In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.
8. In a little wrath ] In an outbreak of wrath (Heb. sheph qeph). The word sheph is probably another form (chosen for the sake of assonance) of sheph which occurs in Pro 27:4.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
In a little wrath – The Syriac renders this, In great wrath. The Vulgate, In a moment of indignation. The Septuagint, In a little wrath. (Noyes renders it in accordance with the view of Rosenmuller, In overflowing wrath. This variety of interpretation has arisen from the various meanings affixed to the unusual word shetsep. This word occurs nowhere else in the Bible. Gesenius supposes that it is used for the sake of paronomasia with qetsep, wrath, instead of shetep. This word frequently occurs, and means a gushing out, an overflowing, an inundation, a flood Neh 1:8; Job 38:25; Psa 32:6; Pro 27:4. According to this it would mean, in my overflowing anger, in accordance with the expression in Pro 27:4, anger is outrageous, more correctly in the margin, An overflowing. The parallelism, however, seems to demand the sense of short or momentary, as it stands opposed to everlasting. But it is not possible to demonstrate that the Hebrew word has this signification. Rosenmuller agrees with Gesenius in the opinion that it should be rendered In overflowing wrath; and perhaps as the parallelism of the word everlasting will be sufficiently secured by the phrase for a moment, the probability is in favor of this interpretation. Then it will mean that the wrath, though it was but for a moment, was overflowing. It was like a deluge; and all their institutions, their city, their temple, their valued possessions, were swept away.
I hid my face from thee – This is expressive of displeasure (see the note at Isa 53:3; compare Job 13:24; Job 34:29; Psa 30:7; Psa 44:24; Isa 8:17). Here it refers to the displeasure which he had manifested in the punishment which he brought on them in Babylon.
For a moment – (See the note at Isa 54:7). This stands opposed to the everlasting kindness which he would show to them.
But with everlasting kindness – This is true:
1. Of the church at large under the Messiah. It is the object of the unchanging affection and favor of God.
2. Of each individual Christian. He will make him blessed in an eternal heaven.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 54:8
In a little wrath I hid My face from thee
Gods face hidden
To say God hath cast me off because He hath hid His face is a fallacy fetched out of the devils topics.
When the sun is eclipsed, foolish people may think it will never recover light, but wise men know it will. During the eclipse, though the earth wanteth the light of the sun for a time, yet not the influence thereof. (J. Trapp.)
Gods little wrath and Gods great wrath
This precious passage is the property of all true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. We might not have ventured to say this if it were not for the last verse of the chapter, which assures us that it is so. This is the heritage.
I. What the Lord calls His LITTLE WRATH. Let us speak of it and its modifications.
1. Our view of that wrath, and Gods view of it may very greatly differ. To a child of God in a right state even the most modified form of Divine anger is very painful. This pain of heart is a very proper feeling, but it may be perverted by unbelief into the occasion of sin. We may conclude from the chastening rod that the Lord is about to destroy us, though he has plainly said, Fury is not in Me. This dark estimate of our affairs is not Gods view of them. It is but a partial departure under which the saint is suffering; the small moment will soon be over. I will now call your attention to two or three things which should greatly modify the view we take of the hidings of Gods face.
(1) As to time; the time during which our God withdraws Himself is very short: for a moment, He says; but He puts it less than that, For a small moment. Think of how long He has loved us, even from before the foundation of the world! The time in which He hides His face is very short compared with that. Think of how long He will love us: when all this universe shall have subsided into its native nothingness, He will love us for ever! The time during which He chastens us is, compared with that, a very small moment. Think of how long we deserved to have been in hell, to lie for ever beneath His indignation: the little moment in which His heavy hand is upon us is indeed as nothing compared with the eternal misery which our sins have merited. When you come forth from the hiding of His face into the light again, this gloom will seem to have been but a small moment.
(2) The recompense which is promised. With great mercies will I gather thee. The Lord will make up to you all your losses, your crosses, and your chastisements. Gods dealings with us never seem to be so merciful as after a time of trial. The bitterness makes the sweet the sweeter, and the sorrow makes the joy more abounding. The text does not say that God will give us mercy after He has for awhile left us; the word is in the plural, mercies, multitudes of mercies. Nay, it does not merely say mercies, but great mercies, for they are all the greater because we so greatly need them, are plunged in such great distress for want of them, and filled with so many great fears as to our future estate. The Lord not only promises us these great favours, but promises that He Himself will bring them. They are not to be sent to us by angels or by external providences. With great mercies will I gather thee.
(3) The wrath is in itself little.
