severe (in various applications) · adjective, masculine singular absolute
neck
עָרְפֶּ֔ךָ'a.re.Pe.kha
H6203
the nape or back of the neck (as declining) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
iron
בַּרְזֶל֙bar.Zel
H1270
iron (as cutting) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
sinew
וְגִ֤ידve.Gid
H1517
a thong (as compressing) · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct
brow
וּמִצְחֲךָ֖u.mitz.cha.Kha
H4696
the forehead (as open and prominent) · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
brass
נְחוּשָֽׁהne.chu.Shah
H5154
copper · 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
Acts 7:51 Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye.
Exodus 32:9 And the LORD said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiffnecked people:
Zechariah 7:11-12 But they refused to hearken, and pulled away the shoulder, and stopped their ears, that they should not hear.
Proverbs 29:1 He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.
Ezekiel 3:4-9 And he said unto me, Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them.
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…
Jeremiah 5:3 O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refuse…
Jeremiah 19:15 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronoun…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Isaiah 48:1-8
We may observe here,
I. The hypocritical profession which many of the Jews made of religion and relation to God. To those who made such a profession the prophet is here ordered to address himself, for their conviction and humiliation, that they might own God's justice in what he had brought upon them. Now observe here,
1. How high their profession of religion soared, what a fair show they made in the flesh and how far they went towards heaven, what a good livery they wore and what a good face they put upon a very bad heart. (1.) They were the house of Jacob; they had a place and a name in the visible church. Jacob have I loved. Jacob is God's chosen; and they are not only retainers to his fa…
obstinate--Hebrew, "hard" (Deu 9:27; Eze 3:7, Margin).
iron sinew--inflexible (Act 7:51).
brow brass--shameless as a harlot (see Jer 6:28; Jer 3:3; Eze 3:7, Margin).
John Gill on Isaiah 48:4
Because I knew that thou art obstinate,.... Or "hard" (a), hard hearted, an obdurate and rebellious people, contradicting and gainsaying:
and thy neck is as an iron sinew; stiffnecked, inflexible, not compliant with the will of God, and his commands; unwilling to admit his yoke, and bear it:
and thy brow brass; impudent, not ashamed of sin, nor blushing at it, refusing to receive correction for it, having a whore's forehead. This the Lord knew and foreknew, and therefore declared before hand what would come to pass unto them; who otherwise would have had the assurance to have ascribed them to themselves, or their idols, and not to him.
(a) "quod durus tu es", Pagninus, Montanus; "te dur…
For I knew that thou art obstinate. Literally it is, "On account of my knowing," or, "From nay knowing." Here the Lord solemnly declares by the Prophet, that it was on account of the hard-heartedness of the people that he spake of future events; as if he had said that he acted more liberally towards them than he ought to have done. Not that this was the only end which he aimed at; for we know that the chief use of doctrine belongs to believers, who gently submit themselves and cheerfully obey; but Isaiah, who had to deal with obstinate men, justly says that, if their depravity had not been incurable, God made use of an excellent remedy, by uttering many successive predictions for the purpose…
The Church Fathers
These words would not be of any help to you if you had not been already warned. Nevertheless, dwelling in my loving-kindness, I still bear witness and distinguish you from those assembled in Babylon and the Chaldeans about to attack you. Open your eyes! As you see the foretold destruction taking hold when the warriors come from Babylon, you will know with understanding that God has told you these things would happen and you can call on his help when the predicted end strikes. These things are available to you from my words.
Perchance he will say to me, who am not reformed even by blows, "I know that you are obstinate and your neck is an iron sinew, the heedless is heedless, and the lawless person acts lawlessly, and for nothing comes correction from heaven and the scourges." The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed, as I once reprimanded you by the mouth of Jeremiah: "The founder melted the silver in vain; your wickednesses are not melted away." … May it not be that I should ever, among other chastisements, be thus approached by him who is good, and yet by my own contrariness continue to walk against his goodness. This causes God to walk against me in fury.
Instructed by this passage, the divine Stephen in his turn says to the Jews, "You stiff-necked, uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your ancestors did, so do you." And also through the mouth of the prophet Jeremiah, the God of the universe has declared to them, "You have had the appearance of a prostitute; you refuse to be ashamed." It is this shamelessness that [Isaiah] likewise alludes to by [the phrase] "brazen forehead." The forehead of a brass statue does not blush. Similarly, you no longer blush when you commit evil or when you are confronted or chastised.… In this way he has described with greater clarity their spirit of disobedience. For they voluntarily refused to listen, because they did not even desire to hear the words of God.
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
Brass — Which is an alloy of copper and zinc, was not known till the thirteenth century. What is designated by this word in Scripture is properly copper (Deut. 8:9). It was used for fetters (Judg. 16:21; 2…
Impenitence · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Iron · Illustrative: Of stubbornness — Illustrative: Of stubbornness
Self-Will · God knows — God knows
Self-Will And Stubbornness · God knows — God knows
Sinews · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
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 this summons, and description of those who are summoned, the address of Jehovah begins. "The first I have long ago proclaimed, and it has gone forth out of my mouth, and I caused it to be heard. I carried it out suddenly, and it came to pass. Because I knew that thou art hard, and thy neck an iron clasp, and thy brow of brass; I proclaimed it to thee long ago; before it came to pass, I caused thee to hear it, that thou mightest not say, My idol has done it, and my graven image and molten image commanded it." The word הראשׁנות in itself signifies simply priora; and then, according to the context, it signifies prius facta (Isa 46:9), or prius praedicta (Isa 43:9), or prius eventura (Isa…
The Lord had forewarned Israel of what was going to happen in the Exile.
Rashi on Isaiah 48:4
Because of My knowledge that you are obstinate. Heb. מִדַּעְתִּי. Because I knew you, that you are obstinate, and if the miracle would come and I had not told of it before, you would say, “My idol performed them, and they were not from the Holy One, blessed be He.” Therefore, I told you from then; when it had not yet come to pass etc. מִדַּעְתִּי [although usually translated ‘from My knowledge,’ in this case,] ; the ‘mem’ denotes the giving of a reason, like ‘Because I knew.’ A similar form [is found in Deut. 7:8:], “For, because of the Lord’s love (מֵאַהֲבַת) for you, and because of His observing (וּמִשָּׁמְרוֹ) the oath.”
