Isaiah 57:18

I have seen his ways, and will heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him and to his mourners.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(18) I have seen his ways . . .—The words have been interpreted: (1) of the evil ways described in the previous verse; (2) of the way of repentance into which Israel had been led by chastisement. (1) seems most in harmony with the context. The paths had been rough and thorny, but Jehovah presents Himself as the Healer to those who had been wounded by them, and leads them into a better way. The “mourners” are those who have been touched as with the “godly sorrow” of 2Corinthians 7:10-11.

Benson Commentary

Isaiah 57:18. I have seen his ways — I have taken notice of those evil ways in which he seems resolved to walk, and that he is neither reformed by mercies nor judgments; and will heal him — Or rather, yet I will heal him: although I might justly destroy him, and leave him to perish in his own ways, yet, of my mere mercy, and for my own name’s sake, I will pity this people, turn them from their sins, and bring them out of their troubles. Which promise was partly fulfilled when God restored them from Babylon, and will be more perfectly and evidently accomplished, when he shall convert them to the Christian faith in the latter days. And restore comforts unto him — Comforts as great as his troubles had been; and — Or rather, to wit; to his mourners — To those who are humbled under God’s hand, and that mourn in Zion for their own and other people’s sins, Isaiah 61:2-3; and Ezekiel 9:4; and for the calamities of God’s church and people, Isaiah 66:10. The mourners here spoken of, Vitringa thinks, mean those true penitents, who lamented the scandals and offences of professing Christians in their times, under whom they grievously suffered, such as the Waldenses, the Lollards, and others who, by the mercy of God, were rescued from the errors and corruptions of the fallen church, when the light of the Reformation began to dawn.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

57:13-21 The idols and their worshippers shall come to nothing; but those who trust in God's grace, shall be brought to the joys of heaven. With the Lord there is neither beginning of days, nor end of life, nor change of time. His name is holy, and all must know him as a holy God. He will have tender regard to those who bring their mind to their condition, and dread his wrath. He will make his abode with those whose hearts he has thus humbled, in order to revive and comfort them. When troubles last long, even good men are tempted to entertain hard thoughts of God. Therefore He will not contend for ever, for he will not forsake the work of his own hands, nor defeat the purchase of his Son's blood. Covetousness is a sin that particularly lays men under the Divine displeasure. See the sinfulness of sin. See also that troubles cannot reform men unless God's grace work in them. Peace shall be published, perfect peace. It is the fruit of preaching lips, and praying lips. Christ came and preached peace to Gentiles, as well as to the Jews; to after-ages, who were afar off in time, as well as to those of that age. But the wicked would not be healed by God's grace, therefore would not be healed by his comforts. Their ungoverned lusts and passions made them like the troubled sea. Also the terrors of conscience disturbed their enjoyments. God hath said it, and all the world cannot unsay it, That there is no peace to those who allow themselves in any sin. If we are recovered from such an awful state, it is only by the grace of God. And the influences of the Holy Spirit, and that new heart, from whence comes grateful praise, the fruit of our lips, are his gift. Salvation, with all its fruits, hopes, and comforts, is his work, and to him belongs all the glory. There is no peace for the wicked man; but let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, and he will abundantly pardon.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

I have seen his ways - That is, either his ways of sin, or of repentance most probably it means the former; and the idea is, that God had seen how prone his people were to sin, and that he would now interpose and correct their proneness to sin against him, and remove from them the judgments which had been brought upon them in consequence of their crimes.

And will heal him - That is, I will pardon and restore him. Sin, in the Scriptures, is often represented as a disease, and pardon and salvation as a healing of the disease (2 Chronicles 7:14; Psalm 41:4; Jeremiah 3:22; Jeremiah 17:4; Jeremiah 32:6; Hosea 14:4; see the notes at Isaiah 6:10).

And to his mourners - To the pious portion that mourned over their sin; or to the nation which would sigh in their long and painful captivity in Babylon.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

18. Rather, "I have seen his ways (in sin), yet will I heal him," that is, restore Israel spiritually and temporally (Jer 33:6; 3:22; Ho 14:4, 5) [Horsley].

I will … restore comforts unto him and to his mourners—However, the phrase, "his mourners," favors English Version; "his ways" will thus be his ways of repentance; and God's pardon on "seeing" them answers to the like promise (Isa 61:2, 3; Jer 31:18, 20).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

I have seen his ways; I have taken notice of these evil ways in which he seems resolved to walk, and that he is neither bettered by mercies nor judgments.

