Isaiah 17:8

Isa 17:8 And he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, neither shall respect [that] which his fingers have made, either the groves, or the images.

Ver. 8. And he shall not look to the altars.] As, having looked before to his Maker with a single eye, with an eye of adamant, that will turn only to one point. See on Hos 14:8.

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.

17:8 Canaanites and then Israelites worshiped the fertility goddess Asherah in wooded areas or, in the absence of wooded areas, using Asherah poles (see 27:9; 65:3; Mic 5:14).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

groves--A symbolical tree is often found in Assyrian inscriptions, representing the hosts of heaven ("Saba"), answering to Ashteroth or Astarte, the queen of heaven, as Baal or Bel is the king. Hence the expression, "image of the grove," is explained (Kg2 21:7).

images--literally, "images to the sun," that is, to Baal, who answers to the sun, as Astarte to the hosts of heaven (Kg2 23:5; Job 31:26).

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 8. The altars, the work of his hands - "The altars dedicated to the work of his hands"] The construction of the words, and the meaning of the sentence, in this place are not obvious; all the ancient Versions, and most of the modern, have mistaken it. The word מעשה maaseh, "the work," stands in regimine with מזבחות mizbechoth, "altars," not in opposition to it; it means the, altars of the work of their hand; that is of the idols, which are the work of their hands. Thus Kimchi has explained it, and Le Clerc has followed him.

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

(8) The groves or the images.—Literally, the Asherah or the sun-images. The former were conical, tree-like pillars which symbolised the worship of a Canaanite goddess, the giver of good fortune. (See Notes on 2Ki_21:7; 2Ch_34:3-7.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

8. the work of his hands … that which his fingers have made] phrases used of idols in ch. Isa_2:8; Isa_2:20, Isa_31:7.

the altars … either the groves or the images] These words overburden the rhythm of the verse and are probably explanatory glosses. An allusion to the brazen-altar of Ahaz (2Ki_16:10-13) is far-fetched, even if not absolutely excluded by the date. The two last-mentioned objects are never referred to elsewhere by Isaiah.

the groves] R.V., rightly, the Asherim. The Ashçrah or Sacred Pole was an emblem of divinity which seems to have stood regularly by the side of the altar in a Canaanitish sanctuary (Jdg_6:13; Jdg_6:25; Deu_16:21; 2Ki_18:4, &c.). It is regarded by some as an artificial survival of the sacred tree, under which the altar stood; by others as the symbol (or image) of a goddess of the same name. Whether a goddess Ashçrah was actually worshipped is a much controverted point; if so, she was probably nothing more than an impersonation of the material symbol here referred to. (See Robertson Smith, Relig. of the Semites, Revd. Ed. pp. 187 ff.)

images] probably sun-pillars: R.V. “sun-images.” The word (ḥammânîm, pl.) only occurs in ch. Isa_27:9; 2Ch_14:5; 2Ch_34:4; 2Ch_34:7; Eze_6:4; Eze_6:6; Lev_26:30. It seems to be connected with Baal-Ḥammân, a Phœnician deity (best known from the Carthaginian inscriptions) whose name appears to designate him as “Lord of the sun’s heat,” (cf. the Hebrew ḥammâh used in poetry of the sun: Psa_19:6; Job_30:28; Son_6:10; Isa_24:23; Isa_30:26). The “sun-pillars” were probably emblems of this deity.

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.

