Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 49:1
Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.
1 3. The call and equipment of the Servant by Jehovah. The nations of the world are addressed, because the great announcement that the speaker has to make ( Isa 49:6) concerns them. Although Jeremiah had already been conscious of being a “prophet to the nations” (Jer 1:5), the self-consciousness here attributed to the Servant is too great to be that of any private individual, whether prophet or teacher.
O isles ] see on ch. Isa 41:1. For people render peoples (R.V.).
the Lord hath called me (Isa 42:6 &c.) from the womb ] Cf. ch. Isa 44:2; Isa 44:24, Isa 46:3, where the same metaphor is used of the beginning of the nation’s history. made mention of my name ] Cf. Isa 43:1.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
1 6. The Servant’s address to the nations. The passage forms the natural sequel to ch. Isa 42:1-4, and adds some fresh features to the portrait there presented. (1) The Servant, speaking now in his own name, expresses his consciousness of the mission entrusted to him by Jehovah ( Isa 49:1-3). (2) He records his failure in the past, and the sense of disappointment caused in him by the apparent fruitlessness of his labour; yet his faith in his mission remains constant ( Isa 49:4). (3) But now his doubts have been removed by a revelation of the great purpose for which Jehovah has raised him up; viz., to be the organ of His salvation to the ends of the earth ( Isa 49:5-6).
It still remains the most probable view that Israel is here spoken of under the name of the Servant of Jehovah; although two objections are raised in addition to those suggested by Isa 42:1-4. ( a) The Servant is described as one who has a history and an experience behind him, as well as a mission to fulfil. Now this experience is not that of the nation, which was conscious of no unique religious mission, and therefore had no such sense of defeat as is described in Isa 49:4. And if we say that it is not the actual but the ideal Israel that is meant, we are asked to explain how an ideal can have a history, or when the ideal Israel was born, or before whom Jehovah mentioned its name (Duhm). ( b) Another difficulty is created by the fact that the Servant is here expressly distinguished from Israel when it is said that the restoration of the nation is to be effected by his activity. These objections are perhaps sufficiently met by the consideration that the ideal represented by the Servant is one that has been partially realised in the experience of the best part of the nation. Since the beginning of prophecy there had been a section of the people that had laboured for the conversion of Israel, and there were doubtless many among the exiles whose feelings of disappointment are truthfully reflected by the language put into the mouth of the Servant. There is nothing unnatural in the supposition that this party should be regarded as embodying the true genius of Israel, or that their experience should be transferred to the ideal figure by which the prophet sets forth his inspired interpretation of Israel’s history. Nor is there any great difficulty in the further thought that the ideal Servant, as represented by this minority, laboured for the reunion and upbuilding of the future Israel. This also corresponds to a fact of history, for nothing is more certain than that but for the influence of the prophetic teaching the Israelitish nationality would have perished during the Captivity. The prophet’s conception of Israel’s unique position is singularly profound as well as elevated; but it does not appear that any feature thus far introduced into the portrait of Jehovah’s Servant violates the conditions of a natural personification. (See further Introduction, pp. xxxiii f.; and Appendix, Note I.)
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ch. Isa 49:1-13. The Servant of Jehovah: His Fidelity amidst Discouragements, and the ultimate Success of His Mission
The beginning of ch. 49 seems to mark a distinct advance in the development of the prophet’s conceptions. “The controversial tone, the repeated comparisons between Jehovah and the idols, with the arguments based upon them, disappear; the prophet feels that, as regards these points, he has made his position sufficiently secure. For the same reason, allusions to Cyrus and his conquest of Babylon cease also; that, likewise, is now taken for granted” (Driver, Isaiah 2, pp. 148 f.). In the remaining discourses (ch. 49 55) the author concentrates his attention almost exclusively on his central message of consolation, and the glorious future in store for Israel. His treatment of this theme moves along two lines, which alternate with each other as the manner of the writer is. The first is represented by the idea of the Servant of the Lord, the second by the figure of Zion, both being personifications, although in very different senses, of the people of Israel (see on ch. Isa 40:1). The Servant represents the ideal Israel as Jehovah’s instrument, first, in restoring the unity and prosperity of the nation, and second, in extending the knowledge of God to the nations of the world. Zion, on the other hand, is the representative of Israel in its passive aspect, as deserted and humbled in the present, but at the same time the recipient of the blessings which accrue from the work and sufferings of the Lord’s Servant.
The opening section consists of:
i. A new description of the mission and experience of the Servant of Jehovah (cf. ch. Isa 42:1-4) in the form of an address by the Servant to the nations ( Isa 49:1-6). These verses form the second of the four “Servant-passages” which occur in the book.
ii. A promise of speedy restoration to Israel, obviously based on the preceding description ( Isa 49:7-12).
iii. A hymn of gratitude to Jehovah, called forth as usual by the prospect of deliverance ( Isa 49:13).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Listen – This is the exordium, or introduction. According to the interpretation which refers it to the Messiah, it is to be regarded as the voice of the Redeemer calling the distant parts of the earth to give a respectful attention to the statement of his qualifications for his work, and to the assurances that his salvation would be extended to them (compare Isa 41:1). The Redeemer here is to be regarded as having already come in the flesh, and as having been rejected and despised by the Jews (see Isa 49:4-5), and as now turning to the Gentile world, and proffering salvation to them. The time when this is supposed to occur, therefore, as seen by the prophet, is when the Messiah had preached in vain to his own countrymen, and when there was a manifest fitness and propriety in his extending the offer of salvation to the pagan world.
O isles – Ye distant lands (see the note at Isa 41:1). The word is used here, as it is there, in the sense of countries beyond sea; distant, unknown regions; the dark, pagan world.
Ye people from far – The reason why the Messiah thus addresses them is stated in Isa 49:6. It is because he was appointed to be a light to them, and because, having been rejected by the Jewish nation, it was resolved to extend the offers and the blessings of salvation to other lands.
The Lord hath called me from the womb – Yahweh hath set me apart to this office from my very birth. The stress here is laid on the fact that he was thus called, and not on the particular time when it was done. The idea is, that he had not presumptuously assumed this office; he had not entered on it without being appointed to it; he had been designated to it even before he was born (see Isa 49:5). A similar expression is used in respect to Jeremiah Jer 1:5 : Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee; and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Paul also uses a similar expression respecting himself Gal 1:15 : But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mothers womb. That this actually occurred in regard to the Redeemer, it is not needful to pause here to show (see Luk 1:31).
From the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name – This is another form of stating the fact that he had been designated to this office from his very infancy. Many have supposed that the reference here is to the fact that Mary was commanded by the angel, before his birth, to call his name Jesus Luk 1:31. The same command was also repeated to Joseph in a dream Mat 1:21. So Jerome, Vitringa, Michaelis, and some others understand it. By others it has been supposed that the phrase he hath made mention of my name is the same as to call. The Hebrew is literally, He has caused my name to be remembered from the bowels of my mother. The Septuagint renders it, He hath called my name. Grotius renders it, He has given to me a beautiful name, by which salvation is signified as about to come from the Lord. I see no objection to the supposition that this refers to the fact that his name was actually designated before he was born. The phrase seems obviously to imply more than merely to call to an office; and as his name was thus actually designated by God, and as he designed that there should be special significancy and applicability in the name, there can be no impropriety in supposing that this refers to that fact. If so, the idea is, that he was not only appointed to the work of the Messiah from his birth, but that he actually had a name given him by God before he was born, which expressed the fact that he would save people, and which constituted a reason why the distant pagan lands should hearken to his voice.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 49:1-6
Listen, O isles, unto Me
A forecast of the universal religion
In the previous chapters we find very glorious things spoken of the deliverance of the Jews from Babylon.
But in this chapter we seem to commence a new departure, to rise to a higher strain, and to launch out into broader and grander predictions. A larger audience is invoked–Listen, O isles, unto Me. A greater than the prophet is the speaker–The Lord hath called me from the womb, &c. And the calling of the Gentiles to a share in the blessings of the greater redemption is clearly indicated. I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be My salvation unto the end of the earth. (D. Howell, B. D.)
The ideal servant of Jehovah
Here, not only does the language describe apparently the acts of an individual person, but the servant is expressly distinguished from the historic nation; and part of the servants office is to consist in the restoration of the historic nation, and (Isa 49:8) the re-allotment of its desolated land. At the same time, the servant is still in some sense Israel; for the term is directly applied to Him (Isa 49:3). . . Israel, from this point of view, is delineated by [the prophet] as an ideal personality, and projected upon the future as a figure displaying the most genuine characteristics of the nation, and realising them in action with an intensity and clearness of aim which the historic Israel had never even remotely attained. It is a great ideal creation which the prophet constructs, a transfigured reflection of the historic people, a figure conscious of the colossal task allotted to it, but impeded by no moral slackness, or other deficient y, from undertaking it. And so vividly is this wonderful creation a figure present to his imagination, that it exhibits all the concrete traits of an individual person. (Prof. S. R. Driver, D. D.)
The servant of Jehovah
The servant of Jehovah is the kernel of the kernel of Israel, Israels inmost centre, Israels highest head. (F. Delitzsch, D. D.)
The speaker
Who is this that speaks in the Hebrew tongue, and presumes to address the world as his audience? We had thought the Jew-speech too exclusive, too conservative, too intolerant of strangers, to care to make itself heard beyond the limits of Judaism. Whence this sudden interest in the great family of man? All! these are the words of the Messiah, the ideal Jew; speaking in the name of the elect race, and representing its genius, not as warped by human prejudice, but as God intended it to be. He said unto me, Thou art My servant; Israel, in whom I will be glorified. There can be no doubt that this is the true way of considering these noble words. They were expressly referred to Jesus Christ by His greatest apostle on one of the most memorable occasions in his career Act 13:47). But, it may be asked, how can words, so evidently addressed to Israel, be appropriated, with equal truth, to Jesus Christ? It is sufficient to say that He was the epitome and personification of all that was-noblest and divinest in Judaism. When, in spite of all that they had suffered in their exile, they for a second time failed to realise or fulfil their great mission to the world; when under the reign of Pharisee and Scribe they settled down into a nation of legalists, casuists, and hair-splitting ritualists–He assumed the responsibilities which they had evaded, and fulfilled them by the Gospel He spoke and the Church He formed. In the mission of Jesus, the heart of Judaism unfolded itself. What He was and did, the whole nation ought to have been and done. As the white flower on the stalk, He revealed the essential nature of the root. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
A polished shaft
We are justified in referring this paragraph to the Lord Jesus, as the ideal Servant of God. And we may get some useful teaching as to the conditions of the loftiest and best service which, following His steps, we may render to His Father and our Father.
I. THE QUALIFICATIONS OF THE IDEAL SERVANT.
1. A holy motherhood. The Lord hath called me from the womb. The greatest and best of men have confessed their indebtedness to their mothers; and not a few have, without doubt, enshrined in their character, and wrought out in their life, inspirations which had thrilled their mothers natures from early girlhood. It is from their mothers that men get their souls. To make a man, God begins with his mother. Few of us realise the immense importance attaching to the education of girls.
2. Incisive speech. He hath made My mouth like a sharp sword. Speech is the most God-like faculty in man. Christ did not scruple to be called the word or speech of God. This regal faculty is Gods chosen organ for announcing and establishing His kingdom over the earth. Our mouth must be surrendered to God, that He may implant there the sharp two-edged sword that proceeds from His own lips (Rev 1:16).
3. Seclusion. In the shadow. We must all go there sometimes. The photograph of Gods face can only be fixed in the dark chamber.
4. Freed from rust. A polished shaft. Weapons of war soon deteriorate. Rust can best be removed by sand-paper or the file. Similarly we must be kept bright and clean. For this purpose God uses the fret of daily life, the chafe of small annoyances, the wear and tear of irritating tempers and vexing circumstances.
II. APPARENT FAILURE (Isa 49:4). This heart-break seems inevitable to Gods most gifted and useful servants. It is in part the result of nervous overstrain, e.g. Elijah (1Ki 19:1-21.). But in part it results from the expanding compassion of the soul. There are three sources of consolation.
1. That failure will not forfeit the bright smile of the Masters welcome nor the reward of His judgment-seat. He judges righteously; and rewards, not according to results, but to faithfulness.
2. The soul leans more heavily upon God. My God is become My strength (Isa 49:5).
3. We turn to prayer. How sweetly God refers to this, saying, In an acceptable time have I answered thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee (Isa 49:8). Thus God deals with us all. He is compelled to take us to the back side of the desert, where we sit face to face with the wreck of our fairest hopes. There He teaches us, as He only can, weaning us from creature-confidence, and taking pride from our hearts.
III. ULTIMATE SUCCESS. When Jesus died, failure seemed written across His lifework. But that very Cross, which man deemed His supreme disgrace and dethronement, has become the stepping-stone of universal dominion. Thus it may be with some. They are passing through times of barrenness, and disappointment, and suffering. But let them remember that the Lord is faithful (Isa 49:7). He will not suffer one word to fail, one seed to be lost, one effort to prove abortive, one life to be wasted. (F. B.Meyer, B. A.)
Service; call and qualifications
I. THE CALL TO THE SERVICE APPOINTED US OF GOD. The Lord hath called me from the womb.
1. To every human life that enters the world there is a special call, and a distinct sphere of duty. Jeremiah was called from his birth (Jer 1:5), and so was St. Paul (Gal 1:15). These are types, not exceptions. Their call teaches us that every human life is a real and distinct entity, a thing complete in itself, as much so to the eye of God as the grandest object in any sphere of created life. Behind all secondary causes there is a design and a purpose to each separate existence, which gives it a dignity, and makes it a necessity in the government of God. This truth is not one easy to realise. An individual is so insignificant a thing among the millions inhabiting the surface of this globe, while the globe itself is only as a grain of sand on the seashore beside countless other worlds, that it is with no mock modesty we ask, What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that Thou so regardest him? This is true, but it is none the less true that each individual life has a meaning and a mission in the plan and purpose of God; and to realise this is no unimportant element in fitness for service. Two opposite errors there are which have gone far to ruin countless human lives. One is the overestimating and the other the underestimating our importance as individuals.
2. The question naturally arises, how is the Divine call to be discerned? The natural predilections of a man may, to some extent, be taken as pointing the direction in which his sphere of action lies. There are, besides, his aptitudes, his special endowments. There is, also, the concurrent direction of circumstances. Nor should a light stress be laid on the opinions of those whose experience of life, and unbiassed judgment, qualify them to give sound advice. Nor again, should the conscious promptings of some power within us, compelling us to face, perhaps, an unwelcome prospect, be ignored. But at no crisis in life is humble, submissive, patient, trustful waiting upon God of greater importance than when we are responding, definitely and finally, to the call of circumstances, of inclinations, and of qualifications in the choice of lifes sphere of duty. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. And when the call comes, it is at our peril that we hesitate to obey it.
II. THE QUALIFICATIONS FOR IT (verse 2). This was emphatically true of our Lord Jesus Christ. When, in the fulness of time, He was revealed to the world, His own words were, I came not to bring peace, but a sword. Moreover, in the apocalyptic vision, the description given of His ascended and enthroned Majesty is that of one out of whose mouth there went a sharp two-edged sword. The same figure is also applied to the third person of the Holy Trinity, of whom it is said, that the sword of the Spirit is the Word of God–and never should it be forgotten, that Bible truth, in mind, and heart, and life, and at ready command for use, is pre-eminently the instrument of power for effective service. Now the sword is the symbol of authority, as well as of war, and is intended to vindicate the true as well as to slay the false. For this we need, not only a sword, but a sharp sword. There are great and vital interests to be vindicated, the interests of truth, and of humanity. We also need a sword, and a sharp sword, to cut down errors and abuses. But for effective service we need not only to be as sharp swords, but also as polished shafts. A polished shaft is a symbol of cultivated gifts, of trained endowments, and of aggressive power at its best. The call and the gifts come from God; while the response to that call, and the due cultivation and employment of the gifts depend upon man, and if he neglects to do his part, what can his life be but a disastrous failure? Definiteness of purpose is an essential condition of success in earthly affairs. Moreover, in all true service there must be the element of sacrifice–not merely the sacrifice of time, thought, pleasure, profit, preference,but, above all, of self. One more element in fitness for service must I mention, viz., that moral chivalry which goes by the name of disinterestedness. (D. Howell, B. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XLIX
In this chapter the Messiah is introduced, declaring the full
extent of his commission, which is not only to be Saviour to
the Jews, but also to the Gentiles. The power and efficacy of
his word is reprehended by apt images; the ill success of his
ministry among the Jews is intimated, and the great success of
the Gospel among the Gentiles, 1-12.
But the prophet, then casting his eye on the happy, though
distant, period of Israel’s restoration, makes a beautiful
apostrophe to the whole creation to shout forth the praises of
God on the prospect of this remarkable favour, 13.
The tender mercies of God to his people, with the prosperity of
the Church in general, and the final overthrow of all its
enemies, make the subject of the remaining verses, 14-26.
NOTES ON CHAP. XLIX
Verse 1. Listen, O isles, unto me – “Hearken unto me, O ye distant lands”] Hitherto the subject of the prophecy has been chiefly confined to the redemption from the captivity of Babylon; with strong intimations of a more important deliverance sometimes thrown in, to the refutation of idolatry, and the demonstration of the infinite power, wisdom, and foreknowledge of God. The character and office of the Messiah was exhibited in general terms at the beginning of Isa 42:1 c. but here he is introduced in person, declaring the full extent of his commission, which is not only to restore the Israelites, and reconcile them to their Lord and Father, from whom they had so often revolted, but to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, to call them to the knowledge and obedience of the true God, and to bring them to be one Church together with the Israelites, and to partake with them of the same common salvation procured for all by the great Redeemer and Reconciler of man to God.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Listen, O isles. God having in the last words secretly signified the wickedness of the Jewish nation, after so glorious a deliverance, and foreseeing that, for their wickedness, he should cast them off, he here turneth his speech to the nations of the Gentiles, who are frequently described in this prophecy and elsewhere under the title of isles, as hath been formerly noted, and inviteth them to hearken to those counsels and doctrines which the Jews would reject.
Unto me; unto Christ; for it is apparent from Isa 49:6, and other passages of this chapter, that Isaiah speaks these words ill the name of Christ, by whose Spirit they were dictated to him, 1Pe 1:11, and unto whom alone they belong, as we shall see. So this chapter is a prophecy of Christ, which also is very proper and seasonable in this place. The prophet having at large prophesied of the deliverance of the Jews out of Babylon, he now proceeds further, and prophesieth of the redemption of the world by Christ, of which that deliverance out of Babylon was a type and forerunner.
Hearken, ye people, from far; which live in countries far from Judea, now the only place of Gods special presence and worship. It is evident from the foregoing clause, and many other passages following, that he speaks of distance of place, not of time.
The Lord hath called me from the womb: this or the like expression is used of Jeremiah, Isa 1:5, and of Paul, Gal 1:15; but it was far more eminently true of Christ, who, as he was chosen to this great office of redemption from eternity, so he was separated and called to it before he was born, being both conceived and sanctified by the Holy Ghost in his mothers womb, and sent into the world upon this errand; of which see Mat 1:21; Luk 1:31, &c.; it. 11, &c.
Made mention of my name; called by my name, and by such a name as signified my office and work, in the places now mentioned.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. O islesMessiah is hereregarded as having been rejected by the Jews (Isa 49:4;Isa 49:5), and as now turning tothe Gentiles, to whom the Father hath given Him “for a light andsalvation.” “Isles” mean all regions beyond sea.
from the womb (Isa 44:2;Luk 1:31; Joh 10:36).
from . . . bowels . . .mention of my nameHis name “Jesus” (that is,God-Saviour) was designated by God before His birth (Mt1:21).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Listen, O isles, unto me,…. These are not the words of Cyrus, as Lyra mentions; nor of the Prophet Isaiah, as Aben Ezra, Kimchi, and other Jewish writers think; but of Christ, calling upon the inhabitants of the isles to hearken to him; by whom are meant the inhabitants of islands properly so called, as ours of Great Britain, and may be chiefly designed, being a place where the Gospel of Christ came early, and has been long; or all such that dwell in countries beyond the sea, it being usual with the Jews to call all such countries isles that were beyond sea to them; Christ is the great Prophet of his church, and is alone to be hearkened unto, and in all things, Mt 17:5:
and hearken, ye people, from far; that were afar off from the land of Judea, as well as afar off from God and Christ, and the knowledge of him, and of righteousness and salvation by him; the Gentile nations are meant; see Eph 2:12, for this is to be understood of kingdoms afar off, as the Targum paraphrases it; and not of distant and future things, to be accomplished hereafter, as Aben Ezra; taking this to be the subject they are required to hearken to, and not as descriptive of persons that are to hearken:
the Lord hath called me from the womb; to the office of a Mediator; to be Prophet, Priest, and King; to be the Saviour and Redeemer of men; he did not assume this to himself, but was called of God his Father, Heb 5:4, and that not only from the womb of his mother Mary, or as soon as he was conceived and born of her; but from the womb of eternity, from the womb of eternal purposes and decrees; for he was set forth, or foreordained in the purposes of God, to be the propitiation for sin; and was predestinated to be the Redeemer before the foundation of the world, even before he had a being in this world as man. So the Targum,
“the Lord, before I was, appointed me;”
he prepared a body for him, and appointed him to be his salvation. The Syriac version join, the words “from far” to this clause, as do the Septuagint and Arabic versions, contrary to the accents, and renders them, “of a long time the Lord hath called me, from the womb”; even from eternity:
from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name; Jarchi interprets this of Isaiah, whose name was fixed and given him by the Lord, while he was in his mother’s bowels, signifying that he should prophesy of salvation and comfort; but it is much better to understand it of Christ, whose name Jesus, a Saviour, was made mention of by the Lord, while he was in his mother’s womb, and before he was born, Mt 1:20, for the words may be rendered, “before the womb, and before the bowels of my mother” r; that is, before he was in them.
r – “ante uterum—-ante viscera matris meae”, h. e. “antequam essem in utero, et in visceribus matris meae”, Vitringa.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The very same person who was introduced by Jehovah in Isa 42:1. here speaks for himself, commencing thus in Isa 49:1-3: “Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye nations afar off: Jehovah hath called me from the womb; from my mother’s lap hath He remembered my name. And He made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of His hand hath He hid me, and made me into a polished shaft; in His quiver hath He concealed me. And He said to me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, thou in whom I glorify myself.” Although the speaker is called Israel in Isa 49:3, he must not be regarded as either a collective person representing all Israel, or as the collective personality of the kernel of Israel, which answered to its true idea. It is not the former, because in Isa 49:5 he is expressly distinguished from the nation itself, which is the immediate object of his special work as restorer and (according to Isa 49:8 and Isa 42:6) covenant-mediator also; not the latter, because the nation, whose restoration he effects, according to Isa 49:5, was not something distinct from the collective personality of the “servant of Jehovah” in a national sense, but rather the entire body of the “servants of Jehovah” or remnant of Israel (see, for example, Isa 65:8-16). Moreover, it cannot be either of these, because what he affirms of himself is expressed in such terms of individuality, that they cannot be understood as employed in a collective sense at all, more especially where he speaks of his mother’s womb. In every other case in which Israel is spoken of in this way, we find only “from the womb” ( m ibbeten , Isa 44:2, Isa 44:24; Isa 56:3, along with m inn – racham ; also Isa 48:8), without the addition of (mother), which is quite unsuitable to the collective body of the nation (except in such allegorical connections as Isa 51:1-2, and Eze 16:3). Is it then possibly the prophet, who is here speaking of himself and refers in Isa 49:1 to his own mother (compare in Jer 15:10; Jer 20:14, Jer 20:17)? This is very improbable, if only because the prophet, who is the medium of the word of God in these prophecies, has never placed himself in the foreground before. In Isa 40:6 he merely speaks of himself indirectly; in Isa 44:26, even if he refer to himself at all (which we greatly doubt), it is only objectively; and in Isa 48:16, the other person, into whose words the words of Jehovah pass, cannot be the prophet, for the simple reason that the transition of the words of Jehovah into those of His messenger is essentially different in this instance from the otherwise frequent interchange of the words of Jehovah and those of His prophet, and also because the messenger of Jehovah speaks of himself there, after the “former things” have come to pass, as the mediator (either in word or deed) of the “new things” which were never heard of before, but are to be expected now; whereas the author of these addresses was also the prophet of the “former things,” and therefore the messenger referred to rises up within the course of sacred history predicted by the author of these prophecies. Moreover, what the speaker in this case (Isa 49:1-2) says of himself is so unique, so glorious, that it reaches far beyond the vocation and performance of any single prophet, or, in fact, of any individual man subject to the limitations of human life and human strength.
