Isaiah 10:2

Isa 10:2 To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and [that] they may rob the fatherless!

Ver. 2. To turn away the needy from judgment.] To put them beside their right, because indigent, and overweighed by the wealthy ones: Quorum aureae literae apud tales iudices possunt omnia.

And to take away the right.] Heb., To tear it away by force.

And that they may rob the fatherless.] Rob the spittle, as we used to say. Unrighteous ruledom is but robbery with authority. {a}

{a} Iudex iniustus latro cum privilegio est. - Columel., lib. i.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

To turn aside, &c.--The effect of their conduct is to pervert the cause of the needy [HORSLEY]. In English Version "from judgment" means "from obtaining justice."

take away the right--"make plunder of the right" (rightful claim) [HORSLEY].

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 2. My people] Instead of עמי ammi, my people, many MSS., and one of my own, ancient, read עמו ammo, his people. But this is manifestly a corruption.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

2. The effect and real purpose of this legislative activity.

To turn aside the needy from judgment] See on ch. Isa_1:23.

my people] as Isa_3:12; Isa_3:15.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

To turn aside the needy from judgment,.... Such laws being made as discouraged them from any application for justice; and, when they did, were harassed with such long, vexatious, and expensive suits, as obliged them to desist, and the cause being generally given against them, and for the rich:

and to take away the right from the poor of my people; for not to do justice to the poor is the same as to rob and plunder them, and take away by force what of right belongs to them; wherefore it follows:

that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless; who have none to protect and defend them, and whose protectors judges ought to be, in imitation of God, whom civil magistrates represent, who is the Judge of the widows and the fatherless; and therefore this is observed as an aggravation of their sin, which was very great indeed: it is very wicked in a judge to pervert the judgment of the poor and needy, the widow and the fatherless, contrary to laws that are made by God and men; but to make and prescribe wicked and unrighteous laws, that wickedness may be framed, and mischief committed by a law, that the poor and the needy, the widows and fatherless, may be injured under colour and pretence of law and justice, is the height of injustice. See Psa 94:20.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

To turn aside - Their sentences have the effect, and are designed to have, to pervert justice, and to oppress the poor, or to deprive them of their rights and just claims; compare Isa 29:21; Pro 27:5.

The needy - daliym - דלים dalı̂ym. Those of humble rank and circumstances; who have no powerful friends and defenders. “From judgment.” From obtaining justice.

And to take away - To take away by violence and oppression. The word גזל gāzal, is commonly applied to robbery, and to oppression; to the taking away of spoils in battle, etc.

That widows may be their prey - That they may rob widows, or obtain their property. This crime has always been one particularly offensive in the sight of God; see the note at Isa 1:23. The widow and the orphan are without protectors. Judges, by their office, are particularly bound to preserve their rights; and it, therefore, evinces special iniquity when they who should be their protectors become, in fact, their oppressors, and do injustice to them without the possibility of redress. Yet this was the character of the Jewish judges; and for this the vengeance of heaven was about to come upon the land.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

From judgment; or, from their right, as it is in the next clause; or, from obtaining a just sentence, because they either denied or delayed to hear their causes, or gave a wrong sentence.

From the poor, whom I have in a special manner committed to your care.

Of my people; of Israelites. who profess themselves to be my people, and whom I did take into covenant with myself; and therefore this is an injury not only to them, but to me also.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

2. This verse specifies some of those decisions. See further on chapter Isa_29:21.

To take away — Or, tear away, the right. Or, as rendered in Ecc_5:8, violent perverting.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The poor... the widow... the fatherless. These were the classes who were the chief sufferers by the perversion of justice. (comp. Isa_1:17, Isa_1:23) They were exactly the classes for whom God had most compassion, and whom he had commended in the Law to the tender care of his people. (see note on Isa_9:17)

HOMILIES BY R. TUCK Ver. 2. The Divine avenger of the poor.

