Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Isaiah 56:9

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Isaiah 56:9. All ye beasts of the field — Here manifestly begins a new section. The prophet in the foregoing chapters, having comforted the faithful Jews with many great promises of God's favour to be extended to them, in the restoration of their ruined state, and in the enlargement of his Church by the admission of the Gentiles; here on a sudden makes a transition to the more disagreeable part of the prospect, and to a sharp reproof of the wicked and unbelievers; and especially of the negligent and faithless governors and teachers, of the idolaters and hypocrites, who would still draw down his judgments upon the nation. Probably having in view the destruction of their city and polity by the Chaldeans, and perhaps by the Romans. The same subject is continued in the next chapter; in which the charge of corruption and apostasy becomes more general against the whole Jewish Church. Some expositors have made great difficulties in the 9th verse of this chapter, where there seems to be none. It is perfectly well explained by Jeremiah, Jeremiah 12:7; Jeremiah 12:9, where, having introduced God declaring his purpose of punishing his people, by giving them up as a prey to their enemies the Chaldeans, a charge to these his agents is given in words very nearly the same with those of Isaiah in this place: -

"I have forsaken my house; I have deserted my heritage;

I have given up the beloved of my soul into the hands of her

enemies.-

Come away, be gathered together, all ye beasts of the field;

Come away to devour."

All ye beasts in the forest - "All ye beasts of the forest."] Instead of ביער baiyaar, three MSS. have יער yaar, without the preposition; which seems to be right, and is confirmed by ali the ancient Versions.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Corruption and idolatry (56:9-57:21)

The Assyrian captivity of the northerners and the Babylonian captivity of the southerners did not include the whole populations. Those who were of no use to the conquerors were left behind, along with scattered country people who escaped the enemy. These and their descendants soon followed the old religious practices of the Canaanite people. They worshipped idols, offered human sacrifices to the god Molech, and practised fertility rites with religious prostitutes, all in the hope of becoming prosperous (2 Kings 17:24-41). Those who engaged in these practices tried to join in the worship of Yahweh when the Jews returned from captivity.

Israel’s spiritual leaders should have been like alert watchmen, who warned the people of these dangers and instructed them in the ways of God. Instead, says the prophet, they are like lazy, overfed watchdogs who can only sleep. They are interested only in personal gain and do not care for the people. The civil leaders (likened to bad shepherds) are equally greedy and corrupt (9-12).
In such conditions the righteous are the ones who suffer. They find relief only when they rest in death (57:1-2). The wicked, meanwhile, carry on with their witchcraft, immorality, idolatry and child sacrifice. They do not realize that by their behaviour they are challenging God and inviting his judgment (3-6). Although their idolatrous practices involve costly sacrifices, shameful behaviour and tiresome journeys, they persist in them, hoping vainly for a better life (7-10).
Although the people have turned from God to worthless idols, God has been patient with them. But his patience has not led them to repentance. They will now find that their gods will not save them from God’s punishment (11-13).
By contrast, God will help those faithful to him, no matter what obstacles are in their way. Although he is exalted above the heavens, he also dwells with those who humbly acknowledge their sin and turn from it (14-15). He may punish them when they do wrong, but he does not remain angry with them. When they humbly acknowledge their wrong and show their desire to please him again, he gives them new life and strength (16-18). The repentant enjoy peace and fellowship with God, but the wicked live in a turmoil of uncleanness. They will be excluded from God’s peace for ever (19-21).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

“All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest. His watchmen are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark, dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, the dogs are greedy, they can never have enough; and these are shepherds that cannot understand: they have all turned to their own way, each one to his own gain, from every quarter. Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and tomorrow shall be as this day, a day great beyond measure.”

As Homer Hailey declared, “The evidence of this paragraph is far stronger for the view that Isaiah has turned from prophesying of the captivity, and that he is speaking to the people of his own day, summarizing the causes that will lead to the captivity of Israel.”Homer Hailey, p. 461. The significance of this is that the critical allegation that, “This chapter was written at a time long after the captivity, after the Temple had been rebuilt and was the center of an elaborate ritual,”Peake’s Commentary Series, p. 468. is absolutely untenable. On the contrary, the Temple of Solomon, at the time envisioned here, was still standing; and the abuses mentioned were all prevalent in the days of Isaiah and afterward. These were precisely the very things that led to the captivity. There is no doubt whatever of Isaiah’s authorship of all these chapters. If he had not been, Christ would never have referred to these passages, accrediting them to the great eighth century prophet, Isaiah. All of the critics on earth do not represent any authority sufficiently dependable to offset this fact.

