The righteous perisheth. Isaiah 57:1, 2 The righteous perishing F. Delitzsch, D. D. In view of this prevailing demoralization and worldliness ( Isaiah 56:9-12 ), the righteous one succumbs to the grinding weight of external and internal sufferings: he "perishes," dies before his time ( Ecclesiastes 7:15 ), from the midst of his contemporaries, disappearing from this life ( Psalm 12:1 ; Micah 7:2 ), and no man lays it to heart, i.e. no one considers the Divine accusation and threatening implied in this early death. ( F. Delitzsch, D. D. ) "Merciful men Prof. J. Skinner, D. D. Literally, men of piety. ( Prof. J. Skinner, D. D. ) Good men die Righteousness delivereth from the sting of death, but not from the stroke of it. ( M. Henry . ) Death of the righteous James Wells. 1. One reason why, when the righteous dieth, no man layeth it to heart is because the world do not know the righteous. 2. Another reason is, disinclination of all men by nature to lay such things to heart. 3. They do not think it of much importance. But the death of every good man is a loss to the world, a loss to the Church militant — the people of God are the salt of the earth, and the more taken away and the less left, the less likely are we to be blessed as a nation. ( James Wells. ) Early death J. R. Macduff, D. D. Such early removals form a problem insoluble by our poor reason. They seem, at first sight, inconsistent alike with the Divine wisdom and power and love. They look almost like the frustration of God's plans and purposes, a failure in His sovereign designs. It is the architect just completing His work when that work comes with a crash to the ground. It is the sculptor putting the finishing strokes of his chisel on the virgin marble, when the toil of months or years strews the floor of his studio. It is the gardener bringing forth from his conservatory the long-husbanded plants in their freshness and beauty, to bask in early summer sun, when a frost or hailstorm unexpectedly comes, and in one night they have perished! ( J. R. Macduff, D. D. ) Early death J. R. Macduff, D. D. Why is the young soldier stricken clown just; when the armour of life has been assayed? Wherefore hath God apparently thus made His noblest work in vain? The words of Isaiah give a twofold answer to these questions and mysteries; the one negative, the other positive. I. THE NEGATIVE ANSWER. "The righteous is taken away from the evil to come." It was so in the case of Josiah ( 2 Kings 22:18-20 ). II. THE POSITIVE EXPLANATION. "He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness; or rather, as it has been rendered, each one walking straight before him, or as Bishop Lowth translates it, "he that walketh in the straight oath." 1. Josiah, the good, the pious, when he died, "entered into peace." It is a beautiful Old Testament evidence of the immediate blessedness of the departed righteous. His body rested in the tomb, as in a "bed" or couch; his spirit — the spirit that walked so "uprightly on earth, with no divergence from the path of duty and piety — continues, in a loftier state of existence, this elevated "walk." The work cut short in this lower world is not arrested; it is only transferred. In a higher and loftier sphere he still pursues these active ministries of righteousness. There is an evident contrast between these opening words of the chapter and the terrible refrain with which it closes — "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked;" none in life, none in death, none in their limitless future. But "the righteous," thus taken away, "enter into peace." 2. Another thought, too, is brought out in the original which we miss in our translation, and which suggests the same assurance of immediate bliss. It occurs in the words just quoted — "The righteous is taken away," "Merciful men are taken away;" this in the Hebrew is, "The righteous, the merciful, are gathered" — gathered to their fathers. 3. One other thought on early death may be suggested by these words. While the spirit is pursuing its onward path of bliss and glory, it has not, in the truest sense, bid farewell to its earthly sphere. The lips are silenced, the music of the voice is hushed, the blank of the absent is too painfully realized. But "the righteous" survive dissolution even in this world; in their deathless memories of goodness and worth, they continue to "walk." The old promise dictated by the sweet singer of Israel (apparently paradoxical) becomes literally true, regarding those prematurely taken away — "With long life will I satisfy him, and show him My salvation." For what, after all, is long life? Is it measured and computed by formal arithmetic? counted by days, or weeks, or months, or years? No! the fourscore years of a misspent life is no life at all. It is a bankruptcy of being. It may be a life only sowing and perpetuating baneful influences; an untimely birth would be better. Whereas, that is the truest length of days, where, it may be for a brief but bright and consecrated season, some young life has shone gloriously for God, and which, though now a fallen meteor, has left a trail of light behind it, for which parent and brother and sister will for ever bless Him who gave the transient boon! ( J. R. Macduff, D. D. ) The death of the good Homilist. I. THEIR DEATH IS THE PERISHING OF THE BODY. — 1. Why, then, pamper the body? 2. Why centre interests on the wants and enjoyments of the body? II. THEIR DEATH IS GENERALLY DISREGARDED BY MANKIND. How soon the best of men are forgotten. There are two reasons for disregarding the death of the good. 1. The thought of death is repugnant to the heart. 2. The concerns of life are all-absorbing. III. THEIR DEATH IS A DELIVERANCE FROM ALL THE EVILS THAT ARE COMING ON THE WORLD. "Taken away from the evil to come." IV. THEIR DEATH IS A STEP INTO A HIGHER LIFE. "He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds." 1. The death of the good as to the body is only sleep — natural, refreshing, temporary. 2. Their souls march on. " Each one walking in his uprightness." Endless progress. " It doth not yet appear what we shall be." ( Homilist. ) The righteous is taken away from the evil to come. Spared future evil Homiletic Review. 1. It may be from the evil of personal suffering. The prolongation of life to old age often involves an immense amount of bodily ills and pains. 2. It may be to spare the heart of affection sore trials. How often do children grow up, to break the hearts of fond parents. 3. It may be to take His child out of harm's way. 4. It may be to shield him from some impending calamity that is coming upon the Church or the world. 5. Or (if we accept the marginal reading) it is to save them "from that which" Is" evil" Life" itself, under the curse of sin, is evil, even in its best estate, and the God of mercy cuts it short and receives His loved one into His bosom. ( Homiletic Review. ) The blessings of short life T. De Witt Talmage, D. D. We all spend much time in panegyric of longevity. But I propose to preach about the blessings of an abbreviated earthly existence. I. IT MAKES ONE'S LIFE WORK VERY COMPACT. II. MORAL DISASTER MIGHT COME UPON THE MAN IF HE TARRIED LONGER. III. ONE IS THE SOONER TAKEN OFF FROM THE DEFENSIVE. IV. ONE ESCAPES SO MANY BEREAVEMENTS. V. IT PUTS ONE SOONER IN THE CENTRE OF THINGS. ( T. De Witt Talmage, D. D. ) He shall enter into peace. Isaiah 57:2 The believer in life, death, and eternity J. Haslegrave, M. A. Taking them together, the words of the text will lead us to contemplate the child of God — I. IN THE STRENGTH AND VIGOUR OF LIFE. II. IN THE SUFFERING AND THE ARTICLE OF DEATH. III. IN THE CONSEQUENCES OF DISSOLUTION, AS THEY AFFECT BOTH BODY AND SOUL. ( J. Haslegrave, M. A. ) A glimmering of New Testament consolation F. Delitzsch, D. D. Here is a glimmering of the consolation in the New Testament, that the death of the righteous man is better than the present life, because it is the entrance into peace. ( F. Delitzsch, D. D. ) Among the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion. Isaiah 57:6 Smooth stones A. B. Davidson, D. D. The term "portion" suggests that the "smooth stones" were fetishes. ( A. B. Davidson, D. D. ) False sods the idolater's portion In stony valleys they set up their gods, which they called their portion, and took for their lot, as God's people take Him for their lot and portion. ( M. Henry . ) Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way. Isaiah 57:10 The weariness of sin Homilist. The text is a striking representation of the sinner's conduct in fruitless efforts to obtain happiness anywhere but from heaven. He wanders from object to object, he becomes weary in his pursuit, yet he will not abandon it. I. HE PURSUES A WEARISOME COURSE. Nothing is so wearisome as fruitless efforts for happiness. 1. The sensual course for happiness is a wearisome one. The voluptuary and the debauchee very soon show exhaustion. 2. The secular course for happiness is a wearisome one. He who seeks happiness in the pursuit of gain will soon find it wearisome. 3. The intellectual course for happiness is a wearisome one. He who looks for true happiness in study and research will soon find it a weariness. 4. The superstitious course is a wearisome one. Millions are sinking into religious superstition — pilgrimages, penances, prayers, and devotional routine. What millions are found wearied in this path! II. THOUGH THE COURSE IS WEARISOME HE PERSEVERES. "Yet saidst thou not, There is no hope." Although Israel was wearied in seeking foreign help, still it continued; so with the sinner. To persevere in these wearisome methods for happiness is very foolish. 