Isaiah 30:10

30:8-18 The Jews were the only professing people God then had in the world, yet many among them were rebellious. They had the light, but they loved darkness rather. The prophets checked them in their sinful pursuits, so that they could not proceed without fear; this they took amiss. But faithful ministers will not be driven from seeking to awaken sinners. God is the Holy One of Israel, and so they shall find him. They did not like to hear of his holy commandments and his hatred of sin; they desired that they might no more be reminded of these things. But as they despised the word of God, their sins undermined their safety. Their state would be dashed in pieces like a potter's vessel. Let us return from our evil ways, and settle in the way of duty; that is the way to be saved. Would we be strengthened, it must be in quietness and in confidence, keeping peace in our own minds, and relying upon God. They think themselves wiser than God; but the project by which they thought to save themselves was their ruin. Only here and there one shall escape, as a warning to others. If men will not repent, turn to God, and seek happiness in his favour and service, their desires will but hasten their ruin. Those who make God alone their confidence, will have comfort. God ever waits to be gracious to all that come to him by faith in Christ, and happy are those who wait for him.

Which say to the seers, See not,.... The same with the prophets in the next clause, which explains this: and to the Prophets, prophesy not unto us right things; things agreeable to the mind and will of God, and which ought to be done; not that they, in so many words, said this, but this was the language of their hearts and actions. The Targum is, "who say to the prophets, prophesy not, and to the teachers, teach us not the doctrine of the law:'' speak unto us smooth things; that peace and prosperity should attend them, though they went on in their sinful courses: prophesy deceits; for to prophesy peace to them, when destruction was at hand, was to deceive them; and yet they chose rather to be told the one than the other.

He speaks not of the words of their mouths; for none could be so mad of impudent as to have or profess a desire to be cheated, but of the language of their actions. They do so discourage and threaten God’s faithful prophets, and so encourage their own false prophets, as if they had rather be deceived to their destruction, than hear the truth for their preservation and salvation. They prefer the pleasing of their humours before the saving of themselves.

10. (Mic 2:6, 11; 3:5). See not—as you now do, foretelling misfortune. Prophesy not … right things—Not that they avowedly requested this, but their conduct virtually expressed it. No man, professedly, wished to be deceived; but many seek a kind of teaching which is deceit; and which, if they would examine, they might know to be such (1Ki 22:13). The Jews desired success to be foretold as the issue of their league with Egypt, though ill had been announced by God's prophet as the result; this constituted the "deceits."

10 . the seers ] ( 1 Samuel 9:9 .) the prophets ] The word rightly rendered “seer” in Amos 7:12 and elsewhere. See on Isaiah 1:1 . The prophets referred to can hardly (in view of Isaiah 30:11 ) be merely the false prophets, who were at the beck and call of the people, but all representatives of the prophetic office. Cf. Amos 2:12 ; Amos 7:12 ; Hosea 9:7-8 ; Micah 2:6 ; Micah 2:11 ; Micah 3:5 ; Micah 3:11 ; Jeremiah 6:14 ; Jeremiah 14:13 ff.; Ezekiel 13:10 ff. deceits ] illusions ; the word is used only here. It is Isaiah’s own estimate that is put into the mouth of the people.

Verse 10. - Which say , etc. Not, of course, directly, in so many words. But indirectly they let it be understood that this was what they wished. Compare the advice given to Micaiah by Ahab's messenger, who, no doubt, correctly interpreted the wishes of the monarch and his nobles ( 1 Kings 22:13 ). Seers... prophets . Not two classes of persons, but two names for the same class. The" parallelism" of Hebrew poetry leads to the constant employment of synonymous clauses. Right things ; i.e. the truth in all its plainness. Smooth things ; i.e. soft, pleasant announcements. Deceits ; or, illusions (comp. Jeremiah 9:5 , "They will deceive" or "mock" - where we have the same root). Isaiah 30:10

Which say to the seers - The prophets (see the note at Isaiah 1:1 ). See not - They desire not that they should communicate to them the will of Yahweh. Prophesy not unto us right things - It is not probable that they "openly" demanded of the prophets that they should declare falsehood and deceit, but their conduct was as if they had required that. The sense is, they bore with impatience the theatenings and commands of the true prophets; they were offended at their plainness and their reproofs of their vices; and they preferred the false prophets, who fell in with their prejudices, and who did not denounce the judgment of God for their crimes. Speak unto us smooth things - That is, those things which are in accordance with our feelings, prejudices, and desires; which assure us of prosperity and success, and which will not disturb us with the apprehension of punishment. This was spoken particularly of their desire to make a league with Egypt, an enterprise for which the true prophets threatened them with the divine displeasure, but which probably the false prophets encouraged. Prophesy deceits - Not that they would openly and avowedly demand to be deceived, but they demanded that which the prophet says would be deceits. No man "professedly" desires to be deceived; but many a man is willing to put himself under that kind of teaching which is deceit, and which he might know to be falsehood if he would examine it.

