His watchmen [are] blind: they are all ignorant, they [are] all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
10 12. The delinquencies of the rulers. The watchmen are the spiritual leaders of the community, who in the earlier post-exilic period were the priests and the prophets (see Neh 6:10-14). Elsewhere the word is used metaphorically only of the prophets (Jer 6:17; Eze 3:17; Eze 33:2 ff.) and to them the description here chiefly applies, although there may be no reason for excluding the priests, with whom the higher authority lay, and who shared in the vices here specified. These guides are blind, not discerning the evils of the time, and dumb, afraid to speak out against them.
they are all ignorant ] Lit. “they all of them know not.” Several codices of the LXX. supply an infinitive ( ), by which the sense and parallelism are improved (cf. the similar phrase in Isa 56:11 “they know not how to observe”: E.V. “cannot understand”).
dumb dogs, they cannot bark ] in contrast to the true prophet, who “cries aloud and spares not,” shewing the people their transgressions (see ch. Isa 58:1; cf. Eze 33:1 ff.), and specially gives warning of the approach of an enemy; Eze 33:6. Sheep-dogs are mentioned in Job 30:1.
sleeping ] R.V. “dreaming,” better raving. The word, which occurs only here, means in Arabic to talk deliriously in sickness. Cheyne suggests that it contains a play on the word for “seers,” from which it differs in a single letter ( hzm and zm).
loving to slumber ] The laziness of the dog was proverbial amongst the Arabs: “he delays like a sleepy hound” (Gesenius).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
His watchmen – The prophet proceeds to specify the sins which had thus induced God to send the desolating armies of foreign nations. The first is specified in this verse, the apathy, indifference, and unfaithfulness, which prevailed among those who were appointed to guard their interests and defend the cause of truth. The word rendered his watchmen ( tsophav) is derived from tsaphah, to look about; to view from a distance; to see afar. It is applied appropriately to those who were stationed on the walls of a city, or on a tower, in order that they might see the approach of an enemy 1Sa 14:16; 2Sa 13:34; 2Sa 18:24. It is then applied to prophets, who are as it were placed on an elevated post of observation, and who are able to cast the eye far into future scenes, and to predict future events (Jer 6:17; Eze 3:17; the note at Isa 21:6-11; Isa 52:8; compare Isa 62:6). Here it refers undoubtedly to the public teachers of the Jews who had failed to perceive the crimes and dangers of the people; or who, if they had seen them, had neglected to warn them of the prevalence of sin, and of the dangers to which they were exposed.
Are blind – They have become willfully blind to the existence of idolatry and vice, or they are so corrupt in sentiment and practice, that they fail to notice the existence of the prevailing sins.
They are all ignorant – Hebrew, They do not know. This may either mean that they were not possessed of the proper qualifications for the office of prophets, or that they were so immersed in sin themselves, and so indolent, that they did not observe the existence of the national sins. In either case, they were unfit for the station.
They are all dumb dogs – Dogs are appointed to guard a house or flock, and to give notice of the approach of a robber by night Job 30:1. They are thus an emblem of a prophet – appointed to announce danger. Generally in the Scriptures the dog is mentioned as the symbol of uncleanness, of vileness, of apostasy, of that which deserved the utmost contempt (Deu 23:18; 1Sa 24:14; 2Sa 9:8; Pro 26:11; Phi 3:2; 2Pe 2:22; Rev 21:8; Rev 22:15; compare Virg. Georg. i. 470). But here the dog is an emblem of vigilance. The phrase dumb dogs, is applicable to prophets who from any cause failed to warn the nation of their guilt and danger.
They cannot bark – They cannot give warning of the danger which threatens. The reason why they could not do this the prophet immediately states. They loved to slumber – they delighted in indolence and repose.
Sleeping – Margin, Dreaming, or Talking in their sleep. The word hoziym, is from hazah, to dream, to talk in ones dreams. It is kindred to chazah, to see, and the primary idea seems to be that of nocturnal visions. The Septuagint renders it, Enupniachomenoi koiten – Sleeping in bed. Aquila, phantazomenoi – Having visions, or phantasms. The idea is that probably of dreaming, or drowsing; a state of indolence and unfaithfulness to their high trust. Perhaps also there is included the idea of their being deluded by vain imaginations, and by false opinions, instead of being under the influence of truth. For it is commonly the case that false and unfaithful teachers of religion are not merely inactive; they act under the influence of deluding and delusive views – like people who are dreaming and who see nothing real. Such was probably the case with the false prophets in the time of Isaiah.
Lying down – As dogs do who are indolent. They are inactive, unfaithful, and delighting in ease.
Loving to slumber – Perhaps there was never a more graphic and striking description of an indolent and unfaithful ministry than this. Alas, that it should be too true of multitudes who bear the sacred office, and who are appointed to warn their fellow-men of danger! How many come still under the description of dumb dogs who cannot bark, and who love to slumber! Some are afraid of giving offence; some have no deep sense of the importance of religious truth, and the actual danger of the ungodly; some embrace false opinions – led on by day-dreams and fictions of the imagination, as unreal, as vain, and as inconsistent, as are the incoherent expressions which are uttered in sleep; some engage in worldly projects, and fill up their time with the cares and plans of this life; and some are invincibly indolent. Nothing will rouse them; nothing induce them to forego the pleasures of sleep, and ease, and of an inactive life. The friends of God are unrebuked when they err; and an inactive and unfaithful ministry suffers the great enemy to come and bear away the soul to death, as an unfaithful mastiff would suffer the thief to approach the dwelling without warning the inmates. But the mastiff is usually more faithful than an indolent ministry. To the deep shame of man be it spoken, there are more ministers of religion who are indolent, inactive, and unfaithful, than there are of the canine race. Instinct prompts them to act the part which God intends; but alas, there are men – men in the ministry – whom neither instinct, nor conscience, nor reason, nor hope, nor fear, nor love, nor the command of God, nor the apprehension of eternal judgment, will rouse to put forth unwearied efforts to save souls from an eternal hell!
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 56:10-11
His watchmen are blind.
–
The old Hebrew pulpit a beacon to modern preachers
(with Jer 8:11):–
I. THE OLD HEBREW PULPIT AT THIS TIME WAS IGNORANT. The watchmen are said to be blind and ignorant. They did not see and understand the things that ought to have been clear to their vision and intelligible to their judgment. An ignorant pulpit, though a contradiction in terms, has ever been too prevalent. There may be profound pulpit ignorance where there are the most distinguished scholastic acquirement and literary charms. On the other hand, there may be considerable pulpit intelligence where there is but a very small degree of mere scholastic attainment. Many a noble-souled, Gospel-inspired man, who knew no book but the Bible, no language but his own, and could not speak even that with grammatical propriety, has done the true work of the pulpit. That pulpit is an ignorant pulpit that does not discern the things of the Spirit–things that the Spirit of God approves, and the spirit of man requires. I call that an ignorant pulpit which ministers to the speculative in man rather than to the spiritual, to the intellect rather than the heart, and presents a dead creed rather than a living Christ. I call that an ignorant pulpit which ministers to sects rather than to souls, represents Christ as one sent to save a favourite few, rather than as the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world. I call that an ignorant pulpit that does not practically feel that all Divine truth to man is but infinite love for man speaking through the intellect to the heart.
II. THE OLD HEBREW PULPIT AT THIS TIME WAS MARKED BY SLOTHFULNESS. The watchmen are called dumb dogs that cannot bark. It is because these animals have ever been used by man as sentinels whose bark warns of approaching danger; and because they are only useful as they bark, that they are employed as symbols of indolent preachers. There are men who, when they speak, speak with a drowsy soul, and their words are somnific. Perhaps there are more in these times dumb from expediency than from slothfulness. They echo only the opinions that are current in their Church. They add nothing to the stock of Christian intelligence.
III. THE OLD HEBREW PULPIT AT THIS TIME WAS MARKED BY SELFISH GREED. Yea they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, etc. Such strong language expresses their ravenous selfishness. It would seem that these corrupt prophets cared for no one but themselves. How stands the modern pulpit in this respect? This selfish greed shows itself in other ways besides the striving after filthy lucre. There is the greed for popularity.
