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Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
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Matthew Henry |
I S A I A H.
CHAP. XLIII.
The contents of this chapter are much the same with those of the
foregoing chapter, looking at the release of the Jews out of their
captivity, but looking through that, and beyond that, to the great work
of man’s redemption by Jesus Christ, and the grace of the gospel, which
through him believers partake of. Here are,
I. Precious promises made to God’s people in their affliction, of his
presence with them, for their support under it, and their deliverance
out of it,
II. A challenge to idols to vie with the omniscience and omnipotence of
God,
III. Encouragement given to the people of God to hope for their
deliverance out of Babylon, from the consideration of what God did for
their fathers when he brought them out of Egypt,
IV. A method taken to prepare the people for their deliverance, by
putting them in mind of their sins, by which they had provoked God to
send them into captivity and continue them there, that they might
repent and seek to God for pardoning mercy,
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1 But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and
he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed
thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.
2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee;
and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou
walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall
the flame kindle upon thee.
3 For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy
Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for
thee.
4 Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been
honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for
thee, and people for thy life.
5 Fear not: for I am with thee: I will bring thy seed from
the east, and gather thee from the west;
6 I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not
back: bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of
the earth;
7 Even every one that is called by my name: for I have
created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made
him.
This chapter has a plain connexion with the close of the foregoing
chapter, but a very surprising one. It was there said that Jacob and
Israel would not walk in God’s ways, and that when he corrected them
for their disobedience they were stubborn and laid it not to heart; and
now one would think it should have followed that God would utterly
abandon and destroy them; but no, the next words are, But now, fear
not, O Jacob! O Israel! I have redeemed thee, and thou art mine.
Though many among them were untractable and incorrigible, yet God would
continue his love and care for his people, and the body of that nation
should still be reserved for mercy. God’s goodness takes occasion from
man’s badness to appear so much the more illustrious. Where sin
abounded, grace did much more abound
(Rom. v. 20),
and mercy rejoices against judgment, as having prevailed and
carried the day,
Now the sun, breaking out thus of a sudden from behind a thick and dark
cloud, shines the brighter, and with a pleasing surprise. The
expressions of God’s favour and good-will to his people here are very
high, and speak abundance of comfort to all the spiritual seed of
upright Jacob and praying Israel; for to us is this gospel preached
as well as unto those that were captives in Babylon,
Here we have,
I. The grounds of God’s care and concern for his people and the
interests of his church and kingdom among men. Jacob and Israel, though
in a sinful miserable condition, shall be looked after; for,
1. They are God’s workmanship, created by him unto good works,
Eph. ii. 10.
He has created them and formed them, not only given them a being, but
this being, formed them into a people, constituted their government,
and incorporated them by the charter of his covenant. The new creature,
wherever it is, is of God’s forming, and he will not forsake the
work of his own hands.
2. They are the people of his purchase: he has redeemed them. Out of
the land of Egypt he first redeemed them, and out of many another
bondage, in his love, and in his pity
(ch. lxiii. 9);
much more will he take care of those who are redeemed with the blood of
his Son.
3. They are his peculiar people, whom he has distinguished from others,
and set apart for himself: he has called them by name, as those he has
a particular intimacy with and concern for, and they are his, are
appropriated to him and he has a special interest in them.
4. He is their God in covenant
(v. 3):
I am the Lord thy God, worshipped by thee and engaged by promise
to thee, the Holy One of Israel, the God of Israel; for the true
God is a holy one, and holiness becomes his house. And upon all these
accounts he might justly say, Fear not
(v. 1),
and again
v. 5,
Fear not. Those that have God for them need not fear who or what
can be against them.
II. The former instances of this care.
1. God has purchased them dearly: I gave Egypt for thy ransom;
for Egypt was quite laid waste by one plague after another, all their
first-born were slain and all their men of war drowned; and all this to
force a way for Israel’s deliverance from them. Egypt shall be
sacrificed rather than Israel shall continue in slavery, when the time
has come for their release. The Ethiopians had invaded them in Asa’s
time; but they shall be destroyed rather than Israel shall be
disturbed. And if this was reckoned so great a thing, to give Egypt for
their ransom, what reason have we to admire God’s love to us in giving
his own Son to be a ransom for us!
