Bible Commentary

Isaiah 63:16

The Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 63:16

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

Doubtless thou art our Father; rather, for thou art our Father. This is the ground of their appeal to God. As their Father, he must love them, and must be ready to listen to them. Abraham and Isaac, their earthly fathers, were of no service, lent them no aid, seemed to have ceased to feel any interest in them.

It cannot be justly argued from this that the Jews looked to Abraham and Isaac as actual "patron saints," or directed towards them their religious regards. Had this been so, there would have been abundant evidence of it.

Thou, O Lord, art our Father (comp. ; and see also , and ). Though the relationship was revealed under the old covenant, it was practically realized only upon the rarest occasions.

Our Redeemer; thy name, etc.; rather, our Redeemer has been thy name from of old. "Redeemer" first appears as a name of God in Job () and in the Psalms (; ). It is an epitheton usitatum only in the later portion of Isaiah.

There it occurs thirteen times.

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commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 63:1-19SECTION IX.—THE JUDGMENT OF GOD ON IDUMAEA (Isaiah 63:1-6). EXPOSITIONJoseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryMatthew Henry on Isaiah 63:15-19They beseech him to look down on the abject condition of their once-favoured nation. Would it not be glorious to his name to remove the veil from their hearts, to return to the tribes of his inheritance? The Babylonish…Matthew HenrycommentaryEarnest Pleadings. (b. c. 706.)EARNEST PLEADINGS. (B. C. 706.) The foregoing praises were intended as an introduction to this prayer, which is continued to the end of the next chapter, and it is an affectionate, importunate, pleading prayer. It is ca…Matthew HenrycommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 63:15-17The unvarying Father. The habitation of God's holiness is the habitation of his glory; his glory is in his goodness, in his faithfulness (Exodus 33:19). His fatherhood of man remains and may be counted upon most confide…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 63:15-19The Church's prayer. One of extreme "spiritual beauty" (Cheyne). I. THE MAJESTY OF GOD. He is contemplated as in heaven, upon "a height of holiness and splendour:" and here, as in Psalms 80:14, is besought to "look down…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 63:15-19The right of God's people to address him with complaint and expostulation. No doubt the ordinary attitude of God's people towards their Maker and Ruler should be one of the most profound resignation and submission to hi…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 63:15-19A PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE FROM SIN AND SUFFERING. From thanksgiving and confession, the people betake themselves to prayer, and beseech God to look down from heaven once more, to have compassion on them, to acknowledge t…Joseph S. Exell and contributorscommentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Isaiah 63:16Good news concerning God. "Doubtless thou art our Father." The Jews were the children of God. But they had been for a long time so neglecting him that they had lost all the nearer and dearer thoughts of him; and imaged…Joseph S. Exell and contributors