1 Give ear to this, O family of Jacob, you who are named by the name of Israel, and have come out of the body of Judah; who take oaths by the name of the Lord, and make use of the name of the God of Israel, but not truly and not in good faith.
And you will take your oath, By the living Lord, in good faith and wisdom and righteousness; and the nations will make use of you as a blessing, and in you will they take a pride.
Give praise to God in the great meeting; even the Lord, you who come from the fountain of Israel.
By myself have I taken an oath, a true word has gone from my mouth, and will not be changed, that to me every knee will be bent, and every tongue will give honour.
And Israel is living in peace, the fountain of Jacob by himself, in a land of grain and wine, with dew dropping from the heavens.
Peoples will be in fear before his strength, his arm will be on great nations: his king will be higher than Agag, and his kingdom made great in honour.
These people give me honour with their lips, but their heart is far from me. But their worship is to no purpose, while they give as their teaching the rules of men.
And I will come near to you for judging; I will quickly be a witness against the wonder-workers, against those who have been untrue in married life, against those who take false oaths; against those who keep back from the servant his payment, and who are hard on the widow and the child without a father, who do not give his rights to the man from a strange country, and have no fear of me, says the Lord of armies.
But a curse is on you, scribes and Pharisees, false ones! because you are shutting the kingdom of heaven against men: for you do not go in yourselves, and those who are going in, you keep back.
Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him and said of him, See, here is a true son of Israel in whom there is nothing false.
But as for you who have the name of Jew, and are resting on the law, and take pride in God,
The true Jew is not one who is only so publicly, and circumcision is not that which may be seen in the flesh: But he is a Jew who is a secret one, whose circumcision is of the heart, in the spirit and not in the letter; whose praise is not from men, but from God.
That is, it is not the children of the flesh, but the children of God's undertaking, who are named as the seed.
Through the false ways of men whose words are untrue, whose hearts are burned as with a heated iron;
For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, uplifted in pride, given to bitter words, going against the authority of their fathers, never giving praise, having no religion, Without natural love, bitter haters, saying evil of others, violent and uncontrolled, hating all good, False to their friends, acting without thought, lifted up in mind, loving pleasure more than God; Having a form of religion, but turning their backs on the power of it: go not with these.
I have knowledge of your troubles and how poor you are (but you have true wealth), and the evil words of those who say they are Jews, and are not, but are a Synagogue of Satan.
See, I will make those of the Synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews, and are not, but say what is false; I will make them come and give worship before your feet, and see my love for you.
Jacob is your name, but it will be so no longer; from now your name will be Israel; so he was named Israel.
Take note of all these things which I have said to you, and let not the names of other gods come into your minds or from your lips.
Then the Lord, hearing your words to me, said to me, The words which this people have said to you have come to my ears: what they have said is well said.
Let the fear of the Lord your God be before you, give him worship and be true to him at all times, taking your oaths in his name.
But to the sinner, God says, What are you doing, talking of my laws, or taking the words of my agreement in your mouth? Seeing that you have no desire for my teaching, turning your back on my words. When you saw a thief, you were in agreement with him, and you were joined with those who took other men's wives. You have given your mouth to evil, your tongue to words of deceit. You say evil of your brother; you make false statements against your mother's son.
But the king will have joy in God; everyone who takes an oath by him will have cause for pride; but the false mouth will be stopped.
And he said, Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel: for in your fight with God and with men you have overcome.
Give ear to the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; let your hearts be turned to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah. What use to me is the number of the offerings which you give me? says the Lord; your burned offerings of sheep, and the best parts of fat cattle, are a weariness to me; I take no pleasure in the blood of oxen, or of lambs, or of he-goats. At whose request do you come before me, making my house unclean with your feet? Give me no more false offerings; the smoke of burning flesh is disgusting to me, so are your new moons and Sabbaths and your holy meetings. Your new moons and your regular feasts are a grief to my soul: they are a weight in my spirit; I am crushed under them.
One will say, I am the Lord's; and another will give himself the name, Jacob; another will put a mark on his hand, I am the Lord's, and another will take the name of Israel for himself.
Though they make prayer to me every day, and take pleasure in the knowledge of my ways: like a nation which has done righteousness, and has not given up the rules of their God, they make requests to me for the right orders, it is their delight to come near to God.
And though they say, By the living Lord; truly their oaths are false.
Will you take the goods of others, put men to death, and be untrue to your wives, and take false oaths, and have perfumes burned to the Baal, and go after other gods which are strange to you; And come and take your place before me in this house, which is named by my name, and say, We have been made safe; so that you may do all these disgusting things?
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Isaiah 48
Commentary on Isaiah 48 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 48
God, having in the foregoing chapter reckoned with the Babylonians, and shown them their sins and the desolation that was coming upon them for their sins, to show that he hates sin wherever he finds it and will not connive at it in his own people, comes, in this chapter, to show the house of Jacob their sins, but, withal, the mercy God had in store for them notwithstanding; and he therefore sets their sins in order before them, that by their repentance and reformation they might be prepared for that mercy.
Isa 48:1-8
We may observe here,
Isa 48:9-15
The deliverance of God's people out of their captivity in Babylon was a thing upon many accounts so improbable that there was need of line upon line for the encouragement of the faith and hope of God's people concerning it. Two things were discouraging to them-their own unworthiness that God should do it for them and the many difficulties in the thing itself; now, in these verses, both these discouragements are removed, for here is,
Isa 48:16-22
Here, as before, Jacob and Israel are summoned to hearken to the prophet speaking in God's name, or rather to God speaking in and by the prophet, and that as a type of the great prophet by whom God has in these last days spoken unto us, and that is sufficient: Come near therefore, and hear this. Note, Those that would hear and understand what God says must come near, and approach to him; let them come as near as they can. Let those that have hearkened to the tempter now come near, and hear this, that they may be confirmed in their resolutions to serve God. Those that draw nigh to God may depend upon this, that his secret shall be with them. Here,