1. Because they will never become easier than they are. On the contrary, he who pursues these methods of happiness will become more and more weary on his way. 2. Because there is a pleasant way to true happiness. What is that? The loving surrender of your nature to God. The religious way to happiness is pleasant, because — (1) It is worthy of your nature. (2) Agreeable to your conscience. (3) Promising to your hope.Her ways are ways of pleasantness and all her paths are peace. How suited is the invitation of Christ to the wearied millions of earth who are seeking for happiness in wrong directions: "Come unto Me, all ye," etc. ( Homilist. ) Man's weary way E. Bayley, M. A. I. THE WAY WHICH IS HERE SUGGESTED TO US. "Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way." The way which the Israelites took was their own way as distinguished from God's way. The way in which a man is walking, and by which he is seeking for salvation, until he has found peace through Christ, is more or less directly his own way. II. THIS WAY, WHICH IS MAN'S OWN WAY, IS SPOKEN OF AS A GREAT WAY. "Thou art weaned in the greatness of thy way. Looking at salvation as It Is in Itself, at the deliverance which is desired, a great deliverance is necessary; looking to the efforts which man will make to effect and attain this deliverance, great efforts are evidently necessary, and great efforts are frequently made. Micah speaks of a man giving thousands of rams and ten thousands of rivers of oil, yea, giving the life of his firstborn for the sin of his soul, if perchance he may save that soul. And it is perfectly marvellous to see the efforts which men have made, and arc making, in false religions, to secure that which they desire, namely, their soul's salvation. III. THIS WAY OF MAN'S OWN SEEKING IS A WEARY WAY. What disappointments the Israelites met with! So with a man seeking, salvation in his own way as distinct from God's way. Just in proportion as a man is in earnest, just in proportion to the depth of his convictions of sin and righteousness, just in proportion to the sense which he has of the holiness of God, and the realities of eternity, will be the man's dissatisfaction with his own efforts and his own acts of self-denial. IV. Although this is a weary way, and an unsatisfying way, yet IT HAS IN IT SOME PROMISES OF SUCCOUR AND SOME POWER OF SATISFACTION, WHICH PREVENTS THE MAN FROM WHOLLY DESPAIRING. The man "finds life to his hand." There is enough in what he is doing, there is enough in what he is finding, to prevent him from wholly despairing. These persons are not prepared to "say there is no hope; they are not prepared to despair of salvation in the manner in which they are seeking it; they are not wholly cast down. "Therefore thou wast not grieved, not wholly disheartened. They go on persevering and pressing forward, hoping that a brighter day will come. Contrast with this way of man God's way. The way of salvation sought and followed by the Jews resembles very much the way of salvation which the natural heart of man follows when he pursues and seeks that salvation; but now, what is, the way which God would have us to walk in, as contrasted with this way of man's own devising? That which marks God's way, and distinguishes it especially from man's way, is this — that man's way is a way of fear and dread, while God's way is a way of love. " But how,"you will say, "are we to pass from this state, which is man's natural state of seeking for salvation, to that state which is described as God's method of seeking and conferring salvation?" The prophet tells us (vers. 18, 19). ( E. Bayley, M. A. ) "The life of thine hand A. B. Davidson, D. D. may mean, "a revival of thy vigour." ( A. B. Davidson, D. D. ) Yet saidst thou not, There is no hope. — Hope, yet no hope: no hope, yet hope (with Jeremiah 18:12 , "And they said, There is no hope, ' etc.): — The subtlety of the human heart exerts itself to the utmost to prevent that heart from trusting in the Saviour, and while evil is always cunning, it shows itself to be supremely so in its efforts to guard the Cross against the approaches of sinners. By the Cross, as the Saviour said, the thoughts of many hearts are revealed. There are two phases in spiritual life which well illustrate the deceitfulness of the heart. The first is that described in my first text, in which the man, though wearied in his many attempts, is not and cannot be convinced of the hopelessness of self-salvation. When you shall have hunted the man out of this, you will then meet with a new difficulty, which is described in the second text. Finding there is no hope in himself, the man draws the unwarrantable conclusion that there is no hope for him in God. It is self-righteousness in both cases. In the one case it is the soul content with self-righteousness, in the second place it is man sullenly preferring to perish rather than receive the righteousness of Christ. I. We have to speak of A HOPE WHICH IS NO HOPE. "Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way; yet saidst thou not, There is no hope," etc. This well pictures the pursuit of men after satisfaction in earthly things. They are content because they have found the life of their hand. Living from hand to mouth is enough for them; that they are still alive, that they possess present comforts and present enjoyments, this contents the many. As for the future, they say, " Let it take care of itself." They have no foresight for their eternal state; the present hour absorbs them. 1. The text applies very eminently to, those who are seeking salvation by ceremonies." 2. A great mass of people, even though they reject priestcraft, make themselves priests, and rely upon their good works. The way of salvation by works, if it were possible, would be a very wearisome way. How many good works would carry a man to heaven, would be a question which it were very hard to answer. 3. Many are looking for salvation to another form of self-deception, namely the way of repentance and reformation. II. We shall now turn to the second text. "And they said, There is no hope," etc. Here we have No HOPE — AND YET HOPE. When the sinner has at last been driven by stress of weather from the roadstead of his own confidence, then he flies to the dreary harbour of despair. Despair is the mother of all sorts of evil. When a man sates,. "There is no hope of heaven for me;" then he throws the reins upon the neck of his lusts, and goes on from bad to worse. There is hope for you in Him whom God has provided to be the Saviour of such as you are. ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) And shall say, Cast ye up. Isaiah 57:14 God righteous, yet gracious Prof. J. Skinner, D. D. The second half of ver. 13 forms a transition to the next section, which is a promise of salvation to the true Israel. In striking contrast to the menacing tone of ver. 3f. is the impressive and elevated language in which the prophet now sets forth the gracious thoughts of Jehovah towards His erring but repentant people. ( Prof. J. Skinner, D. D. ) A round to God H. W. Beecher. In this passage the cry goes forth, not on behalf of a conqueror, or a sovereign, but on behalf of God's people. They are the honoured procession for which a road is to be prepared. "Cast up, cast up" — that is, heap up, fill in, "prepare the way, take up the stumbling-block out of the way of My people." The figure, then, is striking. As royalty demanded for itself a smooth path, a road from which all dangers and obstructions were taken away, so a soul that is on its way to God has thrown over it, as it were, something of the sovereignty which it approaches, and a mysterious voice is heard, crying, "Clear the way I heap up! heap up! cast out the stumbling-stones." ( H. W. Beecher. ) Spiritual stumbling-blocks H. W. Beecher. 1. The want of a true and large ideal of Christian life, as an inward, spiritual and Divine disposition, and the attempt to live in mere conformity to rules, and with a vague impression that if one conforms to the Church he shall in some way, he knows scarcely how, be saved, is itself one of the causes of perpetual stumbling. The attempt to live merely for the fulfilment of social moralities; the attempt to live so that all the rules which are prescribed by all those who are governing in the Lord, shall be obeyed; the attempt to live upon any such low conception as that of regulations, conventions, observances, is sure to make the Christian life poor, and the travel uncertain. For "a new creature in Christ Jesus" is the apostolic definition of a Christian. Our aspiration and effort will be in proportion to the dignity and the ideality, if I may, so say, of our conception of what religion is. If we suppose it to be simply not doing evil, we shall put forth but very little exertion, and we shall receive but very little stimulus. 2. The attempt to live the Christian life with a low tone of feeling is a reason why men do not make greater progress. In all the writings of the New Testament you will find that fervour, intensity is required in every feeling. We not only need to have moralities, but we need to have Christian graces, which are, as it were, orchids, epiphytes, and fed upon higher and purer things — light, and moisture, and other elements that the air contains. Now, none of these can thrive in our temperate climate. A temperate climate is good for temperate things; but for intensities it is not good. And many dominant and characteristic traits of Christian character are such as never can be brought out without fervour. 3. Lack of deep and continuous devotion. This is either from the want of a sense of the great spirit-world on whose border we live perpetually, or it is the result of excessive occupation, over-occupation, which crowds all the time, and prevents one from ripening in a true Christian devotion. 4. Another hindrance which men find on the road of progress in their Christian life, is their ignorance as to the effect of outward activity in developing inward fervour, and the effect of inward fervour in developing outward activity — as to the effect of the reciprocal action of the inward and the outward life. Men arc accustomed to separate these qualities, which should never be disjoined. Men should be active that they may be emotive; and they should be emotive, that emotion may work into activity. 5. A very common hindrance to Christian development is the attempt of men to perform their Christian work outside of their appropriate spheres. Wherever you are, there begin the battle; there subdue everything that stands in conflict with the law of conscience, and the law of love, and the law of purity, and the law of truth. Begin the fight wherever God sounds the trumpet, and He will give you grace that as your day is, so your strength shall be. But until we cease dividing our life into two parts — secular and religious — we never shall be very eminent and consistent as Christians; we never shall make any very great progress in the Christian life. 6. Too much companion. ship is not good. 7. This stands closely connected with another social hindrance to the development of true Christian life, and that is, the addiction of men to pleasure. I mean not indulgence in wasting and disallowable pleasures, but an excessive addiction to recreation of any kind. We are bound to grow in grace. If we do not, grow, we are bound to know the reason why. ( H. W. Beecher. ) The way of religion is now cast up; it is a highway; ministers' business is to direct people in it, and to help them over the discouragements they meet with, that nothing may offend them. ( M. Henry . ) The way of Christ prepared E. Bickersteth. I. THE STUMBLING-BLOCKS WHICH CHRISTIANS HAVE THROWN IN THE WAY OF THE JEWS. 1. Persecution. 2. Contempt. 3. Idolatry. 4. Neglect of the law of Moses. 5. Unbelief of the prophets. II. THE STUMBLING-BLOCKS WHICH THE JEWS HAVE PUT IN THEIR OWN WAY. 1. Self-righteousness. 2. Traditions of men. 3. Covetousness. 