Isaiah 59

11. roar--moan plaintively, like a hungry bear which growls for food.
doves--( Isaiah 38:14 , Ezekiel 7:16 ).
salvation--retribution in kind: because not salvation, but "destruction" was "in their paths" ( Isaiah 59:7 ).

12. ( Daniel 9:5 , &c.).
thee . . . us--antithesis.
with us--that is, we are conscious of them ( Job 12:3 , Margin; Job 15:9 ).
know--acknowledge they are our iniquities.

13. The particulars of the sins generally confessed in Isaiah 59:12 ( Isaiah 48:8 , Jeremiah 2:19 Jeremiah 2:20 ). The act, the word, and the thought of apostasy, are all here marked: transgression and departing, &c.; lying (compare Isaiah 59:4 ), and speaking, &c.; conceiving and uttering from the heart.

14. Justice and righteousness are put away from our legal courts.
in the street--in the forum, the place of judicature, usually at the gate of the city ( Zechariah 8:16 ).
cannot enter--is shut out from the forum, or courts of justice.

15. faileth--is not to be found.
he that departeth . . . prey--He that will not fall in with the prevailing iniquity exposes himself as a prey to the wicked ( Psalms 10:8 Psalms 10:9 ).
Lord saw it--The iniquity of Israel, so desperate as to require nothing short of Jehovah's interposition to mend it, typifies the same necessity for a Divine Mediator existing in the deep corruption of man; Israel, the model nation, was chosen to illustrate his awful fact.

16. no man--namely, to atone by his righteousness for the unrighteousness of the people. "Man" is emphatic, as in 1 Kings 2:2 ; no representative man able to retrieve the cause of fallen men ( Isaiah 41:28 , Isaiah 63:5 Isaiah 63:6 , Jeremiah 5:1 , Ezekiel 22:30 ).
no intercessor--no one to interpose, "to help . . . uphold" ( Isaiah 63:5 ).
his arm--( Isaiah 40:10 , 51:5 ). Not man's arm, but His alone ( Psalms 98:1 , 44:3 ).
his righteousness--the "arm" of Messiah. He won the victory for us, not by mere might as God, but by His invincible righteousness, as man having "the Spirit without measure" ( Isaiah 11:5 , Isaiah 42:6 Isaiah 42:21 , 51:8 , 53:11 , 1 John 2:1 ).

17. Messiah is represented as a warrior armed at all points, going forth to vindicate His people. Owing to the unity of Christ and His people, their armor is like His, except that they have no "garments of vengeance" (which is God's prerogative, Romans 12:19 ), or "cloak of zeal" (in the sense of judicial fury punishing the wicked; this zeal belongs properly to God, 2 Kings 10:16 , Romans 10:2 , Philippians 3:6 ; "zeal," in the sense of anxiety for the Lord's honor, they have, Numbers 25:11 Numbers 25:13 , Psalms 69:9 , 2 Corinthians 7:11 , 9:2 ); and for "salvation," which is of God alone ( Psalms 3:8 ), they have as their helmet, "the hope of salvation" ( 1 Thessalonians 5:8 ). The "helmet of salvation" is attributed to them ( Ephesians 6:14 Ephesians 6:17 ) in a secondary sense; namely, derived from Him, and as yet only in hope, not fruition ( Romans 8:24 ). The second coming here, as often, is included in this representation of Messiah. His "zeal" ( John 2:15-17 ) at His first coming was but a type of His zeal and vengeance against the foes of God at His second coming ( 2 Thessalonians 1:8-10 Revelation 19:11-21 ).

18. deeds--Hebrew, "recompenses"; "according as their deeds demand" [MAURER]. This verse predicts the judgments at the Lord's second coming, which shall precede the final redemption of His people ( Isaiah 66:18 Isaiah 66:15 Isaiah 66:16 ).

19. ( Isaiah 45:6 , Malachi 1:11 ). The result of God's judgments ( Isaiah 26:9 , 66:18-20 ).
like a flood--( Jeremiah 46:7 Jeremiah 46:8 , Revelation 12:15 ).
lift up a standard--rather, from a different Hebrew root, "shall put him to flight," "drive him away" [MAURER]. LOWTH, giving a different sense to the Hebrew for "enemy" from that in Isaiah 59:18 , and a forced meaning to the Hebrew for "Spirit of the Lord," translates, "When He shall come as a river straitened in its course, which a mighty wind drives along."

20. to Zion-- Romans 11:26 quotes it, "out of Zion." Thus Paul, by inspiration, supplements the sense from Psalms 14:7 : He was, and is come to Zion, first with redemption, being sprung as man out of Zion. The Septuagint translates "for the sake of Zion." Paul applies this verse to the coming restoration of Israel spiritually.
them that turn from--( Romans 11:26 ). "shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob"; so the Septuagint, Paul herein gives the full sense under inspiration. They turn from transgression, because He first turns them from it, and it from them ( Psalms 130:4 , Lamentations 5:21 ).

21. covenant with them . . . thee--The covenant is with Christ, and with them only as united to Him ( Hebrews 2:13 ). Jehovah addresses Messiah the representative and ideal Israel. The literal and spiritual Israel are His seed, to whom the promise is to be fulfilled ( Psalms 22:30 ).
spirit . . . not depart . . . for ever--( Jeremiah 31:31-37 , Matthew 28:20 ).