[1] Jehovah here challenges Israel to a formal trial: _nocach_
is thus used in a reciprocal sense, and with the same
meaning as _nishpat_ in ch. xliii. 26 (Ges. § 51, 2). In
such a trial Israel must lose, for Israel's
self-righteousness rests upon sham righteousness; and this
sham righteousness, when rightly examined, is but
unrighteousness dripping with blood. It is taken for
granted that this must be the result of the investigation.
Israel is therefore worthy of death. Yet Jehovah will not
treat Israel according to His retributive justice, but
according to His free compassion. He will remit the
punishment, and not only regard the sin as not existing,
but change it into its very opposite. The reddest possible
sin shall become, through His mercy, the purest white. On
the two _hiphils_ applied to colour, see Ges. § 53, 2;
though he gives the meaning incorrectly, viz., "to take a
colour," whereas the words signify rather to emit a colour,
not _colorem accipere,_ but _colorem dare. Shâne, bright
red (the plural _shânim,_ as in Prov. xxxi. 21, signified
materials dyed with _shâni_) and _tolâ,_ warm colour, are
simply different names for the same colour, viz., the
crimson obtained from the cochineal insect, _color
coccineus._
The representation of the work of grace promised by God as
a change from red to white is founded upon the symbolism of
colours, quite as much as when the saints in the Revelation
(ch. xix. 8) are described as clothed in white raiment,
whilst the clothing of Babylon is purple and scarlet (ch.
xvii. 4). Red is the colour of fire, and therefore of life:
the blood is red because life is a fiery process. For this
reason the heifer, from which the ashes of purification
were obtained for those who had been defiled through
contact with the dead, was to be red; and the
sprinkling-bush, with which the unclean were sprinkled, was
to be tied around with a band of scarlet wool. But red, as
contrasted with white, the colour of light (Matt. xvii. 2),
is the colour of selfish, covetous, passionate life, is
which is self-seeking in its nature, which goes out of
itself only to destroy, and drives about with wild
tempestuous violence: it is therefore the colour of wrath
and sin. It is generally supposed that Isaiah speaks of red
as the colour of sin, because sin ends in murder; and this
is not really wrong, though it is too restricted. Sin is
called red, inasmuch as it is a burning heat which consumes
a man, and when it breaks forth consumes his fellow-man as
well. According to the biblical view, throughout, sin
stands in the same relation to what is well-pleasing to
God, and wrath in the same relation to love or grace, as
fire to light; and therefore as red to white, to black to
white, for red and black are colours which border upon one
another. In the Song of Solomon (ch. vii. 5), the black
locks of Shulamith are described as being "like purple,"
and Homer applies the same epithet to the dark waves of the
sea. But the ground of this relation lies deeper still. Red
is the colour of fire, which flashes out of darkness and
returns to it again; whereas white, without any admixture
of darkness, represents the pure, absolute triumph of
light. It is a deeply significant symbol of the act of
justification. Jehovah offers to Israel an _actio
forensis,_ out of which it shall come forth justified by
grace, although it has merited death on account of its
sins. The righteousness, white as snow and wool, with which
Israel comes forth, is a gift conferred upon it out of pure
compassion, without being conditional upon any legal
performance whatsoever.--_Delitzch, Commentary on Isaiah,_
vol. i. pp. 98, 99.
A subordinate point in the imagery is, that scarlet and
crimson were the _firmest_ of dyes, least capable of being
washed out.--_Dr. Kay._
[2] The strong men are fallen; even Solomon himself, and David,
and Noah, and Lot, and Samson, and Peter, the lights of the
world, fell like stars from heaven. These tall cedars,
strong oaks, fair pillars, lie in the dust, whose tops
glittered in the air; that "they which think they stand may
take heed lest they fall." Can I look upon these ruins
without compassion? or remember them without fear, unless I
be a reprobate, and my heart of flint? Who am I that I
should stand like a shrub, when these cedars are blown down
to the ground, and showed themselves but men? The best man
is but a man: the worst are worse than beasts. No man is
untainted but Christ. They who had greater gifts than we,
they who had deeper roots than we, they who had stronger
hearts than we, they who had more props than we, are fallen
like a bird which is weary of her flight, and turned back
like the wind, in the twinkling of an eye. What shall we do
then, when we hear of other men's faults? Not talk of them
as we do, but beware by them, and think--Am I better than
he? Am I stronger than Samson? Am I wiser than Solomon? Am
I chaster than David? Am I soberer than Noah? Am I firmer
than Peter? There is no salt but may lose its saltiness, no
wine but may lose its strength, no flower but may lose its
scent, no light but may be eclipsed, no beauty but may be
stained, no fruit but may be blasted, no soul but may be
corrupted. We stand all in a slippery place, where it is
easy to slide and hard to get up.--_Henry Smith,_ 1592.