The terrible failure of the prophets and leaders of the Jews during this period of their apostasy was deplorable. They are here referred to as dumb, lazy dogs that will not bark. They not only neglected their duties as watchmen over the religious affairs of Israel, but they were greedy for gain, interested only in the profits they might reap from their offices; and they also were given over to laziness, drunkenness, and irresponsibility. Isaiah will continue his prophecy regarding such leaders in the following chapter.

When one contrasts Jehovah’s evaluation of those dumb, lazy dogs with their high social standing and the prestige which they enjoyed during their generation, it raises the question regarding so-called “Christian” writers today who contradict every line of the Holy Bible on the principles of a’ system which in arrogance and conceit is called “higher criticism.” Are any of Jehovah’s words here applicable to them?

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

All ye beasts of the field - This evidently commences a new subject, and refers to some invasion of the land of Judea. In the previous chapter, the prophet had comforted the people by the assurance of the coming of the Messiah, and by the fact that they should be enlarged by the accession of the Gentiles. He proceeds here to a more disagreeable part of the subject. The design is, to reprove particularly the sins of the rulers of the people, and to assure them that such conduct would incur the vengeance of heaven. The sins reproved are indolence and inattention to duty Isaiah 56:10-12; a spirit of self-indulgence and of slumber, avarice and selfishness, and luxury and intemperance. The vengeance here referred to, Lowth supposes to be the invasion of the land by the Chaldeans, and perhaps by the Romans. Grotius supposes that it refers to the Egyptians, and to bands of robbers from the Chaldeans, Syrians, Moabites, and Ammonites. Vitringa strangely enough refers it to the barbarous nations which broke in upon the Christian church to lay it waste and destroy it during the decline of the Roman empire, particularly the Huns, Saracens, Turks, Turcomans, Tartars, etc. But the connection seems to demand that it should be understood of some events, not far distant from the time of the prophet, which would be a proper punishment of the crimes then existing. According to this interpretation, the reference here, I suppose, is to the invasion of the land by the Chaldeans. They would come as wild beasts, to spread terror and devastation before them. And so great were the national crimes, that the prophet calls on them to come and devour all before them. The comparison of invaders to wild beasts is not uncommon in the Scriptures. Thus Jeremiah 12:9 -

Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird,

The birds round about are against her;

Come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field,

Come to devour.

So Jeremiah 50:17 -

Israel is a scattered sheep;

The lions have driven him away;

First the king of Assyria hath devoured him,

And last this Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, hath broken his bones.

See also Isaiah 9:11.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

9.All ye beasts of the field. This prediction appears to be at variance with what goes before; for what the Prophet has hitherto said was full of the most delightful consolation, but now he appears to threaten fiercely, and to predict frightful ruin. These statements might indeed appear to be contradictory; but, after having comforted believers, it ought not to be thought inconsistent if he forewarn them of a future calamity that they might not lose courage when they saw everything near destruction, and that necessity might likewise prompt them to betake themselves more warmly and earnestly to the grace of God. There is also another reason, that hypocrites abuse the promises of God and hold them out under false pretenses, cherish unfounded hope, and insolently boast of those things which do not at all belong to them; and therefore Isaiah intended to take from them the ground of false boasting.

And thus his design was twofold; first, that the hearts of believers might not be discouraged by various calamities, which should bring them almost, to utter destruction, and that even when, amidst prosperity and peace, they beheld by faith at a distance a future calamity, they might rest satisfied with this single consolation; and secondly, that he might strike hypocrites with dread and horror, so that they might not exalt themselves by vain confidence, or freely indulge their sinful inclinations under the pretense of these promises. For this reason God calls not men, but savage “beasts,” that they might devour the people. He therefore forbids believers to be alarmed and tempted to unbelief, when these wild beasts shall be sent. And yet he intended also to strike terror into them, that he might arouse them to repentance, and to exhort them to seek the mercy of God, that the promises might not lose their value.