4. A false view of God. 5. Unbelief in the Son of God. III. THE BLESSED FRUITS OF THEIR REMOVAL. These fruits are set before us in the verses which follow our text. 1. Humiliation and contrition (ver. 15). 2. Revival and healing. The promise goes on thus: "To revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. I have seen his ways and will heal him." 3. Comfort and peace. "I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him" (vers. 18, 19). 4. Gladness and glory. To these the prophet calls our attention in the latter chapters ( Isaiah 65:18, 19 ; Isaiah 66:12 ). ( E. Bickersteth. ) Roads cleared What is the way, the way of salvation? Jesus Christ says, "I am the way." This is the entrance into the way, and this is the track of that way even to the end — trust in Christ. "Are not good works needed?" says one. They always flow from faith in Christ. Such being the way, it is very simple. Straight as an arrow, is it not? And yet in this way there are stumbling-blocks. I. LET US SHOW WHY THIS IS. 1. The way of believing is such an uncommon way. Men do not understand the way of trusting. They want to see, to reason, to argue. How very difficult it would be for a cow, that has always lived by the day the short life that can be fed on grass, if it had to live by reason, as men do. And when man has to live by faith he is as awkward at it as a cow would be at reasoning. He is out of his element. 2. Men, when they are really seeking salvation, are often much troubled in mind. They feel that if God be just He must punish them for their wrong-doing. And when they are told that if they believe in Jesus Christ all manner of sin and of blasphemy shall be forgiven, they wonder how it can be. Conscience makes unbelievers of us all; and stumbling-blocks are created by our trembling condition. 3. Besides this, men are often ignorant of the way of salvation. I am not speaking now as though I blamed them. I was brought up to attend the house of God regularly. Yet when I began to see the Lord, I did not know the way of salvation. I knew the letter of it, but not the real meaning: how can a man know it till the Spirit of God reveals it to him? 4. Satan is always ready to prevent souls from finding peace in Christ. Thus have I shown why there are so many stumbling-blocks. II. Now I am going to TRY TO LIFT SOME OF THEM OUT OF THE WAY. 1. Here is one of them. One man says, "I would fain believe in this Jesus Christ of whom you tell me, but if I were to come to God through Christ, would He receive me? "Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out." In all the history of the human race there never has been found a man that came to Jesus Christ whom Christ rejected yet. 2. "But," says another, "I am a very peculiar person. I could very well believe that any man in the world who trusted Christ would be saved except myself; but I cannot think that He would save me, for I am so odd. Ah, I am odd myself, and I had the same feeling that you have. I thought that I was a lot left out of the catalogue. If you knew other people you would find that there are other strange people besides yourself; and if God saves so many strange people, why should He not save you? He delights to do wonders. He will crowd heaven with curiosities of mercy. 3. But I hear another say, "Sir, I have such a horrible sense of sin; I cannot rest in my bed! I cannot think that I shall be saved." Wait a bit there; let me speak to this person over here. What is your trouble? "My trouble is, sir, that I have no sense of sin. I know that I am a sinner, and a great sinner; but I do not think that I shall be saved, for I have no horrible thoughts " Will you change with the other man? Will he change with you? I should not advise either of you to make any change; for, in the first place, despairing thoughts-are — not necessary to salvation; and, in the second place, so long as you know yourself a sinner, and are willing to confess it, such thoughts are untrue. Despairing one, look to the Cross and live; and thou who dost not despair, look to the same Cross and live; for there is salvation for every eye that looks to Jesus crucified. 4. A trembler cries, "I am afraid to come and trust Christ, because I do not know whether I am one of the elect." If you trust Jesus Christ I will tell you then that you are Go ' elect, to a certainty. 5. "All," says another, person, "I think I have committed this unpardonable sin. Do you long to he delivered from .the power of sin? Then you have not committed the unpardonable sin, because it is a sin unto death, and after a man commits it he never has a living wish or desire after God from that moment. 6. "Oh, but," says another person, "my stumbling-block is this: that the whole thing seems too good to be true, that I, by simply believing in Jesus Christ, shall be saved. I confess that it does seem too good to be true, but it is not. God in Christ Jesus is clearly capable of marvellous deeds of grace. There are some stumbling-blocks that I cannot remove; they must always stand there, I am afraid. 7. An objector says to me. "I would believe in Jesus; I have no fault to find with Him, but, then, look at His followers, many of them are hypocrites. We do look at His professed followers, and the tears are in our eyes, for the worst enemies He has are they of His own household. Suppose Judas does betray Christ, is Christ any the worse for that? You are not asked to trust in Judas, you are asked to trust in Christ. The reason why it pays to make bad sovereigns is because, good ones are so valuable; and that is why it pays certain people, as they think, to pass themselves off as Christians. If there were no real Christians, there would be no pretenders to that name. 8. "But," says another, "here is my stumbling-block: if I were to believe in Christ, and become a Christian, I should have to alter my whole life." Just so. There would have to be a turning of everything upside down," but then He that sits upon the throne says, "Behold, I make all things new. 9. "Oh, but," says one, "I should have to run the gauntlet in my family if I became a Christian." Which is the better thing, do you think — to be sneered at for doing right or to be commended for doing wrong? ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) Take up the stumbling-block. Stumbling-blocks As a Conqueror the Messiah was coming, but there was great sin and unpreparedness. Hence the prophet cried, "Take up, take up the stumbling-blocks." Christ is still advancing in power in the world. His truth is the direct and permanent way by which man may tread to heaven and immortality. Various stumbling-blocks of human placing need removal. I. There is the stumbling-block of SELFISHNESS. This has always cumbered the way. Ananias and Judas yielded to it. II. Close by this block is another, that of INTOLERANCE. The Church, strong outwardly, was impatient of divergence of opinion. III. TERRORISM had also to be rolled out of the way. Figure was taken for fact. The great Father was presented in the guise of an implacable judge. Harsh representations of God and future punishment caused revolt. IV. There is the stumbling-block of an ELABORATE CEREMONIAL SYSTEM. V. The block of INDIFFERENTISM, on the other hand, also needs removal. Indifferentism is only another name for selfism. It should matter to each man if his fellow suffers. VI. Some will say that all the stumbling-blocks mentioned are nothing compared with those formed by THE INCONSISTENCIES OF CHRISTIAN PEOPLE. The last is a conglomerate rock. Worldly attractions, amusements, desires, lusts, are often too strong for those who profess to be unworldly. Byron said, "The inconsistencies of professing Christians made me an infidel. Was he alone? Conclusion: How are these evils, these blocks of offence to be removed, and a way made for the coming of our King Jesus? There must be more faith in the presence and potency of the Holy Spirit in the Church. ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) The road-mender R. Briggs, M. A. (with Isaiah 58:12 , "the restorer of paths"): — Few are the exceptionally gifted men and women whom God calls to be pioneers, discoverers and creators of new paths — road-makers. "Primal needed work," to use Walt Whitman's phrase, is not possible for the majority of us. We have not the genius, the energy, the courage, the self-reliance, the independence of intellectual comradeship which characterize the select company who are able to hew their way, like Stanley's men in "Darkest Africa," through forests, and force their way through wildernesses and deserts, thus opening up new highways for human thought and life, and action, and civilization, and new highways for God. But we can all be road-menders. We can all aid in removing the stumbling-blocks out of the way. We can all be restorers of paths. This is the humbler task. It demands fewer talents, less daring, less originality than pioneer work, but who can gauge its value? Who will venture to affirm that it is less honouring or less acceptable to God, and less of a boon to man and the world? Perhaps, after all, to mend the old roads, to restore the former paths which have fallen out of repair, and make them straighter, safer, and more comfortable to the feet of travel-worn pilgrims, is as noble and useful a vocation as any to which God calls His servants. I. What need there is for road-menders and restorers of paths in THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL WORLD! To protect the widow and orphan; to stand by the oppressed; to ameliorate the lot of the starving poor and the slaves of the sweater; to grapple with the drink curse, the gambling curse, the curse of impurity, the curse of an inordinate love of gold and pleasure; the curse of preventable poverty, preventable disease, preventable premature old age and death — what a field of service for God and man! II. What need there is for road-menders and restorers of paths in OUR NATIONAL AFFAIRS! As lovers of our country; as patriots' who have a share in shaping the home and foreign policies of our Governments and moulding public thought and national conduct and character, let us do what we can to lead our nation into saner and safer and nobler paths. III. What need there is for road-menders and restorers of paths in THE RELIGIOUS WORLD! Is not much of our Churchianity to-day an empty form, a mere show? How far removed from our professedly Christian life in the Church are our commercial life, our political life, our home life, our society life in the world! What an amount of nominal Church membership and formal Christianity there is nowadays! IV. What need there is for road-menders and restorers of paths in THE SPHERE OF PERSONAL GOODNESS AND HELPFULNESS! After all, the best contribution any one of us can make to the glory of God and the welfare of man is that of a really good life; a life fashioned after the pattern given us by our Lord and Master; a life filled by the Holy Spirit, a life of friendship and filial fellowship with God. ( R. Briggs, M. A. ) For thus saith the High and Lofty One that inhabiteth eternity. Isaiah 57:15-21 A royal manifesto J. R