And will heal him; or, yet I will heal him. Although I might justly destroy him, and leave him to perish in his own ways, yet of my mere mercy, and for my own name’s sake, I will pity him, and turn him from his sins, and bring him out of his troubles. And, or, to wit, the copulative conjunction being put expositively, as it is frequently,

to his mourners; to those who are humbled under God’s hand, that mourn in Zion, Isaiah 61:2,3, for their own and others’ sins, Ezekiel 9:4, and for the calamities of God’s church and people, Isaiah 66:10.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

I have seen his ways, and will heal him,.... Either the ways of such who trust in the Lord, the ways of the humble and contrite, who are brought by repentance and reformation, by the dealings of God with them; these he sees, knows, and approves of, and heals their former backslidings; for though not all, yet some may be reformed hereby; or rather the ways of the froward, their evil ways, which are their own ways in opposition to God's ways, peculiar to themselves, of their own devising and choosing; these the Lord sees, resents, and corrects for, and yet graciously pardons them, which is meant by healing:

I will lead him also; out of those evil ways of his into the good and right way in which he should go; into the way of truth and paths of righteousness; for it is for want of evangelical light and knowledge that so many err from the truths of the Gospel, and from the simplicity of Gospel worship; but in the latter day the Spirit of truth shall be poured down from on high, and shall lead professors of real religion into all truth, and they shall speak a pure language, and worship the Lord with one consent:

and restore comforts to him, and to his mourners; that mourn over their own sins, and the sins of others; that mourn in Zion, and for Zion; for the corruptions in doctrine and worship crept into the reformed churches; for the want of church discipline and Gospel conversation; for the declensions of professors of religion, and the divisions among them; and for that worldly, earthly, and carnal spirit that prevails; for these, as bad as our times are, there are some that mourn publicly and privately; and to these, and to the church for their sakes, comfort shall be restored, by sending forth Gospel light, truth, and knowledge, which shall cover the earth as the waters the sea; by reviving primitive doctrines and ordinances; by blessing the word to the conversion of a multitude of sinners, and to the edification of saints; by causing brotherly love, peace, and spirituality, to abound among professors, and by blessing all the means of grace to the consolation of their souls; and by making particular applications of the blood, righteousness, and sacrifice of Christ, for pardon, justification, and atonement, the solid foundation of all true comfort.

Geneva Study Bible

I have seen his ways, and will {u} heal him: I will lead him also, and restore comforts to him and to his mourners.

(u) Though they were obstinate, yet I did not withdraw my mercy from them.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

18. I have seen his ways] Either “his sinful ways” or “the amendment of his ways.” The first view is perhaps more probable, in which case the words would be better joined to the preceding verse (so Duhm).

and will heal him] Or, “And I will heal him,”—beginning a new sentence. Cf. Hosea 6:1; Hosea 14:4; Jeremiah 3:22.

For comforts read comfort.

his mourners] ch.Isaiah 61:2, Isaiah 66:10.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 18. - I have seen his ways, and will heal him. God had seen the wanderings of his people in perverse ways, and his heart had been touched with pity thereat. The good Shepherd follows and recalls the wanderers of the flock. When they have suffered hurt he "heals" them. He is willing to "lead" them also - to go before them, and show them the way that they should walk in (Isaiah 49:10; Ezekiel 34:11-16), and "restore comforts" to them, especially to such of them as have begun to "mourn" over their perversity. Isaiah 57:18

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

This general law of His action is most especially the law of His conduct towards Israel, in which such grievous effects of its well-deserved punishment are apparent, and effects so different from those intended, that the compassion of God feels impelled to put an end to the punishment for the good of all that are susceptible of salvation. "And because of the iniquity of its selfishness, I was wroth, and smote it; hiding myself, and being angry: then it went on, turning away in the way of its own heart. I have seen its ways, and will heal it; and will lead it, and afford consolations to it, and to its mourning ones." The fundamental and chief sin of Israel is here called בּצע, lit., a cut of slice ( equals gain, Isaiah 56:11); then, like πλεονεξία, which is "idolatry" according to Colossians 3:5, or like φιλαργυρία, which is "the root of all evil" according to 1 Timothy 6:10, greedy desire for worldly possession, self-seeking, or worldliness generally. The future ואכּהוּ, standing as it does by the side of the perfect here, indicates that which is also past; and ואקצף stands in the place of a second gerund: abscondendo (viz., pânai, my face, Isaiah 54:8) et stomachando. When Jehovah had thus wrathfully hidden His gracious countenance from Israel, and withdrawn His gracious presence out of the midst of Israel (Hosea 5:6, מהם חל), it went away from Him (שׁובב with שׁובב, like עולל with עולל), going its own ways like the world of nations that had been left to themselves. But Jehovah had not seen these wanderings without pity. The futures which follow are promising, not by virtue of any syntactic necessity, but by virtue of an inward necessity. He will heal His wounded (Isaiah 1:4-6) and languishing people, and lead in the right way those that are going astray, and afford them consolation as a recompense for their long sufferings (נחוּמים is derived from the piel נחם, and not, as in Hosea 11:8, from the hiphal hinnâchēm, in the sense of "feelings of sympathy"), especially (Vav epexeget.; Ges. 155, 1) its mourning ones (Isaiah 61:2-3; Isaiah 66:10), i.e., those who punishment has brought to repentance, and rendered desirous of salvation.