And he shall not took to the altars, the work of his hands,.... That is, to altars erected to the worship of idols, which are both the works of men's hands, so as to serve at them, and sacrifice upon them. Kimchi observes, that the latter clause is not to be understood as belonging to the former, but as distinct from it, and signifies idols which men have made; otherwise all altars, even the altars of God, were the works of men, which yet it was right to look unto, and offer sacrifice upon; but idol altars, and idols themselves, are here meant: and a good man will not look unto his good works as altars to atone for sin; he knows that nothing that a creature can do can expiate sin; that his best works are such as are due to God, and therefore can never atone for past crimes; that Jesus Christ is only the altar, sacrifice, and priest, to whom he looks for, and from whom he receives the atonement:

neither shall respect that which his fingers have made, either the groves or the images; both might be said to be made by the fingers of men, the former being planted, and, the latter carved and fashioned by them; whether by groves are meant clusters of trees, where idols and altars were placed, or medals struck with such a representation on them, and also whatever images are here designed: the word signifies sun images, images made to represent the sun, or for the honour and worship of it. Aben Ezra says they were images made according to the likeness of chariots for the sun. The Targum renders it "temples", such as were dedicated to the sun; though some understand by it sunny places, where their idols were set and sunburnt, as distinct from shady groves. Good men will not took to their own works, what their fingers have wrought, as groves to shelter them from divine wrath and vengeance, or as idols to bow down to, trust in, and depend upon for salvation; but reject them, and look to Christ only.

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

And he shall not look to the altars - That is, the altars of the gods which the Syrians worshipped, and the altars of the false gods which had been erected in the land of Israel or Samaria by its wicked kings, and particularly by Ahaz. Ahaz fancied an altar which he saw at Damascus when on a visit to Tiglath-pileser, and ordered Urijah the priest to construct one like it in Samaria, on which he subsequently offered sacrifice 2Ki 16:10-13. It is well known, also, that the kings of Israel and Judah often reared altars to false gods in the high places and the groves of the land (see 2Ki 21:3-5). The Ephraimites were particularly guilty in this respect Hos 8:11 : ‘Because Ephraim hath made many altars to sin, altars shall be unto him to sin.’

Which his fingers have made - Perhaps indicating that the idols which they worshipped had been constructed with special art and skill (see Isa 2:8).

Either the groves - The altars of idols were usually erected in groves, and idols were worshipped there before temples were raised (see Exo 34:13; Deu 7:5; Deu 12:3; Jdg 3:7; 1Ki 14:23; 1Ki 18:19; 2Ch 33:3; compare the notes at Isa 1:29).

Or the images - Margin, ‘Sun images’ (חמנים chamānı̂ym). This word is used to denote idols in general in Lev 26:30; 2Ch 24:4. But it is supposed to denote properly images erected to the sun, and to be derived from חמה chamāh, “the sun.” Thus the word is used in Job 30:28; Isa 24:23; Isa 30:26; Son 6:10. The word, according to Gesenius, is of Persian origin (Commentary in loc.) The sun was undoubtedly worshipped by the ancient idolaters, and altars or images would be erected to it (see the notes at Job 31:26).

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

Not look to the altars; not resort or trust to them, or to the worship offered to idols upon them.

The work of his hands; their own inventions; for otherwise the altars made by God’s command were the work of men’s hands. The groves, which were devised and planted by men, as fit places for the worship of their gods; and therefore were forbidden, Deu 16:21; 1Ki 14:15. The images, worshipped in their groves. The word properly signifies images of the sun, either having the form and shape of the sun, or at least erected to his honour and worship; of which see Deu 4:19; 17:3; 2Ki 23:5,11; Jer 8:2; 7:18; 44:17,18.

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

And he shall not look to the altars. The altars at Dan and Bethel (1Ki_12:28-33) may be intended, or the Israelites may have had other idolatrous altars besides these. (2Ki_17:11 Hos_8:11) Josiah, about B.C. 631, broke down altars throughout all the land of Israel, in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon(?), even unto Naphtali. (2Ch_34:5-7) Apparently he had the consent of the inhabitants to this demolition. Either the groves, or the images, Asherah, the word here and elsewhere commonly translated "grove" in the Authorized Version, is now generally admitted to have designated an artificial construction of wood or metal, which was used in the idolatrous worship of the Phoenicians and the Israelites, probably as the emblem of some deity. The Assyrian "sacred tree" was most likely an emblem of the same kind, and may give an idea of the sort of object worshipped under the name of Asherah (comp. "Ancient Monarchies," vol. 2. pp. 235-237). The Israelites, in the time of their prosperity, had set up "groves" of this character "on every high hill, and under every green tree". (2Ki_17:10) Many of them were still standing when Josiah made his iconoclastic raid into the Israelite country, (2Ch_34:5-7) and were broken down by him at the same time as the altars. The "images" of this place are the same as those coupled with the Israelite "groves" in 2Ch_34:7, namely "sun-images," emblems of Baal, probably pillars or conical stones, such as are known to have held a place in the religious worship of Phoenicia.

