Albert Barnes Commentary Isaiah 59

Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened - On the meaning of this phrase, see the notes at (Isaiah 50:2).

Neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear - On the meaning of this phrase, see the notes at (Isaiah 6:10).

But your iniquities - This refers to the sins that the prophet specified in the previous chapter and proceeds to specify further in this one.

Have separated - The word used here (בדל bâdal) conveys the idea of division, usually by a curtain or a wall (Exodus 26:33; Ezekiel 42:20). Thus the ‘firmament’ (רקיע râqı̂ya‛ — “expanse”) is said to have “divided” or “separated” (מבדיל mab'dîl) the waters from the waters (Genesis 1:6). The idea here is that their sins were like a partition between them and God, so there was no contact between them and him.

And your sins have hid his face from you - Margin, ‘Made him hide.’ The Hebrew word here is in Hiphil, meaning ‘to cause to hide.’ Kimchi and Aben Ezra understand it as causing him to hide his face; Vitringa as hiding his face.

Vitringa says the metaphor is not taken from a man who turns away his face from someone because he does not choose to attend to what is said, but from something that comes between two persons, like a dense cloud, which hides one from the other. According to this, the idea is that their sins had risen up like a thick, dark cloud between them and God, so that they had no clear view of him and no contact with him—as a cloud hides the face of the sun from us. A similar idea occurs in Lamentations 3:44:

Thou hast covered thyself with a cloud,
That our prayers should not pass through.

But it seems more probable to me that the Hiphil signification of the verb is to be retained here. The idea, then, is that their sins had caused Yahweh to hide or turn away his face from their prayers because he was unwilling to hear them when they were so deeply immersed in sin.

Thus, the Septuagint states: ‘On account of your sins he has turned away his face (ἀπέστρεψε τὸ πρόσωπον apestrepse to prosōpon) from you, so that he will not have mercy’ (τοῦ μὴ ἐλεῆσαι tou mē eleēsai).

It is universally true that indulgence in sin causes God to turn away his face and to withhold mercy and compassion. He cannot pardon those who indulge in transgression and who are unwilling to abandon the ways of sin (compare the notes at Isaiah 1:15).

For your hands are defiled with blood — The prophet proceeds here more particularly to specify the sins of which they were guilty; and in order to show the extent and depth of their depravity, he specifies the various members of the body—the hands, the fingers, the lips, the tongue, the feet—as the agents by which people commit iniquity. See a similar argument on the subject of depravity in Romans 3:13-15, where part of the description the prophet gives here is quoted by Paul and applied to the Jews in his own time. The phrase your hands are defiled with blood, means with the blood of the innocent; that is, they were guilty of murder, oppression, and cruelty. See a similar statement in Isaiah 1:15, where the phrase your hands are full of blood occurs.

The word rendered here ‘defiled’ (גאל gā'al) commonly means to redeem or ransom; then to avenge, or to demand and inflict punishment for bloodshed. In the sense of defiling, it occurs only in the later Hebrew writers—perhaps used in this sense because those who were avengers became covered, that is, defiled with blood.

And your fingers with iniquity — In the Scriptures, the fingers are represented as the agents by which any purpose is executed (Isaiah 2:8), Which their own fingers have made . Some have supposed that the phrase used here means the same as the preceding one: that they were guilty of murder and cruelty. But it seems more probable that the idea suggested by Grotius is the true sense: that it means they were guilty of rapine and theft. The fingers are the instruments by which theft—especially the lighter and more delicate kinds of theft—is executed. Thus, we use the term ‘light-fingered’ to denote anyone who is dexterous in taking and conveying away anything, or anyone who is addicted to petty thefts.

Your lips have spoken lies — The nation is false, and no confidence can be placed in the declarations that are made.

Your tongue has muttered — Regarding the word rendered ‘muttered’ (הגה hâgâh), see the notes at Isaiah 8:19. Probably, the word here includes the idea that they not only spoke evil but did so with a complaining, discontented, or malicious spirit. It may also mean that they calumniated the government of God and complained of his laws; or it may mean, as Grotius supposes, that they calumniated others—that is, that slander abounded among them.

Perverseness — Hebrew, עולה ‛avlâh — ‘Evil’ — the word from which our word evil is derived.