There is nothing else left, therefore, than to suppose that the idea implied in the expression “servant of Jehovah” is condensed in this instance, as in Isa 42:1., into that of a single person. When it is expanded to its widest circumference, the “servant of Jehovah” is all Israel; when it only covers its smaller and inner circle, it is the true people of Jehovah contained within the entire nation, like the kernel in the shell (see the definition of this at Isa 51:7; Isa 65:10; Psa 24:6; Psa 73:15); but here it goes back to its very centre. The “servant of Jehovah,” in this central sense, is the heart of Israel. From this heart of Israel the stream of salvation flows out, first of all through the veins of the people of God, and thence through the veins of the nations generally. Just as Cyrus is the world-power in person, as made subservient to the people of God, so the servant of Jehovah, who is speaking here, is Israel in person, as promoting the glorification of Jehovah in all Israel, and in all the world of nations: in other words, it is He in whom the true nature of Israel is concentrated like a sun, in whom the history of Israel is coiled up as into a knot for a further and final development, in whom Israel’s world-wide calling to be the Saviour of mankind, including Israel itself, is fully carried out; the very same who took up the word of Jehovah in Isa 48:16, in the full consciousness of His fellowship with Him, declaring Himself to be His messenger who had now appeared. It must not be forgotten, moreover, that throughout these prophecies the breaking forth of salvation, not for Israel only, but for all mankind, is regarded as bound up with the termination of the captivity; and from this its basis, the restoration of the people who were then in exile, it is never separated. This fact is of great importance in relation to the question of authorship, and favours the conclusion that they emanated from a prophet who lived before the captivity, and not in the midst of it. Just as in chapter 7 Isaiah sees the son of the virgin grow up in the time of the Assyrian oppressions, and then sees his kingdom rising up on the ruins of the Assyrian; so does he here behold the servant of Jehovah rising up in the second half of the captivity, as if born in exile, in the midst of the punishment borne by his people, to effect the restoration of Israel. At the present time, when he begins to speak, coming forward without any further introduction, and speaking in his own name (a unique instance of dramatic style, which goes beyond even Psa 2:1-12), he has already left behind him the commencement of his work, which was directed towards the salvation of mankind. His appeal is addressed to the “isles,” which had been frequently mentioned already when the evangelization of the heathen was spoken of (Isa 42:4, Isa 42:10, Isa 42:12; cf., Isa 24:15), and to the “nations from afar,” i.e., the distant nations (as in Isa 5:26; compare, on the other hand, Jer 23:23). They are to hear what he says, not merely what he says in the words that follow, but what he says generally. What follows is rather a vindication of his right to demand a hearing and obedience, then the discourse itself, which is to be received with the obedience of faith; at the same time, the two are most intimately connected. Jehovah has called him ab utero , has thought of his name from the bowels of his mother ( as in Psa 71:6), i.e., even before he was born; ever since his conception has Jehovah assigned to him his calling, viz., his saving calling. We call to mind here Jer 1:5; Luk 1:41; Gal 1:15, but above all the name Immanuel, which is given by anticipation to the Coming One in Isa 7:14, and the name Jesus, which God appointed through the mouth of angels, when the human life of Him who was to bear that name was still ripening in the womb of the Virgin (Mat 1:20-23). It is worthy of notice, however, that the great Coming One, though he is described in the Old Testament as one who is to be looked for “from the seed of David,” is also spoken of as “born of a woman,” whenever his entrance into the world is directly referred to. In the Protevangelium he is called, though not in an individual sense, “the seed of the woman;” Isaiah, in the time of Ahaz, mentions “the virgin” as his mother; Micah (Mic 5:2) speaks of his ; even the typical psalms, as in Psa 22:10-11, give prominence to the mother. And is not this a sign that prophecy is a work of the Spirit, who searches out the deep things of the counsel of God?
In Isa 49:2 the speaker says still further, that Jehovah has made his mouth k e cherebh c haddah (like a sharp sword), namely, that he may overcome everything that resists him as if with a sharp sword, and sever asunder things that are bound up together in a pernicious bond (Isa 11:4; Rev 1:16; Heb 4:12); also that He has made him into c hets barur (not , lxx, but, as in Jer 51:11, cleaned,
(Note: The comparison to purus is one that naturally suggests itself; but this, like putus , is derived from a root pu .)
polished, sharpened, pointed), namely, to pierce the hearts (Psa 45:6), and inflict upon them the most wholesome wounds; and again, that Jehovah has hidden him under the shadow of His almighty hand, and kept him concealed in the quiver of His loving counsel, just girt as men keep their swords and arrows in sheaths and quivers ready for the time when they want to use them, in order that in the fulness of time He might draw out this His sword, and put this His arrow to the bow. The question whether the allusion here is to the time preceding the foreknown period of his coming, or whether it is to eternity that the words refer, does not present any great dilemma; at the same time, the prophecy in this instance only traces back the being of the person, who now appears, to the remotest point of his historical coming. Isa 49:3 describes, without any figure, what Jehovah has made him. He has said to him (cf., Psa 2:7): Thou art my servant; thou art Israel, in whom ( in quo , as in Isa 44:23) I glorify myself. Schenkel’s exposition is grammatically impossible: “(It is) in Israel that I will glorify myself through thee.” The servant himself is called Israel. We call to mind here the expression in Mat 16:18, “Thou art Peter;” and the use of the name “Israel,” as the individuation of a generic name, reminds us of the fact that the kings of a nation are sometimes called by the name of the nation itself (e.g., Asshur, Isa 10:5.). But Israel was from the very first the God-given name of an individual. Just as the name Israel was first of all given to a man, and then after that to a nation, so the name which sprang from a personal root has also a personal crown. The servant of Jehovah is Israel in person, inasmuch as the purpose of mercy, upon the basis of which and for the accomplishment of which Jehovah made Jacob the father of the twelve-tribed nation, is brought by him into full and final realization. We have already seen that Israel, as an entire nation, formed the basis of the idea contained in the term “servant of Jehovah;” Israel, regarded as a people faithful to its calling, the centre; and the personal servant of Jehovah its apex. In the present instance, where he is called distinctly “Israel,” the fact is clearly expressed, that the servant of Jehovah in these prophecies is regarded as the kernel of the kernel of Israel, as Israel’s inmost centre, as Israel’s highest head. He it is in whom (i.e., on whom and through whom) Jehovah glorifies Himself, inasmuch as He carried out through him the counsels of His love, which are the self-glorification of His holy love, its glory and its triumph.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Encouragement to the Gentiles. | B. C. 706. |
1 Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. 2 And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me; 3 And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. 4 Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God. 5 And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength. 6 And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.
Here, I. An auditory is summoned together and attention demanded. The sermon in the foregoing chapter was directed to the house of Jacob and the people of Israel, Isa 49:1; Isa 49:12. But this is directed to the isles (that is, the Gentiles, for they are called the isles of the Gentiles, Gen. x. 5) and to the people from far, that were strangers to the commonwealth of Israel, and afar off. Let these listen (v. 1) as to a thing at a distance, which yet they are to hear with desire and attention. Note, 1. The tidings of a Redeemer are sent to the Gentiles, and to those that lie most remote; and they are concerned to listen to them. 2. The Gentiles listened to the gospel when the Jews were deaf to it.
II. The great author and publisher of the redemption produces his authority from heaven for the work he had undertaken. 1. God had appointed him and set him apart for it: The Lord has called me from the womb to this office and made mention of my name, nominated me to be the Saviour. By an angel he called him Jesus–a Saviour, who should save his people from their sins, Matt. i. 21. Nay, from the womb of the divine counsels, before all worlds, he was called to this service, and help was laid upon him; and he came at the call, for he said, Lo, I come, with an eye to what was written of him in the volume of the book. This was said of some of the prophets, as types of him, Jer. i. 5. Paul was separated to the apostleship from his mother’s womb, Gal. i. 15. 2. God had fitted and qualified him for the service to which he designed him. He made his mouth like a sharp sword, and made him like a polished shaft, or a bright arrow, furnished him with every thing necessary to fight God’s battles against the powers of darkness, to conquer Satan, and bring back God’s revolted subjects to their allegiance, by his word: that is the two-edged sword (Heb. iv. 12) which comes out of his mouth, Rev. xix. 15. The convictions of the word are the arrows that shall be sharp in the hearts of sinners, Ps. xlv. 5. 3. God had preferred him to the service for which he had reserved him: He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand and in his quiver, which denotes, (1.) Concealment. The gospel of Christ, and the calling in of the Gentiles by it, were long hidden from ages and generations, hidden in God (Eph 3:5; Rom 16:25), hidden in the shadow of the ceremonial law and the Old-Testament types. (2.) Protection. The house of David was the particular care of the divine Providence, because that blessing was in it. Christ in his infancy was sheltered from the rage of Herod. 4. God had owned him, had said unto him, “Thou art my servant, whom I have employed and will prosper; thou art Israel, in effect, the prince with God, that hast wrestled and prevailed; and in thee I will be glorified.” The people of God are Israel, and they are all gathered together, summed up, as it were, in Christ, the great representative of all Israel, as the high priest who had the names of all the tribes on his breastplate; and in him God is and will be glorified; so he said by a voice from heaven, Joh 12:27; Joh 12:28. Some read the words in two clauses: Thou art my servant (so Christ is, ch. xlii. 1); it is Israel in whom I will be glorified by thee; it is the spiritual Israel, the elect, in the salvation of whom by Jesus Christ God will be glorified, and his free grace for ever admired.
III. He is assured of the good success of his undertaking; for whom God calls he will prosper. And as to this,
1. He objects the discouragement he had met with at his first setting out (v. 4): “Then I said, with a sad heart, I have laboured in vain; those that were ignorant, and careless, and strangers to God, are so still: I have called, and they have refused; I have stretched out my hands to a gainsaying people.” This was Isaiah’s complaint, but it was no more than he was told to expect, ch. vi. 9. The same was a temptation to Jeremiah to resolve he would labour no more, Jer. xx. 9. It is the complaint of many a faithful minister, that has not loitered, but laboured, not spared, but spent, his strength, and himself with it, and yet, as to many, it is all in vain and for nought; they will not be prevailed with to repent and believe. But here it seems to point at the obstinacy of the Jews, among whom Christ went in person preaching the gospel of the kingdom, laboured and spent his strength, and yet the rulers and the body of the nation rejected him and his doctrine; so very few were brought in, when one would think none should have stood out, that he might well say, “I have laboured in vain, preached so many sermons, wrought so many miracles, in vain.” Let not the ministers think it strange that they are slighted when the Master himself was.
2. He comforts himself under this discouragement with this consideration, that it was the cause of God in which he was engaged and the call of God that engaged him in it: Yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, who is the Judge of all, and my work with my God, whose servant I am. His comfort is, and it may be the comfort of all faithful ministers, when they see little success of their labours, (1.) That, however it be, it is a righteous cause that they are pleading. They are with God, and for God; they are on his side, and workers together with him. They like not their judgment, the rule they go by, nor their work, the business they are employed in, ever the worse for this. The unbelief of men gives them no cause to suspect the truth of their doctrine, Rom. iii. 3. (2.) That their management of this cause, and their prosecution of this work, were known to God, and they could appeal to him concerning their sincerity, and that it was not through any neglect of theirs that they laboured in vain. “He knows the way that I take; my judgment is with the Lord, to determine whether I have not delivered my soul and left the blood of those that perish on their own heads.” (3.) Though the labour be in vain as to those that are laboured with, yet not as to the labourer himself, if he be faithful: his judgment is with the Lord, who will justify him and bear him out, though men condemn him and run him down; and his work (the reward of his work) is with his God, who will take care he shall be no loser, no, not by his lost labour. (4.) Though the judgment be not yet brought forth unto victory, nor the work to perfection, yet both are with the Lord, to carry them on and give them success, according to his purpose, in his own way and time.
3. He receives from God a further answer to this objection, Isa 49:5; Isa 49:6. He knew very well that God had set him on work, had formed him from the womb to be his servant, had not only called him so early to it (v. 1), but begun so early to fit him for it and dispose him to it. Those whom God designs to employ as his servants he is fashioning and preparing to be so long before, when perhaps neither themselves nor others are aware of it. It is he that forms the spirit of man within him. Christ was to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, that had treacherously departed from him. The seed of Jacob therefore, according to the flesh, must first be dealt with, and means used to bring them back. Christ, and the word of salvation by him, are sent to them first; nay, Christ comes in person to them only, to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But what if Jacob will not be brought back to God and Israel will not be gathered? So it proved; but this is a satisfaction in that case, (1.) Christ will be glorious in the eyes of the Lord; and those are truly glorious that are so in God’s eyes. Though few of the Jewish nation were converted by Christ’s preaching and miracles, and many of them loaded him with ignominy and disgrace, yet God put honour upon him, and made him glorious, at his baptism, and in his transfiguration, spoke to him from heaven, sent angels to minister to him, made even his shameful death glorious by the many prodigies that attended it, much more his resurrection. In his sufferings God was his strength, so that though he met with all the discouragement imaginable, by the contempts of a people whom he had done so much to oblige, yet he did not fail nor was discouraged. An angel was sent from heaven to strengthen him, Luke xxii. 43. Faithful ministers, though they see not the fruit of their labours, shall yet be accepted of God, and in that they shall be truly glorious, for his favour is our honour; and they shall be assisted to proceed and persevere in their labours notwithstanding. This weakens their hands, but their God will be their strength. (2.) The gospel shall be glorious in the eyes of the world; though it be not so in the eyes of the Jews, yet it shall be entertained by the nations, v. 6. The Messiah seemed as if he had been primarily designed to bring Jacob back, v. 5. But he is here told that it is comparatively but a small matter; a higher orb of honour than that, and a larger sphere of usefulness, are designed him: “It is a light thing that thou shouldst be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob to the dignity and dominion they expect by the Messiah, and to restore the preserved of Israel, and make them a flourishing church and state as formerly” (nay, considering what a little handful of people they are, it would be but a small matter, in comparison, for the Messiah to be the Saviour of them only); “and therefore I will give thee for a light to the Gentiles (many great and mighty nations by the gospel of Christ shall be brought to the knowledge and worship of the true God), that thou mayest be my salvation, the author of that salvation which I have designed for lost man, and this to the end of the earth, to nations at the greatest distance.” Hence Simeon learned to call Christ a light to lighten the Gentiles (Luke ii. 32), and St. Paul’s exposition of this text is what we ought to abide by, and it serves for a key to the context, Acts xiii. 47. Therefore, says he, we turn to the Gentiles, to preach the gospel to them, because so has the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light to the Gentiles. In this the Redeemer was truly glorious, though Israel was not gathered; the setting up of his kingdom in the Gentile world was more his honour than if he had raised up all the tribes of Jacob. This promise is in part fulfilled already, and will have a further accomplishment, if that time be yet to come which the apostle speaks of, when the fulness of the Gentiles shall be brought in. Observe, God calls it his salvation, which some think intimates how well pleased he was with it, how he gloried in it, and (if I may so say) how much his heart was upon it. They further observe that Christ is given for a light to all those to whom he is given for salvation. It is in darkness that men perish. Christ enlightens men’s eyes, and so makes them holy and happy.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
ISAIAH – CHAPTER 49
THE MESSIANIC SERVANT AS REDEEMER
(Isa 49:1 to Isa 57:21)
SALVATION THROUGH THE SERVANT OF JEHOVAH
Vs. 1-4: ISRAEL AND THE SERVANT VIEWED AS ONE
1. The appeal of the Servant is to all men (Jew and Gentile) – even to the ends of the earth, (vs. 1-a; comp. Isa 45:22).
2. From the womb of His mother, Jehovah has called- the Servant by name, (Mat 1:21).
a. Making his mouth like a sharp sword – hidden in the shadow of Jehovah’s own hand, (vs. 2a; Isa 11:4; Isa 30:31; Rev 1:16; Rev 2:16; Rev 19:15; comp. Heb 4:12).
b. Making Him as a polished shaft – ready to be drawn from the quiver of Jehovah, (vs. 2b; Hab 3:11).
3. Elsewhere referred to as “David” (Eze 34:23), the Servant (Christ) is here called “Israel”; He always identifies Himself with His chosen people, (Hos 11:1; Mat 2:15; comp. Num 24:8) – with Israel in the Old Testament, and with His church in the New, (Act 8:3; Act 9:1; Act 9:4).
a. He is ever the Head of His covenant-community (in both the Old Testament and New) – they being His body (Eph 1:22-23), bride (Isa 62:5; 2Co 11:2; Eph 5:21-32), house (Heb 3:1-6; Heb 10:21; 1Ti 3:15; 1Pe 2:5), temple (Eph 2:20-22), holy nation (Exo 19:6; Deu 14:21; 1Pe 2:9), and people for God’s own possession, (Exo 19:5; Deu 7:6; Deu 14:2; 1Pe 2:9; Eph 1:18).
b. What many fail to see is that the covenant-community in the Old Testament and New are ONE in the special relationship of covenant-fellowship that they sustain to Christ – a relationship that is rooted in divine grace and maintained through the obedience of faith, (Eph 2:11-19).
4. From every observable indicator of Israel’s response to Him, our Lord’s labor toward her APPEARED to be in vain – His effort wasted, (vs. 4a; Mat 23:37-39; Joh 5:39-40).
5. But, He left the result in the Father’s hands -trusting Him for a just recompense of His faithful service, (vs. 4b; 1Pe 2:21-23; Php_2:9-11).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
1. Hear me, O islands! After having treated of the future deliverance of the people, he comes down to Christ, under whose guidance the people were brought out of Babylon, as they had formerly been brought out of Egypt. The former prophecy must have been confirmed by this doctrine; because they would scarcely have hoped that the Lord would deliver them, if they had not placed Christ before their eyes, by whom alone desponding souls can be comforted and strengthened; for from him they ought not only to expect eternal salvation, but ought equally to expect temporal deliverance. Besides, it is customary with the prophets, when they discourse concerning the restoration of the Church, to bring Christ into view, not only because he would be the minister of the Church, but because on him was founded the adoption of the people. The Jews also, or, at least, such of them as have any soundness of understanding, admit that this passage cannot be understood as relating to any other person than Christ. But still the train of thought which we have pointed out has not been perceived by every interpreter; for the Prophet does not, by a sudden transition, mention Christ, but interweaves this with the former subject, because in no other manner could the people entertain the hope of deliverance, since on him depended their reconciliation with God. And in order that the style might be more energetic, he introduces Christ as speaking, and addresses not only the Jews but nations that were beyond the sea, and foreign nations who were at a great distance from Judea, to whom, as we have formerly remarked, (1) he gives the name of “Islands.”
Jehovah hath called me from the womb. A question arises, What is the nature of this calling? For, seeing that we were
“
chosen in Christ before the creation of the world,” (Eph 1:4,)
it follows that election goes before this calling; for it is the commencement and foundation of our election. Accordingly, it might be thought that Isaiah says far less than the occasion demands, when he says that he was “called from the womb;” for he had been called long before. But the answer is easy; for the subject here treated of is not eternal election, by which we are adopted to be his sons, but only the appointment or consecration by which Christ is set apart to that office, that no man may think that he intruded into it without being duly authorized. “For no man,” as the Apostle says,
“
taketh this honor upon himself, but he who is called by God, as Aaron was. So also Christ glorified not himself to be made a high priest, but he who spake to him, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.” (Heb 5:4.)
Moreover, the Prophet does not describe the commencement of the period, as if it were only from the womb that God began to call him; but it is as if he had said, “Before I came out of the womb, God had determined that I should hold this office.” In like manner Paul also says that he was “set apart from the womb,” (Gal 1:15,) though he had been “elected before the creation of the world.” (Eph 1:4.) To Jeremiah also it is said, “Before thou camest out of the womb, I knew thee.” (Jer 1:5.) In short, the meaning is, that Christ was clothed with our flesh by the appointment of the Father, in order that he might fulfill the office of Redeemer, to which he had been appointed.
From my mother’s belly he hath had my name in remembrance. This has the same import as the former clause; for by “the remembrance of the name” is meant familiar acquaintance. He therefore distinguishes himself from the ordinary rank of men, because he was elected to an uncommon and remarkable office.
(1) Commentary on Isaiah, Vol. 3, p. 244.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
OUR SAVIOUR AND THE WORK OF OUR SALVATION
Isa. 49:1-6. Listen, O isles, unto me, &c.
