Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Isaiah 57:1

Clarke's Commentary

CHAPTER LVII

After mentioning the removal of righteous persons as an awful

symptom of the approach of Divine judgments, 1, 2,

the prophet goes on to charge the nation in general with

idolatry, and with courting the unprofitable alliance of

idolatrous kings, 3-12.

In opposition to such vain confidence, the prophet enjoins

trust in God, with whom the penitent and humble are sure to

find acceptance, and from whom they should obtain temporal and

spiritual deliverances, 13-19.

Awful condition of the wicked and finally impenitent, 20, 21.

NOTES ON CHAP. LVII

I shall give Bishop Lowth's translation of the two first verses, and give the substance of his criticisms with additional evidence.

Isaiah 57:1. The righteous man perisheth, and no one considereth;

And pious men are taken away, and no one understandeth,

That the righteous man is taken away because of the

evil.

Isaiah 57:2. He shall go in peace: he shall rest in his bed;

Even the perfect man: he that walketh in the straight

path.

Verse Isaiah 57:1. The righteous perisheth — הצדק אבד hatstsadik abad. There is an emphasis here which seems intended to point out a particular person. See below. Perisheth - As the root אבד abad signifies the straying of cattle, their passing away from one pasture to another, I feel inclined to follow the grammatical meaning of the word "perish," pereo. So the Vulgate, justus periit, from per, BY or THROUGH, and eo, to GO. In his death the righteous man may be said to have passed through life, and to have passed by men, i.e., gone or passed before them into the eternal world. A similar mode of speech is used by our Saxon ancestors to express death: [Anglo-Saxon], he went out of sight; and [A.S.], he went away; and [A.S.], to fare forth, to die.

There are very few places in Isaiah where Jesus Christ is not intended; and I am inclined to think that He is intended here, THAT Just One; and perhaps Stephen had this place in view, when he thus charged the Jews, "Ye denied τον ἁγιον και δικαιον, that HOLY and JUST One," Acts 3:14. That his death was not laid to heart by the wicked Jewish people, needs no proof.

Merciful men — If the first refers to Christ, this may well refer to the apostles, and to others of the primitive Christians, who were taken away, some by death and martyrdom, and others by a providential escape from the city that they knew was devoted to destruction.

The evil to come.] That destruction which was to come upon this disobedient people by the Romans.

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

“The righteous perisheth, and no man lays it to heart; and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come. He entereth into peace; they rest in their beds, each one that walketh in his uprightness.”

These verses refer to the fact that from the times of Isaiah and afterward to the captivity, “Most of the few godly persons left, perished, partly through vexation at the prevailing ungodliness, partly by the horrible persecutions under Manasseh,”Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown’s Commentary, p. 494. of whom the Scriptures say, “Manasseh shed innocent blood very much, till he had filled Jerusalem one end to another; besides his sin wherewith he made Judah to sin in doing that which is evil in the sight of Jehovah” (2 Kings 21:16). We call on the critics to produce anything whatever that fits these words in that post-exilic period which they vainly assert was described by these verses!

“The righteous is taken away from the evil to come” God here gave the reason why many of the righteous perished during those dreadful years. By their death, the righteous would escape the temptations of their godless environment, and they would not have to witness the awful punishment that would fall upon the godless nation. Thus, “Abijah’s death is represented as a blessing conferred upon him by God for his piety (1 Kings 14:10-14)”;Ibid., and the prophetess Huldah likewise promised Josiah that, “Thou shalt be gathered to thy grave in peace, neither shall thine eye see all the evil which I will bring upon this place” (2 Kings 22:20).

“Those martyrs in the times of Manasseh were actually saved from the horrors of Judah’s approaching siege and captivity; and they entered into the peace of `Abraham’s bosom’ (Luke 16:22), there to await Christ’s resurrection.”Wycliffe Old Testament Commentary, p. 648.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