1 John iv. 10.
What are Ethiopia and Seba, all their lives and all their treasures,
compared with the blood of Christ?
2. He had prized them accordingly, and they were very dear to him
(v. 4):
Since thou hast been precious in my sight thou hast been
honourable. Note, True believers are precious in God’s sight; they
are his jewels, his peculiar treasure
(Exod. xix. 5);
he loves them, his delight is in them, above any people. His church is
his vineyard. And this makes God’s people truly honourable, and their
name great; for men are really what they are in God’s eye. When the
forces of Sennacherib, that they might be diverted from falling upon
Israel, were directed by Providence to fall upon Egypt, Ethiopia, and
Seba, then God gave those countries for Israel, and showed how precious
his people were in his sight. So so me understand it.
III. The further instances God would yet give them of his care and
kindness.
1. He would be present with them in their greatest difficulties and
dangers
(v. 2):
“When thou passest through the waters and the rivers, through
the fire and the flame, I will be with thee, and that shall be
thy security; when dangers are very imminent and threatening, thou
shalt be delivered out of them.” Did they, in their journey, pass
through deep water? They should not perish in them: “The rivers
shall not overflow thee.” Should they by their persecutors be cast
into a fiery furnace, for their constant adherence to their God, yet
then the flame should not kindle upon them, which was fulfilled in the
letter in the wonderful preservation of the three children,
Though they went through fire and water, which would be to them as the
valley of the shadow of death, yet, while they had God with
them, they need fear no evil, they should be borne up, and brought
out into a wealthy place,
Ps. lxvi. 12.
2. He would still, when there was occasion, make all the interests of
the children of men give way to the interests of his own children:
“I will give men for thee, great men, mighty men, and men of
war, and people (men by wholesale) for thy life. Nations
shall be sacrificed to thy welfare.” All shall be cut off rather than
God’s Israel shall, so precious are they in his sight. The affairs of
the world shall all be ordered and directed so as to be most for the
good of the church,
3. Those of them that were scattered and dispersed in other nations
should all be gathered in and share in the blessings of the public,
Some of the seed of Israel were dispersed into all countries, east,
west, north, and south, or into all the parts of the country of
Babylon; but those whose spirits God stirred up to go to Jerusalem
should be fetched in from all parts; divine grace should reach those
that lay most remote, and at the greatest distance from each other;
and, when the time should come, nothing should prevent their coming
together to return in a body, in answer to that prayer
(Ps. cvi. 47),
Gather us from among the heathen, and in performance of that
promise
(Deut. xxx. 4),
If any of thine be driven to the utmost parts of heaven, thence will
the Lord thy God gather thee, which we find pleaded on behalf of
the children of the captivity,
But who are the seed of Israel that shall be thus carefully gathered
in? He tells us
(v. 7)
they are such as God has marked for mercy; for,
(1.) They are called by his name; they make profession of religion, and
are distinguished from the rest of the world by their covenant-relation
to God and denomination from him.
(2.) They are created for his glory; the spirit of Israelites is
created in them, and they are formed according to the will of God, and
these shall be gathered in. Note, Those only are fit to be called by
the name of God that are created by his grace for his glory; and those
whom God has created and called shall be gathered in now to Christ as
their head and hereafter to heaven as their home. He shall gather
in his elect from the four winds. This promise points at the
gathering in of the dispersed of the Gentiles, and the strangers
scattered, by the gospel of Christ, who died to gather together in
one the children of God that were scattered abroad; for the promise
was to all that were afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall
call and create. God is with the church, and therefore let her not
fear; none that belong to her shall be lost.
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8 Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf
that have ears.
9 Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people
be assembled: who among them can declare this, and show us former
things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be
justified: or let them hear, and say, It is truth.