When he calls them “beasts of the field, ” he means beasts of every kind, and includes not only the Babylonians and Assyrians, but Antiochus, the Romans, and other enemies of the people, who brought various calamities upon them. But he has chiefly in view the defeat which they received from the Babylonians, who carried them away into wretched bondage.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Shall we turn now in our Bibles to Isaiah 56:1-12 .

In Isaiah 55:1-13 the Lord speaks of this glorious everlasting salvation and the glories of His greatness, His power. "As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than yours, My thoughts than your thoughts" ( Isaiah 55:9 ). The blessing and the power of the Word of God. "As the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, returns not thither, waters the earth that makes it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so is my word," the Lord declares, "that goes out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but shall accomplish that which I please. It shall prosper in the thing in which I sent it" ( Isaiah 55:10-11 ).

Now as we get into chapter 56, the Lord is giving to us, more or less, some of the conditions of our being a part of that everlasting kingdom and salvation.

Thus saith the LORD, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for my salvation is near to come, and my righteousness to be revealed ( Isaiah 56:1 ).

Now even at the time of Isaiah, there were those encouragements to doing the right thing in light of the fact that the Lord's salvation was near. All through succeeding generations, God has wanted, I believe, each generation to live with that consciousness of the nearness of the coming of the Lord's kingdom. Now Peter tells us that there would come a day when men would begin to scoff at the nearness of the coming kingdom of God, declaring that "all things have just continued as they were from the beginning" ( 2 Peter 3:4 ). But Peter says, "Of this they are willfully ignorant." That God did upset the world at one time in judgment by sending the flood, they are willfully ignorant of God's intervention by catastrophe. And then Peter goes on to explain that "God is not slack concerning His promises" ( 2 Peter 3:9 ). That is the promise of the coming kingdom and the establishment of the kingdom of righteousness. He's not going to fail in that promise, but that He is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. So the reason for the delay, God's waiting for man's turning to Him.

Now when we were living in Prescott in the first church that we had, we had a very fascinating lady who, as far as I can recall, never did attend our church, but professed to have a great love and interest in my wife and I. And she was a very interesting character. She had spent many years in China as a missionary and was a nurse at the Whipple Veterans Hospital. And I would start to talk to her about the nearness of the coming of the Lord and she'd say, "Well, yes, I believe the Lord is coming very soon for me." She said, "I'm getting up into the years and I won't be around much longer, so the coming of the Lord is very soon for me." And she had that kind of a concept of the nearness of the coming of the Lord. Well, in a sense that is very true. God's coming for each of us is soon. None of us is going to be around here too long. And if He does not come collectively for His body, the church, even so our time on earth is so short. "What is life? It is as a vapor that appears for a season or a moment and then vanishes" ( James 4:14 ). It's like the grass out there in the field which today grows up and flourishes and tomorrow is dead. And so is the short span of our life, especially when you compare the time that we are here with eternity. So the span of man upon this earth is so short. And yet in this short span of time my eternity is being established. My destiny is being determined in this short time that I am here. That's rather awesome to consider. So it behooves me to spend whatever time I have walking with the Lord, serving the Lord, and in a total commitment of myself, my energies, my life to Him because time is short.

So for Isaiah to be saying, "Hey, the time of the Lord is close," it is for each one of us. The time of the Lord is always very close. And thus, we should live with that consciousness knowing that I have only one life and it will soon be past and only what I do for Jesus Christ is going to last. Everything else is wood, hay and stubble. Everything else is going to burn. Everything else is not going to have any value at all in the eternal realm. That which I've done for myself, that which I've done for the community, that which I've done for the Muscular Dystrophy or whatever, not going to last. The only lasting things are that which I have done for Jesus Christ for His glory and in His name. So time is short. This is a perpetual message to each generation. Your time is short.

Now how does God want us to live? He wants us to keep judgment and do justice. God wants us to live a fair and honest life. God doesn't want us cheating. God doesn't want us conniving and taking advantage of someone else. God wants us to do the right thing. Do justice. Keep judgment. Do the right thing. That's what God is asking and requiring of us. And surely that is not too much to require and that is a reasonable requirement from man. What a glorious world this would be if everyone treated each other fairly, honestly, justly. "But that is not the condition of the world," you say, and you are so right. We find that there are always men who are willing to take an advantage of their position and gouge someone else because they find that they have them at an advantage. It is always a fearsome thing to be at a disadvantage to another person because you can be sure that they're going to take every advantage that they can over you.

