Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Isaiah 64:7

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Isaiah 64:7. There is none — Twelve MSS. have אין ein, without the conjunction ו vau prefixed; and so read the Chaldee and Vulgate.

And hast consumed us because of our iniquities - "And hast delivered us up into the hands of our iniquities."] For ותמוגנו vattemugenu, "hast dissolved us," the Septuagint, Syriac, and Chaldee had in their copies תמגננו temaggenenu, "hast delivered us up." Houbigant. Secker.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

A prayer for Israel (63:7-64:12)

The prophet’s prayer for God’s suffering people begins by recalling God’s great acts of love in the past (7). Because Israel was his people, God saved them from slavery in Egypt, though when they rebelled against him, they were punished (8-10). Nevertheless, God forgave them. Therefore, asks the prophet, could not this God of mercy and love, who has done such great things for Israel in the past, also save his people from captivity in Babylon now (11-14)?
It seems as if God has withdrawn into his heavenly dwelling place, for there is no evidence of his mercy upon his people. The prophet realizes that if Abraham and Jacob, Israel’s earthly fathers, saw their descendants in captivity, they would be ashamed of them and want to have nothing to do with them. But he prays that God, their true Father, will not cast them off (15-16). It seems, however, as if he has. He has allowed the Babylonians to destroy their temple and take them to a foreign land, where there is no evidence that Yahweh is their God or that they are his people (17-19).
God has revealed himself and saved his people with supernatural acts in the past, and the prophet longs that he might do so again. The enemies of God would then be overthrown (64:1-3). By contrast, those whose chief pleasure is to please God know that God helps them in the most unexpected ways (4-5a). They also know that, despite their desire to please God, they are still self-willed sinners. Even their best deeds are polluted by sin. They often forget God and have only themselves to blame for the troubles that result (5b-7).
Although they have failed miserably, the people know that God is still their Father. He may punish them, but he still loves them (8-9). Therefore, asks the prophet, is not the destruction he has sent upon Judah sufficient punishment? Can God not see the desolation of Jerusalem and take pity on the ruined city? Will he not now forgive his people and bring them back to their land (10-12)?

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

“Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou wast wroth, and we sinned, in them have we been of long time; and shall we be saved? For we are all become as one that is unclean, and all our righteousnesses are as a polluted garment: and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away. And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee; for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us by means of our iniquities.”

Isaiah 64:5 in the very oldest manuscripts of the Hebrew text is damaged to the point of its being impossible to know exactly what is meant by it. There is little or no reason to trust the emendations that have produced the various statements printed here in recent versions as the last half of the verse.Adam Clarke’s Commentary , Vol. IV, p. 236. The first part of the verse is clear enough. God will accept and bless those who work righteousness.

“All our righteousnesses are as a polluted garment” This is inferior to the KJV which has, “All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.” “The word rendered `garment’ or `rags’ here has the literal meaning of “vestis menstruis polluta”, that is, a soiled cloth of the type used by women in their monthly periods.”Albert Barnes’ Commentary, Vol. II, p. 404. The reference could not be to “garments,” but to “rags.”

“There is none that calleth upon thy name” “This is hyperbole, emphasizing the general apathy that had come over all the people.”Pulpit Commentary, Vol. II, p. 460.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

And there is none that calleth upon thy name - The nation is corrupt and degenerate. None worship God in sincerity.

That stirreth up himself - The word used here (מתעורר mit^e‛ôrēr) refers to the effort which is requisite to rouse oneself when oppressed by a spirit of heavy slumber; and the idea here is, that the nation was sunk in spiritual torpor, and that the same effort was needful to excite it which was requisite to rouse one who had sunk down to deep sleep. How aptly this describes the state of a sinful world! How much disposed is that world to give itself to spiritual slumber! How indisposed to rouse itself to call upon God! No man rises to God without effort; and unless men make an effort for this, they fall into the stupidity of sin, just as certainly as a drowsy man sinks back into deep sleep.

To take hold of thee - The Hebrew word (חזק châzaq) means properly to bind fast, to gird tight, and then to make firm or strong, to strengthen; and the idea of strengthening oneself is implied in the use of the word here. It means, that with the consciousness of feebleness we should seek strength in God. This the people referred to by the prophet were indisposed to do. This the world at large is indisposed to do.

