Isaiah 50:1. Thus saith the LORD,
There is always something weighty coming when you have this preface. If God speaks, we ought to hear with reverence, with attention.
Isaiah 50:1. Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you?
God is here addressing his ancient people; they had been given up, as it were, left, forsaken. They compared themselves to a wife who had been divorced by her husband, or to children who had been sold by their father because of his extreme poverty. The Lord says, "Now, tell me, have I really put away my chosen people as a man in a pet puts away his wife? Have I really sold you to profit by you? What benefit is it to me that you are carried away captive, and that you are left without comfort?"
Isaiah 50:1. Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.
It was not God’s changeableness, but their own sinfulness, that had brought upon them all their sufferings. The Jews might have remained a nation in possession of their own land to this day, if they had not turned aside unto idols. It was not that God cast away his people whom he did foreknow; but they cast him off, they sold themselves. Now, if any child of God has fallen into trouble of heart, and has lost his comfort, let him not blame God; his sorrow is caused by his own act and deed. And if any man or woman here should be in deep trouble brought on by sin, let them not set it down to their destiny, let them not call God unkind; but let them take the blame to themselves: "For your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away."
Isaiah 50:1. Thus saith the LORD,
There is always something weighty coming when you have this preface. If God speaks, we ought to hear with reverence, with attention.
Isaiah 50:1. Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you?
God is here addressing his ancient people; they had been given up, as it were, left, forsaken. They compared themselves to a wife who had been divorced by her husband, or to children who had been sold by their father because of his extreme poverty. The Lord says, "Now, tell me, have I really put away my chosen people as a man in a pet puts away his wife? Have I really sold you to profit by you? What benefit is it to me that you are carried away captive, and that you are left without comfort?"
Isaiah 50:1. Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.
It was not God’s changeableness, but their own sinfulness, that had brought upon them all their sufferings. The Jews might have remained a nation in possession of their own land to this day, if they had not turned aside unto idols. It was not that God cast away his people whom he did foreknow; but they cast him off, they sold themselves. Now, if any child of God has fallen into trouble of heart, and has lost his comfort, let him not blame God; his sorrow is caused by his own act and deed. And if any man or woman here should be in deep trouble brought on by sin, let them not set it down to their destiny, let them not call God unkind; but let them take the blame to themselves: "For your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away."