The Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 1:6

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

From the sole of the foot even unto the head (comp. Job 2:7). From top to bottom, the body corporate is diseased throughout—there is no soundness in it (cf. Psalms 38:3, Psalms 38:7)—all is one wound, one livid bruise, one festering sore.

Note the use of the singular number in the original. They have not been closed; literally, they have not been pressed; which is explained to mean (Aben Ezra, Kay) that they have not had the matter formed by suppuration pressed out of them.

Neither bound up; i.e. not bandaged, Neither mollified with ointment; rather, with oil. On the treatment of wounds and ulcers with oil m ancient times, see 'Hippocrat; De Ulceribus,' § 4; Galen; 'De Compos.

Medic.,' § 2; and comp. Luke 10:34. Recent medical science has revived the practice, and wounds of all kinds are now frequently treated with nothing but carbolic oil. The general sentiment of the entire passage is that there has been no medical treatment of the wounds of any kind; they have been left to themselves, to spread corruption over the whole body—no attempt has been made to cure them.

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