For thou hast hid thy face - Thou bast withdrawn thy favor from us, as a people, on account of our sins. This is an acknowledgment that one effect of his withdrawing his favor, and one evidence of it was, that no one was disposed to call upon his name. All had sunk into the deep lethargy of sin.

And hast consumed us - Margin, ‘Melted.’ The Hebrew word (מוג mûg) means “to melt, to flow down”; and hence, in Piel, to cause to melt or flow down. It is used to denote the fact that an army or host of people seem to melt away, or become dissolved by fear and terror Exodus 15:15; Joshua 2:9-24; Job 30:22. ‘Thou dissolvest (תמגגני thı̂mog^egēniy) my substance;’ that is, thou causest me to dissolve before thy indignation. This is described as one of the effects of the wrath of God, that his enemies vanish away, or are dissolved before him.

Because of our iniquities - Margin, as Hebrew, ‘By the hand;’ that is, our iniquities have been the hand, the agent or instrument by which this has been done.

Calvin's Commentary on the Bible

7.There is none that calleth on thy name. He confirms what was formerly said; for he exhorts believers, even though God’s punishment of them appears to be severe, still to believe that they deserve such a punishment. Heinous sins are mentioned by him; and though it would be tedious to go over all of them in detail, he points out the fountain itself, and says that the worship of God is neglected. Under the word “calleth on,” he includes, as is customary in Scripture, the whole worship of God; for the most important part of God’s worship is to “call upon” him, and to testify our confidence in him. Prayers and supplications, undoubtedly, were always practiced among them; but, because the heart was far removed, he reckons all pretended ceremonies as of no value.

Or that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee. He now explains more clearly the former clause, by saying that no one earnestly applies his mind, or gives his endeavor to seek God, but that all are consumed and wasted away through their own slothfulness. And first, he shews that nothing is more desirable than to be perfectly joined to God; for, when we are alienated from him, everything must go ill with us. We are indolent and sluggish by nature; and therefore we need to have spurs applied to us. Seeing that by nature we indulge our slothfulness, we must listen to the advice of the Prophet so as not to become utterly stupid; for, otherwise he in his turn will reject us, or contemptuously drive us away. The Prophet describes the miserable condition of the people, in which there was no desire to seek God, and no means were used to stir up the heart to godliness.

Thou hast made us to languish. They again complain that they are overwhelmed by the severity of distress, and obtain from God no alleviation; for Isaiah asserts these things in the name of the whole people, and prays to God not to permit them any longer to languish amidst so great miseries.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 64

Oh that you would rend the heavens, that you would come down, and that the mountains might flow down at thy presence, As when the melting fire burns, the fire causes the waters to boil, and makes thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence! When you did awesome things which we looked not for, you came down, and the mountains flowed down at thy presence. For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waits for him ( Isaiah 64:1-4 ).

Now he's praying, "God, why don't You manifest Yourself like You did in the past? When people saw Your power, the glory of Your power?" Now God is. In the thirty-eighth chapter of the book of Ezekiel when God speaks of His fury rising in His face to destroy the invading Russian army as they come into Israel, He said, "And I will be sanctified before the nations of the earth and they will know that I am God when I have destroyed thee, O Gog"( Ezekiel 38:16 ). So God once more will move. Now in prayer Isaiah is praying for this day that God would move once again. Come and let the mountains flow down before His presence. The awesome things that He did and He will do them again. Now verse Isaiah 64:4 , "For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside Thee, what You have prepared for him who waits for You." Oh, the things that God has prepared for those that just wait on Him.

Our problem is that we don't wait on God. We get so impatient. We want to see things done. Like Abraham, we know what God wants to do and so we go about to help God out. And that's always tragic. Oh, the things that God has prepared for those that wait. You remember Paul said something like this in Corinthians, and no doubt he was making reference to this passage here in Isaiah, for Paul said, "As the scriptures saith, 'Eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man, the things that God has prepared for those that love Him.' But He has revealed them unto us by His Spirit" ( 1 Corinthians 2:9-10 ). Paul's talking about the natural man, the spiritual man. The natural man doesn't understand anything about the Spirit. He doesn't know the things of the Spirit. He can't know the things of the Spirit because they're spiritually discerned. Yet he which is spiritual understands all things, though he is not understood. But in talking about the contrast between the natural man and the spiritual man, he says, "The eyes have not seen, ears have not heard; neither has it entered into the hearts of man the things that God has prepared for those that love Him." But God has begun to reveal them unto us by His Spirit.

