Isaías 63:7-14

IV.—THE FOURTH DISCOURSE

The Prophet in Spirit puts Himself in the Place of the Exiled Church, and bears its Cause in Prayer before the Lord

s Isaiah 63:7 to Isaiah 64:11

Chapters 60–63. 6, are like a prophetic high plateau, which the Prophet, by means of chapters 58 and 59 has ascended out of his own time. In this fourth discourse he comes down again to the present time, that is to say, to a time relatively present, to that of the people in exile. He transports himself entirely into this time, as if he were passing through it, and sets before the Lord the temporal and spiritual need of the people living in exile. He does this by first taking a retrospect of the past, and showing what the Lord formerly was to the people (Isaiah 63:7-14). Then he entreats the Lord as the Father of His people to look upon them (Isaiah 63:15-19); then he prays that the Lord, for their complete deliverance, would visibly come to them with a grand manifestation of His divine majesty (64).

___________________1. RETROSPECT OF WHAT THE LORD FORMERLY WAS TO THE PEOPLE

Isaiah 63:7-14

7          I will mention the loving-kindnesses of the Lord,

And the praises of the Lord,

According to all that the Lord hath bestowed on us,And the great goodness toward the house of Israel,Which he hath bestowed on them according to his mercies,And according to the multitude of his loving-kindnesses.

8     For he said, Surely they are my people,

Children that will not lie:

So he was their Saviour.

9     In all their affliction he was afflicted,

And the angel of his presence saved them:In his love and in his pity he redeemed them;And he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.

10     But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit:

Therefore he was turned to be their enemy,

And he fought against them.

11     5 Then he remembered the days of old, Moses, and his people, saying,

Where is he that 6brought them up out of the sea with the 7 shepherd of his flock?

Where is he that put his holy Spirit within him?

12     8That led them by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm,

Dividing the water before them,To make himself an everlasting name?

13     That led them through the deep, as an horse in the wilderness,

That they should not stumble.

14     As a beast goeth down into the valley,

The Spirit of the Lord caused him to rest:So didst thou lead thy people,To make thyself a glorious name.

TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL

Isaiah 63:7. The words על כל אשׁר־גמלנו י׳ are to be taken as one term, to which כְּ, in the sense of secundum, is prefixed. על stands in a causal sense [כְּעַל is = uti par est propter]. רַב־טוּב is to be regarded as the object dependent on אזכיר rather than as dependent on כְּ in כְּעַל.

Isaiah 63:9. Instead of the Kethibh לִֹא we must with the K’ri read לוֹ, as לאֹ, however it may be explained, does not yield an appropriate sense [?]. Some take צָר for צַר in pause, either in the passive sense: in all their affliction there was (to them) no distress )צַר as, e.g., Isaiah 25:4; Isaiah 26:16, comp. pressi non oppressi), or in the active sense=oppressor, adversary (Isaiah 63:18; Isaiah 64:1; Isaiah 1:24; Isaiah 9:10, et saepe). Both these views are set forth under the most manifold modifications (comp. Stier). But whichever of the two constructions we choose, there is an abruptness in the expression. We should expect לָהֶם, or, if צָר should refer to Jehovah, the pronoun הוּא is wanting: In all their affliction He was not an oppressor. It is better, therefore, to follow the K’ri, although all the old versions support לא. Our place belongs, then, to the fifteen, or according to another enumeration (comp. on Isaiah 9:2 and Isaiah 49:5) eighteen places, in which according to the opinion of the Masoretes לוֹ is to be read instead לֹא. Drechsler is certainly right when he remarks (on Isaiah 9:2) that the unusual position of לוֹ, which was originally in the text, caused it to be altered into לאֹ which was more current and sounded more familiar in such a position. [But this is a confession that instead of לו צר we should find צר לו if לו were the original reading. We dislike departing from the textual reading when it is supported by all ancient versions. In order to get the meaning “He was afflicted,” we must not only alter the negative לא into לוֹ, but must also suppose an abnormal collocation of the words. Add to these considerations that צר לו does not mean simply, “he was afflicted, or grieved,” but “he was reduced to a strait, was ἐν ,” (Kay). This could not be predicated of Jehovah; though it could be said of Him anthropopathically, as in Judges 10:16, that God’s soul was grieved. But there the expression is quite different in the original. If we take צר in the sense of adversary: “In all their affliction He (God) was not an adversary to them,” the absence of לָהֶם need not so much surprise us, as it occurs in the close of the preceding verse, where God is declared to have been a Saviour לָהֶם. The proof that God was not an adversary to them is given in the next clause, when it is said: and the angel of his presence saved them, etc. Kay justly remarks that God was the reverse of an adversary to Israel. “His heaviest chastisements were sent with the view of frustrating the designs of their worst enemies, and were removed as soon as that work was accomplished.”—D. M.].

