Isaiah 30:1 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Isaiah 30:1
Woe to the rebellious children, saith the LORD, that take counsel, but not of me; and that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit, that they may add sin to sin:
to turn away · verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
children
בָּנִ֤יםba.Nim
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
saith
נְאֻםne.'um-
H5002
an oracle · noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָ֔הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
take
לַעֲשׂ֤וֹתla.'a.Sot
H6213
to do or make · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
counsel
עֵצָה֙'e.Tzah
H6098
advice · noun, common feminine singular absolute
cover
וְלִנְסֹ֥ךְve.lin.Sokh
H5258
to pour out · conjunction + preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
covering
מַסֵּכָ֖הma.se.Khah
H4541
properly · noun, common feminine singular absolute
spirit
רוּחִ֑יru.Chi
H7307
wind · noun, common both genders singular construct + pronominal suffix, 1st person feminine singular
add
סְפ֥וֹתse.Fot
H5595
properly · verb, qal infinitive construct
sin
חַטָּ֖אתcha.Tat
H2403
an offence (sometimes habitual sinfulness) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
sin
חַטָּֽאתcha.Tat
H2403
an offence (sometimes habitual sinfulness) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Isaiah 65:2 I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts;
Isaiah 1:2 Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against m…
Isaiah 63:10 But they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit: therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them.
Hosea 7:13 Woe unto them! for they have fled from me: destruction unto them! because they have transgressed against me: though I have redeemed them, ye…
Isaiah 29:15 Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knowe…
Hosea 4:10-12 For they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall commit whoredom, and shall not increase: because they have left off to take heed to the…
Romans 2:5 But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgme…
Acts 7:51-52 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 30:1-7
It was often the fault and folly of the people of the Jews that, when they were insulted by their neighbours on one side, they sought for succour from their neighbours on the other side, instead of looking up to God and putting their confidence in him. Against the Israelites they sought to the Syrians, Ch2 16:2, Ch2 16:3. Against the Syrians they sought to the Assyrians, Kg2 16:7. Against the Assyrians they here sought to the Egyptians, and Rabshakeh upbraided them with so doing, Kg2 18:21. Now observe here,
I. How this sin of theirs is described, and what there was in it that was provoking to God. When they saw themselves in danger and distress, 1. They would not consult God. They would do…
Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord,.... The Jews, who were, by national adoption, and by outward profession of religion, the "children" of God, but were apostates from him, had turned their backs upon him, deviated from his law, and departed from his worship and ordinances; and therefore a woe is pronounced against them, or they are called upon to consider of their evil ways, and return, that iniquity might not be their ruin:
that take counsel, but not of me; they met and consulted together about their safety, when in danger, but did not ask counsel of the Lord; they did not consult his word, nor his prophets, nor by Urim and Thummim, as in case of war they should more especiall…
Woe to the rebellious children. The Prophet exclaims against the Jews, because, when they were unable to bear the burden, when they were hard pressed by the Assyrians and other enemies, they fled to Egypt for help. This reproof might appear to be excessively severe, were we merely to consider that weak and miserable men, especially when they are unjustly oppressed, have a right to ask assistance even from wicked persons; for it is a principle implanted in us by nature, that all human beings should willingly, and of their own accord, endeavour to assist each other. But when we come to the very sources, we shall find that no ordinary or inconsiderable guilt had been contracted by the people.…
The Church Fathers
Moreover, in the same [Gospel] he also says, "All who have come before are thieves and robbers." Who are such but the deserters of the faith and the transgressors of God's church, who strive against God's ordinance—whom the Holy Spirit rightly rebukes by the prophet, saying, "You have taken counsel, but not by me; and have made a confederacy, but not by my Spirit, to add sin to sin."
Reprimand is disapproval expressed in correction or strongly worded blame. The Educator resorts to this method of training when he says through Isaiah, "Woe to you, apostate children, says the Lord, that you would take counsel and not of me, and make treaties and not of my Spirit." He flavors each pronouncement in turn with the tart spice of fear to whet the appetite of his people for salvation and make them more aware of it, just as wool to be dyed is usually steeped first in an astringent to prepare it to preserve the dye.
Let every man and woman among us, whether meeting together at church, or remaining at home, call upon God with much earnestness, and He will doubtless accede to these petitions. Whence does this appear evident? Because He is exceedingly desirous, that we should always take refuge in Him, and in everything make our requests unto Him; and do nothing and speak nothing without Him. For men, when we trouble them repeatedly concerning our affairs, become slothful and evasive, and conduct themselves unpleasantly towards us; but with God it is quite the reverse. Not when we apply to him continually respecting our affairs, but when we fail to do so, then is he especially displeased. Hear at least what He reproves the Jews for, when He says, "Ye have taken counsel, but not of Me, and made treaties, but not by My Spirit." For this is the custom of those who love; they desire that all the concerns of their beloved should be accomplished by means of themselves; and that they should neither do anything, nor say anything, without them. On this account did God not only on that occasion, but again elsewhere, uttering a reproof, speak the same language. "They have reigned, but not by Me; they have ruled, and they made it not known to Me." Let us not then be slow to take refuge in Him continually; and whatever be the evil, it will in any case find its appropriate solution.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Hezekiah — Whom Jehovah has strengthened. (1.) Son of Ahaz (2 Kings 18:1; 2 Chr. 29:1), whom he succeeded on the throne of the kingdom of Judah. He reigned twenty-nine years (B.C. 726-697). The history of this…
Confidence · FALSE — FALSE
Godlessness · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Holy Spirit · 31:3;35:31; — 31:3;35:31;
Jealousy · Attributed to Go — Attributed to Go
Nation · Sins of — Sins of
Rebellion Against God · They who are guilty of: Denounced — They who are guilty of: Denounced
Sin · .Progressive — .Progressive
Sins, National · Denunciations against — Denunciations against
Titles And Names Of The Wicked · Rebellious children — Rebellious children
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
After threatening Judah with judgment because of their stubbornness and their reliance on Egypt (30:1-17), God again committed himself to deal compassionately with his people and to break the power of their enemies.
30:1-5 This prophecy was against Judah’s dependence on Egypt. It is the fourth of the six woes (see study note on 28:1–33:24).
30:1 The wisdom of the people of Judah was not directed by God’s Spirit (cp. 11:2); instead, they had formed alliances that God did not approve of. Although the Assyrian attack on Jerusalem was overwhelming, making an alliance with Egypt demonstrated that the leaders of Judah depended on human resources for their protection rather than on God. Fortunate…
rebellious (סוֹרְרִים) who turn away from the way of God.
and to appoint a ruler (וְלִנְסֹךְ מַסֵּכָה) to appoint a ruler to rule over them, with neither My spirit nor My will in the matter, and what is this appointing? This is Pharaoh.