Paul prayed for the Ephesians that God would grant unto them the spirit of wisdom and understanding that they might know what is the hope of their calling. Oh, if you only knew what God has in store for us as His children. If you only knew the glory of the kingdom. It is so marvellous, it is so beyond anything that we in our own imaginations could conceive or devise. It is so glorious that when Paul got a little view of the thing, got a little taste of it, taken up into the third heaven and there heard these glorious things that were so marvellous it would be a crime to try to describe them in human language. And it was so glorious that Paul said, "It was necessary that God give to me a thorn in the flesh to keep me on the ground lest I be exalted above measure because of these revelations that were given unto me. It was just so fantastic I just... God had to keep me on the ground and I just... live in that heavenly vision and realm." So because of the abundance of Lord's revelation, because it's so glorious, this old thorn in the ground to just remind me I'm still human. But that desire from then on. I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ which is far better. And that yearning. If you only knew the things that God has prepared.

Now God has begun to reveal them to us by His Spirit. But yet Paul's prayer, "That you might have the spirit of wisdom and understanding, that you might know what is the hope of your calling." If you only knew what God had for you, you couldn't be happy or satisfied with these worldly things anymore. You like Paul would just... People say, "You're so heavenly-minded, you're no earthly good." Well, I've never yet met that person, in all honesty. I think that we're too earthly-minded to be any heavenly good, for the most part. I wish we were more heavenly-minded. I wish that we were more looking towards what God has prepared for those that love Him, because then our perspective would be better, as far as the things of the world, and we wouldn't get so deeply involved in the things that are going to perish. But we would be more involved in those things that are eternal. "We look not," Paul said, "at the things which are seen. For the things which are seen are temporal. But we look at those things which cannot be seen, for they are eternal" ( 2 Corinthians 4:18 ). We have our eyes upon the unseen; the things of the Spirit is revealed of God's glorious kingdom. Oh, you get restless in this world in which you live and you just want to keep a light touch on the earth. "For since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside Thee, what He has prepared for those that wait on Him." Oh God, help us to just wait on Him.

Continuing his prayer:

You meet him that rejoices and works righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art angry; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved. But we are all as an unclean thing, for all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away ( Isaiah 64:5-6 ).

Now he is not trying to justify himself before God, which we so often do in our prayers. Many a time in our prayers, our prayers are an attempt to explain to God why we're so rotten, to justify ourselves. Like Adam, "Lord, the woman that You gave me to be my wife. That's my problem, Lord." And we're trying to justify ourselves, laying the blame somewhere else. The Bible says, "He that seeks to justify himself will not be cleansed, but whoso confesseth his sin shall be forgiven" ( Proverbs 28:13 ). Now if you'll notice in Daniel's prayer, and we'll get there in a few months, Daniel also confessed the sin and the sin of the people. "Lord, You're righteous in what You have done. We are at fault. We are guilty, God." And it is important when we come to God that we come open-faced and open-handed. "God, I'm guilty!" And put yourself on the mercy of God rather than through your prayers trying to explain to God all of the extenuating circumstances that caused you to do your transgression. God is not interested in that. He's only interested in the confession of guilt. "Lord, we're wrong. God, we have sinned. And all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags in Thy sight."

I look at man, poor man, parading about in his righteousnesses. "Well, I do my best to do unto others as I would have them to do unto me. I give to the Red Cross and I give to the United Fund and I spend an hour a week in my charitable activities." And men try to clothe themselves in their little good deeds. And they parade around in such pomp and all in their good deeds. They get their pictures in the paper doing their good deeds. God says it's all filthy rags. It stinks. Our righteousnesses.

Now Paul the apostle said, "If any man has whereof to boast in his own works, in the law, I have more than the rest of you. You want to be righteous by keeping the law? Hey, I've got you beat hands down. See, I was a Jew. I was circumcised the eighth day. I'm from the tribe of Benjamin. I was a Pharisee. I was very zealous concerning the law. In fact, as far as the righteousness which is of the law, I was perfect. I've done it all. Yet those things which were gain to me I counted loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ for whom I suffer the loss of all things but count them but refuse that I may know Him and be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness which is of the law but having now the righteousness which is of Christ through faith." My righteousness is as filthy rags.

