Biblion Bible Commentary
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You Are Our Father
Isaiah 63:7-19
7 I will tell of the loving kindnesses of Yahweh and the praises of Yahweh, according to all that Yahweh has given to us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which he has given to them according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses. · WEB
A prayer that reviews the whole history, and says God was afflicted in his people's affliction.
I will tell of the loving kindnesses of Yahweh... according to all that Yahweh has given to us Isaiah 63:7.
The longest prayer in the book begins, and it runs to the end of chapter sixty-four. It opens with recital rather than request.
For he said, "Surely, they are my people, children who will not deal falsely;" so he became their Savior Isaiah 63:8.
The expectation is quoted and the history disproves it. He said it anyway.
In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and in his pity he redeemed them. He bore them, and carried them all the days of old Isaiah 63:9.
The first clause is among the most remarkable in the Old Testament. Their suffering is described as his — not observed, but shared, and the phrasing makes it simultaneous. The Hebrew is disputed and the English translations divide, but the reading given here is the ancient one and the book supports it: this is the God who says he has been burdened and wearied Isaiah 43:24 and who cries out like a woman in labor Isaiah 42:14.
But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. Therefore he turned and became their enemy Isaiah 63:10.
Grieving the Spirit is a phrase Paul takes up Ephesians 4:30, and it presumes someone who can be hurt.
Then he remembered the days of old, Moses and his people, saying, "Where is he who brought them up out of the sea?" Isaiah 63:11.
The question is asked by the people, looking back at the exodus and unable to find the God who did it.
As the livestock that go down into the valley, Yahweh's Spirit caused them to rest Isaiah 63:14.
Animals coming down off a hillside into a sheltered valley at evening. It is the gentlest image in the chapter and it is used of the wilderness generation.
Where are your zeal and your mighty acts? The yearning of your heart and your compassion is restrained toward me Isaiah 63:15.
The complaint is not that God is absent but that something in him is being held back.
For you are our Father, though Abraham doesn't know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, Yahweh, are our Father Isaiah 63:16.
Said twice, and the ground is unusual. Descent from Abraham is set aside as no help — the ancestors would not recognize this generation — and the appeal goes over their heads to a fatherhood that does not depend on the family tree.
O Yahweh, why do you make us wander from your ways, and harden our heart from your fear? Isaiah 63:17.
The hardening of chapter six, prayed about rather than explained, and the request that follows is simply return.
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