Isaiah 63:11. הַמַּעֲלֵם is not grammatically quite normal. [“The suffix refers to the forefathers, and the participle has both the article and suffix because it is not to be conceived as a noun, nor as the expression of a finished act (ὁ ), but is to be thought as possessing continued verbal force (Ges. Gr., § 135, 2), and is to be construed as an imperfect: ille qui sursum ducebat, educebat; on this account the suffix has the accusative or objective form em as Psalms 68:28, not am, comp. Job 40:19; Psalms 103:4.” Delitzsch.—D. M.]. I am inclined, with De Rossi, to believe that המעלה (which is found in one very old codex cited by Kennicott, and in two of De Rossi’s, one of which is very accurate), is the right reading. The LXX., Peshito and the Arabic version in the London Polyglott, favor this reading. [But there is here no necessity for correcting the text.—D. M.].

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. The prayer commences with a historical retrospect. For, as the suppliant intends to entreat new grace from God, he gives this prayer an appropriate foundation by first of all making mention of the former mercies of Jehovah. He, therefore, begins, Isaiah 63:7-8, by recalling the election of the people, and the glorious succor rendered to them in what might be called the time of their birth and childhood (Isaiah 63:9). The whole time from the deliverance out of Egyptian bondage to the Babylonish exile is comprehended in the brief words of Isaiah 63:10, the first part of which indicates the various apostasies of the people, and the last part the punishments which they suffered. Out of the depths of the last and greatest of these, the punishment of the Exile, there arises, Isaiah 63:11-14, a melancholy sigh and the question; where is He now who saved Israel from the first, the Egyptian captivity, so wonderfully by the hand of Moses?

2. I will mention—loving-kindnesses.

Isaiah 63:7. The aim of this verse is to gain in the manifestations of favor in the past a foundation for the supplication in regard to the future. On חֶסֶד (see the List). תְּהִלּוֹת stands here as frequently (comp. Deuteronomy 26:19) as abstract for the concrete: laudationes for res laudatae, res laudabiliter gestae. [There is no reason for departing from the proper meaning of the term—praises. D. M.]. כְּעַל occurs only here and Isaiah 59:18. We must take טוּב in the abstract signification benignitas (comp. Psalms 25:7; Psalms 31:20 et saepe), although the following relative sentence seems at first sight rather to recommend the concrete signification “bona, optima dona” (comp. Jeremiah 31:12; Jeremiah 31:14). But against this view is the connection of טוב with בית ישׂראל by the simple preposition לְ טוב is, therefore, God’s goodness, kindness, benevolence which springs from His love which is merciful (i.e., moved by the sight of distress), and gracious (i.e., which does not punish according to desert).

