Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 57:9

"And thou wentest to the king with oil, and didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send thine ambassadors far off, and didst debase thyself even unto Sheol." — Isaiah 57:9 (ASV)

And you went to the king — Margin, ‘Respected.’ Jerome renders this, ‘You have adorned yourself with royal ointment, and have multiplied your painting;’ and evidently understands it as a continuance of the sentiment in the previous verses as referring to the kind of decoration which harlots used.

The Septuagint renders it, ‘You have multiplied your fornication with them, and have done it with many who are far from you.’ The Chaldee renders it, ‘When you kept the law you were prosperous in the kingdom; and when you abounded in good works, then your armies were multiplied.’ Lowth supposes that the king of Egypt or Assyria is intended, and that the prophet refers to the fact that the Hebrews had sought an alliance with them, and in order to secure it, had carried a present of valuable ointments, after the manner of the East. Rosenmuller supposes that by the king an idol was intended, and that the sense is that they had anointed themselves with oil and prepared perfumes in order to be acceptable to the idol; that is, had decorated themselves as harlots did.

Grotius supposes that it means that they had imitated foreign kings and copied the customs of other nations, referring to the example of Ahaz (2 Kings 16:10). Others suppose that the word ‘king’ is to be taken collectively, meaning that they had sought the alliance and imitated the customs of foreign nations in general. It is probable that the prophet refers to some such fact.

On former occasions, they had sought the alliance of the king of Assyria ; and on one occasion, at least, they had meditated an alliance with the king of Egypt (see Isaiah 30:2 and following). The essential idea is that they had proved unfaithful to Yahweh.

This unfaithfulness is presented here under the image of a woman unfaithful to her husband, who had decorated and perfumed herself to allure others. Thus the Jews had forsaken God and had endeavored to make themselves agreeable in the sight of other nations, courting their friendship and alliance.

The word ‘king,’ according to this, refers not to idols, but to foreign princes, whose assistance had been sought.

And you increased your perfumes — That is, for the purpose of rendering yourself agreeable, after the manner of a licentious female . The custom of perfuming the person was common in the East and is still practiced there.

And you sent your messengers — That is, to distant nations, for the purpose of securing their alliance.

And you debased yourself even to hell — On the meaning of the word ‘hell,’ see the notes at Isaiah 5:14. The idea is that they had sunk to the deepest possible debasement.

In forsaking Yahweh, in seeking foreign alliances, and in their anxiety to secure aid from others when Yahweh was abundantly able and willing to protect them, they had sunk to the lowest degradation of character and condition.

The sentiment is that people degrade themselves when they do not put confidence in God and when, distrusting His ability, they rely on any aid other than His. If people have God for their protector, why should they court the friendship of earthly princes and kings?