The righteous perisheth - This refers, as I suppose, to the time of Manasseh (see the Introduction, Section 3). Grotius supposes, that it refers to king Josiah; Vitringa, that it refers to martyrs in general. But it seems probable to me that the prophet designs to describe the state of stupidity which prevailed in his own time, and to urge as one proof of it, that the pious part of the nation was taken away by violent death, and that the nation was not affected by it. Such was the guilt of Manasseh; so violent was the persecution which he excited against the just, that it is said of him that he ‘shed innocent blood very much, until he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another’ 2 Kings 22:16. There is evidence (see the Introduction, Section 2), that Isaiah lived to his time, and it is probable that he himself ultimately fell a victim to the race of Manasseh. Though he had, on account of his great age, retired from the public functions of the prophetic office, yet he could not be insensible to the existence of these evils, and his spirit would not suffer him to be silent even though bowed down by age, when the land was filled with abominations, and when the best blood of the nation was poured out like water. The word rendered ‘perisheth’ (אבד 'ābad) as well as the word rendered ‘taken away’ (אסף 'âsaph) denotes violence, and is indicative of the fact that they were removed by a premature death.

And no man layeth it to heart - No one is aroused by it, or is concerned about it. The sentiment of the passage is, that it is proof of great stupidity and guilt when people see the righteous die without concern. If the pious die by persecution and others are not aroused, it shows that they acquiesce in it, or have no confidence in God, and no desire that his people should be preserved; if they die in the ordinary mode and the people are unaffected, it shows their stupidity. The withdrawment of a pious man from the earth is a public calamity. His prayers, his example, his life, were among the richest blessings of the world, and people should be deeply affected when they are withdrawn; and it shows their guilt and stupidity when they see this with indifference. It increases the evidence of this guilt when, as is sometimes the case, the removal of the righteous by death is an occasion of joy. The wicked hate the secret rebuke which is furnished by a holy life, and they often feel a secret exultation when such people die.

And merciful men - Margin, ‘Men of kindness,’ or ‘godliness.’ Lowth and Noyes render it, ‘Pious men.’ The Septuagint, Ἄνδρες δίκαιοι Andres dikaioi - ‘Just men.’ The Hebrew word denotes “mercy” or “kindness” (חסד chesed). Here it probably means, ‘Men of mercy;’ that is, people who are the subjects of mercy; people who are pious, or devoted to God.

Are taken away - Hebrew, ‘Are gathered.’ That is, they are gathered to their fathers by death.

None considering - They were not anxious to know what was the design of Divine Providence in permitting it.

From the evil to come - Margin, ‘That which is evil.’ The idea here evidently is, that severe calamities were coming upon the nation. God was about to give them up to foreign invasion (Isaiah 56:9 ff); and the true reason why the just were removed was, that they may not be subject to the divine wrath which should come upon the nation; they were not to be required to contemplate the painful state of things when an enemy should fire the cities, the palaces, and the temple, and cause the sacred services of religion to cease. It was a less evil for them to be removed by death - even by the painful death of persecution - than to be compelled to participate in these coming sorrows. At the same time this passage may be regarded as inculcating a more general truth still. It is, that the pious are often removed in order that they may not be exposed to evils which they would experience should they live. There might be the pains and sorrows of persecution; there might be long and lingering disease; there might be poverty and want; there might be the prevalence of iniquity and infidelity over which their hearts would bleed; there might be long and painful conflicts with their own evil hearts, or there might be danger that they would fall into sin, and dishonor their high calling. For some or all these reasons the righteous may be withdrawn from the world; and could we see those reasons as God does, nothing more would be necessary to induce us to acquiesce entirely in the justice of his dealings.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

1.The righteous man hath perished. Isaiah continues his subject; for, after having shown how fearlessly hypocrites indulge in their luxuries, and with what impudence they despise the word of God, he likewise complains that they do not consider the works of God. We have been placed here, as in a spacious theater, to behold the works of God; and there is no work of God so small that we ought to pass by it; lightly, but all ought to be carefully and diligently observed.

And no man layeth it to heart. The Lord holds out as a mirror this event of his providence, more remarkable than all others, that he takes away good and worthy men out of this life, when he determines to chastise his people severely. But no man considers it, or reflects that it is a token of approaching destruction, that God gathers them, and places them in safety from being distressed by prevailing afflictions. The general meaning is, that wicked men grievously deceive themselves by supposing that there is no greater happiness than to have life continued to a great age, and by thus pluming themselves on their superiority to the servants of God, who die early. Being attached to the world, they likewise harden themselves by this pretense, that, by nothing else than a manifestation of God’s favor towards them, while others die, they continue to be safe and sound.

