TRUST WORTHY God’s Faithfulness: God’s people were unfaithful to the covenant

4 Ah, sinful nation,

a people laden with iniquity,

offspring of evildoers,

children who deal corruptly!

They have forsaken the Lord,

they have despised the Holy One of Israel,

they are utterly estranged.

Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord. GEN 13:13

John Gill

Now the men of Sodom were wicked—Which either he knew not, and so ignorantly made this bad choice, to take up his home among such very wicked men, which occasioned a great deal of grief, trouble, and vexation to him; or if he knew it, the pleasing prospect of convenience for his cattle, and of enriching himself, was a temptation to him, and prevailed upon him to take such a step; and so Jarchi interprets it, “although” they were so, Lot was not restrained from dwelling among them:

Great sinners against the Lord—Exceeding great sinners, guilty of the most notorious crimes, and addicted to the most scandalous and unnatural lusts that can be thought of; and these they committed openly and publicly in the sight of God, in the most daring and impudent manner, and in defiance of him, without any fear or shame. The Targum of Jonathan reckons up many of their sins, as defrauding of one another in their substance, sinning in their bodies, incest, unclean copulation, shedding of innocent blood, worshiping of idols, and rebelling against the name of the Lord; see Isa 3:9; Eze 16:49.

You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell? MAT 23:33

John Gill

You servants, you brood of vipers—The latter of these names, John the Baptist calls the Sadducees and Pharisees by, in Mat 3:7 and Christ, in Mat 12:34 both express their craft and subtlety, their inward poison, and venomous nature; their fair outside, and specious pretences; their hypocrisy, malice, and wickedness; in which they were like to the old serpent, their father the devil, and to their ancestors, that murdered the prophets; nor could any good thing be expected, from such a viperous generation:

How are you to escape being sentenced to hell? Signifying, that it was impossible that they should; nor could they surely expect it themselves, who must be conscious to themselves of their wickedness, malice, and deceit. The Persic version reads it, “where can you escape?” &c. and so Beza says it was read, in one ancient copy of his; and the sense is, whither can you flee? to whom, or what can you have recourse to, to screen you from the wrath to come? Rocks and mountains, caves and dens, will be of no service. The phrase, “the judgment, or damnation of hell,” is a phrase often used in the Talmud, and Midrashes of the Jews; and intends future torment, and the everlasting vengeance and wrath of God, the unquenchable fire prepared for the devil and his angels, and which impenitent unbelieving sinners cannot escape.

5 Why will you still be struck down?

Why will you continue to rebel?

The whole head is sick,

and the whole heart faint. ISA 1:4-5

In the time of his distress he became yet more faithless to the Lord—this same King Ahaz. 2CH 28:22

John Gill

In the time of his distress he became yet more faithless to the Lord—By increasing his idolatries, as appears by what he did, in imitation of what he saw at Damascus, where he had an interview with the king of Assyria (2Ki 16:10-16)

This same King Ahaz—That monster of iniquity, than whom there was none worse, nor any so bad, of all the kings of Judah.

In these verses, God calls out the unfaithfulness of his people. They had forsaken the LORD and rebelled against him. Externally, they continued doing required acts of love, like bringing offerings and sacrifices, but there was no love for God in their hearts (Isa 1:11-14). Because of this, God declared that he hated the appointed feasts and couldn’t endure their assemblies. While acts of love for God are important, they become empty rituals if our hearts are far from him. As a follower of Christ, when did you realize that God is after your heart and not what you can do for him? How did this affect your relationship with God?

11 What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?

says the Lord;

I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams

and the fat of well-fed beasts;

I do not delight in the blood of bulls,

or of lambs, or of goats.

John Gill

What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord—These people, though they neglected the weightier matters of the law, and the more substantial duties of religion, as did the scribes and Pharisees in Christ’s time (Mat 23:23), yet were very diligent in the observance of the ceremonial law, and repeated their sacrifices almost without number, on which they placed all their trust and dependence; wherefore, to take off their confidence in these things, the Lord observes to them the unprofitableness of them; they could be of no avail to them, for they could not expiate their sins, or atone for them; and they could not be profitable to God, for he had no need of them; see Psa 50:10-12.

