God's Call to Repentance
G. B. Macdonald. Isaiah 22:12-14 And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth:… The awful state of Jerusalem forces this truth upon our minds — that no privileges, civil or religious, can give immunity to a depraved and guilty people, from the threatened judgments of an angry God. In how many instances do the circumstances and the conduct of the ancient Jews strikingly resemble ours! I. THE DUTY TO WHICH GOD CALLS US. We are called to "weeping and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth" — these expressions being indicative of the ancient" forms of mourning." We are called by our calamities to it; we are called by our God. II. THE CONDUCT WHICH IS DISPLAYED. "And behold joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine: let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die" — a sensualist notion, which may be taken here either as the language of despair — "Since we must die tomorrow, let us eat and drink today; or, in the way of sneering — They say we shall die; let us eat and drink then, and enjoy as much as we can of the good things of this life." III. THE THREATENING WHICH IS DENOUNCED (ver. 14). God's threatenings are not idle declamations. (G. B. Macdonald.) Parallel Verses KJV: And in that day did the Lord GOD of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth: WEB: In that day, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, called to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to dressing in sackcloth: