Isaiah 61:8

For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(8) I hate robbery for burnt offering.—The Authorised Version follows the Vulg, and Luther, but the words, commonly applied as condemning the formal sacrifices of the wicked, do not fit in with the context, and it is better to take the rendering of the LXX. and the Targum, I hate robbery with violence, as referring to the spoliation which Israel had suffered at the hands of the Chaldæans.

I will direct their work in truth.—Better—the word for “work” standing, as in Leviticus 19:13, Ezekiel 29:20, for its reward—I will appoint their recompense in faithfulness.

Benson Commentary

Isaiah 61:8-9. For I the Lord love judgment — I will do them right, for I love justice in myself, and in them that practise it. I hate robbery for burnt- offerings — I hate all things gotten by injustice, though they be for sacrifice. As God will not accept of that which cost nothing, so much less of that which is the effect of rapine and oppression. And I will direct their work in truth — I will lead them so, that they shall do all things in sincerity. They shall do good works with good intentions, and to good ends: they shall love truth, and walk in truth, and serve God in spirit and truth. I will make an everlasting covenant with them — Though they have broken covenant with me, yet I will renew my ancient covenant made with their fathers, confirmed with the blood of the Messiah; and it shall be everlasting, never to be abrogated. And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles — That is, eminently; a promise of the increase of the church: such shall be their prosperity and multiplying, that they shall be known abroad by their great increase: or else the meaning is, the church shall have a seed of the Gentiles; whereas the church has been confined to one corner of the world, now it shall remain in one nation alone no more, but shall fill all the nations of the earth. All shall acknowledge they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed — Such shall be the visible characters of God’s love to them, and of God’s grace in them.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

61:4-9 Promises are here made to the Jews returned out of captivity, which extend to all those who, through grace, are delivered out of spiritual thraldom. An unholy soul is like a city that is broken down, and has no walls, like a house in ruins; but by the power of Christ's gospel and grace, it is fitted to be a habitation of God, through the Spirit. When, by the grace of God, we attain to holy indifference as to the affairs of this world; when, though our hands are employed about them, our hearts are not entangled with them, but preserved entire for God and his service, then the sons of the alien are our ploughmen and vine-dressers. Those whom He sets at liberty, he sets to work. His service is perfect freedom; it is the greatest honour. All believers are made, to our God, kings and priests; and always ought to conduct themselves as such. Those who have the Lord for their portion, have reason to say, that they have worthy portion, and to rejoice in it. In the fulness of heaven's joys we shall receive more than double for all our services and sufferings. God desires truth, and therefore hates all injustice. Nor will it justify any man's robbery to say, it was for burnt-offerings; and that robbery is most hateful which is under this pretence. Let the children of godly parents be such, that all may see the fruits of a good education; an answer to the prayers for them, in the fruit of God's blessing.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

For I the Lord love judgment - That is, 'I shall delight in rendering to my people what is right. It is right that they should enjoy my protection, and be favored with the tokens of my kindness. Loving justice and right, therefore, I will confer on them the privileges and blessings which they ought to enjoy, and which will be a public expression of my favor and love.'

I hate robbery for burnt-offering - There has been great variety in the interpretation of this phrase. Lowth renders it, 'Who hate rapine and iniquity.' Noyes, 'I hate rapine and iniquity.' Jerome, as in our translation, Et odio habens rapinam in holocausto. The Septuagint, Μισῶν ἁρπάγματα ἐξ ἀδικίας Misōn harpagmata ech adikias - 'Hating the spoils of injustice.' The Chaldee, 'Far from before me be deceit and violence.' The Syriac, 'I hate rapine and iniquity.' This variety of interpretation has arisen from the different views taken of the Hebrew בעולה be‛ôlâh. The Syriac evidently prefixed the conjunction, ו (v), "and," instead of the preposition, ב (b), "with" or "for"; and, perhaps, also the Septuagint so read it. But this change, though slight, is not necessary in order to give a consistent rendering to the passage. The connection does not necessarily lead us to suppose that any reference would be made to 'burnt-offering,' and to the improper manner in which such offerings were made; but the idea is rather, that God hated rapine and sin; he hateth such acts as those by which his people had been removed from their land, and subjected to the evils of a long and painful captivity. And this is undoubtedly the sense of the passage. The Hebrew word עולה ‛ôlâh, usually without the ,ו means properly "a holocaust," or "what is made to ascend" (from עלה ‛âlâh, to ascend) from an altar. But the word here is the construct form for עולה ‛avı̂lâh, "evil, wickedness"; whence our word "evil" (see Job 24:20; Psalm 107:42). And the sense here is, hate rapine or plunder (גזל gāzēl) with iniquity;' that is, accompanied, as it always is, with iniquity and sin. And hating that as I do, I will vindicate my people who have been plundered in this way; and who have been borne into captivity, accompanied with deeds of violence and sin.