Benson Commentary Isaiah 57:1 The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come . Isaiah 57:1-2 . These two verses “contain a kind of prelude to the distressful scene which is opened immediately after: for the prophet, designing to describe the melancholy state of the adulterous church, to be chastised by the severe judgments of God, beholds, as it were in an ecstasy, the few pious and good men yet remaining in the church gradually falling off, and taken away, either by an immature or violent death: while there were but few who laid this matter to heart, and observed it as a presage of the judgment threatening the church. This stupidity he sadly deplores; immediately subjoining, however: an alleviation, to show that this complaint pertained not to the deceased, as having attained a happier lot, and as blessed in this respect, that they were taken away from the evils and calamities of their times.” — Vitringa. The following short paraphrase on the words will render their sense more apparent. The righteous perisheth — Just and holy men, who are the pillars of the place and state in which they live. And no man layeth it to heart — Few or none of the people are duly affected with this severe stroke and sign of God’s displeasure. Thus he shows that the corruption was general in the people no less than in the priests. And merciful men — Hebrew, ????? ??? , men of benignity, or beneficence, the same whom he before called righteous: those whose practice it was, not only to exercise piety and justice, but also mercy and kindness; none considering — None reflecting within himself, and laying it to heart; that the righteous is taken away from the evil — That dreadful calamities are coming on the church and nation, and that the righteous are taken away before they come. He shall enter into peace — The righteous man shall be received into rest and safety, where he shall be out of the reach of the approaching miseries. They — The merciful men; shall rest in their beds — In their graves, not unfitly called their beds, or sleeping- places, death being commonly called sleep in Scripture; each one walking in his uprightness — That walked, that is, lived, in a sincere and faithful discharge of his duties to God and men. Vitringa thinks “the completion of this prophecy is to be sought in the latter end of the ninth, and in the following centuries; when the papal power greatly prevailed, and the corruption of the church was as great as the persecutions and troubles of the pious were many.” Isaiah 57:2 He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness. Isaiah 57:3 But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer and the whore. Isaiah 57:3-4 . But draw near hither, &c. — “The prophet proceeds to exhibit the church, totally corrupt as it was, the good men being extinct or dispersed; so that they who remained of the pure seed of the church lay hid in solitary places, while the body of the church appeared like a dead carcass; not the true, but the idolatrous church.” Thus Vitringa, who understands this paragraph as describing the state of the church in the dark ages of popery. It seems, however, by many of the expressions which the prophet uses, that he is rather giving a description of the corrupt state of the Jewish Church, before the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans. Draw near hither — To God’s tribunal, to receive your sentence; ye sons of the sorceress — Not by propagation, but by imitation, those being frequently called men’s sons that follow their example: the seed of the adulterer, &c. — Not the genuine children of Abraham, as you pretend and boast yourselves to be; your dispositions being far more suitable to a spurious brood than to Abraham’s seed. Against whom do you sport yourselves? — Consider who it is that you mock and scoff at when you deride God’s prophets, (see Isaiah 28:14 ; Isaiah 28:22 ,) and know that it is not so much men that you insult, as God, whose cause they plead, and in whose name they speak. Are ye not a seed of falsehood — A generation of liars, whose practices contradict your professions, who deal deceitfully both with God and man? Isaiah 57:4 Against whom do ye sport yourselves? against whom make ye a wide mouth, and draw out the tongue? are ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood, Isaiah 57:5 Enflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clifts of the rocks? Isaiah 57:5-6 . Inflaming yourselves with idols — Hebrew, ?????? , being inflamed, or growing hot, after idols, as Dr. Waterland renders it. Lusting after them, and mad upon them, as the phrase is, Jeremiah 50:38 . Fervent, both in making and in worshipping them, as was observed Isaiah 44:12 . Under every green tree — Wherever you see an idol erected, which was commonly done in groves, or under great and shady trees, which defended the worshippers from the heat of the sun, and were supposed to strike them with a kind of sacred awe and reverence. Slaying the children — In the way of sacrifice to your idols, after the manner of the barbarous heathen; in the valleys — Or, beside the brooks which run in the valleys; which was most commodious for such bloody work. He seems to allude to the valley of Hinnom, in which these cruelties were practised, Jeremiah 7:31 . Under the clefts of the rocks — Which they choose for shade, or those dark vaults in rocks, which were convenient for idolatrous uses. Among the smooth stones, &c, is thy portion — Thou hast chosen for thy portion those idols, which were either made of those smooth stones, or were worshipped by the sides of brooks or rivers, where such smooth stones commonly lie. They are thy lot — Thou hast forsaken me, and chosen idols. Thou hast offered a meat-offering — For the devil is God’s ape, and idolaters use the same rites and offerings in the worship of idols, which God prescribed in his own worship. Should I receive comfort in these — Should I be pleased with such a people, and with such actions? “The Jews were extremely addicted to the practice of many superstitious and idolatrous rites, which the prophet here inveighs against. Of the worship of huge stones consecrated, there are many testimonies of the ancients. They were called ???????? and ???????? , probably from the stone which Jacob erected at Beth-el, pouring oil upon the top of it. The practice was very common in different ages and places.” — Bishop Lowth, who mentions divers instances of this foolish superstition. Isaiah 57:6 Among the smooth stones of the stream is thy portion; they, they are thy lot: even to them hast thou poured a drink offering, thou hast offered a meat offering. Should I receive comfort in these? Isaiah 57:7 Upon a lofty and high mountain hast thou set thy bed: even thither wentest thou up to offer sacrifice. Isaiah 57:7-8 . Upon a lofty and high mountain — In high places, which were much used for religious worship, both by the Israelites and heathen: hast thou set thy bed — Thine altar, as appears from the sacrifice mentioned in the next clause, where thou didst commit spiritual whoredom with idols. Behind the doors also and the posts — Behind the posts of the doors of thy house; hast thou set up thy remembrance — That is, the images of their tutelary gods, or some monuments or tokens, placed there as memorials of them, in direct opposition to the law of God, which commanded them to write upon the door-posts of their houses, and upon their gates, the words of his law, Deuteronomy 6:9 ; Deuteronomy 11:20 . If they chose for them such a situation as more private, it was in defiance of a particular curse denounced in the law against the man who should make a graven or a molten image, and put it in a secret place, Deuteronomy 27:15 . For thou hast discovered thyself, &c. — “The prophet describes their idolatry under the metaphor of a woman’s being false to her husband’s bed, Isaiah 57:3 . So he tells them that they had committed spiritual adultery, when they went up to the high places to sacrifice, Isaiah 57:7 . That they had multiplied their idolatries, as an unchaste woman does her lovers; that they had broken their covenant with God, whom they had acknowledged to be their lord and husband, and made a new contract with idols to serve them.” — Lowth. Thou lovedst their bed where thou sawest it — No sooner didst thou see the heathen idols, but thou wast enamoured with them, and didst fall down and worship them, like a lewd woman, who is inflamed with lust toward almost every man she sees. Isaiah 57:8 Behind the doors also and the posts hast thou set up thy remembrance: for thou hast discovered thyself to another than me, and art gone up; thou hast enlarged thy bed, and made thee a covenant with them; thou lovedst their bed where thou sawest it . Isaiah 57:9 And thou wentest to the king with ointment, and didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send thy messengers far off, and didst debase thyself even unto hell. Isaiah 57:9 . Thou wentest to the king, &c. — That is, the king of Assyria or Egypt, to whom the Israelites were very prone to seek, and trust, and send presents. Hosea reproaches the Israelites for the same practice: They make a covenant with Assyria, and oil is carried into Egypt, Hosea 12:1 . Thus the prophet passes from their idolatry to another sin, even to their carnal confidence in heathen princes, for which they are often severely reproved. These two sins indeed were commonly joined together; for they easily received idolatry from those kings whose help they desired. With ointment — With precious ointment, particularly with balm, which was of great price, was a commodity peculiar to those parts, and sometimes sent as a present, Genesis 13:11 . And didst increase thy perfumes — Didst send great quantities thereof to them, to procure their aid. Didst send thy messengers far off — Into Assyria, which was far from Judea, or into Egypt. And didst debase thyself, &c. — Thou wast willing to submit to the basest terms to procure their aid. “It is well known, that in all parts of the East, whoever visits a great person must carry him a present. ‘It is accounted uncivil,’ says Maundrell, p. 26, ‘to visit in this country without an offering in hand. All great men expect it, as a tribute due to their character and authority; and look upon themselves as affronted, and indeed defrauded, when the compliment is omitted.’” — Bishop Lowth. According to the interpretation of this part of the prophecy, adopted by Vitringa, the