Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Isaiah 29:16

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

God saves Jerusalem (29:1-24)

Isaiah then presents a frightening picture of the Assyrian siege of Jerusalem (called ‘Ariel’ in RSV and NIV, and ‘God’s altar’ in GNB). The people think that their city is safe and that the cycle of annual festivals will go on indefinitely. Suddenly, they find their lives threatened by a terrible siege. Throughout the city people are distressed and humiliated, as the doomed city cries out to God, as it were, from the grave (29:1-4).

The enemy armies think their conquest of Jerusalem is certain, when unexpectedly God intervenes and miraculously saves the city. The enemy’s disappointment is like that of a distressed person who has a pleasant dream, then awakes only to find it is not true (5-8; 2 Kings 19:35).

As usual the people of Judah do not respond to Isaiah’s prophecy. They are morally dull and spiritually blind, and seem to have no ability at all to understand God’s message. It is to them like a book that remains closed (9-12). They carry out the religious traditions, but they know nothing of God and are not even interested in him. They are fit only for God’s judgment (13-14).
In planning alliances without thought for God, the people of Judah are deliberately ignoring the God who created them (15-16). God can do more for them than they can ask or think. He has planned a great future for Judah, where those who humbly trust in him will find complete satisfaction and contentment (17-19). However, those who are cruel, dishonest, selfish and unbelieving will have no share in this future, because God will first remove them in judgment (20-21).
When sin is removed there will be no more cause for shame. God’s people will truly belong to him, and will have a genuine desire to understand his character and to walk in his ways (22-24).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

“Forasmuch as this people draw nigh unto me, and with their mouth and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their hearts far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment of men which hath been taught them; therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvelous work among this people, even a marvelous work and a wonder; and the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. Woe unto them that hide deep their counsel from Jehovah, whose works are in the dark, and that say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us? Ye turn things upside down! Shall the potter be esteemed as clay; and the thing made say of him that made it, He made me not: or the thing formed say of him that formed it, He hath no understanding?”

This paragraph registers still further complaints against Israel. Their religion is not sincere. Sure, they still sing the old songs and repeat the terminology of worshipping God; but their hearts are simply not in it at all. One cannot avoid the fear that today there must be some worship of God that falls into the pattern of what is condemned here. “Their religion had become a mere formality.”Broadman Bible Commentary (Nashville: Broadman Press, 1971), p. 275. Jesus Christ reiterated the thought here in Matthew 15:8-9; Mark 7:6-7.

“Your fear of me is a commandment of men” This describes a situation in which religious teachers had usurped the place of God. Even morality is determined and founded upon human opinions, rather than upon the Word of God. This always results in a condition where men dispute and contradict one another, where your word is as good as my word, and there’s no word at all from God! We fear that a great deal of this very philosophy dominates the religious thinking of our very day.

Isaiah 29:15 is an allusion to, “Those secret intrigues with Egypt, which were conducted behind Isaiah’s back.”The New Layman’s Bible Commentary, p. 791. Cheyne wrote that, “The ruling classes recognized Isaiah’s right to advise and direct God’s people; but they threw a veil of secrecy over their untheocratic pursuit of worldly alliances.”T. K. Cheyne’s Commentary, p. 172. Isaiah’s words here expose their hypocritical behavior. Another example of the same hypocrisy is that of Ahaz in Isaiah 7.

The turning of things “upside down” (Isaiah 29:16) is reinforced by the illustration of “the potter and the clay,” an analogy used again in Isaiah 45:9 and Isaiah 64:8, and by Paul in Romans 9:20. In the 1940’s this writer purchased a little booklet published by those in charge of the great telescope installation on Mount Palomar in California. The book described the great 100-inch reflecting telescope. A brief foreword noted that, “With this mighty instrument we seek to gain conscious control of man’s evolution”! That represents exactly the same kind of boastful infidelity that Isaiah rebuked here.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Surely your turning of things upside down - Your perversion of all things. They had no just views of truth. They deemed mere formality to be all that was required. They attempted to conceal their plans even from Yahweh; and everything in the opinions and practice of the nation had become perverted and erroneous. There has been much diversity in rendering this phrase. Luther renders it, ‘O how perverse ye are.’ Lowth renders it,

‘Perverse as ye are! shall the potter be esteemed as the clay?’

