Isaiah 57:4

Isa 57:4 Against whom do ye sport yourselves? against whom make ye a wide mouth, [and] draw out the tongue? [are] ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood,

Ver. 4. Against whom do ye sport yourselves?] You that are the wits, the merry Greeks of the times, that, instead of "trembling at God’s word," and humbling before him, hold it a goodly thing to gibe and jeer at it, to mock and scoff at those that preach it. {2Ch 36:16 Isa 5:18-19; Isa 22:13; Isa 28:14; Isa 28:22} These were their game stocks, and the matter of their mad mirth. Neither is it any otherwise to this day; for the world ever was, and will be still, beside itself in point of salvation. {a} Not the sinful Sodomites only, but Lot’s sons-in-law, who should have learned better, laughed him to scorn for his good counsel. {Gen 19:14} Ridetur cum suo Iehova. Lot is counted but a lob, and bid to keep his breath to cool his broth. Erasmus is blamed for his dry scoffs at Capito and other reformers; but Parsons, the Jesuit, is able to put Rabshakeh, Thersites, and Lucian himself to school for railing, deriding, and scurrilous language.

Against whom make yea wide mouth, and draw out the tongue?] By such base gestures did they show their contempt of the prophets, as they thought; but indeed, and as it was construed, of God himself. See Exo 16:8 Num 16:11 Luk 10:16 1Th 4:8. Look how unskilful hunters, shooting at wild beasts, do sometimes kill a man; so profane persons, shooting at God’s ministers, hit him. If we be served in like sort as those of old were - if we be for "signs and for wonders in Israel," as Isaiah and his fellows were {Isa 8:18} - if in mockage they imitate our language, as they did good Jeremiah’s, crying at him, "The burden of the Lord, the burden of the Lord" {Jer 23:38} - if they blow their noses at us, as they did at our Saviour, {εμυκτηριζον, Luk 16:14} taunt and reproach us, as they did Paul, {Act 17:32} set us upon a stage {b} to be laughed and hooted at, as they did those worthies of whom the world was not worthy {Heb 10:33 1Co 4:9} - let us not strange or startle at the matter, as if some new thing had befallen us; but "rejoice, and be exceeding glad; for so persecuted they the prophets that were before us" {Mat 5:12 1Pe 4:14} {See Trapp on "1Pe 4:14"}

{a} Mundus antiquum obtinet ridendo verbum Dei.

{b} Yεατριζομενοι, in theatrum producti pro spectaculo.

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.

57:4 mock . . . sticking out your tongues: The wicked oppressed the righteous by their insults (57:1-2; see also 28:9, 14).

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

sport yourselves--make a mock (Isa 66:5). Are ye aware of the glory of Him whom you mock, by mocking His servants ("the righteous," Isa 57:1)? (Ch2 36:16).

make . . . wide month-- (Psa 22:7, Psa 22:13; Psa 35:21; Lam 2:16).

children of transgression, &c.--not merely children of transgressors, and a seed of false parents, but of transgression and falsehood itself, utterly unfaithful to God.

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

(4) Against whom do ye sport yourselves?—The question, as in Isa_37:23, is one of indignant scorn, the implied answer being that the mockers were deriding the servants of Jehovah. (Comp. Wisdom 2), and, in so doing, mocking Jehovah himself. The “wide mouth,” and the “drawn-out tongue,” are the natural symbols of derision.

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

4. On the contemptuous attitude of the Samaritans towards the Jews, see Neh_4:1-4, and comp. ch. Isa_66:5.

sport yourselves] Lit. “take your delight” (ch. Isa_55:2, Isa_58:14, Isa_66:11); only here used of malevolent satisfaction.

make a wide mouth] Psa_35:21.

are ye not &c.] Are you not yourselves the proper objects of derision and abhorrence?

5 ff. Description of the varied idolatries to which they were devoted.

Inflaming yourselves with idols] Rather, as R.V., Ye that inflame yourselves among the oaks (or “terebinths,” the same word in ch. Isa_1:29, Isa_61:3). The A.V. follows the chief ancient Versions in taking the last word to be the plural of that for “god”; but it is never used expressly of an idol or false god (not even in Exo_15:11 or Dan_11:36). The reference is, if not to the actual primitive tree-worship (traces of which are still found in Palestine), at least to that modification of it in which the sacred tree became a place of sacrifice and the scene of the licentious rites indicated by the expression “inflame yourselves.” Comp. Hos_4:13.

under every green (i.e. evergreen) tree] Cf. Deu_12:2; Jer_2:20; Jer_3:6; Eze_6:13; 1Ki_14:23; 2Ki_17:10 &c.

slaying the children (Eze_16:21)] i.e. sacrificing them either to Jehovah or some false deity (Baal or Molech). On the subject of human sacrifice in Israel consult the notes in Davidson’s Ezekiel (Camb. Bible for Schools, &c.), pp. 107 f., 143. Cf. Jer_7:31; Jer_19:5; Eze_20:25; Eze_23:39; 2Ki_3:27; 2Ki_16:3; 2Ki_21:6; Mic_6:7; Lev_18:21; Deu_12:31, &c., and 2Ki_17:31.

in the valleys (or wadis, dry watercourses) under the clifts of the rocks] Probably weird and desolate places were chosen by preference for these revolting rites, although this is the only passage where such a thing is suggested.