Look what they're doing now with the oil. Knowing that we need the oil so desperately, they're taking advantage and they're just hiking the prices. And becoming inordinately wealthy. So much money they really don't know how to spend it or what to do with it. And yet there is a world that is suffering and in need and the third world is actually being destroyed and starving because of these people who have taken advantage of the fact that they possess the oil in their nation. And that the world is short on oil and so taking advantage of that fact they are gouging the world, totally disregarding those unfortunate people who cannot afford the inflation that has resulted from the increased oil prices. But that's only one example, and not to just point at one group. That is so common with human nature.

If you get in a disadvantaged position, there are men who are willing to take advantage of you. Jesus said, "Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites!" Because they were taking advantage of people. They were taking advantage of the little widows. "Woe unto you, lawyers!" They were taking advantage of people's ills, of people's problems, and becoming rich over other people's problems. Man is not fair. God wants us to be fair. And so God cries out for justice and for judgment because He said, "My salvation is near to come."

Blessed is the man that does this ( Isaiah 56:2 ),

Now God just sort of pronounces a man who will be fair, a man who will be just, a man who will be honest, he will be blessed of God.

and the son of man that lays hold on it ( Isaiah 56:2 );

The person that grabs this concept and says, "Yes, I will do unto others as I would have them to do unto me. I will be fair. I will not take advantage of a position that I may have of superiority whatever. But I will be fair." God is always for the underdog. God is always standing up for the oppressed and for the poor. And if we are guilty of oppressing people or impoverishing people, then we will find ourselves opposed to God.

Blessed is the man,

that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil ( Isaiah 56:2 ).

Now the blessing upon the man that keeps the sabbath, keepeth the sabbath. The sabbath is an ordinance that God established with the nation of Israel as a covenant with that race of people. When God gave the law of the sabbath back in the book of Exodus, God declared in the giving of the law that it was a covenant between Him and Israel forever. Verse Exodus 31:16 of Exodus 31:1-18 , "Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant." Now God established circumcision also as a perpetual covenant for these people.

But the sabbath covenant was not placed upon the Gentile world nor upon the Gentile church or Christians. And yet, a man needs a day of rest. And we would probably live to be much healthier people if we would take a day of the week off and just stay in bed. Really rest on the sabbath day. And that's what the requirement was, just really to rest. Give the body a chance to sort of recuperate. But these people, as we will find in a little bit, weren't always keeping the sabbath as they should. They began to make it a day of pleasure and recreation, which it seems that we are very guilty of doing also. Except that the sabbath is really Friday night sundown to Saturday night sundown, if you want to be technical. We worship the Lord on the first day of the week.

Now in the early church when they sought to determine what relationship the Gentile believers had to the law, they determined that they should not put upon the Gentiles the yoke of bondage, the law which they were not themselves able to keep. And so in writing to the Gentiles to tell them their relationship to the law, that is the church, the Gentile church, they said, "Just keep yourselves from idols and from things that have been strangled. And if you do this, you do well."

Now later on Paul even modified that a bit when he wrote to the Corinthians and he said, "When you go to the butcher shop to buy your meat, don't ask the butcher, 'Was this meat offered as a sacrifice to an idol?'" He said, "because if he says yes then you'll have a hard time eating it. So just don't ask any questions. Just go and buy the meat and don't ask any questions for your conscience's sake. And then you're not worried about it. Because," he said, "everything is sanctified through prayer and it really doesn't matter except if in your conscience it begins to trouble you, then it becomes a real problem for you. So for conscience's sake, just when you go out to dinner and someone lays a steak in front of you, don't say, 'Did you offer this steak as a sacrifice to an idol?' Just eat what is set before you, asking no questions," he said. "Just enjoy it." And so it isn't that which goes into the mouth that defiles a man. It's that which comes out, because the heart is revealed by the things that come out of a man's mouth.

There was nothing said to the Gentile church concerning the sabbath days. So Paul writing to the church in Rome speaks about those who were weak in the faith who were vegetarians because they could not eat meat; they were fearful it might have been offered as a sacrifice to an idol somewhere. And so they became vegetarians. But he that is strong in the faith he eats meat. Now let the one who doesn't eat meat, don't let him judge the one who does. And the one who does eat meat should not be condemning the man who doesn't.

