(6) Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people . . .--Better, For Thou hast . . . This was the sad, dark present, in contrast with the bright future. Jehovah "went not forth" with the armies of Judah (Psalm 68:7); and the Syrians, Edomites, and Philistines, possibly the Assyrians also (2Kings 16:9; 2Chronicles 28:17-20), were laying the lands waste.

Because they be replenished from the east.--The disasters of the time are viewed as chastisements for sin, and the sin consisted in casting off their national allegiance to Jehovah. The "east," from which they were replenished, with which they filled their thoughts and life, was Syria and Mesopotamia, to whose influence they had yielded, and whose cultus Ahaz had adopted (2Kings 16:10-12).

And are soothsayers like the Philistines.--Literally, cloud-diviners. The word points to the claim of being "storm-raisers," which has been in all ages one of the boasts of sorcerers. The conquests of Uzziah (2Chronicles 26:6) had brought Judah into contact with the Philistines, and the oracles at Ekron and elsewhere (2Kings 1:2) attracted the people of Judah. There was, as it were, a mania for divination, and the "diviners" of Philistia (1Samuel 6:2) found imitators among the people of Jehovah.

They please themselves in the children of strangers.--Literally, they strike hands with, as meaning, (1) they enter into contracts with, or (2) they make common cause with. The commerce of the people with foreign nations, which had expanded under Uzziah (2Kings 14:22), was, from the prophet's point of view, the cause of much evil. It was probably conducted, as at an earlier date, chiefly by Phoenician sailors and merchants (1Kings 9:27), and thus opened the way to their impurity of worship and of life (Jonah 1:5). The sense of being a peculiar and separate people wore away. The pictures of the "strange woman" and the foreign money-lender of Proverbs 5:3; Proverbs 6:1, present two aspects of this evil.

Verse 6. - Therefore; rather, for. The prophet, in calling upon Israel to "walk in the light of the Lord," implies that they are not so walking. He then proceeds to give the reasons of this. They are not, "for God has forsaken them, or, cast them off." The first reason is because they be replenished from the east (Revised Version, "they be filled with customs from the east); i.e. they have adopted a number of Syrian, Assyrian, and Ammonite superstitions; e.g. high places, images, and "groves," the burning of their children in honor of Moloch, the use of divination and enchantment, etc. (2 Kings 15:4; 2 Kings 16:3, 4; 2 Kings 17:10-12, 16, 17, etc.). Most of these practices reached the Israelites from Syria, though many had their origin either in Assyria or Babylonia. Soothsayers, like the Philistines. The "diviners" of the Philistines are mentioned in 1 Samuel 6:2. By the word here employed, it would seem that they foretold the future from observations on the clouds and the general appearance of the sky. During the reign of Uzziah, the Israelites had been brought into closer contact with the Philistines than usual, through his conquest of several of their cities (2 Chronicles 26:6). They please themselves in the children of strangers; literally, strike hands with the children of strangers (comp. Job 27:23). This is thought to refer to striking hands upon a bargain (Cheyne), and to be an allusion to the commercial activity of the reigns of Uzziah and Jotham (2 Kings 14:22; 2 Kings 16:6). But perhaps it does not mean more than familiarity.

2:1-9 The calling of the Gentiles, the spread of the gospel, and that far more extensive preaching of it yet to come, are foretold. Let Christians strengthen one another, and support one another. It is God who teaches his people, by his word and Spirit. Christ promotes peace, as well as holiness. If all men were real Christians, there could be no war; but nothing answering to these expressions has yet taken place on the earth. Whatever others do, let us walk in the light of this peace. Let us remember that when true religion flourishes, men delight in going up to the house of the Lord, and in urging others to accompany them. Those are in danger who please themselves with strangers to God; for we soon learn to follow the ways of persons whose company we keep. It is not having silver and gold, horses and chariots, that displeases God, but depending upon them, as if we could not be safe, and easy, and happy without them, and could not but be so with them. Sin is a disgrace to the poorest and the lowest. And though lands called Christian are not full of idols, in the literal sense, are they not full of idolized riches? and are not men so busy about their gains and indulgences, that the Lord, his truths, and precepts, are forgotten or despised?Therefore thou hast forsaken thy people, the house of Jacob,.... These words contain a reason of the divine conduct, in calling the Gentiles, and rejecting the Jews, because of the sins of the latter hereafter mentioned; though some, as the Targum and R. Moses, refer this to the Israelites; and read, "because ye have forsaken", &c. and interpret it of their forsaking the Lord, his worship, and his law. What is hereafter said does not agree with the Jews, literally understood, neither in the times of Isaiah, nor when they returned from Babylon, nor in the times of Christ, nor since the destruction of Jerusalem, or in the latter day, a little before their conversion; for after the Babylonish captivity they were not given to idolatry, nor did they abound in riches, and much less since their dispersion among the nations; nor will this be their case in the latter day: wherefore Kimchi applies the whole to the times of Solomon, when the land abounded with gold and silver, with horses and chariots, and with idolatry also, in the latter part of his life: but it seems best to interpret this of antichrist and his followers, who call themselves the people of God, and the house of Jacob, say they are Jews, but are not, and are of the synagogue of Satan; and are therefore rejected of the Lord, and will be given up to utter ruin and destruction, for the evils found in them, hereafter charged with.

Because they be replenished from the east, or "more than the east" (s); than the eastern people, the Syrians and Chaldeans; that is, were more filled with witchcrafts and sorceries than they, as Kimchi explains it; of the sorceries of the Romish antichrist, see Revelation 9:21 the words may be rendered, "because they be full from of old time" (t); or, as of old, or more than they were of old; namely, fuller of idols than formerly; so the Targum paraphrases it,

"because your land is full of idols, as of old;''

and so Rome Papal is as full of idols, or fuller, than Rome Pagan was. Some, as Aben Ezra, understand this of their being filled with the wisdom of the children of the east, 1 Kings 4:30 and others of the riches of the east:

and are soothsayers like the Philistines: who were a people given to divination and soothsaying, 1 Samuel 6:2 and some of the popes of Rome have studied the black art, and by such wicked means have got into the Papal chair; for under this may be included all evil arts and fallacious methods, by which they have deceived themselves and others:

and they please themselves in the children of strangers; being brought into their convents, monasteries, and nunneries; the priests and nuns vowing celibacy and virginity, and contenting themselves with the children of others: or they love strange flesh, delight in sodomitical practices, and unnatural lusts with boys and men; wherefore Rome is called Sodom and Egypt, Revelation 11:8 or they content and delight themselves in the laws, customs, rites, ceremonies, and doctrines of other nations; many of the Gentile notions and practices being introduced into the faith and worship of the church of Rome; wherefore the Papists go by the name of Gentiles, Revelation 11:2. The Targum is,

"and they walk in the laws of the people,''

or study strange sciences, and not the statutes and laws of God; so some interpret it, as Ben Melech observes, and who also mentions another sense some give, that they please themselves in images they renew daily.

(s) "prae oriente, vel filiis orientis", Vatablus. (t) , Sept.; "ut olim", Vulg. Lat. Sic Syr. & Ar.