IV. THE OLD HEBREW PULPIT AT THIS TIME WAS MARKED BY SUPERFICIALITY. They have healed the daughter of My people slightly. Dr. Blaney, in his translation, substitutes the word superficially for slightly. Although these words are taken from another book they refer to the same subject, and to the same class of men. The words, however, from Isaiah describe their character, these words describe their work. They did something, but it was partial and ineffective. They did not seek to eradicate the disease, but merely administered temporary palliatives, which, whilst they deadened the pain, fostered the virus of the malady. The idea undoubtedly is, that instead of endeavouring to work into the moral heart of the people profound convictions as to the enormity of their sins, and fulminate in their ears the righteous denunciations of Heaven, they presented considerations of false comfort. This superficial healing of souls is an immense injury. It deludes the patient. It wastes the restorative season. That pulpit is superficial which fails either to generate supreme love to the great God in hearts where it is not, or to strengthen it in hearts where it is. (Homilist.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 10. His watchmen are blind] Kimchi observes, “The flock is intrusted to the care of these watchmen. The wild beasts come; these dogs bark not; and the wild beasts devour the flock. Thus they do not profit the flock. Yea, they injure it; for the owner trusts in them, that they will watch and be faithful; but they are not. These are the false teachers and careless shepherds.”
Dumb dogs, they cannot bark] See Clarke on Isa 62:6.
Sleeping – “Dreamers”] hozim, , Septuagint. This seems to be the best authority for the meaning of this word, which occurs only in this place: but it is to be observed, that eleven MSS. of Kennicott’s and De Rossi’s, and four editions, have chazim, seers, or those who see; and so the Vulgate seems to have read, videntes vana, “seeing vain things.”
Loving to slumber.] lanum: but six of Kennicott’s and seven of De Rossi’s MSS. read lanus, to fly, “to change their residence:” but what connexion such reading can have with the sense of the passage, I cannot discern. What is taken for samech here is, I have no doubt, a narrow formed final mem, which has been mistaken for the above. Many instances occur in my own MSS., where the final mem is similar to the samech; and yet no such change was intended by the scribe.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
His; Israels, as is evident from the following verses; the pronoun relative being put without and instead of the antecedent; of which I have given divers instances before.
Watchmen; priests and prophets, or other teachers, who are commonly called watchmen, as Eze 3:17; 33:2; Hos 9:8. He mentions only the teachers, because ignorance was most shameful in them; but hereby he supposeth the gross ignorance of the people, who neither pretended nor desired to be wiser than their teachers.
They are all ignorant of Gods will and word, and of their own and the peoples duty, and of the true Messiah.
They are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; they are also slothful and negligent in instructing the people, and do not faithfully reprove them for their sins, nor warn them of their dangers, nor keep them from errors and corruptions in doctrine, and worship, and conversation, as they ought to do.
Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber; minding their own ease and safety more than the peoples benefit.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10. His watchmenIsrael’sspiritual leaders (Isa 62:6;Eze 3:17).
dumb dogsimage frombad shepherds’ watchdogs, which fail to give notice, by barking, ofthe approach of wild beasts.
blind (Mt23:16).
sleeping, lying downrather,”dreamers, sluggards” [LOWTH].Not merely sleeping inactive, but under visionarydelusions.
loving to slumbernotmerely slumbering involuntarily, but loving it.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
His watchmen are blind,…. A sad character of watchmen; who, of all men, ought to have good sight, to see who is coming, to discover an enemy, to discern approaching danger, and so be capable of giving notice thereof. This some apply to the Scribes and Pharisees, who are often called blind guides, and blind leaders of the blind,
Mt 15:14 and well suits the character of the Popish clergy, bishops, and priests, those ecclesiastical watchmen, whose business should be to look after the souls of men, and feed them with knowledge and understanding; but very ill qualified for it, being blind and ignorant as to the knowledge of things divine and spiritual. The first letter in this clause is larger than usual, perhaps designed to strike the eye, and raise the attention to what follows, as being something remarkable and extraordinary, as indeed the character given of these men is, and directing to beware of them. The first word, which is the word for “watchmen”, has the letter “jod” wanting; which, being a note of multitude, shows, it is observed u, that all the watchmen were universally deficient in the light of their minds, and not one of them did their duty, as it follows:
they are all ignorant; or “know not” w, or “nothing”, not the Scriptures, and the meaning of them; the Gospel, and the doctrines of it; Christ, and the way of salvation by him; the Spirit of God, and his operations on the souls of men; and so very unfit to be spiritual watchmen, or to have the care of immortal souls. A Popish bishop in Scotland declared he did not know neither the Old nor the New Testament; and Bishop Albert, reading the Bible, could not tell what book it was, only he found it was contrary to their religion.
They are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; and so useless; as a house dog, or one that is set to keep the sheep, if it barks not at the noise of a thief, or the approach of a wolf, to give notice to the family, or the shepherd, it is of no service. It may design such who call themselves ministers of the word, and yet either cannot or will not preach, such as are non-preaching bishops; or in their ministry do not reprove the errors and vices of men, and warn them of their danger:
sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber; as dogs do; slothful, indolent, do not care to be concerned in business, but take their ease and pleasure, and are very improper persons for watchmen. The first word x used is observed to signify speaking vain things in dreams, things delirious; and agrees well with the dreaming doctrines and delirious notions of the Romish clergy.
u Buxtorf. Tiberias, c. 14. p. 39. Vid. Hiller. De Arcano Cethib Keri, I. 1. c 7. p. 55. w “nesciverunt”, Pagninus, Montanus “nil sciunt”, Piscator. x “deliria loquentes”, Montanus; “videntes vans”, V. L. So Ben Melech interprets it of such that speak vain things in their sleep.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The prophet now proceeds with ( ): the suffix refers to Israel, which was also the object to . “His watchmen are blind: they ( are) all ignorant, they ( are) all dumb dogs that cannot bark; raving, lying down, loving to slumber. And the dogs are mightily greedy, they know no satiety; and such are shepherds! They know no understanding; they have all turned to their own ways, every one for his own gain throughout his border.” The “watchmen” are the prophets here, as everywhere else (Isa 52:8, cf., Isa 21:6, Hab 2:1; Jer 6:17; Eze 3:17). The prophet is like a watchman ( tsopheh ) stationed upon his watch-tower ( specula ), whose duty it is, when he sees the sword come upon the land, to blow the shophar , and warn the people (Eze 33:1-9). But just as Jeremiah speaks of bad prophets among the captives (Jer 29), and the book of Ezekiel is full of reproaches at the existing neglect of the office of watchman and shepherd; so does the prophet here complain that the watchmen of the nation are blind, in direct opposition to both their title and their calling; they are all without either knowledge or the capacity for knowledge (vid., Isa 44:9; Isa 45:20). They ought to resemble watchful sheep-dogs (Job 30:1), which bark when the flock is threatened; but they are dumb, and cannot bark ( nabhach , root nab ), and leave the flock to all its danger. Instead of being “seers” ( c hozm ), they are ravers ( hozm ; cf., Isa 19:18, where we have a play upon in ). , from , to rave in sickness, n. act. hadhajan (which Kimchi compares to parlare in snno ); hence the Targum , lxx A , S , Jer. videntes vana . The predicates which follow are attached to the leading word hozm (raving), if not precisely as adjectives, yet as more minutely descriptive. Instead of watching, praying, wrestling, to render themselves susceptible of visions of divine revelations for the good of their people, and to keep themselves in readiness to receive them, they are idle, loving comfortable ease, talkers in their sleep. And the dogs, viz., those prophets who resemble the worst of them (see at Isa 40:8), are , of violent, unrestrained soul, insatiable. Their soul lives and moves in the lowest parts of their nature; it is nothing but selfish avarice, self-indulgent greediness, violent restlessness of passion, that revolves perpetually around itself. With the words “and these are shepherds,” the range of the prophet’s vision is extended to the leaders of the nation generally; for when the prophet adds as an exclamation, “And such ( hi = tales) are shepherds!” he applies the glaring contrast between calling and conduct to the holders of both offices, that of teacher and that of ruler alike. For, apart from the accents, it would be quite at variance with the general use of the personal pronoun , to apply it to any other persons than those just described (viz., in any such sense as this: “And those, who ought to be shepherds, do not know”). Nor is it admissible to commence an adversative minor clause with , as Knobel does, “whereas they are shepherds;” for, since the principal clause has (dogs) as the subject, this would introduce a heterogeneous mixture of the two figures, shepherds’ dogs and shepherds. We therefore take as an independent clause: “And it is upon men of such a kind, that the duty of watching and tending the nation devolves!” These (for which the Targum reads ) are then still further described: they know not to understand, i.e., they are without spiritual capacity to pass an intelligible judgment (compare the opposite combination of the two verbs in Isa 32:4); instead of caring for the general good, they have all turned to their own way ( l e darkam ), i.e., to their own selfish interests, every one bent upon his own advantage ( from , abscindere , as we say, seinen Schnitt zu machen , to reap an advantage, lit., to make an incision). , from his utmost extremity (i.e., from that of his own station, including all its members), in other words, “throughout the length and breadth of his own circle;” qatseh , the end, being regarded not as the terminal point, but as the circumference (as in Gen 19:4; Gen 47:21, and Jer 51:31).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
10. Her watchmen are blind. He now assigns the reason why the people must be destroyed. It is because they are governed by wicked princes and pastors; not that he wishes to throw the blame on them alone, and thinks that the people are innocent, but because this was the beginning of the evil. We are not exempted from blame, if we follow blind guides, but, on the contrary, are justly punished for our transgressions; for the Lord takes away good guides from those whom he intends to punish for their ingratitude.
