Isaías 10

Isaías 10

Vernon McGee comments that... This verse is very much up-to-date. I think we are seeing the working out of this in our contemporary culture, because the courts are to hand down justice and mirror the justice of God, and they don’t. Lawlessness abounds. People sink into degradation. The idea of freedom has been distorted. Every criminal who is arrested ought to be given a fair trial but in order that my family and your family can walk the streets in peace, criminals will have to be punished. Many who are guilty of crimes are set free by a softhearted, softheaded judge. That judge is not giving justice to me and my family or to you and your family.... One of the leading political analysts in this country recently stated on a telecast that every program that has been devised to help the poor has hurt the poor. What is wrong? The only One who will give justice to the poor is God. Judges are supposed to represent God on earth. Today many godless men are judges. They are in no position to judge at all until they recognize that they are representing God.... It is a farce to have a man put his hand on the Bible and take an oath in a court of law today, because most judges do not believe it is the Word of God. The lawyers, the jury, and the men who are taking the oath probably do not believe it is God’s Word. When you don’t believe it, you might as well take an oath on a Sears and Roebuck catalog. Some of them may have more respect for that than they do for the Bible. God is dealing with principles; and, until a judge represents God, he cannot represent the people. We have gotten so far from this concept that I am sure I sound like a square! And that’s what I am.... God is saying to the judges, “You are to represent Me, and the day is coming when I am going to judge you.” I feel that every judge ought to recognize the fact that he is one day going to stand before God and give an account of how he has handled his responsibility here on earth. Judges in our day seem to have bleeding hearts; they want to show mercy to the poor criminal. Well, they should be meting out justice to both rich and poor. In the day of reckoning, the unjust judges will stand before the Just Judge. Failed leadership has been addressed in Isaiah 9:13-17, but in more general terms as those who misled the people. Now the indictment is very specific pointing out their "blatant misrule, the willful making of decrees in the interest of class-division and personal advantage." (Motyer) Evil (0205)('aven) in its most basic sense has "two facets: a stress on trouble which moves on to wickedness, and an emphasis on emptiness which moves on to idolatry." (TWOT NET translates this verse... Those who enact unjust policies are as good as dead, those who are always instituting unfair regulations Comment: Beloved, does this sound like any modern government you know, where liberal judges frequently overturn just, generally conservative decisions! It was "Woe" to Israel and it is "Woe" to any country that emulates Israel's unfair governmental practices! Pray for revival beloved. To those who constantly record unjust decisions - More literally "to the writers who write out harm." where the Hebrew verb form suggests this to be a repetitive action. Unjust (05999) (amal) primarily describes toil or painful labor and comes to mean misery, anguish, troublesome work, trouble, labor, toil. It describes that which is an unpleasant, hard, distressing. Some versions translate amal in this passage with grievousness, which is that which is characterized by severe pain, suffering or sorrow. The point is clear that the wicked leads were writing and enacting laws which abused the people they should have comforted and protected. The fact that verse 4 discusses their "wealth", strongly implies that the leaders (judges, magistrates, etc) were using the legal system to "line their pockets" with filthy lucre! Matthew Henry... Whether they were the princes and judges of Israel of Judah, or both, that the prophet denounced this woe against, is not certain Isaiah 10:2 So as to deprive the needy of justice and rob the poor of My people of their rights, so that widows may be their spoil and that they may plunder the orphans.: deprive: Isa 29:21 La 3:35 Am 2:7 5:11,12 Mal 3:5 widows: Isa 1:23 3:14 5:7 Jer 7:6 Eze 22:7 Mt 23:14 So as to deprive the needy of justice - In Isa 10:1 and this passage the general sin that is denounced is that of oppression and injustice. Needy (01800) (dal) means one who is low, especially the lower classes of society (2Ki 24:14, 25:12). Feeble, weak, helpless. "Those of humble rank and circumstances; who have no powerful friends and defenders." (Barnes) TWOT adds that dal denotes the lack of material wealth (Pr 10:15) and social strength (Amos 2:7). Such people are contrasted with the rich (Ex 30:15; Ru 3:10) and the great (Lev 19:5). God enjoins their protection (Ex 23:3; Lev 14:21; Isa 10:2), and promises to them justice (Isa 11:4). Only infrequently is dal used of spiritual poverty (cf. Jer 5:4), and in most cases such usages parallel ebyôn, needy (Isa 14:30). Isaiah had castigated unrighteous rulers (not those in Israel but in Judah) in the first chapter writing... Your rulers are rebels and companions of thieves; Everyone loves a bribe And chases after rewards. They do not defend the orphan, Nor does the widow’s plea come before them. (Isa 1:23) Rob (01497) (gazal) has a root meaning of violence that goes beyond mere stealing or taking another's belongings but includes robbing by force. Poor (06041) (ani) means poor, afflicted, humble. The Septuagint (Lxx) translates with the adjective ptochos (from ptosso = crouch, cringe, cower down or hide oneself for fear, a picture of one crouching and cowering like a beggar with a tin cup to receive the pennies dropped in!) which describes a person who is dependent on others for support. Ptochos is an adjective which describes one who crouches and cowers and is used as a noun to mean beggar. These poor were unable to meet their basic needs and so were forced to depend on others or on society. Classical Greek used the ptochos to refer to a person reduced to total destitution, who crouched in a corner begging. As he held out one hand for alms he often hid his face with the other hand, because he was ashamed of being recognized. Plunder the orphans (cp Isa 1:17) - The verb plunder means to take by violence and may be literally true but could also be a picture of how they violated justice. Utley... Things are so upside down that the very ones YHWH seeks to protect (i.e., widows and orphans) have become the spoil and plunder! (Ref) John Martin writes that... These actions, which involved taking advantage of people who could not defend their rights, violated God’s Law (Ex. 22:22; 23:6; Dt. 15:7, 8; 24:17, 18; cf. Isa. 1:17). Malachi sounds a similar warning and sums up the root problem as an absence of a (reverential) fear of Jehovah.... “Then I will draw near to you for judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers and against the adulterers and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the wage earner in his wages, the widow and the orphan, and those who turn aside the alien and do not fear Me,” says the Lord of hosts. (Mal 3:5).