These are the words, not of wicked men among the Jews, charging all their errors, hardness of heart, and wickedness they were guilty of, upon the Lord, as if he was the author and occasion of them, and led them into them; but of the truly godly, lamenting and confessing their wandering from the ways, commands, and ordinances of God, the hardness of their hearts; their want of devotion and affection... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 63:18

The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while ,.... Either the land of Canaan, which the Jews, the Lord's holy people, whom he had separated from others, possessed about fourteen hundred years, which was but a little while in comparison of "for ever", as was promised; or they enjoyed it but a little while in peace and quiet, being often disturbed by their neighbours; or else the sanctuary, the temple, as it is to be supplied from the next clause, which stood but little more... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Isaiah 63:19

We are thine ,.... Thy children, thy people, thy subjects. Some read it, taking a word from the next clause, "we are thine of old", or "from everlasting" F8 היינו מעולם "non fuimus tui ab omni aevo", Grotius; "a seculo", Pagninus, Montanus. ; as the Lord's special people are, being chosen by him in Christ before the foundation of the world, and taken into an everlasting covenant by him, when he became their God, and they his people; agreeably to which is the Targum, "we are thy... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 63:17

Why hast thou made us to err - A mere Hebraism, for why hast thou permitted us to err. So, Lead us not into temptation; do not suffer us to fall into that to which we are tempted. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Isaiah 63:18

The people of thy holiness have possessed it but a little while "It is little that they have taken possession of thy holy mountain" - The difficulty of the construction in this place is acknowledged on all hands. Vitringa prefers that sense as the least exceptionable which our translation has expressed; in which however there seems to be a great defect; that is, the want of that in the speaker's view must have been the principal part of the proposition, the object of the verb, the land, or... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 63:15-17

The unvarying Father. The habitation of God's holiness is the habitation of his glory; his glory is in his goodness, in his faithfulness ( Exodus 33:19 ). His fatherhood of man remains and may be counted upon most confidently, although there may appear great obstacles in the way of it. I. OUR INSIGNIFICANCE AMONG MEN is no indication of the absence of God's interest in us. Abraham might be ignorant of any one of his children; our illustrious ancestors, our honoured... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Isaiah 63:15-19

A PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE FROM SIN AND SUFFERING . From thanksgiving and confession, the people betake themselves to prayer, and beseech God to look down from heaven once more, to have compassion on them, to acknowledge them, and to save them alike from themselves ( Isaiah 63:17 ) and from their adversaries ( Isaiah 63:18 , Isaiah 63:19 ). "It is difficult to overrate the spiritual beauty of the prayer contained in this passage. We may admit that the most prominent motive... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

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

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