king, in this verse, must mean the head of mystical Babylon, the pope, to whom indeed the particulars here very aptly pertain, as they who are acquainted with the history of that antichristian ruler will easily discern. See Revelation 18:13 . Isaiah 57:10 Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way; yet saidst thou not, There is no hope: thou hast found the life of thine hand; therefore thou wast not grieved. Isaiah 57:10 . Thou art wearied with the greatness of thy way — Thou hast not eased, or relieved, but only tired thyself with all thy tedious journeys and laborious endeavours. Yet sayest thou not, There is no hope — And yet thou didst not perceive that thy labour was lost, and that thy case was not mended, but made more desperate by these practices. Thou hast found the life of thy hand — Thou hast sometimes found success in these ways; or, thou falsely supposest that thy hand is strengthened thereby. Therefore thou wast not grieved — Therefore thou didst not repent of thy sin and folly herein, but didst persist and applaud thyself in such courses. Isaiah 57:11 And of whom hast thou been afraid or feared, that thou hast lied, and hast not remembered me, nor laid it to thy heart? have not I held my peace even of old, and thou fearest me not? Isaiah 57:11-14 . Of whom hast thou been afraid, &c. — And what, or who are they, the fear of whom drives thee to these wicked and desperate practices? Are they not weak and mortal creatures, such as wholly depend upon me, and can do nothing without me? The fear of my displeasure ought, in all reason, to outweigh all thy other fears and apprehensions, and deter thee from breaking that covenant whereby thou art engaged to me. That thou hast lied — That thou hast dealt thus perfidiously with me, and sought for such foreign assistances contrary to my command. And hast not remembered me — Hast forgotten all those great things which I have done for thee, and all those promises which I have made to thee. Nor laid it to thy heart — Or, nor set me upon thy heart: hast not seriously and affectionately considered what I am, how all-sufficient, faithful, and gracious: for then thou wouldest not have distrusted or disobeyed me. Have I not held my peace, &c. — The Bishops’ Bible, published under Queen Elizabeth, translates the clause thus: Is it not because I held my peace, and that of a long time, therefore thou fearest me not? Sinners take encouragement to continue in sin, from God’s patience and long-suffering. I will declare thy righteousness — I will no longer be silent, but “will show thee thy deserts, and give thee a view of thy deeds, which then will appear quite of another sort than what thy own self-conceit makes thee believe them to be.” For they shall not profit thee — These actions shall be of no real advantage, but quite the contrary. When those criest — Namely, unto me for deliverance; let thy companies deliver thee — Expect it, not from me, whom thou hast forsaken and despised, but from those foreign troops, to which thou hast sought and trusted for succour. But the wind shall carry them all away — They shall be so far from saving thee, that they shall not be able to deliver themselves; but shall be carried away suddenly and violently by the blast of mine anger. Vanity shall take them — Their endeavours to help thee shall be vain and fruitless. But he that putteth his trust in me — Those that still depend upon me, and make use of none of those indirect means to preserve themselves; shall possess the land — Shall be preserved in, or restored to, their own land, or shall have temporal blessings as far as will be good for them; and shall inherit my holy mountain — Shall enjoy my favour and presence in my temple: shall be blessed with the privileges of the church on earth, and brought at length to the joys of heaven. And shall say — Hebrew, and he shall say: or, and one shall say: God shall raise up one who shall say, with authority and efficacy, Cast ye up, &c. — Make causeways, where it is needful, for the safe and easy passage of my people, and remove all things which may hinder them in their return. Isaiah 57:12 I will declare thy righteousness, and thy works; for they shall not profit thee. Isaiah 57:13 When thou criest, let thy companies deliver thee; but the wind shall carry them all away; vanity shall take them : but he that putteth his trust in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain; Isaiah 57:14 And shall say, Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumblingblock out of the way of my people. Isaiah 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place , with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. Isaiah 57:15-16 . For thus saith the high and lofty One — The omnipotent and supreme Ruler of the universe; that inhabiteth eternity — Who is from everlasting to everlasting, without beginning of days, or end of life, or change of time; who only hath immortality, hath it of himself, and that constantly; who inhabits it, and cannot be dispossessed of it; whose name is Holy — Who is perfectly and essentially holy in his nature, his works, his words, and his ways; and therefore both can and will deliver his church and people, as he has promised to do. I dwell in the high and holy place; with him also, &c. — Although my throne is in the highest heavens, where nothing impure can have place, yet I do not disdain graciously to visit, and familiarly converse with, those sinners of mankind, whose spirits are broken by affliction, and humbled under a sense of their sins, for which they were afflicted; which doubtless was the case with many of the Jews in the Babylonish captivity: whom, therefore, he here implies, that God would pity and deliver out of their distresses, as also all others in similar circumstances. To revive the spirit of the humble — To support and comfort them amidst their afflictions and troubles, of whatever kind. For I will not contend for ever — I will not proceed to the utmost severity with sinful men. For the spirit should fail before me — For then their spirits would sink and die under my stroke, and I should do nothing else but destroy the work of my own hands: therefore I consider their infirmity, and spare them. See Psalm 78:38-39 ; and Psalm 103:9-14 ; which passages Bishop Lowth thinks contain the best and easiest explication of this clause. Isaiah 57:16 For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made. Isaiah 57:17 For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart. Isaiah 57:17 . For the iniquity of his covetousness — The covetousness of the Jewish people, (here addressed as one man,) who were eminently guilty of this sin before the Babylonish captivity, as is expressly affirmed, Jeremiah 6:13 ; and Jeremiah 8:10 ; and they were still more addicted to it in the time of Christ, and previous to the destruction of their city by the Romans; Christ himself testifying, that the greatest professors of sanctity among them devoured widows’ houses, and, for a pretence, made long prayers. But this sin is not mentioned exclusively of others, but so as to comprehend all those sins for which God was wroth, and smote them: covetousness, however, joined with a froward going on in the way of their own hearts, has been the characteristic sin of that people, in all ages, since the overturning of their commonwealth by the Romans. If Vitringa’s exposition of this chapter be adopted, this verse must be understood of the avarice of the Church of Rome, manifested by her enormous exactions, and her infamous traffic in indulgences, dispensations, and a variety of equally abominable practices, which, for many ages, have disgraced that church in the view of all intelligent and pious Christians. I hid me, and was wroth — I withdrew my favour and help from him, and left him in great calamities. And he went on frowardly — Yet he was not reformed by corrections, but in his distresses trespassed more and more, and obstinately persisted in those sinful courses which were most pleasing to the lusts of his own corrupt heart. Isaiah 57:18 I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners. Isaiah 57:18 . I have seen his ways — I have taken notice of those evil ways in which he seems resolved to walk, and that he is neither reformed by mercies nor judgments; and will heal him — Or rather, yet I will heal him: although I might justly destroy him, and leave him to perish in his own ways, yet, of my mere mercy, and for my own name’s sake, I will pity this people, turn them from their sins, and bring them out of their troubles. Which promise was partly fulfilled when God restored them from Babylon, and will be more perfectly and evidently accomplished, when he shall convert them to the Christian faith in the latter days. And restore comforts unto him — Comforts as great as his troubles had been; and — Or rather, to wit; to his mourners — To those who are humbled under God’s hand, and that mourn in Zion for their own and other people’s sins, Isaiah 61:2-3 ; and Ezekiel 9:4 ; and for the calamities of God’s church and people, Isaiah 66:10 . The mourners here spoken of, Vitringa thinks, mean those true penitents, who lamented the scandals and offences of professing Christians in their times, under whom they grievously suffered, such as the Waldenses, the Lollards, and others who, by the mercy of God, were rescued from the errors and corruptions of the fallen church, when the light of the Reformation began to dawn. Isaiah 57:19 I create the fruit of the lips; Peace, peace to him that is far off, and to him that is near, saith the LORD; and I will heal him. Isaiah 57:19-21 . I create — I will, by my almighty power, in a wonderful manner produce; the fruit of the lips — Praise and thanksgiving, termed the fruit of the lips, Hosea 14:2 ; Hebrews 13:15 . God creates this fruit of the lips, by giving new subjects and causes of thanksgiving, by his mercies conferred on those among his people, who acknowledge and bewail their transgressions, and return to him. Peace, peace, &c. — Here we have the great subject of thanksgiving, reconciliation with God, pardon and peace offered to them that are nigh, and to them that are afar off; not only to the Jew, but also to the Gentile, as St. Paul more than once applies those terms, Ephesians 2:13 ; Ephesians 2:17 . See also Acts 2:39 . The doubling of the word signifies the certainty and excellence of this peace. But though this peace be freely offered to all without exception, yet all will not partake of it, for the wicked are like the troubled sea, &c. — Their minds are restless, being perpetually hurried with their own lusts and passions, and with guilt, and the dread of divine vengeance. There is no peace to the wicked — Though they may have as great a share of outward prosperity as the best men have, yet they