By the word “Watchmen” (100) he means not only the prophets, to whom was committed the office of teaching, but likewise judges, princes, and kings, who ought to have governed everything in a proper manner. He includes both kinds of government, that of princes, and that of the ministers of the word, whom the Lord has placed, as the two eyes in the body, to govern the Church. Consequently, if they are wicked or unfaithful, there cannot arise a more destructive plague to a commonwealth.
All are ignorant. First, he reproaches them with want of knowledge; for, as it is the chief excellence of a good shepherd to know his duty, that he may judge what is profitable and what is pernicious to the flock, and to watch laboriously, and to stand, as it were, on a watchtower, that he may promote their safety in every respect, so nothing is more inconsistent with that office than ignorance and blindness. No man, therefore, will be a good shepherd, unless he understands the right method of governing the people. And hence we see what we ought to think of the idols of our time, who haughtily and insolently boast of the name of shepherds or pastors; for they are untaught and ignorant beasts.
All are dumb dogs. By calling them, secondly, “dumb dogs,” he charges them with slothfulness and indifference; for, since it is the duty of a good shepherd to be industrious and careful, when he calls them slothful and indifferent, he shows that they had nothing about them that ought to belong to a shepherd. Thus, when we are deprived of good shepherds, and when lazy or even savage beasts come in their room, let us acknowledge God’s wrath, and let us know that destruction is not far off; for the Prophet threatens and foretells the ruin of the people, when shepherds are “dumb.”
Hence also it follows, that God appoints them to discharge the office of “dogs,” that is, to keep watch, to drive away robbers and thieves, and not to permit them to enter into the fold. And if dogs are so faithful guardians and so warmly attached to their masters, that they continually watch for their safety, and do not cease to drive away, by barking, those from whom danger is apprehended, shepherds, when they give themselves up to sloth and drowsiness, ought to be ashamed of being surpassed by a brute beast.
(100) “The prophets are called ‘Watchmen,’ (Jer 6:17; Eze 3:17; Isa 52:8) because it is their duty to see far, and to look out, and carefully to observe the evils, and the causes of the evils which may be pernicious to the people. The metaphor is drawn from guards or military sentinels, who, being placed on the watch-towers of fortified cities, carefully attend to everything that may bring mischief on the city.” Rosenmuller.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
WORTHLESS SHEPHERDS
Isa. 56:10-12. His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, &c.
A very sad description is here given of the watchmenthe spiritual leaders of Isaiahs time, evincing a state of lamentable degeneracy and corruption. The language has often been, and still is, descriptive of many shepherds of the flock.
I. Ignorant. Immersed in sin themselves, they were blind to the sins, and wants, and dangers of the peopledestitute of spiritual wisdom and discernment (Isa. 29:18; Isa. 35:5; Isa. 42:7; Isa. 42:16-19; Isa. 43:8, &c.; Jer. 3:15). Like the blind guides of the Gospel (Mat. 15:14; Luk. 6:39, &c.). Ignorance of the truth as it is in Jesus is an effectual disqualification for the office. What irreparable evil may be wrought by such blind guides!
II. Indolent. What a graphic and striking description of an indolent ministry. True of many to-day, who act as though hearers were won by idleness (Pro. 6:10). Instinct prompts the canine race to act the part which God intends; but, alas! there are men in the ministry whom neither conscience, reason, hope, fear, nor love will rouse to effort to save souls. Instead of acting as faithful watch-dogs, who givewarning of the approach of danger by their barking, they remain apathetic, and utter no warning. It is as if they passed their lives in sleep. What a terrible awakening they will one day experience!
III. Covetous. They keep up the old custom, rejected by the higher prophets as an abuse, of taking fees (Num. 22:7; 1Sa. 9:7; 1Ki. 14:3; 2Ki. 5:16; Mat. 10:8; Act. 8:20; Eze. 13:19; Eze. 22:25; Mic. 3:3). They are greedy after gain. All their inquiry is what they shall get, not what they shall do (Php. 2:21). They never have enough (Ecc. 5:10). They are careful for their duestithes, collections, pew-rents, &c., rather than for souls. Ambitious of preferment for its gold. Yet they are set apart not to promote their own interests, but the welfare and salvation of others. What possible effect for good can their preaching have? They do inconceivable injury to the cause of truth, for it is evident they do not live for their charge, but for themselves.
IV. Intemperate. Given to excess in wine, and to long revels, such as even the heathen considered to be disgraceful (Isa. 28:7). One is represented as inviting another to a carouse of two days. Their frailty and mortality little thought of; no dread of the judgment of God, &c. Living only for carnal gratification, they cannot think of making sacrifices for souls. Of all evils, intemperance is most unbecoming to the minister of Christ, and prevents his rebuking vice in others with any practical effect.
Conclusion.What a humiliation that such men are allowed to remain in the Church! Such shepherds make the Church lifeless and barren. How strikingly in Saint Pauls character are developed the marks of a good shepherdone that careth for the sheep (Php. 1:8; Php. 4:1; and others). If such intense yearning characterised all the shepherds of Israel now, what a different Church we should have! We hear much about the reformation of the government; is not the reformation of the ministry more needful? Let the Church, therefore, take the greatest possible care in separating men to this work and office.A. Tucker.
PROCRASTINATION, OR PRESUMING ON THE FUTURE
Isa. 56:12. To-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.
There is a marked and melancholy inconsistency between the admissions which men make, and the course of conduct which they pursue. The uncertainty of life is universally granted, yet men think, and talk, and act confidently on the credit of to-morrow, and, not seldom, of much longer periods. Procrastination is
I. PAINFULLY COMMON. A very old evil (Exo. 8:10, and others). We are all more or less guilty of it, for all our purposes and plans reach into a future which will never be ours. Specially manifested in relation to experimental religion. All ages and classes indulge in it. The young look to middle age, the more advanced to the last stage of life, &c. To-morrow is the prevailing maxim;a maxim which few pretend to justify, but on which the vast majority persist in acting; a maxim of which all grant the folly in words, and by the admission condemn their own practice. Men of business often warn the young against the evil in relation to this life, yet act on the principle they condemn respecting interests incomparably more momentous. Strange infatuation! What has been your conduct?
II. SHAMEFULLY UNGRATEFUL. A practical disregard of all the mercy and love of God. The unnumbered blessings of His gracious providence. The richer blessings of His grace in Christ Jesus. The enormity of ingratitude to God. The ass, after having drunk, gives a kick to the bucket (Italian). Gods greatest miracle is His patience and bounty to the ungrateful.
III. PALPABLY UNREASONABLE.
1. True religion is supremely important. The only source of true happiness; of support amid the trials of life; of peace in death; and of a blissful immortality.
2. Delay increases difficulties. You may not think so; you imagine the future will present more favourable opportunities than the present, &c. But that is manifestly unreasonable, for, owing to the known laws of habit, every days delay increases the difficulties, &c. Sin gets a firmer hold upon you. Your experience bears witness. If you do not decide to-day, it becomes less likely that you ever will, &c
3. You have no evidence that you will live till to-morrow. You cannot calculate on the future (Pro. 27:1). The Gospel may never be preached to you again, &c.
IV. EXCEEDINGLY SINFUL.
1. It encourages others to continue in their sins. Your to-day, is a day of evil example, &c.
2. It robs God of His dueyour best affections, &c. Religion is not a mere creed, &c., but an obligation, founded on absolute proprietorship and mediatorial interposition (1Co. 6:19-20).
3. It practically disregards Gods commands. Repentance and faith, &c., are immediate duties. The imperative hath no future tense.
4. It involves the abuse of all the means which God is graciously employing for your salvation. Resisting the strivings of His Spirit, &c.
V. IMMINENTLY DANGEROUS. Danger is always associated with sin. Increases with every days delay. To-morrow may be for ever too late. Hell is paved with good intentions. To delay is to court ruin.