I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts—To the loathing of them, and therefore would no more eat their flesh, and drink their blood, or accept of them in sacrifice (Psa 50:13), “rams” were used for burnt offerings (Exo 29:18; Lev 1:10) and the fat of any creature offered in sacrifice was burnt, and forbidden to be eaten by men (Lev 1:8, 12, 15-16; 3:4-5, 10-11; 4:8-10, 19, 31, 35; 7:25, 31)

I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats—As he did in moral services, in acts of beneficence and mercy, and in sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving (1Sa 15:22; Psa 69:30-31; Hos 6:6), much less did he delight in the sacrifices of these creatures, as offered by such wicked hands and without faith in the blood and sacrifice of Christ; and still less when these were superseded and abrogated by Christ; for this prophecy belongs to the times of the apostles, as appears from Isa 1:9 see Psa 40:6-7. The several creatures mentioned were used in sacrifice, and their blood was sprinkled round about the altar (Lev 3:2, 8, 13), and before the vail (Lev 4:6, 17).

12 When you come to appear before me,
who has required of you
this trampling of my courts?

Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord God. EXO 23:17

John Gill

Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord your God—In the city of Jerusalem, when they were come into the land of Canaan, and the temple was there built: here they were to show themselves before the Lord as being his, and devoted to his service; concerning which the Misnic doctors have the following canon,

“all are bound to appear except a man deaf and dumb, a fool, a little one, one of neither sex, or of both sexes, women, servants not free, the lame, the blind, the sick, an old man, and he that cannot go on his feet.”

13 Bring no more vain offerings;
incense is an abomination to me.
New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations—
I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.

How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness

and grieved him in the desert! PSA 78:40

John Gill

How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness—Where they were not only at his mercy, having nothing to help themselves with, but had many singular mercies bestowed upon them; and yet were continually committing such sins against God as provoked the eyes of his glory; ten times they tempted him, the Lord says (Num 14:22), therefore that dispensation is called the provocation and day of temptation; for it was a series of rebellion and sin (Psa 95:8),

And grieved him in the desert—Which signifies the same as before, and is spoken after the manner of men (Gen 6:6), and like a tender parent grieved at the disobedience of his child, and that he is obliged to take the rod and chastise it. The prophet Isaiah says, they “grieved his Holy Spirit” (Isa 63:10), the same word is there used as here; compare with it Eph 4:30.

But woe to you Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every herb, and neglect justice and the love of God. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. LUK 11:42

John Gill

But woe to you Pharisees—Though these words, with several other passages in this chapter, are much alike with those in Mat 23 yet it is clear that they were spoken at different times, these in the house of a Pharisee, and they in the temple at Jerusalem:

For you tithe mint and rue—(See Gill on Mat 23:23) the Persic version here reads, “mint and anise,” as there; and the Ethiopic version only “hyssop”:

And every herb—That is, all sorts of herbs that grow in the garden, and were not common to all;

And neglect justice and the love of God—By “justice” may be meant doing that which is right between man and man, both publicly and privately, which was greatly neglected by these extortioners and unjust men: and by “the love of God” may be intended, both love to God, which shows itself in the observance of the first table of the law, and love to the neighbour, which God requires, and regards the second table:

These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others—(See Gill on Mat 23:23).

14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts
my soul hates;
they have become a burden to me;
I am weary of bearing them. ISA 1:11-14

You have not bought me sweet cane with money,

or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices.

But you have burdened me with your sins;

you have wearied me with your iniquities. ISA 43:24

John Gill

You have not bought me sweet cane with money—Or “calamus,” which was used in the anointing oil, and for the perfume or incense (Exo 30:7, 23), this they thought too expensive, and so left it out of the composition, or neglected the whole this being put a part for the whole. Jarchi gives it as the sense, that they had no need to buy it, since it grew in great plenty in the land of Israel, which he took to be cinnamon; though this is distinguished from calamus, or the sweet cane (Son 4:14), wherefore Kimchi much better observes, that it was not to be had in the land of Israel, but came from a land afar off; and therefore must be bought; see Jer 6:20, hence grudging to give the price for it, and to be at the expense of it, bought it not, and disused it:

Or satisfied me with the fat of your sacrifices—They did not multiply their sacrifices, offered only just what the law required, if so many, and those of the leaner sort; and whereas the fat of the sacrifices was the Lord’s, there was little of it for him in these:

But you have burdened me with your sins; you have wearied me with your iniquities—They were so many, and so aggravated, that he could not bear with them any longer, his patience was worn out; they were an uneasiness to him, as it were a burden upon him, and therefore would ease himself, as he sometimes does, by avenging himself (Isa 1:24), but here by pardoning them, as in the following verse. Some think that these are the words of Christ, the surety of his people, who took upon him the form of a servant for the sake of them, and had all their sins laid upon him, and which he bore, and made satisfaction for; and were to the human nature a burden, and a weariness to it; see Psa 40:12. This must be understood of the remnant according to the election of grace, among these people so sadly corrupted, for whose sins of omission and commission Christ made atonement; and upon the foot of his satisfaction, remission of sins proceeds, as in the next verse.