Men of mercy are gathered. If by “men of mercy” be meant kind or tender-hearted men, this description ought to be carefully studied, by which the Prophet shows what is the true righteousness of the children of God; for hypocrites reckon this to be of no value. But nothing is more acceptable to God than kindness, by which we give evidence of our righteousness, and manifest that our heart is free from all hypocrisy. Yet we may with equal propriety take the phrase “men of mercy” in a passive sense, as meaning those whom the Lord has embraced by his mercy; for it is a phrase of frequent occurrence in Hebrew writings. Nor will it be inappropriate to suppose that there is an implied contrast between the grace of God and the wicked and unfavorable judgments of men; for they are wont to look on those persons as condemned who are taken away in the flower of their age. But, since God, in many passages of Scripture, represents gentleness and kindness as a distinguishing mark of his children, this may be, as I have said, a definition of true righteousness.

Hence we see that the Lord, at that time, gathered many good men, whose death portended some dreadful calamity, and yet that the Jews paid no regard to such forewarnings, and even proceeded to more daring lengths of wickedness; for they thought that all went well with them, when they were the survivors of many excellent men. This doctrine is highly appropriate to every age. It frequently happens that God takes good men out of this world, when he intends to punish severely the iniquities of the ungodly; for the Lord, having a peculiar regard to his own people, takes compassion upon them, and, as it were, snatches them from the burning, that even survivors may perceive in it the wrath of God. And yet this is not an invariable rule; for righteous men are frequently involved, along with the reprobate, in temporal punishments; but it is so frequent that it rarely happens otherwise. ⁽¹⁰⁵⁾

In our own times a remarkable instance of this was given in the death of Luther, who was snatched from the world a short time before that terrible calamity befell Germany, which he had foretold many years before, when he exclaimed loudly against that contempt of the Gospel, and that wickedness and licentiousness which everywhere prevailed. Frequently had he entreated the Lord to call him out of this life before he beheld that dreadful punishment, the anticipation of which filled him with trembling and horror. And he obtained it from the Lord. Soon after his death, lo, a sudden and unforeseen war sprang up, by which Germany was terribly afflicted, when nothing was farther from her thoughts than the dread of such a calamity.

Instances of this kind occur every day; and if men observed them, they would not so heedlessly flatter themselves and their vices. But I thought it right to take special notice of this event, both because it happened lately, ⁽¹⁰⁶⁾ and because in so distinguished a preacher of the Gospel and prophet of God it must be more clearly seen. We ought, therefore, to consider diligently the worlds of the Lord, both in the life and in the death of “the righteous,” but especially in their death, by which the Lord calls them away to a better life, that they may be rescued from those afflictions in which the wicked must be plunged.

(105) “This is a beautiful sentiment, that God removes righteous and good men from a world unworthy of them, and takes them to himself, so that they are not stained by the offenses of their time, or mingled with the prevailing corruption that universally devours, and do not consent to it, or connive at it, and thus expose themselves to similar judgments of God, which have been decreed and appointed for the ungodly. It has undoubtedly been remarked by the wise in every age, that the sudden death of good and judicious men is a clear indication of the approaching ruin of a state.” ­ Vitringa.

(106) “Pource que c’est une chose avenue depuis peu d’annees.” “Because it is an event that happened but a few years ago.”

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 57

The righteous man perishes, and no man lays it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, and none is considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come ( Isaiah 57:1 ).

There are many who see this verse as a description of what happens at the rapture of the church. As the merciful are taken away and no man considering the fact that they have been taken away from the evil that is to come, from the period of the Great Tribulation that is coming.

He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness. But draw near hither, ye sons of the sorceress ( Isaiah 57:2-3 ),

And so God speaks about the merciful being taken away, but now His dealings with those who were worshipping false gods, false idols. "Draw near," He's going to lay it upon them now, "ye sons of the sorceress."

the seed of the adulterer and the whore ( Isaiah 57:3 ).

Now this is, of course, talking in spiritual terms. The adulteress, the whore-that would be pagan religious system, pagan worship, the worship of Baal, Molech. You see, these people were to be married unto God. They were looked upon as the wife of God. God said, "I've joined Myself unto you." And He uses the figure of a husband and a wife. And their love was to be to God exclusively. Their devotion unto God exclusively. But they were worshipping other gods. They were worshipping the gods of the pagans, the gods of Baal and Molech and Ashtoreth and all. And they were worshipping all of these other gods. And so God said, "Look, you're supposed to be married to Me. If you're out there cavorting and worshipping with these other gods, then that's adultery." And so God speaks of it in a spiritual sense. The worship of the idols, the worship of the other gods were looked upon by God as they're following after adultery or whoredom.