And I will direct their work in truth - literally, 'I will give them work in truth or faithfulness;' that is, I will give them the reward of their work faithfully. They shall be amply recompensed for all that they have done and suffered in my cause.

And I will make - (See the notes at Isaiah 55:3).

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

8. judgment—justice, which requires that I should restore My people, and give them double in compensation for their sufferings.

robbery for burnt offering—rather, from a different Hebrew root, the spoil of iniquity [Horsley]. So in Job 5:6. Hating, as I do, the rapine, combined with iniquity, perpetrated on My people by their enemies, I will vindicate Israel.

direct … work in truth—rather, "I will give them the reward of their work" (compare Isa 40:10, Margin; Isa 49:4, Margin; Isa 62:11, Margin) in faithfulness.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

For I the Lord love judgment: q.d. They have suffered a great deal of hardship under their enemies, and I will do them right; for I love justice in myself, and in them that practise it. Or he gives a reason why he will recompense those strangers that did so freely minister to his people.

I hate robbery; all things gotten by injustice, though it be for sacrifice. As God will not accept of that which cost nothing, so much less of that which is the effect of rapine and oppression; a foundation whereon most of our abbeys and monasteries were built, viz. to expiate some great crimes. And thus by making God a receiver, they did interpretatively make him a confederate. I will direct their work in truth; either, I will lead and guide them so that they shall do all things in sincerity; they shall do good works, and to good ends; they shall now love truth, and walk in truth, and serve him in spirit and truth: or, I will reward them: or, I will make their work stable and firm. Truth notes stability; See Poole "Isaiah 16:5"; work being here put metonymically for the reward of work, proportionably to their work.

I will make an everlasting covenant: q.d. Though you have broken covenant with me, and I have seemed to forsake you in giving you up to captivity; yet I will renew my ancient covenant made with your fathers, confirmed with the blood of Christ, and it shall be everlasting, never to be abrogated, viz. it shall be continued in the Gentiles that shall come in your rooms, that for breach of covenant were broken off.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For I the Lord love judgment,.... To do that which is right and just himself, and to see it done by others, and therefore he will right the wrongs of his people; and whereas the Jews, though they have justly suffered his vengeance for their sins, yet being reproached and abused beyond measure by the Gentiles, among whom they are dispersed; the Lord will look in mercy upon them, and will deliver and save them, and bestow favours plentifully on them, as in the preceding verse: or the Lord loves strict justice and real righteousness, and will not be put off with an imperfect righteousness in the room of a perfect one, and much less an insincere and hypocritical one, such as that of the unbelieving Jews, the pharisaical sect of them; nothing less is acceptable to God than a perfect righteousness, which is adequate to the demands of law and justice; and such a righteousness is not to be found among men, only in his Son Jesus Christ, and with which he is well pleased, Isaiah 42:21,

I hate robbery for burnt offering; that which is stolen, though it be converted into a burnt offering: or, "with a burnt offering" (c); all immorality, this being put for the whole, along with ceremonial sacrifices; as if it could be atoned for by them, or would be connived at on account of them: or,

by burnt offering; expiation of theft, or any other sin, by the sacrifices of the law, being offered up without faith in Christ; and especially since the great sacrifice, the antitype of them, is offered up; and therefore God will have no more offered up, they are displeasing and hateful to him, Isaiah 1:12,

and I will direct their work in truth; appoint them work and service of a spiritual nature, and direct them, and enable them to perform it in spirit and in truth, in opposition to the carnal and shadowy ordinances of the ceremonial law; see John 4:23,

and I will make an everlasting covenant with them; that is, renew the everlasting covenant of grace with them, make it manifest unto them; apply the grace and bestow the blessings of it to and on them, Romans 11:25.

(c) "rapinam conjunctam holocausto", Junius & Tremellius.

Geneva Study Bible

For I the LORD love judgment, I hate {q} robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.

(q) I will not receive their offerings who are extortioners, deceivers, hypocrites or that deprive me of my glory.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

8. Jehovah’s righteousness demands this reversal of the present relations of Israel and the heathen.

I hate robbery &c.] Render with R.V. I hate robbery with iniquity, and I will give them their recompense in truth (i.e. faithfully). Instead of שׂלָה (= burnt-offering) we must point עו̇לָה (= iniquity). The translation of the A.V. would shut us up to a wrong interpretation of the prophet’s thought. The robbery to which he refers is not that practised by Israelites on God (Malachi 3:8-9), but the iniquitous treatment of Israel by its foes.