Rosenmuller also accords with this interpretation, and renders it, ‘O your perversity,’ etc. The sense of the passage seems to be this: ‘Your “changing of things” is just as absurd as it would be for the thing formed to say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? It is as absurd for you to find fault with the government of God as it would be for the clay to complain of want of skill in the potter. You complain of God’s laws, and worship Him according to the commandments of people. You complain of his requirements, and offer to him the service of the mouth and the lip, and witchold the heart. You suppose that God does not see you, and do your deeds in darkness. All this supposes that God is destitute of wisdom, and cannot see what is done, and it is just as absurd as it would be in the clay to complain that the potter who fashions it has no understanding.’

Shall be esteemed ... - The “literal” translation of this passage would be, ‘Your perverseness is as if the potter should be esteemed as the clay;’ that is, as if he was no more qualified to form anything than the clay itself.

For shall the work ... - This passage is quoted by the apostle Paul Romans 9:20-21 to show the right which God has to do with his creatures as shall seem good in his sight, and the impropriety of complaining of his distinguishing mercy in choosing to life those whom he pleases. The sense of the passage is, that it would be absurd for that which is made to complain of the maker as having no intelligence, and no right to make it as he does. It would be absurd in the piece of pottery to complain of the potter as if he had no skill; and it is equally absurd in a man to complain of God, or to regard him as destitute of wisdom.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

16.Is your turning reckoned like potter’s clay! There are various ways of explaining this verse, and, indeed, there is some difficulty on account of the two particles, אם (ĭm) and כי (kī). אם (ĭm) is often used in putting a question, and sometimes in making an affirmation; and therefore some translate it truly. The word הפך (hāphăch) is considered by some to mean “turning upside down,” ⁽²⁷⁶⁾ as if he had said, “Shall your turning upside down be reckoned like clay?” Others render it “turning,” that is, the purposes which are formed in the heart. But the most generally received rendering is, “turning upside down” or “destruction.” As if he had said, “I would care no more about destroying you, than the potter would care about turning the clay; for you are like clay, because I have created you with my hand.”

But as the Prophet appears to contrast those two particles אם (ĭm) and כי (kī), I am more inclined to a different opinion, though I do not object to the former exposition, which contains a doctrine in other respects useful. My view of it therefore is this, “Shall your turning, that is, the purposes which you ponder in your heart, be like potter’s clay? Is it not as if the vessel said to the potter, Thou hast not formed me? Your pride is astonishing; for you act as if you had created yourselves, and as if you had everything in your own power. I had a right to appoint whatever I thought fit. When you dare to assume such power and authority, you are too little acquainted with your condition, and you do not know that you are men.” ⁽²⁷⁷⁾

This diversity of expositions makes no difference as to the Prophet’s meaning, who had no other object in view than to confirm the doctrine taught in the preceding verse; for he still exclaims against proud men, who claim so much power to themselves that they cannot endure the authority of God, and entertain a false opinion about themselves, which leads them to despise all exhortations, as if they had been gods. Thus do they deny that God has created them; for whatever men claim for themselves, they take from God, and deprive him of the honour which is due to him.

Only in the first clause would the meaning at all differ; for those who interpret אם (ĭm) affirmatively, consider this verse to mean, “Truly, I will destroy you as a potter would break the pot which he had made.” But as the Prophet had to do with proud men, who sought out lurking-places in order to deceive God, I rather view it as a question, “Are you so able workmen that the revolutions of your brain can make this or that, as a potter, by turning the wheel, frames vessels at his pleasure?” Let every person adopt his own opinion: I follow that which I consider to be probable.

(276) Bogus footnote

(277) Bogus footnote

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 29

Chapter 29, the woe unto Jerusalem. Ariel means the lion of God. It is one of the names for Jerusalem.

Woe to Ariel, to Ariel, [the lion of God] the city where David dwelt! add ye year to year; let them kill the sacrifices. Yet I will distress Ariel, and there shall be heaviness and sorrow: and it shall be unto me as Ariel. I will camp against thee round about, and will lay siege against thee with a mount, and I will raise forts against thee ( Isaiah 29:1-3 ).