Against whom do you sport yourselves? ( Isaiah 57:4 )

And that is, again, a term that is used of intimate relationship. And thus they were having, in a sense, intimate relationships with these other gods.

against whom make ye a wide mouth, and draw out the tongue? are ye not children of transgression, the seed of falsehood, inflaming yourselves with idols under every green tree, slaying the children in the valleys under the clefts of the rocks? ( Isaiah 57:4-5 )

It seems unthinkable to us in this age in which we live-I guess it doesn't-that parents would take their little babies and throw them into the fire, which was a part of the worship of Baal and of Molech. If you go over to Jerusalem to the Museum of Natural History, in one area they have a case filled with little idols that have been uncovered in the land. I saw one of the idols of Baal, a little iron figure with arms out and hands in an upturned position like this. And in their worship of this idol, they would heat it until it would turn a glowing red-hot color from the heat, and then they would place their live babies in these little outstretched arms. And they would be consumed in the fire as they worship the god. These are the things that God is speaking out against. Practices that His people followed as they thought so little of life that they were willing to sacrifice their own babies unto their gods.

In the archaeological diggings they have found in the jars that were built into the walls of the homes, skeletons of babies that were buried alive as you would build a house for an offering unto the god. These were the practices that God said were an abomination unto Him. The things that God was forbidding, these were common practices of the people around them. You say, "Well, Chuck, I am abhorred by that thought, a sacrifice of baby. Who could ever think of killing a baby?" Well, I'm afraid that unfortunately here in the United States a million of them are being sacrificed every year. When does life begin?

So God speaks out against them. How they had "inflamed themselves with their idols under every green tree, slaying your children in the valleys under the cleft of the rocks."

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? Upon a lofty and high mountain you have set up your bed ( Isaiah 57:6-7 ):

That is, a bed for an adultery, because they would make the places of worship up on the tops of the mountains like the pagans.

even thither you went to offer your sacrifices. Behind the doors also and the posts have you set up your remembrances: for you have discovered yourself to another ( Isaiah 57:7-8 ),

That is, you've uncovered yourself. You've made yourself naked, in a sense, before other gods.

you've gone up; you have enlarged your bed, you've made a covenant with them; and you loved their bed where you saw it. And you went to the king with ointment, and did increase your perfumes, and did send your messengers far off, and you did debase yourself even to hell ( Isaiah 57:8-9 ).

And so God is speaking out against the fact that these people had turned away from Him and had turned unto the practices of the heathen around them in the worship, in the developing of other little idols and gods and their worship of them.

Thou art wearied in the greatness of thy way; yet you said not, There is no hope: thou hast found the life of thine hand; therefore you were not grieved. And of whom hast thou been afraid or feared, that you have lied, and have not remembered me, nor laid it to your heart? have not I held my peace even of old, and you have not feared me? I will declare thy righteousness, and thy works; for they shall not profit thee. And when you cry, let your companies deliver thee; but the wind shall carry them all away; vanity shall take them ( Isaiah 57:10-13 ):

And so God speaks out against the people. And when you cry, your gods will not be able to deliver you. They will be carried away themselves by the wind. They are empty.

But now in sharp contrast,

he that puts his trust in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain; And he shall say, Cast ye up, cast ye up, prepare the way, take up the stumbling block out of the way of my people. For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabits 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 57:13-15 ).

So God declares now His dwelling place. It is high. It is holy. Those that will dwell with Him are those that are humble and those of a contrite heart.

For I will not contend for ever, neither will I always be angry: for the spirit should fail before me, and the souls which I have made. For the iniquity of his covetousness was I angry, and I smote him: I hid, and I was angry, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners. 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 57:16-19 ).

So even though they had forsaken God and gone in these abominable practices of the heathen, yet God promises His restoration.

But to the wicked, they are like the troubled sea, which cannot rest, whose waters cast up the mire and the dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked ( Isaiah 57:20-21 ).