CONCLUSION.Presume not on the patience of God. Do not longer calculate on to-morrow. Yield yourself to God NOW (Heb. 3:7; 2Co. 6:2; Pro. 1:24-31). You will never regret the step. But if you continue to befool yourself, every day will add its weight of guilt and sorrow. The Holy Ghost saith TO-DAY.A. Tucker.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(10) His watchmen are blind.These are the guides of the people, and specially the self-styled prophets, who are blind to the signs of the times, who are dumb, and give no warning to the people of the real dangers that threaten them, who prophesy for the rewards of divination (Num. 22:7 :1Sa. 9:7; Neh. 6:12), who are conspicuous for their luxury and intemperance. Given the men who are described in Isa. 5:22; Isa. 28:7-8; Isa. 30:10, and the circumstances of Manassehs reign, no other result could be expected.
Sleeping.The prophet, with a scornful irony, substitutes hozm (dreamers) for khozm (seers). The lying down contrasts their indolent and easy life with the vigil and the fast of a true prophet.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
10, 11. His watchmen The people’s teachers.
Are blind Can see nothing with a spiritual eye.
Dumb dogs An image from shepherds’ bad watchdogs, which fail to give notice of danger.
Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber An exact description of the miserable, outcast curs to be observed, even to this day, in every Eastern town or city. They are nobody’s dogs, allowed to lounge about and greedily devour garbage thrown into the street. What a comparison! Such are the shepherds which the worldly and irreligious are willing to tolerate. Each of these “blind,” “ignorant,” “dumb” watchmen looks to worldly gain, careless as to results on the character of his flock.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 56:10-12. His watchmen The prophet in these words paints in a lively manner the very corrupt government of the church. The consequence of which, is that deplorable state of the church described in the next section. Nothing can be more strong and expressive than the words of the prophet; he turns the subject before him into every form; and, as the greatest part of his discourse is metaphorical, he makes use of figures and emblems, as usual, most admirably adapted to express his meaning. The vices which he particularly objects to these ecclesiastical governors, are, first, ignorance and unskilfulness in the things pertaining to their office; secondly, idleness and negligence to reprove the vices of the people committed to their charge, or to awaken them to repentance, whereby they might escape the judgments of God: thirdly, slothfulness and a love of ease: fourthly, an insatiable avidity for profit and pleasure: fifthly, stupidity, arising from that source; and lastly, extreme luxury: vices which too much infected the church from the sixth and following centuries, when darkness, corruption, and superstition, almost universally prevailed. See Vitringa. Instead of sleeping, Isa 56:10. Bishop Lowth reads dreamers. Isa 56:11 th may be rendered, Yea, these dogs have a greedy or a strong appetite: They know not when they have enough; and, though they are shepherds, they know no discretion: They all look to their own ends; every one for his gain, one and all.
REFLECTIONS.1st, From the privileges of the Gospel, the Lord enforces obedience to the precepts of it.
1. The privileges are inestimable. My salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. He calls it my salvation, because the contrivance and execution of it were wholly his own; and my righteousness, because in this salvation the most eminent display was to be made of the divine justice in the sufferings and obedience of Jesus unto the death of the cross, and in the acceptance of sinners through him, in a way wherein God might at the same time glorify his righteousness, and yet be the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. And the time was now near when the Saviour should be revealed, comparatively speaking in the view of the time elapsed since the first promise was made, Gen 3:15.
2. The duty of those who partook in this salvation is enforced. For they who truly understand the doctrine of God’s free grace in the salvation of sinners, will ever feel the obligation it lays upon them to walk in all holy conversation and godliness. [1.] Keep ye judgment, and do justice; let God’s word be the rule of your conduct, and in all your ways approve yourselves to him in uprightness, fidelity, simplicity, and godly sincerity. [2.] Keep the sabbath from polluting it; that, being God’s day, should be wholly devoted to his service, and employed in his worship; not only must we rest from servile employments, but seek to improve the sacred hours in every exercise of piety and devotion, which may contribute to raise up our affections to heavenly things, and promote in others the same gracious dispositions. [3.] Keep thy hands from doing any evil, preserve a conscience void of offence towards God and towards man; abstain from every known sin; and let it be your labour, study, and prayer, through grace, to cleanse yourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.
3. God pronounces his blessing on all such. Blessed is the man that doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it; who embraces this great salvation, and adorns the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things.
2nd, We have the encouragement given to those who, though willing to join themselves to the Lord, were disheartened.
1. The eunuch might lament his unhappy case, saying, I am a dry tree, under the reproach of being written childless, and expressly excluded from the congregation of the Lord, Deu 23:1 yet God speaks comfort unto such. Thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs which keep my sabbaths, religiously observant of God’s worship on that holy day, and all the instituted ordinances of religion; and choose the things that please me, attentive to God’s revealed will in his word, and delighting in that which he commands, serving not of constraint but willingly; and take hold of my covenant, embrace it as their only hope, trust on it with unshaken confidence, and walk under the influence of the blessed promises contained therein; even unto them will I give, in mine house, and within my walls, a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: children are a precious gift, they are like arrows in the hand of the giant, and father is an honourable title; but every honour, every possession, every enjoyment here is trivial, compared with an interest in God’s regard, and a name in his book of life; this relates to eternity, I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off. Note; (1.) When we set temporal blessings against spiritual, time against eternity, the infinite disproportion between them should constantly determine our choice to the better part. (2.) All real good that we ever can enjoy here or hereafter comes from God’s free gift, and must be acknowledged to his glory.
2. The Gentile alien might fear that God had utterly separated him from his people, see Deuteronomy 23.; but his fears are groundless, the wall of separation between Jew and Gentile being cast down; and therefore, if he joined himself to the Lord, renouncing all other gods, and cleaving to him alone, to serve him with fidelity and constancy; to love the name of the Lord, deeply sensible of his amazing grace, and powerfully constrained by the views of it; to be his servant, in all willing and cheerful obedience, counting his service perfect freedom; every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, diligent and conscientious in the observance of this sacred day of rest, and taketh hold of my covenant, the covenant of love and peace in a Redeemer, as the foundation of all his hopes; such need apprehend no exclusion from the divine favour, or the assembly of the faithful: Even them will I bring to my holy mountain, the church of the faithful redeemed, and give them a right to partake of all the blessings and privileges bestowed upon it, and make them joyful in my house of prayer, or the house of my prayer, where prayer and supplications are offered to God, and he meets his people with joy and gladness, giving an answer to the prayer of the afflicted, and comforting his mourners. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; their prayers, praises, works of faith, and labours of love, shall through Christ, the altar which sanctifieth the gift, become a sacrifice of a sweet smell, well-pleasing to God: for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people, no distinction any longer subsisting between Jew and Gentile, but all incorporated in one holy church, of which Christ is the living head.
3. God, having provided a house of prayer for all people, will furnish it with worshippers. The Lord God which gathereth the out-casts of Israel, the spiritual Israel, who accept of the offers of the Gospel, saith, Yet will I gather others to him, besides those that are gathered unto him, to Christ, or his church, to which, in every age and generation, multitudes will be gathered. And it may particularly be applied to those, who, being persecuted by the Pagan emperors, were, under Constantine, peaceably settled in their assemblies, and to the conversion in a general sense of numerous nations which followed, till then strangers to the Christian faith; and this may look for its final accomplishment in the last day, when the fulness of the Gentiles shall be come in, and all Israel, till then dispersed, shall be converted and saved.
3rdly, After all the comforts and promises going before, a scene of desolation begins, which is continued in the following chapters. This may be referred to the sins and punishments of the Jewish people by the Babylonians and Romans; or, as some learned interpreters suggest, and as observed above, foretels the ravages of the Goths and Vandals, and other barbarous people, who were sent to punish the great corruptions which had crept into the Christian Roman empire.
1. The beasts of prey are summoned to execute God’s judgments; men, fierce and savage in their tempers, who would not keep back the sword from blood. Note; God has instruments ever at his beck, to execute his wrath. Woe to the sinner, to the nation, that by their iniquities and impenitence provoke the divine justice!