Talking about the coming Assyrian invasion.

For thou shalt be brought down, and thou shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust ( Isaiah 29:4 ),

And so forth.

Moreover the multitude of thy strangers shall be like small dust, and the multitude of the terrible ones shall be as chaff that passeth away. Thou will be visited of the LORD of hosts with thunder, and with earthquake, and great noise, with a storm and a tempest, and the flame of the devouring fire. And the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel, even all that fight against her and her munition, and that distress her, shall be as a dream of a night vision. It shall even be as when an hungry man dreams, and he dreams that he is eating; and then he wakes up, and his soul is still empty: or as when a thirsty man is dreaming, and he dreams that he's getting a drink of water; but he wakes up, and his soul still is faint, and he has appetite: so shall the multitude of all the nations be, that fight against mount Zion. Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink. For the LORD hath poured upon them the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered ( Isaiah 29:5-10 ).

And so the lethargy, the spiritual blindness that has overcome the people. Here they are living in the shadow of the coming judgment but blind to the fact, even as is much the case today. The world is living really under the shadow of this great judgment of God. And yet they seem to be so blind to it. For God said,

the people [verse Isaiah 29:13 ] are drawing to me with their mouth, and with their lips they are honoring me, but their heart is far from me, and the fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and the works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us? Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He hath no understanding? ( Isaiah 29:13-16 )

Here Isaiah shows again in this figure of the potter and the clay how that it is so ridiculous for man, the clay, to say to the potter, "He didn't make me. I evolved." To say of God, "Well, God doesn't have any understanding." That's ridiculous. How can you look at the human body and say that God doesn't have any understanding? The intricate system of the human body, the bloodstream, and just take that alone, the heart and the bloodstream. And how can you say that God has no understanding? The nervous system and its functions, the brain and the messages that it codes and sends and so forth and decodes. And how can you say that God has no understanding or that God didn't make me? And yet here we listen to these little bits of intellectual clay boasting against God, against the Creator. Exalting themselves and their own intellectual prowess. How stupidly ridiculous!

At the end of the chapter here he talks about God's going to crack the claypots.

Is it not yet a very little while, and Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field, and the fruitful field shall be esteemed as a forest? And in that day shall the deaf ( Isaiah 29:17-18 )

And now again God's glorious day that is coming, the day when the deaf will

hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness. The meek also shall increase their joy in the LORD ( Isaiah 29:18-19 ),

"For the meek shall inherit the earth" ( Psalms 37:11 ).

and the poor among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. For the terrible one has been brought to nothing, the scorner has been consumed, and all that watch for iniquity have been cut off: That make a man an offender for a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gates, and turn aside the just for a thing of nothing. Therefore thus saith the LORD, who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob, Jacob shall not now be ashamed, neither shall his face now wax pale. But when he seeth his children, the work of mine hands, in the midst of him, they shall sanctify my name, and sanctify the Holy One of Jacob, and shall fear the God of Israel. They also that erred in spirit shall come to understanding, and they that murmured shall learn doctrine ( Isaiah 29:19-24 ). "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The remedy for spiritual blindness 29:15-24

The remedy for this spiritually blind state is the subject of the next "woe" (Isaiah 29:15-24). It begins with a word of condemnation for deception (Isaiah 29:15-16), proceeds to explain what God will do (Isaiah 29:17-21), and ends with a summary statement (Isaiah 29:22-24).

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

These politicians turned things upside down. They denied the Lord’s distinctiveness, sovereignty, and wisdom-and attributed those characteristics to themselves (cf. Isaiah 29:14; Isaiah 45:9; Isaiah 64:8; Genesis 2:7; Jeremiah 18:1-6; Romans 1:25; Romans 9:19-21). They told the Lord what to do rather than trying to discover what He wanted to do.

"It is the forgetting of God’s right as Maker that leads to ethical relativism." [Note: Oswalt, p. 537.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Surely your turning of things upside down,.... Revolving things in their minds, throwing them into different shapes, forming various schemes, and inverting the order of things by their deep counsels, and seeking to hide things from the Lord: or, "O the perverseness of you" z; in imagining and saying that no eye saw, nor anyone knew, what they did, not the Lord himself. So the Vulgate Latin version, "this is your perverse thought"; namely, what is before related. The Targum is,

"do you seek to pervert your works?''