A person who lives in wickedness, his life is like a stormy sea. Just casting up dirt and filth. No rest. Constant turmoil. Constant troubling of the man who has set his heart against the Lord. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

As the leadership of the nation grew worse, the number of righteous people shrank, without people perceiving what was happening. God allowed this disappearance of the devout to spare them the judgment He would bring on the evil nation and its ungodly rulers. Few people in the nation, however, understood this reason for the depletion of the righteous.

"Such deaths are not understood by the godless, for they do not realize that God in His goodness often takes righteous men to Himself to deliver them from some impending catastrophe." [Note: Ibid., 3:399-400.]

God will do this when He removes the church from the earth before He brings the Tribulation on it. He did it in the past when he removed Lot before He destroyed Sodom.

Gann's Commentary on the Bible

Isaiah 57:1

57:1–2 This is a lament for the righteous who suffer in a wicked society. - New Living Translation Study Bible.

57:1–2 A Righteous Generation Quietly Disappears. - NIV Zondervan Study Bible:

57:1–2 The righteous man perishes. Isaiah sees a trend toward fewer righteous people, yet no one lays it to heart, i.e., the masses of people generally do not understand that this indicates a withdrawal of God’s blessing. In such a troubled time, for the righteous, death is a mercy, for he enters into peace (cf. 2 Kings 22:20; Revelation 14:13). - The ESV Study Bible (p. 1344).

57:1, 2 In contrast to the evil leaders, who were engaged in debauchery and self-indulgence, were the righteous who were removed from impending divine judgments. The righteous do suffer by oppression and distress at what is going on around them, but they die in faith and enjoy their eternal reward. - The MacArthur Study Bible (p. 1042).

57:1–2. The society then was so bad that the righteous people in Israel (also called devout and those who walk uprightly) had to die in order to find peace. Observing the evil all around apparently frustrated them. They could do nothing to turn the nation back to the Lord. The only way the righteous could be spared from such frustration was to die. - The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 1112).

- - - - - - - - - - -

The righteous man perishes ... The Hebrew word for "perishes" here may indicates a violent death (persecution, murder, etc) the context certainly implies a premature death.

Meciful men ... godly men, or pious men (Micah 7:2)

taken away ...     "gathered to their fathers," Pulpit Com. ;

    CEV = "dragged off an killed"

away from evil ... out of the way of the evil.

     At times, God allows the godly to die in order to protect them from harsher times to come. - New Living Translation Study Bible.

And no man layeth it to heart ... No one is aroused by it, or is concerned about it. No one considers it a public calamity.

    Utley says of Isaiah 57:1 Evil triumphs when the righteous are persecuted and murdered, and no one seems to care!

    In the midst of all the sin and oppression, the righteous are swept away by persecution. From the human standpoint no one cares. But God cares—He delivers the godly from evil and ushers them into peace and rest. Believers’ Bible Com

Isaiah 57:2 This verse describes the spiritual condition of the righteous man. Utley

57:2 The righteous person entered a condition of peace by dying and going to his or her eternal reward. The end of the righteous, then, contrasts with that of the wicked leaders (56:9–12). - Tom Constable’s Expository Notes on the Bible (Is 57:2).

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

The righteous perisheth,.... Not eternally; he may fear he shall, by reason of sin and temptation; he may say his strength and hope are perished; and his peace and comfort may perish for a time; but he cannot perish everlastingly, because he is one that believes in Christ, and is justified by his righteousness, from whence he is denominated righteous; and such shall never perish, but have everlasting life: but the meaning is, that he perisheth as to his outward man, or dies corporeally, which is called perishing, Ecclesiastes 7:15 and so the Targum renders it,

"the righteous die.''

Or it may be rendered, "the righteous man is lost" b; not to himself, his death is a gain to him; but to the church, and to the world, which yet is not considered:

and no man layeth it to heart; takes any notice of it, thinks at all about it, far from being concerned or grieved; instead of that, rather rejoice, and are pleased that they are rid of such persons; which will be the case when the witnesses are slain, Revelation 11:10. The Targum is,

