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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Isaiah 1:1 - 1:4
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The Address
v. 1. The vision of Isaiah ("The Lord will save"), the son of Amos, which he saw, by special enlightenment and inspiration of the Lord, concerning Judah, the southern kingdom, and Jerusalem, the capital of Judah, the site of the Temple, and therefore the center of theocratic worship, in the days of Uzziah, also known as Azariah, 2Ki_14:21, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah.
v. 2. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth, the witnesses who were present at the giving of the Law, Deu_4:36, were to hear the complaint of the Lord, as He entered into judgment with His people after seven centuries, Cf Deu_32:1; for the Lord hath spoken, the very words of Jehovah, the self-existing and unchangeable God, being quoted here, I have nourished, brought to maturity, to adult age, and brought up children, and they have rebelled against Me, for so Israel, the first-born son of God, Exo_4:22, had rewarded the blessings received at the hand of God during these many years since the deliverance out of the serfdom of Egypt. Rebellion against God, apostasy from God: that is the chief characteristic in the history of Israel since the days of Solomon.
v. 3. The ox knoweth his owner and the ass his master's crib, the very unthinking brutes acquiring a certain attachment for their master, so that they will not voluntarily leave him; but Israel doth not know, does not realize, My people doth not consider, does not meditate and reflect upon it, continues in deliberate ignorance of its Lord and Provider.
v. 4. Ah! sinful nation, going its way of willful error, a people laden with iniquity, with guilt and corruption of right, burdened with transgressions, a seed of evil-doers, a brood of such as prefer wickedness to the holiness required of them, children that are corrupters, themselves subject to spiritual decay and infecting others with their corruption; they have forsaken the Lord, they are guilty of apostasy in heart and mind, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they have gotten into the habit of blaspheming and mocking or rejecting with scorn, Him who is spotlessly pure and who chose these people to be a holy nation unto Himself; they are gone away backward, following their own corrupt ways, especially in sins of idolatry. Such is the sevenfold woe of the Lord, which may rightly be applied wherever apostasy is found in His Church, also in our days.