It is so easy for us to fall in the trap of thinking that everybody should live as I live, do as I think. How I would love to run the world and tell people that which they can do and that which they can't do according to my own conscience. But Paul said I am not to judge a person who has greater liberty than I have. Because before his own master he either stands or falls and God is able to make him stand, much to my amazement.

So in writing to the Colossians, Paul said, "Don't let any man judge you in respect to meat, or unto sabbath days or holy days or new moons and so forth, which were all a shadow of the things to come. For the substance or the body is of Christ" ( Colossians 2:17 ). These things were all a shadow. Keeping the sabbath days, keeping the festivals and so forth-they were all a shadow of the things to come. The real substance is of Christ, so that the sabbath day was just a shadow of what Jesus is to us, for He is our rest. And the sabbath day was a day of rest where you just rested. So Christ has become our sabbath. We are resting in the work of Jesus Christ as regards to our salvation. I'm not trying to get out there and hassle and work to be saved. I am resting. Christ is my sabbath. He is my rest and the whole sabbath day celebration was looking forward to Jesus Christ, the substance who is the rest for the believer of God. And we all are resting our salvation in Him. And that's what the whole thing was about.

So as we read of the sabbath day, we realize that Isaiah's addressing himself to Israel. It has nothing to do really with the Gentile, the Gentile church, for in the Gentile church, as Paul said, "One man esteems one day above another and another man esteems every day alike" ( Romans 14:5 ). And we esteem every day alike. Every day is the Lord's day. I get up in the morning and I say, "Well, Lord, this is Your day. What would You have me to do today?" And every day is alike to me. I don't look at the calendar to see what day of the week it is. It's the Lord's day. My life is His. And no matter what the calendar may say as far as the day of the week, it's all the Lord's day as far as I'm concerned.

But, "Blessed is the man that will keep justice, do judgment, lays hold on these. Keeps the sabbath from polluting it and keeps his hand from doing any evil."

Neither let the son of the stranger, that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD hath utterly separated me from his people ( Isaiah 56:3 ):

We shouldn't think that we have been separated from the people of God. But God is really... And Christ, Paul said, has broken down that middle wall of partition that used to exist between the Jew and us. And He has made us to all partake of the one body in Christ. So I'm not to say, "Well, I've been separated from God's people," and think of myself as separate from them, but really we have been grafted into the root that we might partake of the fatness and the fullness of God's blessing and promise to the nation of Israel.

neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree. For thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep my sabbaths, and choose the things that please me, and take hold of my covenant; Even unto them will I give in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off ( Isaiah 56:3-5 ).

Now Jesus speaks of there are some men that are born eunuchs. There are some who become eunuchs for the kingdom of God's sake. That is, men who refrain from marriage in order that they might better serve the Lord. Paul the apostle would probably fit in this category. Now we think of a eunuch in a very strict sense of the word. I do not think that the Bible really looks at it or is looking at it in a strict sense of the word. I think it is a man who just determines to live a celibate life for the sake of the kingdom of God. And Paul the apostle writing to the Corinthian church encouraged the men, if they were able to handle it, to live as he did for the sake of the kingdom. For he that is married seeks how to please his wife. But he that is unmarried can just seek how he can please the Lord. And thus because it is, in many times, easier to endure hardship just yourself and many times in the proclaiming of the gospel there requires a real hardship and sacrifice, it's easier for you to make those sacrifices upon yourself than to impose them also upon a wife. And so for the sake of expediency and all, you'd be better off to stay as I am. "Yet if you can't handle it," Paul says, "go ahead and get married. No sin to it, but I would just spare you a lot of problems." And so there are those who for the kingdom of God's sake have chosen a celibate type of a life. And that is fine. The Lord said, "I will give them children, sons and daughters in a spiritual sense." And so Paul speaks of his beloved son Timothy and all, and those relationships that he had with these younger men that he more or less tutored in their spiritual walks.

Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be his servants, every one that keeps the sabbath from polluting it, and takes hold of my covenant; even them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon mine altar; for mine house shall be called a house of prayer for all people ( Isaiah 56:6-7 ).