None calls for justice - Or rather, there is no one who brings a suit with justice; no one who goes into court for the purpose of obtaining justice. There is a love of litigation; a desire to take all the advantage which the law can give; a desire to appeal to the law, not for the sake of having strict justice done, but for the sake of doing injury to others, and to take some undue advantage.

Nor any pleads for truth - Or, no one pleads with truth. He does not state the cause as it is. He makes use of cunning and falsehood to gain his cause.

They trust in vanity - They confide in quirks and evasions rather than in the justice of their cause.

They conceive mischief - They form plans of evil, and they execute them when they are fully ripe. Compare (Job 15:35), where the same phrase occurs. The sense is, that they form plans to injure others, and that they expect to execute them by fraud and deceit.

They hatch cockatrice's eggs — Margin, "Adders." On the meaning of the word rendered here "cockatrice," see the notes at (Isaiah 11:8). Some poisonous serpent is intended, probably the adder, or the serpent known among the Greeks as the basilisk, or cerastes. This figurative expression is designed to show the evil nature and tendency of their works. They were as if they carefully nourished the eggs of a venomous serpent. Instead of crushing them with the foot and destroying them, they took pains to hatch them, and produce a venomous race of reptiles. Nothing can more forcibly describe the wicked character and plans of sinners than the language used here — plans that are as pernicious, loathsome, and hateful as the poisonous serpents that spread death and ruin and alarm everywhere.

And weave the spider's web — This phrase, in itself, may denote, as some have understood it, that they formed plans designed to seize upon and destroy others, as spiders weave their web for the purpose of catching and destroying insects. But the following verse shows that the language is used rather with reference to the tenuity and gossamer character of the web, than with any such designs. Their works were like the web of the spider. They bore the same relation to true piety which the web of the spider did to substantial and comfortable clothing. They were vain and useless. The word rendered here "web" properly denotes the cross-threads in weaving, the woof or filling; and is probably derived from a word signifying a cross-beam (see Rosenmuller in loc; also Bochart, Hieroz. ii. 4. 23).

He that eateth of their eggs dieth — That is, he who partakes of their counsels, or of the plans which they form, shall perish. Calvin says that the meaning is, that "whosoever had anything to do with them would find them destructive and pestiferous." Similar phrases, comparing the plans of the wicked with the eggs and the brood of the serpent, are common in the East. "It is said," says Roberts, speaking of India, "of the plans of a decidedly wicked and talented man, 'That wretch! he hatches serpents' eggs.' 'Beware of the fellow, his eggs are nearly hatched.' 'Ah, my friend, touch not that affair, meddle not with that matter; there is a serpent in the shell.'"

And that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper — On the meaning of the word rendered here "viper," see the notes at (Isaiah 30:6). Margin, "Sprinkled, is as if there brake out a viper." Jerome renders it, "Which if pierced, breaks out into a basilisk." The Septuagint renders it, "And he who was about to eat of their eggs, having broken one that was putrid (συντρίψας οὔριον suntripsas ourion), found in it a basilisk (βασόλισκον basiliskon)." The difference of translation in the text and the margin of the common version has arisen from the fact that the translators supposed that the word used here (זוּרה zûrâh) might be derived from זרה zârâh — to sprinkle, or to scatter.

But it is formed from the word זור zûr — to squeeze, to press, to crush; and in (Job 39:15), is applied to the fact that the ostrich might crush her eggs with her foot. The sense here is, that when their plans were developed, they would be found to be evil and pernicious — as when an egg is broken open, a venomous serpent would come forth. The viper, it is true, brings forth its young alive, or is a viviparous animal. But Bochart has remarked, that though it produces its young in this manner, yet that during the period of gestation the young are included in eggs which are broken at the birth.

This is a very impressive illustration of the character and plans of the wicked. The serpents referred to here are among the most venomous and destructive that are known. And the comparison here includes two points:

1. That their plans resembled the egg of the serpent. The nature of the egg cannot be easily known by an inspection. It may have a strong resemblance to those which would produce some inoffensive and even useful animals. It is only when it is hatched that its true nature is fully developed. So it is with the plans of the wicked. When forming, their true nature may not be certainly known, and it may not be easy to determine their real character.
2. Their plans, when developed, are like the poisonous and destructive production of the serpent’s egg. The true nature is then seen; and it is ruinous, pernicious, and evil.