3. For he said—fought against them.

Isaiah 63:8-10. The first manifestation of the divine goodness spoken of in Isaiah 63:7 is introduced by ויאמר. The Vav in ויאמר makes a connection, not with the historical facts just referred to, but with the loving disposition in God. In brief, emphatic, words the Prophet describes the founding of the covenant relation between Jehovah and Israel. Jehovah formed it of Himself by His free purpose of election. He declared Israel to be His people κατ’ ἐξοχήν. אַךְ has here, too, (comp. Isaiah 14:15; Isaiah 34:14-15) on the basis of its restrictive signification, a strongly affirmative force. The Lord in declaring Israel to be His people does this with the hope that this His confidence will be perceived and justified. לא ישׁקרו refers, therefore, to the hope of fidelity, of obedience. (They will not deceive, disappoint this hope). And in this hope Jehovah became Israel’s מוֹשִׁיעַ, i.e., Deliverer, Saviour (comp. Isaiah 19:20; Isaiah 43:11; Isaiah 44:15; Isaiah 44:21; Isaiah 47:15; Isaiah 49:26; Isaiah 60:10). [This eighth verse is literally rendered “Only my people are they; children will not lie, or prove false; and He was to them a Saviour.” The Prophet tells us that the Lordsaid this. We may look, then, in the books of Moses for language employed by the Lord of which this is a fair representation. That Israel is God’s chosen people is often declared in the Pentateuch. In Deuteronomy 14:1-2 they are called both children and the Lord’speople. Comp. Deuteronomy 7:6 sqq., et saepe. But the Lord never states regarding Israel that they are children that will not lie. On the contrary He testifies of them, Deuteronomy 32:20 that they are “children in whom is no faith.” The Lord said to the children of Israel: “If ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my commandments, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” Exodus 19:5-6. But we look in vain in the Pentateuch for any declaration in which the Lord expresses the confident expectation that Israel would prove faithful to the covenant. So far from doing this, God foretells that Israel would prove unfaithful. We must, then, take the words children will not lie, prohibitively and as expressing what is required of children, and not the Lord’s expectation; children shall not lie. The sentiment that Israel, as being God’s children, ought not to act perfidiously, is expressed Deuteronomy 32:6. Comp. Deuteronomy 17:16-17 where we have as here לֹא with the third person of the future to express not what a king of Israel would not do, but what he ought not to do. The last clause should bestrictly rendered and He was to them a Saviour.—There is no need, then, of assuming here a very strong example of anthropopathism in which God declares Himself disappointed. D. M.]. From Isaiah 63:9 we see that the suppliant has first of all in view that most ancient, glorious deliverance which was vouchsafed to the people in Egypt in the commencement of their history. We have, therefore, to refer בכל־צרתם to the oppression of the people by Pharaoh. And of this oppression it is said that it was one which the Lord Himself felt. [Rather, In all their oppression He was not an oppressor. See under Textual and Grammatical.—D. M.]. That under this affliction the sufferings of the Israelites in Egypt are to be understood, is shown by the following sentence. For by “the angel of His face” who saved them, the suppliant evidently intends מלאך יהוה, by whom the redemption of the people from Egyptian slavery was effected. The expression מלאך פניו refers immediately to Exodus 33:14-15, where to the request of Moses that the Lord would let him know whom He intends to send with them (Isaiah 63:12-13), the answer is given פָנַי יֵלֵכוּ. Moses thereupon rejoins: “If פָּנֶיךָ (thy face) go not, carry us not up hence.” It is impossible to discuss fully here the exceedingly difficult question of the מלאך יהוה. I refer to Lange’s thorough exposition on Genesis 12:1 sqq. In reference to the chief question, whether the מלאך י׳ is to be regarded as a created angel, or as a precursory and partial manifestation of the Logos corresponding to the Old Testament standpoint, I would only briefly remark: 1) When Paul, 1 Corinthians 10:4, regards the rock out of which Moses struck water, and which remained fixed and immovable, and did not accompany them, as a symbol of “the Spiritual Rock that followed them” of which he says: “that Rock was Christ,” we must still more assume that he saw a manifestation of Christ in the angel of the face, of whom it is further said, Exodus 23:21 : my name is in Him;בְּקִרְבּוֹ. 