John Gill Commentary Isaiah 59

Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot
save
It is not for want of power in the Lord, that he has not as yet destroyed the enemies of his people,antichrist, and the antichristian states, and saved them out of their hands, and made them to triumph overthem; or brought on the glorious state of the church, and fulfilled the promises of good things, suggested inthe latter part of the preceding chapter. His hand is as long as ever, and as able to reach his and theirenemies in the greatest height of power, or at the greatest distance, and to do every good thing for them;his power is as great as ever, and not in the least abridged or curtailed.

Neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear :
the prayers of his people, their cries unto him on their fast days, of which he seemed to take no notice,complained of (Isaiah 58:3) , this is not owing to any want of attention in him, or of readiness to hearprayer made unto him; for he is a God hearing and answering prayer, and is ready to help his people in everytime of need, who apply to him in a proper and suitable manner; his eyes are upon them, and his ears are opento their cries.

And this is introduced with a "behold", as requiring attention, and deserving the notice andconsideration of his people. The Targum is:

``behold, not through defect of hand (or power) from the Lord you are not saved; nor because it is heavy to him to hear, that your prayer is not received.''

Ver. 2 But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, &c.] Like a partition wall dividing between them, so that they enjoy no communion with him in his worship and ordinances; which is greatly the case of the reformed churches: they profess the true God, and the worship of him, and do attend the outward ordinances of it; but this is done in such a cold formal way, and such sins and wickedness are perpetrated and connived at, that the Lord does not grant his gracious presence to them, but stands at a distance from them:

and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear; or have caused him to hide himself; withdraw his gracious presence; neglect the prayers put up to him; deny an answer to them; or, however, not appear as yet for the deliverance and salvation of them, and bringing them into a more comfortable, prosperous, and happy condition.

For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with
iniquity

From a general charge, the prophet proceeds to a particular enumeration of sins they were guilty of; and idolatry not being mentioned, as Jerom observes, shows that the prophecy belongs to other times than Isaiah's, when that sin greatly prevailed. He begins the account with the sin of shedding blood; the blood of innocents, as the Targum; designing either the sin of murder, now frequently committed in Christian nations; or wars between Christian princes, by means of which much blood is shed; or persecutions of Christian brethren, by casting them into prisons, which have issued in their death; and at least want of brotherly love, or, the hatred of brethren, which is called murder, (1 John 3:15) a prevailing sin in the present Sardian state; and which will not be removed till the spiritual reign or Philadelphian state takes place.

And this sin is of a defiling nature; it "defiles" the "hands" or actions; and without love all works signify nothing, (1 Corinthians 13:1–3) : yea, even their "fingers" are said to be defiled "with iniquity"; meaning either their lesser actions; or rather those more curiously and nicely performed, and seemingly more agreeable to the divine will; and yet defiled with some sin or other, as hypocrisy, vain glory, or the like: or it may be this may design the same as putting forth the fingers, and smiting with the fist, (Isaiah 58:4Isaiah 58:9) , as Kimchi and Ben Melech observe; and so may have respect to some sort of persecution of their brethren for conscience sake, as there.

Your lips have spoken lies :
or "falsehood" ^F17 ; that is, false doctrines, so called because contrary to the word of truth, and which deceive men.

Your tongue has muttered perverseness :
that which is a perversion of the Gospel of Christ, and of the souls of men; what is contrary to the sacred Scriptures, the standard of faith and practice, and that premeditated, as the word ^F18 signifies; done with design, and on purpose: the abounding of errors and heresies in the present day, openly taught and divulged, to the ruin of souls, seems here to be pointed at.

In the Talmud ^F19 these are explained of the several sorts of men in a court of judicature; the "hands" of the judges; the "fingers" of, the Scribes; the "lips" of advocates and solicitors; and the "tongue" of adversaries, or the contending parties.

FOOTNOTES:

• F17: (rqv) "falsitatem", Montanus, Cocceius; "falsum", Junius & Tremeliius, Piscator.
• F18: (hght) , (meleta) , Sept.; "meditabitur", Montanus; "meditatur", Piscator; "meditatam effert", Junius & Tremellius.
• F19: T. Bab. Sabbat. fol. 139. 1.