But in Revelation chapter 17, again, he sees the bride adorned for her husband and she is clothed in fine linen, pure and clean. And the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. I'm clothed in the righteousness of Jesus Christ which God has imputed to me by my faith in Jesus Christ. And that's what Paul was talking about. I took off my old rags. That which was gain to me, as far as the law was concerned, is refuse. It's stinky. I want to be found clothed in the righteousness which is of Christ through faith. The new robes of righteousness that I have in Christ. So here, our righteousnesses are as filthy rags in God's sight.

And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities. But now, O LORD, thou art our Father; we are the clay, and thou art our potter ( Isaiah 64:7-8 );

Three times in the Bible the figure of the potter and the clay are used to describe the sovereignty of God in His relationship with man. Jeremiah, and Paul the apostle uses the same figure. Paul uses it in emphasizing the sovereignty of God and says, "Can the clay say to the potter, 'Hey, how come you put that shape in me? I don't like that.' No, the clay has no power over what it's going to be. That's all in the hands and the mind of the potter. He has total sovereignty over the clay." Now that could be very frightening if you didn't know the potter. But because I know the Potter, I know that whatever He wants to make of me is the best for me. I have absolute confidence in the Potter. To yield myself to Him, because the only way I can discover what is in the Potter's mind is by yielding to the Potter. So, "Thou art the Potter, we're the clay."

and we all are the work of thy hand. Be not angry very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people. Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem is a desolation. Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste. Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O LORD? will you hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore? ( Isaiah 64:8-12 ) "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The confession 64:1-7

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Furthermore, none of the Israelites felt concerned enough about their sinful condition to seek the Lord, and to try to lay hold of Him in prayer. This was understandable, since God had hidden Himself from His people; they saw no hope that He would respond, even if they should now pray (cf. Isaiah 59:16; Isaiah 63:5).

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

And there is none that calleth upon thy name,.... Upon the Lord himself, who is gracious and merciful, omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent, and all sufficient, a God hearing and answering prayer, and the Father of his people; all which should engage to call upon him: or, "there is none that prays in thy name", as the Targum; none that prays to God in the name of his Son, the only Mediator between God and men; he is the way of access to the Father; his name is to be used and made mention of in prayer; acceptance is only through him, and all favours are conveyed by him; see John 14:13, not that there were absolutely none at all that prayed to God, and called upon or in his name, but comparatively they were very few; for that there were some it is certain, since this very complaint is made in a prayer; but the number of such was small, especially that prayed in faith, in sincerity, with fervency and importunity; and, when this is the case, it is an argument and evidence of great declension:

that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee; to exercise faith on God, as their covenant God; to lay hold on the covenant itself, the blessings and promises of it, and plead them with God: or to pray unto him, which is a wrestling with him, when faith lays hold upon God, and will not let him go without the blessing; and is an entreaty of him not to depart when he seems to be about it; or a detaining of him, as the disciples detained Christ, when he seemed as if he would go from them; and is also an importunate desire that he would return when he is departed; and an earnest request not to strike when his hand is lifted up: faith in prayer does, as it were, take hold of the hands of God, and will not suffer him to strike his children; just as a friend lays hold on a father's hand when he is about to give his child a blow with it for his correction; and such is the amazing condescension of God, that he suffers himself to be held after this manner; see Genesis 32:26, now, to "stir up" a man's self to this is to make diligent use of the means in seeking the Lord; particularly a frequent use of the gift of prayer, and a stirring of that up; a calling upon a man's soul, and all within him, to engage therein; to which are opposed slothfulness, c. cold, lukewarm, negligent performance of duty, which is here complained of there were none, or at least but few, that stirred up or "aroused" b themselves. God's professing people are sometimes asleep; and though it is high time to awake out of sleep, yet no one arouses himself or others.

For thou hast hid thy face from us: or removed the face of thy Shechinah, or divine Majesty from us, as the Targum; being provoked by such a conduct towards him, as before expressed: for it may be rendered, "therefore thou hast hid"; c. or "though", or "when" c, this was the case, yet no man sought his face and favour, or entreated he would return again:

and hast consumed us because of our iniquities; by the sword, famine, pestilence, and captivity.

b מתעורר "seipsum exsuscitat", Forerius; "excitans se", Montanus, Junius Tremellius. So the Targum, "that awakes". c כי "quamvis", Gataker "cum", Junius Tremellius "quando", Forerius.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.   7 And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.   8 But now, O LORD, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.   9 Be not wroth very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity for ever: behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people.   10 Thy holy cities are a wilderness, Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation.   11 Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste.   12 Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O LORD? wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore?

