The Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 29:16

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay; rather, O for your perverseness! Shall the potter be reckoned as clay? They were so perverse and wrong-headed that they inverted the relation in which they stood to God and God to them.

God was to be passive, or merely give opportunities of action, and they were to mould their own plans and carve out their own destinies. For shall the work say, etc.? rather, for the work saith. Taking their destinies into their own hands was equivalent to saying that they were their own masters, which they could not be if God made them.

Shall the thing framed say, etc.? rather, yea, the thing formed hath said. To refuse to take counsel of God, and direct the national policy by the light of their own reason, was to tax God with having no understanding.

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commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 29:1-24EXPOSITIONJoseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryMatthew Henry on Isaiah 29:9-16The security of sinners in sinful ways, is cause for lamentation and wonder. The learned men, through prejudice, said that the Divine prophecies were obscure; and the poor urged their want of learning. The Bible is a se…Matthew Henry commentaryThreatenings against Judah. (b. c. 725.)THREATENINGS AGAINST JUDAH. (B. C. 725.) Here, I. The prophet stands amazed at the stupidity of the greatest part of the Jewish nation. They had Levites, who taught the good knowledge of the Lord and had encouragement f…Matthew Henry commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 29:13-17The Church which God condemns. Here is— I. A CHURCH CONDEMNED OF GOD. It has four characteristics of which the Lord complains. 1. Unspiritual worship. "This people draw near me with their mouth," etc. (Isaiah 29:13). Th…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 29:13-16A RENEWAL OF WARNING. The inability of the Jews to comprehend Isaiah's threatening prophecies probably arose in part from their accomplishment seeming to be inconceivable, since they ran counter to the covenant promises…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 29:13-16Lip-service and dissimulation. I. THE SEMBLANCE WITHOUT THE REALITY OF RELIGION. To "draw men" is a Scripture phrase full of expressiveness for true worship. To draw near to God is to assume our holiest mood of feeling;…Joseph S. Exell and contributors