Our version joins it with what follows; though a stop should be made here, because of the accent:

shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: their perverse counsels and designs shall be made of no more account with God, and be as easily turned about and brought to nought, as the clay can be formed, and shaped, and marred by the potter, at his pleasure: "if" or "surely as the potter's clay shall it be esteemed", as the words may be rendered; or it may refer to their persons, as well as their counsels. So the Septuagint version, "shall ye not be reckoned as the potter's clay?" ye shall. To which agrees the Targum,

"behold, as the clay in the hand of the potter, so are ye accounted before me;''

who could do with them just as seemed good in his sight. De Dieu renders them, "shall the potter be reckoned as the clay?" Such was the stupidity and perverseness of the Jews, in endeavouring to hide their counsels from the Lord, and in fancying that he did not see and know them, that they thought God was like themselves; which is all one as if the potter was reckoned as the clay, for they were the clay, and God the potter. The Vulgate Latin version is, "as if the clay could think against the potter"; contrive schemes to counterwork him; which, to imagine, was not more stupid, than to think they could do anything against the Lord:

for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? to say that God does not know what is done by his creatures, is in effect to say that he did not make them; for he that made them must needs know their actions, and even the very thoughts of their hearts; as he that makes a watch knows all that is in it, and the motions of it:

or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding? or judgment, did not know how to make it as it should be. So the Septuagint version, "thou hast not made me wisely"; or he did not understand the work itself, the make and fashion of it. So the Targum,

"thou does not understand me.''

This might as well be said, as for a creature to pretend that God does not know what and where he is, or what he is doing.

z So some in Gataker; הפככם "subversio vestra", Pagninus, Montanus.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      9 Stay yourselves, and wonder; cry ye out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.   10 For the LORD hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers hath he covered.   11 And the vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I cannot; for it is sealed:   12 And the book is delivered to him that is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee: and he saith, I am not learned.   13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:   14 Therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.   15 Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us?   16 Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?

