Isaiah 57:16

16 For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for by me is the spirit covered by the body, and I have made the souls.

Isaiah 57:16 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 57:16

For I will not contend for ever
By afflictive providences; with the humble and contrite, the end being in a great measure answered by their humiliation and contrition; when God afflicts his people, it shows that he has a controversy with them, for their good, and his own glory; and when these ends are obtained, he will carry it on no longer: neither will I be always wroth;
as he seems to be in the apprehensions of his people, when he either hides his face from them, or chastises them with a rod of affliction: for the spirit should fail before me;
the spirit of the afflicted, which not being able to bear up any longer under the affliction, would sink and faint, or be "overwhelmed", as the word F3 signifies: and the souls which I have made;
which are of God's immediate creation, and which are also renewed by his grace, and made new creatures. The proselytes Abraham made are called the souls he made in Haran, ( Genesis 12:5 ) , much more may this be said of the Father of spirits, the author both of the old and new creation. The Lord knowing the weakness of the human frame, therefore restrains his hand, or moderates or removes the affliction; see a like reason in ( Psalms 78:38 ) ( Psalms 103:9 Psalms 103:13 Psalms 103:14 ) , the last days of trouble to God's people, which will be the time of the slaying of the witnesses, will be such that if they are not shortened, no flesh can be saved, but for the elect's sake they will be shortened, ( Matthew 24:22 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F3 (Pwjey) "obrueretur", Junius & Tremellius, Vitriuga; "in deliquium incideret", Piscator, Gataker.

Isaiah 57:16 In-Context

14 And shall say, Clear away, clear away, level the way, take away the stumblingblocks out of the way of my people.
15 For thus has said the high and lofty One that inhabits eternity, whose name is The Holy One; I dwell in the high place and in holiness and with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit to cause the spirit of the humble to live and to cause the heart of the contrite ones to live.
16 For I will not contend for ever, neither will I be always wroth: for by me is the spirit covered by the body, and I have made the souls.
17 For the iniquity of his covetousness I was wroth and smote him: I hid my face and was wroth, and he went on rebelliously in the way of his heart.
18 I have seen his ways and will heal him: I will lead him also and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners.
The Jubilee Bible (from the Scriptures of the Reformation), edited by Russell M. Stendal, Copyright © 2000, 2001, 2010