None calls for justice
Or, "righteousness"; not for civil justice in courts of judicature, as if there were no advocates for it there; or that put those in mind of it, to whom the administration of it belongs; or that see to put the laws against sin in execution, and to relieve those that are oppressed; though of this there may be just cause of complaint in some places: but there are none or few that call for evangelical righteousness, either that preach it, proclaim and publish it to others; even the righteousness of Christ, the grand doctrine of the Gospel, which is therein revealed from faith to faith; so the Syriac version, "there is none that preaches righteously"; or "in", or "of righteousness" ^F20 ; and the Septuagint version, "no one speaks righteous things"; the words and doctrines of righteousness and truth: or, "no one calls for righteousness"; desires to hear this doctrine, and have it preached to him; hungers and thirsts after it; but chooses the doctrine of justification by works.

The Targum refers it to prayer, paraphrasing it thus, ``there is none that prays in truth;'' in sincerity and uprightness, in faith and with fervour; but in a cold, formal, and hypocritical way:

nor any pleads for truth :
for the truth of the Gospel, particularly for the principal one, the justification of a sinner by the righteousness of Christ alone; few or none contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints; they are not valiant for the truth, nor stand fast in it, but drop or conceal it, or deny it: or, "none is judged by", or "according to truth" ^F21 ; by the Scriptures of truth, but by carnal reason; or by forms and rules of man's devising, and so are condemned; as Gospel ministers and professors of it are: they trust in vanity ;
in nothing, as the Vulgate Latin; that is worth nothing; in their own strength, wisdom, riches, righteousness, especially the latter: and speak lies ;
or "vanity"; vain things, false doctrines, as before: they conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity ;
they "conceive" and contrive "mischief" in their minds against those that differ in doctrine and practice from them: "and bring forth iniquity": do that which is criminal and sinful, by words and actions, by calumnies and reproaches, by violence and persecution. The Targum is, ``they hasten and bring out of their hearts words of violence.''

FOOTNOTES:

• F20: (qdub) "in justitia", Montanus, Tigurine version; "sive de justitia".
• F21: (hnwmab jpvn Nya) "nemo judicatur scundum veritatem", Munster; "non judicatur in veritate", Montanus.

They hatch cockatrice eggs, and weave the spider's web
Invent false doctrines according to their own fancies, which may seem fair and plausible, but are poisonous and pernicious; as the "eggs [of the] cockatrice", which may look like, and may be taken for, the eggs of creatures fit to eat; and spin out of their brains a fine scheme of things, but which are as thin, and as useless, and unprofitable, as "the spider's web"; and serve only to ensnare and entangle the minds of men, and will not stand before the word of God which sweeps them away at once; particularly of this kind is the doctrine of justification by the works of men, which are like the spider's web, spun out of its own bowels; so these are from themselves, as the doctrine of them is a device of man, and is not of God:

he that eateth of their eggs dieth :
as a man that eats of cockatrice eggs dies immediately, being rank poison; so he that approves of false doctrines, receives them, and feeds upon them, dies spiritually and eternally; these are damnable doctrines, which bring upon men swift destruction; they are poisonous, and eat as do a canker, and destroy the souls of men:

and that which is crushed breaketh out into a viper ;
or "cockatrice"; so Kimchi and Ben Melech take it to be the same creature as before, which goes by different names; and the words seem to require this sense; however, it cannot be the creature we call the viper, since that is not oviparous, but viviparous, lays not eggs, but brings forth its young; though both Aristotle ^F23 and Pliny ^F24 , at the same time they say it is viviparous, yet observe that it breeds eggs within itself, which are of one colour, and soft like fishes. The Targum renders it "flying serpents": the sense is, that if a man is cautious, and does not eat of the cockatrice eggs, but sets his foot on them, and crushes them, out comes the venomous creature, and he is in danger of being hurt by it; so a man that does not embrace false doctrines, and escapes eternal death by them, but tramples upon them, opposes them, and endeavours to crush and destroy them, yet he is exposed to and brings upon himself calumnies, reproach, and persecution.

FOOTNOTES:

• F23: Hist. Animal. l. 5. c. 34.
• F24: Nat. Hist. I. 10. c. 62.