2) Further, in Hebrews 3:1 Jesus is called the Apostle and high-priest of our profession. The word ἀπόστολος cannot but be in that place which is pervaded by typological ideas a translation of the Hebrew מַלְאָךְ. The author of the epistle to the Hebrews designedly avoided the use of the word ἄγγελος, because lie wished to point to the man Jesus and to His human official life, i.e., to the fidelity which He displayed in it. He means to say: If He, who was so much higher than Moses, inasmuch as the Lord and Son of the house is higher than the house itself, was faithful, this exalted pattern must impel you also to fidelity. Plainly, then, the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews likewise saw in the angel of the Lord a manifestation of Christ. 3) With these considerations agree the expressions פָּנִים and שְׁמִי בְקִרְבּוֹ. For the face is the external side which is outwardly visible. Thus in Hebrew the surface of the earth and of the heaven, etc., is called פְָּנִים, because the surface is that which may be seen outwardly and—we may add—is that which sees. He now, who is called God’s פָּנִים, must therefore be He by whom God both sees and is seen. The latter is in not a few places of the New Testament most clearly declared regarding the Son of God. See Matthew 11:27; John 1:18 (comp. John 6:46; 1 John 4:12; 1 Timothy 6:16); John 12:45; John 14:9. But the other idea also, that God sees through Him who is His פָּנִים, face, appears from this, that not only is creation effected by Him, but also the conservation of things created (Colossians 1:16-17), the visitation, sustentation, direction and redemption of the world. And in this Mediator is the name of God. For what God is, expresses itself in Him. We should not know that God is, and what God is, if the Mediator did not reveal it. But in the Old Covenant this face of God has not become manifest in His full equality with God, and yet at the same time in His distinction from Him. The knowledge of this mystery was reserved for the New Covenant. Nevertheless the light of the relation of the Trinity breaks through even in the Old Testament in traces here and there. In the form of an angel and under the name of angel He appears in the Old Covenant, who in the New has appeared as the Son of man. There was for Him in the Old Covenant no other form of manifestation. But He is so characterized that we can distinguish Him readily from common angels. This is, in brief, my unpretending view of this subject. אהבה is the positive, fundamental notion, חמלה (only here in Isaiah, comp. Genesis 19:16) is the negative, accessory notion. For it denotes forbearance, refraining from the right of punishing (comp. Isaiah 9:18; Isaiah 30:14). The sentence וינטלם וגו׳ seems to state that this bearing and carrying maternal love of God lasted not merely during the period of the deliverance from Egypt, but during the whole time that, from the standpoint of the Prophet, belonged to the days long gone by. This is seen from Isaiah 63:10 sqq., where the so oft-repeated, alternating relation of apostasy, punishment and return to God is comprehensively depicted. For during the whole time which passed between the Egyptian and the Babylonian captivity, what in Isaiah 63:10 sqq. is described was repeated. מָרוּ and עִצְּבוּ have both רוח for their object (comp. Isaiah 3:8 and Ephesians 4:30). They were rebellious against and grieved the Holy Spirit by resisting the drawings of His grace and by offending His holy nature with doing evil. The expression רוח קדשׁ occurs in the Old Testament besides here and Isaiah 63:11 only further in Psalms 51:13. The adjective קָדוֹשׁ is never joined with רוּחַ. The necessary consequence of resisting the Holy Spirit is that the Lord too is changed into an adversary of him who resists Him. הוא stands emphatically before נלחס־בם: How dreadful it is to have Him as an adversary!