It is to the Gentiles, to us, that Christ here speaks concerning Himself and the work of salvation (Isa. 49:1). What is the information to which He would have us hearken? This
I. For the work of redemption He was appointed and set apart by God (Isa. 49:1. Cf. Mat. 1:21). From the womb of eternity, before all worlds, He was called to this service. From this divine appointment comes His authority for its prosecution (Heb. 5:4).
II. God had fitted and qualified Him for the service to which He had designed Him (Isa. 49:2. Cf. Rev. 1:16; Rev. 19:15; Heb. 4:12). [1492]
[1492] The sword and arrow were the chief weapons of the ancients, and were emblems of powerful and persuasive speech. The Tartars proclaim a powerful prince thus:His word shall be as a sword. Of Pericles it is said, His powerful speech pierced the hearers soul, and left deep behind in his bosom its keener point infixed. Such is the power of the Gospel.Thodey.
III. For the service to which He was preferred, God had reserved and protected Him (Isa. 49:2). In the shadow of His hand hath He hid me, in His quiver hath He hid me, denotes
1. Concealment. The Gospel of Christ, and the calling in of the Gentiles by it, were long hidden in the counsels of God (Eph. 3:5; Rom. 16:25).
2. Protection. The house of David was the particular care of the Divine Providence, because that blessing was in it. Christ in His infancy was sheltered from the rage of Herod.
IV. That God had Himself announced to Him His election and its ultimate result (Isa. 49:3).
V. That when He shrank discouraged from the prosecution of His work, God had strengthened His heart (Isa. 49:4-6).
1. There came to the Redeemer a period of discouragement (Isa. 49:4). This seems to point to the obstinacy of the Jews, among whom Christ went in person, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, laboured and spent His strength, and yet the rulers and the body of the nation rejected Him and His doctrine; so very few were brought in, when one would have thought that none should have stood out, that He might well say, I have laboured, &c. His prophets had passed through the same trial (Isa. 6:9; Jer. 20:9). It is the complaint still of many a faithful minister.
(1.) Let not ministers think it strange that they are slighted, when the Master Himself was.
(2.) Every faithful minister passing through such a trial, may be sure of the sympathy of Christ (Heb. 4:15-16).
2. In this period of discouragement, He comforted Himself by remembering that it was the cause of God in which He was engaged, and the call of God that engaged Him in it, and that by God Himself His efforts would be judged (Isa. 49:4-5).
3. In that trying time He was comforted by a gracious communication made to Him by God Himself (Isa. 49:6). If He seemed for a time to fail in the small work to which He was called, in a work much greater He should be successful.Matthew Henry, Commentary, in loco.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
C. PROGRAM OF THE LORDS SERVANT,
CHAPTERS 49 53
1.
RESCUE, CHAPTER 49
a.
DESPISED SERVANT
TEXT: Isa. 49:1-6
1
Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye peoples, from far: Jehovah hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name:
2
and he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me: and he hath made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he kept me close:
3
and he said unto me, Thou art my servant; Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
4
But I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nought and vanity; yet surely the justice due to me is with Jehovah, and my recompense with my God.
5
And now saith Jehovah that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, and that Israel be gathered unto him; (for I am honorable in the eyes of Jehovah: and my God is become my strength;)
6
yea, he saith, It is too light a thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.
QUERIES
a.
Who is this Jehovah hath called from the womb?
b.
Why is he disappointed that he has labored in vain?
c.
Why increase his burden to the end of the earth?
PARAPHRASE
Listen to Me, all you peoples in far distant parts of the earth, Jehovah called Me to be His servant long before I was ever born. From within the womb of My mother I was given My name by Jehovah. Jehovah is going to make My words His weapon, like a sharp sword. I will be the greatest weapon in His hand. He will make Me like a finely polished and sharpened arrow, ready in His quiver for His warfare. Jehovah said to Me, You are My Servant, My Prince, and people will praise Me because of You. But I replied, My work as Your instrument seems fruitless. I have spent My strength and it appears I have accomplished nothing! Nevertheless, I will commit it all to JehovahI know He will do what is just and give Me the reward I should have. And now, says Jehovahthe One who is is going to incarnate Me in a womans womb to be His Servant, to gather Israel unto Him, the One who has honored Me with this task and gives Me strength to do it, He says to Me, I have a greater task for You than gathering just a remnant of the Jews to Me; I will also make You a revelation of My truth to the Gentiles and You will be My salvation to the whole world.
COMMENTS
Isa. 49:1-3 CALL: Who, other than the Messiah-Servant, could be speaking in these verses? Note the following:
1.
Called from the womb (he is to be born of a woman) (cf. Isa. 7:14; Isa. 9:6; Mic. 5:2, etc.).
2.
Named while still in the womb (Mat. 2:18-23; Luk. 1:30-35; Isa. 7:14; Isa. 9:6).
3.
His mouth a sharp sword (Rev. 1:16; Rev. 2:12; Rev. 2:16; Rev. 19:15; Heb. 4:12)
4.
He is hid in shadow of Jehovahs hand (Col. 3:3)
5.
He is called Israel (Prince of God) (Isa. 9:6; Dan. 9:24-27; Luk. 1:30-35, etc.).
6.
Jehovah is to be glorified in Him (cf. Joh. 12:27-36; Joh. 17:1-5)
7.
He is to bring Jacob back to Jehovah (Luk. 1:33)
8.
He is honorable in the eyes of Jehovah (Joh. 12:27-36; Luk. 3:21-22; Mat. 17:5-8; Act. 2:22-36; Act. 3:17-26, etc.).
9.
He is to be a light to the Gentiles (Isa. 9:1-2; Mat. 4:12-17; Luk. 2:29-32, etc.)
10.
He is Jehovahs salvation to the end of the earth
A new emphasis is begun by the prophet Isaiah. From this point on Babylon and Cyrus are not directly mentioned. The Messiah-Servant and the glory of His future kingdom will be pre-eminent. Everything the prophet has to say to his contemporaries will, from this point on, be in relationship to the future messianic glory.
Note the absolute authority with which the Servant addresses the world, commanding the isles and all afar off to listen to Him. Jehovah has made the Servant His instrument of conquering warfare. The Servant is a polished arrow and His words are a sharp sword. The Servant is kept in Jehovahs quiver until the proper time for battle. The word of Christ is more powerful than any sword or arrow or any other carnal weapon. The word of Christ converts the mind and soulcarnal weapons only subdue bodies (cf. 2Co. 10:3-5; Eph. 6:10-20; Heb. 4:12). It is imperative that the people of God today remind themselves they are engaged in the warfare of God. God sent His Son as a sword and an arrow! God so loved the world that He sent His Son, but He was sent to engage in a life and death struggle, a war, with the devil and his henchmen. The devil has been defeated and bound, but he still struggles against his chain and will devour all who willingly put themselves within his sphere of influence. God does not see the world, the flesh and the devil as a good place, every day and every way getting better and better. The world, the flesh and the devil are condemned, doomed, judged. Only those who bring every thought into captivity to obedience of Christ will survive the final judgment of the world.
The Messiah-Servant is also called to be anointed Israel (Prince of God). The Hebrew word yiserael means Prince of God. Jesus was descended from David according to the flesh (Rom. 1:1-6), and promised the throne of His earthly father and His Heavenly Fathertherefore, Prince (cf. Isa. 9:6; Dan. 9:24-27; Luk. 1:30-35, etc.). To glorify is to honor. The highest form of praise or compliment is imitation and impersonation. Jesus reflected the very image of God (Heb. 1:3); to see Jesus was to see God (Joh. 14:8-10); in Him dwelt all the Godhead bodily (Col. 1:15-20; Col. 2:9); Jesus was the Word become flesh (Joh. 1:1-18); He glorified the Father on earth (Joh. 12:27-36; Joh. 17:1-5).
Isa. 49:4 COMMITMENT: This verse is one of the most unique verses of all the Bible! It predicts, in the words of the Servant-Messiah Himself, a point in the Servants ministry when He will cry out in frustration and disappointment. Edward J. Young comments, The expression of discouragement is no thought of unbelief, but simply of a genuine modesty borne from a consciousness of ones own weakness. Jesus, the Eternal Son, pre-existent with the Father, humbled Himself, emptied Himself and took upon Himself the form of flesh (cf. Php. 2:5-11). He partook of the same nature as man (Heb. 2:10-18) and was tempted in all points like we are tempted (Heb. 4:14-16) yet without sinning. It was in this incarnation that He partook of human weaknesses. Part of that weakness was the frustration and disappointment men know when they love other men and want to lead them to Gods redeeming grace and when sinful, rebellious men refuse to be led (cf. Mat. 19:16-22; Mat. 23:37-39; Mar. 3:1-6; Luk. 19:41-44; Joh. 12:27-36; Mat. 26:36-46). Did Jesus agonize? Did He have to cry out to God in prayer? Yes! (cf. Heb. 5:7-9). Jesus was astonished at the unbelief of His countrymen (Mar. 6:6); He wept at the grief of Mary and Martha (Joh. 11:35); He even despaired of finding faith on the earth at His second coming (Luk. 18:8). The earthly ministry of Jesus was not spectacular in its personal resultsjudged by human standards. He made more enemies, per capita, than friends. He convinced only 12 men to follow Him, one of them was a traitor, and the others disavowed Him at His death. He came unto His own and His own received Him not (Joh. 1:9-11). This was predicted (Isa. 52:13 to Isa. 53:12)!
In spite of the fact that the Messiah experienced discouragement and disappointment and was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, He realistically committed His cause to Jehovah for vindication, justification and reward. The Christian must be a realist also! If they persecuted the Master they will persecute the disciple (cf. Joh. 15:18-27; 1Pe. 4:12-19, etc.). There will be emotional lows as well as emotional highs for the Christian. The implication that believers should have a constant, happy glow about life is a form of Christian schizophrenia. Christian emotional dishonesty often can lead to deep despair and other psychological problems. A Christian psychologist says: God allows us to experience the low points of life in order to teach us lessons we could not learn in any other way. The way we learn those lessons is not to deny the feelings but to find the meanings underlying them. . . . Emotional dishonesty may be creating problems for others . . . Emotional honesty is necessary for ones own spiritual growth and it also helps others to get the right perspective on their own experience. Commitment to God is not built on human feelings as a basisthey are too subjective, biased and vacillating. Christ did not feel like going to the cross (. . . let this cup pass from me . . .). Commitment to God is built on faith in the facts about who God is as they are objectively revealed in the Scriptures and in the Person of Jesus (. . . nevertheless, not my will but thine be done . . .). Even the Messiah, in His incarnate humiliation, knew emotional depression and could overcome it only by commitment and faith in the knowledge of who the Father is. The Messiah knew He could depend upon the faithfulness of Jehovah to see that justice was ultimately done and that His ministry would receive its eventual reward. Eventually the work of the Messiah would produce a great multitude of believers which no man could number (Rev. 7:9 f), but not in the earthly lifetime of the Messiah. Christians need to learn the lesson of the parable . . . first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear (Mar. 4:26-29).
Isa. 49:5-6 COMMISSION: The Servant is born incarnate to accomplish a specific mission. He is to bring back Jacob and gather Israel to Jehovah. Yeseph is the Hebrew word translated gathered and means, to be brought in; placed in safety. His commission was to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. This He did. And He brought to safety all of the true Israel (cf. Gal. 6:16; Rom. 11:25-32). The parenthetical statement is the Messiah-Servants reiteration that He has committed His cause to Jehovah and He is sure Jehovah will vindicate His ministry with honor and strength.
The Messiah-Servants commission is much broader than physical Israel, although in the sovereign plan of God that is where redemption began (Act. 1:8). The Messiah was for the whole world. He was to gather sheep not of Israel into the flock of God to become part of the true Israel (cf. Joh. 10:16). Paul the apostle quotes Isa. 49:6 in Act. 13:47 to give us the inspired interpretation of this prophecy. Jesus Christ is no provincial Messiah; He is not just a prophet of the JewsHe is Savior of the whole world. He is the Light of the world (Joh. 8:12 f). One religion is not as good as anothernot even to Isaiah. There is salvation in no other name (Act. 4:12). Isaiah is the prophet of world missions. Strangely enough, Isaiah says more about the salvation of the Gentiles than any O.T. book, and yet he is the one most read in the Jewish synagogues! Of course, most of the Jews have a different view of what God has in store for the Gentiles than Isaiah predicted (cf. Luk. 4:16-30).
QUIZ
1.
How may we be certain this passage is a prediction of the Messiah?
2.
How was the Messiah to be used as Gods instrument?
3.
Does the N.T. support the idea that the Messiah may have been disappointed in His earthly ministry?
4.
Why cant we base our relationship to God on our feelings?
5.
What N.T. scriptures indicate that the Gentiles were to be given an opportunity to become part of true Israel.?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
XLIX.
(1) Listen, O isles . . .The argument against idolatry has been brought to its close, and a new section opens, and with it there is a new speaker, the mysterious Servant of the Lord, (Isa. 42:1), at once identified with Israel (Isa. 49:3), in fulfilling its ideal, and yet distinguished from it, as its Restorer and Redeemer. Isles as before stand vaguely for far off countries. The invitation is addressed to the heathen far and wide.
The Lord hath called me from the womb.The words indicate a predestined vocation. (Comp. Jer. 1:5; Luk. 1:15; Luk. 1:41; Gal. 1:15.) Admitting the thought of a Divine order working in human history, the idea of such a vocation follows in inevitable sequence.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1. Listen An earnest call-word, because something of importance is to be communicated.
O isles Literally, coastlands; islands and maritime regions, generally westward from the scene of the speaker.
From far Gentile nations as far away as their geographic location could then have been known.
Hath called me With evangelical expositors this pronoun “me” is the Messiah, distinctly and indisputably. Grotius, Gesenius, and the schools following them, wrench the sense into a reference to the prophet Isaiah. This sense is truly improbable, if only because the prophet has never in this wise so brought himself into the foreground before. He is the medium only of the word of God. The nearest to his being or assuming more than this, is in semblance of phraseology in chap. Isa 48:16, (where see note,) in which the decision is radically diverse to such an idea. There is no doubt at all entertained as to the speaker here being the Messiah by those who believe the Old Testament recognises its all-ruling divinity, Jehovah, to be divinity identical with the incarnate Logos of the New Testament.
The circumstantiality of the description in the context also bears out this view. See Mat 1:20-21; Luk 1:35. In a passage parallel to this, (Jer 1:5,) the reference is plainly to Jeremiah; and in another, (Isa 44:2,) as plainly to Israel. But what the speaker here says is so unique, so glorious withal, that the reference reaches far beyond the vocation or action of any single prophet or any individual man, subject to the limitations of human life or human strength. Delitzsch. As in Isa 42:1, so here, the ideal speaker is the Messiah considered as the head of his people, and as forming with them one complex person. At the present stage of the study of Christology, it is not certain that the prophet conceived the future Church and the Head of the Church as separately individualized entities. At one time it is the spiritual Israel, or the Church, that is prominent: at another, it is the Church on its anointed mission to the Gentiles, condensed into the conception of a single person as the divine agent, or outflow of salvation to all the nations. The latter, under the legitimate designation of Messiah, seems the proper view to take here.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Words of The Servant ( Isa 49:1-6 ).
Isa 49:1
‘Listen to me, O coastlands/isles,
And hear you peoples from afar,
Yahweh has called me from the womb,
From the inner parts of my mother he has made mention of my name.’
These are the first words represented as being by the Servant. Compare Isa 41:1. There the coastlands/isles were to witness the rise of the Servant. And it was followed by ‘beholding the Servant’ (Isa 42:1). But they had also witnessed that Israel did not live up to being the Servant. So now, having seen the failure of that Servant, they are spoken to by the new Servant. And he has a new task. He is to be concerned with the restoration of Israel, as well as with the purpose of fulfilling the destiny of the Servant towards the nations. He is to take on himself the whole world.
So in these words he speaks to the wider world. The ‘coastlands/isles’ are the world across the sea, while the ‘peoples from afar’ are all the nations not closely associated with Israel. The message is for the whole world because all have an interest in it.
Firstly he identifies himself. He was called from the womb and mention was made of his name by God even from the inner parts (bowels) of his mother, so closely was his destiny connected with God and His will. In Isaiah there is only one of whom this is true, ‘an ‘almah will be with child and will bear a son, and his name will be called Immanuel’ (Isa 7:14). He was named even before he was in the womb. There was only One other Who was accorded this privilege, ‘you shall call His name Jesus, for he will save His people from their sins’ (Mat 1:21), and Matthew links Him with this prophecy of Immanuel. In contrast Maher-shalal-hashbaz was named after he had left the womb, for he was but a sign to Israel (Isa 8:3).
Earlier Israel as the Servant had been ‘formed from the womb’ (Isa 44:2; Isa 44:24) and had from the womb been ‘borne’ by Yahweh (Isa 46:3) but they were not described as ‘called’ from the womb or ‘named’ in the womb. God had a purpose for them from the beginning, but they were not called or named while in the womb. Here then is someone very special who has a special destiny, he is ‘called’ from the womb’, and significantly ‘named’ while in the womb prior to his birth because of his destiny. In Isaiah there is only one such, Immanuel (Isa 7:14; Isa 9:6-7). For Immanuel was to come forth from his mother as one already named by God. Immanuel was not just a name given to him after he was born, it was a name intended to be pregnant with significance in his very birth, a significance which proved that Yahweh had uniquely set him apart. Indeed a direct contrast is made with Israel, for they were ‘called a transgressor from the womb’ (Isa 48:8), whereas He from the womb was called ‘God with us’ (immanu el). We are immediately therefore taken back to the coming greater David.
This interpretation is supported by the reference to His mother. Israel is never described as being born from a mother but ‘formed from the womb’, with the one who did the bearing being indefinite. In their case it means ‘each from his very beginning, as part of the whole’. But the birth of God’s chosen one is regularly connected specifically to His mother (Isa 7:14; Gen 3:15; Psa 22:9), and surely here has Isa 7:14 especially in mind. Such a reference stresses the individual nature of the Servant here, even though he incorporates in himself his people. Ultimately the Servant is Immanuel.
Isa 49:2
‘And he has made my mouth like a sharp sword,
In the shadow of his hand has he hidden me,
And he has made me a polished shaft,
In his quiver has he kept me close.’
His mouth is His powerful weapon, a sharp sword with which He is able to smite men with His words and discern their inner thoughts (compare Rev 1:16; Rev 19:15; Heb 4:12; Eph 6:17). He needs no earthly sword. He will win with words. This is no ordinary king. He does not require weapons of iron, He uses powerful words.
‘In the shadow of His hand He has hidden me.’ ‘In the shadow of His hand’ parallels ‘in his quiver has He kept me’. The latter speaks of the quiver as enclosing the arrow, and the former must therefore be connected with the sword. It is telling us that the sword, which is His mouth, is sheathed in the shadow of God’s hand. There it is completely preserved and when it comes forth, it comes forth from God’s hand. It is evidence that His words come from God. He does not speak of Himself, but what Yahweh would say, that He will speak (see Isa 50:4 and compare Joh 7:16-18). But it is not only the sword which is in that scabbard, He too is in that scabbard. He too therefore is the preserved of God and revealed as God’s weapon.
A polished shaft/arrowhead is one that has been made deadly accurate. It will not swerve from its main course. Thus is He set to move forward with accuracy and speed, He is kept safe and close and polished in the Almighty’s quiver. He is powerfully armed with all that God has provided for Him, and He does not just use the weaponry, He is the weaponry.
Isa 49:3
‘And he said to me, “You are my servant Israel, in whom I will be glorified.’
The Servant is now addressed as ‘My Servant Israel’. The one who stands here has taken over the mantle of Israel. Israel had proved faithless. Thus they had to be replaced by one who would restore Israel. This one has been selected out to represent Israel and fulfil Israel’s destiny as the Servant so as to bring glory to God. He stands in the place of Israel. He is the ‘Israel’ who acts in Israel’s name. As Immanuel He has been chosen so that He may restore Israel, and more, be a light to the Gentiles. And He will do it along with those who are His faithful people. Typical of His true people will be that they cry, ‘Glory to the Righteous One’ (Isa 24:16). He sums up Israel in Himself, and the true Israel follow His bidding. By this God will be glorified.
‘In whom I will be glorified.’ The purpose of the Servant is that he might bring glory to God by the carrying forward of His purposes. God was not glorified in Israel. Israel had brought shame on His name. And so He appoints one to act in Israel’s name, to do what Israel has failed to do.
When Jesus came He laid great stress on this, and on His own responsibility to fulfil Israel’s destiny. He spoke of Himself as ‘the true Vine’ (Joh 15:1). He summed up Israel in Himself. He declared of Himself ‘I have glorified You on earth, I have finished the work that you gave me to do’ (Joh 17:4). He saw Himself as the Servant, Who had come ‘to serve and to give His life a ransom for many’ (Mar 10:45), and He saw Himself as having satisfactorily completed that task. But He also told His disciples that they must let their lights shine before men that they may see their good works and glorify their Father Who is in heaven (Mat 5:16). They too were to be the Servant (compare Act 13:47).
Isa 49:4
‘But I have said, “I have laboured in vain.
I have spent my strength for nothing and for what is worthless.
Yet surely my judgment is with Yahweh,
And my recompense with my God.” ’
Here He identifies Himself with the Servant in the past. He looks back at the past efforts of the Servant. The Servant had achieved little. Even Isaiah’s words have been in vain up to this point (Isa 6:9-13). Almost nothing has been achieved. But it cannot continue so, for Yahweh passes judgment in His favour, and His God will recompense Him for His efforts. Thus He knows that as the Servant He will have a powerful and effective future.
Isa 49:5
‘And now says Yahweh,
Who formed me from the womb to be his servant,
To bring Jacob again to him,
And that Israel be gathered to him (Or ‘and Israel is not gathered’),
For I am honourable in the eyes of Yahweh,
And my God has become my strength.’
He both identifies Himself with the Servant mentioned previously, ‘formed from the womb’ (Isa 44:2; Isa 44:24; Isa 46:3), and distinguishes Himself by His task. Israel/Jacob were formed from the womb that they might be mightily blessed and be witnesses to the nations (Isa 44:1-4; Isa 43:10). But they had failed miserably. The first task of the new Servant is to fulfil the Servant’s task and bring Jacob back to Him again, and gather Israel to Him. This is a question of restoring the disobedient to obedience. The whole of Jacob has been in rebellion, categorised as transgressors (Isa 46:8; Isa 48:8). They must be sought with a view to bringing them back to God. It is puerile just to see this as a question of restoring exiles, unless we include in it that they are repentant exiles. God is not seeking to people a land, but to establish a witness to the nations. He has the whole of Israel/Jacob in mind. They have to be brought back to Yahweh, to be restored to Him, and must be if they are to fulfil the Servant’s task.