2. The principal cause of these judgments is, a lazy, ignorant, worldly-minded, covetous, drunken, careless ministry. Such was probably the case in Isaiah’s day: happy were it, if after-times had afforded no parallel! A dreadful character is here drawn: His watchmen are blind; they who are appointed to descry the approaching enemy, and give warning, are themselves blind and insensible: unawakened in their own souls, they never saw the guilt and danger of sin; therefore cannot blow the alarm, and persuade others by the terrors of the Lord. They are all ignorant of the scriptures, and that knowledge which maketh wise unto salvation, and cannot preach a Gospel which they have not themselves understood. They are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; never reprove men’s sins, and hate the work of the ministry in which they are engaged: ordained to lift up their voice like a trumpet, but sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber; slothful, indolent, glad to devolve on others the irksome task of preaching and prayer, and seeking ease, instead of enduring hardness, as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. Yea, they are greedy dogs, which can never have enough; of the duty of the ministry, the least part is sufficient; of the gain of it, nothing can satisfy them; infinitely more solicitous in prosecuting preferment, than seeking lost souls; and never inquiring the weight of the charge, but the value of the benefice. The words lo iadu sabah may be rendered, of insatiable appetite, that never can be filled, whose belly is their god, and eating and drinking their supreme happiness. And they are shepherds, or though they are shepherds, pretend to be so, they cannot understand; not acquainted with divine things themselves, and therefore utterly incapable of teaching others. They all look to their own way, follow their own pleasures and worldly advantage, careless of the cause of God and truth; every one for his gain from his quarter; this is their grand object, and on this their chief pains are bestowed. Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; their bottle is more beloved than their books: pleased to see the wine sparkle in the glass, they put it round, sit long at the cups, till bloated, inflamed, or drunken, their time and their faculties are destroyed; and, far from being ashamed of such scandalous immoralities, their great concern is, to renew the entertainment, and make a fresh appointment for the next day: for to-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant. Supine and secure, they forget eternity, promise themselves days and years to come, consider neither the guilt of their course, nor the uncertainty of their enjoyments, but encourage each other to mutual neglect of God and their souls; till he, in an unexpected hour, with terrible surprise calls them to give account of their ministry, and arraigns them at his tremendous bar!
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
IX.THE NINTH DISCOURSE
Concluding Word: The Mournful Present, which will not be Prevented by the Approach of the Glorious Future.
Isa 56:10 to Isa 57:21.
Isaiah is wont to set the present in the light of the future, in order to make an impression on it by the contrast. I appeal to chapters 25, and to my interpretation of Isa 2:5. Jeremiah also imitates Isaiah in this (Jer 3:11 to Jer 4:4). The sudden spring from the remotest, the glorious future into the mournful, immediate present that the Prophet makes between Isa 56:9-10, need not therefore seem strange to us. It is to be admitted that the description of the bad shepherds, Isa 56:10-12, can suit also the period of the Exile. That it at least fits Isaiahs contemporaries very well is undeniably plain from Isaiah 28. That in the exile, prophets of Jehovah were murdered (Isa 57:1) simply for being such, is possible, but not probable, and not proved. That remnants of idolatry continued through the whole exile, is not only possible but also probable. However the time before and after the destruction of Jerusalem must be distinguished. But that all kinds of idolatry even Moloch worship, with its sacrifices of children (Isa 57:5), still occurred in the Exile, is not probable and not proved. It is utterly inconceivable, or, as Hengstenberg says (Christol. II. p. 201, 2 edit.), it has no meaning, that Israel even in exile sent to foreign kings for help (Isa 57:9). The threat: because thou hast not laid to heart my silence , thy works shall be made manifest and thy idols be swept away (Isa 57:11-13), certainly suits better the time before than the time after the Exile. For this reason even the opponents of the genuineness have been obliged to admit that the authorship of our section dates before the Exile (comp. Kleinert, Echth. D. jes. Weiss. p. 305 sqq.; Stier in his Comm.; Hengstenberg, l.c.). They do so partly by forced interpretations; partly by assuming that the whole passage Isa 56:10 to Isa 57:21 (Eichhorn), or at least Isa 56:9 to Isa 57:11 (Ewald) is repeated from older prophets. I am for this reason of the opinion (with Kleinert, Stier, Hengstenberg) that the grounds already given are opposed to the idea that in writing our passage, too, Isaiahs view-point was that of the Exile (Del.).
The section divides into three parts. In the First the Prophet contrasts the conduct and the fate of the bad and of the good shepherds of the present (Isa 56:10; Isa 57:2). In the Second he describes the mournful signs of the present, the idolatrous doings of the nation (Isa 57:3-14). In the Third he returns to promising salvation, and announces that Gods love will still bring salvation and healing to those that let themselves be healed (Isa 57:15-21).
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1.THE MOURNFUL PRESENT MARKED BY THE CONTRAST OF THE BAD AND GOOD SHEPHERDS
Isa 56:10 to Isa 57:2
10His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant,
They are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark;
9Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
11Yea, they are 10greedy dogs which 11can never have enough,
12And they are shepherds that cannot understand:
They all look to their own way,
Every one for his gain, 13from his quarter.
12Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine,
And we will fill ourselves with strong drink;
And to-morrow shall be as this day,
And much more abundant.
57 1The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart:
And 14merciful men are taken away, none considering
15That the righteous is taken away 16from the evil to come.
217He shall 18enter into peace:
They shall rest in their beds,
Each one walking 19in his uprightness.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
See List for the recurrence of the words: Isa 56:10. . Verse 12. ; Isa 57:1. ; Isa 57:2. .
Isa 56:10. The suffix in undoubtedly refers to Israel.
Isa 56:11. The suffix in is related to the ideal totality to which the belongs.
Isa 57:1. I cannot approve the view that is an objective clause depending on . For how could then the wicked know that the pious by their death only escape the impending evil? And must it not then read, as Vitringa has said, or at least ? I believe that we must construe as causal, as in countless instances beside.
Isa 57:2. This verse is very difficult on grammatical and lexical grounds. For if one take as the subject of , then this insertion of a clause whose subject is identical with that of the principal clause, but expressed in the plural, is very violent, and, so far as I see, unexampled, notwithstanding the great freedom usual in Hebrew in respect to the change of person and number. It is also very questionable whether can mean burying place, and whether with can mean rest in the grave. For is only twice beside this used of a bed prepared for a dead person. In 2Ch 16:14 it designates the bed of state on which king Asa was laid before his burial ( and are expressly distinguished). Also in Eze 32:25 there is prepared for Elam a in the under-world, around about which are the of his adherents. Thus it appears that can indeed designate the place of repose of a dead person, but that is not then the grave in which he lies, but a distinguished elevated couch, on which he lies. But here nothing else is meant to be said of the righteous than that he, as one who has walked uprightly, finds rest in his grave. For this reason I am unable also to agree with the explanation, grammatically admissible, that treats as a clause by itself, and as the subject of . Then the participle is regarded as collective: the upright walking, i. e., the total of those walking uprightly. But here remains an oddity. For this reason I am of the opinion, that is to be treated as clause thrown in, expressive of the situation (comp. Jer 13:21): comes to peacewhile they rest on their bedswho walks uprightly. In this way is made prominent the contrast between the fleshly rest on soft pillows (comp. Isa 66:10. ) that the bad shepherds enjoy, and the rest of everlasting peace of God enjoyed by the righteous whom the world persecutes (comp. Luk 16:22). It is true one looks for before . Still Vav. in such clauses is not unfrequently omitted (comp. e. g., Psa 57:4; ; Ewald, 311, a), and the omission of finds compensation in the striking prominence of the plural.The plural is found beside here in Hos 7:14; Mic 2:1; Psa 149:5. It is also perhaps not unimportant to remark that this plural only occurs with , and that both the singular and the plural with never mean anything else than the bed on which the living repose. The passages with in the singular with : 2Sa 4:11; 2Sa 11:2; 2Sa 13:6; 1Ki 1:47; Psa 4:5; Psa 36:5; Job 33:19; Son 3:1. For the use of both sing. and plur. in Isaiah, see List. is , ex adverso positum, that which lies directly opposite, directly before a man. Hence is he that goes the way lying directly before him. with the accusative as in Isa 33:15; Isa 50:10.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. The Prophet stands at the conclusion of the task he proposed for the second Ennead. He has pursued the word of the Servant of God through all its alternations to its glorious goal. From the light of the final glorification he turns his eye back and observes with pain the contrast between the glorious future and the mournful present. As we notice in Isa 48:6 that the Prophet by no means becomes unconscious of the present in his contemplation of the future, so we see here, too, that he cannot avoid instituting a comparison between that hereafter and the now. The difference is so great, that one does not comprehend how from the now the hereafter can ever come to be. But nothing is impossible with God. Spite of the heinousness of the present, the word of the Lord stands fast, that the people of God (those of course excepted that persistently resist the drawings of the Spirit) shall come to the peace and refreshment on the mount of God. The Prophet describes first the heinousness of the present. His eye falls chiefly on those that ought to be leaders and exemplars to the nation in the good way. But these are blind watchmen, and dumb, lazy dogs (Isa 56:10) and insatiably greedy. They are shepherds without knowledge, only keen for their own interest (Isa 56:11), and carousers that each day carry on worse than the day before (Isa 56:12). Where such men rule, of course the lot of the righteous is outwardly mournful; unregarded by the crowd they are borne away by the evil (Isa 57:1). But happily for them! For while others on their luxurious pillows surrender themselves to a fatal repose, the righteous go in to everlasting peace (Isa 57:2).