have no share in this inward, spiritual, and everlasting peace. The forty-eighth chapter ends with the same declaration; to express the exclusion of the impenitent and unbelieving from the benefit of the foregoing promises. Isaiah 57:20 But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. Isaiah 57:21 There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Isaiah 57:1 The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come . CHAPTER XXIII THE REKINDLING OF THE CIVIC CONSCIENCE Isaiah 56:9-12 ; Isaiah 57:1-21 ; Isaiah 58:1-14 ; Isaiah 59:1-21 IT was inevitable, as soon as their city was again fairly in sight, that there should re-awaken in the exiles the civic conscience; that recollections of those besetting sins of their public life, for which their city and their independence were destroyed, should throng back upon them; that in prospect of their again becoming responsible for the discharge of justice and other political duties, they should be reminded by the prophet of their national faults in these respects, and of God’s eternal laws concerning them. If we keep this in mind, we shall understand the presence in "Second Isaiah" of the group of prophecies at which we have now arrived, Isaiah 56:9-12 ; Isaiah 57:1-21 ; Isaiah 58:1-14 ; Isaiah 59:1-21 . Hitherto our prophet, in marked contrast to Isaiah himself, has said almost nothing of the social righteousness of his people. Israel’s righteousness, as we saw in our fourteenth chapter, has had the very different meaning for our prophet of her pardon and restoration to her rights. But in Isaiah 56:9-12 ; Isaiah 57:1-21 ; Isaiah 58:1-14 ; Isaiah 59:1-21 we shall find the blame of civic wrong, and of other kinds of sin of which Israel could only have been guilty in her own land; we shall listen to exhortations to social justice and mercy like those we heard from Isaiah to his generation. Yet these are mingled with voices, and concluded with promises, which speak of the Return as imminent. Undoubtedly exilic elements reveal themselves. And the total impression is that some prophet of the late Exile, and probably the one whom we have been following, collected these reminiscences of his people’s sin in the days of their freedom, in order to remind them, before they went back again to political responsibility, why it was they were punished and how apt they were to go astray. Believing this to be the true solution of a somewhat difficult problem, we have ventured to gather this mixed group of prophecies under the title of the Rekindling of the Civic Conscience. They fall into three groups: first, Isaiah 56:9-12 ; Isaiah 57:1-21 ; second, chapter 58; third, chapter 59. We shall see that, while there is no reason to doubt the exilic origin of the whole of the second, the first and third of these are mainly occupied with the description of a state of things that prevailed only before the Exile, but they contain also exilic observations and conclusions. I. A CONSCIENCE BUT NO GOD Isaiah 56:9-12 ; Isaiah 57:1-21 This is one of the sections which almost decisively place the literary unity of "Second Isaiah" past possibility of belief. If Isaiah 56:1-8 flushes with the dawn of restoration, Isaiah 56:9-12 ; Isaiah 57:1-21 is very dark with the coming of the night, which preceded that dawn. Almost none dispute that the greater part of this prophecy must have been composed before the people left Palestine for exile. The state of Israel, which it pictures, recalls the descriptions of Hosea, and of the eleventh chapter of Zechariah. God’s flock are still in charge of their own shepherds, { Isaiah 56:9-12 } -a description inapplicable to Israel in exile. The shepherds are sleepy, greedy, sensual, drunkards, -victims to the curse against which Amos and Isaiah hurled their strongest woes. That sots like them should be spared while the righteous die unnoticed deaths { Isaiah 57:1 } can only be explained by the approaching judgment. "No man considereth that the righteous is taken away from the Evil." The Evil cannot mean, as some have thought, persecution, -for while the righteous are to escape it and enter into peace, the wicked are spared for it. It must be a Divine judgment, -the Exile. But "he entereth peace, they rest in their beds, each one that hath walked straight before him,"-for the righteous there is the peace of death and the undisturbed tomb of his fathers. What an enviable fate when emigration, and dispersion through foreign lands, are the prospect of the nation! Israel shall find her pious dead when she returns! The verse recalls that summons in Isaiah 26:1-21 , in which we heard the Mother Nation calling upon the dead she had left in Palestine to rise and increase her returned numbers. Then the prophet indicts the nation for a religious and political unfaithfulness, which we know was their besetting sin in the days before they left the Holy Land. The scenery, in whose natural objects he describes them seeking their worship, is the scenery of Palestine, not of Mesopotamia, - terebinths and wadies , and clerts of the rocks , and smooth stones of the wadies . The unchaste and bloody sacrifices with which he charges them bear the appearance more of Canaanite than of Babylonian idolatry. The humiliating political suits which they paid-"thou wentest to the king with ointment, and didst increase thy perfumes, and didst send thine ambassadors afar off, and didst debase thyself even unto Sheol" ( Isaiah 57:9 )-could not be attributed to a captive people, but were the sort of degrading diplomacy that Israel earned from Ahaz. While the painful pursuit of strength ( Isaiah 57:10 ), the shabby political cowardice ( Isaiah 57:11 ), the fanatic sacrifice of manhood’s purity and childhood’s life ( Isaiah 57:5 ), and especially the evil conscience which drove their blind hearts through such pain and passion in a sincere quest for righteousness ( Isaiah 57:12 ), betray the age of idolatrous reaction from the great Puritan victory of 701, -a generation exaggerating all the old falsehood and fear, against which Isaiah had inveighed, with the new conscience of sin which his preaching had created. The dark streak of blood and lust that runs through the condemned idolatry, and the stern conscience which only deepens its darkness, are sufficient reasons for dating the prophecy after 700. The very phrases of Isaiah, which it contains, have tempted some to attribute it to himself. But it certainly does not date from such troubles as brought his old age to the grave. The evil, which it portends, is, as we have seen, no persecution of the righteous, but a Divine judgment upon the whole nation,- presumably the Exile. We may date it, therefore, some time after Isaiah’s death, but certainly-and this is the important point-before the Exile. This, then, is an unmistakably pre-exilic constituent of "Second Isaiah." Another feature corroborates this prophecy’s original independence of its context. Its style is immediately and extremely rugged. The reader of the original feels the difference at once. It is the difference between travel on the level roads of Mesopotamia, with their unchanging horizons, and the jolting carriage of the stony paths of Higher Palestine, with their glimpses rapidly shifting from gorge to peak. But the remarkable thing is that the usual style of "Second Isaiah" is resumed before the end of the prophecy. One cannot always be sure of the exact verse at which such a literary change takes place. In this case some feel it as soon as the middle of Isaiah 57:11 , with the words, "Have not I held My peace even of long time, and thou fearest Me not?" It is surely more sensible, however, after ver. 14, in which we are arrested in any case by an alteration of standpoint. In ver. 14 we are on in the Exile again-before Isaiah 57:14 I cannot recognise any exilic symptom-and the way of return is before us. "And one said,"-it is the repetition to the letter of the strange anonymous voice of Isaiah 40:6 , -" and one said, Cast ye up, Cast ye up, open up," or "sweep open, a way, lift the stumbling block from the way of My people." And now the rhythm has certainly returned to the prevailing style of "Second Isaiah," and the temper is again that of promise and comfort. These sudden shiftings of circumstance and of prospect are enough to show the thoughtful reader of Scripture how hard is the problem of the unity of "Second Isaiah." On which we make here no further remark, but pass at once to the more congenial task of studying the great prophecy, Isaiah 57:14-21 , which rises one and simple from these fragments as does some homogeneous rock from the confusing debris of several geological epochs. For let the date and original purpose of the fragments we have considered be what they may, this prophecy has been placed as their conclusion with at least some rational, not to say spiritual intention. As it suddenly issues here, it gathers up, in the usual habit of Scripture, God’s moral indictment of an evil generation, by a great manifesto of the Divine nature, and a sharp distinction of the characters and fate of men. Now, of what kind is the generation to whose indictment this prophecy comes as a conclusion? It is a generation which has lost its God, but kept its conscience. This sums up the national character which is sketched in Isaiah 57:3-13 . These Israelites had lost Jehovah and His pure law. But the religion into which they fell back was not, therefore, easy or cold. On the contrary, it was very intense and very stern. The people put energy in it, and passion, and sacrifice that went to cruel lengths. Belief, too, in its practical results kept the people from fainting under the weariness in which its fanaticism reacted. "In the length of thy way thou wast wearied, yet thou didst not say, It is hopeless; life for thy hand"-that is, real, practical strength-"didst thou find: wherefore thou didst not break down." And they practised their painful and passionate idolatry with a real conscience. They were seeking to work out righteousness for themselves ( Isaiah 57:12 should be rendered: "I will expose your righteousness," the caricature of righteousness which you attempt). The most worldly statesman among them had his sincere ideal for Israel, and intended to enable her, in the possession of her land and holy mountain, to fulfil her destiny ( Isaiah 57:13 ). The most gross idolater had a hunger and thirst after righteousness, and burnt his children or sacrificed his purity to satisfy the vague promptings of his unenlightened conscience. It was indeed a generation which had kept its conscience, but lost its God; and what we have in Isaiah 57:15-21 is just the lost and forgotten God speaking of His Nature and His Will. They have been worshipping idols, creatures of their own fears and cruel passions. But He is the "high and lofty