And He can do this because unlike Jacob/Israel He is honourable in Yahweh’s eyes, and His God is His strength. This stresses the dishonourable and weak state of Jacob/Israel. It is also questionable whether to Isaiah a prophet would be spoken of in these terms. Isaiah had seen himself in the light of the holiness of God and had been appalled. He was therefore unlikely to describe a prophet as honourable. But it would be different with the miraculously born child (Isa 7:14) Whom God would raise up Whose destiny was to be the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father (Isa 9:6). He was truly honourable.
The strict reading in MT is ‘but Israel is not (lo’) gathered’. An alternative reading is ‘And that Israel be gathered to him (low)’ , an ancient correction (qere). The point in the strict MT reading would signify that while it is His task, it is not yet accomplished, but the whole context points to the correction as being correct.
Isa 49:6
‘Yes, he says,
“It is too light a thing that you should be my servant,
To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel,
I will also give you for a light to the Gentiles,
That you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.” ’
‘Raise up the tribes of Jacob’ is in parallel with being ‘a light to the Gentiles’ which confirms its moral significance. It is not just a matter of restoring exiles to the homeland, but of bringing them back to the light. ‘Restoring the preserved of Israel’, also has the same significance. Yahweh has preserved some of His people so that they might be restored to Him by the Servant (they will then again become part of the Servant). They are those remaining after God’s judgments (Isa 1:9; Isa 6:13), even though at present in rebellion against God and battered down. They need to be raised up and restored. This is His first task.
But in view of Whom He is this is but a light task. It is too small. He is therefore also set to be ‘a light to the Gentiles, that you may be my salvation to the end of the earth.’ He will bring light to the nations who are in darkness, illuminating their minds and revealing the truth about Yahweh. Thus He will not only deliver Israel, but also the ends of the world, bringing them too into the everlasting kingdom, He Himself being their salvation (see Isaiah 53).
Note the parallel ‘you should be my servant’ with ‘that you may be my salvation’. He is to be both the Servant and the Deliverance. The deliverance is wrapped up in His person. He is to be the Saviour of the nations. He is thus more than a king, He is more than a prophet, He is the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace (Isa 9:6).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Isa 49:1 Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.
Isa 49:1
[67] Mary K. Baxter, A Divine Revelation of Heaven (New Kensington, Pennsylvania: Whitaker House, 1998), 117.
Scripture References – Note a similar verse:
Psa 22:10, “I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother’s belly.”
Isa 49:6 And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.
Isa 49:6
Isa 52:10, “The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.”
Mat 28:18-20, “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
Isa 49:15 Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.
Isa 49:15
Isa 49:16 Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.
Isa 49:16
Isa 49:16 “thy walls are continually before me” Comments – The city walls of Jerusalem, or Zion, never forgotten by God because He has an everlasting covenant with Israel.
Isa 49:13-16 Comments God’s Love for Israel – God brings out an illustration of how much He remembers us by comparing it to a woman with a suckling child. A woman with such a young child is almost never at a time when her attention is not towards the child or doing for the child while it sleeps, etc. How much more are we, even in heavy chastisement, always before God.
Illustration – One evening I was feeling down and I could not understand how God could have granted me repentance from those six years of staying away from Him. I read Heb 6:4-6 again and wondered if God could have even saved me. Later that evening I opened my Bible and read these passages. The Lord answered my doubting questions with much mercy and grace.
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Testimony of Jehovah’s Servant
v. 1. Listen, O isles, unto Me, and hearken, ye people, from far, v. 2. And He hath made My mouth like a sharp sword, v. 3. and said unto Me, Thou art My Servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified, v. 4. Then I said, v. 5. And now, saith the Lord that formed Me from the womb to be His Servant, v. 6. And He, v. 7. Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, v. 8. Thus saith the Lord, v. 9. that Thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth, to them that are in darkness, v. 10. They shall not hunger nor thirst, v. 11. And I will make all My mountains a way, and My highways shall be exalted, v. 12. Behold, these, v. 13. Sing, O heavens, and be Joyful, O earth,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
SECTION III. THE MISSION OF THE SERVANT OF THE LORD (CH. 49-53).
EXPOSITION
The connection of the present section is especially with Isa 42:1-7, where the mission of the Servant of Jehovah was first announced. That mission was there described with extreme brevity. It has now to be fully set forth, for the instruction, consolation, and comfort of all Israel, which is represented as sunk in despondency, deeming itself forgotten of God and forsaken by him (Isa 42:13, Isa 42:14). In the present chapter Jehovah’s attestation of his Servant’s mission is set forth (Isa 42:1-12), and Zion is comforted in her despondency (Isa 42:13 -26).
Isa 49:1-12
JEHOVAH‘S ATTESTATION OF HIS SERVANT‘S MISSION. Jehovah called his Servant from the womb; mentioned him by name; made his mouth a sharp sword; held him in his hand; caused him to be a polished weapon; appointed him his Servant; assured him of a right and a recompense; appointed him, not only to restore and recover Israel, but to be a Light to the Gentiles, and to give salvation to the ends of the world (Isa 49:1-6); chose him (Isa 49:7); will help him (Isa 49:8); through him will both deliver the captive everywhere (Isa 49:9), and cause joy to break out in every part of heaven and earth (Isa 49:11-13). It is quite impossible that these things can be said of aught but a person, or of any person other than him in whom all the nations of the earth were to be blessed (Gen 22:18).
Isa 49:1
Listen, O isles (comp. Isa 41:1; Isa 42:1, Isa 42:4, Isa 42:6). Since the beginning of Isa 43:1-28. Israel alone has been addressed. Now that the mission of the Servant of Jehovah is to be treated of, all the world must be summoned to hear, for all the world is directly interested. Ye people; rather, ye peoples, or ye nations. The Lord hath called me from the womb. Isaiah could not have said this of himself, for his “call” took place when he was of mature age. But Christ was designated for his office from the womb (Luk 1:31-33). He was also still “in the womb of his mother” when the name of Jesus was given to him (Mat 1:21, Luk 1:31).
Isa 49:2
He hath made my mouth like a sharp sword. The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews says that “the Word of God” generally “is sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow” (Heb 4:12). Christian experience testifies that tiffs keen, searching, cutting power attaches in an especial way to the sayings of Jesus, which pierce the heart as no other words can do, and rankle in the soul, which is quite unable to forget them. The imagery recurs in the Revelation of St. John (Joh 1:16; Joh 2:12, Joh 2:16; Joh 19:15, Joh 19:21). In the shadow of his hand hath he hid me. Either keeping him safe from the malice of his enemies, or reserving him until, “in the fulness of time,” it would be fitting to reveal him to the world. And made me a polished shaft, A weapon even keener than a sword, smoothed and polished, so as to make it pierce the deeper, and kept hid in God’s quiver until the time came when it could be launched with most effect against the hearts of ungodly men.
Isa 49:3
Thou art my Servant, O Israel. That the literal “Israel,” is not intended appears plainly from Isa 49:5. The Servant himself is addressed as “Israel,” because he “would stand as a new federal head to the nation” (Kay), which would be summed up in him, and also because he would be, in a truer sense than any other, an “Israel,” or “Prince with God.” In whom I will be glorified (comp. Joh 13:31, “Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him“). He who is “the Brightness of the Father’s glory” sets forth that glory before men, and causes them to glorify him, both with their tongues and in their lives.
Isa 49:4
Then I said, I have laboured in vain; rather, and I, for my part, had said. The Servant had momentarily desponded, seeing the small results of all his efforts to reclaim Israel, and had felt a natural human regret at so much labour apparently expended in vain; but his despondency had been soon checked by the thought that God would not suffer any “labour of love” to be wholly in vain, but would give it the recompense which it merited. The verse brings strongly out the true humanity of the “Servant,” who feels as men naturally feel, but restrains himself, and does not allow his feelings to carry him away. Compare with this despondency the grief exhibited by our Lord on two occasions (Mat 23:37; Joh 11:35), and the depression which extorted from him the memorable words, “Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?” (Mat 27:46). My work; rather, my reward, or my recompense.
Isa 49:5
And now, saith the Lord, etc.; rather, and now the Lord hath saidhe that formed me from the womb to be a Servant to him, that I might bring back Jacob to him, and that Israel might be gathered to him; for I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God is become my Strengthhe hath saidIt is a light thing, etc. The whole of Isa 49:5, after the words, “and now the Lord hath said,” is parenthetic. (On the service which our Lord continually rendered, while on earth, to the Father, see Luk 2:49; Luk 4:43; Joh 4:34; Joh 6:38; Joh 17:4.) The Revelation of St. John shows that in heaven he is still engaged in carrying out his Father’s behests. Though Israel be not gathered. This reading, as Mr. Cheyne remarks, “entirely spoils the symmetry of the verse.” The practice of writing fresh copies of the Scripture from dictation is answerable for the double reading of and both here and in other places. Yet shall I be glorious. The “Servant” would receive glory even by such a partial conversion of the Jews as took place through his ministry. It is never to be forgotten that all the original twelve apostles were Jews, that Matthias was a Jew, that Paul and Barnabas were Jews, and that the original Church was a Church of Jews (Act 2:41-47). All that was truly spiritual in Judaism flowed into the Church of Christ, as into its natural home, and the Jewish element in the Church, if not numerically great, was yet the predominant and formative element.
Isa 49:6
It is a light thing. God rewards his servants according to their works. He is supremely just. He was not content that even Nebuchadnezzar should be insufficiently rewarded for the service that he rendered against Tyre (Eze 29:18), and he therefore gave him Egypt in addition as his recompense (Eze 29:20). It would have been “a light thing””too light a thing” (Kay, Cheyne)to have rewarded the labours of Jesus with the conversion of the Jews only. God therefore gave him as his recompense the gathering in of the Gentiles also, and made him a means of salvation even to the uttermost ends of the earth. The preserved of Israel; i.e. the “remnant” that had not perished through previous judgments. I will also give thee for a Light to the Gentiles (comp. Isa 11:10; Isa 34:1; Isa 42:6; Isa 55:5, etc.). Greeks were brought into contact with our Lord himself shortly before his crucifixion (Joh 12:20). He wrought a miracle for a Syro-Phoenician woman (Mar 7:25-30). His apostles, after a little time, understood that the gospel was for the world at large, and declared that in Christ there was no difference between Jew and Greek, nay! between Jew and barbarian. Christ had died for allhad come to be a Light to all, would have all come into his Church and obtain salvation through union with him. That thou mayest be my Salvation. Christ is called “Salvation,” as the Bearer of salvationhe through whom alone can any man be saved (Act 4:12). So he is called “Peace” (Mic 5:5), as the Giver of peace.
Isa 49:7
His Holy One; i.e. “the Holy One of Israel.” To him whom man despiseth; literally, who is despised of souls. This is the first place in the prophecies of Isaiah where this note of the Messiah is brought forward. It is found earlier in the Psalms, as especially in Psa 22:6, et seq; “I am a worm, and no man; a reproach of men, and despised of the people;” and later on it is expanded into a chapter (Psa 53:1-6.). Whom the nation abhorreth; rather, whom mankind abhorreth. The term used is goi, which points to the Gentiles rather than to the Jews. Mankind at large dislikes a “Holy One,” since he is a perpetual reproach to it (see Isa 30:11; and comp. Plut; ‘Republ.,’ 7.2, ad fin.). It is not the Jews only who exclaim in such a case, “Away with him! away with him!” (Joh 19:15). There is such an antagonism between sin and holiness, that the ungodly everywhere and in all ages detest the godly and virtuous. A servant of rulers; or, a slave of despots; treated as a slave, i.e. by such irresponsible rulers as Herod (Luk 23:11) and Pontius Pilate (Joh 19:1, Joh 19:16). The “King of kings” bowed himself to a slave’s death. Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship (comp. Psa 72:10, Psa 72:11; Isa 52:15; Isa 50:3, Isa 50:10,Isa 50:11, etc.). According to a traditionwhich, however, cannot be traced back to any very ancient sourcethe Magi who came to worship our Lord at Bethlehem were “kings.” The prophecy is, however, to be regarded as having its main fulfilment in the coming to Christ of so many kings and princes, since his ascension into heaven (comp Psa 22:23). And the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee; rather, the Holy One of Israel, that hath chosen thee. Kings will rise from their thrones, and prostrate themselves before Messiah, convinced that Jehovah is faithful in the performance of his promises, and has chosen the Son of Mary to be the Redeemer so long announced as about to appear on earth.
Isa 49:8
In an acceptable time; literally, in a time of good pleasure; i.e. the time fixed by my good pleasure from the creation of the world. Heard thee helped thee. The Father “heard” and “helped” the only begotten Son through the whole period of his earthly ministry (Luk 2:40, Luk 2:52; Joh 3:2; Joh 8:28; Joh 12:28; Joh 14:10, etc.). I will give thee for a Covenant of the people (comp. Isa 42:6, and the comment, ad loc.). To establish the earth; rather, as in Isa 49:6, to raise up the earth, to lift it out of its existing condition of meanness and degradation. To cause to inherit the desolate heritages; i.e. to cause the desolate heritages of the earththe places devoid of trite religionto be possessed, and as it were “inherited,” by those who would introduce into them the true knowledge of God. As Israel inherited Canaan (Deu 3:28; Jos 1:6), so would Christian nations inherit many “desolate heritages,” where ignorance and sin prevailed, with the result that light would penetrate into the dark regions, and, ultimately, all flesh see the salvation of God.
Isa 49:9
That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth, “The prisoners” here are not the captives in Babylon, but the servants of sin throughout the world. Christ would say to them, “Go forth.” He would summon them by his messengers to repent ,and be converted, and quit the service of sin, and “go forths” from the kingdom of darkness, and “show themselves” as lights of the world (Mat 5:14; Php 2:15), walking “as children of the light” (Eph 5:8). It is a narrow exegesis which confines the prophet’s forecast to the mere return of the exiles to Palestine, and their re-settlement on their ancestral estates. They shall feed in the ways, etc. The returning “prisoners” are now represented as a flock of sheep (comp. Isa 40:11), whom the good Shepherd will “lead” and “guide” by ways in which they will find sufficient pasture, which shall not fail them even when they pass over bare “hill-tops” (see Joh 10:11-16; Joh 21:15-17).
Isa 49:10
They shall not hunger nor thirst (cf. Joh 4:14; Joh 6:35). God’s grace is sufficient for his faithful ones. They are content with the sustenance which he awards them, and neither “hunger” nor “thirst.” Neither shall the heat nor sun smite them; rather, neither shall the glowing sand nor the sun smite them (see Isa 35:7). To those who walk at noonday over the “glowing sand” of the desert, the heat which “smites them” seems to come as much from below as from above, the white ground reflecting the sun’s rays with a force almost equal to that wherewith the rays themselves beat down upon them from the sky. The Lord’s faithful ones, in their passage through the wilderness of life, shall be free Item these fearful trials. “The sun shall not smite them by day, neither the moon by night” (Psa 121:6) He that hath mercy on them; or, that hath compassion on themthat sympathizes with their sufferings, and pities them in their trials (comp. Isa 49:13 and Isa 49:15). Shall lead them (comp. Psa 23:2; Isa 40:11). The Oriental shepherd for the most part goes before his flock.
Isa 49:11
I will make all my mountains a way. No obstacles shall prevent the return of the wanderers. Mountains shall he as roads, and as highways lifted up.
Isa 49:12
These shall come from far. The nations shall flow in from all sides to the Redeemer’s kingdom (Isa 2:2; Isa 11:10; Isa 60:1-5, etc.). They shall come from the north and from the west; literally, from the north and from the sea, which generally means “the west,” but which, in one enumeration of the points of the compass (Psa 107:3), is certainly “the south.” They shall also come from the land of Sinim by which most recent interpreters understand China. But it is highly improbable that an ethnic name which was not known to the Greeks till the time of Ptolemy should have recoiled Palestine by b.c. 700. And if “the sea” means “the south” in the preceding clause, the Sinim may be these of Phoenicia (Gen 10:17), who were among the furthest inhabitants of Asia towards the west. In any case, the reference is, not to the dispersed Jews, but to the remote Gentiles, who would pass from all quarters lute the kingdom of the Redeemer.
Isa 49:13-26
ZION COMFORTED IN HER DESPONDENCY. While the future is thus glorious, both for the “Servant of the Lord” and for his people Israel, the present is gloom and misery. Zionnot here the city, but the people of Goddesponds and says, “Jehovah has forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me” (Isa 49:14). This burst of grief, though arising from weakness of faith, is forgiven by the compassion of God, and “afflicted” Israel is “comforted” and consoled through the remainder of the chapter (Isa 49:15-26).
Isa 49:13
Sing, O heavens (comp. Isa 44:23). Heaven and earth are called upon to rejoice and “break forth into singing”
(1) because of the glory that awaits the Redeemer (Isa 49:5-12); and
(3) because of the gracious intentions of God with respect to Israel (Isa 49:16-26).
O mountains The majesty of mountains seems to have deeply impressed Isaiah. Throughout his writings they are continually introduced as the grandest of the works of God (comp. Isa 2:2, Isa 2:14; Isa 5:25; Isa 13:4; Isa 14:25; Isa 22:5; Isa 30:25; Isa 34:3; Isa 37:24; Isa 40:4, Isa 40:9, Isa 40:12; Isa 41:15; Isa 42:11, Isa 42:15, etc.). He expects them to be especially ready to sympathize with man. Such a feeling would be natural to one accustomed to the hill-country of Palestine and the lofty heights of Hermon and Lebanon, but could scarcely have been developed in an exile of the time of Cyrus, born and brought up in the dead level of Babylonia. Hath comforted will have mercy. Both verbs designate the same action, which is really future, but in God’s counsels is already accomplished. The perfect is thus, once more, that of prophetic certitude.
Isa 49:14
But Zion said. “Zion” is here the “daughter of Zion,” or the people of Israel, as in Isa 51:16. The meaning is a rare one. The Lord hath forsaken me (comp. Isa 40:27). It is not surprising that Israeleven faithful Israelsometimes desponded, or perhaps despaired, during the long and weary time of the Captivity. Even the “Servant of the Lord” knew moments of despondency (see above, Isa 51:4, with the comment).
Isa 49:15
Can a woman forget?. yea, they may forget. In the siege of Samaria by Benhadad, King of Syria, a mother, we are told (2Ki 6:28, 2Ki 6:29), boiled her son for food. In the last siege of Jerusalem similar horrors are reported (Joseph; ‘Bell. Jud.,’ 6.3, 4). Mothers have even been known in England who have forced their tender and innocent daughters to commit deadly sin. Yet will I not forget, The love of God surpasses that of either father or mother. “When my father and my mother forsake me,” says David, “then the Lord will take me up” (Psa 27:10). “God is love” (1Jn 4:8) in his very essence; and his infinite love is deeper, tenderer, truer, than finite love can ever be. Still, that which is nearest to it upon earth is, doubtless, the love of a mother for her children (see Isa 66:13).
Isa 49:16
Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. The prophet has passed here from the living Zion, Isabel, to their material home, Jerusalem. The metaphor which he uses is no doubt drawn from the practice, common both in ancient and in modern days, of burning or puncturing figures and other mementos upon the hand, the arm, or some other part of the body, and then rendering the figures indelible by rubbing in henna, indigo, gunpowder, or some other coloured substance. Pilgrims in the East have almost always such marks put upon them when they have accomplished their pilgrimage. English sailors are fond of them, and few are without some such mark on their breast or limbs. The meaning here is that God has the thought of Zion as constantly present with him as if her image were indelibly marked on the palms of his hands. (On the anthropomorphic representation of God as having “arms” and “hands,” see the comment on Isa 40:10.) Thy walls. It is the city, Zion, the emblem of the people, that can alone be “graven” or “portrayed.” This city has, of course, walls. God bears them in mind perpetually, since he is about to cause them to be built up (Neh 3:1-32, Neh 4:1-23.).
Isa 49:17
Thy children shall make haste; i.e. “thy exiled children shall hasten, when the appointed time comes, to return to Zion, and rebuild its temple and towers and walls.” At the same time, thy destroyers and they that have made thee waste, who are regarded as still carrying on their devastations, shall leave thee and go forth of thee.
Isa 49:18
Lift up thine eyes round about and behold (comp. Isa 50:4, where the same phrase occurs in connection with the conversion of the Gentiles). All these gather themselves together (comp. Isa 49:12). Thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament (comp. Zec 9:16). The restored Church, receiving adhesions from the nations on all sides, will be like a bride who puts on her ornaments, and is thereby made glorious to look upon (Isa 61:10, ad fin.). The entire Church, not any one part, is designated as the “Bride” of Christ in the New Testament (2Co 11:2; Eph 5:29, Eph 5:32; Rev 21:2, Rev 21:9; Rev 22:17).
Isa 49:19
The land of thy destruction; or, of thy overthrowi.e, where thou wert overthrown by Nebuchadnezzarshall even now be too narrow, etc. This must not be understood literally. Palestine, after the return from the Captivity, was at no time over-populated; and when the conversion of the Gentiles took place it caused no influx of fresh settlers into the Holy Land. The object of the prophet is simply to mark the vast growth of the Church, which would necessarily spread itself far beyond the limits of Palestine, and would ultimately require the whole earth for its habitation.
Isa 49:20
The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other; literally, the children of thy bereavement; i.e. the Gentiles who shall replace those many faithless Israelites who refused to return when Cyrus issued his edict, and became lost to the Church of God. The place is too strait for me (see the comment on Isa 49:19).
Isa 49:21
Who hath begotten me these? The Jewish Church is astounded at the influx of the Gentiles, and asks, “Where did they come from? Who has made them my children? Who has trained them?” That they are not her natural children she is sure, since she knows that she has been for a long time “bereaved and unfruitful” (Cheyne)a captive, and a “wanderer” (Kay). It is certain that the Jewish Church did not at first altogether welcome the incoming of the Gentiles (Act 11:1-3; Act 15:1-11; Gal 2:11-14, etc.). But the guidance of the Holy Spirit surmounted the difficulty (Act 15:28).