10 Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I
have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that
I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there
be after me.
11 I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no
saviour.
12 I have declared, and have saved, and I have showed, when
there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my
witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God.
13 Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none
that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let
it?
God here challenges the worshippers of idols to produce such proofs of
the divinity of their false gods as even this very instance (to go no
further) of the redemption of the Jews out of Babylon furnished the
people of Israel with, to prove that their God is the true and living
God, and he only.
I. The patrons of idolatry are here called to appear, and say what they
have to say in defence of their idols,
Their gods have eyes and see not, ears and hear not, and those
that make them and trust in them are like unto them; so David had said
(Ps. cxv. 8),
to which the prophet seems here to refer when he calls idolaters
blind people that have eyes, and deaf people that have ears.
They have the shape, capacities, and faculties, of men; but they are,
in effect, destitute of reason and common sense, or they would never
worship gods of their own making. “Let all the nations therefore be
gathered together, let them help one another, and with a combined
force plead the cause of their dunghill gods; and, if they have nothing
to say in their own justification, let them hear what the God of Israel
has to say for their conviction and confutation.”
II. God’s witnesses are subpoenaed, or summoned to appear, and give in
evidence for him
(v. 10):
“You, O Israelites! all you that are called by my name,
you are all my witnesses, and so is my servant whom I have
chosen.” It was Christ himself that was so described
(ch. xlii. 1),
My servant and my elect. Observe,
1. All the prophets that testified to Christ, and Christ himself, the
great prophet, are here appealed to as God’s witnesses.
(1.) God’s people are witnesses for him, and can attest, upon their own
knowledge and experience, concerning the power of his grace, the
sweetness of his comforts, the tenderness of his providence, and the
truth of his promise. They will be forward to witness for him that he
is gracious and that no word of his has fallen to the ground.
(2.) His prophets are in a particular manner witnesses for him, with
whom his secret is, and who know more of him than others do. But the
Messiah especially is given to be a witness for him to the people;
having lain in his bosom from eternity, he has declared him. Now,
2. Let us see what the point is which these witnesses are called to
prove
(v. 12):
You are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God. Note, Those
who do themselves acknowledge that the Lord is God should be ready to
testify what they know of him to others, that they also may be brought
to the acknowledgement of it. I believed, therefore have I
spoken. Particularly, “Since you cannot but know, and believe, and
understand, you must be ready to bear record,
(1.) That I am he, the only true God, that I am a being self-existent
and self-sufficient; I am he whom you are to fear, and worship, and
trust in. Nay
(v. 13),
before the day was (before the first day of time, before the
creation of the light, and, consequently, from eternity) I am
he.” The idols were but of yesterday, new gods that came newly
up
but the God of Israel was from everlasting.
(2.) That there was no God formed before me, nor shall be after
me. The idols were gods formed (dii facti–made gods, or
rather fictitii–fictitious); by nature they were no
gods,
Gal. iv. 8.
But God has a being from eternity, yea, and a religion in this world
before there were either idols or idolaters (truth is more ancient than
error); and he will have a being to eternity, and will be worshipped
and glorified when idols are famished and abolished and idolatry shall
be no more. True religion will keep its ground, and survive all
opposition and competition. Great is the truth, and will
prevail.
(3.) That I, even I, am the Lord, the great Jehovah, who is, and
was, and is to come; and besides me there is no Saviour,
v. 11.
See what it is that the great God glories in, not so much that he is
the only ruler as that he is the only Saviour; for he delights to do
good: he is the Saviour of all men,
1 Tim. iv. 10.
3. Let us see what the proofs are which are produced for the
confirmation of this point. It appears,
(1.) That the Lord is God, by two proofs:
[1.] He has an infinite and infallible knowledge, as is evident from
the predictions of his word
(v. 12):
“I have declared and I have shown that which has without fail
come to pass; nay, I never declared nor showed any thing but it has
been accomplished. I showed when there was no strange god among
you, that is, when you pretended not to consult any oracles but
mine, nor to have any prophets but mine.” It is said, when they came
out of Egypt, that the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no
strange god with him.
