Isaiah 57:17

“For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him, &c.] Not the greedy watchmen of the church of Rome, (<235610>Isaiah 56:10,11), but teachers and preachers in the reformed churches, who mind their own things, and not the things of Christ; seek after good benefices and livings, temporalities and pluralities, and to be lord bishops; taking the oversight of the flock for filthy lucre sake; which may easily be observed to be the predominant sin of the preachers and professors of the reformed churches; for which God has a controversy with them, and, resenting it, has smote and rebuked them in a providential way; and has threatened them, as he did the church at Sardis, the emblem of…”

“covetousness--akin to idolatry; and, like it, having drawn off Israel's heart from God (Isa 2:7; Isa 56:11; Isa 58:3; Jer 6:13; Col 3:5). hid me-- (Isa 8:17; Isa 45:15). went on frowardly--the result of God's hiding His face (Psa 81:12; Rom 1:24, Rom 1:26).”

“For the iniquity of his covetousness - The guilt of his avarice; that is, of the Jewish people. The word rendered here ‘covetousness’ (בצע betsa‛) means “plunder, rapine, prey”; then unjust gains, or lucre from bribes 1 Samuel 7:3; Isaiah 33:15; or by any other means. Here the sense is, that one of the prevailing sins of the Jewish people which drew upon them the divine vengeance, was avarice, or the love of gain. Probably this was especially manifest in the readiness with which those who dispensed justice received bribes (compare Isaiah 2:7). See also Jeremiah 6:13 : ‘For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness.’ And smote him - That is, I…”

“Covetousness - Of which sin the Jews were eminently guilty. But this comprehends all those sins for which God contended with them. He went - Yet he was not reformed, but trespassed more and more. Isaiah 57:18”

“the iniquity: Isa 5:8, Isa 5:9, Isa 56:11; Jer 6:13, Jer 8:10, Jer 22:17; Eze 33:31; Mic 2:2, Mic 2:3; Luk 12:15; Eph 5:3-5; Col 3:5; Ti1 6:9; Pe2 2:3, Pe2 2:14 I hid: Isa 8:17, Isa 45:15 and he: Isa 9:13; Jer 2:30, Jer 5:3; Luk 15:14-16 frowardly: Heb. turning away in the: Ecc 6:9 Isaiah 57:18”

“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…”