Isa 49:22
I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles. The new childrenthe new convertsare to come from the Gentiles; the fresh “sons” and “daughters” will be carried by the nations in their arms, and by the peoples upon their shoulders. It is usual to expound this and parallel passages (Isa 60:4; Isa 66:20) of the return of the Jews to their own land by favour of the Gentiles, either when the decree of Cyrus went forth, or at some still future period. But perhaps the children intended are foster-children, actual Gentiles, whom their parents will bring to baptism. In the Assyrian sculptures, mothers are constantly represented as carrying their children upon their shoulders.
Isa 49:23
Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers; or, thy foster-fathers thy foster-mothers. Kings and queens (sultanas) shall put themselves at the disposal of the Church, to nourish and cherish such of the Church’s children as may be entrusted to their care. They shall bow down. They shall not seek to lord it over the Church, but shall acknowledge in the officers of the Church a spiritual authority superior to their own, before which they shall “bow down,” as Theodosius did. They shall even be willing, when they are conscious of guilt, to “lick the dust” under the Church’s feet, or subject themselves to deep humiliation, that they may be restored. They shall not be ashamed that wait for me. Such as wait patiently and trust in the fulfilment of all these gracious promises shall escape shame, for the promises will assuredly be fulfilled.
Isa 49:24
Shall the prey be taken, etc.? The incredulous among the exiles thought it well-nigh impossible that Babylon should be forced to disgorge her preythe captives whose labours were so valuable to her. Babylon was mighty. By the laws of war she had a rightful claim to her captives. How was she to be induced or compelled to give them up?
Isa 49:25
The captives of the mighty shall be taken away. The answer to the questions of Isa 49:24 is that, if Babylon is mighty, God is mightier. God will “take away” the captives, and “save” his “children.”
Isa 49:26
I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh (comp. Isa 9:20). Civil disunion is intended, which will break the power of Babylon, and render her an easy prey to the Persians. The recently discovered inscriptions clearly show that this was the case. Nabonidus had alienated the affections of his subjects by changes in the religion of the country, and during the course of the war with Cyrus, many Babylonian tribes went over to the invaders, and fought against their own countrymen. The mighty One of Jacob (see the comment on Isa 1:24).
HOMILETICS
Isa 49:5-12
The lowest humiliation and the highest glory meet in Christ.
The Messiah was to be “glorious in the eyes of the Lord” (Isa 49:5); God was to be “his Strength;” “kings” were to “see him and arise; ‘ “princes also” were to “worship” (Isa 49:7); he was to “raise up the earth;” to “cause to inherit the desolate heritages” (Isa 49:8); he was to loose the prisoners (Isa 49:9), to “restore Israel” (Isa 49:6), and to carry salvation to the ends of the world (Isa 49:6); yet, at the same time, he was to be “despised of men, an object of abhorrence to the nations, a servant [or, ‘slave’] of rulers” (Isa 49:7). That such opposites should meet in one person must have seemed, anterior to the event, most improbable; yet the prophet utters no “uncertain sound.” He proclaims alike, with the greatest distinctness, both the glory (Isa 9:6, Isa 9:7; Isa 42:1-8; Isa 49:1-6) and the humiliation (Isa 49:7; Isa 53:2-12), both the exaltation and the depression, of the Redeemer. And the event justified him, in both respects alike.
I. CHRIST‘S EXTREME HUMILIATION. Christ “made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Php 2:7, Php 2:8). Note the chief points of the humiliation. Being “in the form of God” and “equal with God,” he consented
(1) to be born on earth as a man;
(2) in a humble station;
(3) to be laid in a manger;
(4) to be “subject” to earthly parents;
(5) to be cast out of his native city by his fellow-townsmen;
(6) to have not where to lay his head;
(7) to have his teaching rejected by the mass of his countrymen;
(8) to be betrayed;
(9) bound;
(10) smitten;
(11) derided;
(12) spit upon;
(13) scourged;
(14) crucified;
(15) buried.
The steps of the humiliation were progressive. First it was negative rather than positive, while he worked as a “carpenter” in his reputed father’s shop. Then it received aggravation, when he became a homeless wanderer, was “rejected of men,” bidden to “depart out of their coasts,” threatened with stoning, declared to “have a devil,” “hated,” plotted against. Finally, it culminated in that night and day of agony when one disciple betrayed him, and the rest forsook him and fled, and he was led before three tribunals, mocked, buffeted, crowned with thorns, smitten with a reed, scourged judicially, nailed to the cross, flouted, railed on, finally buried out of men’s sight, as though all was indeed “finished” with him, and the earth would hear no more of One who had lived an outcast’s life, and died the death of a malefactor!
II. CHRIST‘S EXALTATION AND GLORY. “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a Name which is above every name: that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Php 2:9-12). Note the chief points of the exaltation. No sooner is he dead than he descends to Hades, “preaches to the spirits in prison,” and deprives hell of its prey; then rises, “loosens the bonds of death, because it was not possible that he should be holden of it,” cheers his “little flock” with his presence for forty days, ascends to heaven, and sits at God’s right hand, King of kings and Lord of lords for evermore. On earth he has “a Name above every name.” The Roman empire bows down to him; the barbarians are in great part converted; more and more nations flow into his kingdom; and at the present day three hundred millions of men, more than a fourth part of the world’s inhabitants, nominally at any rate, confess him for their Master and Lord. In heaven the angels worship him; he sits upon the great white throne, and before him are the four and twenty elders, and the host of angels, and the ten thousand thousand saints, and the song is sung, “Salvation unto our Gad which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb;” and all the angels stand about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fall on their face before the throne, and worship him, saying, “Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen” (Rev 7:9-12).
Isa 49:13-16
The love of God for his Church.
The love of God for his Church is no doubt something mysterious, inscrutable, as are all the Divine attributes; but it is so pointedly set before us in many places, both of the Old and the New Testaments, that it must certainly be intended we should meditate upon it. We may with reverence consider it
(1) in its origin;
(2) in its action;
(3) in its results.
I. IN ITS ORIGIN. God’s love for his Church would seem to originate in the fondness with which all intelligent beings regard the work of their own hands; that on which they have spent toil, time, labour, thought, care. God in creating the world had, primarily, his Church in view; he made all material things for the sake of man; and he made mankind with a view to his Church. He was moved to the creation of the world by a desire to have for all eternity a body of pure, good, happy, intelligent worshippers dwelling with him in heaven. He began by making man “in his own image” (Gen 1:27), with a moral nature, free-will, consciousness, personality, memory. He knew that, with these gifts, man would fall; but he determined from the first that out of fallen humanity he would raise up a certain numberas many as would allow himsave them, purify them, make them his “peculiar people” (Deu 14:2), his Church. In idea, we may say that God loved his Church before he had created it; for, knowing what it would be, he loved it by anticipation, recognizing in it the best, and so the dearest to him, of all his works. Such was his love for his Church in its origin. We have now to consider it
II. IN ITS ACTION. As a means of obtaining that Church triumphant in heaven which he desired, God saw good to create a Church militant on earth, which should be its shadow and representative, and to make that Church the peculiar object of his care. For this Church he showed his love by unwearied, ceaseless watchfulness, by supernatural interpositions from time to time, by patient endurance of provocations, by occasional chastisements, by warnings, by providential guidance, by direct teaching from Sinai, by indirect instruction through a long series of inspired prophets and seers. Never forgetting, never forsaking Israel, he delivered them out of Egypt, led them through the wilderness, gave them Canaan, subdued the nations before them, saved them from the power of Assyria, brought them forth out of Babylon, sustained and supported them, until, in the fulness of time, he gave the strongest possible evidence of his love by sending forth his Son to die for his Church, and by his death to infuse into it fresh life, and transform it from a national into a world-wide society, from the Church of the Jews into the “holy Catholic Church”the Church of all nations. And this Church he has built upon a rock; he has promised to be with it always; he has declared that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. This Church he “nourisheth and cherisheth” (Eph 5:29), guiding it with his Spirit, sanctifying and cleansing it (Eph 5:26), protecting it from its secret foes, delivering it from its avowed enemies. The Church of Christ for nearly nineteen hundred years has triumphed over all attempts to crush it and destroy it, not by its own strength, but through the love and care of the Almighty. The action of God’s love for his Church is thus, in the first place, to keep it in being; in the second, to purify and perfect it. It only remains to consider this precious love
III. IN ITS RESULTS. The present results are:
1. That there is a witness for God in almost every landa witness which testifies unceasingly to the existence, power, and goodness of the Almighty; to the free offer of redemption through his Son, and to the free gift of sanctification through his Spirit.
2. There is a body which preaches holiness of life, even if it very imperfectly practises it.
3. There is a community which witnesses to the spirituality of man, to free-will, moral responsibility, the absolute and eternal difference of right from wrong, a future life, and judgment to come.
4. There is a body which hands on religion from age to age as a real living thing; a power seen in its fruits; a transforming, energizing power; not a philosophy, but a life. In the future the great result will bethat which the Revelation of St. John indicatesthe eternal existence in heaven of a Church triumphant; “a multitude which no man can number,” consisting “of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues,” who will “stand before the throne of God, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands,” praising him and ready to do his pleasure for ever (Rev 7:9, Rev 7:10).
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON
Isa 49:1-13
Jehovah and his Servant.
The Servant of Jehovah is wearied with the obstinacy of the Israelites, and turns to the lands afar off, that he may unfold to them his high mission and its purport. The offer of salvation is to be extended to the heathen world.
I. HIS CALL. From his very birth he has been destined as a missionary to the heathen world (cf. Isa 1:5; Gal 1:15; Luk 1:31). The emphasis is on the fact. He was not self-called, and there was no presumption on his part. There is all the difference in the world between calling one’s self missionary, or apostle, or minister, and feeling that “God has made mention of one’s name.”
II. HIS ENDOWMENT. His mouth has been made a sharp sword; a vehicle for that Word which is elsewhere compared to a sharp and two-edged sword, to pierce the conscience, to overcome the proud and the stubborn (cf. Isa 11:4; Isa 51:16; Heb 4:12; Eph 6:17; Rev 1:16; Rev 19:15. See also, for the pungency of eloquence, Ecc 12:11). It is a lesson: pointless speech is no speech for the minister of God. We do not speak to “gain time,” but to gain hearts. In some respects we may be compared to marksmen. In Gentile poets the like figures occur of the sword or the arrow.
“His powerful speech Pierced the heater’s soul, and left behind,
Deep in his bosom, its keen point infixt.
Say through what paths of liquid air
Our arrows shall we throw?”
And so with the apostolic preaching. They told the world in plain terms “that he who believed should be saved, and that he who believed not should be damned.” “This was the dialect which pierced the conscience, and made the hearers cry out, ‘Men and brethren, what shall we do?’ It tickled not the ear, but sank into the heart; and when men came from such sermons, they never commended the preacher for his taking voice or gesture, for the fineness of such a simile or the quaintness of such a sentence, but spoke like men conquered with the overpowering force of truth.” The Servant of God is also compared to a “polished shaft” (cf. Jer 51:11). His words penetrate easily, because natural, familiar, and not above the capacity of the hearer. “Nothing is more preposterous than for those who profess to aim at men’s hearts to shoot over their heads” (South).
III. HIS DEARNESS TO GOD. This polished shaft is covered in the quiver of God. The Almighty takes care of his tools, as every good workman does. Through Israel as his instrument, he designs to manifest his glory. “His Servant will become the Head of a regenerated and expanded Israel, which Jehovah will hold forth to the universe as his fairest prize” (Cheyne). This sense of being related to God and his purposes is the source of the purest consolation. It is true the Servant of God is tempted to despondency, as in the typical case of Elijah in the wilderness. The “flesh is weak.” On the other hand, just when he is weak, then is the Servant of God strong. The cry of seeming despair in Psa 22:1 is absorbed in the jubilant exultation of the singer at the close, in the prospect of the extension of the kingdom (cf. Mat 27:46). So here, after the melancholy outburst, “I have laboured in vain,” etc; the Servant of Jehovah “gives the lie to all delusive appearances,” assured that his recompense is with God. The Servant of God has his rights founded on the nature of God himself and on his covenant. The missionary of the great King has a right to be protected, and to expect submission to his message. “The mention of recompense shows that ‘Servant’ here has a special meaning of its own. A slave can have no recompense” (Cheyne). He will have a” portion among the great” (Isa 53:10,Isa 53:12). And what is the great “recompense of the reward”? The noblest that can be thought ofto “bring back Jacob,” to “gather Israel,” and still more, to be the Light of the nations, to be the Instrument of Jehovah’s salvation unto the earth’s end. It is natural, it is noble, it is Christian, to have respect to such a recompense. The quality of life’s rewards is the main throe to be considered. There can be no contradiction between the doctrines of grace and the hopes of reward, if that reward be conceived as, first and last. consisting in the favour, the friendship, the enployment of the righteous and merciful Governor of the world.
IV. GLIMPSES OF THE GREAT REWARD. Already faith, revived in the breast of Jehovah’s Servant, is encouraged by large views of the future.
1. His promised honours. He is now heartily despised by man; but the “God of Israel,” the Redeemer and Avenger, saith that he stroll in his future fortunes be the Representative of Israel’s glories. He is now under the sway of great despots, heathen lords. The time shall come when kings shall rise up to do him homage, and princes shall-bow down before him; for behind him is Jehovah himself, the faithful Covenant-keeper, who has chosen, and therefore will support his Servant.
2. His mediatorial office. When the season of Providence has come, the Servant shall not only be helped and saved, but shall become the Source of salvation to others (cf. Psa 22:23-27). He shall raise up the ruined land; he shall assign to the different families the heritages belonging to them; he shall say to the captive Jews, “Go forth!” and they shall return, like a well-shepherded flock, finding pasture everywhere on the way. They shall not be afflicted by the burning sun nor by the illusive mirage. Led by refreshing springs, and finding a highway through the mountains, they shall come from all quarters to the wished-for end of their pilgrimage. The description may be taken as an allegory of life’s pilgrimage.J.
Isa 49:14-26
Despondency comforted.
I. THE TEMPTATION. “Jehovah hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me.” The temptation is to ascribe the cause of feeling in our own mind to a Being outside us; forgetting that “’tis in ourselves that we are thus or thus.” It does not follow, because our hearts are dry, that the fountain of comfort is sealed. It does not follow, because we feel ourselves lonely, that the good God has deserted us; nor, because we do not realize the Divine presence, that God has forgotten us. But the mind naturally leans on signs and symbols and outward manifestations. The act of faithso simple to speak aboutthe “walk by faith, not by sight,” is really most difficult. There are times when even the noblest of mankind are unequal to such an effort. Reason will hardly meet the case. “He that despairs,” it has been said, “limits an infinite Power to a finite apprehension, and measures Providence by his own little contracted model.” True; and the truth is not consoling. The sense and assurance of love alone can console.
II. DESPONDENCY MET. Not by censure, not by argument, but by the assurance of uninterrupted and undying love. It is a Divine love; surpassing, therefore, the noblest manifestations of human lovethat of father or moth, or. A woman may, like a Lady Macbeth, allow some mightier passion to get the better even of maternal love. But there is no mightier passion in the heart of God than the love to his children. Human memory is infirm; but God cannot forget. The picture of Israel is graven on the palms of his hands. “It is indelible, like the sacred marks of devotees. Jehovah inverts the usual order. A worshipper needs a consecrating mark to remind him of his relation to God. Zion’s God, though not needing such reminder, has condescended to grave Jerusalem on the palms of his hands. The objects of human interest are changing; God concentrates his thought on his people. “Thy walls are ever before me.” The visible city was indeed destroyed, but God had his eye upon the preservation of the spiritual building for eternity. “Dost thou think that that is the city of which I said, ‘I engraved thee on the palms of my hands’? Nay; that building is not now built in the midst of you. It is that which shall be revealed in my presence; it was prepared from the time when I meditated to produce a Paradise, and I showed it to Adam before he sinned; when he cast away my command, it was removed from him. And now, lo! it hath been kept by me, even as Paradise.” Men‘s thoughts decline to the material; God is concerned with the ideal and eternal. And in this truth lies profound encouragement. Forms decay, institutions come down with a mighty crash; the building of the ages is ever going on. And it must go on by means of the labours of Zion’s children. The desolate city will yet be clothed with ornaments like a lonely bride; and she who has been as a desolate widow will have a family too numerous to be contained within present narrow bounds.
III. UNFAILING HOPE IN JEHOVAH. At his bidding, and with the hearty aid of the Gentiles, the exiles shall return to their own houses, as the foster-father carries the child in the bosom of his garment. The custom is Oriental (see on 2Ki 10:1-36). The meaning is that the princes of the Gentiles shall favour and respect Israel. Some fulfilment may be seen in the conduct of the Persian kings, of Alexander and his successors towards the Jews; another kind of fulfilment in the patronage of the Church by Constantine. But the full accomplishment of the prediction remains for the future. But incredulity breaks in. “Can the tyrant be made to disgorge his prey?” This shall take place. Jehovah shall appear in battle-might, as Avenger and Hero of Jacob, and the foes shall be put to shame. Jehovahthose that hope in him shall not be ashamed. The strain that began with the mutterings of despondency ends in the triumph of confidence and exultation. Hope in the Eternalthis must be our sure stay in the times of the nation’s, the Church’s, the individual’s need. Our conduct cannot rise higher than our hopes, no more than the water in the pipe can rise higher than the spring-head. He who lives by the hopes of the present and passing world, acts and suffers with a strength that is less than might be his. Nothing in this world can support us against trials which threaten the loss of our worldly all. We can only be borne up by something mightier and greater than this world, not to be found in it, but in the Eternal himself.J.
HOMILIES BY W.M. STATHAM
Isa 49:4
A mistaken estimate.
“Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain.” Oft-repeated words. Human ignorance, surveying the fields, says, “No harvests; or at best no harvests accordant with the toil and tears of the sowing.” What folly! As if we could see beneath the soil the slumbering seed waiting to spring forth; or the seeds that have been carried as by the birds of the heavens to far-away acres.
I. THE SORROWFUL WORKERS. The words have pain in them. “I have laboured in vain.” No man likes to feel that. These are not the tears of indolence, but the sorrows of the toiler. We can sympathize with them; for we have all at seasons felt thus. But the words are:
1. Mistaken in their main idea. Who knows what success is, or where success is? “In vain?” Sometimes the largest harvests grow above the sower’s grave.
2. Mistaken in their central object. “I said.” Yes; but who are you? God is the Judge. Let no man make the attempt to enter the Divine observatory.
II. THE SAVING CLAUSE. “Yet!” Here comes wisdom after mistake. “Surely my judgment is with the Lord.”
1. This quickens inspiration to duty.
2. This sanctifies the sorrow of disappointment.
3. This keeps alive the hope of reward.
What a beautiful sentence!”My work is with my God” It is in good hands.W.M.S.
Isa 49:6
A Light to the Gentiles.
“It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my Servant, etc.” How distinctly this prophesies concerning Christ!
I. IN RELATION TO THE TRUE GLORY OF HIS KINGDOM. Not to exalt Jacob, or to preserve Israel, but to be a Light to the Gentiles.
II. IN RELATION TO THE HISTORY OF HIS MINISTRY. Why did the Jewish nation despise and crucify the Redeemer? It would have been a light thing to serve in such a cause as that which ministered to their glory by restoring their prestige and preeminence; but it was “heavy as the cross” to save the world.W.M.S.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
Isa 49:1-4
The claim, the confession, and the consolation of the Servant of God.
We may treat this passage either historically or practically. We look at it
I. IN ITS REFERENCE TO JESUS CHRIST. He was, indeed, an Israel, a Prince with God, as never Jacob was. He was truly a Servant of Jehovah, doing his work as never prophet or nation did before. These words are most appropriate on his lips.
1. He claimed the attention of mankind. He said, in other words and ways, “Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far.” He said that “every one that was of the truth” would hear his words; that he would draw all men unto him. He summoned the weary hearts of men everywhere to come and find rest in him and in his service; he offered himself to mankind as the Light of the world, as the Bread of life, etc. He had the most penetrating truth to utter (Isa 49:2; see Joh 6:63).
2. He compressed a temporary, outward failure. He had to acknowledge that the men of social standing and of ecclesiastical position did not believe in him; that many of his disciples fell away from him in the time of difficulty and trial; that he was left “alone.”
3. He found great consolation in God.
(1) In the consciousness that the Eternal Father called him to his work (Isa 49:1). The thought that “the Father had sent him ‘ was his continual refuge:
(2) In the assurance that the Father was with him, encompassing him with his protecting love (Isa 49:2; and see Mat 26:53).
(3) In the confident belief that the future would justify his action and his words. He knew that the time would come when God would be glorified through his life and death (see Joh 12:24; Joh 17:4).
(4) In the unfaltering conviction that his work would receive a Divine reward in his own exaltation (Isa 49:4).
II. IN ITS APPLICATION TO OURSELVES.
1. We, as true teachers, make our claim. We confidently believe that we have something to say which is worth the world’s attention; which is fitted to penetrate, like a sharp sword, the thoughts, the purposes, the convictions, of mankind; which will give light to the understanding, peace to the conscience, nobility to the character, brightness and beauty to the life, of all who will listen and learn.
2. We have to make our confession of defeatto acknowledge, often, that we have “laboured in vain'” (see Isa 53:1). The truth we preach, or teach, or print, does not penetrate; it is like the seed which falls on stony groundit yields no fruit. Even the influence of our lives, and even the pleadings of our soul with God in earnest prayer, sometimes seem to be unavailing.
3. We find our consolation in God. In the conviction that he has called us to do the work in which we are occupied; that he is surrounding us with his Divine protection and inspiring us by his upholding Spirit; that God will grant increase to our toil in the distant if not in the near future; that he will bestow on us a full reward when the hour of blessed recompense arrives.C.
Isa 49:5-7
The greater mission.
The main point of this passage is that far greater triumphs should await the Redeemer of Israel than any recovery of the scattered tribes; he was to be a Light to the whole Gentile worldto be “for salvation to the uttermost part of the earth.” The fact that a true but small mission opens out into one that is very much larger, widening and deepening as it proceeds, is one that has many illustrations
I. IN THE WORK OF THE LORD HIMSELF. As he “grew in wisdom,” he found that “his Father’s business” involved more than appeared to him when he was twelve years old. There was a time when he instructed his disciples to “go not into any way of the Gentiles:” and when he said, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Mat 10:6; Mat 15:24). But later on, he not only recognized for himself that his work was to be wide as humanity and to embrace those furthest away from truth and from God, but he commanded his disciples to “baptize all nations,” to “go unto all the world,” etc. Under his holy hand his great mission grew, and it became that one which, for the vastness of its proportions and the beneficence of its aim, leaves every human enterprise immeasurably behind.