[2.] He has an infinite and irresistible power, as is evident from the
performances of his providence. He pleads not only, I have
shown, but, I have saved, not only foretold what none
else could foresee, but done what none else could do; for
(v. 13),
“None can deliver out of my hand those whom I will punish; not
only no man can, but none of all the gods of the heathen can protect.”
It is therefore a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living
God, because there is no getting out of them again. “I will work
what I have designed, both in mercy and judgment, and who shall either
oppose or retard it?”
(2.) That the gods of the heathen, who are rivals with him, are not
only inferior to him, but no gods at all, which is proved
(v. 9)
by a challenge: Who among them can declare this that I now
declare? Who can foretel things to come? Nay, which of them can
show us former things?
ch. xli. 22.
They cannot so much as inspire an historian, much less a prophet. They
are challenged to join issue upon this: Let them bring forth their
witnesses, to prove their omniscience and omnipotence. And,
[1.] If they do prove them, they shall be justified, the idols in
demanding homage and the idolaters in paying it.
[2.] If they do not prove them, let them say, It is truth; let
them own the true God, and receive the truth concerning him, that he is
God alone. The cause of God is not afraid to stand a fair trial; but it
may reasonably be expected that those who cannot justify themselves in
their irreligion should submit to the power of the truth and true
religion.
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14 Thus saith the LORD, your redeemer, the Holy One of Israel;
For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and have brought down all
their nobles, and the Chaldeans, whose cry is in the ships.
15 I am the LORD, your Holy One, the creator of Israel, your
King.
16 Thus saith the LORD, which maketh a way in the sea, and a
path in the mighty waters;
17 Which bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the
power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they
are extinct, they are quenched as tow.
18 Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the
things of old.
19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth;
shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness,
and rivers in the desert.
20 The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the
owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in
the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen.
21 This people have I formed for myself; they shall show forth
my praise.
To so low an ebb were the faith and hope of God’s people in Babylon
brought that there needed line upon line to assure them that they
should be released out of their captivity; and therefore, that they
might have strong consolation, the assurances of it are often repeated,
and here very expressly and encouragingly.
I. God here takes to himself such titles of his honour as were very
encouraging to them. He is the Lord their Redeemer, not only he
will redeem them, but will take it upon him as his office and make it
his business to do so. If he be their God, he will be all that to them
which they need, and therefore, when they are in bondage, he will be
their Redeemer. He is the Holy One of Israel
(v. 14),
and again
(v. 15),
their Holy One, and therefore will make good every word he has
spoken to them. He is the Creator of Israel, that made them a
people out of nothing (for that is creation), nay, worse than nothing;
and he is their King, that owns them as his people and presides
among them.
II. He assures them he will find out a way to break the power of their
oppressors that held them captives and filled up the measure of their
own iniquity by their resolution never to let them go,
God will take care to send a victorious prince and army to Babylon,
that shall bring down all their nobles, and lay their honour in
the dust, and all their people too, even the Chaldeans, whose cry is
in the ships (for seamen are apt to be noisy), or whose cry is
to the ships, as their refuge when the city is taken, that they
may escape by the benefit of their great river. Note, The destruction
of Babylon must make way for the enlargement of God’s people. And in
the prediction of the fall of the New-Testament Babylon we meet with
the cries and lamentations of the sailors,
And observe, It is for Israel’s sake that Babylon is ruined, to make
way for their deliverance.
III. He reminds them of the great things he did for their fathers when
he brought them out of the land of Egypt; for so it may be read
(v. 16, 17):
“Thus saith the Lord, who did make a way in the sea, the Red
Sea, and did bring forth Pharaoh’s chariot and horse,
that they might lie down together in the bottom of the sea, and never
rise, but be extinct. He that did this can, if he please, make a way
for you in the sea when you return out of Babylon, and will do so
rather than leave you there.” Note, For the encouragement of our faith
and hope, it is good for us often to remember what God has done
formerly for his people against his and their enemies. Think
particularly what he did at the Red Sea, how he made it,
1. A road to his people, a straight way, a near way, nay, a refuge to
them, into which they fled and were safe the waters being a wall unto
them.
