Isa 59:1-8 | JFB | STEP | The reason why Jehovah does not deliver His people, notwithstanding their religious services ( ), is not want of power on His part, but because of their sins ( ); contain their confession; , the consequent promise of the Messiah. 1. hand ... shortened-- (See on ). ear heavy-- ( ).

‏ Isaiah 59:1-8

CHAPTER 59 Is 59:1-21. The People's Sin the Cause of Judgments: They at Last Own It Themselves: the Redeemer's Future Interposition in Their Extremity.

The reason why Jehovah does not deliver His people, notwithstanding their religious services (Is 58:3), is not want of power on His part, but because of their sins (Is 59:1-8); Is 59:9-15 contain their confession; Is 59:16-21, the consequent promise of the Messiah.

1. hand ... shortened--(See on Is 50:2).

ear heavy--(Is 6:10).

2. hid--Hebrew, "caused Him to hide" (La 3:44).

3. (Is 1:15; Ro 3:13-15).

hands ... fingers--Not merely the "hands" perpetrate deeds of grosser enormity ("blood"), but the "fingers" commit more minute acts of "iniquity."

lips ... tongue--The lips "speak" openly "lies," the tongue "mutters" malicious insinuations ("perverseness"; perverse misrepresentations of others) (Jr 6:28; 9:4).

4. Rather, "No one calleth an adversary into court with justice," that is, None bringeth a just suit: "No one pleadeth with truth."

they trust ... iniquity--(So Job 15:35; Psa 7:14).

5. cockatrice--probably the basilisk serpent, cerastes. Instead of crushing evil in the egg, they foster it.

spider's web--This refers not to the spider's web being made to entrap, but to its thinness, as contrasted with substantial "garments," as Is 59:6 shows. Their works are vain and transitory (Job 8:14; Pr 11:18).

eateth ... their eggs--he who partakes in their plans, or has anything to do with them, finds them pestiferous.

that which is crushed--The egg, when it is broken, breaketh out as a viper; their plans, however specious in their undeveloped form like the egg, when developed, are found pernicious. Though the viper is viviparous (from which "vi-per" is derived), yet during gestation, the young are included in eggs, which break at the birth [Bochart]; however, metaphors often combine things without representing everything to the life.

6. not ... garments--like the "fig leaves" wherewith Adam and Eve vainly tried to cover their shame, as contrasted with "the coats of skins" which the Lord God made to clothe them with (Is 64:6; Ro 13:14; Ga 3:27; Php 3:9). The artificial self-deceiving sophisms of human philosophy (1Ti 6:5; 2Ti 2:16, 23).

7. feet--All their members are active in evil; in Is 59:3, the "hands, fingers, lips, and tongue," are specified.

run ... haste--(Ro 3:15). Contrast David's "running and hasting" in the ways of God (Psa 119:32, 60).

thoughts--not merely their acts, but their whole thoughts.

8. peace--whether in relation to God, to their own conscience, or to their fellow men (Is 57:20, 21).

judgment--justice.

crooked--the opposite of "straightforward" (Pr 2:15; 28:18).