Isaiah 48:2 - Exposition

For they call themselves of the holy city . It is an indication of their real want of truth and righteousness, that they lay such stress upon what is so entirely outward and formal, as the fact of their belonging to" the holy city," Jerusalem. Compare the boast of the Jews in our Lord's time, "We be Abraham's seed" ( John 8:33 ). Stay themselves upon the God of Israel. Not resting upon him in real faith and true humble dependence, as those Israelites who are mentioned in Isaiah 10:20 . but trusting to the facts that they were "Israel," and that God was "the God of Israel," and therefore bound to protect them. God reminds them that, if he is "the God of Israel," he is also "the Lord of hosts"—a term, as Dr. Kay notes, especially connected with the holiness of God.