2. A grave to his enemies. The chariot and horse were drawn out by him
who is Lord of all hosts, on purpose that they might fall together;
howbeit, they meant not so,
Mic. iv. 11, 12.
IV. He promises to do yet greater things for them than he had done in
the days of old; so that they should not have reason to ask, in a way
of complaint, as Gideon did, Where are all the wonders that our
fathers told us of? for they should see them repeated, nay, they
should see them outdone
(v. 18):
“Remember not the former things, from them to take occasion, as
some do, to undervalue the present things, as if the former days
were better than these; no, you may, if you will, comparatively
forget them, and yet know enough by the events of your own day to
convince you that the Lord is God alone; for, behold, the Lord will
do a new thing, no way inferior, both for the wonder and the worth
of the mercy, to the things of old.” The best exposition of this is,
Jer. xvi. 14, 15; xxiii. 7, 8.
It shall no more be said, The Lord liveth that brought up the
children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; that is an old thing,
the remembrance of which will be in a manner lost in the new thing, in
the new proof that the Lord liveth, for he brought up the children
of Israel out of the land of the north. Though former mercies must
not be forgotten, fresh mercies must in a special manner be improved.
Now it springs forth, as it were a surprise upon you; you are
like those that dream. Shall you now know it? And will you not
own God’s hand in it?
V. He promises not only to deliver them out of Babylon, but to conduct
them safely and comfortably to their own land
(v. 19, 20):
I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert;
for, it seems, the way from Babylon to Canaan, as well as from Egypt,
lay through a desert land, which, while the returning captives passed
through, God would provide for them, that their camp should be both
well victualled and under a good conduct. The same power that made a
way in the sea
(v. 16)
can make a way in the wilderness, and will force its passage
through the greatest difficulties. And he that made dry land in the
waters can produce waters in the dryest land, in such abundance as not
only to give drink to his people, his chosen, but to the
beasts of the field, also the dragons and the ostriches,
who are therefore said to honour God for it; it is such a sensible
refreshment, and yields them so much satisfaction, that, if they were
capable of doing it, they would praise God for it, and shame man, who
is made capable of praising his benefactor and does not. Now,
1. This looks back to what God did for Israel when he led them through
the wilderness from Egypt to Canaan, and fetched water out of a rock to
follow them; what God did for them formerly he would do again, for he
is still the same. And, though we do not find that the miracle was
repeated in their return out of Babylon, yet the mercy was, in the
common course of Providence, for which it became them to be no less
thankful to God.
2. It looks forward, not only to all the instances of God’s care of the
Jewish church in the latter ages of it, between their return from
Babylon and the coming of Christ, but to the grace of the gospel,
especially as it is manifested to the Gentile world, by which a way is
opened in the wilderness and rivers in the desert; the world, which lay
like a desert, in ignorance and unfruitfulness, was blessed with divine
direction and divine comforts, and, in order to both, with a plentiful
effusion of the Spirit. The sinners of the Gentiles, who had been as
the beasts of the field, running wild, fierce as the dragons, stupid as
the owls or ostriches, shall be brought to honour God for the extent of
his grace to his chosen among them.
VI. He traces up all these promised blessings to their great original,
the purposes and designs of his own glory
(v. 21):
This people have I formed for myself, and therefore I do all
this for them, that they may show forth my praise. Note,
1. The church is of God’s forming, and so are all the living members of
it. The new heaven, the new earth, the new man, are the work of God’s
hand, and are no more, no better, than he makes them; they are
fashioned according to his will.
2. He forms it for himself. He that is the first cause is the highest
end both of the first and of the new creation. The Lord has made all
things for himself, his Israel especially, to be to him for a
people, and for a name, and for a praise; and no otherwise can they
be for him, or serviceable to him, than as his grace is glorified in
them,
Jer. xiii. 11; Eph. i. 6, 12, 14.