2. His watchmenmore abundant.Isa 56:10-12. Although in general the transition here is sharp from the future to the immediate present, still the figure used in Isa 56:9 prepares the transition in a very artistic way. For, although I do not think that there the Prophet summons the wild beasts to devour Israel, because they may easily do this on account of the bad watch that is kept, still I think it likely, that the Prophet, by the mention of the future of the beasts, is led to think of the beasts of the present, and of the way in which Israel is given over to them. (Isa 21:5-6; Isa 52:7), which means primarily spies, sentinels on guard, we are to understand here as meaning those whose duty it is, on account of their office, to warn the community of evil, and with it to contend against wickedness. Such, first of all, are the prophets. But also the priests (Mal 2:7) and worldly superiors, in short all that are entrusted with the shepherd office ( 56:11) are included. But what sort of watchmen are those that cannot see? In the ordinary sense there are none such. But in a spiritual sense there are. For there are, alas, those spiritually blind, whose spiritual eye is plastered up, and who consequently do not know, i. e., have no knowledge, no understanding of what they ought to know, in this absolute sense we had already Isa 44:9; Isa 44:18; Isa 45:20. Changing his figure, the Prophet further compares those bad shepherds to dogs that should watch the flock, and which though not blind, indeed, are yet dumb. But a protector that sees the enemy and gives no notice, is just as bad as one that does not see him at all (indeed worse subjectively). Thus the second figure intensifies the charge; for it adds a bad will to incapacity. Why they do not bark is said in the following words (added in the form of apposition): snarling in sleep, lying down, loving to slumber., . . seems to designate the sounds a dog utters in sleep, and therefore the meanings to sleep, dream, snore, to be delirious are ascribed to the word; comp. Bochart, Hieroz. ed. Lips. I. p. 781 sqq. With the Arabs the dog passes for a sleepy beast (comp. Hitzigin loc.), while, on the contrary, in the Occident it is the type of watchfulness (see Bochart, l. c.). The Prophet would say of the bad shepherds under all circumstances, that they cannot bark because they love their comfort and advantage beyond everything. Hence they get off nothing more than a snarl or a growl, such as a dog utters in slumber. Bochartl.c. adduces several passages from the ancients that show that they regarded these sounds in sleep as a characteristic peculiarity of dogs. They are lazy, yet insatiably greedy dogs ( strong in greed, Isa 5:14; Isa 29:8; Isa 55:2); they do not know what it is to be satisfied. And they are shepherds! adds the Prophet indignantly, with reference to his watchmen, etc., Isa 57:10 init. Then, as is his manner, Isaiah proceeds, in what follows, to explain the figure: answering to the ignorance of what is enough, is a worse ignorance with respect to , to distinguish (comp. the reverse of this Isa 32:4). They are strangers to true wisdom. They let selfishness essentially determine the direction of their efforts (comp. Isa 58:6), and especially greediness for gain. is that cut off, the cutting, gain (Isa 33:15; Isa 57:17), is the end in the sense of the periphery (comp. Gen 19:4; Jer 50:26). Thus the idea is: from the utmost periphery in to the very centre every one of this fine fellowship turns only to gain. Accordingly they all do so without exception.
And what good does their money do them? Isa 57:12 shows this by examples. Such a blind, dumb watchman, who can open eye and mouth well enough when it concerns his belly, calls out to the passer-by, or a visitor: Come ye, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with intoxicating drink ( comp. on Isa 5:11). This friendly host, however, does not invite to merely a short banquet, but, (answering to they know not satiety Isa 57:10), also to one that the following day will be continued in grander style. The words are both a nearer definition and also intensify the meaning. The next day is to be like the first only as a drunken day in general, but distinguished as to species by being of a much higher quality. Who does not think here of what the Prophet says Isa 28:7 sqq. of the vice of drunkenness that invaded both Judah and Israel? At all events, this moral aberration agrees very well with the religious degeneracy spoken of in Isa 57:3 sqq.
3. The righteous perishuprightness, Isa 57:1-2. If Isa 56:10-12 describes the doings of the bad shepherds, especially of false prophets, then by the righteous man here must be understood also a prophet. And and cannot mean a natural death, for that would be much more an encouragement than a warning to the bad. Rather the context seems to me to demand that the mournful fate of the true and righteous servants of Jehovah be contrasted with the lazy, jovial doings of the dumb dogs. Therefore (with Umbreit and others) I understand and to denote a violent death. I cannot avoid the impression that the Prophet here alludes to circumstances that he sees quite near, and as perhaps personally threatening to himself. Of course, precise proof of this cannot be offered; and I will only offer the view as a conjecture. The flood of unbelief had only swelled to greater magnitude under the idolatrous Manasseh. The apostacy was universal. It was much as in the days of Elijah (1Ki 19:10). It is also expressly said of Manasseh, that he shed very much innocent blood, and filled Jerusalem with it from one end to the other (2Ki 21:16); and tradition (handed down by Josephus,Antiq. X. 3, 1) refers that bloodshed especially to execution of numerous prophets. Even though Isaiah himself may not so have perished, and though the tradition to that effect be unfounded (see Introduction, pp. 3, 4), still Isaiah, while writing this, may have had this atrocious period in mind, and even have regarded it as threatening himself with destruction. That no man laid it to heart, if again a Jehovah-prophet was slain, is perfectly explained by the frequency of such events and by the apostacy being so universal and intense. The expression might in parallelism have a general meaning. Yet history justifies our construing it in a particular sense. is pietas, piety. is said as , Isa 55:6. On , see Text. and Gram. It was said before only, that the pious are taken away without any one regarding it. Now the reason of this is given. It is the , the universally prevalent wickedness. That explains that the righteous are not only taken away, but that it is done without opposition, yea, even without causing any disturbance.
Isa 57:2. But that is only a seeming misfortune for the righteous. In fact in this way he enters into peace, while they, the wicked, are fatally reposing on their beds of luxury (see Text. and Gram.).
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Isa 56:11. (Every one looks to his own way). Potest intelligi de externis criminibus, sed magis placet, ut accipiatur de speciosis viis, in quibus ambulant hypocritae. Sic Franciscanus Francisci regulam sequitur, decalogum et evangelii doctrinam negligit tanquam rem vulgarem, quae ad vulgus pertirneant.Luther.
2. On Isa 56:12. In the Alexandrian and Vatican texts of the LXX., the words from Isa 56:11 to the end of Isa 56:12 are wanting, which even Jerome remarks on. He adds: denique hos versiculos nullus ecclesiasticorum interpretum disseruit, sed quasi patentem in medio foveam transiliunt atque transmittunt.That the Fathers, unacquainted as they were with Hebrew, pass the words by, is simply explained by the LXX. omitting them. Jerome, because he knew Hebrew, as he himself says, added them ex hebraico. But why the Greek translator left them out is doubtful: Theodotion (see Hexapla Orig. ed. Montfaucon II., p. 179) has them.Ab hoc vitio (ebrietatis) abstinere debent pii ecclesiae ministri memores interdicti apostolici 1Ti 3:2-3, considerantes secum, nullam horulam ipsis esse adeo liberam ac vacuam, qua non ad officia functionis suis possint avocari.Foerster.Let one point the rough figure for himself for the more delicate spiritual form also, quite as Mat 24:49; Eph 5:18, and the like are meant. For there is a drunkenness and voluptuousness in all kinds of wine and intoxication, which only the eye of the Spirit beholds in many an honorable Bishop, General-superintendent or Superior-court-preacher. Stier. Vita concionatoris optimus syllogismus. Chrysostom.
