II. The mitigating, alleviating circumstances. 1. The day of the east wind is well timed. It blows at the right season, in the early spring. It may nip a few opening buds, but if it did not come out then, it would retard vegetation to a fatal extent afterwards. The youth may complain of his hard struggle, but it nurses a manly character. 2. Trial is limited in its duration. The east wind does not blow all the year round. These cold blasts usher in the spring. 3. God moderates its severity. “In measure” (1 Cor. x. 13). Sorrow is nicely adjusted to the heart on which it falls (H. E. I., 187, 188). 4. The following verse suggests a further alleviation, viz.:—The gracious purpose accomplished by trial, to purge iniquity, and take away sin. God appoints our sorrow for the uprooting of our sin. The physician finds it necessary to adopt sharp measures, but his operation is wise and kind. A proneness to idolatry was Israel’s sin, and, to check this, the nation is sent into exile. Though He removed it with “His rough wind in the day of His east wind,” the fruit or effect was to uproot a besetting sin (H. E. I., 85–89, 116, 211). 5. Another mitigating circumstance is found in verse 7. God makes a distinction between His people and the world. Great as Israel’s sufferings were, the judgments which descended on their enemies were far more terrible, not corrective, but destructive (1 Cor. xi. 32). The surly blasts of the east wind may howl and chafe and spend their rage on God’s vineyard, but they are only the last remnants of the dreary winter. To those who are in covenant with God every wind that blows is charged with blessing (H. E. I., 108).
Concluding Remarks. 1. When the east wind of trial begins to blow upon us, let us hasten, not to blame God, but to examine and blame ourselves. Though trials are not always punitive, or even corrective, they are very frequently so; and in our case, as in that of Israel, the reason why the east wind is blowing probably is because there is iniquity in us that needs to be purged away (ver. 8; H. E. I., 114). 2. When the east wind is blowing upon us, instead of murmuring let us recall the mitigating circumstances of which I have reminded you, and let us thank God that He loves us too much to leave us under the power of iniquity (Heb. xii. 5–10; H. E. I., 162–165).—William Guthrie, M.A.
The Afflictions of God’s People.
xxvii. 7–9. Hath He smitten him as He smote his smiter, or was he slain as his slayers were slain? In exact measure, when dismissing her, Thou didst contend with her; He scared her away with His rough blast in the day of the east wind. Therefore on these terms [or, hereby] shall the guilt of Jacob be purged, and this shall be all the fruit of taking away his sin, when he maketh all the altar-stones like lime-stones dashed in pieces, that Ashéras and sun-images rise up no more.—Cheyne.
This is a continuation of the song of the vineyard (vers. 2–6). That song was to be sung after deliverance from disasters which had come upon God’s chosen people, as the chastisement of their sins. The prophet here pauses to reflect and to instruct them. His instructions are of exceeding value to us, for God acts on the same principles in every age.
I. God’s people are often severely afflicted.
They fail in duty, or they even transgress His commandments. Then they certainly suffer. Utter is the delusion that they may sin with impunity. Unlike human parents, God never spoils His children; He has no foolish fondness for them that would lead Him to be blind to or tolerant of their faults. On the contrary, sin in them is most grievous to Him (H. E. I., 4563–4570), and the chastisement thereof is certain and often severe (Amos iii. 2). Terrible was the punishment which Isaiah foresaw would come upon Israel—deportation to the land of their conquerors. In that calamity what varied and awful sufferings were involved! So it is still! there is severity as well as mercy in the God we serve. Because he loves us, He will not allow us to go on to ruin unchecked. By terrible calamities, if need be, He will arrest us in the path to perdition.
II. In the severest afflictions wherewith God visits His people His mercy is manifest.
Manifest, 1. In the fact that they befall them here and now. How kind in Him, not to stand silently by, and leave them to go on unchecked to ruin! Remember, the sinner has no claim upon the mercy of God in any form. 2. In the restraint with which they are measured out.[1] There is no passion or vindictiveness in God’s dealings with them that provoke Him to anger. Though His chastisements may seem to burst upon the backslider like a hurricane of east wind, in reality mercy controls and directs the storm. “In exact measure,” &c.[2] Because it is so exactly measured out by mercy, (1) it always falls short of the guilt of the sinner. Did justice measure it out, so that it should be commensurate with the guilt of the transgressor, it would mean destruction. This is seen in the case of the enemies of God. Persistent ungodliness is visited at length, not with chastisement, but with judgment, i.e., utter ruin (note the picture of the doom of Babylon in verses 10, 11). So that when God’s erring people have been chastened most severely, His prophets can put to them Isaiah’s question in verse 7. To it they can only return the answer given in Ps. ciii. 10. (2) It always falls short of the transgressor’s power of endurance (H. E. I., 180, 187). When it is ended, he still lives—lives to bless the hand that smote him (Ps. cxix. 71, 75, 67). 3. In the motive that inspires them all. By them God seeks, not the destruction of His erring people, but their deliverance. Israel was held in the degrading bondage of idolatry; the terrible calamites of the captivity were the strokes by which He brake their fetters. When the discipline was over, they hated idolatry in all its forms; all the altar-stones in which they had delighted were “like lime-stones dashed in pieces,” and the Ashérahs and sun-images rose in their midst no more. It is the same motive that inspires Him in all His afflictive dealings with His people to-day (H. E. I., 56–59, 66–74). Therefore, if He is visiting us with afflictions,—1. Let us not be rebellious, but submissive (H. E. I., 158). 2. Let us be moved to penitential self-examination (H. E. I., 145–147). 3. Let us give heartfelt thanks to God because He is resolved to make us like Himself (Heb. xii. 10; H. E. I., 162–165).