Now the Jews in establishing the temple did not really follow this. They had the court of the Gentiles and if you were a Gentile you had to stay in that court, and leading into the next court were the signs warning the Gentiles at the cost of their life to stay out. Warning any Gentile from trespassing within that next area of the temple. Now Paul the apostle really got into big trouble with the Jews because they thought that he had brought an uncircumcised man into the area of the temple, the Jewish quarter within the temple. And that's what created the whole hubbub there in Jerusalem that almost resulted in Paul's being killed. However, Paul was not guilty. They thought he was guilty. But Paul was not guilty of that charge. But yet the Lord had declared, "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all people." So He's talking about the stranger that is the person who is not a Jew who is there, who follows the Lord. God wanted him to feel an access unto God through the temple.

Now you remember that when Jesus came into the temple, He saw those moneychangers that were there and those that were selling doves. And He made a whip and He began to overturn the tables of the moneychangers and began to drive them out of the temple saying unto them that they have profaned the temple, that My Father has said, "My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves" ( Matthew 21:13 ). And the anger that He had for the profaning. In other words, they wouldn't let the Gentiles in, but they had all kinds of crooked kind of practices going on.

The moneychangers were men who would have their little booths there in the temple and you could only pay your offerings to God in the shekels. They would not receive Roman coinage, because they considered that unclean. You couldn't give your common Roman coinage to the Lord. So if you wanted to give an offering to God, you had to exchange your Roman coin for the temple shekel. You say, "What's so wrong with that?" Well, what was wrong with that is these guys were charging a horrible rate of exchange. In other words, they were making a markup, a percentage, and thus in essence they were skimming off money that really should have gone to the Lord. They were thieving from God in the exchanging of the shekel and in drawing a percentage for themselves they were really skimming off from God. And the same was true with the doves. You could buy a dove outside for a couple of pennies. But these guys were charging an exorbitant price, but they were in collusion with the priests. If you just brought a dove in, the priest would examine it carefully and he'd find some little flaw, and of course, you cannot offer any flawed offering unto God. So he'd say, "No, I can't offer this for you." But here this fellow had doves for sale and they had the stamp on them. They were koshers. And so, but they were charging a bigger price.

So again the idea of robbery, of thievery that was going on, and it upset Jesus. And so He quotes actually from this verse in Isaiah where God's intention that His house would be called a house of prayer for all people. That it will be open to anyone, anybody who wanted to pray unto God would be free to come in and pray unto God within the house.

So he declares,

The Lord GOD which gathereth the outcasts of Israel saith, Yet will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered unto him ( Isaiah 56:8 ).

The gospel that will go out into the Gentiles.

All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest. His watchmen are blind ( Isaiah 56:9-10 ):

That's a tragic situation that you have a watchman that's blind.

they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter ( Isaiah 56:10-11 ).

And so God speaking, and of course, it is interesting that God would speak of those, they were all looking for their own gain. All looking for their own welfare and their own gain. And it is interesting that the Lord would mention that in the very passage that Jesus quoted when He said, "You've made my Father's house a den of thieves, for My Father's house was to be called a house of prayer for all people." And here they are, they're greedy. Dogs that never have enough. They're all looking for their own gain.

Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as today, and much more abundant ( Isaiah 56:12 ). "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Isaiah summoned the beastly enemies of Israel to come and feed on the flock of God’s people (cf. Jeremiah 12:9; Ezekiel 34:5; Ezekiel 34:8).

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

All ye beasts of the field, come to devour,.... Which may be understood either literally of savage beasts being called to devour the slain, signifying a great slaughter that should be made, like that in

Revelation 19:17 to which the fowls of the heaven are invited, as to a supper; and so Kimchi interprets it of such creatures being called to feed upon the carcasses in the camp of Gog and Magog, agreeably to

Ezekiel 39:17, but it seems better to understand it figuratively of people and nations, comparable to the beasts of the field for their strength, cruelty, and voraciousness. The Targum of the whole is,

"all the kings of the people that shall be gathered to oppress thee, O Jerusalem, shall be cast in the midst of thee; they shall be for food to the beast of the field, the beast of the forest shall be satisfied with them.''