3. On Isa 57:1. Against the heedlessness of the world, that regards the life and death of men alike. For because Pharaoh and Moses, Saul and Jonathan, Judas and Peter, must temporally die, the one as the other, they suppose it is as much to one as to the other. But on the contrary, one should lay it to heart when useful and pious men fall, because, first, one must miss them afterwards, especially their prayers by which they stand in the breach and run to the walls (Eze 22:30); second, because the destruction of such people is wont to be an evil omen of a great impending misfortune and change, [It is a sign that God intends war when He calls home His ambassadors.M. Henry]. Examples: When Noah turns his back on the world and shuts himself in the ark, the deluge comes (Gen 7:17). When Lot goes out of Sodom and Gomorrah, fire from heaven falls on them (Gen 19:24). When Joseph dies in Egypt, the bondage of the children of Israel begins, together with the murder of their infant boys (Exo 1:8). When Hezekiah died, then followed the tyranny of Manasseh (2 Kings 20, 21) When Christ and His disciples were made way with, then began the destruction of Jerusalem.Cramer.Sicut ad Josiam dicit: tolleris, ne videant occuli tui hoc malum, etc. (2Ki 22:18-20). Sic excidio Hierosolymitano erepti sunt apostoli et reliqui Sancti. Idem nobis accidet. Vivunt adhuc passim quidam pii homines, propter iliis Deus differt poenam. Sublatis autem iis sequetur Germaniae ruina.Luther.Blessed are the dead, which die in the Lord, for they rest from their labor (Rev 14:13). And hellish enemies, as little as human, can do them any harm.It is a misfortune for the whole country when distinguished and deserving people are taken out of the midst by temporal death. For them, indeed, it is well; but God have mercy on those that are left. For as in a great storm, when the heavens are overcast with clouds, the shepherd leads in the sheep, the husbandman hastily gathers his sheaves, the parents call in the children from the streets, so our dear God calls His dearest children together, that the calamity may not touch them.Cramer.The men of grace or mercy are receivers and distributers, thus also the mediators of the grace of God for their people; the men of grace, that atoningly represent the land by intercessions and conduct, postpone its judgment (Gen 18:24; Eze 22:30). Stier.The mere presence of an honest man is still a, restraint on the unbridledness of blasphemers. G. Mueller in Stier.
4. On Isa 57:2. Against the idle fancy of the fire of purgatory. For here it is said of those who have walked uprightly, not that they get into trouble, unrest, pain and torment, by which they must be purged; but that, with respect to their souls, they come to peace. But as to their bodies, they rest in their sleeping chamber. They are not on this account driven about; they seek also no mass or soul baths, as the Papists pretend.Cramer.
Nam stultum est mortem matrem timuisse quietis,
Quam fugiunt morbi, moestaque pauperies.
(Attributed to Cornelius Gallus, the friend of Virgil).
5. On Isa 52:4. It should be a wreath of honor to all faithful teachers and preachers, that they are regarded as monsters and are lampooned by the wise of this world. For if the great Prophet Isaiah in this passage, item, Jeremiah (Jer 20:8), Elijah (2Ki 2:24), Ezekiel (Eze 33:31), Job (Job 17:6), yea, even Christ Himself had to suffer this, what wonder is it if the scoffing birds sharpen their beaks on us and chatter like the storks? Cramer.
6. [On Isa 52:8. When a people forget God, the memorials of their apostacy will be found in every part of their habitations. The shrines of idol gods may not be there; the beautiful images of the Greek and Roman mythology, or the clumsy devices of less refined heathens may not be there; but the furniture, the style of living will reveal from behind every door and the posts of the house that God is forgotten, and that they are influenced by other principles than a regard for His name. The sofa, the carpet, the chandelier, the centre-table, the instruments of music, the splendid mirror, may be of such workmanship as to show, as clearly as the image of a heathen god, that Jehovah is not honored in the dwelling, and that His law does not control the domestic arrangements. Barnes].
7. [On Isa 57:10. Thou art weariedno hope. This is a striking illustration of the conduct of men in seeking happiness away from God. They wander from object to object; they become weary in the pursuit, yet they do not abandon it; they still cling to hope though often repulsedand though the world gives them no permanent comfortthough wealth, ambition, gayety, and vice all fail in imparting the happiness which they sought, yet they do not give it up in despair. They still feel that it is to be found in some other way, than by the disagreeable necessity of returning to God, and they wander from object to object, and from land to land, and become exhausted in the pursuit, and still are not ready to say there is no hope, we give it up in despair, and we will now seek happiness in God. Barnes.
Note.Despair of happiness in the creature, and of satisfaction in the service of sin, is the first step toward a well-grounded hope of happiness in God, and a well-fixed resolution to keep to His service; and those are inexcusable who have had sensible convictions of the vanity of the creature, and yet will not be brought to say, There is no hope to be happy short of the Creator.Note.Prosperity in sin (Thou hast found the life of thy hand) is a great bar to conversion from sin. M. Henry].
8. On Isa 57:11. God keeps silence only for a while, but yet not for ever and continually, with respect to mens sins; but the longer He has kept silence, the harder He punishes afterwards.Starke.
9. On Isa 57:12. Tuam justitiam. Est emphasis in pronomine tuam. Quasi dicat: mea justitia firma et perpetua est, tua non item. In calamitate nihil desperatius est justitiariis, cum secundis rebus nihil quoque iis sit confidentius.Luther.
10. On Isa 57:15 sq. God has three sorts of dwellings: first in the highest, second in the sanctuary, third in humble hearts. The first dwelling is the universalis praesentia, the universal presence, by which He fills all (Jer 23:24); but there He is too high and incomprehensible for us. The other is gratiosa, the gracious presence, by which He lets Himself be found in the word and sacraments, and also comes finally to us and makes His dwelling in our hearts (Joh 14:23). Cramer, comp. Renner, p. 199.Humilis anima est Dei sessio et delectabile cubile. Excelsus es Domine, sed humiles corde sunt domus tua (Psa 113:6; Psa 138:6). Augustin.Fluenta gratiae deorsum non sursum fluunt. Bernhard.Here is a principal passage beaming with evidence, that holy means not merely the tremenda majestas, but essentially comprehends the self-communicating condescension of love. Stier.Comp. His Reden Jesu V., p. 499, and the essays of Schoeberlein and Achelis in Stud. and Krit. 1847, I., IV.
11. On Isa 57:18. Here again we have one of those words in which Isaiah shows Himself to be the Evangelist of the Old Testament. For in the old covenant God does not yet heal men, else the new were superfluous. The law only effects knowledge of sin, but it does not give the power to overcome sin. One fancies here again that he hears the Apostle that wrote Romans 8.
12. On Isa 57:19-21. The gospel in a sermon of peace to the heathen that were far off, and to the Jews that were near. For by it we both have access in one Spirit to the Father (Eph 2:18). But the wicked quakes all his life and what he hears terrifies him (Job 15:20; Isa 48:22). And especially in conflicts, and notably in the last hour, and when they see Gods judgment near, one sees this in them, that they not only therefore often spit out blasphemies, but that for great anguish they have laid hands on themselves. Examples: Saul, Ahithophel, Judas, Franciscus Spiera. For because such peace is not to be brought about with works, they must ever stick in anger, resentment, discontent and disfavor with and before God. And it is only pure folly to wish to give the terrified hearts rest by their own expiation, merit and self-elected holiness. Much less will there be rest if one teaches such people to doubt the forgiveness of sins. Cramer.
HOMILETICAL HINTS
1. On Isa 56:10 to Isa 57:2. These words may be used as the text of a sermon for a fast-day, or also for a synodical sermon. One might then regard the Prophets words as a mirror, or as a measure whereby to measure the condition of the church (of the country, of the times). From this would then come 1) earnest warning to those that belong to the wicked here described, or who do not oppose their doings; 2) comfort for those that have walked straight before them, for, though hated and persecuted by men, they shall still come to peace.
2. On Isa 57:1-2. These words (also a Jewish formula solennis for the pious dead, Stier) have very often been used as texts for funeral discourses for celebrated men.
3. On Isa 57:2. Those that have walked in their uprightness, i. e., who during their lives have served the Lord in a living faith, need not fear death. It is to them a bringer of joy. For it brings 1) eternal peace to their soul, 2) rest to their body in the chamber of the grave, till the day of the blessed resurrection.
4. On Isa 57:3-10. A description of the coarse idolatry, to which in our day correspond only too many appearances of the modern and subtile heathenism. Only too many have sucked in with their mothers milk superstition and unbelief, which as a rule go together. As Ishmael, who was begotten after the flesh, mocked and persecuted Isaac that was born according to the promise (Gal 4:28 sqq.), so also now. The false seed, i. e., those that are not born of the Spirit of the church, although by their fleshly birth they belong to it, mock and persecute the genuine children of the church. With insatiable greed people run daily, but especially on the Lords day, under all green trees, i. e., to the places of worldly pleasure-seeking, where the idols of the belly and of mammon are served! And how many children are from their earliest youth led away to the service of these idols! Are not thereby their immortal souls spiritually slain? And is not that, in the end, a worse sacrifice of children than that ancient sort? All that puts men in mind of the service of God, men get out of their sight (pious customs, Sunday, feast days, church acts, as baptism, marriage, burial), in order to be able to surrender themselves undisturbed and wholly to the modern idols. Men no longer seek their strength in the covenant with the Lord, but among men in associations of every kind. And, because that does not instantly reveal its ruinous effects, but often seems to have a good effect, men never weary of this conduct, but confirm themselves in it more and more.