The prophet on heathen worship.

Having described in brief the true religion as a "looking up to God" as Maker and Redeemer of Israel, the prophet with equal expressiveness characterizes the heathen worship around.

I IT IS REVERENCE FOR THE OBJECT OF HUMAN ART. Contemptuous is the reference to "the work of his hands," and "that which his fingers have made altars and images. When the spiritual nerve of religion is weakened, the affections fix upon the symbols, forms, and accessories of religion. The soul that has lost its God must have some visible substitute, as a pet, a plaything, an idol. When the meaning of sacrifice is deeply realized and felt, any bare table will suffice for altar. But as the idea and feeling become extinct, all the more will men seek to supply the void by some beauty in the object. The shrine becomes more splendid as devotion becomes more cold. Perhaps the prophet is thinking of the case of King Ahaz. He went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria, and there saw an altar" which so pleased him, that he sent the pattern of it to Urijah the priest, who built one to correspond. And this was a king who sacrificed and burned incense in the high places, and on the hills, and under every green tree". (2Ki 16) And Manasseh, rejecting the good example of Hezekiah his father, set up altars to Baal, and made a grove, and plunged deeply into all manner of superstition. (2Ki 21) The Prophet Hosea pointedly speaks of the tendency in the people generally: "Because Ephraim has made many altars to sin, altars shall be unto him to sin". (Hos_8:2) The connection of this with luxury is pointed out by our prophet Isa_2:7, Isa_2:8. But what strikes him especially with astonishment is the addiction to "art for art"s sake." This has been a cant and, to some extent, a creed in our time. When carried out, it must mean the valuation of human genius and talent regardlessly of the subjects on which, and the ends for which, it is employed. No matter how seusualizing or otherwise debasing to feeling the painter"s or the sculptor"s theme, the cleverness with which he treats form and color, light and shade, is only worth attending to. These doctrines may be carried into the church, which may become a place for mere imaginative and sensuous enjoyment; and people may find they cannot "look up to God" in a building whose lines are incorrectly drawn, or where the latest fashion of ecclesiastical foppery is not kept up. By-and-by it will be discovered that the house of God has been turned into a theatre, containing, it is true, an altar, but, like the altar in the great theatre at Athens, serving for little more than a station of performers. Spiritual worship is extinct with us if we cannot lift up eye, and heart, and hand, and voice to the Eternal with equal joy, if need demand, in the barn as in the cathedral. But how wide-reaching the principle of idolatry! The delight in genius, the admiration for it, may enter into religious feeling as one of its richest elements; it may, on the other hand, be separated from religious feeling altogether, and be the principle of an idolatry.