4. Then He remembered—glorious name, Isaiah 63:11-14. Jehovah’s being their enemy brought so many evils on the people that they out of the depths of the last and greatest distress long earnestly for the restoration of the old friendship. The question: Where is He that brought them up?etc., can come only from the mouth of the people. For this reason the subject of ויזכר can only be עַמּו not Moses or the indefinite “they” (German man). The people remembered the old days of Moses, i.e. the days when Moses led the people and procured for them the wonderful manifestations of the favor of God. The accumulation of substantives in the genitive characterizes the language of Isaiah; at all events, this form of expression occurs in, no book of the Old Testament so frequently and in such intensity as in Isaiah. Comp. Isaiah 18:1, where two words follow in the construct state. There are three such words in Isaiah 13:4; Isaiah 28:1; four in Isaiah 10:12; five in Isaiah 21:17. Comp. Ewald, § 291 a.—[Dr. Naegelsbach (see under Text, and Gram.) would drop the suffix in המעלם, and would render: “Where is He that brought up out of the sea the shepherd of His flock?” The sea here is the Nile, and the shepherd, Moses; and the fact referred to, the deliverance of Moses when an infant from drowning. But this view is exposed to obvious and insuperable objections. Delitzsch refers the suffix in המעלם to the forefathers of Israel, takes אֵת as=una cum, and is disposed to read רעֵי, which is strongly attested, instead of the singular. By the shepherds of the flock he understands Moses and Aaron with Miriam, Ps. 77:21; Micah 6:4. If we, with the E. V., regard God as the subject of “remembered,” then it is better, with Kay, to put a full stop at “people,” and omit the word “saying,” and regard the appeal that follows as made by the Prophet in the people’s name. It is unsuitable to put it in the mouth of Jehovah. Against making עַמּו the subject of ויזכר, the remoteness of its position is an obvious objection. Such an asyndeton as that in מֹשֶׁה עַמּוֹ is of frequent occurrence, and, on the whole, the rendering of the E. V., if we only strike out the supplied word saying, is the most obvious and natural.—D. M.] God gave Moses His Holy Spirit, and with Him the gift to perform miracles, and to lead and teach the people (comp. Numbers 11:17).—[But the suffix in בקרבו refers to עם, the people, and not to Moses alone.—D. M.]—The beginning of Isaiah 63:12 is literally rendered: who made the arm of His glory to go at the right hand of Moses. The most remarkable effect of this was the dividing of the water before them, the Israelites (properly away from the face of them, so that the waters went out of the way). Hitzig, Umbreit, Knobel, understand the words of the water from the rock (Exodus 17:5 sqq.). But this event, as belonging to a later time, could not well be placed before the passage through the Red Sea. Moreover, בקע is especially employed of this dividing of the waves of the sea, Exodus 14:21; Psalms 78:13; Nehemiah 9:11. These great and wonderful deeds of God had the design to make known, first to the people of Israel, and then to other nations also, the name of Jehovah, i. e. the nature of that God who is called Jehovah; and thus to bring them to the knowledge of His exclusive Godhead (Nehemiah 9:10; Isaiah 55:13; Isaiah 63:14). The depths, Isaiah 63:13, are plainly the depths of the Red Sea (not of the Jordan, as Knobel thinks).—[This is clear from comparing Psalms 106:9.—D. M.]—One might suppose that Israel would have trodden with trembling, uncertain steps the strange way over the bottom of the sea on which human foot was never set, with the walls of the standing waters on the right hand and on the left. But it was not so. Rapidly and surely, as the desert horse goes over the flat, smooth desert, without tottering, so did they march over that strange, perilous road. The Israelites are the subject of יכשׁלו The image of the cattle descending into the valley is very appropriate for marking the arrival of the Israelites in the promised land after the journeying in the desert. For the dry, stony deserts through which Israel had to march were really higher than the fertile regions watered by the Nile and the Jordan. It seems to me, too, that the Prophet here thinks of the herds of Nomades that must cross a mountain range or a plateau in order to reach regions rich in pasture. Just so the Spirit of the Lord, who by means of the leaders directed the march of Israel, brought the people to rest. The Prophet could justly designate the arrival of Israel in Palestine after the long journeying as an attaining to rest. The same thing had been said before (Deuteronomy 12:9; Joshua 1:13; Joshua 21:44; Joshua 22:4; Joshua 23:1; Psalms 95:11; comp. Hebrews 3:11; Hebrews 3:18; Hebrews 4:1; Hebrews 4:3; Hebrews 4:9). The last sentence of Isaiah 63:14 is a recapitulation. כֵּן refers to all that goes before, and the words to make thyself a glorious name declare that the design of the Lord was not merely to confer a benefit on the Israelites of that time, but to prepare the way for the knowledge and acknowledgment of His name among all nations and to all times (Isaiah 63:12).

