5 You who are burning with evil desire among the oaks, under every green tree; putting children to death in the valleys, under the cracks of the rocks?
And you took your sons and your daughters whom I had by you, offering even these to them to be their food. Was your loose behaviour so small a thing,
For you will be put to shame because of the trees of your desire, and because of the gardens of your pleasure.
But he went in the ways of the kings of Israel, and even made his son go through the fire, copying the disgusting ways of the nations whom the Lord had sent out of the land before the children of Israel. And he made offerings, burning them in the high places and on the hills and under every green tree.
And they have put up the high place of Topheth in the valley of the son of Hinnom, burning their sons and their daughters there in the fire; a thing which was not ordered by me and never came into my mind.
Only be conscious of your sin, the evil you have done against the Lord your God; you have gone with strange men under every branching tree, giving no attention to my voice, says the Lord.
And Topheth, in the valley of the sons of Hinnom, he made unclean, so that no man might make his son or his daughter go through the fire to Molech.
And you may not make any of your children go through the fire as an offering to Molech, and you may not put shame on the name of your God: I am the Lord.
For through the wine of the wrath of her evil desires all the nations have come to destruction; and the kings of the earth made themselves unclean with her, and the traders of the earth had their wealth increased by the power of her evil ways.
And one of the seven angels who had the seven vessels came and said to me, Come here, so that you may see the judging of the evil woman who is seated on the great waters; With whom the kings of the earth made themselves unclean, and those who are on the earth were full of the wine of her evil desires. And he took me away in the Spirit into a waste land: and I saw a woman seated on a bright red beast, full of evil names, having seven heads and ten horns, And the woman was clothed in purple and bright red, with ornaments of gold and stones of great price and jewels; and in her hand was a gold cup full of evil things and her unclean desires; And on her brow was a name, SECRET, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE EVIL WOMEN AND OF THE UNCLEAN THINGS OF THE EARTH.
Crushing the head of the poor, and turning the steps of the gentle out of the way: and a man and his father go in to the same young woman, putting shame on my holy name: By every altar they are stretched on clothing taken from those who are in their debt, drinking in the house of their god the wine of those who have made payment for wrongdoing.
They are all untrue; they are like a burning oven; the bread-maker does not make up the fire from the time when the paste is mixed till it is leavened. On the day of our king, the rulers made him ill with the heat of wine; his hand was stretched out with the men of pride. For they have made their hearts ready like an oven, while they are waiting secretly; their wrath is sleeping all night; in the morning it is burning like a flaming fire. They are all heated like an oven, and they put an end to their judges; all their kings have been made low; not one among them makes prayer to me.
Loose ways and new wine take away wisdom. My people get knowledge from their tree, and their rod gives them news; for a false spirit is the cause of their wandering, and they have been false to their God. They make offerings on the tops of mountains, burning perfumes in high places, under trees of every sort, because their shade is good: and so your daughters are given up to loose ways and your brides are false to their husbands.
And when you give your offerings, causing your sons to go through the fire, you make yourselves unclean with all your images to this day; and will you come to me for directions, O children of Israel? By my life, says the Lord, you will get no direction from me.
So early on the day after they got up and made burned offerings and peace-offerings; and took their seats at the feast, and then gave themselves to pleasure.
And you will be certain that I am the Lord, when their dead men are stretched among their images round about their altars on every high hill, on all the tops of the mountains, and under every branching tree, and under every thick oak-tree, the places where they made sweet smells to all their images.
A sword is on her waters, drying them up; for it is a land of images, and their minds are fixed on false gods.
And they put up the high places of the Baal in the valley of the son of Hinnom, making their sons and their daughters go through the fire to Molech; which I did not give them orders to do, and it never came into my mind that they would do this disgusting thing, causing Judah to be turned out of the way.
And the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen what Israel, turning away from me, has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and under every branching tree, acting like a loose woman there.
They even made offerings of their sons and their daughters to evil spirits, And gave the blood of their sons and their daughters who had done no wrong, offering them to the images of Canaan; and the land was made unclean with blood.
They put up pillars of stone and wood on every high hill and under every green tree:
For they made high places and upright stones and wood pillars on every high hill and under every green tree;
Then one of the children of Israel came to his brothers, taking with him a woman of Midian, before the eyes of Moses and all the meeting of the people, while they were weeping at the door of the Tent of meeting.
Now when Israel was living in Shittim the people became false to the Lord, doing evil with the daughters of Moab: For they sent for the people to be present at the offerings made to their gods; and the people took part in their feasts and gave honour to their gods.
Again, say to the children of Israel, If any man of the children of Israel, or any other man living in Israel, gives his offspring to Molech, he is certainly to be put to death: he is to be stoned by the people of the land; And my face will be turned against that man, and he will be cut off from his people; because he has given his offspring to Molech, making my holy place unclean, and making my holy name common. And if the people of the land do not take note of that man when he gives his offspring to Molech, and do not put him to death, Then my face will be turned against him and his family, and he and all those who do evil with him will be cut off from among their people.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Isaiah 57
Commentary on Isaiah 57 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 57
The prophet, in this chapter, makes his observations,
Isa 57:1-2
The prophet, in the close of the foregoing chapter, had condemned the watchmen for their ignorance and sottishness; here he shows the general stupidity and senselessness of the people likewise. No wonder they were inconsiderate when their watchmen were so, who should have awakened them to consideration. We may observe here,
Isa 57:3-12
We have here a high charge, but a just one no doubt, drawn up against that wicked generation out of which God's righteous ones were removed, because the world was not worthy of them. Observe,
Isa 57:13-16
Here,
Isa 57:17-21
The body of the people of Israel, in this account of God's dealings with them, is spoken of as a particular person (v. 17, 18), but divided into two sorts, differently dealt with-some who were sons of peace, to whom peace is spoken (v. 19), and others who were not, who have nothing to do with peace, v. 20, 21. Observe here,