      As we have the Lamentations of Jeremiah, so here we have the Lamentations of Isaiah; the subject of both is the same--the destruction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans and the sin of Israel that brought that destruction--only with this difference, Isaiah sees it at a distance and laments it by the Spirit of prophecy, Jeremiah saw it accomplished. In these verses,

      I. The people of God in their affliction confess and bewail their sins, thereby justifying God in their afflictions, owning themselves unworthy of his mercy, and thereby both improving their troubles and preparing for deliverance. Now that they were under divine rebukes for sin they had nothing to trust to but the mere mercy of God and the continuance of that; for among themselves there is none to help, none to uphold, none to stand in the gap and make intercession, for they are all polluted with sin and therefore unworthy to intercede, all careless and remiss in duty and therefore unable and unfit to intercede.

      1. There was a general corruption of manners among them (Isaiah 63:6; Isaiah 63:6): We are all as an unclean thing, or as an unclean person, as one overspread with a leprosy, who was to be shut out of the camp. The body of the people were like one under a ceremonial pollution, who was not admitted into the courts of the tabernacle, or like one labouring under some loathsome disease, from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot nothing but wounds and bruises,Isaiah 1:6; Isaiah 1:6. We have all by sin become not only obnoxious to God's justice, but odious to his holiness; for sin is that abominable thing which the Lord hates, and cannot endure to look upon. Even all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. (1.) "The best of our persons are so; we are all so corrupt and polluted that even those among us who pass for righteous men, in comparison with what our fathers were who rejoiced and wrought righteousness (Isaiah 63:5; Isaiah 63:5), are but as filthy rags, fit to be case to the dunghill. The best of them is as a brier." (2.) "The best of our performances are so. There is not only a general corruption of manners, but a general defection in the exercises of devotion too; those which pass for the sacrifices of righteousness, when they come to be enquired into, are the torn, and the lame, and the sick, and therefore are provoking to God, as nauseous as filthy rags." Our performances, though they be ever so plausible, if we depend upon them as our righteousness and think to merit by them at God's hand, are as filthy rags--rags, and will not cover us--filthy rags, and will but defile us. True penitents cast away their idols as filthy rags (Isaiah 30:22; Isaiah 30:22), odious in their sight; here they acknowledge even their righteousness to be so in God's sight if he should deal with them in strict justice. Our best duties are so defective, and so far short of the rule, that they are as rags, and so full of sin and corruption cleaving to them that they are as filthy rags. When we would do good evil is present with us; and the iniquity of our holy things would be our ruin if we were under the law.

      2. There was a general coldness of devotion among them, Isaiah 63:7; Isaiah 63:7. The measure was filled by the abounding iniquity of the people, and nothing was done to empty it. (1.) Prayer was in a manner neglected: "There is none that calls on thy name, none that seeks to thee for grace to reform us and take away sin, or for mercy to relieve us and take away the judgments which our sins have brought upon us." Therefore people are so bad, because they do not pray; compare Psalms 14:3; Psalms 14:4, They have altogether become filthy, for they call not upon the Lord. It bodes ill to a people when prayer is restrained among them. (2.) It was very negligently performed. If there was here and there one that called on God's name, it was with a great deal of indifferency: There is none that stirs up himself to take hold of God. Note, [1.] To pray is to take hold of God, by faith to take hold of the promises and the declarations God has made of his good-will to us and to plead them with him,--to take hold of him as of one who is about to depart from us, earnestly begging of him not to leave us, or of one that has departed, soliciting his return,--to take hold of him as he that wrestles takes hold of him he wrestles with; for the seed of Jacob wrestle with him and so prevail. But when we take hold of God it is as the boatman with his hook takes hold on the shore, as if he would pull the shore to him, but really it is to pull himself to the shore; so we pray, not to bring God to our mind, but to bring ourselves to him. [2.] Those that would take hold of God in prayer so as to prevail with him must stir up themselves to do it; all that is within us must be employed in the duty (and all little enough), our thoughts fixed and our affections flaming. In order hereunto all that is within us must be engaged and summoned into the service; we must stir up the gift that is in us by an actual consideration of the importance of the work that is before us and a close application of mind to it; but how can we expect that God should come to us in ways of mercy when there are none that do this, when those that profess to be intercessors are mere triflers?