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. On Isaiah 63:7. [“God does good because He is good; what He bestows upon us must be run up to the original, it is according to His mercies, not according to our merits, andaccording to the multitude of His loving-kindnesses, which can never be spent. Thus we should magnify God’s goodness, and speak honorably of it, not only when we plead it (as David Psalms 51:1), but when we praise it.” Henry. D. M.].

2. On Isaiah 63:9. The angel of the face or presence belongs to “the deep things of God" (1 Corinthians 2:10). It is not right to imagine that a certain and exhaustive knowledge is possible in reference to these things. The humility which becomes even science, imposes on it the duty to write everywhere a non liquet, where, through the nature of things, limits are placed to human knowledge. Not to regard these limitations is the manner of the pseudo-scientific, immodest scholasticism. What, therefore, we have said regarding the angel of the face makes no higher pretension than that of a modest hypothesis. [Comp. in Hengstenberg’s Christology, Vol. Isaiah 1:0 : The Angel of the Lord in the books of Moses and in the book of Joshua.—D. M.].

3. On Isaiah 63:10. “There are two ways in which the Holy Ghost is offended or vexed. One way is of a less dreadful nature. It is when a man takes from the Holy Spirit the opportunity to work in the soul for its joy, as He is wont to communicate to it His gracious influence and His gracious operations. When such is the case, then as an offended friend when He perceives that no heed is given to most of His counsels, the Holy Spirit is grieved, and, although reluctantly, ceases for a time to advise the stubborn, ut carendo discat quantum peccaverit. Of this kind of grieving Paul speaks Ephesians 4:30. It can be committed by the godly and the elect. But the Holy Spirit can be offended and vexed in a gross and flagitious way, when one not only does not believe and follow Him, but also obstinately resists Him, despises all His counsel, reviles and blasphemes Him, will none of His reproof (Proverbs 1:24-25), gives the lie to His truth, and so speaks against the sun… This the Scripture calls ἀντιπίπτειν (Acts 7:51), ἐνυβρίζειν (Hebrews 10:29), βλασφημεῖν (Matthew 12:31), θεομαχεῖν (Acts 5:39). Let us, therefore, not grieve the Holy Spirit with evil desires, words and deeds, that we may be able on the future day of redemption to show that seal uninjured with which we were sealed on that day of our redemption when we were regenerated. To this end let us assiduously breathe forth the prayers of David Psalms 143:10; Psalms 51:12-14.” Leigh.

4. On Isaiah 63:10. [They rebelled and vexed His Holy Spirit. This statement implies the personality of the Holy Ghost, or the Spirit of God’s holiness. He is represented as a person whom we can grieve. We have in this passage clear indications of the doctrine of the Trinity. In Isaiah 63:9 we have the Angel of God’s face, and in Isaiah 63:10 we have the Spirit of His holiness, both clearly distinguished from God the fountain of their being.—D. M.].

5. On Isaiah 63:11. “Faith asks after God and so does unbelief, but in different ways. Both put the question, Where? Faith does it to seek God in time of need, and to tell Him trustfully of His old kindnesses. Unbelief does it to tempt God, to deny Him, to lead others into temptation, and to make them doubt regarding the divine presence and providence. Therefore it asks: “Where is the God of judgment” (Malachi 2:17)? “Where is now thy God "(Psalms 42:4; Psalms 42:11; Psalms 79:10; Psalms 115:2)? If you, as the praying Church here does, ask in the former manner diligently after God, you will be preserved from the other kind of asking.” Leigh.

6. On Isaiah 63:15. “Meritum meum miseratio Domini. Non sum meriti inops, quando ille miserationum Dominus non defuerit, et si misericordiae Domini multae, multus ego sum in meritis.” Augustine.

7. On Isaiah 63:16. “We can from this sentence [?] cogently refute the doctrine of the invocation of the Saints. For the Saints know nothing of us, and are not personally acquainted with us, much less can they know the concerns of our hearts, or hear our cry, for they are not omnipresent. If it be alleged that God makes matters known to them and that they then pray for us, what a round-about business this would be! It would justify the prayer said to have been made by a simple man: “Ah Lord God! tell it, I beseech thee, to the blessed Mary that I have told thee to tell it again to her, that she should tell thee that I have wished to say to her by so many Ave Marias and Pater Nosters, that she should say to thee to be pleased to be gracious unto me.” Meyer, de Rosariis, cap. III., thes. V., p. 52). With how much more brevity and efficacy do we pray with the penitent publican: God be merciful to me, a sinner! ”Leigh.

8. On Isaiah 63:17. “There is no more heinous sin than to accuse God of being the cause of our sin. Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God (James 1:13; Psalms 5:5; Deuteronomy 32:4; Ps. 92:16). He commands what is good, forbids and punishes what is evil. How then could He be the cause of it? But when He punishes sin with sin, i.e., when He at last withdraws from the sinner His grace that has been persistently despised, then He acts as a righteous Judge who inflicts the judgment of hardening the heart on those who wilfully resist His Spirit.” Leigh.

9. On Isaiah 66:0 [“This chapter is a model of affectionate and earnest entreaty for the divine interposition in the day of calamity. With such tender and affectionate earnestness may we learn to plead with God! Thus may all His people learn to approach Him as a Father; thus feel that they have the inestimable privilege in the times of trial of making known their wants to the High and Holy One. Thus when calamity presses on us; when as individuals or families we are afflicted; or when our country or the church is suffering under long trials, may we go to God, and humbly confess our sins, and urge His promises, and take hold of His strength, and plead with Him to interpose. Thus pleading, He will hear us; thus presenting our cause, He will interpose to save us.” Barnes. D. M.].