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.

Against whom do ye sport yourselves?.... Is it against the ministers of the Gospel, the prophets of the Lord, the true and faithful witnesses, over whose dead bodies you triumph? know that it is not so much against them, as against the Lord himself, whose ministers, prophets, and witnesses they are; see Th1 4:8, "against whom make ye a wide mouth, and draw out the tongue?" gestures used by way of scorn and derision; see Psa 22:7. So the Papists open their mouths, and draw out their tongues, in gibes and jeers, reproaches and calumnies, against the true Christians, calling and despising them as heretics and schismatics; which abuse and ill usage of them will be resented another day. The Targum is,

"before whom do ye open your mouth, and multiply to speak things?''

as antichrist is said to have a mouth open, speaking great things and blasphemy against God, his name, his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven, Rev 13:5,

are ye not children of transgression; given up to all manner of sin and wickedness; or children of the wicked one, as the Targum, either of Satan, or of the man of sin; or, as the Septuagint and Arabic versions render it, "children of perdition"; of the same character, complexion, and religion, as the son of perdition is: "a seed of falsehood"; or a lie, given to lying; to believe a lie, and to speak lies in hypocrisy; professing a false religion; embracing false doctrines; a spurious breed, and not the sons of the true church of Christ.

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

Against whom do ye sport yourselves? - The word here rendered ‘sport’ (ענג ‛ānag) means properly “to live delicately and tenderly”; then “to rejoice, to take pleasure or delight.” Here, however, it is evidently used in the sense of to sport oneself over anyone, that is, to deride; and the idea is, probably, that they made a sport or mockery of God, and of the institutions of religion. The prophet asks, with deep indignation and emotion, against whom they did this. Were they aware of the majesty and glory of that Being whom they thus derided?

Against whom make yea wide mouth? - That is, in derision or contempt Psa 35:21 : ‘Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me.’

And draw out the tongue? - Lowth, ‘Loll the tongue;’ or, as we would say, ‘run out the tongue.’ Perhaps it was done with a rapid motion, as in mockery of the true prophets when they delivered the message of God (compare 2Ch 36:16). Contempt was sometimes shown also by protruding the lips Psa 22:7 : ‘They shoot out the lip;’ and also by gaping upon a person Psa 22:13; ‘They gaped upon me with their mouths.’

Are ye not children of transgression? - That is, in view of the fact that you make a sport of sacred things, and deride the laws and the prophets of God.

A seed of false-hood - A generation that is unfaithful to God and to his cause.

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

Tongue, in contempt. Saints, and particularly Jesus Christ, have been exposed to ridicule.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Against whom do ye sport yourselves? consider whom it is that you mock and scoff when you deride God’s prophets, as they did, Isa 28:14,22, and know that it is not so much men that you abuse as God, whose cause they plead, and in whose name they speak.

Make a wide mouth, and draw out the tongue: these are the known and common gestures of mockers, of which see Job 16:10; Psa 22:7; 35:21.

Are ye not children of transgression, a seed of falsehood? either an adulterous brood, as was said before; or a generation of liars, whose practices grossly contradict your principles and professions, who deal deceitfully and perfidiously both with God and with men.

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

Against whom do ye sport yourselves? The idolatrous Israelites here addressed, no doubt, made a mock of the few righteous who were still living among them, and vexed their souls, as his fellow-towns-men did the soul of "just Lot". (2Pe_2:7) They "made wide the mouth" at them, and "drew out the tongue" in derision. (comp. Psa_22:7 Psa_35:21) The prophet asks, "Against whom do ye do this? Is it not rather against God, whose servants these men are, than against them?" Are ye not children of transgression? rather, are ye not, yourselves, children of apostasy? and therefore more truly objects of scorn than they? A seed of falsehood. Idols were viewed by Isaiah as "lies". (Isa_45:20; cf. Rom_1:25 Rev_22:15) Idolaters were therefore "a seed of falsehood men who put their trust in a lie.

Insult of good men is insult of God.

"The righteous dies, and is at rest; but ye, what will ye make at last of your derision of the righteous, and of the follies and idolatries wherein ye trust? Nothing." Matthew Henry says, "Mocking the messengers of the Lord was Jerusalem"s measure-filling sin; for what was done to them God took as done to himself. When they were reproved for their sins, and threatened with the judgments of God, they ridiculed the Word of God with the rudest and most indecent gestures and expressions of disdain. They sported themselves and made themselves merry with that which should have made them serious, and under which they should have humbled themselves. They made wry mouths at the prophets, and drew out the tongue, contrary to all the laws of good breeding; nor did they treat God"s servants with the common civility with which they would have treated a gentleman"s servant that had been sent to them on an errand." Illustrations may be found in the treatment of Isaiah; (see Isa_28:7-15) of Jeremiah; and, above all, by the insults offered to the Lord Jesus by the men of Jerusalem. The "wide mouth" and the "drawn-out tongue," are the natural symbols of derision. (Psa_35:21) We may note some of the conditions under which the messengers of God are likely to be insulted and misunderstood.