one"-two of the simplest adjectives in the language, yet sufficient to lift Him they describe above the distorting mists of human imagination. They thought of the Deity as sheer wrath and force, scarcely to be appeased by men even through the most bloody rites and passionate self-sacrifice. But He says, "The high and the holy I dwell in, yet with him also that is contrite and humble of spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." The rest of the chapter is to the darkened consciences a plain statement of the moral character of God’s working. God always punishes sin, and yet the sinner is not abandoned. Though he go in his own way, God "watches his ways in order to heal him. I create the fruit of the lips," that is, "thanksgivings: Peace, peace, to him that is far off and him that is near, saith Jehovah, and I will heal him." But, as in chapter 48, and chapter 50, a warning comes last, and behind the clear, forward picture of the comforted and restored of Jehovah we see the weird background of gloomy, restless wickedness. II. SOCIAL SERVICE AND THE SABBATH (chapter 58) Several critics (including Professor Cheyne) regard chapter 58 as post-exilic, because of its declarations against formal fasting and the neglect of social charity, which are akin to those of post-exilic prophets like Zechariah and Joel, and seem to imply that the people addressed are again independent and responsible for the conduct of their social duties. The question largely turns on the amount of social responsibility we conceive the Jews to have had during the Exile. Now we have seen that many of them enjoyed considerable freedom: they had their houses and households; they had their slaves; they traded and were possessed of wealth. They were, therefore, in a position to be chargeable with the duties to which chapter 58 calls them. The addresses of Ezekiel to his fellow-exiles have many features in common with chapter 58, although they do not mention fasting; and fasting itself was a characteristic habit of the exiles, in regard to which it is quite likely they should err just as is described in chapter 58. Moreover, there is a resemblance between this chapter’s comments upon the people’s enquiries of God ( Isaiah 58:2 ) and Ezekiel’s reply when certain of the elders of Israel came to enquire of Jehovah. ( Ezekiel 21:1-32 , cf. Ezekiel 33:30 f.) And again Isaiah 58:11-12 are evidently addressed to people in prospect of return to their own land and restoration of their city. We accordingly date chapter 53 from the Exile. But we see no reason to put it as early as Ewald does, who assigns it to a younger contemporary of Ezekiel. There is no linguistic evidence that it is an insertion, or from another hand than that of our prophet. Surely there were room and occasion for it in those years which followed the actual deliverance of the Jews by Cyrus, but preceded the restoration of Jerusalem, -those years in which there were no longer political problems in the way of the people’s return for our prophet to discuss, and therefore their moral defects were all the more thrust upon his attention; and especially, when in the near prospect of their political independence, their social sins roused his apprehensions. Those who have never heard an angry Oriental speak have no idea of what power of denunciation lies in the human throat. In the East, where a dry climate and large leisure bestow upon the voice a depth and suppleness prevented by our vulgar haste of life and teasing weather, men have elaborated their throat-letters to a number unknown in any Western alphabet; and upon the lowest notes they have put an edge, that comes up shrill and keen through the roar of the upper gutturals, till you feel their wrath cut as well as sweep you before it. In the Oriental throat, speech goes down deep enough to echo all the breadth of the inner man; while the possibility of expressing within so supple an organ nearly every tone of scorn or surprise preserves anger from that suspicion of spite or of exhaustion, which is conveyed by too liberal a use of the nasal or palatal letters. Hence in the Hebrew language "to call with the throat" means to call with vehemence, but with self-command; with passion, yet as a man; using every figure of satire, but earnestly; neither forgetting wrath for mere art’s sake, nor allowing wrath to escape the grip of the stronger muscles of the voice. It is "to lift the voice like a trumpet,"-an instrument, which, with whatever variety of music its upper notes may indulge our ears, never suffers its main tone of authority to drop, never slacks its imperative appeal to the wills of the hearers. This is the style of the chapter before us, which opens with the words, "Call with the throat, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet." Perhaps no subject more readily provokes to satire and sneers than the subject of the chapter, -the union of formal religion and unlovely life. And yet in the chapter there is not a sneer from first to last. The speaker suppresses the temptation to use his nasal tones, and utters, not as the satirist, but as the prophet. For his purpose is not to sport with his people’s hypocrisy, but to sweep them out of it. Before he has done, his urgent speech, that has not lingered to sneer nor exhausted itself in screaming, passes forth to spend its unchecked impetus upon final promise and gospel. It is a wise lesson from a master preacher, and half of the fruitlessness of modern preaching is clue to the neglect of it. The pulpit tempts men to be either too bold or too timid about sin; either to whisper or to scold; to euphemise or to exaggerate; to be conventional or hysterical. But two things are necessary, the facts must be stated, and the whole manhood of the preacher, and not only his scorn or only his anger or only an official temper, brought to bear upon them. "Call with the throat, spare not, like a trumpet lift up thy voice, and publish to My people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sin." The subject of the chapter is the habits of a religious people, -the earnestness and regularity of their religious performance contrasted with the neglect of their social relations. The second verse, "the descriptions in which are evidently drawn from life," tells us that "the people sought God daily, and had a zeal to know His ways, as a nation that had done righteousness,"-fulfilled the legal worship, -"and had not forsaken the of their God: they ask of Me laws of righteousness,"-that is, a legal worship, the performance of which might make them righteous, -"and in drawing near to God they take delight." They had, in fact, a great greed for ordinances and functions, -for the revival of such forms as they had been accustomed to of old. Like some poor prostrate rose, whose tendrils miss the props by which they were wont to rise to the sun, the religious conscience and affections of Israel, violently torn from their immemorial supports, lay limp and wind-swept on a bare land, and longed for God to raise some substitute for those altars of Zion by which, in the dear days of old, they had lifted themselves to the light of His face. In the absence of anything better, they turned to the chill and shadowed forms of the fasts they had instituted. But they did not thereby reach the face of God. "Wherefore have we fasted," say they, "and Thou hast not seen? we have humbled our souls, and Thou takest no notice?" The answer comes swiftly: Because your fasting is a mere form! "Lo, in the very day of your fast ye find a business to do, and all your workmen you overtask." So formal is your fasting that your ordinary eager, selfish, cruel life goes on beside it just the same. Nay, it is worse than usual, for your worthless, wearisome fast but puts a sharper edge upon your temper: "Lo, for strife and contention ye fast, to smite with the fist of tyranny." And it has no religious value: "Ye fast not" like "as" you are fasting "today so as to make your voice heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, -a day for a man to afflict himself? Is it to droop his head like a rush, and grovel on sackcloth and ashes? Is it this thou wilt call a fast and a day acceptable to Jehovah?" One of the great surprises of the human heart is that self-denial does not win merit or peace. But assuredly it does not, if love be not with it. Though I give my body to be burned and have not love, it profiteth me nothing. Self-denial without love is self-indulgence. "Is not this the fast that I choose? to loosen the bonds of tyranny, to shatter the joints of the yoke, to let the crushed go free, and that ye burst every yoke. Is it not to break to the hungry thy bread, and that thou bring home wandering poor? when thou seest one naked that thou cover him, and that from thine own flesh thou hide not thyself? Then shall break forth like the morning thy light, and thy health shall immediately spring. Yea, go before thee shall thy righteousness, the glory of Jehovah shall sweep thee on," literally, "gather thee up. Then thou shalt call, and Jehovah shall answer; thou shalt cry, and He shall say, Here am I If thou shalt put from thy midst the yoke, and the putting forth of the finger, and the speaking of naughtiness"-three degrees of the subtlety of selfishness, which when forced back from violent oppression will retreat to scorn and from open scorn to backbiting, -"and if thou draw out to the hungry thy soul,"-tear out what is dear to thee in order to fill his need, the strongest expression for self-denial which the Old Testament contains, -"and satisfy the soul that is afflicted, then shall uprise in the darkness thy light, and thy gloom shall be as the noonday. And guide thee shall Jehovah continually, and satisfy thy soul in droughts, and thy limbs make lissom; and thou shalt be like a garden well-watered, { Jeremiah 31:12 } and like a spring of water whose waters fail not. And they that are of thee shall build the ancient ruins; the foundations of generation upon generation thou shalt raise up, and they shall be calling thee Repairer-of-the-Breach, Restorer-of-Paths-for-habitation." {Cf. Job 24:13 } Thus their "righteousness" in the sense of external vindication and stability, which so prevails with our prophet, shall be due to their "righteousness" in that inward moral sense in which Amos and Isaiah use the word. And so concludes a passage which fills the earliest, if not the highest, place in the glorious succession of Scriptures of Practical Love, to which belong the sixty-first chapter of Isaiah, the twenty-fifth of Matthew and the thirteenth of First Corinthians. Its lesson is, -to go back to the figure of the draggled rose, -that no mere forms of religion, however divinely prescribed or conscientiously observed, can of themselves lift the distraught and