63:17 O LORD, why hast {t} thou made us to err from thy ways, [and] hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy {u} servants' sake, the tribes of thy inheritance.
(t) By taking away the Holy Spirit from us, by whom we were governed, and so for our ingratitude delivered us up to our own concupiscence, and punished sin by sin according to your just judgment.
(u) Meaning, for the covenant's sake made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob his servants.
63:17 Made us - Suffered us to err. Hardened - Suffered it to be hardened. Thy fear - The fear of thee. Servants sake - For our sakes, that little remnant that are thy servants. Inheritance - The land of Canaan, which God gave them as an inheritance.
63:15-19 They beseech him to look down on the abject condition of their once-favoured nation. Would it not be glorious to his name to remove the veil from their hearts, to return to the tribes of his inheritance? The Babylonish captivity, and the after-deliverance of the Jews, were shadows of the events here foretold. The Lord looks down upon us in tenderness and mercy. Spiritual judgments are more to be dreaded than any other calamities; and we should most carefully avoid those sins which justly provoke the Lord to leave men to themselves and to their deceiver. Our Redeemer from everlasting is thy name; thy people have always looked upon thee as the God to whom they might appeal. The Lord will hear the prayers of those who belong to him, and deliver them from those not called by his name.
