Isaiah 40:16 - Clarke's commentary and critical notes on the Bible

Bible Comments

And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. And Lebanon is not sufficient - The image is beautiful and uncommon. It has been imitated by an apocryphal writer, who however comes far short of the original: -

"For all sacrifice is too little for a sweet savor unto thee:

And all the fat is not sufficient for thy burnt-offering."

Judith 16:16.

Does not the prophet mean here that all the burnt-offerings and sacrifices that could be offered were insufficient to atone for sin? That the nations were as nothing before him, not merely because of his immensity, but because of their insufficiency to make any atonement by their oblations for the iniquities which they had committed? Therefore the Redeemer was to come to Zion, etc.

Isaiah 40:16

16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.