2. The expression of His little, anger is not after all so extremely severe, for what does it say? I hid My face. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to cut off the remembrance of, them from the earth, but our text does not say, I turned My face against thee, but only, I hid My face from thee. This is painful, but still there is this sweet reflection–why does He hide His face? It is because the sight of it would be pleasant to us. It is a face of love; for if it were a face of anger He would not need to hide it from His erring child. If it were an angry face, and He wished to chasten us, He would unveil it; therefore, we may be sure that He covers it because it is so bright with everlasting love that if it could be seen no chastisement would be felt by us.
3. Observe, too, for we must not leave out a word here, that this little wrath is perfectly consistent with everlasting love. In a little wrath I hid My face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee. The Lord is filled with everlasting kindness at the very time when He is making the promise, for if you promise a person that you will love him you do love him already; love alone could prompt a promise such as that which I have read. You have no right to infer from the greatness of your griefs that God is ceasing to love you, or that He loves you less.
II. THE GREAT WRATH OF GOD AND OUR SECURITY AGAINST IT. Our security against it is this: This is as the waters of Noah unto Me: for as I have sworn, etc. Until God drowns the whole world again, He can never let out His great wrath against His people.
1. My text suggests that we have ample security that the wrath of God will never break out against us, for it has broken out against us once. The waters of Noah did go over the earth once, but never twice, Now, the wrath of God can never break forth against His redeemed, because it has already broken forth against them. Who shall lay anything to the charge of Gods elect,? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died. Is not that answer enough for all the charges of hell?
2. The text gives us next the oath of God as our security. As I have sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth, etc. It is always a solemn occasion when Jehovah lifts His hand to heaven and swears. Then is a matter confirmed indeed when it is secured by the oath of God.
3. Next, we have before us the fact that the Lord has guaranteed our security by a covenant. Neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed.
4. What blessed illustrations of our security are added in the further declaration of the Lords mind and will The Lord looks on the mountains and the hills, and declares that these and all things visible will pass away, for times grandest birth shall perish when eternity resumes its sway. The mountains and the hills may represent the most stable of earthly hopes and confidences: these all must fail us when most we need them. The Lord Himself assures us of this, and therefore does not at all guarantee to us any security in the things which are seen, nor any peace that can be drawn from the creature; our consolation lies elsewhere. The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed, saith Jehovah, the Pitier. Under no conceivable circumstances shall the covenant fail; the Lord who made it cannot change, Jesus who sealed it cannot die, the love which dictated it cannot cease, the power which executes it cannot decay, and the truth which guarantees it cannot be questioned. As for you who have no portion in Divine realities, what do you possess that is worth having? (C. H.Spurgeon)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 8. I hid my face from thee for a moment] The word rega is omitted by the Septuagint, Syriac, and two MSS. of Kennicott’s, and two of De Rossi’s. It seems to embarrass rather than to help the sentence. Forte reponi debet pro shetseph, quod potest a ketseph errore scribae originem duxisse. “Perhaps it ought to be substituted for shetseph, an error probably made by some scribe from its similarity to ketseph.” – Secker.
Thy Redeemer] goalech: but for this word three of De Rossi’s MSS. have merachamech, thy commiserator.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I hid my face; I removed the means and pledges of my presence and kindness.
With everlasting kindness; with kindness to thee and thy seed through all succeeding generations, here and unto all eternity.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. In a little wrathrather,”In the overflowing of wrath”; as Pr27:4, Margin, [GESENIUS].The wrath, though but “for a moment,” was overflowing whileit lasted.
hid . . . face(Isa 8:17; Psa 30:7).
everlastingin contrastto “for a moment.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment,…. This signifies much the same as before, when God hides his face from his people, withdraws his gracious presence, and does not grant the discoveries of his love; or they are under the frowns of his providence, and have not the smiles of his face and the light of his countenance as formerly, then they think they are forsaken by him; though all this is but for a moment, a small period of time; and though it seems to be in “wrath”, it is but “little wrath”; and this wrath is no other than the displeasure of a loving and tender hearted father. The Syriac version renders it, “great wrath”; and so Schultens o thinks the word signifies “overflowing wrath” p, and the vehemency of it; to which agrees R. Menachem q, who interprets it, “the heat of wrath”; so the Lord’s suffering such a scene of bloody persecutions to attend his church in the first ages of Christianity might seem to be:
but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer; all the dealings of God with his people, however dark and dismal they be, whatever appearances there are in them of wrath and displeasure, they are all agreeable to, and do not contradict, his everlasting love; and sooner or later he will make it manifest, he has mercy in store for his people, which he does and will exercise towards them; this mercy flows from his love and kindness to them, which kindness is everlasting, and continues in and through all states and conditions into which they come; the consideration of which is very comfortable and encouraging, and of which they may be assured from the relation the Lord stands in to them as their Redeemer; for, having redeemed them at the expense of his blood, he will effectually gather them by grace in calling, and will never lose them, or suffer them to perish here or hereafter.