II. IN THE WORK OF THE APOSTLES OF OUR LORD. James and John, when they were asked by their Master whether they could drink of his cup, answered with sure confidence, “We can;” but they little knew what were the contents of that cup; they little imagined how great, how stupendous, was the task which their Lord would leave in their hands.
III. IN THE WORK OF INDIVIDUAL REFORMERS. At different times men have addressed themselves to some work of necessary reformation. They supposed that they could measure the extent of their task; but they found that as they proceeded it enlarged, and what they first attempted proved to be “a light thing” in comparison with all that they ultimately accomplished. Witness the work of Luther, Knox, Cranmer, Wesley, etc.
IV. IN THE WORK OF EACH CHRISTIAN CHURCH. A Christian Church, when first planted, is most anxious to establish and consolidate itselfto grow in numbers and in reputation and in strength. But before long it awakes to the truth that it has a greater mission to effect than this; it is called into being to exert a powerful influence for good on all the surrounding neighbourhoodto communicate spiritual health and eternal life to all human souls that can be reached and blessed. To establish itself is “a light thing” in comparison with this high and holy function.
1. The entrance on this greater mission should be in the spirit of pure devotion. We should feel that we are God’s servants (verse 5), called to do his work.
2. It should be carried on and completed in God’s strength. “My God shall be my Strength.”C.
Isa 49:8-12
The kingdom of Christ: a missionary sermon.
In an elevated strain, full of high hope and touched with the pure joy of anticipation, the prophet writes of Messiah’s kingdom. He calls our attention to
I. ITS MOST STRIKING CHARACTERISTICS.
1. Spiritual restoration. “To establish the earth,” or rather to restore the land, and to bring about the repossession by their true owners of the “desolate heritages.” In the kingdom of Christ humanity, that had “lain waste” and had produced all kinds of noxious and ugly growths, should be recultivated, bear its own true feints of peace and righteousness, and be a land restored.
2. Spiritual freedom. To the prisoners of sin, of folly, and of vice, the commanding word will be addressed, “Go forth” (Isa 49:9); and they will walk in the atmosphere of sacred freedom.
3. Abundance of truth. The disciples of Christ are “the children of light;” they walk in the light of his holy truth (Isa 49:9).
4. The sheltering and providing power of the sovereign Saviour. The present Lord shall satisfy their hungering hearts, shall slake their spirits’ thirst, shall shelter them from the heats of strong temptation, shall supply them with all-sufficient grace for their recurring need (Isa 49:10). All its swings are in him and he is near to minister to all their wants.
II. THE OPENNESS OF THE WAY TO ITS FULL ESTABLISHMENT. (Isa 49:11, Isa 49:12.) In the arrangements of Divine providence, when Jesus Christ came and introduced his gospel to the world, there were ready three things that were wanted to carry it over the world.
1. A missionary peoplesupplied by the Jewish nation, in whom were all the elements of moral worth and religious enthusiasm.
2. A suitable languagesupplied by the Greeks.
3. A highway to distant landssupplied by Roman roads and Roman laws. And the new faith, which seemed certain to perish as soon as it was born, grew and spread on every hand. It was as if the very obstructions were “away.” Difficulties disappeared; a “great door and effectual was opened.” And in our time the way is being further opened. Exploration, human science, international treaties, even war itself, is levelling the separating hills and bridging the dividing gulfs; and even into the very heart of China (Sinim?) the missionary is penetrating with the truth of Christ.
III. ITS ACCEPTABLE HOUR. The era in which we live is one in which the Father of all is disposed to bless and save. It is “a day of salvation.” The atoning work is wrought; the Divine Spirit is ready to regenerate and renew; the Word of truth and grace is multiplied; great is the company of the preachers.; the Churches of Christ are fast awaking to a sense of their obligation and their opportunity. It is a time to pray, to work, and to look for God’s favouring presence and redeeming power.C.
Isa 49:15, Isa 49:16
God thinking upon us.
No language could be stronger than that which is here employed to assure us of God’s remembrance of us. We are thankful for the fulness and force of the promise; for there are at least
I. THREE TEMPTATIONS TO THINK OTHERWISE. There is:
1. A consciousness of our littleness. Thinking of the smallness of this earth as one little planet among the Whole stellar universe; of the insignificance of any nation, group, or family of mankind; of the infinitesimal character of the individual,we are apt to suppose that each one of us is, in the matter of intrinsic worth, undeserving of God’s regard. This is very shallow reasoning; but it is not uncommon, nor is it without influence among men.
2. A sense of our sin. It is natural enough that we should conclude that our guilt in God’s sight has so “separated between us and him” that he banishes us from his thought, as a human father who has been grievously wronged by his son dismisses him from his mind.
3. An appearance off desertion. When trial comes upon trial, when all the waves and billows of affliction go over our soul, when all things seem to be against us as they seemed of old to Jacob, it is not surprising if we look up despondently, or even despairingly, to heaven and say, “Hath God forgotten to be gracious?” “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” There may come times to us, as to others, when we shall seem abandoned by men, and at length deserted of Godthe darkest,. bitterest, saddest hour of our life, even as it was of his (Mat 27:26).
II. THE STRONG DIVINE REASSURANCE. The tone of the text is as pathetic as its argument is convincing. The appeal is made to the tenderest human affectionthat of motherly love. God says to us, “Though your love for one another may fail, even where the tie is the tenderest and strongest, yet my remembrance of you shall not fail.” Human attachments do not suffice to indicate the fulness of Divine fidelity; that surpasses anything which our experience will illustrate. He further grants us the assurance that he is as one who has taken the most effective measures to secure the necessary mindfulness; he has, so to speak, made indelible impressions where he cannot fail to see them. He goes as far as language can go to implant in our minds the conviction that, however our logical understanding may argue, however appearances may be against it, we are never out of his mind; he always has us in his heart. The extremity will never come in which we may not say, “I am poor and needy, but the Lord thinketh upon me.”C.
Isa 49:23, Isa 49:25
The fear which may be fearless, etc.
We have two conditions indicated in these two texts which present us with a perfect contrast. We have
I. THE FEAR WHICH MAY BE FEARLESS. “They shall not be ashamed that wait for me,” or “that hope in me.” Reverent trust in the living God, in the Divine Friend of man, has nothing to fear. It may be seriously threatened, but it is secure. Sickness may come, adversity may assail, friends may forsake, bereavement may afflict, death may cast its shadows; but a confiding trust in the love and the faithfulness of God will never be put to shame. It will retain its calmness under all; it will triumph over all.
II. THE HOPE WHICH MUST BE HOPELESS. “I will contend with him that contendeth with thee.” He who fights against the people, the truth, the cause of God, is fighting against the Almighty One himself. However promising outward appearances may be, he is foredoomed to utter and disastrous failure: his hope is hopeless.C.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK
Isa 49:2
Fitness for God’s service.
The general idea of this section of Isaiah’s prophecies needs to be borne in mind. In it “Israel himself, in all his contradictory characteristics, becomes the engrossing subject of the prophet’s meditations. His restoration, still future, but indubitable, is celebrated in Isa 50:1-11. by an ode somewhat similar to that on the fall of Babylon in the preceding part. But the nearer the great event arrives, and the more the prophet realizes the ideal Israel of the future, the more he is depressed by the low spiritual condition of the actual Israel. Strange to say, this combination of apparently inconsistent datathe splendour of the future and the misery of the presentsupplies the material for a specimen of dramatic description surpassing anything in the rest of the Old Testament” (Cheyne). By the “servant of Jehovah” we may understand those sent forth by God as the prophets and teachers of each age, bearing Divine messages of warning and of duty. These are personified, as it were, in the one great Divine Teacher, the Messiah. It was one of the most important features of the ministry in every age that it should convict of sin; therefore the work of the mouth is likened to that of a “sharp sword” (comp. Heb 4:12, “The Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart”). Pindar employs the metaphor of the arrow in application to powerful eloquence. And the metaphor of a sword and an arrow, both in the best state of preparation, aptly sets forth the penetrating and subduing efficacy of the gospel. This one feature of fitness for doing God’s work in the worldthe eloquent, persuasive, convincing tonguemay introduce to us the general subject of “fitness for God’s service.”
I. IT LIES IN ENDOWMENT. The true servant of God is a gifted manone to whom special powers have been committed, which powers indicate his work, and make him responsible for the doing of it. The proper idea of a Christian ministry is the separation to the work of preaching and teaching of all those who are evidently divinely endowed for preaching and teaching work. The right of a man to do any particular kind of work in the world is simply the right which comes from the divinely given capacity for doing it. If God made us painters, we must paint; if he made us poets, we must shape beautiful thoughts in verse; if he made us preachers, we must preach. Canon Liddon eloquently describes the endowed teacher. “Picture to yourselves a teacher who is not merely under the official obligation to say something, but who is morally convinced that he has something to say. Imagine one who believes alike in the truth of his message, and in the reality of his mission to deliver it. Let this teacher be tender, yet searching; let him win the hearts of men by his kindly humanity, while he probes, ay, to the quick, their moral sores. Let him pursue and expose the latent evil of the human heart through all the mazes of its unrivalled deceitfulness, without sullying his own purity, and without forfeiting his strong belief in the present capacity of every human being for goodness Clearly, such a teacher must be a moral power;” a “sharp sword.” One thing greatly needed in our day is quickness to recognize Divine endowments in men, and brotherly aid to all endowed men in the due exercise of their gifts.
II. IT LIES IN THE DIVINE CALL. For the fact of possessing power is not, standing alone, authority for its being put forth and exercised. There must be the inward Divine call, which may or may not be heard through the voice of outward circumstances. This is the lesson taught by the records of the prophetsElijah, Isaiah, Jonah, etc. They were endowed, but they did not act until they were called. The distinction is expressed, poetically, in Psa 39:3, “While I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue.” Illustrate from apostles, who were endowed with the Holy Ghost, symbolized in tongues of fire; but who were also sent ones. It is one thing to be able to speak, it is quite another to be called to speak.
III. IT LIES IN RESPONSIVE GOOD WILL. A man may actually deliver God‘s message unwillingly and grumblingly, as Jonah did, but it is clear that this cannot be regarded as fit service. Only when we say, “Lord, just what thou wouldst have me do is exactly what I desire to do,” can we be regarded as servants indeed. This does not say that our good will towards what is God’s will for us involves no effort, no conflict with sell The way of earthly prosperity may be the way of our own will; and the way of lifelong disability may be the way of doing God’s will and work. Many a man has given up every earthly prospect to preach Christ to his fellow-men. And he is no fit preacher who does not preach with good willpreach from the heart. He should preach because he must; he should preach because he wishes to.
IV. IT LIES IN CULTURE OF GIFT. This is the human element in the fitness, which is as truly essential as the Divine clement, the natural endowment. We cannot give the gift, but we can train it into efficiency. It has to be prepared for the work of a particular age, and for the demands of a particular sphere. The sword has to be furbished and sharpened. The “gift” has to use instruments; it must gain skill in the use of instruments. The culture properly takes two forms.
1. Self-culture, the whole responsibility of which lies on the would-be minister.
2. Culture by agencies, which can be secured by those who recognize in the would-be minister the Divine “gift.” Let the endowed and cultured man wait on God, and of this we are surehe will find both his place and his work.R.T.
Isa 49:4
Mistaken ideas of success.
None of us can properly understand or estimate our life-work. We do not know what it was designed to do, nor where it properly fits. Picturing the ideal “Servant of the Lord,” Isaiah represents him as disheartened with the issues of his testimony and labour. The Messiah seemed to be “all day long stretching forth his hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people.” Mistakes about the success of work are quite common to God’s servants. David thought it was no good to try any longer, and exclaimed, “I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul.” Elijah moaned in his weariness and grief, “I am not better [more successful] than my fathers;” and Jonah, fainting in the sun beside the withered gourd, “It is better for me to die than to live. To him the Nineveh-mission appeared as an utter and disgraceful failure. We must leave God to estimate our successes. “The day” shall declare it. We must wait for the “day of God.”
I. MAN IS REQUIRED TO WORK WITHOUT CONSIDERATION OF RESULTS. And that is reasonable,
(1) because his one work is obedience;
(2) because the best results are long in coming;
(3) because any one man’s work is never more than a part of a whole, and results follow the united influence of all the parts; and
(4) because any seeming result man may recognize is only a cause of other and better results that are quite beyond his estimating. George Macdonald makes one of his heroes reproach his brother for good advice given which had led to unpleasant consequences, and the brother gives the following forcible reply: “My dear fellow, I gave you no advice that had the least regard to the consequence of following it! That was the one thing you had nothing to do with.”
II. MAN MAY BE CULTURED THROUGH HIS DISTRESS AT RESULTS. One point only is suggested. Seeming failure reveals the self-seeking which had been in his work. And it is the best of culture to get true knowledge of ourselves. The man who aims for results really works for himselffor his own praise. We must just work as God’s servants, satisfied to do work that can stand his inspection; and none of us will find it easy to draw in our minds from results, and concentrate them on work.
III. MAN MAY BE SURE OF THE DIVINE ACCEPTANCE OF GOOD WORK. And that is an all-satisfying result. It is only man’s poor view that makes results into the standard that tests the value of the work. The best work may produce little, but it is “best work” nevertheless. Many a minister has failed in his sphere. At least, so the world says. But its foolish estimate does not matter. Was it good work? God’s judgment is of the work.R.T.
Isa 49:6
The great commission.
St. Paul uses this verse in his address to the Jews of Antioch in Pisidia (Act 13:47). “It was necessary that the Word of God should first have been spoken unto you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us, (saying,) I have set thee to be a Light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.” The truth illustrated is that no man can have exclusive privileges; everything he has belongs to the whole raceit is the property of everybody. This can be illustrated in prominent cases. Aristotle’s philosophic thoughts belong to the race. Raphael’s paintings are the inspiration of the race. Homer’s poetry is revelation for the race. Handel’s music is song-praise for the race. The truth is true in the smallest things. Whatsoever any one of us has he has for others, he has for all, he has for “whosoever will.” Our text declares this to be true of the Jewish raceas indeed of all races. Israel seemed to have some peculiar privileges. It had them for others. They could not be exclusive. Through Israel all men were to be saved. Their sound was to go out even to the ends of the earth. There could be no keeping to a limited sphere even the privilege of the Messiah being born into the Jewish race. Let him but grow to his manhood, and he will say, “Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring” (Joh 10:16). Getting practical application for this searching truth, we note
I. MAN HAS INFLUENCE WITHIN THE RANGE OF HIS OWN PURPOSES. We may make our life-spheres. We may decide what we will do, and where we will do it. We may propose to limit ourselves to a certain number whom we will endeavour to aid and bless. Our energy can do much, and we often speak of men’s influence as limited. And it is so far true that every man has a first circlea sphere immediately round him; and it is well that it should have his best work.
II. MAN HAS INFLUENCE BEYOND ANY PURPOSES OF HIS OWN. You may break the scent-bottle to purify a room, but the fragrance will fill the house. Jesus came to the Jews, but his salvation has gone forth to the ends of the earth. We may live for a home, but the glory of gracious character fills a street. We may preach to a congregation, but strangers may hear, and from us carry inspiring words to the distant colonies. Every one of us may truly say, “Humanity is my congregation; the world is my sphere.”
III. A MAN‘S LARGER INFLUENCE DEPENDS ON THE CHARACTER SHOWN IN THE SMALLER SPHERE. Especially on his “individuality.” By just that in which a man differs from other men, his sphere of influence is the whole world.R.T.
Isa 49:8
The acceptable time.
Called also a “day of salvation.” There can be no doubt that by this expression is meant the period of the new dispensation, at the commencement of which the Messiah appeared, to effect the work of human redemption, and during which the blessings of that redemption are being communicated to mankind. We may say it is the period in which God had reconciled the world unto himself; in which sinful men can come to God, and deal with him in respect of their sins, through an appointed Mediator. “All our happiness results from the Son’s interest in the Father, and the prevalency of his intercession, that he always heard him. And this makes the gospel-time an acceptable time, welcome to us, because we are accepted of God, and reconciled and recommended to him” (Matthew Henry). Our Lord used this expression in his remarkable Messianic sermon at Nazareth, declaring that he had. come to proclaim the “acceptable year of the Lord” (Luk 14:19), probably taking his figure from the joyousness of the Jewish year of jubilee. From this passage, what is understood as a “simple gospel sermon” may be preached.
I. THERE MAY BE HINDRANCES TO DIVINE ACCEPTANCE. Get right apprehensions of God, and it will be understood that, under some circumstances, he cannot accepthe must reject, he must frown, he must be against man. Acceptance, to be any moral good to us, must be based on righteousness. We do not care for acceptance unless we are quite sure that God is right in accepting. Illustrate this in connection with the three prominent figures we use for God.
1. King. Certainly a king cannot always accept his subjects.
2. Moral Governor. A very intangible figure. But the addition of the word “moral” shows clearly that conditions are involved.
3. Father. True lathers must sometimes hold off their sons.
II. THE HINDRANCES MAY BE SUCH AS WE PUT IN THE WAY. It is easy to say the hindrances are our sins; it is much more searching to say they are the sinfulness of which our sins are the expression. It would be easy to forgive sins, if our sinfulness were put away. And Christ’s mission brought to us an “acceptable time,” because it bore upon getting away both the sinfulness and the sin.
III. THE HINDRANCES MAY BE SUCH AS GOD MUST PUT IN THE WAY. This the preacher must deal with according to the notions he has of God’s Law and God’s righteousness. He has demands; acceptance must be hindered until they are reasonably met.
IV. WHEN GOD AND MAN AGREE TO PUT THE HINDRANCES AWAY, THE ACCEPTABLE TIME HAS COME. Man must put away his sinfulness in penitence. God will put away his claims in mercy; and righteousness and peace can kiss each other. Christ bears mediatorial relations both to God and man.R.T.
Isa 49:10
The ideal state.
The return journey of the exiles is here compared to that of a well-tended flock, which has no temptation to roam, for every need is supplied and every possible danger is averted from them. Prophetic figures can never be read aright unless we carefully distinguish between the pictured ideals of poets and prophets, and their realization in actual life. The actual never comes up to the ideal. The ideal is the best possible under the best of circumstances; the actual is the best possible under circumstances that come far short of the best possible. Ideals have their mission in keeping up our standards, and making us “aim high.” Utopias are never found, but the world everywhere is the better because some of the human race have conceived Utopias, and presented their conceptions to their fellows. The absence of all elements of evil from the ideal state is figured by the removal of all sources of physical distress. This applies to the prophetic descriptions in the passage before us, and to the pictures of the heavenly given us in the Book of Revelation, “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.” The points which may be profitably treated are these two.
I. DISABILITIES ARE NEEDED WHILE MORAL CULTURE HAS TO BE CARRIED ON. If any proof were required of that fallen and deteriorated condition of man which is a matter of universal experience and conviction and really requires no proof, it would be found in the fact that man now will only learn his best moral lessons through suffering. We so readily think of suffering as arranged in the sovereign will of God; it is a sovereign necessity in meeting man’s fallen condition. Why will we not learn without these disabilities? It is clear that we do not, and we will not. It is evident that we are biassed towards wrong, towards self-willedness. Bodily pain, life-distresses, are necessary to the culture of moral creatures who have become enslaved to self-will. ,Sorrow is graciously linked with sin, lest sin should come to be loved.
II. DISABILITIES MAY BE REMOVED WHEN MORAL CHARACTER IS ESTABLISHED. When men are all holy, then their surroundings may be all beautiful. There is no smiting heat, no chilling cold, no lack of food, no biting hunger, no raging thirst, no wearing pain, no blinding tears, no separating sea, no remorseless death, in heaven, because all who dwell there are established in goodness, and so there is no mission for disabilities to accomplish; their “occupation’s gone.” And just so far as we win goodness on earth we rise above all our disabilities, heaven is begun below; as with everything, so with love, “perfect love casteth out fear.”R.T.
Isa 49:14
Ever-recurring doubts.
What God has to complain of in every age is our “little faith.” “He cannot do many mighty works among us because of our unbelief.” The reproach here is of the great proportion of the Jewish people, who had become utterly despondent under their long captivity, and even began to complain, not to God, that would be right, but of God, which was wrong, saying, “The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me.” Consider
I. THE HUMAN REASONABLENESS OF DOUBT. Days went on for those captives, the days made years, the years passed by the score, and with the utmost straining not one gleam of light could be seen in the nation’s sky. Indeed, the political conditions and combinations made the hope of return more vain than ever. From the human point of view it was time indeed to doubt. “See how deplorable the case of God’s people may be sometimes, such that they may seem to be forsaken and forgotten of their God; and at such times their temptations may be alarmingly violent. Weak believers, in their despondency, are ready to say, “God has forsaken his Church, and forgotten the sorrows of his people'” (Matthew Henry). This text is “not an expression of absolute unbelief; it is the pain of seemingly unreturned affection, which borrows the language of scepticism. The highest act of faith is to see God with the heart when all outward tokens of his presence are removed. There are times when even the noblest of mankind are unequal to such an effort” (Cheyne). So long as we are dependent on the senses, and our knowledge is strictly limited, for disciplinary purposes, so long there is a good sense in which it is reasonable for us to doubt.
II. THE DIVINE UNREASONABLENESS OF DOUBT. Knowing what he is, and what he is purposing and doing, man’s doubt must always seem unreasonable to God; and his one response to every doubter is, “Cannot you trust me?” It is the love of God, the unchangeable love of God, which puts our best-grounded doubts and fears to shame. Exactly this is pressed on the attention of despondent Israel by God’s comparing himself to a mother whose child is daily feeding on her own life. Such mothers have a most sacrificing, passionate love for their children, and no intenser simile could have been found. “Thou art more than mother dear;” then how can we doubt? Why not rest in the love, and be at peace? Illustrating the strength of mother-love, Lander says he frequently met, during his journey in Africa, with mothers who carried about their persons little wooden images of their deceased infants, to whose lips they presented a portion of food whenever they partook of it themselves, and nothing could induce them to part with these inanimate memorials.R.T.
Isa 49:16
The closeness of the Divine interest.
