Isaiah 1:12

When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(12) When ye come to appear before me.—Literally, before my face. This is the meaning given by the present Hebrew text, and it is, of course, adequate. The Syriac version and some modern scholars (e.g., Cheyne) adopt a reading which gives to see my face. In either case the implied thought is that the worshippers believed they came into the more immediate presence of Jehovah when, they entered the Temple courts. To “appear before God” was the normal phrase for visiting the Temple at the three great Feasts and other solemn occasions (Exodus 34:23; Psalm 42:3; Psalm 84:7).

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:10-15 Judea was desolate, and their cities burned. This awakened them to bring sacrifices and offerings, as if they would bribe God to remove the punishment, and give them leave to go on in their sin. Many who will readily part with their sacrifices, will not be persuaded to part with their sins. They relied on the mere form as a service deserving a reward. The most costly devotions of wicked people, without thorough reformation of heart and life, cannot be acceptable to God. He not only did not accept them, but he abhorred them. All this shows that sin is very hateful to God. If we allow ourselves in secret sin, or forbidden indulgences; if we reject the salvation of Christ, our very prayers will become abomination.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

When you come to appear before me - The temple was in Jerusalem, and was regarded as the habitation, or dwelling-place, of the God of Israel. Particularly, the most holy place of the temple was deemed the place of his sacred abode. The Shekinah - from שׁכן shâkan, to dwell - the visible symbol of his presence, rested on the cover of the ark, and from this place he was accustomed to commune with his people, and to give responses to their requests. Hence, 'to appear before God,' Hebrew 'to be seen before my face,' פני לראות lerâ'ôth pânāy for פני את 'et pânāy, means to appear in his temple as a worshipper. The phrase occurs in this sense in the following places: Exodus 34:23-24; Deuteronomy 31:11; 1 Samuel 1:22; Psalm 42:3.

Who hath required this - The Jews were required to appear there to worship God Exodus 23:17; Deuteronomy 16:16; but it was not required that they should appear with that spirit and temper. A similar sentiment is expressed in Psalm 50:16.

At your hand - From you. The emphasis in this expression is to be laid on your. 'Who has asked it of you?' It was indeed the duty of the humble, and the sincere, to tread those courts, but who had required such hypocrites as they were to do it? God sought the offerings of pure worshippers, not those of the hypocritical and the profane.

To tread my courts - The courts of the temple were the different areas or open spaces which surrounded it. None entered the temple itself but the priests. The people worshipped God in the courts assigned them around the temple. In one of those courts was the altar of burnt-offerings; and the sacrifices were all made there; see the notes at Matthew 21:12. To tread his courts was an expression therefore, equivalent to, to worship. To tread the courts of the Lord here, has the idea of profanation. Who has required you to tread those courts with this hollow, heartless service? It is often used in the sense of treading down, or trampling on, 2 Kings 7:17-20; Daniel 8:7-10; Isaiah 63:3-16.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

12. appear before me—in the temple where the Shekinah, resting on the ark, was the symbol of God's presence (Ex 23:15; Ps 42:2).

who hath required this—as if you were doing God a service by such hypocritical offerings (Job 35:7). God did require it (Ex 23:17), but not in this spirit (Mic 6:6, 7).

courts—areas, in which the worshippers were. None but priests entered the temple itself.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

When ye come to appear before me, upon the three solemn feasts, Exodus 23:17 34:23, or upon other occasions.

Who hath required this at your hands, to wit, in this manner, and upon these terms? The thing that I commanded was not only nor chiefly that you should offer external sacrifices to me, but that you should do it with true repentance for all your sins, with faith in my promises, with hearty love to me, and sincere resolutions of devoting yourselves to my service, without which you offer me a dead carcass instead of a living sacrifice.

My courts; the courts of my temple, which were two, that of the priests, and that where the people assembled, 2 Chronicles 4:9. So this reproof seems to be directed against both priests and people, as unworthy to enjoy this privilege.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

When ye come to appear before me,.... At the grand festivals of the passover, pentecost, and tabernacles, at which times all the males in Israel appeared before God, Exodus 23:17.

who hath required this at your hand; either to appear at such times, these feasts being no more to be observed; or to offer the above sacrifices; these were not required of the Israelites when they first came out of Egypt, Jeremiah 7:22 nor were they necessary to appear before God with, or to introduce them to the throne of his grace, Micah 6:6 and much less under the Gospel dispensation, being abolished by the sacrifice of Christ; or this relates to what follows,

to tread my courts? in that unbecoming and hypocritical way they did, and with such wicked hearts and bloody hands. "Courts" are mentioned, because, as Kimchi observes, the Israelites stood in the courts of the Lord's house, and did not go into the temple, only the priests.

Geneva Study Bible

When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

12. to appear before me] R.V. marg. (following one Hebr. MS.) suggests to see my face, which is grammatically easier. It is thought that here and elsewhere the traditional text has substituted the passive for the active so as to avoid the appearance of anthropomorphism. On either view the phrase is a technical one, denoting the act of worship in the sanctuary: Exodus 23:15; Exodus 23:17; Exodus 34:20; Exodus 34:23; Deuteronomy 16:16; Deuteronomy 31:11; 1 Samuel 1:22.

to tread] Better to trample; the idea of desecration is implied. This ending of the question seems weak: LXX. transfers the clause to the beginning of the next verse: “My courts ye shall no more trample; to bring oblations is vain, &c.”

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 12. - When ye come to appear before me. Mr. Cheyne translates, "to see my face;" but most other commentators (Gesenius, Delitzsch, Ewald, Kay) regard the phrase used as equivalent to that employed in Exodus 23:17; Exodus 34:23; Deuteronomy 16:16; and the passage as referring to that attendance in the temple at the three great annual festivals, which was required of all adult male Israelites. The requirement of the Law was still observed in the letter, but not in the spirit. They came with no true religious object. Hence the question which follows: Who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts? This was not what God had enjoined - a mere bodily attendance, a trampling of his courts with their feet, when their hearts were far from him. Isaiah 1:12

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Jeremiah says this with regard to the sacrifices (Isaiah 7:22); Isaiah also applies it to visits to the temple: "When ye come to appear before my face, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?" לראות is a contracted infinitive niphal for להראות (compare the hiphil forms contracted in the same manner in Isaiah 3:8; Isaiah 23:11). This is the standing expression for the appearance of all male Israelites in the temple at the three high festivals, as prescribed by the law, and then for visits to the temple generally (cf., Psalm 42:3; Psalm 84:8). "My face" (panai): according to Ewald, 279, c, this is used with the passive to designate the subject ("to be seen by the face of God"); but why not rather take it as an adverbial accusative, "in the face of," or "in front of," as it is used interchangeably with the prepositions ל, את, and אל? It is possible that לראות is pointed as it is here, and in Exodus 34:24 and in Deuteronomy 31:11, instead of לראות - like יראוּ for יראוּ, in Exodus 23:15; Exodus 34:20, - for the purpose of avoiding an expression which might be so easily misunderstood as denoting a sight of God with the bodily eye. But the niphal is firmly established in Exodus 23:17; Exodus 34:23, and 1 Samuel 1:22; and in the Mishnah and Talmud the terms ראיה and ראיון are applied without hesitation to appearance before God at the principal feasts. They visited the temple diligently enough indeed, but who had required this at their hand, i.e., required them to do this? Jehovah certainly had not. "To tread my courts" is in apposition to this, which it more clearly defines. Jehovah did not want them to appear before His face, i.e., He did not wish for this spiritless and undevotional tramping thither, this mere opus operatum, which might as well have been omitted, since it only wore out the floor.