Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 1:5

"Why will ye be still stricken, that ye revolt more and more? the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint." — Isaiah 1:5 (ASV)

Why ... - The prophet now, by an abrupt change in the discourse, calls their attention to the effects of their sins. Instead of saying that they had been smitten, or that they had been punished for their sins, he assumes both and asks why it should be repeated. The Vulgate reads this: “Super quo—on what part—shall I smite you anymore?” This expresses well the sense of the Hebrew על־מה (‘al-meh)—upon what. The meaning is, “What part of the body can be found on which blows have not been inflicted? On every part there are traces of the stripes which have been inflicted for your sins.” The imagery is of a body entirely covered with welts or marks of blows; the whole frame is one continuous bruise, and there remains no sound part to be struck. The particular chastisement to which the prophet refers is specified in Isaiah 1:7-9.

In Isaiah 1:5-6, he refers to the calamities of the nation, under the image of a person wounded and chastised for crimes. Such a figure of speech is not uncommon in classical writers. Thus Cicero (De Finibus Bonorum et Malorum IV.14) says, ‘quae hic reipublicae vulnera imponebat, hic sanabat.’ See also Tusculanae Quaestiones III.22; Ad Quintum Fratrem II.25; Sallust, Catilina 10.

Should you be stricken - Smitten, or punished. The manner in which they had been punished, he specifies in Isaiah 1:7-8. Jerome says that the sense is, “There is no medicine which I can administer to your wounds. All your members are full of wounds; and there is no part of your body which has not been smitten before. The more you are afflicted, the more will your impiety and iniquity increase.” The word here, תכוּ (tukû)—from נכה (nâkâh)—means to smite, to beat, to strike down, to slay, or kill. It is applied to the infliction of punishment on an individual, or to the judgments of God by plague, pestilence, or sickness. For example, in Genesis 19:2: And they smote the men that were at the door with blindness. In Numbers 14:12: And I will smite them with the pestilence. In Exodus 7:25: After that the Lord had smitten the river, that is, had changed it into blood. Compare to Isaiah 1:20 and Zechariah 10:2.

Here it refers to the judgments inflicted on the nation as the punishment of their crimes.

You will revolt - In Hebrew: “You will add defection,” or revolt. The effect of calamity and punishment will be only to increase rebellion. When the heart is right with God, the tendency of affliction is to humble it and lead it more and more to God. When it is evil, the tendency is to make the sinner more obstinate and rebellious. This effect of punishment is seen everywhere. Sinners revolt more and more. They become sullen, malignant, and fretful; they plunge into vice to seek temporary relief, and thus they become more and more alienated from God.

The whole head - The prophet proceeds to specify more definitely what he had just said respecting their being stricken. He designates each of the members of the body—thus comparing the Jewish people to the human body when under severe punishment. The word “head” in the Scriptures is often used to denote the princes, leaders, or chiefs of the nation. But the expression here is used as a figure taken from the human body and refers solely to the punishment of the people, not to their sins. It means that all had been smitten—all was filled with the effects of punishment—as the human body is when the head and all the members are diseased.

Is sick - It is so smitten—so punished—that it has become sick and painful. In Hebrew, לחלי (lâchŏlı̂y) means “for sickness,” or “for pain.” The preposition ל denotes a state or condition of anything, as in Psalms 69:21: And in (ל) my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink. The expression is intensive and denotes that the head was entirely sick.

The whole heart faint - The heart here stands for the whole region of the chest or stomach. When the head is violently pained, there is also sickness at the heart or in the stomach; these are indications of entire or total prostration of the frame. So too, the expression here denotes the perfect desolation that had come over the nation.

Faint - Sick, feeble, without vigor, attended with nausea. As in Jeremiah 8:18: When I would comfort myself in my sorrow, my heart is faint within me. . When the body is suffering, when severe punishment is inflicted, the effect is to produce languor and faintness at the seat of life. This is the idea here. Their punishment had been so severe for their sins that the heart was languid and feeble—still maintaining the figure drawn from the human body.