I clothe the heavens in black and make sackcloth their covering.”
Those who have professed to be the people of God, and yet seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain of God, and to lay the fault upon him, as if he had been hard with them. But, in answer to their murmurings, we have here, I. A challenge given them to prove, or produce any evidence, that the quarrel began on God's side, Isa 50:1.
Commenting on Isaiah 50:1-3
I clothe the heavens with blackness,.... With gross and thick darkness; perhaps referring to the three days' darkness the Egyptians were in, Exo 10:12, or with thick and black clouds, as in tempestuous weather frequently; or by eclipses of the sun; there was an extraordinary instance of great darkness at the time of Christ's crucifixion, Mat 27:45.
heavens . . . blackness--another of the judgments on Egypt to be repeated hereafter on the last enemy of God's people (Exo 10:21). sackcloth-- (Rev 6:12).