I WHEN THEY DO NOT COME IN THE REGULAR AND RECOGNIZED ORDER. God has his order of ministrants in every age, and his ordinary messages to men may be expected to come through them: patriarchs in one age, priests in another, prophets in yet another, clergy in still another. And all due honour should be put on the Divine order for the particular time. But God has always held the right of sending messengers outside the order, as he sends comets into our solar system, and there is as real a law for the sending of seemingly erratic messengers as of the seemingly erratic comets. But there is always the disposition in those who belong to the order, and the attaches of the order, to reject the outside man. Compare our Lord"s disciples saying to the Master," We found one teaching in thy Name, and we forbade him, because he followeth not with us." The questions concerning any apparent messenger from God, which we ought to ask, are these Will his work bear the test of God"s revealed Word? And does God seal his work with his Divine benediction? To reject any man"s work which can stand this dual test is to insult God, whose messenger he certainly is.

II WHEN THERE ARE ODDITIES IN THE MAN HIMSELF OR IN THE MANNER OF DELIVERING HIS MESSAGE. Just as we have established the notion that there must be an "order" through whom Divine messages alone can come, so we have convinced ourselves that there are particular styles and methods in which alone Divine messages do come. So if a message is not to pattern, we think we are right in rejecting it. The personal peculiarities of a messenger may touch the humorous faculty, and so close men"s minds and hearts against the reception of the message. But this is to insult the messenger, and in him the God who chose him and sent him with the message. We have not to ask what a man is; but we have to ask Is he of God? If he is, we must hear him.

III WHEN THE MESSENGER MAKES SEVERE DEMANDS. Illustrate from Jonah at Nineveh. No doubt there were many who scorned him on this ground. Also see the demand of Savonarola which led to the great burning in the market-place of Florence. Many of the wilder spirits of Florence did jeer at him. Men in every age have preferred the prophets who prophesied smooth and soft things; and they have always been disposed to reject the prophets who had to do the nobler and more necessary work of prophesying rough things and hard things. Exactly what our over-civilized generation needs is some prophet of God, who will tell us strongly, plainly, sternly, what God would have us do. But of this we may be quite sure, even in this enlightened nineteenth century, such a prophet and teacher would have a hard time of it.

IV WHEN THE MESSAGE GOES AGAINST THE FASHION OF THE AGE. For there are fashions in thinking and religion, as well as in manners and dress. And none of us like to be out of the thinking or religious fashion. But Fashions may become slavery to us, and degrade us as slavery always does. Let a man of God come and show us the evils into which fashions mental and religious have brought us, and we hate the man; we cry out against him, we are all alarm, because we have deluded ourselves with the notion that fashion is synonymous with truth. Urge that we are bound to test every public witness, and decide for ourselves whether he is of God. If he is, then to neglect his message is to sin against God, and to insult him is to insult God. 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.

Against whom - Consider whom it is that you mock and scoff, when you deride God's prophets. A seed - A generation of liars, whose practices contradict your professions, who deal deceitfully both with God and men.

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

“At whom do you amuse yourselves? At whom do you enlarge the mouth, prolong the tongue? Are you not children of rebellion (or apostasy), a seed of falsehood?” This retorts the impious contempt of the apostates on themselves. There is no need, however, of supposing that they had cast these very same reproaches on the godly. The meaning is not necessarily that they were what they falsely charged their brethren with being. All that is certainly implied is, that they were unworthy to treat them with contempt. The opening or stretching of the mouth in mockery is mentioned in Psa 22:7; Psa 22:13; Psa 35:21; Lam 2:16, and in Isa 58:9 below. The lolling of the tongue as a derisive gesture is referred to by Persius in poetry and Livy in prose. The form of expostulation is similar to that in Isa 37:23. Here, as in the preceding verse, some regard seed and children as mere idiomatic pleonasms, or at most, as rhetorical embellishments. Of those who understand them strictly, some suppose the qualities of falsehood and apostasy to be predicated of the parents, others of the children. Both are probably included; they were worthy of their parentage, and diligently filled up the measure of their fathers’ iniquity. (See Isa 1:4). By ‘a seed of falsehood’ we may understand a spurious brood, and at the same time one itself perfidious and addicted to a false religion.

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

On whom will you [rely to] enjoy yourselves Since you have turned away from following Me, on whom will you rely to enjoy yourselves with good. Had you merited, you would then enjoy yourselves with the Lord, but now, on whom will you rely to enjoy yourselves?

against whom do you open your mouth wide when you scorned and mocked His prophets.

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.

Against whom do you sport yourselves, to ask what good he has done unto us.

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.