      Here, I. The prophet stands amazed at the stupidity of the greatest part of the Jewish nation. They had Levites, who taught the good knowledge of the Lord and had encouragement from Hezekiah in doing so, 2 Chronicles 30:22. They had prophets, who brought them messages immediately from God, and signified to them what were the causes and what would be the effects of God's displeasure against them. Now, one would think, surely this great nation, that has all the advantages of divine revelation, is a wise and understanding people,Deuteronomy 4:6. But, alas! it was quite otherwise, Isaiah 29:9; Isaiah 29:9. The prophet addresses himself to the sober thinking part of them, calling upon them to be affected with the general carelessness of their neighbours. It may be read, "They delay, they put off, their repentance, but wonder you that they should be so sottish. They sport themselves with their own deceivings; they riot and revel; but do you cry out, lament their folly, cry to God by prayer for them. The more insensible they are of the hand of God gone out against them the more do you lay to heart these things." Note, The security of sinners in their sinful way is just matter of lamentation and wonder to all serious people, who should think themselves concerned to pray for those that do not pray for themselves. But what is the matter? What are we thus to wonder at? 1. We may well wonder that the generality of the people should be so sottish and brutish, and so infatuated, as if they were intoxicated: They are drunken, but not with wine (not with wine only, though with that they were often drunk), and they erred through wine,Isaiah 28:7; Isaiah 28:7. They were drunk with the love of pleasures, with prejudices against religion, and with the corrupt principles they had imbibed. Like drunken men, they know not what they do or say, nor whither they go. They are not sensible of the divine rebukes they are under. They have beaten me, and I felt it not, says the drunkard, Proverbs 23:35. God speaks to them once, yea, twice; but, like men drunk, they perceive it not, they understand it not, but forget the law. They stagger in their counsels, are unstable and unsteady, and stumble at every thing that lies in their way. There is such a thing as spiritual drunkenness. 2. It is yet more strange that God himself should have poured out upon them a spirit of deep sleep, and closed their eyes (Isaiah 29:10; Isaiah 29:10), that he who bids them awake and open their eyes should yet lay them to sleep and shut their eyes; but it is in away of righteous judgment, to punish them for their loving darkness rather than light, their loving sleep. When God by his prophets called them they said, Yet a little sleep, a little slumber; and therefore he gave them up to strong delusions, and said, Sleep on now. This is applied to the unbelieving Jews, who rejected the gospel of Christ, and were justly hardened in their infidelity, till wrath came upon them to the uttermost. Romans 11:8, God has given them the spirit of slumber. And we have reason to fear it is the woeful case of many who live in the midst of gospel light. 3. It is very sad that this should be the case with those who were their prophets, and rulers, and seers, that those who should have been their guides were themselves blindfolded; and it is easy to tell what the fatal consequences will be when the blind lead the blind. This was fulfilled when, in the latter days of the Jewish church, the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, were the great opposers of Christ and his gospel, and brought themselves under a judicial infatuation. 4. The sad effect of this was that all the means of conviction, knowledge, and grace, which they enjoyed, were ineffectual, and did not answer the end (Isaiah 29:11; Isaiah 29:12): "The vision of all the prophets, true and false, has become to you as the words of a book, or letter, that is sealed up; you cannot discern the truth of the real visions and the falsehood of the pretended ones." Or, every vision particularly that this prophet had seen for them, and published to them, had become unintelligible; they had it among them, but were never the wiser for it, any more than a man (though a good scholar) is for a book delivered to him sealed up, and which he must not open the seals of. He sees it is a book, and that is all; he knows nothing of what is in it. So they knew that what Isaiah said was a vision and prophecy, but the meaning of it was hidden from them; it was only a sound of words to them, which they were not at all alarmed by, nor affected with; it answered not the intention, for it made no impression at all upon them. Neither the learned nor the unlearned were the better for all the messages God sent them by his servants the prophets, nor desired to be so. The ordinary sort of people excused themselves from regarding what the prophets said with their want of learning and a liberal education, as if they were not concerned to know and do the will of God because they were not bred scholars: It is nothing to me, I am not learned. Those of better rank pretended that the prophet had a peculiar way of speaking, which was obscure to them, and which, though they were men of letters, they had not been used to; and, Si non vis intelligi, debes negligi--If you wish not to be understood, you deserve to be neglected. Both these are groundless pretences; for God's prophets have been no unfaithful debtors either to the wise or to the unwise, Romans 1:14. Or we may take it thus:--The book of prophecy was given to them sealed, so that they could not read it, as a just judgment upon them; because it had often been delivered to them unsealed, and they would not take pains to learn the language of it, and then made excuse for their not reading it because they were not learned. But observe, "The vision has become thus to you whose minds the god of this world has blinded; but it is not so in itself, it is not so to all; the same vision which to you is a savour of death unto death to others is and shall be a savour of life unto life." Knowledge is easy to him that understands.

      II. The prophet, in God's name, threatens those that were formal and hypocritical in their exercises of devotion, Isaiah 29:13; Isaiah 29:14. Observe here,

      1. The sin that is here charged upon them--dissembling with God in their religious performances, Isaiah 29:13; Isaiah 29:13. He that knows the heart, and cannot be imposed upon with shows and pretences, charges it upon them, whether their hearts condemn them for it or no. He that is greater than the heart, and knows all things, knows that though they draw nigh to him with their mouth, and honour him with their lips, yet they are not sincere worshippers. To worship God is to make our approaches to him, and to present our adorations of him; it is to draw nigh to him as those that have business with him, with an intention therein to honour him. This we are to do with our mouth and our lips, in speaking of him and in speaking to him; we must render to him the calves of our lips,Hosea 14:2. And, if the heart be full of his love and fear, out of the abundance of that the mouth will speak. But there are many whose religion is lip-labour only. They say that which expresses an approach to God and an adoration of him, but it is only from the teeth outward. For, (1.) They do not apply their minds to the service. When they pretend to be speaking to God they are thinking of a thousand impertinences: The have removed their hearts far from me, that they might not be employed in prayer, nor come within reach of the word. When work was to be done for God, which required the heart, that was sent out of the way on purpose, with the fool's eyes, into the ends of the earth. (2.) They do not make the word of God the rule of their worship, nor his will their reason: Their fear towards me is taught by the precept of men. They worshipped the God of Israel, not according to his appointment, but their own inventions, the directions of their false prophets or their idolatrous kings, or the usages of the nations that were round about them. The tradition of the elders was of more value and validity with them than the laws which God commanded Moses. Or, if they did worship God in a way conformable to his institution in the days of Hezekiah, a great reformer, they had more an eye to the precept of the king than to God's command. This our Saviour applies to the Jews in his time, who were formal in their devotions and wedded to their own inventions, and pronounces concerning them that in vain they did worship God, Matthew 15:8; Matthew 15:9.

