Matthew Henry Commentary Isaiah 29:9-16

"Tarry ye and wonder; take your pleasure and be blind: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. For Jehovah hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes, the prophets; and your heads, the seers, hath he covered. And all vision is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot, for it is sealed: and the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I am not learned. And the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw nigh [unto me], and with their mouth and with their lips to honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which hath been taught [them]; therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. Woe unto them that hide deep their counsel from Jehovah, and whose works are in the dark, and that say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us? Ye turn things upside down! Shall the potter be esteemed as clay; that the thing made should say of him that made it, He made me not; or the thing formed say of him that formed it, He hath no understanding?" — Isaiah 29:9-16 (ASV)

The complacency of sinners in sinful ways, is a cause for lamentation and wonder. The learned, through prejudice, said that the Divine prophecies were obscure; and the poor pleaded their lack of learning. The Bible is a sealed book to everyone, learned or unlearned, until they begin to study it with a simple heart and a teachable spirit, so that they may learn from it the truth and the will of God.

To worship God, is to approach Him. And if the heart is full of His love and fear, out of its abundance the mouth will speak; but there are many whose religion is only lip service. When they pretend to be speaking to God, they are thinking of a thousand foolish things. They worship the God of Israel according to their own ways.

Many people are only formal in worship. Their religion is only to comply with custom and to serve their own interests. But the wanderings of mind and defects in devotion, which are the believer's burden, are very different from the withdrawing of the heart from God, so severely blamed. And those who make religion no more than a pretense to serve their own purposes deceive themselves.

And just as those who quarrel with God, so too those who think to conceal themselves from Him, in effect charge Him with folly. But all their perverse conduct will be entirely brought to an end.