an everlasting covenant] Cf. ch. Isaiah 55:3.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 8. - For I the Lord love judgment. Either "the Servant" here identifies himself with Jehovah, or he cites a declaration of Jehovah which he has authority to announce. Jehovah will restore the Israelites to their land because he "loves judgment" (equivalent to "justice") and hates injustice. The Babylonian conquest, though a judgment sent by him, is, so far as the Babylonians are concerned, a wrong and a "robbery." I hate robbery for burnt offering; rather, I hate robbery with wickedness (comp. Job 5:16; Psalm 58:3; Psalm 64:7; 92:16). The transplantation of nations was a gross abuse of the rights of conquest. I will direct their work in truth; rather, I will give them their recompense faithfully. As they have been wronged, they shall be righted; they shall be faithfully and exactly compensated for what they have suffered. Nay, more - over and above this, God will give them the blessing of an "everlasting covenant" (comp. Isaiah 55:3). Isaiah 61:8

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The shame of banishment will then be changed into an excess of joy, and honourable distinction. "Instead of shame ye will have double, and (instead) of insult they rejoice at their portion: thus in their land they will possess double; everlasting joy will they have. For I Jehovah love right, hate robbery in wickedness; and give them their reward in faithfulness, and conclude an everlasting covenant with them. And their family will be known among the nations, and their offspring in the midst of the nations: all who see them will recognise them, for they are a family that Jehovah hath blessed." The enigmatical first half of Isaiah 61:7 is explained in Isaiah 61:2, where mishneh is shown to consist of double possession in the land of their inheritance, which has not only been restored to them, but extended far beyond the borders of their former possession; and yârōnnū chelqâm (cf., Isaiah 65:14) denotes excessive rejoicing in the ground and soil belonging to them (according to the appointment of Jehovah): chelqâm as in Micah 2:4; and mishneh as equivalent not to כבוד משׁנה, but to ירשּׁה משׁנה. Taking this to be the relation between Isaiah 61:7 and Isaiah 61:7, the meaning of lâkhēn is not, "therefore, because they have hitherto suffered shame and reproach;" but what is promised in Isaiah 61:7 is unfolded according to its practical results, the effects consequent upon its fulfilment being placed in the foreground; so that there is less to astonish us in the elliptically brief form of Isaiah 61:7 which needed explanation. The transition from the form of address to that of declaration is the same as in Isaiah 1:29; Isaiah 31:6; Isaiah 52:14-15. וּכלמּה is a concise expression for כלמה ותחת, just as וּתהלּתי in Isaiah 48:9 is for תהלתי וּלמען. Chelqâm is either the accusative of the object, according to the construction of רנּן, which occurs in Psalm 51:16; or what I prefer, looking at חמה in Isaiah 42:25, and וּזבחיך in Isaiah 43:23, an adverbial accusative equals בחלקם. The lxx, Jerome, and Saad. render the clause, in opposition to the accents, "instead of your double shame and reproach;" but in that case the principal words of the clause would read הלקכם תּרנּוּ. The explanation adopted by the Targum, Saad., and Jerome, "shame on the part of those who rejoice in their portion," is absolutely impossible. The great majority of the modern commentators adopt essentially the same explanation of Isaiah 61:7 as we have done, and even A. E. Kimchi does the same. Hahn's modification, "instead of your shame is the double their portion, and (instead) of the insult this, that they will rejoice," forces a meaning upon the syntax which is absolutely impossible. The reason for the gracious recompense for the wrong endured is given in Isaiah 61:8, "Jehovah loves the right," which the enemies of Israel have so shamefully abused. "He hates בּעולה גזל, i.e., not rapinam in holocausto (as Jerome, Talmud b. Succa 30a, Luther, and others render it; Eng. ver. "robbery for burnt-offering") - for what object would there be in mentioning sacrifices here, seeing that only heathen sacrifices could be intended, and there would be something worse than gâzēl to condemn in them? - but robbery, or, strictly speaking, "something robbed in or with knavery" (lxx, Targ., Syr., Saad.), which calls to mind at once the cruel robbery or spoiling that Israel had sustained from the Chaldeans, its bōzezı̄m (Isaiah 42:24) - a robbery which passed all bounds. עולה is softened from עולה (from עול, עול), like עלתה in Job 5:16, and עולת in Psalm 58:3 and Psalm 64:7; though it is doubtful whether the punctuation assumes the latter, as the Targum does, and not rather the meaning holocaustum supported by the Talmud. For the very reason, therefore, that Israel had been so grievously ill-treated by the instruments of punishment employed by Jehovah, He would give those who had been ill-treated their due reward, after He had made the evil, which He had not approved, subservient to His own salutary purposes. פּעלּה is the reward of work in Leviticus 19:13, of hardship in Ezekiel 29:20; here it is the reward of suffering. This reward He would give בּאמת, exactly as He had promised, without the slightest deduction. The posterity of those who have been ill-treated and insulted will be honourably known (נודע as in Proverbs 31:23) in the world of nations, and men will need only to catch sight of them to recognise them (by prominent marks of blessing), for they are a family blessed of God. כּי, not quod (because), although it might have this meaning, but nam (for), as in Genesis 27:23, since hikkı̄r includes the meaning agnoscere (to recognise).