Though it seems most correct to interpret these beasts of the kings of the people themselves; by whom some understand the Chaldeans, Babylonians, and other nations along with them, and under them, who spoiled the people of the Jews, and carried them captive; but rather the Romans are intended. And so the prophet, after he had foretold the gathering in of the remnant, according to the election of grace, among the Jews, and the addition to them from among the Gentiles, proceeds to give an account what should become of the rest of the Jewish nation that rejected the Messiah and his Gospel; that the Romans should be brought in upon them, who should devour them; which destruction would be owing to the following sins abounding among their principal men. But I am inclined to the opinion of Cocceius and Vitringa, that the barbarous nations of the Goths and Vandals, and others, coming into the Roman empire, become Christian, though greatly corrupted, are here meant t; since this seems to be a prophecy of what should happen between the first gathering of the Jews and Gentiles to Christ in the first times of the Gospel, and the later gathering of them in the latter day; and the following words aptly describe the ignorance, stupidity, avarice, and intemperance of the priests of the apostate church of Rome; and the following chapter, which is a continuance of this prophecy, better agrees with the idolatry of the church of Rome than with the Jews, who, especially at the time of their destruction by the Romans, were not given to idolatry. Yea,

all the beasts in the forest: a herd of them, which, like an inundation, ran over the Roman empire, and tore it to pieces, and spread ignorance and corruption every where, next described; for now the beast of Rome arose with his ten heads. Some think that a new chapter should begin here.

t Agreeably to which, the words, according to the accents, are thus rendered by Reinbeck, De Accent. Heb. p. 427. "all ye beasts of the field; come ye, to devour all the beasts in the forest"; so Munster; one sort of beasts are called upon to devour another sort.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      9 All ye beasts of the field, come to devour, yea, all ye beasts in the forest.   10 His watchmen are blind: they are all ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark; sleeping, lying down, loving to slumber.   11 Yea, they are greedy dogs which can never have enough, and they are shepherds that cannot understand: they all look to their own way, every one for his gain, from his quarter.   12 Come ye, say they, I will fetch wine, and we will fill ourselves with strong drink; and to morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant.

      From words of comfort the prophet here, by a very sudden change of his style, passes to words of reproof and conviction, and goes on in that strain, for the most part, in the three following chapters; and therefore some here begin a new sermon. He had assured the people that in due time God would deliver them out of captivity, which was designed for the comfort of those that should live when God would do this. Now here he shows what their sins and provocations were, for which God would send them into captivity, and this was designed for the conviction of those that lived in his own time, nearly a hundred years before the captivity, who were now filling up the measure of the nation's sin, and to justify God in what he brought upon them. God will lay them waste by the fierceness of their enemies, for the falseness of their friends.

      I. Desolating judgments are here summoned, Isaiah 56:9; Isaiah 56:9. The sheep of God's pasture are now to be made the sheep of his slaughter, to fall as victims to his justice, and therefore the beasts of the field and the forest are called to come and devour. They are beasts of prey, and do it from their own ravenous disposition; but God permits them to do it, nay, he employs them as his servants in doing it, the ministers of his justice, though they mean not so, neither does their heart think so. If this refers primarily to the descent made upon them by the Babylonians, and their devouring them, yet it may look further, to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish nation by the Romans, after these outcasts of them (mentioned Isaiah 56:8; Isaiah 56:8) were gathered in to the Christian church. The Roman armies came upon them as beasts of the forest to devour them, and they quite took away their place and nation. Note, When God has bloody work to do he has beasts of prey within call, to be employed in doing it.