      II. They acknowledge their afflictions to be the fruit and product of their own sins and God's wrath. 1. They brought their troubles upon themselves by their own folly: "We are all as an unclean thing, and therefore we do all fade away as a leaf (Isaiah 63:6; Isaiah 63:6), we not only wither and lose our beauty, but we fall and drop off" (so the word signifies) "as leaves in autumn; our profession of religion withers, and we grow dry and sapless; our prosperity withers and comes to nothing; we fall to the ground, as despicable and contemptible; and then our iniquities like the wind have taken us away and hurried us into captivity, as the winds in autumn blow off, and then blow away, the faded withered leaves," Psalms 1:3; Psalms 1:4. Sinners are blasted, and then carried away, by the malignant and violent wind of their own iniquity; it withers them and then ruins them. 2. God brought their troubles upon them by his wrath (Isaiah 63:7; Isaiah 63:7): Thou hast hidden thy face from us; hast been displeased with us and refused to afford us any succour. When they made themselves as an unclean thing no wonder that God turned his face away from them, as loathing them. Yet this was not all: Thou hast consumed us because of our iniquities. This is the same complaint with that (Psalms 90:7; Psalms 90:8), We are consumed by thy anger; thou hast melted us, so the word is. God had put them in the furnace, not to consume them as dross, but to melt them as gold, that they might be refined and new-cast.

      III. They claim relation to God as their God, and humbly plead it with him, and in consideration of it cheerfully refer themselves to him (Isaiah 63:8; Isaiah 63:8): "But now, O Lord! thou art our Father: though we have conducted ourselves very undutifully and ungratefully towards thee, yet still we have owned thee as our Father; and, though thou hast corrected us, yet thou hast not cast us off. Foolish and careless as we are, poor and despised and trampled upon as we are by our enemies, yet still thou art our Father; to thee therefore we return in our repentance, as the prodigal arose and came to his father; to thee we address ourselves by prayer; from whom should we expect relief and succour but from our Father? It is the wrath of a Father that we are under, who will be reconciled and not keep his anger for ever." God is their Father, 1. By creation; he gave them their being, formed them into a people, shaped them as he pleased: "We are the clay and thou our potter, therefore we will not quarrel with thee, however thou art pleased to deal with us, Jeremiah 18:6. Nay, therefore we will hope that thou wilt deal well with us, that thou who madest us wilt new-make us, new-form us, though we have unmade and deformed ourselves: We are all as an unclean thing, but we are all the work of thy hands, therefore do away our uncleanness, that we may be fit for thy use, the use we were made for. We are the work of thy hands, therefore forsake us not," Psalms 138:8. 2. By covenant; this is pleaded (Isaiah 63:9; Isaiah 63:9): "Behold, see, we beseech thee, we are all thy people, all the people thou hast in the world, that make open profession of thy name. We are called thy people, our neighbours look upon us as such, and therefore what we suffer reflects upon thee, and the relief that our case requires is expected from thee. We are thy people; and should not a people seek unto their God?Isaiah 8:19; Isaiah 8:19. We are thine; save us," Psalms 119:94. Note, When we are under providential rebukes from God it is good to keep fast hold of our covenant-relation to him.

      IV. They are importunate with God for the turning away of his anger and the pardoning of their sins (Isaiah 63:9; Isaiah 63:9): "Be not wroth very sore, O Lord! though we have deserved that thou shouldst, neither remember iniquity for ever against us." They do not expressly pray for the removal of the judgment they were under; as to that, they refer themselves to God. But, 1. They pray that God would be reconciled to them, and then they can be easy whether the affliction be continued or removed: "Be not wroth to extremity, but let thy anger be mitigated by the clemency and compassion of a father." They do not say, Lord, rebuke us not, for that may be necessary, but Not in thy anger, not in thy hot displeasure. It is but in a little wrath that God hides his face. 2. They pray that they may not be dealt with according to the desert of their sin: Neither remember iniquity for ever. Such is the evil of sin that it deserves to be remembered for ever; and this is that which they deprecate, that consequence of sin, which is for ever. Those make it to appear that they are truly humbled under the hand of God who are more afraid of the terror of God's wrath, and the fatal consequences of their own sin, than of any judgment whatsoever, looking upon these as the sting of death.

