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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Isaiah 63:16 - 63:16
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The prayer for help, and the lamentation over its absence, are now justified in Isa 63:16 : “For Thou art our Father; for Abraham is ignorant of us, and Israel knoweth us not. Thou, O Jehovah, art our Father; our Redeemer is from olden time Thy name.” Jehovah is Israel's Father (Deu 32:6). His creative might, and the gracious counsels of His love, have called it into being: אָבִינוּ has not yet the deep and unrestricted sense of the New Testament “Our Father.” The second kı̄ introduces the reason for this confession that Jehovah was Israel's Father, and could therefore look for paternal care and help from Him alone. Even the dearest and most honourable men, the forefathers of the nation, could not help it. Abraham and Jacob-Israel had been taken away from this world, and were unable to interfere on their own account in the history of their people. יָדַע and הִכִּיר suggest the idea of participating notice and regard, as in Deu 33:9 and Rth 2:10, Rth 2:19. יַכִּירָנוּ has the vowel â (pausal for a, Isa 56:3) in the place of ē, to rhyme with יְדָעָנוּ (see Ges. §60, Anm. 2). In the concluding clause, according to the accents, מֵעוֹלָם גֹּֽאֲלֵנוּ are connected together; but the more correct accentuation is גאלנו tiphchah, מעולם mercha, and we have rendered it so. From the very earliest time the acts of Jehovah towards Israel had been such that Israel could call Him גאלנו.