      II. The reason of these judgments is here given. The shepherds, who should have been the watchmen of the flock, to discover the approaches of the beasts of prey, to keep them off, and protect the sheep, were treacherous and careless, minded not their business, nor made any conscience of the trust reposed in them, and so the sheep became an easy prey to the wild beasts. Now this may refer to the false prophets that lived in Isaiah's, Jeremiah's, and Ezekiel's time (who flattered the people in their wicked ways, and told them they should have peace though they went on) and to the priests that bore rule by their means. Or it may refer to the wicked princes, the sons of Josiah, that did evil in the sight of the Lord, and other wicked magistrates under them, who betrayed their trust, were vicious and profane, and, instead of making up the breach at which the judgments of God were breaking in upon them, made it wider, and augmented the fierce anger of the Lord instead of doing any thing to turn it away. They should have kept judgment and justice (Isaiah 56:1; Isaiah 56:1), but they abandoned both, Jeremiah 5:1. Or it may refer to those who were the nation's watchmen in our Saviour's time, the chief priests and the scribes, who should have discerned the signs of the times and have given notice to the people of the approach of the Messiah, but who, instead of that, opposed him, and did all they could to keep people from coming to the knowledge of him and to prejudice them against him. It is a very sad character that is here given of these watchmen. Woe unto thee, O land! when thy guides are such. 1. They had no sense or knowledge of their business. They were wretchedly ignorant of their work, and very unfit to teach, being so ill-taught themselves: His watchmen are blind, and therefore utterly unfit to be watchmen. If the seers see not, who shall see for us? If the light that is in us be darkness, how great is that darkness! Christ describes the Pharisees to be blind leaders of the blind,Matthew 15:14. The beasts of the field come to devour, and the watchmen are blind, and are not aware of them. They are all ignorant (Isaiah 56:10; Isaiah 56:10), shepherds that cannot understand (Isaiah 56:11; Isaiah 56:11), that know not what is to be done about the sheep, nor can feed them with understanding,Jeremiah 3:15. 2. What little knowledge they had they made no use of it; no one was the better for it. As they were blind watchmen, that could not discern the danger, so they were dumb dogs, that would not give warning of it. And why are the dogs set to guard the sheep if they cannot bark to waken the shepherd and frighten the wolf? Such were these; those that had the charge of souls never reproved men for their faults, nor told them what would be in the end thereof, never gave them notice of the judgments of God that were breaking in upon them. They barked at God's prophets, and bit them too, and worried the sheep, but made no opposition to the wolf or thief. 3. They were very lazy, and would take no pains. They loved their ease, and hated business, were always sleeping, lying down and loving to slumber. They were not overcome and overpowered by sleep, as the disciples, through grief and fatigue, but they lay down on purpose to invite sleep, and said, Soul, take thy ease. Yet a little sleep. It is bad with a people when their shepherds slumber (Nahum 3:18), and it is well for God's people that their shepherd, the keeper of Israel, neither slumbers nor sleeps. 4. They were very covetous and eager after the world--greedy dogs that can never have enough. If they had ever so much, they would think it too little. They so love silver as never to be satisfied with silver, Ecclesiastes 5:10. All their enquiry is what they shall get, not what they shall do. Let them have the wages, and they care not whether the work be done or no; they feed not the flock, but fleece it. They are every one looking to his own way, minding his own private interests, and have no regard at all to the public welfare. It was St. Paul's complaint of the watchmen in his time (Philippians 2:21), All seek their own, not the things that are Jesus Christ's. Every one is for propagating his own opinion, advancing his own party, raising his own family, and having every thing to his own mind, while the common concerns of the public are wretchedly neglected and postponed. They look every one to his gain from his quarter, from his end or part of the work. They are for fain from every quarter (Rem rem quocunque modo rem--Money, money, by fair means or by foul we must have money), but especially from their own quarter, where they will be sure to take care that they lose nothing, nor miss any thing that is to be got. If any one put not into their mouths they not only will do him no service, but they prepare war against him,Micah 3:5. 5. They were perfect epicures, given to their pleasures, never so much in their element as in their drunken revels (Isaiah 56:12; Isaiah 56:12): Come (say they), I will fetch wine (they have that at command; their cellars are better furnished than their closets) and we will fill ourselves, or be drunk, with strong drink. They were often drunk, not overseen (as we say) or overtaken in drink, but designedly. The watchmen did thus invite and encourage one another to drink to excess, or they courted the people to sit and drink with them, and so confirmed those in their wicked ways, and hardened their hearts, whom they should have reproved. How could they think it any harm to be drunk when the watchmen themselves joined with them and led them to it! 6. They were very secure and confident of the continuance of their prosperity and ease; they said, "To-morrow shall be as this day and much more abundant; we shall have as much to spend upon our lusts to-morrow as we have to-day." They had no thought at all of their own frailty and mortality, though they were shortening their days and hastening their deaths by their excesses. They had no dread of the judgments of God, though they were daily provoking him and making themselves liable to his wrath and curse. They never considered the uncertainty of all the delights and enjoyments of sense, how they perish in the using and pass away with the lusts of them. They resolved to continue in this wicked course, whatever their consciences said to the contrary, to be as merry to-morrow as they are to-day. But boast not thyself of to-morrow when perhaps this night thy soul shall be required of thee.