Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.
Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God ... Put the stop at "ways;" and connect "as a nation that," etc., with what follows. "As a nation that did righteousness," thus answers to, 'they ask of me just judgments' (i:e., as a matter of justice due to them, salvation to themselves, and destruction to their enemies); and "forsook not the ordinance of their God," answers to, 'they desire the drawing near of God' (that God would draw near to exercise these 'just judgments' in behalf of them, and against their enemies) (Maurer). So Jerome, 'In the confidence, as it were, of a good conscience, they demand a just judgment, in the language of the saints: Judge me, O Lord, for I have walked in mine integrity.' So in Malachi 2:17, they affect to be scandalized at the impunity of the wicked, and impugn God's justice (Horsley).
Thus "seek me daily, and desire to know my ways," refers to their requiring to know why God delayed so long in helping them. But this puts a forced sense on the Hebrew, "they seek me ... and delight to know my ways:" and the Vulgate, Septuagint, Chaldaic, Syriac, and Arabic translate as the English version, 'they desire' or 'delight to approach to God.' I prefer the English version, which gives a good sense-namely, dispelling the delusion that God would be satisfied with outward observances, while the spirit of the law was violated and the heart unchanged (Isaiah 58:3-14; Ezekiel 33:31-32: cf. John 18:28, scrupulosity side by side with murder). The prophets were the commentators on the law, the Magna Charta of Israel, in its inward spirit, and not the mere letter. In the clause, "they ask of me the ordinances of justice," Horsley's view is doubtless correct, 'they demand of me judgment in their favour as a matter of justice;' which prepares for their murmuring in Isaiah 58:3.