Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Isaiah 1:21 - 1:31

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Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Isaiah 1:21 - 1:31


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The Lord's Complaint against Jerusalem

v. 21. How is the faithful city,
Jerusalem with its representative inhabitants, formerly excelling in faithfulness to Jehovah, become an harlot, given to spiritual adultery or idolatry! It was full of judgment, justice in agreement with the Law of God being practiced in the city; righteousness lodged in it, being at home there at one time; but now murderers, for violence, tyranny, oppression are transgressions of the Fifth Commandment.

v. 22. Thy silver,
the princes and rulers, which formerly distinguished the city, is become dross, thy wine, the leaders and nobles, mixed with water, that is, the judges and rulers of the city had turned from integrity and sincerity to moral impurity;

v. 23. thy princes are rebellious,
obstinately opposing God and His covenant, and companions of thieves, thinking only of ways and means to satisfy their greed; every one loveth gifts, expecting bribes, and followeth after rewards, openly seeking money for selling right to the highest bidder; they judge not the fatherless, that is, they do not see to it that orphans receive justice, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them, so that they might receive that which is due to them. Such is ever the case in times of apostasy; for it is then that tyranny and oppression, faithlessness and blasphemy, reign, and the efforts. of the few believers seem to count almost for nothing.

v. 24. Therefore saith the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel,
He who possesses absolute power over all the fortunes and actions of men, Ah! I will ease Me of Mine adversaries, have the satisfaction of punishing them for their attitude against Him, and avenge Me of Mine enemies, by punishing them in His wrath and thus working satisfaction to His holiness;

v. 25. and I will turn My hand upon thee,
namely, against Jerusalem, the faithless, sinful city, and purely purge away thy dross, melting it out with lye, removing the obstinate and wicked leaders, and take away all thy tin, the lead mixed with the precious metal, the ungodly in high and low places;

v. 26. and I will restore thy judges as at the first,
men possessing the integrity of the original days, and thy counselors as at the beginning, in the golden period of Israel's history. Afterward thou shalt be called The City of Righteousness, the Faithful City, where true righteousness and dependable loyalty would be found always. We have here a reference to the true Israel of the New Testament, to the Church of Jesus Christ, in the perfection of its nature as wrought by Jesus Christ.

v. 27. Zion shall be redeemed with judgment,
through the redemption of the Messiah, and her converts with righteousness, for with the guilt of mankind laid upon Christ and the full atonement demanded of Him, the way is paved for the complete appeasing of God's wrath, the basis of justification.

v. 28. And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together,
for rejecting the Lord, and they that forsake the Lord, refusing to change their evil mind, shall be consumed, this being the fate of all obstinate sinners at all times.

v. 29. For they shall be ashamed of the oaks,
or terebinths, which ye have desired, they will be brought to shame on account of the groves where they practiced idolatry, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen, where idolatry and other vices held full sway.

v. 30. For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth,
dying for want of nourishment, and as a garden that hath no water, whose flowers and fruits are bound to die.

v. 31. And the strong shall be as tow,
that is, the well-to-do will be as a lamp-wick, and the maker of it as a spark, rather, his work as a spark, for the idol causes a consuming fire, which devours the idolaters themselves, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them. When the final Judgment comes and the fate of men has been decided, then the verdict of condemnation will strike the ungodly, and their worm will not die, neither will their fire be quenched, and they will be an abomination to all flesh.