trailing affections of man to the light and peace of Heaven; but that our fellow men, if we cling to them with love and with arms of help, are ever the strongest props by which we may rise to God; that character grows rich and life joyful, not by the performance of ordinances with the cold conscience of duty, but by acts of service with the warm heart of love. And yet such a prophecy concludes with an exhortation to the observance of one religious form, and places the keeping of the Sabbath on a level with the practice of love. "If thou turn from the Sabbath thy foot," from "doing thine own business on My holy day; { Amos 8:5 } and tallest the Sabbath Pleasure,"-the word is a strong one, "Delight, Delicacy, Luxury, -Holy of Jehovah, Honourable; and dost honour it so as not to do thine own ways, or find thine own business, or keep making talk: then thou shalt find thy pleasure," or "thy delight, in Jehovah,"-note the parallel of pleasure in the Sabbath and pleasure in Jehovah, -"and He shall cause thee to ride on the high places of the land, and make thee to feel upon the portion of Jacob thy father: yea, the mouth of Jehovah hath spoken." Our prophet, then, while exalting the practical Service of Man at the expense of certain religious forms, equally exalts the observance of Sabbath; his scorn for their formalism changes when he comes to it into a strenuous enthusiasm of defence. This remarkable fact, which is strictly analogous to the appearance of the Fourth Commandment in a code otherwise consisting of purely moral and religious laws, is easily explained. Observe that our prophet bases his plea for Sabbath-keeping, and his assurance that it must lead to prosperity, not on its physical, moral, or social benefits, but simply upon its acknowledgment of God. Not only is the Sabbath to be honoured because it is the "Holy of Jehovah" and "Honourable," but "making it one’s pleasure" is equivalent to "finding one’s pleasure in Him." The parallel between these two phrases in Isaiah 58:13 and Isaiah 58:14 is evident, and means really this: Inasmuch as ye do it unto the Sabbath, ye do it unto Me. The prophet, then, enforces the Sabbath simply on account of its religious and Godward aspect. Now, let us remember the truth, which he so often enforces, that the Service of Man, however, ardently and widely pursued, can never lead or sum up our duty; that the Service of God has, logically and practically, a prior claim, for without it the Service of Man must suffer both in obligation and in resource. God must be our first resort-must have our first homage, affection, and obedience. But this cannot well take place without some amount of definite and regular and frequent devotion to Him. In the most spiritual religion there is an irreducible minimum of formal observance. Now, in that wholesale destruction of religious forms, which took place at the overthrow of Jerusalem, there was only one institution, which was not necessarily involved. The Sabbath did not fall with the Temple and the Altar: the Sabbath was independent of all locality; the Sabbath was possible even in exile. It was the one solemn, public, and frequently regular form in which the nation could turn to God, glorify Him, and enjoy Him. Perhaps, too, through the Babylonian fashion of solemnising the seventh day, our prophet realised again the primitive institution of the Sabbath, and was reminded that, since seven days is a regular part of the natural year, the Sabbath is, so to speak, sanctioned by the statutes of Creation. An institution, which is so primitive, which is so independent of locality, which forms so natural a part of the course of time, but which, above all, has twice-in the Jewish Exile and in the passage of Judaism to Christianity-survived the abrogation and disappearance of all other forms of the religion with which it was connected, and has twice been affirmed by prophecy or practice to be an essential part of spiritual religion and the equal of social morality, -has amply proved its Divine origin and its indispensableness to man. III. SOCIAL CRIMES (Chapter 59) Chapter 59 is, at first sight, the most difficult of all of "Second Isaiah" to assign to a date. For it evidently contains both pre-exilic and exilic elements. On the one hand, its charges of guilt imply that the people addressed by it are responsible for civic justice to a degree which could hardly be imputed to the Jews in Babylon. We saw that the Jews in the Exile had an amount of social freedom and domestic responsibility which amply accounts for the kind of sins they are charged with in chapter 58. But ver. 14 of chapter 59 ( Isaiah 59:14 ) reproaches them with the collapse of justice in the very seat and public office of justice, of which it was not possible they could have been guilty except in their own land and in the days of their independence. On the other hand, the promises of deliverance in chapter 59 read very much as if they were exilic. "Judgment" and "righteousness" are employed in Isaiah 59:9 in their exilic sense, and God is pictured exactly as we have seen Him in other chapters of our prophet. Are we then left with a mystery? On the contrary, the solution is clear. Israel is followed into exile by her old conscience. The charges of Isaiah and Ezekiel against Jerusalem, while Jerusalem was still a " civitas, " ring in her memory. She repeats the very words. With truth she says that her present state, so vividly described in Isaiah 59:9-11 , is due to sins of old, of which, though perhaps she can no longer commit them, she still feels the guilt. Conscience always crowds the years together; there is no difference of time in the eyes of God the Judge. And it was natural, as we have said already, that the nation should remember her besetting sins at this time; that her civic conscience should awake again, just as she was again about to become a civitas . The whole of this chapter is simply the expansion and enforcement of the first two verses, that keep clanging like the clangour of a great high bell: "Behold, Jehovah’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save, neither is His ear heavy that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have been separators between you and your God, and your sins have hidden" His "face from you, that He will not hear." There is but one thing that comes between the human heart and the Real Presence and Infinite Power of God; and that one thing is Sin. The chapter labours to show how real God is. Its opening verses talk of "His Hand, His Ear, His Face." And the closing verses paint Him with the passions and the armour of a man, -a Hero in such solitude and with such forward force, that no imagination can fail to see the Vivid, Lonely Figure. "And He saw that there was no man, and He wondered that there was none to interpose; therefore His own right arm brought salvation unto Him, and His righteousness it upheld Him. And He put on righteousness like a breastplate and salvation" for "a helmet upon His head; and He put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped Himself in zeal like a robe." Do not let us suppose this is mere poetry. Conceive what inspires it, -the great truth that in the Infinite there is a heart to throb for men and a will to strike for them. This is what the writer desires to proclaim, and what we believe the Spirit of God moved his poor human lips to give their own shape to, -the simple truth that there is One, however hidden He may be to men’s eyes, who feels for men, who feels hotly for men, and whose will is quick and urgent to save them. Such a One tells His people that the only thing which prevents them from knowing how real His heart and will are-the only thing which prevents them from seeing His work in their midst-is their sin. The roll of sins to which the prophet attributes the delay of the people’s deliverance is an awful one; and the man who reads it with conscience asleep might conclude that it was meant only for a period of extraordinary violence and bloodshed. Yet the chapter implies that society exists, and that at least the forms of civilisation are in force. Men sue one another before the usual courts. But none "sueth in righteousness or goeth to the law in truth. They trust in vanity and speak lies." All these charges might be true of a society as outwardly respectable as our own. Nor is the charge of bloodshed to be taken literally. The Old Testament has so great a regard for the spiritual nature of man, that to deny the individual his rights or to take away the peace of God from his heart, it calls the shedding of innocent blood. Isaiah reminds us of many kinds of this moral murder when he says, "your hands are full of blood: seek justice, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow." Ezekiel reminds us of others when he tells how God spake to him, that if he "warn not the wicked, and the same wicked shall die in his iniquity, his blood will I require at thy hand." And again a Psalm reminds us of the time "when the Lord maketh inquisition for blood, He forgetteth not the cry of the poor." { Isaiah 1:17 ; Psalm 9:12 } This is what the Bible calls murder and lays its burning words upon, -not such acts of bloody violence as now and then make all humanity thrill to discover that in the heart of civilisation there exist men with the passions of the ape and the tiger, but such oppression of the poor, such cowardice to rebuke evil, such negligence to restore the falling, such abuse of the characters of the young and innocent, such fraud and oppression of the weak, as often exist under the most respectable life, and employ the weapons of a Christian civilisation in order to fulfil themselves. We have need to take the bold, violent standards of the prophets and lay them to our own lives, -the prophets that call the man who sells his honesty for gain, "a harlot," and hold him "blood-guilty" who has wronged, tempted, or neglected his brother. Do not let us suppose that these crimson verses of the Bible may be passed over by us as not applicable to ourselves. They do not refer to murderers or maniacs: they refer to social crimes, to which we all are in perpetual temptation, and of which we all are more or less guilty, -the neglect of the weak, the exploitation of the poor for our own profit, the soiling of children’s minds, the multiplying of temptation in the way of God’s little ones, the malice that leads us to blast another’s character, or to impute to his action evil motives for which we have absolutely no grounds save the envy and sordidness of our own hearts. Do not let us fail to read all such verses in the clear light which John the Apostle throws on them when he says: "He that loveth not abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer." The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.