"and no man lays my fear to heart;''

or on his heart; whereas such providences should lead men to fear the Lord, and seek to him, and serve him, as it did David, Psalms 12:1:

and merciful men are taken away; or "gathered" c; out of the world, to their own people, to heaven; these are such who obtain mercy of the Lord, and show mercy to others, holy good men: the former character may respect the righteousness of Christ imputed to them, this his grace implanted in them, discovered by acts of mercy and goodness; for one and the same persons are intended:

none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come; that there are evil times coming, great calamities, and sore judgments upon men; and therefore these righteous ones are gathered out of the world, and are gathered home, and safely housed in heaven, that they may escape the evil coming upon a wicked generation; and who yet have no thought about it, nor are they led to observe it as they might, from the removal of good men out of the world; see 2 Kings 22:20. All this may be applied to the martyrs of Jesus in times of Popish persecution; or to the removal of good men by an ordinary death before those times came.

b הצדיק אבד, απωλετο, Sept. c נאספים "colliguntur", V. L. Munster, Piscator, Cocceius; "congregantur", Pagninus.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      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.   2 He shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness.

      The prophet, in the close of the foregoing chapter, had condemned the watchmen for their ignorance and sottishness; here he shows the general stupidity and senselessness of the people likewise. No wonder they were inconsiderate when their watchmen were so, who should have awakened them to consideration. We may observe here,

      I. The providence of God removing good men apace out of this world. The righteous, as to this world, perish; they are gone and their place knows them no more. Piety exempts none from the arrests of death, nay, in persecuting times, the most righteous are most exposed to the violences of bloody men. The first that died died a martyr. Righteousness delivers from the sting of death, but not from the stroke of it. They are said to perish because they are utterly removed from us, and to express the great loss which this world sustains by the removal of them, not that their death is their undoing, but it often proves an undoing to the places where they lived and were useful. Nay, even merciful men are taken away, those good men that are distinguished from the righteous, for whom some would even dare to die,Romans 5:7. Those are often removed that could be worst spared; the fruitful trees are cut down by death and the barren left still to cumber the ground. Merciful men are often taken away by the hands of men's malice. Many good works they have done, and for some of them they are stoned. Before the captivity in Babylon perhaps there was a more than ordinary mortality of good men, so that there were scarcely any left, Jeremiah 5:1. The godly ceased, and the faithful failed, Psalms 12:1.

      II. The careless world slighting these providences, and disregarding them: No man lays it to heart, none considers it. There are very few that lament it as a public loss, very few that take notice of it as a public warning. The death of good men is a thing to be laid to heart and considered more than common deaths. Serious enquiries ought to be made, wherefore God contends with us, what good lessons are to be learned by such providences, what we may do to help to make up the breach and to fill up the room of those that are removed. God is justly displeased when such events are not laid to heart, when the voice of the rod is not heard nor the intentions of it answered, much more when it is rejoiced in, as the slaying of the witnesses is, Revelation 11:10. Some of God's choicest blessings to mankind, being thus easily parted with, are really undervalued; and it is an evidence of very great incogitancy. Little children, when they are little, least lament the death of their parents, because they know not what a loss it is to them.

      III. The happiness of the righteous in their removal.

      1. They are taken away from the evil to come, then when it is just coming, (1.) In compassion to them, that they may not see the evil (2 Kings 22:20), nor share in it, nor be in temptation by it. When the deluge is coming they are called into the ark, and have a hiding-place and rest in heaven when there was none for them under heaven. (2.) In wrath to the world, to punish them for all the injuries they have done to the righteous and merciful ones; those are taken away that stood in the gap to turn away the judgments of God, and then what can be expected but a deluge of them? It is a sign that God intends war when he calls home his ambassadors.

      2. They go to be easy out of the reach of that evil. The righteous man, who while he lived walked in his uprightness, when he dies enters into peace and rests in his bed. Note, (1.) Death is gain, and rest, and bliss, to those only who walked in their uprightness, and who, when they die, can appeal to God concerning it, as Hezekiah (2 Kings 20:3). Now, Lord, remember it. (2.) Those that practised uprightness, and persevered in it to the end, shall find it well with them when they die. Their souls then enter into peace, into the world of peace, where peace is in perfection and where there is no trouble. Enter thou into the joy of the Lord. Their bodies rest in their beds. Note, The grave is a bed of rest to all the Lord's people; there they rest from all their labours, Revelation 14:13. And the more weary they were the more welcome will that rest be to them, Job 3:17. This bed is made in the darkness, but that makes it the more quiet; it is a bed out of which they shall rise refreshed in the morning of the resurrection.