II IT IS IMPURE AND CRUEL. There is an allusion to the worship of Baal and Ashtoreth, and what we know of these deities indicates beings conceived by those worshippers as dark, wrathful, malignant, and lustful. Baal, often named in the plural Baalim, is closely related to, if not identical with, Moloch, (see Jer_7:31 Jer_19:5 Jer_32:35) whose terrible wrath was supposed to be manifested in the torrid heat of summer, and who exacted human sacrifices. In great dangers kings sacrificed to this Bel-Moloch their only sons; (2Ki_3:27) and this is sternly denounced in Lev_20:3. It would seem that Israelites in their declension confounded the nature of this heathen god with that of Jehovah. (Num_25:4) Read the eloquent protest of Mic_6:7, and see how clearly in that animated passage the contrast is made between the merciful and holy religion of Jehovah and the cursed ritual of Baal or of Moloch. "To do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with God, these are the requirements of true religion. By the side of Baal was Ashtoreth in Canaan (Jud_1:10:6) and in Syria. The Greeks called her Astarte. At Babylon she was known as Mylitta or Beltis, consort of Bel; and Herodotus describes the darkly superstitious and impure character of her worship, which involved the profanation of women (1. 199). The religion of Israel knows no goddess; the people itself, when true to their faith, felt themselves to be as a people, the bride of Jehovah, and unfaithfulness to him is a crime analogous to unfaithfulness to the nuptial tie. "Israel my people, I their God," is the symbolic word of the covenant between spirit and Spirit, which religion ever is, in its truth and purity. There are lessons for us in all this. There are ever tendencies at work to degrade and defile the holy ideas of our religion. Sometimes it is wealth, sometimes it is ignorance, sometimes greed and other passions. Men would subdue the spirit of Christianity to their own liking, and bow down, if not to the work of their fingers, to the impure idols of an unchastened fancy. The preacher, the true prophet, must, on the other hand, be ever upholding the purity of doctrine, and exhibit those grand requirements to which the conscience must, however reluctantly, respond. And he must lay it to heart that the purer religion can never be the most fashionable. If the people turn aside to groves and altars more suited to their taste, at least let him make it his one concern to "save himself and them that hear him. J.

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

Not look - Not trust to them, or to worship offered to idols upon them. The work - Their own inventions. Groves - Which were devised by men, as fit places for the worship of their gods. Images - Worshipped in their groves.

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

“And he shall not turn (or look) to the altars, the work of his own hands, and that which his own fingers have made shall he not regard, and the groves (or images of Ashtoreth) and the pillars (or images) of the sun.” The positive declaration of the preceding verse is negatively expressed in this, with a particular mention of the objects which had usurped the place of God. Idol-altars are described as the work of men’s hands, because erected by their sole authority, whereas the altar at Jerusalem was, in the highest sense, the work of God Himself. The old translation ‘groves’, (i.e., such as were used for idol-worship), has been shown to be in some places inadmissible; as when the grove is said to have stood upon an altar, or under a tree, or to have been brought out of a temple (1Ki 14:23; 2Ch 34:4). The modern writers, therefore, understand it as denoting the goddess of fortune or happiness, otherwise called Ashtoreth, the Phoenician Venus, extensively worshipped in conjunction with Baal.

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

They will not look to the altars

Looking to the altars represents worshiping idols with the hope that the idols will help them. AT: "They will not worship idols at their altars" or "The people of Israel will not go to their altars and ask their idols to help them" (See: Metonymy)

the work of their hands

Here the people are represented by their "hands" to emphasize that they made the altars or idols. AT: "that they made with their hands" or "which they themselves built" (See: Synecdoche)

what their fingers have made ... the Asherah poles or the sun images

The second phrase identifies the things that the people made. Speaking of the fingers here emphasizes that the people made them, so these things are not real gods. AT: "the Asherah poles or the sun images, which they themselves made" (See: Metonymy)

that were forsaken because of the people of Israel

It can be made explicit who left these lands. This can be stated in active form. AT: "that the Hivites and Amorites left after the people of Israel came" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information and Active or Passive)

translationWords

altar

hand

Asherah

forsake

people group

Israel

desolate

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

he shall not regard [lit. he shall not see.] They shall not be important in his eyes.

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.

והחמנים Nor the images of the sun. The נ is not radical; comp. רחמניות merciful (Lam. 4:10). חמנים are images made like chariots in honour of the sun (חַמָּה) as stated in the history of King Manasseh (2 Kings 21:3)

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.