Charles Ellicott Commentary Isaiah 57

The righteous perisheth ... — The words seem written as if in the anticipation or in the actual presence of Manasseh’s persecution of the true prophets. Even before that persecution burst out in its full violence, the “righteous” survivors of Hezekiah’s régime may well have vexed their souls even to death with the evils that were around them. The prophet finds comfort in the thought that their death was a deliverance from yet worse evils. The singular number points to the few conspicuous sufferers.

He shall enter into peace ... —Noticeable as presenting the brighter side of the dim thoughts of Israel as to the life behind the veil, and so far contrasted with Hezekiah’s shrinking fear . For the righteous there was peace in death as in life. For the wicked there was peace in neither (Isaiah 57:21).

They shall rest in their beds. —The “bed” is obviously the grave, the thought following naturally on that of death being as the sleep “after life’s fitful fever” (Ezekiel 32:25).

Each one walking in his uprightness. —Better, every one who has walked straight before him —has taken, i.e., the straight path of duty (Isaiah 30:21).

Ye sons of the sorceress. —The words may be purely figurative, meaning those who practice sorcery, but it is also possible that they may refer to the female soothsayers, such as are described in Ezekiel 13:17-23.

The adulterer. —Here again the epithet may have had both a figurative and a literal application (Matthew 16:4; James 4:4).

Against whom do you sport yourselves? —The question, as in Isaiah 37:23, is one of indignant scorn, the implied answer being that the mockers were deriding the servants of Jehovah. (Compare to Wisdom 2), and, in so doing, mocking Jehovah himself. The “wide mouth,” and the “drawn-out tongue,” are the natural symbols of derision.

Enflaming yourselves. —The best illustration of the phrase is found in the real or supposed derivation of “fanatic” as meaning one who is circa fana calefactus. No word could better describe the orgiastic excitement of heathen rites. For with idols read among the terebinths, which were prominent, with other trees, in the groves dedicated to idol-worship (Hosea 4:13; Ezekiel 6:13).

Under every green tree is almost a stereotyped formula in this connection (Deuteronomy 12:2; 1 Kings 14:23; Jeremiah 2:20), the tree itself becoming a direct object of the cultus.

Slaying the children in the valleys ... —This had been done by Ahaz (2 Chronicles 28:3). It was perfectly natural that it should be done by Manasseh. There is not the slightest trace of the revival of the practice among the exiles in Babylon or after their return. The scenery described—the torrent-stream, the clefts of the rock—belongs distinctively to Palestine.