3. It is therefore our duty to show forth his praise, not only with our
lips, but in our lives, by giving up ourselves to his service. As he
formed us, so he feeds us, and keeps us, and leads us, and all for
himself; for every instance therefore of his goodness we must praise
him, else we answer not the end of the beings and blessings we
have.
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22 But thou hast not called upon me, O Jacob; but thou hast
been weary of me, O Israel.
23 Thou hast not brought me the small cattle of thy burnt
offerings; neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices. I
have not caused thee to serve with an offering, nor wearied thee
with incense.
24 Thou hast bought me no sweet cane with money, neither hast
thou filled me with the fat of thy sacrifices: but thou hast made
me to serve with thy sins, thou hast wearied me with thine
iniquities.
25 I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions
for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins.
26 Put me in remembrance: let us plead together: declare thou,
that thou mayest be justified.
27 Thy first father hath sinned, and thy teachers have
transgressed against me.
28 Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and
have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches.
This charge (and a high charge it is which is here exhibited against
Jacob and Israel, God’s professing people) comes in here,
1. To clear God’s justice in bringing them into captivity, and to
vindicate that. Were they not in covenant with him? Had they not his
sanctuary among them? Why then did the Lord deal thus with his
land?
Deut. xxix. 24.
Here is a good reason given: they had neglected God and had cast him
off, and therefore he justly rejected them and gave them to the
curse
(v. 28);
and they must be brought to own this before they are prepared for
deliverance; and they did so,
2. To advance God’s mercy in their deliverance and to make that appear
more glorious. Many things are before observed to magnify the power of
God in it; but this magnifies his goodness, that he should do such
great and kind things for a people that had been so very provoking to
him and were now suffering the just punishment of their iniquity. The
pardoning of their sin was as great an instance of God’s power (for so
Moses reckons it,
&c.) as the breaking of the yoke of their captivity. Now observe
here,
I. What the sins are which they are here charged with.
1. Omissions of the good which God had commanded; and this part of the
charge is here much insisted upon. Observe how it comes in with a
but; compare
where God tells them what favours he had bestowed upon them and what
his just expectations were from them. He had formed them for himself,
intending they should show forth his praise. But they had not done so;
they had frustrated God’s expectations from them, and made very ill
returns to him for his favours. For,
(1.) They had cast off prayer: Thou hast not called upon me, O
Jacob! Jacob was a man famous for prayer
(Hosea xii. 4);
his seed bore his name, but did not tread in his steps, and therefore
are justly upbraided with it. God takes it ill when children degenerate
from the virtue and devotion of their pious ancestors. To boast of the
name of Jacob, and yet live without prayer, is to mock God and deceive
ourselves. If Jacob does not call upon God, who will?
(2.) They had grown weary of their religion: “Thou art Israel, the seed
not only of a praying but of a prevailing father, that was a prince
with God; and yet, not valuing his experiences any more than his
example, thou hast been weary of me.” They had been in relation
to God, employed in his service and in communion with him; but they
began to snuff at it, and to say, Behold, what a weariness is
it! Note, Those who neglect to call upon God do in effect tell him
they are weary of him and have a mind to change their Master.
(3.) They grudged the expense of their devotion, and were niggardly and
penurious in it. They were for a cheap religion; and in those acts of
devotion that were costly they desired to be excused. They had not
brought, no, not their small cattle, the lambs and kids,
which God required for burnt-offerings
(v. 23),
much less did they bring their greater cattle, pretending they could
not spare them, they must have them for the maintenance of their
families. So little sense had they of the greatness of God and their
obligations to him that they could not find in their hearts to part
with a lamb out of their flock for his honour, though he called for it
and would graciously have accepted it. Sweet cane, or
calamus, was used for the holy oil, incense, and perfume; but
they were not willing to be at the charge of that,
What they had must serve, though it was old and good for nothing; they
would not buy fresh. Perhaps it was usual for devout pious persons to
bring free-will incense as well as other free-will offerings; but they
were not so generous, nor did they fill the altar of God, nor moisten
it abundantly, as they should have done, with the fat of their
sacrifices; what sacrifices they did bring were of the lean and
refuse of their cattle, that had no fat in them to regale the altar
with.