The idea of the passage is that the plan of Jerusalem remained in God’s sight, though the Chaldeans had devastated it, and even broken down its walls. It could all be built again, after the plan in the Divine mind. Thus impressively it is suggested that nothing, no sort of outward circumstance or calamity, can remove us from God’s thought and care. His supreme care is for us, and that abides through all conceivable changes of condition and circumstance. “It was the custom among the Hebrews and other Eastern nations to trace upon the palms of the hands the outlines of any object of affection or admiration. By this means the traveller always had before him a visible memorial of the city or place he had visited. The sketch, although necessarily imperfect, was nevertheless indelible, as it was produced by puncturing the skin with a sharp instrument, and introducing into the punctures a peculiar dye, very much in the same manner in which a sailor prints on his arm the figure of an anchor or the initials of his own name. From the indestructible nature of the sketch the process might be called a species of engraving.” Dean Plumptre says, “The words point to the almost universal practice of tattooing. A man thus ‘ engraved’ the name of his god, or the outlines of his home, or the face of her he loved, upon his hands or arms. So, by a boldly anthropomorphic figure, Jehovah had ‘graven’ Jerusalem on his hands. He could not act without being reminded of her.” Roberts says that “he never saw or heard of things being engraved on the palms of the hands. The palms are, however, believed to have written on them the fate of the individual, and from this, it is common to say, in reference to men or things, they are written on the palms of his hands.” The assurance given in this figurative form may be opened in two directions.
I. ALWAYS IN SIGHT, TO BE CARED FOR. This is true of friends who truly love one anotherof husband and wife, of parent and children. They may not be always in bodily sight; they are always in thought, which is soul-sight. Of God it is said, “He careth for you.” We are always in his thought. Round us, wherever we may be, are the “everlasting arms.”
II. ALWAYS IN SIGHT, TO BE WORKED FOR. This is quite an additional idea. Others may care for us, who have nothing to do for us or can do nothing. God’s care is an active care, finding due expression in tendings, watchings, providings, and arrangings. He keeps us before him, in order that he may do for us exceeding abundantly more than we ask or think.R.T.
Isa 49:23
No shame in waiting for God.
“For they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.” Those who wait for him, in a dependence upon his promise and a resignation to his will, shall not be made ashamed of their hope. Quaintly stating the reasons for God’s withholding his blessings from us awhile, Thomas Brookes says, “God oftentimes delays, that his people may come to him with greater strength and importunity. He puts them off, that they may put on with more life and vigour. God seems to be cold, that he may make us the more hot; he seems to be slack, that he may make us the more earnest; he seems to be backward, that he may make us the more forward in pressing upon him.” The particular shame here referred to is that which comes from disappointment of expectations and hopes.
“The hope that’s built upon his word
Can ne’er be overthrown.”
The line of thought suggested is this: Find the various sources whence comes our disappointment with men, and show, in each case, that they cannot possibly apply to God.
I. MEN PROMISE MORE THAN THEY CAN PERFORM. Often they do this in
(1) gushing and impulsive generosity; or in
(2) desire to produce an extravagant impression of their ability; or in
(3) false estimate of their means; or in
(4) simple but weak good nature.
Such people are not thoroughly true; and we learn by experience never to trust their promises. We give them credit for meaning well, and then forget what they said. God’s promises are strictly true to his intentions and his power.
II. MEN PROMISE WHAT THEY NEVER INTEND TO PERFORM. A man who had just parted from a female friend was overheard to say, “I told her more in a minute than she will find come true in a twelvemonth.” Men intentionally deceive, and then we cannot but be ashamed and disappointed in them. Of this we may be quite sureGod intends to fulfil everything he promises. “Hath he said, and shall he not do it?” “If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.”
III. MEN PROMISE WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES NEVER ALLOW THEM TO PERFORM. With the best intentions, and the best ability at the time of promising, men cannot anticipate the changes of life, and may disappoint us through force of circumstances. But he who sees the end from the beginning makes his promises in view of every possible contingency; and
“His very word of grace is strong
As that which built the skies;
The voice that moves the stars along
Speaks all the promises”‘
R.T.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Isa 49:1-3. Listen, O isles In these verses we have first the exordium to the isles, and far distant people, that is to say, the Gentiles, who are frequently addressed by the appellation of isles, as we have had occasion to observe before. He who makes the address, namely, Jesus the Messiah, is sufficiently evident from the description of his person and office immediately following. His person,The Lord hath called me before the womb [that is to say, before I was in the womb]; before I was in the bowels of my mother, he hath made mention of my name. St. Peter says of the Messiah, that he was thus called or mentioned before the foundation of the world. His prophetical office is next described in Isa 49:2. The meaning of which, out of the metaphor, is, “God hath ordained and appointed me, as a powerful teacher, whose instructions and convictions should penetrate deeply, and subdue the adversaries of my doctrine.” So it is said of the Son of God in the Rev 1:16. That out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword; and chap. Isa 2:16. I will fight against them with the sword of my mouth. In the shadow of his hand hath he hid me; that is, “I have, as it were, been thus to this time hidden with God by his wisdom and providence, like a sword which is concealed in the scabbard: but, drawn forth from the scabbard in these latter times of the world, I appear as the teacher of truth, enforcing with mighty power my doctrines upon the minds of men.” See Rom 16:25-26. The next clause is analogous to that preceding, and to the same purpose. His mediatorial office is set forth in the third verse, wherein the Messiah says, that the Father had said to him, Thou art my servant; that is, “I have designed thee alone, the man Christ Jesus; and have prepared thee as the mediator of mankind; on this condition, that thou shouldst be my servant; namely, to undergo the severest servitude; subjecting thyself to death, even the death of the cross, to sanctify and glorify my name by thy bitter sufferings, in the stead of lost mankind. Thou, therefore, art Israel; the only one among all the true Israelites, who art to exhibit in thyself all the characters of thy father Jacob, who, wrestling with God, prevailed; saved himself and his house, and therefore obtained the name of Israel.” See Isa 49:5-6.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
I.THE FIRST DISCOURSE
Parallel between the Servant of God and Zion
Isaiah 49
In a sketchy way the Prophet draws a picture of the similar course of development in the case of the Servant of God and that of Israel, which, in consequence of its rejecting the Servant, is repudiated unto the extremest misery, yet shall arise again to the full glory of the church of God. The Servant of God begins His course as a little child in the body of his mother, but Israel, as a repudiated wife, must begin an entirely new course of life. Both come also to the most glorious goal. The chapter has accordingly two parts; the first comprising Isa 49:1-13, the second Isa 49:14-26.
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1. TOTAL SURVEY OF THE PERSON AND WORK OF THE SERVANT OF GOD
Isa 49:1-13
1Listen, O isles, unto me;
And hearken, ye people, from far;
The Lord hath called me from the womb;
From the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.
2And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword;
In the shadow of his hand hath he hid me,
And made me a polished shaft;
In his quiver hath he hid me;
3And said unto me, Thou art my servant,
O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
4Then I said, I have laboured in vain,
I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain:
Yet surely my judgment is with the Lord,
And 1my work with my God.
5And now, saith the Lord
That formed me from the womb to be his servant,
To bring Jacob again to him,
2Though Israel be not gathered,
Yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord,
And my God shall be my strength.
6And he said, 3It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob,
And to restore the 4preserved of Israel:
5I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles,
That thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.
7Thus saith the Lord,
The Redeemer of Israel and his Holy One;
6To him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth,
To a servant of rulers,
Kings shall see and arise,
Princes also shall worship,
Because of the Lord that is faithful,
And the Holy One of Israel, and he7 shall choose thee.
8Thus saith the Lord,
In an acceptable time have I heard thee,
And in a day of salvation have I helped thee:
And I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people,
To 8establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;
9That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth;
To them that are in darkness, Show yourselves.
They shall feed in the ways,
And their pastures shall be in all high places.
10They shall not hunger nor thirst;
Neither shall the 9heat nor sun smite them:
For he that hath mercy on them shall lead them,
Even by the springs of water shall he guide them.
11And I will make all my mountains a way,
And my highways shall be exalted.
12Behold these shall come from far:
And, lo, these from the north and from the west;
And these from the land of Sinim.
13Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth;
And break forth into singing, O mountains:
For the Lord hath comforted his people,
And will have mercy upon his afflicted.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
See List for the recurrence of the words: Isa 49:1. . Isa 49:4. , comp. Isa 30:7; Job 9:29.. Isa 49:5. , Isa 12:2; Psa 28:7. Isa 49:7. .
Isa 49:1. can be dependent on , but just as well on (comp. Isa 5:26; Isa 22:3; Isa 23:7; Isa 57:9) according to familiar usage.
Isa 49:5. Instead of before , the Kri reads . The same is the case in ten other passages: Exo 21:8; Lev 11:21; Lev 25:30; 2Sa 16:8; 2Sa 19:7; Isa 9:2; Isa 63:9; Job 6:21; Job 13:15; Job 41:4. In only one passage. Kri reads , while Kthibh has : 1Sa 20:2. In two passages Kthibh reads , but Kri : Lam 2:2; Lam 5:5. As regards our text, the LXX. translates, and after it the Vetus Latinus, congregabor et glorificabor coram Domino, from which one sees that they read ; thus, probably, they drew the first letter of the word to the foregoing , and the second to the following , or substituted it for the . Jerome is very much discontented with this translation, which Symmachus and Theodotion also have, because it surrenders a fortissimum contra judaeorum perfidiam testimonium. Aquila translates: et Israel ei congregabitur. Therefore he read . It seems therefore that party stand-point had an influence on the reading. Among moderns Hitzig translates in that he leads Jacob back to himself, and Israel will not be carried off. Hofmann: Israel that will not be carried away. B. Fr. Oehler: And that Israel be not carried away. All these take in the sense of to carry away. Though I will not deny that it may be taken so, yet this negative thought partly disturbs the sense, partly it is flat and superfluous. It suits the parallelism much better to construe the clause as a positive statement. Then the finite verb stands instead of the infinitive with according to the grammatical usage that demands the speedy return from the subordinate forms to the chief forms. for or is not suspicious, as Hitzig supposes. For beside being quite as admissible as Isa 49:18, it is quite common for a preposition to be superseded by a kindred one in the second clause (comp. Jer 3:17; Psa 33:18).The clause as far as is a parenthesis. The latter part of it is in the perfect , because, according to Hebrew grammar, two future things are not as such made to follow one another in like verbal form, but only the first stands in the future, while the second is expressed by the perfect as being directly present viewed from the standpoint of the future. Therefore here: I will be honored and then is (as immediate consequence) my God my strength.
Isa 49:6. before is properly superfluous, or rather it ought to stand before the member that utters the intenser notion: considered from this, that I will make thee a light to the heathen, it is a small thing that thou art my servant to raise up the tribes of Israel. But stands here to intimate generally a comparative relation, and, as Delitzsch also observes, one may not press the matter of its position. In Eze 8:17 also, the only other place where occurs impersonally with (comp. 2Sa 6:22), this preposition does not stand in the logically correct place. Probably there hovered before the Prophet the thought i.e., it is from thee, from thy standpoint or in comparison with thy claims, a small thing that thou art my servant to raise up Israel, I will make thee a light to the heathen. That would accordingly be contracted into .In placing the infin. after, there is a certain poetic effect: the two infinitive clauses form a whole with corresponding beginning and end. Comp. Isa 44:10; Psa 6:10.
Isa 49:7. In the is simple infinitive, which is however to be construed here as abstractum pro concrete. is not to be conceived of as in the accusative (of nearer definition), but as standing in the genitive. For it is not the soul of the Servant that is meant, but the soul of the despiser. For not merely outwardly, with words, but truly, inwardly, with their whole soul. He is to them an object of contempt (comp. Job 12:4; Job 17:6.In regard to the order comp. the remarks on the parenthesis in Isa 49:5. It is to be noted that it does not read . For the after does not stand parallel with the before , and moreover is not to be supplied before it, but the after has demonstrative force=princes, they shall worship him (comp. Ewald, 344, b; Gen 22:4; Gen 22:24; Exo 16:6-7, etc.).The before is to be taken in the same way. It stands demonstratively, corresponding to the before , and rhetorically substituted for it for the sake of variety. We could say not more correctly, yet more intelligibly and by a really more common construction: for Jehovahs sake who is faithful, for the sake of the Holy One of Israel, who has chosen thee.
Isa 49:9. To take gerundively (Delitzsch) is not impossible, but it is also not necessary. For what follows is the specification of what precedes, as now there is said after, what all must previously happen to make possible that and . Yet is here more than a mere sign of quotation. It denotes an actual, audible speaking, without which the captives would not be able to hear the summons. zeugma, comp. Psa 121:6.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. The one who forms the chief person of the second Ennead, the personal Servant of Jehovah, is also the first that enters here as speaker. What He says and hears affords us a panoramic image of His life and labor from their first mysterious beginning to the remotest glorious end. As the Servant of God begins by summoning all lands of the earth to give heed, He lets it be understood that what is now to be heard concerns all (Isa 49:1 a). Then He designates Himself as one called from His mothers womb (Isa 49:1 b), and as an instrument equipped for a successful contest (Isa 49:2), to whom Jehovah has given the honorable name Servant of God and Israel, and by whom He has determined to glorify Himself (Isa 49:3). The present out of which the Servant of God speaks does not correspond to these gracious declarations. For He is constrained to say: I have labored and suffered in vain (Isa 49:4 a). But He instantly consoles Himself again with the thought that His right and His reward are in the hands of God, thus in good hands (Isa 49:4 b). And then Jehovah Himself confirms this ground of comfort by a threefold declaration: 1) that the work of His chosen Servant, so far from being unsuccessful, will attain a much higher end than what was originally determined. That is, He shall not only bring back the people of Israel to its God, but also bring light and salvation to all nations (Isa 49:5-6). 2) The Servant of God, become an object of contempt and aversion, shall become an object of the highest veneration even for kings (Isa 49:7). 3) The Servant of God, to a certain time seemingly repudiated, shall yet, when the time for it arrives, be raised aloft and made the mediator of a new Covenant, in consequence of which the Holy Land shall be restored and newly divided, the people redeemed and brought home under divine protection and support from all nations and regions of the world (Isa 49:8-12). On account of this glorious redemption, heaven and earth are summoned to praise God (Isa 49:13).
2. Listen, O isleswith my God.
Isa 49:1-4. Islands and nations are here in parallelism, as in Isa 41:1. As what follows concerns all, we have here a discourse of universal importance (comp. Isa 1:2; Isa 34:1). This introduction quite corresponds to the statement of Isa 49:6, that the Servant of God shall be the light of the heathen and salvation of God to the end of the earth. But who is here the Servant of God? At first sight the Prophet himself seems to speak in Isa 49:1-2, declaring his call from his mothers womb (comp. Jer 1:5), his equipment for the prophetic calling and the protection experienced in its exercise. But instantly Isa 49:3 contradicts this. For it is incomprehensible how the Prophet alone can be called Israel. Added to this the Prophet certainly cannot say that the Lord has made him a light to the Gentiles, etc. (Isa 49:6). As little can it be said of him that kings shall worship him (Isa 49:7), or that he is set for a covenant of the people (Isa 49:8).The designation of the one addressed as Israel in Isa 49:3 suggests the thought that Israel is meant, either as a nation or as the nucleus of the nation (the spiritual Israel). But Isa 49:5-6, Conflict with this, where both Israel in general and also the nucleus of Israel are expressly distinguished from the Servant of God (see below). But how can one say with Oehler (D. Knecht Jehovahs, p. 87): the nation as an ideal Israel leads back the people in their empirical manifestion? Where is it ever said in any sense whatever that the nation led itself back? And was then the ideal Israel, that would yet be the one to lead back, only among the returned? And did not those that remained in the Exile also belong to empirical Israel?By the Servant of Jehovah in our text I can only understand the personal Servant. He constitutes in the whole second Ennead the principal person. What was said of Him in the first Ennead by way of prelude now comes to its full development. The Servant of Jehovah is also a man who lay in the womb of his mother. The Prophet portrays his life ab ovo. It is perhaps not superfluous to remark that while the Prophet says of the people of Israel, God chose, formed, brought on, kept, bore them from the womb on (, Isa 44:2; Isa 44:24; Isa 46:3; Isa 41:8-10), of the personal Servant, he formed and called him from the womb (Isa 49:1; Isa 49:5), he says of Cyrus, only, he called him by his name and brought him on (Isa 45:1; Isa 45:3-4). From this it is seen that the Servant of Jehovah in both senses stands nearer Jehovah than does Cyrus. For in the two first named the Lord claims a certain paternity. But Israel gives him most care. It must also be kept, borne and supported. The personal Servant does not need this help. He is merely formed, then called. Cyrus, however, appears as originating from a region that lies more remote from the Lord. From that he is called up by his name (and in fact by and , Isa 45:4).
It is even self-evident that does not mean: he has called me out of my mothers womb (Hahn). For thus understood the expression suggests absurd ideas. But it were quite in place to say, that the personal Servant of Jehovah was also an instrument formed ad hoc, and led as it were by the voice of God from birth on. The parallel expression means to make memory, remembrance of the name. It is used of places of worship intended for calling on the divine name (Exo 20:21); of a monument intended to perpetuate a name (2Sa 18:18); of a tribute of praise meant to keep the memory of a name for all times (Ps. 45:18; Isa 26:13). On , comp. Isa 48:1. Here, where the expression is parallel with , which, however, can happen only by means of the name, it seems to designate a more enduring keeping of the name in mind: the Lord has not only called me once, He has also afterwards continually thought of my name; He has never lost sight of me from the bowels of my mother (comp. , Isa 46:3).
Next the life of the Servant of Jehovah is sketched with only two, yet two double strokes. On the one hand it is said that the Lordhas made His mouth like a sharp sword, and that He has made Him (the Servant) like a polished shaft. The prominent mention of the mouth of the Servant shows that His task consisted eminently in speaking. It is clear that here only a speaking of divine things according to his calling is meant. Thus the Servant of God is characterized as a prophet. God called and equipped him that he might give sharp, incisive testimony to the divine truth. The expression: he made my mouth a sharp sword, is really a metonymy. For what produces the effect of a sharp sword is not the mouth in itself, but the word that proceeds from it (comp. Isa 11:4; Rev 1:16; Heb 4:12). In the words: he made me a polished (, smooth, polished to gleaming, hence easily penetrating, comp. Job 33:3; Zep 3:9) shaft, the metonymy is pushed still further, as, not only the mouth, but (for the sake of brevity and manifoldness) the whole person stands for the word that proceeds from it. Thus is ascribed to the Servant a penetrating effectiveness that seizes and arouses men to their inmost souls. The experience of such inward operation is not agreeable to such as are not born from that Spirit whose sword and shaft by the Servant penetrate their hearts. These, according to the spirit that rules them, react against it with murderous wrath. For, incapable of meeting the thrusts of the Servant of God with like spiritual weapons, they seek with fleshly ones to silence the mouth that molests them. And they would soon succeed were not that mouth under a higher protection. Hence the Prophet here represents the sword and shaft as at once sharp-cutting and well protected. It is not otherwise usual to describe the cutting sword as one well concealed, and the pointed shaft as one safely hid in the quiver. For sword and shaft are in nowise there in order to be hid under the hand or in the quiver. But the Prophet does not carry out his figure consistently. Having Isa 49:2; Isa 49:1 a, compared the mouth to a sharp sword, the sword designates in 1b the whole person. For when he says: in the shadow of His hand hath He hid me, he, of course, means primarily the sword, which, as the shaft in the quiver, is hid in the sheath under the hand held over it. But here the concealed sword is no longer image of the word, but of the person from which the sword-like, effective word proceeds. But in Isa 49:2; Isa 49:2 a, it is not said, as according to 1a, one might expect, He made my mouth a shaft. That is said under the influence of 1b, and, as remarked, presses the metonymy further. Still, by the polished shaft the word is meant, whereas in 2b again refers to the person. Evidently the Prophet would say, that the one whose word will work on men as sword and shaft, shall at the same time be protected against the hostile opposition of those that are struck, as a sword over whose hands its mighty Lord holds His sheltering hand (comp. Isa 51:16), as a shaft that is hid in the quiver (comp. Psa 127:5). I cannot believe that the hiding refers to the time preceding the period of appearing, or eternity. Why then would the clauses and stand after? And did the thought require prominence, that the Servant before His appearance was protected? Certainly not. But it did need to be made prominent that the Servant, whilst He roused the world to bitter wrath, was at the same time hid safely.
In Isa 49:3 the motive of this protection is given. The Lord cannot leave unprotected the Servant by whom He will glorify Himself. Thus is to be construed as explanatory. The Lord not only actually affords His protection: He says to him also why. He protects him because he is His servant, His instrument, and in fact one that in strife and victory shall reveal and glorify the power of God. Israel is, of course, not in apposition with the subject, but a second predicate, parallel with my servant. But here one may by no means take Israel as a designation of the nation. For the expression is to be explained as an allusion to Gen 32:28 : Thy name shall be called no more of Jacob, but Israel: for thou hast striven with God and men and hast prevailed. As there is a second Adam, a second David, and Solomon, so there is a second Israel. Jacob, at the time he received the name Israel, had sustained not only many perilous conflicts with men, but also the conflict with the mysterious appearance of the angel. We may not doubt that this his contending with God was also typical. Also He, whose type he was, must pass through conflict to victory, through pains and labor to rest, through shame to glory. Isa 49:2 designates the conflicts that the Servant of God had to sustain with men. That He had also to contend with God, who was at the same time His protector, we see from Mat 26:36 sqq. Conflict and strife is the task of His earthly existence, but in the contender with God and by Him Jehovah glorifies Himself. For His decree of salvation realizes itself in the whole fullness of its love, wisdom and glory only in and through the second Israel. Of course not at once. For the Servant of God, during the period of His conflict, has dark hours, in which it appears as if He had labored in vain (Isa 49:4; comp. Isa 30:7; Isa 65:23; Job 39:16), consumed His strength for emptiness and a breath (see Text, and Gramm.).
When, spite of all mighty operations of the Spirit, only inferior success, or even decided miscarriage, evidenced by the hatred of the majority of the people, is His reward, such despondency might well come over Him. But He consoles himself that His right is still with (=penes, kept preserved by) Jehovah, and His reward (comp. Isa 40:10) with His God. With this the course of life of the Servant of Jehovah is briefly sketched, and the outwardly observable fruit of it designated. In both respects the result is, indeed, unfavorable, but the faith and hope of the Servant of God is not shaken.