5. On Isa 57:12. Many men will not by any means believe that their good works are wholly insufficient to obtain the righteousness that is of avail with God. Now God will, indeed, not suffer to go unrewarded the cup of water that we give to the thirsty in the proper spirit (Mat 10:42; Mar 9:41). But could we point to ever so many such cups, still they do not suffice to pay our ten thousand talents (Mat 18:24 sqq.). One must therefore remind his charge of the great reckoning that the Lord will one day have with us. In this 1) will be had a complete and perfectly correct investigation into our indebtedness and assets. 2) Then it will appear that our assets will be too defective to be of any use whatever against our indebtedness.
6. On Isa 57:13-14. It depends very much on the sort of spirit with which one turns to God for help. If one does it in order to make a trial also with the dear God, then one will certainly be denied. But if one does it because one knows no other helper, and wishes to know no other, then one may confidently count on being heard. How differently the answers sound that God gives to the cries for help that reach Him. 1) To the one it is said: let thy gatherings help thee. 2) But to the others is called out: a. make a road, clear the way, take up the stumbling-block out of the way of my people; b. inherit the land, possess my holy mountain.
7. On Isa 57:15-16. I know that these sayings speak especially of penitent sinners and aroused consciences; but I do not see why they may not with good right be applied also to other alarmed and anxious people. One has here to look also at the examples of the dear children of God who are presented to us in the Holy Scriptures full of fear and alarm. Think of Job (Job 9:34; Job 13:21), David (Psa 25:17; Psa 55:5 sqq.), Daniel (Dan 8:17 sq.), Paul (1Co 2:3; 2Co 7:5), yea, of Jesus Christ Himself (Mat 26:37; Mar 14:33; Luk 22:44). From this thou seest clearly, thou lover of God, but timid and frightened soul, that thou art not the first among the children of God, that suffer His terrors and must go about with an anxious heart. It is also therewith sufficiently shown that such an event is not a reminder of anger, but rather of the grace of the kind and gracious God.Scriver.
8. On Isa 57:15-16. A holy shudder goes through my soul when, in receiving Thy body and blood, I think of who they are to whom Thou so communicatest Thyself! That is Thy way, Thou wonderful Lord, that Thou utterly humblest and castest down to the ground before Thou raisest up. Thou sayest: I who dwell in the high and holy place am with those that are of a contrite and humble spirit. Has the greatness of my sin already melted my heart, it melts still more at the greatness of Thy grace.Tholuck.
9 On Isa 57:15-16. Sermon for Whitsun week: Wherein do we behold the greatest glory of the God of grace? 1) Therein, that He does not despise a poor sinners heart for a dwelling. 2) Therein, that He manifests Himself in it not as a judge, but as a comforter. Taube, in Gottes Bruenl. hat Wassers die Fuelle. Hamburg, 1872.
10. On Isa 57:17-18. One is reminded here of 1Ki 19:11 sq. God is not in the tempest, nor in the earthquake, but He is in the still, gentle breeze. The gospel goes more to the hearts of men, and lays deeper hold on them than the law. The conversion of men. 1) It is prepared by being angry and smiting (Isa 57:17). 2. It is accomplished by Gods inwardly healing the heart.
11. On Isa 57:19. Missionary Sermon. The work of missions: 1) By whom is it accomplished? 2) On whom is it accomplished? 3) What end does it serve?
12. On Isa 57:20. The whole Scripture testifies that what it says of the grace of God, of the forgiveness of sins and of the assurance of bliss belongs to the penitent. For those that are ever stirred up and driven on by their malignant desires (like the sea by the winds), and commit one sin after another (like the sea casts out all sorts of dirt), are wicked men, and have no peace to expect.Scriver.
Footnotes:
[9]Or, Draming, or, talking in their sleep.
[10]Heb. strong of appetite.
[11]Heb. know not to be satisfied.
[12]And they are shepherds! They know not how to distinguish.
[13]without exception.
[14]Heb. men of kindness, or, godliness.
[15]For.
[16]Or, from that which is evil.
[17]He enters into peace (while they rest on their beds) who walks straight before him.
[18]Or, go in peace.
[19]Or, before him.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
Isa 56:10 His watchmen [are] blind: they are all ignorant, they [are] all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
Ver. 10. His watchmen are blind; they are all ignorant. ] Invehit in Pseudepiscopos, such as were, and are still in part, the popish clergy; those of the ninth age especially, and not much better a little before Luther stickled: blind leaders of the blind, lamentably ignorant, as the Bishop of Dunkeld, in Scotland, for instance, who professed that he knew neither the New Testament nor the Old. So Bishop Albert, reading the Bible, and being asked by a nobleman what book it was he read; I know not, said he, what book it is, but all that I read in it is contrary to our religion. a As for the other ill qualities of the watchmen here inveighed against, Hugo the cardinal said, that the devil had two daughters, Covetousness and Luxury; the former he had heretofore married out to the Jews, the latter to the Gentiles; but now the monks and priests had gotten them both from their old husbands and taken them for their own use. The Hebrew critics have observed, that the word here rendered watchmen, hath a tzaddi larger than ordinary, to show what odious creatures such are as are here described. Hebrew Text Note
They are all dumb dogs that cannot bark,
Sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
“
‘ H , ”
That he would not be drawn to sleep from his swine sty.
a Acts and Mon.
b Lib xxix. cap. 4.
c Somnolentia pastorum luporum est gaudium.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
watchmen: Isa 52:8, Eze 3:17
are blind: Isa 29:10, Jer 14:13, Jer 14:14, Hos 4:6, Hos 9:7, Hos 9:8, Mat 15:14, Mat 23:16-26, Luk 6:39, Luk 6:40
they are all dumb: Isa 58:1, Jer 6:13, Jer 6:14, Jer 23:13, Jer 23:14, Eze 3:15-18, Eze 3:26, Eze 3:27, Eze 13:16, Eze 33:6, Phi 3:2
sleeping: or, dreaming, or talking in their sleep
loving: Pro 6:4-10, Pro 24:30-34, Jon 1:2-6, Nah 3:18, Mar 13:34-37
Reciprocal: Lev 21:18 – a blind man Num 31:47 – kept the charge Deu 23:18 – dog Deu 27:18 – General 2Ki 8:13 – a dog 2Ki 9:17 – a watchman 2Ki 12:6 – the priests Psa 127:1 – the watchman Pro 19:15 – casteth Son 3:3 – watchmen Isa 21:8 – I stand Isa 28:7 – erred Isa 42:19 – Who is blind Isa 43:27 – and thy Isa 62:6 – set watchmen Jer 6:17 – I Jer 8:10 – for Jer 10:21 – the pastors Jer 15:3 – I will Jer 50:6 – their shepherds Lam 4:14 – have wandered Eze 33:2 – set Eze 34:4 – diseased Zep 3:4 – light Mat 7:15 – are Mat 13:25 – men Mat 21:27 – We cannot tell Mar 11:33 – We Mar 13:36 – he find Luk 12:45 – to eat Luk 21:34 – your hearts Joh 3:10 – Art Joh 10:1 – the same Joh 10:8 – came Joh 10:12 – he that Rom 2:19 – art confident Rom 12:11 – slothful Rom 16:18 – but 2Co 3:14 – their Phi 3:19 – whose God 1Th 5:6 – let us not 1Ti 3:2 – vigilant 2Ti 4:5 – watch Tit 1:7 – not given to filthy Tit 1:11 – filthy 2Pe 2:1 – there were Rev 3:2 – watchful
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 56:10. His Israels, watchmen are blind The priests, prophets, and other teachers; he mentions only the teachers, because ignorance was most shameful in them; but hereby he supposes the gross ignorance of the people. They are all ignorant Of Gods word and will, and of their own and the peoples duty, and of the true Messiah, and the nature of his kingdom. They cannot bark They are also slothful and negligent in instructing the people, and do not faithfully reprove them for their sins, nor warn them of their dangers, nor endeavour to keep them from errors and corruptions in doctrine, worship, and conversation, as they ought to do: sleeping, lying down, &c. Minding their own ease and safety more than the peoples benefit.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
56:10 His {k} watchmen [are] blind: they are all ignorant, they [are] all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.
(k) He shows that this affliction will come through the fault of the governors, prophets and pastors, whose ignorance, negligence, greed and obstinacy provoked God’s wrath against them.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The false prophets, who were God’s watchmen over His flock, were blind to the dangers that faced Israel (cf. Isa 21:6; Isa 52:8). They were like dogs that should have barked when danger approached but were silent. Instead of being on guard, they were asleep, dreaming of an unrealistically rosy future for the nation. They were unaware of those things that should have gripped their attention.
"When the minister does not warn the flock of false doctrine, he ceases to be a faithful undershepherd of the sheep, and instead becomes a dumb dog that cannot bark." [Note: Young, 3:397.]