The idea of a goel, or avenger, belongs to the primitive conditions of society. When there was no settled government, no police, and no magistracy, each individual had to guard his life, liberty, and property as best he could. The first and simplest form that mutual protection took was "the family," and the principle was established that the nearest of kin to an injured or murdered person should avenge the injury or death. As this led to feuds among families and tribes lasting for generations, and as it was a kind of rough justice which often became injustice, Moses set the old custom under limitations, appointing proper courts for the settlement of disputes, and protecting the manslayer from the avenger until due examination could be made into the circumstances of his crime. In fully civilized society a regular system of law and magistracy is organized; the individual commits his right of personal avengement to the recognized authorities It is, therefore, of supreme importance to the welfare of any nation that justice should be free to all, should be perfectly fair, and should be a practical avenger of the poor, the distressed, and the wronged. The nature which Isaiah sets before us in this passage reveals a most perilous condition of society. "All the formalities of justice were observed punctiliously. The decision of the unjust Judge was duly given and recorded, but the outcome of it all was that the poor, the Widow, and the fatherless got no redress." "No people had statutes and judgments so righteous as they had, and yet corrupt judges found ways "to turn aside the needy from judgment," to hinder them from coming at their right and recovering what was their due, because they were needy and poor, and such as they could get nothing by nor expect any bribes from." "There is no surer sign of the misery of a people than is found in the corrupt administration of justice." And it may be added that a country is on the borders of revolution, or of calamity, when righteousness has forsaken its judgment-seats, and there are no avengers of social wrongs.

I THE STATE OF SOCIETY IN WHICH THE POOR FIND NO HELP IN MAN. Two cases are suggested.

1. Failure to obtain just judgment.

2. The painful condition of widows.

Where there is wealth and luxury there is sure to be poverty in marked and terrible features close beside it, as may be illustrated from the great and rich European cities of our day. Wealth has a tendency to go in the direction of classes; it drains away from some classes, and so alienates and embitters them, especially as the result of self indulgence is to harden a man"s heart against his neighbor. The condition of widows in the East is an extremely painful one, because they have no rights in their husband"s property, no social status, and are the prey of designing and wicked men. The retired life they lead unfits them for contending on behalf of their own rights, or those of their children. The picture of a national life in which the wronged have no judge, the poor no helpers, and the widows no friends, is an exceedingly painful one. Self-seeking, luxury, and class prejudice must have catch the heart out of such a kingdom.

II IN SUCH A STATE OF SOCIETY THE POOR HAVE HELP IN GOD. This may be illustrated along the following lines. God will help them by:

1. The working of his judgment-laws. In Greece despised helots multiply, and become at last a destructive force, for a time breaking up society. Slaves learn at last to combine, and take their own avengements on their persecutors. Down-trodden races heave awhile, like slumbering earthquakes, and presently burst forth in revolutions that are, in reality, Divine judgments.

2. By the orderings of Divine providence, which bring the nation into such a condition that reformation of its wrongs becomes immediately necessary to secure its continued existence.

3. By the raising up of human helpers. Men who plead the cause of the poor, and make their voice and their condition to be heard even in the high places of a land. At once thought turns to such men as Wilberforce, the friend of the slave, and Howard, the friend of the prisoner.

4. By special Divine consolations. The poor have their ameliorations, and even their superior advantages; and not the least of them is this they have little prejudice hindering the reception of Divine truth. To "the poor the gospel is preached," and in every age it is found true that "the common people heard Christ," and hear of Christ, "gladly. R.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Judgment - From obtaining a just sentence.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

As the first verse describes the sinners and their sin, so the second sets forth its effect upon the people. “To turn aside (or exclude) from judgment the weak, and to take away (by violence) the right of the poor (or afflicted) of my people, that widows may be (or so that widows are) their spoil, and the fatherless they plunder.” The infinitive indicates the tendency and actual effect of their conduct The phrase here used is to turn one aside from the judgment, and seems intended to express not so much the idea of judging wrongfully as that of refusing to judge at all. The same charge is brought against the rulers of Judah in Isaiah 23. The expression of ‘my people’ intimates, not only that the sufferers were Israelites, but that they sustained a peculiar relation to Jehovah, Who is frequently described in Scripture as the protector of the helpless, and especially of widows and orphans (Psa 68:5).

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Prophecies of Isaiah (1846–1847; New York: Scribner, 1870–1878) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

To pervert through the false notes, the poor from the legal rights due them.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

To turn aside, etc. They command the secretaries to write false documents for the orphans, widows and poor, who are powerless, and cannot open their mouths in defence of their rights.

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.