(4.) What sacrifices they did offer they did not honour God with them,
and so they were, in effect, as no sacrifices
(v. 23):
Neither hast thou honoured me with thy sacrifices. Some of them
offered their sacrifices to false gods; others, who offered them to the
true God, were either careless in the manner of offering them or
hypocritical in their intentions, so that they might be truly said not
to honour God with them, but rather to dishonour him.
(5.) That which aggravated their neglect of sacrificing was that, as
God had appointed it, it was no burdensome thing; it was not a service
that they had any reason at all to complain of: “I have not caused
thee to serve with an offering; I have not made it a task and
drudgery to you, whatever you, through the corruption of your natures,
have made it yourselves. I have not wearied thee with incense.”
None of God’s commandments are grievous, no, not those concerning
sacrifice and incense. They were not more costly than might be afforded
by those that lived in such a plentiful country, nor did their
attendance on them require any more time than they could well spare.
But that which especially forbade them to call it a wearisome
service was that they were required to be cheerful and pleasant,
and to rejoice before God in all their approaches to him,
They had many feasts and good days, but only one day in all the year in
which they were to afflict their souls. The ordinances of the
ceremonial law, though, in comparison with Christ’s easy yoke, they are
spoken of as heavy
(Acts xv. 10),
yet, in comparison with the service that idolaters did to their false
gods, they were light, and not to be called services nor found
fault with as wearisome. God did not require them to sacrifice their
children, as Moloch did.
2. Commissions of the evil which God had forbidden; and omissions
commonly make way for commissions: Thou hast made me to serve with
thy sins. When we make God’s gifts the food and fuel for our lusts,
and his providence the patron of our wicked projects, especially when
we encourage ourselves to continue in sin because grace has abounded,
then we make God to serve with our sins. Or it may denote what a grief
and burden sin is to God; it not only wearies men and makes the
creation groan, but it wearies my God also
and makes the Creator complain that he is grieved
(Ps. xcv. 10),
that he is broken
(Ezek. vi. 9),
that he is pressed with sinners as a cart is pressed that is full of
sheaves
(Amos ii. 13),
and to cry out, Ah! I will ease me of my adversaries,
ch. i. 24.
The antithesis is observable: God had not made them to serve with their
sacrifices, but they had made him to serve with their sins. The master
had not tired the servants with his commands, but they had tired him
with their disobedience. Those are wicked servants indeed that behave
so ill to so good a Master. God is tender of our comfort, but we are
careless of his honour. Let this engage us to keep close to our
duty, that it is easy and reasonable, and no disparagement to us, nor
too hard for us.
II. What were the aggravations of their sin,
1. That they were children of disobedience; for their first
father (that is, their forefathers) had sinned; and they had
not only sinned in their loins, but sinned like them. Ezra confesses
this: Since the days of our fathers have we been in a great
trespass,
ch. ix. 7.
But their forefathers are called their first father to put us in
mind of the apostasy and rebellion of our first father Adam, to which
corrupt fountain we must trace up the streams of all our
transgressions.
2. That they were scholars of disobedience too: for their teachers
had transgressed against God, were guilty of gross scandalous sins,
and the people, no doubt, would learn to do as they did. It is ill with
a people when their leaders cause them to err, and their teachers, who
should reform them, corrupt them.
III. What were the tokens of God’s displeasure against them for their
sins,
He brought ruin both upon church and state.
