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The Prophet now adds, Ye come, that is, after ye have allowed yourselves to steal, and to murder, and to commit adultery, and to corrupt the whole worship of God, — at last, Ye come and stand before me in this temple. God proceeds with the same subject; for it was not only his purpose in this place to condemn the Jews as murderers, and thieves, and adulterers, but he proceeds farther, even to shew their shameless effrontery in coming with an unblushing front and entering the Temple, as though they were the true worshippers of God. “ do you mean, “ says, “ this? Ye bring with you murders, and thefts, and adulteries, and abominable filth; ye are contaminated with the most disgraceful things: by and bye ye enter the Temple, and think that you are at liberty to do anything.” Similar is the language we find in the first chapter of Isaiah, verses 12 and 15 (Isa_1:12): God complains there that they trod the pavement of his Temple, and brought hands polluted with blood. So also in this place, Ye come, he says, intimating his detestation, and ye stand before me in this Temple Though God was not inclosed in that Temple, yet we know that the Ark of the Covenant was the symbol of his presence. Hence, we often meet in the law with this expression, “ shall stand before me.” Here then, God shews that it was a detestable and monstrous thing, that the Jews dared to rush into his presence, when polluted and contaminated with so many vices.
And he adds, In this house, on which is called my name, that is, which has been dedicated to me; for to call God’ name on the Temple, means nothing else, but that the Temple was consecrated to him, so that he was there worshipped. When God is truly worshipped, they who seek him find that he himself is present by his grace and power. As then God had commanded the Temple to be built for him, that he might there be worshipped, he says his name was there called, that is, according to its first and sacred appointment. Absurdly indeed did the Jews call on his name, for there was in them no religion, no piety: but according to God’ institution, his name was called upon in the Temple, as he had consecrated it to himself. Hence God reminds them of the first institution, which was holy and ought to have continued inviolable: “ ye not, that this place has been chosen by me, that my name might be there invoked? Ye stand before me in the holy place, and ye stand polluted; and though polluted, not with one kind of vices, but my whole law has been violated by you, and my Tables despised, ye yet stand!” We hence see the design of the Prophet: for he condemns the effrontery and frowardness of the Jews, because they thus dared to rush into God’ presence in all their pollutions.
And ye say, he adds, that is, while standing in the Temple; ye say, O, we are freed to do all these abominations; that is, “ think that the Temple is a covert for you to hide all your vices; and so ye think, that you have escaped from my hand, as though no account is any more to be made of your sins, my Temple being regarded by you as an asylum, under whose shade ye take shelter.” It is indeed certain, that the Jews did not thus speak; for had they been asked whether their life was abominable, they would have denied it to be so. He speaks of the fact itself, and he speaks in the person of God, and according to his command. He therefore condemns hypocrites for thinking themselves freed, because they came to the Temple, and for thinking that all those abominations which he had mentioned, their impiety towards God and their injustice towards their neighbors, would be unpunished. (193)
(193) The three foregoing verses admit of a different construction, though the general meaning continues the same. It is usual to consider the words in the ninth verse as verbs in the infinitive mood; but they are participles, and stand connected with the previous verse. The Targum render them as personal nouns, “ murderers,“ etc.: but they are in Hebrew in the singular number, the collective singular being often employed in that language. The passage may be thus rendered, —
8.Behold, ye trust in words of falsehood to no profit, —
9.The thief, murderer, and adulterer, And the false swearer and incense-burner to Baal, And the walker after foreign gods, Whom ye have not known;
10.And ye come and stand before me In this house, on which is called my name, And ye say, “ are freed To do all these abominations,”
Or,
And ye say, “ has made us free To do all these abominations.”
Blayney, following the Syriac, has rendered the words, —
And say, Deliver us, that we may practice all these abominations.
But what is most consistent with the passage is to consider the sentence as declarative, and not as a prayer. They considered themselves freed from guilt when they had offered their sacrifices. They thought themselves then at liberty to be immoral and also to be idolatrous. We might think such a state of blindness and infatuation impossible; but it has existed among those calling themselves Christians, and it exists now. Gataker mentions a common saying among ignorant Papists of the same import with what is said here, “ must sin to be shriven, and shriven to sin.” The turning of the grace of God into lasciviousness is the same thing. — Ed.