It was necessary that the worthlessness of the help of Egypt should be placed in this way before the eyes of the people. "For it is a refractory people, lying children, children who do not like to hear the instruction of Jehovah, who say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things! Speak flatteries to us! Get out of the way, turn aside from the path, remove from our face the Holy One of Israel." On the expression ‛am merı̄ (a people of stubbornness), see at Isaiah 3:8 . The vowel-pointing of כחשׁהים follows the same rule as that of החכם. The prophet traces back their words to an unvarnished expression of their true meaning, just as he does in Isaiah 28:15 . They forbid the prophets of Jehovah to prophesy, more especially nekhōchōth, straight or true things (things not agreeable to their own wishes), but would rather hear chălâqōth, i.e., smooth, insinuating, and flattering things, and even mahăthallōth (from hâthal, Talm. tal, ludere), i.e., illusions or deceits. Their desire was to be entertained and lauded, not repelled and instructed. The prophets are to adopt another course (מנּי only occurs here, and that twice, instead of the more usual מנּי equals מן, after the form אלי, עלי), and not trouble them any more with the Holy One of Israel, whom they (at least Isaiah, who is most fond of calling Jehovah by this name) have always in their mouths.

12–13 . Jeroboam apparently took no account of the priest’s message. Accordingly Amaziah himself endeavours to induce Amos to leave the country. O thou seer ] or gazer ( ḥôzeh , not rô’eh , ‘seer,’ 1 Samuel 9:9 , though a synonym of it; see Isaiah 30:10 , quoted on Amos 1:1 ). Rô’eh is used in 1 Samuel 9:9 ; 1 Samuel 9:11 ; 1 Samuel 9:18-19 of Samuel, and we are told in Amos 7:9 that it was the oldest designation of the prophet; but it occurs elsewhere only in 1 Chronicles 9:22 ; 1 Chronicles 26:28 ; 1 Chronicles 29:29 (each time as an epithet of Samuel); 2 Chronicles 16:7 ; 2 Chronicles 16:10 (of Hanani); and in the plural, Isaiah 30:10 . Ḥôzeh is used of Gad, 2 Samuel 24:11 = 1 Chronicles 21:9 (‘David’s ḥôzeh ’); 2 Chronicles 29:25 (‘the king’s ḥôzeh ’); Heman, 1 Chronicles 25:5 (‘the king’s ḥôzeh ’); Iddo, 2 Chronicles 9:29 ; 2 Chronicles 12:15 ; Jehu, son of Hanani, 2 Chronicles 19:2 ; Asaph, 2 Chronicles 29:30 ; Jeduthun, 2 Chronicles 30:15 ; and in the plural, Isaiah 29:10 ("" prophets ), 2 Chronicles 30:10 ("" rô’îm ); Micah 3:7 ("" diviners ); 2 Chronicles 33:18 , and (prob.) 19. Both words are thus rare in the pre-exilic literature, rô’eh being applied as a title only to Samuel, and ḥôzeh only to Gad: their revival in the late Chronicles is remarkable.

The spirit of true prophecy is the spirit of the theocracy and of the religion of Jehovah, the spirit that comprehends its principles, sympathises with its lofty morality, understands its aims, and therefore can perceive the true means to be used for fulfilling them. The spirit of false prophecy is the untheocratic spirit, which, even when speaking in the name of Jehovah, has not entered with any profoundness into the nature and aims of his kingdom, and consequently misapprehends the means needful to further it. In his encounters with the prophets of his day Jeremiah opposes them in three spheres: that of policy; that of morals; and that of personal experience. In policy the genuine prophets had some fixed principles, all arising out of the idea that the kingdom of the Lord was not a kingdom of this world. Hence they opposed military preparation ( Psalm 20:7 ), riding on horses and building of fenced cities ( Hosea 14:3 ; Micah 5:10-11 ; Isaiah 31:1 ), and counselled trust in Jehovah ( Isaiah 7:9 ; Isaiah 10:20-21 ; Isaiah 17:7 ; Isaiah 30:15 ). These prophets were moving forward (often unconsciously) towards that conception of the kingdom of God which has been realized in the “Church;” and external providence was shaping the history of the nation on lines parallel to this conception, which eventually received form by the destruction of the state and the reduction of the people to be a mere religious community.