      2. It is a spiritual judgment with which God threatens to punish them for their spiritual wickedness (Isaiah 29:14; Isaiah 29:14): I will proceed to do a marvellous work. They did one strange thing; they removed all sincerity from their hearts. Now God will go on and do another; he will remove all sagacity from their heads. The wisdom of their wise men shall perish. They played the hypocrite, and thought to put a cheat upon God, and now they are left to themselves to play the fool, and not only to put a cheat upon themselves, but to be easily cheated by all about them. Those that make religion no more than a pretence, to serve a turn, are out in their politics; and it is just with God to deprive those of their understanding who part with their uprightness. This was fulfilled in the wretched infatuation which the Jewish nation were manifestly under, after they had rejected the gospel of Christ; they removed their hearts far from God, and therefore God justly removed wisdom far from them, and hid from their eyes the things that belonged even to their temporal peace. This is a marvelous work; it is surprising, it is astonishing, that wise men should of a sudden lose their wisdom and be given up to strong delusions. Judgments on the mind, though least taken notice of, are to be most wondered at.

      III. He shows the folly of those that though to act separately and secretly from God, and were carrying on designs independent upon God and which they projected to conceal from his all-seeing eye. Here we have, 1. Their politics described (Isaiah 29:15; Isaiah 29:15): They seek deep to hide their counsel from the Lord, that he may not know either what they do or what they design; they say, "Who sees us? No man, and therefore not God himself." The consultations they had about their own safety they kept to themselves, and never asked God's advice concerning them; nay, they knew they were displeasing to him, but thought they could conceal them from him; and, if he did not know them, he could not baffle and defeat them. See what foolish fruitless pains sinners take in their sinful ways; they seek deep, they sink deep, to hide their counsel from the Lord, who sits in heaven and laughs at them. Note, A practical disbelief of God's omniscience is at the bottom both of the carnal worships and of the carnal confidences of hypocrites; Psalms 94:7; Ezekiel 8:12; Ezekiel 9:9. 2. The absurdity of their politics demonstrated (Isaiah 29:16; Isaiah 29:16): "Surely your turning of things upside down thus, your various projects, turning your affairs this and that way to make them shape as you would have them--or rather your inverting the order of things, and thinking to make God's providence give attendance to your projects, and that God must know no more than you think fit, which is perfectly turning things upside down and beginning at the wrong end--shall be esteemed as the potter's clay. God will turn and manage you, and all your counsels, with as much ease and as absolute a power as the potter forms and fashions his clay." See how God despises, and therefore what little reason we have to dread, those contrivances of men that are carried on without God, particularly those against him. (1.) Those that think to hide their counsels from God do in effect deny him to be their Creator. It is as if the work should say of him that made it, "He made me not; I made myself." If God made us, he certainly knows us as the Psalmist shows, (Psalms 139:1; Psalms 139:13-16); so that those who say that he does not see them might as well say that he did not make them. Much of the wickedness of the wicked arises from this, they forget that God formed them, Deuteronomy 32:18. Or, (2.) Which comes to the same thing, they deny him to be a wise Creator: The thing framed saith of him that framed it, He had no understanding; for if he had understanding to make us so curiously, especially to make us intelligent beings and to put understanding into the inward part (Job 38:36), no doubt he has understanding to know us and all we say and do. As those that quarrel with God, so those that think to conceal themselves from him, do in effect charge him with folly; but he that formed the eye, shall he not see?Psalms 94:9.