      V. They lodge in the court of heaven a very melancholy representation, or memorial, of the lamentable condition they were in and the ruins they were groaning under. 1. Their own houses were in ruins, Isaiah 63:10; Isaiah 63:10. The cities of Judah were destroyed by the Chaldeans and the inhabitants of them were carried away, so that there was none to repair them or take any notice of them, which would in a few years make them look like perfect deserts: Thy holy cities are a wilderness. The cities of Judah are called holy cities, for the people were unto God a kingdom of priests. The cities had synagogues in them, in which God was served; and therefore they lamented the ruins of them, and insisted upon this in pleading with God for them, not so much that they were stately cities, rich or ancient ones, but that they were holy cities, cities in which God's name was known, professed, and called upon. "These cities are a wilderness; the beauty of them is sullied; they are neither inhabited nor visited, as formerly. They have burnt up all the synagogues of God in the land," Psalms 74:8. Nor was it only the smaller cities that were thus left as a wilderness unfrequented, but even "Zion is a wilderness; the city of David itself lies in ruins; Jerusalem, that was beautiful for situation and the joy of the whole earth, is now deformed, and has become the scorn and scandal of the whole earth; that noble city is a desolation, a heap of rubbish." See what devastations sin brings upon a people; and an external profession of sanctity will be no fence against them; holy cities, if they become wicked cities, will be soonest of all turned into a wilderness, Amos 3:2. 2. God's house was in ruins, Isaiah 63:11; Isaiah 63:11. This they lament most of all, that the temple was burnt with fire; but, as soon as it was built, they were told what their sin would bring it to. 2 Chronicles 7:21, This house, which is high, shall be an astonishment. Observe how pathetically they bewail the ruins of the temple. (1.) It was their holy and beautiful house; it was a most sumptuous building, but the holiness of it was in their eye the greatest beauty of it, and consequently the profanation of it was the saddest part of its desolation and that which grieved them most, that the sacred services which used to be performed there were discontinued. (2.) It was the place where their fathers praised God with their sacrifices and songs; what a pity is it that that should lie in ashes which had been for so many ages the glory of their nation! It aggravated their present disuse of the songs of Zion that their fathers had so often praised God with them. They interest God in the cause when they plead that it was the house where he had been praised, and put him in mind too of his covenant with their fathers by taking notice of their fathers' praising him. (3.) With it all their pleasant things were laid waste, all their desires and delights, all those things which were employed by them in the service of God, which they had a great delight in; not only the furniture of the temple, the altars and table, but especially the sabbaths and new moons, and all their religious feasts, which they used to keep with gladness, their ministers and solemn assemblies, these were all a desolation. Note, God's people reckon their sacred things their most delectable things; rob them of holy ordinances and the means of grace, and you lay waste all their pleasant things. What have they more? Observe here how God and his people have their interest twisted and interchanged; when they speak of the cities for their own habitation they call them thy holy cities, for to God they were dedicated; when they speak of the temple wherein God dwelt they call it our beautiful house and its furniture our pleasant things, for they had heartily espoused it and all the interests of it. If thus we interest God in all our concerns by devoting them to his service, and interest ourselves in all his concerns by laying them near our hearts, we may with satisfaction leave both with him, for he will perfect both.

      VI. They conclude with an affectionate expostulation, humbly arguing with God concerning their present desolations (Isaiah 64:12; Isaiah 64:12): "Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things? Or, Canst thou contain thyself at these things? Canst thou see thy temple ruined and not resent it, not revenge it? Has the jealous God forgotten to be jealous? Psalms 74:22, Arise, O God! plead thy own cause. Lord, thou art insulted, thou art blasphemed; and wilt thou hold thy peace and take no notice of it? Shall the highest affronts that can be done to Heaven pass unrebuked?" When we are abused we hold our peace, because vengeance does not belong to us, and because we have a God to refer our cause to. When God is injured in his honour it may justly be expected that he should speak in the vindication of it; his people prescribe not to him what he shall say, but their prayer is (as here) Psalms 83:1, Keep not thou silence, O God! and Psalms 109:1, "Hold not thy peace, O God of my praise! Speak for the conviction of thy enemies, speak for the comfort and relief of thy people; for wilt thou afflict us very grievously, or afflict us for ever?" It is a sore affliction to good people to see God's sanctuary laid waste and nothing done towards the raising of it out of its ruins. But God has said that he will not contend for ever, and therefore his people may depend upon it that their afflictions shall be neither to extremity nor to eternity, but light and for a moment.