o Animadv. in Job, p. 145, 146. p “pauxillo irae exundantis, [vel] exiguo irae ebullientis”, Vitringa. q Apud Jarchi, Kimchi, & Ben Melech, in loc.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
8. In a moment of wrath. He again repeats and enforces this statement, in order to impress it more deeply on the hearts of believers, that they may not be at all discouraged by adversity, and with good reason; for, amidst that frightful darkness, it was not easy for the captives to behold God’s smiling face. And although the literal sense in which the “wrath” is here said to last but for “a moment” (69) be, that God in due time brought back the captives to their native country, yet we draw from it a general doctrine, that the afflictions of the Church are always momentary, when we raise our eyes to its eternal happiness. We ought to remember what Paul has taught us, (2Co 4:17) that all the afflictions of believers are light and easy to be endured, and are justly considered to be momentary, while they look at the “eternal weight of glory;” for if we do not attend to this comparison, every day will seem to us like a year. There would be no propriety in comparing the seventy years of the captivity of the Jews to “a moment,” if it were not contrasted with the uninterrupted progress of the grace of God.
(69) In explaining the words בשצף קצף ( beshetzeph ketzeph,) commentators differ, being uncertain as to the meaning of the word; שצף, ( shetzeph.) Most commentators, on no other grounds, as Kimchi himself acknowledges, than the context of this passage, think that it denotes ‘something little,’ which some, concurring with the Chaldee interpreter, refer to ‘a little time;‘ but as this is afterwards expressed by the word רגע, ( regang,) others refer it to ‘a small measure,’ agreeing with the Septuagint, which translate it ἐν Θυμῷ μικρῷ, ‘for a short time,’ compared with Zec 1:15. But A. Schultens, in his Animadversiones Philologicae on this passage, has justly remarked that there are good grounds for hesitation as to this received interpretation, because in none of the cognate languages can any trace of this meaning of the word; שצף ( shetzeph) be found, nor even from the context is it very evident. By comparison with an Arabic root, he makes it signify ‘In vehemence of wrath I hid,’ etc. ‘In great wrath’ is the sense justly expressed by the Syriac version.” Rosenmuller
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(8) In a little wrath.The Hebrew has the rhetorical emphasis of rhyme, bshetsheph, guetseph, literally, in a gush or burst, of wrath, which, however terrible at the time, endured but for a moment.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 54:8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.
Ver. 8. In a little wrath. ] God can let forth his wrath in minnums, in little bubbles, as the word here rendered “wrath” properly signifieth. This wrath to the saints is but love displeased, and soon pacified again.
I hid my face from thee.
But with everlasting kindness.
a Dr Goodwin.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
a little wrath = in an overflow of wrath.
I hid My face. Reference to Pentateuch (Deu 31:17, Deu 31:18). Compare Isa 8:17; Isa 53:3; Isa 64:7. See App-92.
everlasting kindness. See note on “ancient”, Isa 44:7.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
a little: Isa 47:6, Isa 57:16, Isa 57:17, Zec 1:15
I hid: Isa 8:17, Isa 45:15, Psa 13:1, Psa 27:9, Eze 39:23, Eze 39:24
but: Isa 55:3, Psa 103:17, Jer 31:3, 2Th 2:16, 1Ti 1:16
the Lord: Isa 54:5, Isa 48:17, Isa 49:26
Reciprocal: Gen 8:22 – While the earth remaineth Gen 9:15 – the waters Gen 9:16 – everlasting Psa 30:5 – For Psa 38:1 – rebuke Psa 89:33 – Nevertheless Isa 12:1 – though Isa 14:1 – the Lord Isa 26:20 – for a Isa 41:14 – saith Isa 44:24 – thy redeemer Isa 45:17 – an everlasting Isa 60:10 – in my wrath Jer 33:26 – and have Eze 1:28 – at the appearance of the bow Eze 39:29 – hide Hos 2:19 – for Zec 1:16 – I am Zec 1:17 – the Lord shall Joh 16:22 – and your 2Co 4:17 – our
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
God did not lose control of Himself when His people sinned, but He became very angry because sin destroys people and breaks the fellowship that He desires to have with them. He had to turn away from sinners (hide His face from them) because He is holy. But that separation was short-lived compared with the everlasting compassion that His loyal love (Heb. hesed) requires. Hesed is "the unfailing love that is ever loyal to its pledge, love as a settled disposition . . ." [Note: Motyer, p. 448.] The Lord would buy His bride back to Himself.
"When God ’spanks’ His erring children, He may hurt them, but He never harms them." [Note: Wiersbe, p. 63.]