1. The honour of their church was laid in the dust and trampled on:
I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, that is, the
priests and Levites who presided with great dignity and power in the
temple-service; they profaned themselves, and made themselves vile, by
their enormities, and then God profaned them and made them vile, by
their calamities and the contempt they fell into,
2. The honour of their state was ruined likewise: “I have given
Jacob to the curse, that is, to be cursed, and hated, and abused by
all their neighbours, and Israel to reproach, to be insulted,
ridiculed, and triumphed over by their enemies.” They reproached them
perhaps for that in them that was good; they mocked at their
sabbaths
(Lam. i. 7);
but God gave them up to reproach, to correct them for what was amiss.
Note, The dishonour which men at any time do us should humble us for
the dishonour we have done to God; and we must bear it patiently
because we suffer it justly, and must acknowledge that to us belongs
confusion.
IV. What were the riches of God’s mercy towards them notwithstanding
(v. 25):
I even I, am he who notwithstanding all this blotteth out thy
transgressions.
1. This gracious declaration of God’s readiness to pardon sin comes in
very strangely. The charge ran very high: Thou hast wearied me with
thy iniquities,
v. 24.
Now one would think it would follow: “I, even I, am he that will
destroy thee, and burden myself no longer with care about thee.” No,
I, even I, am he that will forgive thee; as if the great God
would teach us that forgiving injuries is the best way to make
ourselves easy and to keep ourselves from being wearied with them. This
comes in here to encourage them to repent, because there is forgiveness
with God, and to show the freeness of divine mercy; where sin has been
exceedingly sinful grace appears exceedingly gracious. Apply this,
(1.) To the forgiving of the sins of Israel as a people, in their
national capacity. When God stopped the course of threatening
judgments, and saved them from utter ruin, even then when he had them
under severe rebukes, then he might be said to blot out their
transgressions. Though he corrected them, he was reconciled to them
again, and did not cut them off from being a people. This he did many
a time, till they rejected Christ and his gospel, which was a sin
against the remedy, and then he would forgive them no more as a nation,
but utterly destroyed them.
(2.) To the forgiving of the sins of every particular believing
penitent–transgressions and sins, infirmities though ever so
numerous, backslidings though ever so heinous. Observe here,
[1.] How the pardon is expressed; he will blot them out, as a
cloud is blotted out by the beams of the sun
(ch. xliv. 22),
as a debt is blotted out not to appear against the debtor (the book is
crossed as if the debt were paid, because it is pardoned upon the
payment which the surety has made), or as a sentence is blotted out
when it is reversed, as the curse was blotted out with the waters of
jealousy, which made it of no effect to the innocent,
He will not remember the sin, which intimates not only that he
will remit the punishment of what is past, but that it shall be no
diminution to his love for the future. When God forgives he forgets.
[2.] What is the ground and reason of the pardon. It is not for the
sake of any thing in us, but for his own sake, for his mercies’-sake,
his promise-sake, and especially for his Son’s sake, and that he may
himself be glorified in it.
[3.] How God glories in it: I, even I, am he. He glories in it
as his prerogative. None can forgive sin but God only, and he will do
it; it is his settled resolution. He will do it willingly and with
delight; it is his pleasure; it is his honour; so he is pleased to
reckon it.
2. Those words
(v. 26),
Put me in remembrance, may be understood either
(1.) As a rebuke to a proud Pharisee, that stands upon his own
justification before God, and expects to find favour for his merits and
not to be beholden to free grace: “If you have any thing to say in your
own justification, any thing to offer for the sake of which you should
be pardoned, and not for my sake, put me in remembrance of it. I will
give you leave to plead your own cause with me; declare what your
merits are, that you may be justified by them:” but those who are thus
challenged will be speechless. Or,
(2.) As a publican. Is God thus ready to pardon sin, and, when he
pardons it, will he remember it no more? Let us then put him in
remembrance, mention before him those sins which he has forgiven; for
they must be ever before us, to humble us, though they are pardoned,
Put him in remembrance of the promises he has made to penitents, and
the satisfaction his Son has made for them. Plead these with him in
wrestling for pardon, and declare these things, in order that thou
mayest be justified freely by his grace. This is the only way, and it
is a sure way, to peace. Only acknowledge thy transgression.
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