Isaiah 1:12

12 When ye come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to tread my courts?

Isaiah 1:12 Meaning and Commentary

Isaiah 1:12

When ye come to appear before me
At the grand festivals of the passover, pentecost, and tabernacles, at which times all the males in Israel appeared before God, ( Exodus 23:17 ) who hath required this at your hand;
either to appear at such times, these feasts being no more to be observed; or to offer the above sacrifices; these were not required of the Israelites when they first came out of Egypt, ( Jeremiah 7:22 ) nor were they necessary to appear before God with, or to introduce them to the throne of his grace, ( Micah 6:6 Micah 6:7 ) and much less under the Gospel dispensation, being abolished by the sacrifice of Christ; or this relates to what follows, to tread my courts?
in that unbecoming and hypocritical way they did, and with such wicked hearts and bloody hands. "Courts" are mentioned, because, as Kimchi observes, the Israelites stood in the courts of the Lord's house, and did not go into the temple, only the priests.

Isaiah 1:12 In-Context

10 Hear the word of the LORD, ye princes of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? shall the LORD say. I am full of the burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; and I do not delight in the blood of bullocks or of lambs or of he goats.

12 When ye come to appear before me, who has required this at your hand, to tread my courts?

13 Bring no more vain oblations; the incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot stand them; iniquity and the solemn meeting.

14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.