For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
For as the heavens … – This verse is designed merely to illustrate the idea in the former. There is as great a difference between the plans of God and those of people, as between the heavens and the earth. A similar comparison occurs in Psa 103:11 –
For as the heaven is high alcove the earth,
So great is his mercy toward them that fear him.
Compare Psa 57:10 –
For thy mercy is great unto the heavens,
And thy truth unto the clouds.
Also Psa 89:2 –
Mercy shall be built up forever,
Thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens.
The idea in all these passages is substantially the same – that the mercy and compassion of God are illimitable.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 55:9
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,–
The near and heavenly horizons
I.
THE HEAVENS ARE SO FAR ABOVE THE EARTH, AND THEREFORE SO PURE. By nature, the trend of our thinkings and activities is downward, earthly, sensual, devilish. Hence the awful disparity between the ways and thoughts of God and ours. It is impossible, therefore, for the natural man to understand God, or, to please God. It is impossible, also, for the natural man to live with God for ever, unless the wicked forsake his ways, and the unrighteous man his thoughts.
II. SO FOR, AND THEREFORE SO ABUNDANT. This is the thought which the apostle expands in one of the most glowing passages on the page of revelation (Rom 5:12-21). His point is, that whatever was done by sin, and through sin, must be paralleled and outdone by the grace of God. There is no parallel between our forgiveness and Gods. When God forgives, He ceases to remember; He blots out iniquities as a cloud, and sins as a thick cloud; He does not treat us simply as pardoned criminals, but takes us to His heart as beloved sons, He transforms the sad consequences of our sins into blessings, instead of the thorn comes up the fir-tree, and instead of the briar the myrtle-tree. This surely is as much above mans notions of forgiveness as the heavens are high above the earth
III. SO FAR, AND THEREFORE SO BENEFICENT. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
The transcendent elevation of God
It is a wonderful and beautiful turn which the prophet here gives to the thought of the transcendent elevation of God. The heavens are the very type of the unattainable; and to say that they are higher than the earth, seems, at first sight, to be but to say, No man hath ascended into the heavens, and you sinful men must grovel here down upon your plain, whilst they are far above, out of your reach. But the heavens bend. They are an arch, and not a straight line. They touch the horizon; and there come from them the sweet influences of sunshine and of rain, of dew and of blessing, which bring fertility. So they are not only far and unattainable, but friendly and beneficent, and communicative of good. Like them in true analogy, but yet infinite superiority to the best and noblest in man, is the boundless mercy of our pardoning God. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 9. For as the heavens are higher] I am persuaded that caph, the particle of comparison, is lost in this place, from the likeness of the particle ki, immediately preceding it. So Houbigant and Secker. And their remark is confirmed by all the ancient Versions, which express it; and by the following passage of Ps 103:11, which is almost the same: –
haarets al shamayim chigboah ki
yereaiv al chasdo gabar
“For as the heavens are high above the earth,
So high is his goodness over them that fear him.”
Where, by the nature of the sentence, the verb in the second line ought to be the same with that in the first; gabah, not gabar: so Archbishop Secker conjectured; referring however to Ps 117:2.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Higher than the earth; inexpressibly and infinitely; for the distance between the earth and the highest heavens is unmeasurable by any man upon earth.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. (Psa 57:10;Psa 89:2; Psa 103:11).”For” is repeated from Isa55:8. But MAURER,after the negation, translates, “but.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
For as the heavens, are higher than the earth,…. Than which there cannot be conceived a greater distance:
so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts; which may denote the heavenliness of the ways and thoughts of God, the eternity and unsearchableness of them, and their excellency and preciousness; as well as the very great distance between his ways and thoughts and men’s which this is designed to illustrate.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
9. For as the heavens are higher than the earth. This agrees well with that passage in which David, describing the mercy of God, says, (Psa 103:11) that it is as much more excellent “as the heavens are higher than the earth;” for although the application is different, yet the meaning is the same. In short, God is infinitely compassionate and infinitely ready to forgive; so that it ought to be ascribed exclusively to our unbelief, if we do not obtain pardon from him. (88)
There is nothing that troubles our consciences more than when we think that God is like ourselves; for the consequence is, that we do not venture to approach to him, and flee from him as an enemy, and are never at rest. But they who measure God by themselves as a standard form a false idea and altogether contrary to his nature; and indeed they cannot do him a greater injury than this. Are men, who are corrupted and debased by sinful desires, not ashamed to compare God’s lofty and uncorrupted nature with their own, and to confine what is infinite within those narrow limits by which they feel themselves to be wretchedly restrained? In what prison could any of us be more straightly shut up than in our own unbelief?
This appears to me to be the plain and simple meaning of the Prophet. And yet I do not deny that he alludes, at the same time, to the life of men such as he formerly described it to be. In a word, he means that men must forget themselves, when they wish to be converted to God, and that no obstacle can be greater or more destructive than when we think that God is irreconcilable. We must therefore root out of our minds this false imagination.
Moreover, we learn from it how widely they err who abuse the mercy of God, so as to draw from it greater encouragement to sin. The Prophet reasons thus, “Repent, forsake your ways; for the mercy of God is infinite.” When men despair or doubt as to obtaining pardon, they usually become more hardened and obstinate; but when they feel that God is merciful, this draws and converts them. It follows, therefore, that they who do not cease to live wickedly, and who are not changed in heart, have no share in this mercy.
(88) “Do not think,” saith God, “that what I promise is difficult, and let it not seem incredible to you, that a wicked and unjust man, or the people of the Jews, or all who among the Gentiles knew not God, can be saved. Consider this, that there is a wide difference between your purposes and mine, and that the difference of will is as great as the difference of nature; for there are many thoughts in the heart of a man, but the purpose of the Lord endureth for ever. You, like men who often repent of what they have promised, have thrown down the ancient will, and have set up in its place a modern will. But the thoughts of his heart are from generation to generation, and whatever he hath decreed cannot be changed.” Jerome.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
Isa 55:9 For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Ver. 9. For as the heavens are higher than the earth. ] And that is no small deal; see the note on Psa 103:11-12 . Lo, such is the proportion that my mercy beareth to your mercy, even the very best of you, that the heaven doth to the earth – i.e., that a most vast circumference doth to one little point or centre.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Psa 36:5, Psa 77:19, Psa 89:2, Psa 103:11, Mat 11:25, Rom 11:31-36
Reciprocal: Gen 2:1 – Thus Gen 18:30 – General 1Sa 16:7 – seeth not 2Sa 7:19 – And is this 2Ki 5:11 – Behold 1Ch 17:4 – tell Job 11:8 – It is as high as heaven Job 35:5 – Look Psa 33:11 – thoughts Psa 40:5 – thoughts Psa 65:12 – rejoice Psa 71:19 – Thy righteousness Psa 92:5 – thoughts Psa 108:4 – thy mercy Psa 139:17 – precious Pro 8:12 – I wisdom Pro 15:29 – he heareth Pro 17:15 – that justifieth Pro 21:18 – wicked Pro 25:3 – heaven Ecc 5:2 – for Ecc 7:24 – General Isa 40:28 – no searching Eze 1:18 – they were so Hos 11:9 – for Mat 7:11 – how Luk 19:25 – Lord Joh 3:8 – so Joh 11:6 – he abode Rom 5:15 – But not Eph 3:18 – able