10. On Isaiah 64:3-4 a. [4, 5 a]. The God who appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, called Moses, and led by him the people of Israel out of Egypt, who chose Joshua, Samuel, David and others to be His servants and glorified Himself by them, this God alone has shown Himself to be the true and living God, and we can hope from Him that He will yet do more, and manifest Himself still more signally.

11. On Isaiah 64:4 [5]. [“Note what God expects from us in order to our having communion with Him. First, We must make conscience of doing our duty in everything, we must work righteousness, must do that which is good, and which the Lord our God requires of us, and must do it well. Secondly, We must be cheerful in doing our duty; we must rejoice and work righteousness, must delight ourselves in God and His law, must be pleasant in His service and sing at our work. God loves a cheerful giver, a cheerful worshipper; we must serve the Lord with gladness. Thirdly, We must conform ourselves to all the methods of His providence concerning us, and be suitably affected with them; must remember Him in Hisways, in all the ways wherein He walks, whether He walks towards us, or walks contrary to us; we must mind Him, and make mention of Him, with thanksgiving, when His ways are ways of mercy, for in a day of prosperity we mustbe joyful, with patience and submission when He contends with us, for in a day of adversity we must consider.” Henry. D. M.].

12. On Isaiah 64:7 [8]. [“This whole verse is an acknowledgment of the sovereignty of God. It expresses the feeling which all have when under conviction of sin, and when they are sensible that they are exposed to the divine displeasure for their transgressions. Then they feel that if they are to be saved, it must be by the mere Sovereignty of God; and they implore His interposition to ‘mould and guide them at His will.’ It may be added, that it is only when sinners have this feeling that they hope for relief; and then they will feel that if they are lost, it will be right; if saved, it will be because God moulds them as the potter does the clay.” Barnes. D. M.].

HOMILETICAL HINTS

1. On Isaiah 63:7. Text for a Thanksgiving Sermon. What is our duty after that the Lord has shown us great loving kindness? 1) To remember what He has done to us. 2) To be mindful of what we ought to render to Him for the same.

2. On Isaiah 63:8-17. The history of the people of Israel a mirror in which we too may perceive the history of our relation to God. 1) God is to us from the beginning a loving and faithful Father (Isaiah 63:8-9). 2) We repay His love with ingratitude, as Israel did (Isaiah 63:10 a). 3) God punishes us for this as He punished Israel (Isaiah 63:10 b). 4) God receives us again to His favor when we, as Israel, call on Him in penitence (Isaiah 63:11-17).

On Isaiah 63:7-17. “If God in Christ has become our Father, He remains our Father to all eternity. 1) He is our Father in Christ. 2) He abides faithful even when we waIsa Isaiah 63:3) When we have fallen, His arms still stand open to receive us.” Deichert in Manch. G. u. ein Geist, 1868, page 65.

4. On Isaiah 64:5-7. Joh. Ben. Carpzov has a sermon on this text, in which he treats of righteousness, and shows 1) justitiam salvantem, i. e., the righteousness with which one enters the kingdom of heaven; 2) justitiam damnantem, i. e., the righteousness with which a man enters the fire of hell; 3) justitiam testantem, i. e., the righteousness by which a man testifies that he has attained the true righteousness.

5. On Isaiah 64:6-9. “Let us hear from our text an earnest and affecting confession of sin, and at the same time consider 1) the doctrine of repentance; 2) the comfort of forgiveness which believers receive.”—Eichhorn.

6. On Isaiah 64:6. (We all do fade, etc.) “These are very instructive words, from which we learn what a noxious plant sin is, and what fruit it brings forth. First, says he, we fade as a leaf. This means that sin brings with it the curse of God, and deprives us of His blessing both for the body and the soul, so that the heart is dissatisfied and distressed. Then it robs us of the highest treasure, confidence in the grace of God. For sin and an evil conscience awaken dread of God. As it is impossible to call upon God aright without faith and a sure persuasion of His aid, it follows that sin hinders prayer also, and thus robs us of the highest comfort. When men have no faith and cannot pray, then the awful punishment comes upon them, that God hides His face and leaves them to pine in their sins. For they cannot help themselves, and have lost the consolation and protection which they need in life.”—Veit Diet.

Footnotes:

[5]Then kit people remembered the old days of Moses.

[6]brought up out of the sea the shepherd of his flock.

[7]Or, shepherds.

[8]that put at the right hand of Moses his glorious arm.