[3] Man may be willing to forgive a mite, the Lord a million;
three hundred pence and ten thousand talents are all one to
His mercy.--_Adams_, 1653.
He is rich in mercy, abundant in goodness and truth. Thy
sins are like a spark of fire that falls into the ocean, it
is quenched presently; so are all thy sins in the ocean of
God's mercy. There is not more water in the sea than there
is mercy in God.--_Manton,_ 1620-1667.
Why dost thou not believe in God's mercy? Is it thy sins
discourage? God's mercy can pardon great sins, nay, because
they are great (Ps. xxv. 11). The sea covers great rocks as
well as lesser sands.--_Watson,_ 1696.
[4] Joy is the highest testimony that can be given to our
complacency in any thing or person. Love or joy is a fuel
to the fire; if love lay little fuel of desires on the
heart, then the flame of joy that comes thence will not be
great. Now God's joy is great in pardoning poor sinners
that come in; therefore His affection is great in the offer
thereof. It is made the very motive that prevails with God
to pardon sinners, "Because He delighteth in mercy," "Who
is a God like unto Thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and
passeth by the transgression of the remnant of His
heritage? He retaineth not His anger for ever, for He
delighteth in mercy." God doth all this, "because He
delighteth in mercy."
Ask why the fisher stands all night with his angle in the
river; he will tell you, because he delights in the sport.
Well, you know now the reason why God stands so long
waiting on sinners, months, years, preaching to them; it is
that He may be gracious in pardoning them, and in that act
delight Himself. Princes very often pardon traitors to
please others more than themselves, or else it would never
be done; but God doth it chiefly to delight and gladden His
own merciful heart. Hence the business Christ came about
(which was no other but to reconcile sinners to God) is
called "the pleasure of the Lord" (Isa.
liii. 10).--_Gurnall,_ 1617-1679.
Many people get a wrong idea of God by thinking of Him as
infinite only in justice and power; but infinite applies to
the feelings of God as much as to the stretch of His right
hand. There is nothing in His nature which is not
measureless. Many think God sits brooding in heaven, as
storms brood in summer skies, full of bolts and rain, and
believe that they must come to Him under the covert of some
apology, or beneath some umbrellaed excuse, lest the clouds
should break, and the tempest overwhelm them. But when men
repent towards God, they go not to storms, but to serene
and tranquil skies, and to a Father who waits to receive
them with all tenderness and delicacy and love. His eye is
not dark with vengeance, nor His heart turbulent with
wrath; and to repent towards His justice and vindictiveness
must always be from a lower motive than to repent towards
His generosity and love. When you wish to please God, treat
Him as one who feels sorry for sinners; treat Him as one
who longs to help those who need help; go to Him
confidingly. No matter how bad you are--the worse the
better. Old Martin Luther said, "I bless God for my sins."
He would never have had such a sense of the pardoning mercy
of God if he had not himself been sinful. But as much as
you are wicked, God is glorious in restoring you to purity.
Let Him do for you those things which are the most generous
and magnanimous, and that will please Him best. He is a
Being whose feelings and affections move on such vast lines
of latitude and longitude, that the more you presume upon
His goodness, and cast yourself before Him saying, "I need
a miracle of grace and mercy," the better He is pleased.
Now I beseech you to kindle up a thought of what your
mother would do if you were a sinful, heart-broken,
discouraged man, but repentant, saying, "I have trod the
thorny way of life, and learned its mischief, can you,
mother, help me to begin anew?" What mother would cast away
such a son? What father would not receive a son on such
terms? And if earthly parents can lift themselves up into
feelings of holy sympathy for a repentant child, what must
be the feelings of God when His children come to him for
help to break away from sin, and to lead lives of
rectitude? Read the 15th chapter of Luke, and find out what
God's feelings are; and then say, "I will arise, and go to
my Father."--_Beecher._