3. And now saithend of the earth.
Isa 49:5-6. In Isa 49:4 the Servant of Jehovah expresses the assured hope that, spite of past miscarriage, His cause will yet have a good issue. That this hope is well founded is declared by all that follows to Isa 49:13. For in these verses the Lord gives His Servant, in threefold gradation, the consoling promise that from lowliness He shall be raised to great glory. Therefore here is not contrastive, but is to be construed as confirmatory: and now also really (comp. Isa 5:3; Isa 5:5). With joyful emotion the Servant repeats Isa 49:5 first of all the facts that had served as the basis of His hope, and now after a momentary shaking prove to be actually steadfast. First He refers to the Lords having prepared Him for His Servant even from His mothers womb (comp. on Isa 49:1 b). And, indeed, He was prepared as a Servant for the sake of a work, whose accomplishment the Lord must very pressingly desire in His own interest. For how often has not the Lord given assurance that for His own sake He will accomplish the redemption of Israel (comp., e.g., Isa 48:9; Isa 48:11)! This work is the restoration of Israel to its God. We encounter here therefore the so important notion of , concerning which see above Text. and Gram. Yet shall Imy strength. These words form a parenthesis. What the Servant of God hoped for, according to Isa 49:4 a, which in Isa 49:5 a the Lord holds out to Him indirectly, He here describes as a second possession: He shall be honored, if not in the eyes of men, yet in Gods eyes ( different from , comp. Isa 5:21). Who does not recall here Joh 5:41-44; Joh 8:50)? His calling the Lord His strength forms the antithesis to the previously expressed (Isa 49:4 a) sense of His own weakness (comp. Isa 12:2; Psa 28:7).
And he said, (Isa 49:6), resumes the discourse interrupted by the parenthesis, in order to add something stronger to what is said, Isa 49:5. For the Servant having stated (Isa 49:5) that His task was the restoration of Israel to Jehovah, He now announces that, in the moment of His despondency, Jehovah has promised that that original task shall be small compared with (see Text. and Gram.) what henceforth is to be the aim of His activity: the Servant shall become the light of the Gentiles, and bear the salvation to the end of the earth. The expression, raise upthe tribes of Jacob, says more than one at first sight supposes. For it implies that the nation shall be restored according to its original distribution into twelve tribes. But after the deportation of the Ten tribes into the Assyrian captivity this never happened. For the great mass of the Ten tribes disappeared in the exile. The two tribes of Judah and Benjamin did indeed in greater number return; but after the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus all knowledge of tribal belongings ceased. First in Rev 7:4 sqq. do we encounter again the sharp distinction of the Twelve tribes, and in Mat 19:29 it is said that the Twelve Apostles shall sit on twelve thrones to judge the Twelve tribes of Israel. Therefore the restoration of the Twelve tribes can be ascribed neither to the people of Israel as a whole, nor to the ideal Israel, nor to the Prophet, nor to the prophetic institution. Only He shall also restore again the Twelve tribes who restores Israel generally, therefore the one who performs the work of (comp. on , Isa 49:5) in relation to the , i.e., to the , the or (comp. Isa 4:2-3; Isa 6:13; Isa 10:20 sqq.) in its full comprehensiveness. For a light to the Gentiles, therefore for all nations, shall the Servant of God be made, as is also said Isa 42:6. Comp. Luk 2:32; Act 13:47. He that is the light of the nations shall also be their salvation (by metonymy for Saviour, bringer of salvation). In fact, by being their light, He becomes their salvation. The Prophet likely has in mind passages like Exo 15:2; 2Sa 10:11.
4. Thus saithchose thee.
Isa 49:7. The Prophet confirms the hope expressed with growing certainty by the Servant of Jehovah (Isa 49:4 b6), by introducing (Isa 49:7-8) the Lord Himself as speaker, to repeat to the Servant the promise of his deliverance and exaltation. The Lord designates Himself as the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, because the things spoken of in the words that follow shall reveal, not only the redemption of the Servant, but also of Israel, and not only Gods gracious will, but also His holiness. But the Lord names His Servant by three predicates descriptive of His humiliation. This particular finds a stronger expression here than before or after. We hear sounds that, evidently serve as a prelude to what we hear in chap. 53, especially Isa 49:3. The is here conceived of as the seat of pleasure and displeasure, longing and contempt (comp. Delitzsch, Psychology, IV. 6, p. 160; Pro 23:2; Psa 27:12; Psa 35:25; Num 21:5; Job 6:7, etc.) (see Text. and Gram.) is only used as here this once. The fact that the word occurs again only in Isa 53:3 (bis) is perhaps a not unimportant sign of the relation of our text to that. is qualitatively the same as , only quantitatively different. For the expression means: he who makes the nation feel disgust, aversion. It is easily seen how here, too, the allusion is to the sensation of the soul. But while designates an aversion felt in the inmost soul, (meaning here neither the Israelite nor a heathen nation) expresses that the aversion is general, felt in the entire nation, in the entire natural community. For is a people as a natural, worldly tribal communion (confluxus hominum). Hence the word designates the heathen nations, but also Israel, where it is spoken of in the sense just referred to (comp. Isa 1:4; Isa 9:2). A servant of rulers the Servant of Jehovah is called because by men in power generally, and thus not kings only, He is regarded as a slave, as an individual with no rights. Every one of any command or consideration, deals with Him arbitrarily. But this relation shall undergo a mighty change. The Servant shall be raised to such a height and consideration, that even those possessed of the greatest power, the kings, shall rise up at the sight of Him (Isa 14:9) and worship Him. Because of the Lord, etc., assigns a reason, and does not express the aim. The words recognize the connection between Jehovah and His Servant. Therefore for Jehovahs sake, i.e., inwardly determined by Him who stands true to His word, and hence helps His Servant, for the sake of the Holy One in Israel, who does not suffer him who is once chosen to fall, they do that expressed in the words kings shall seeworship:
5. Thus saithupon His afflicted.
Isa 49:8-13. In this section, too, the Lord confirms with His own words the hope of His Servant. The particular of the humiliation, made so prominent in Isa 49:7, is here only alluded to. For I have heard thee and I have helped thee imply that the Servant was in a situation, out of which He must implore help. On the other hand the particular of mediation and effecting salvation is unfolded most gloriously. Everything must have its time. Also the Lords display of grace. It belongs only to the wisdom of God to know the right time for everything. Thus He did not let the Saviour of the world come before the time was fulfilled (Gal 4:4). So Paul understood our text (2Co 6:2). And Christ Himself (Luk 4:4), by taking Isa 61:1 sq., for a text, in general explains the time of His appearing as the acceptable year, which must be identical with the acceptable time of our text. The prophetic gaze, however, in the year of salvation sees comprehensively all those points of time that belong, by way of preparation and development, to this central point of the redemption of Israel. It begins with the deliverance from the Babylonish captivity and only ends in the completion of salvation in the world beyond. But it must be noted in our text, that the Prophet by no means has in mind the period of the redeeming appearance of the Servant of Jehovah in relation to the precedent suffering of Israel. But the time when He may appear to save is for the Servant Himself a time of salvation, in contrast with a precedent time of suffering, wherein He could not save because He Himself needed salvation in the highest degree. This appears from the antithesis of our ver. to Isa 49:7; Isa 49:4 a, and from the suffix [thee] in and , which can refer to no one but the Servant of Jehovah. Therefore this Servant must also, in the deep sufferings He must undergo, await the time that the wisdom of God has determined for His own deliverance. Beside an acceptable time and I an acceptable year the Prophet also mentions an acceptable day Isa 58:5, where see. The acceptable day will be for the Servant, naturally a day of salvation, of deliverance. On see immediately below. comp. Isa 41:14. With I will preserve thee the discourse receives a direction toward the future. The rescued shall at once become a rescuer. To this end He must Himself, first of all, be preserved from all further assaults. Then the Lordwill make Him a covenant of the people. The words: And I will preserve theepeople are repeated verbatim from Isa 42:6, where also see the explanation of the expression covenant of the people. This identity of language makes it evident that He who is made the covenant of the people is in both passages the same. Were the people of Israel meant by the mediator of the new covenant, then it would need to read instead of . For Israel cannot be at the same time the one covenanted and the mediator, of the covenant. Nor can Israel be the one to distribute the land, for the land is to be distributed among the Israelites. Nor does Israel raise up the land. For this raising up happens only by the raising up of the people, i.e, Israel itself. Nor can one say that this restorer and divider is the ideal Israel. For precisely this latter is the one which, as possessor of the new covenant is put in possession of the renovated inheritance, and which thereby raised up, will be made a glorious and mighty nation. To this there is something additional. Who does not, with raise up the land, and cause to inherit the inheritances recall Joshua, who raised up the land of Canaan to the honor of being the dwelling-place of the holy people and distributed it among the tribes of Israel (comp. Jos 1:6, )? This makes it natural for us to regard the one that is helped in a day of salvation and who is to be a second restorer and divider of the land as a second Joshua, as in Isa 49:3, we learned to know him as a second Israel. The first Joshua had to divide the land as one already inhabited and cultivated. The second will distribute it to the returning exiles as one hitherto lying waste. From this it appears that the Prophet has in mind primarily those returning from the Babylonish exile. These, too, came back under the conduct of a to Palestine (Ezr 2:2; Ezr 3:2; Ezr 3:8-9, etc.). But this was not the right fulfilment of this promise (comp. the remarks on Isa 49:6). Here, again, the Prophet contemplates together beginning and end, and correctly describes what must happen as a preliminary meager fulfilment before the historical appearance of the personal Servant of Jehovah, as also His work.
In Isa 49:9 a (comp. Isa 42:7) the captives are addressed as persons; but in what follows they appear as a flock. The Prophet describes here, as often repeatedly in what has preceded, the all-important way home (Isa 40:11; Isa 41:17 sqq.; Isa 43:2; Isa 43:15 sqq.; Isa 44:27; Isa 48:20 sq.). As in Isa 40:11, he represents Israel as a flock that finds pasture, both in the way, and on the high places (46:18) that are more arid than the valleys, so that they shall neither hunger nor thirst, nor suffer from the treacherous Fata Morgana (see on Isa 35:7). For Israel shall be under the best of leadership: he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, (that is of course, indirectly, by the Servant according to Isa 49:8 b), even by springs of water shall He guide them.
Isa 49:11 is to be explained according to Isa 40:4. Jehovah will lead His people the next and directest way. To this end the mountains, exempt from human power, but subject to the Lord as His mountains, i.e., as His creatures, must submit to be a way, i.e., doubtless where necessary lower themselves, while the valleys must fill up, and become elevated causeways (). To the particular that the return shall be happily accomplished by Gods help, the Prophet adds, as in Isa 43:5 sq., that the return shall take place from every quarter. Having begun with the general , and added afterwards the more exact designations of the quarters of the heavens, he prompts the conjecture that only after the word of general contents was written, did the thought of the plagae coeli come to him. Hence we will not press , nor venture to give it the meaning south in antithesis to . For it never has it elsewhere. The passage Psa 107:3, may not be cited as proof that in antithesis to means the south. For the latter passage appears just to rest on ours, and only proves that the author of that Psalm thought he must make in our text denote from the south. Therefore I believe that here as everywhere else means from the west. To this is put in antithesis the land of Sinim, as the remotest eastern land. This name must any way represent an entire quarter of the heavens and probably the east. Neither the people mentioned Gen 10:17, who belonged to the Phoenicians and dwelt in the north of Lebanon (comp. Knobel on Gen 10:17), nor Sin-Pelusium (Saad. Bochart, Ewald), and still less the Kurd clan Sin (Egli, Zeitschr. fr wissensch. Theol. vi. p. 400 sqq.), meets these demands. Hence the majority of opinion inclines to understand the Chinese to be meant by the Sinim. [See a very copious note of J. A. Alex., in loc., who holds the same view.Tr.]. It has been abundantly shown that already in very remote times wares from India and China were received by the Phoenicians in the emporiums of the Euphrates and Arabia, and brought by them to the west (comp. beside Gesenius in his Thes., and Comm., and Lassen, Ind. Alterthumsk. especially MoversPhoen. II. 3, p. 240 sq.). But if one ask how the Prophet came to call the Chinese by the name , it is much questioned whether already in Isaiahs time they could be named Sinim as inhabitants of a land Thsin or Tsin (comp. Wuttke, Die Entstehung der Schrift., p. 241). Victor 5. Strauss (in an excursus in Delitzsch, p. 712) consequently takes the view that the name is to be derived from the Chinese sjin, i.e., man. The extraordinarily frequent use that the Chinese made of this word, not only to designate all possible qualities, conditions, sorts of business, but also the relations of descent, moved foreigners to call the nation itself by this name. A decision on this point must be waited for. In conclusion the Prophet summons heaven and earth to rejoice at the important fact, so interesting also to them, that the Lord has again had mercy on His chosen people (comp. Isa 44:23; Isa 52:9; Isa 55:12). The Prophet closes here in an artistic way as with a. forte allegro, while the following strophe begins with a piano maestoso.
Footnotes:
[1]1 Or, my reward.
[2]2 Or, That Israel may be gathered to him, and I may, etc.
[3]3 Or, Art thou lighter than that thou shouldest, etc.
[4]4 Or, desolations.
[5]a I have made thee.
[6]5 Or, To him that is despised in soul.
[7]b hath chosen.
[8]6 Or, raise up.
[9]c the mirage.
2. FORSAKEN ISRAEL BUILT AFRESH FROM THE GENTILES
Isa 49:14-26
14But Zion said, The Lord hath forsaken me,
And 10my Lord hath forgotten me.
1511Can a woman forget her sucking child,
12That she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?
Yea, they may forget,
Yet will I not forget thee.
16Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands;
Thy walls are continually before me.
17Thy children 13shall make haste;
Thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee.
18Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold:
All these gather themselves together, and come to thee.
As I live, saith the Lord,
Thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament,
And bind them on thee, as a bride doeth.
19For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction,
14Shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants,
And they that swallowed thee up shall be far away.
20The children 15which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other,
Shall say again in thine ears, The place is too straight for me:
16Give place to me that I may dwell.
21Then shalt thou say in thine heart,
Who hath 17begotten me these,
Seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate,
18A captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these?
Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been?
22Thus saith the Lord 19God,
Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles,
And set up my standard to the 20people:
And they shall bring thy sons in their 21arms,
And thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.
23And kings shall be thy 22nursing fathers,
And their 23queens thy nursing mothers:
They shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth,
And lick up the dust of thy feet;
And thou shalt know that I am the Lord:
24For they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.
24Shall the prey be taken from the mighty,
Or 25the 26lawful captive delivered?
25But thus saith the Lord,
Even the 27captives of the mighty shall be taken away,
And the prey of the terrible shall be delivered:
For I will contend with him that contendeth with thee,
And I will save thy children.
26And I will 28feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh;
And they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with 29sweet wine:
And all flesh shall know
That I the Lord am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer,
The mighty One of Jacob.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
See List for the recurrence of the words: Isa 49:15. . Isa 49:16. . Isa 49:17. . Isa 49:20. . Isa 49:21. part fem. from = again only Jer 17:13. Isa 49:22. . Isa 49:23, generally.
Isa 49:15. before has the sense of a negative conjunction=so that not.In the clause , as is often the case, the conditional particle is omitted.
Isa 49:19. I construe the first as causal, but the second as the pleonastic that is wont to stand after a verbum dicendi (here to be supplied, comp. Isa 7:9). is: thou wilt be strait from the viewpoint of the dweller, i.e., thou wilt be too strait for dwelling. from ; comp. Olsh., 243, b. [Fuerst, Lex. derives it from .Tr.].
Isa 49:20. The imperat. relates necessarily to the same person as the suffixes in and . is not dat. loci, but dat. commodi.
Isa 49:22. The expression occurs in Isaiah only here. It plainly means with uplifted hand to give a sign. For similar expressions comp. Isa 10:32; Isa 11:15; Isa 13:2; Isa 19:16. On the other hand occurs again Isa 62:10; yet more frequently . (Isa 5:26; Isa 11:12; Isa 13:2; Isa 18:3).
Isa 49:24. Great difficulty is presented by , which seems to correspond to of Isa 49:25. Is the captivitas, i.e., captive of the righteous, or is it the troop of captives taken from the righteous, i.e., the righteous nation, Israel (comp. the plunder taken from the poor, Isa 3:14), or is it the captive righteous, or, finally, is to be read instead of , which the Syr. rendering captivitas herois. the Vulg. captum a robusto, the LXX., seem to justify? First, in regard to the change of reading, I do not think we can rely here on the ancient versions, for they were evidently uncertain about the sense, and guessed at it. The Syr. without more ado, felt justified in making the corresponding members of the parallel conform, since it translates. num auferetur praeda gigantis aut captivitas herois eripietur? Immo sic ait Dominus: praeda gigantis auferetur et captivitas herois eripietur. We would, therefore, be only continuing the arbitrariness of the ancients did we read for .If we translate the captives of the righteous one, then it must either be admitted that he is called a righteous one who still holds captive the people of God (at the very time when, according to Isa 49:23 sq., other heathen powers have begun to bring them back with great honor), and is fearfully punished for it (Isa 49:25 sq.), or all sorts of far-fetched meanings must be given to (as e.g., J. D. Mich. makes it mean victor, or Paulus, after Schultens, = one who is right, what he ought to be, viz., a brave soldier).But if we take as genitive of the object according to Isa 3:14, then we must either take it in the sense of plunder (Gesenius), which however is poorly supported by appeal to 2Ch 21:17, or else it is forgotten that when I say to pillage the poor, what is pillaged is not the poor man himself but his goods. But if I say to lead the righteous man captive, then the object of capture is the righteous man himself. Hence were then nothing else than a troop of captives consisting of righteous persons. But then one would expect , since, indeed, the notion , quite differently from , refers to a plurality. But since it reads simply , I think it is to be translated simply captivitas justa (compare Isa 26:2) i.e., righteous prisoner. The qualification is prompted by Israel being the predominant thought in mind.
Isa 49:25. before can be a preposition as in Isa 1:8; Jer 2:9; comp. Hos 4:1; Hos 12:3; but also sign of the accusative, as in Isa 27:8; Deu 33:8; Job 10:2. The accusative expresses more, and better suits the context.
Isa 49:26. part. Hiph. from (oppressit, comp. Lev 19:33; Lev 25:14; Deu 23:17) occurs only here.=, occurs only in the connection Gen 49:24; Isa 60:16; Psa 132:2; Psa 132:5, and Isa 1:24.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. In the second half of the chapter, in antithesis to the Servant of Jehovah, the Restorer, appears Zion, that, according to Isa 49:8 sqq., was to be restored by Him, and is restored. Accordingly, from Isa 49:14 on nothing more is said of the Servant of the Lord, but the discourse is only of Zion as the married wife that is apparently forsaken, yet is still tenderly beloved by the Lord, of her new upbuilding by countless children that are born to her, she knows not where or how, and (in contrast with this), of the judgments of God that shall come on the nations hostile to Israel.
2. But Zion saidcontinually before me.
Isa 49:14-16. Zion can only say the Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me, when the Theocracy seems broken and irrevocably destroyed. The time after the destruction by Nebuchadnezzar was such. But with as much justice the time after the destruction by Titus may be regarded as such. The Prophet sees both together, as previously (Isa 49:8 sqq.) he had seen together the return out of the Babylonian and the Roman exile. Therefore these words of Zion also fall, and that very particularly, in the time when the Servant of Jehovah must lament that He has labored in vain (Isa 49:3). Is it an accident that the lament of Zion, Isa 49:14, follows immediately after the lament of the Servant of Jehovah? Did the Servant not need to lament that He labored in vain, then Zion would not have had to lament that it was forsaken. Both stand in the closest causal connection. To Zions complaint Jehovah returns a wonderfully consoling reply. Here, too, as in Isa 42:14; Isa 46:3 sq.: Isa 66:13, there is ascribed to Jehovah a feminine sensibility, a more than maternal love. How could the Lord forget Zion, seeing that her image was not merely in His heart, but also inscribed upon His hands, as a continual souvenir always before His eyes! In general these words call to mind Deu 6:8 sq.; Deu 11:18, comp. Pro 3:3; Pro 7:3. Others refer to the custom of branding or tattooing on the forehead, arm, or wrist of a slave the name of his master, of a soldier the name of his general, of an idolater the name of his divinity (comp. Gesen. on Isa 44:5). Also Rev 13:16 alludes to this custom. From thy walls are continually before me, it is seen that the Lord would say He has the image of the city, not its name, always before His eyes. For the walls represent the outlines of the figure.
3. Thy childrenwhere had they been. Isa 49:17-21. Zion, forsaken and repudiated by her husband, and thus supposing herself debarred from bearing children, is in a wonderful way suddenly surrounded by the most numerous fresh growth, the richest blessing of children and ornament of children. Thy children hasten hither, says Isa 49:17. Manifestly there is in an allusion to , as also the LXX., Vulg.Targ. Ar. actually seem to have read. Luther, too, translates thy builders will hasten. Though this reading is neither justifiable nor a necessity, still the contrast with the second half of the verse demands that we press the radical notion in , viz., and recognize in it an allusion to the fact that it is the children which, so to speak, as the living stones build the house, the family, the generation (comp. Gen 16:2; Exo 1:21; Deu 25:9; 1Sa 2:35; 1Sa 25:28; 2Sa 7:27; Rth 4:11). Therefore, those who join stone to stone, that the house of Israel may grow endlessly, shall come on in haste, but those that destroy and desolate it shall make off. Israel, however, the mother, shall look around. She sees a great crowd. It has one goal: Zion. Thither all hasten. At first Zion cannot credit it, that all these press on to her as their maternal centre. But the Lord assures her of the important fact with an oath ( , first, Num 14:21; Num 14:28; Deu 32:40; only here in Isa.; Jer 22:24; Jer 46:18; most frequent in Eze 5:11; Eze 14:16; Eze 16:48, etc. Comp. Isa 45:23). Zion may regard all this as her own; she may put on the glorious crown of children as an ornament; she may gird herself with them as with the splendid girdle of the bride (, Isa 3:20). But Zion makes objection. She points to the ruins of her cities, her wasted land. And, in fact, is there no contradiction in this double act of God? On the one hand He destroys the land and decimates the people, and then He brings on a countless multitude as children. And then what is a great multitude to do in a desert? In reply, the Lord persists in His assertion that Zion is to regard this crowd as her blessing of children. For, He says: as regards thy ruins and desolations and thy devastated land, I say to thee, that now thou shalt be too contracted to dwell in (see Text. and Gram.). Therefore, far from being frightened off by ruins and desolations, the new people even press on. Here is a straitened distress of a new sort! Formerly it was the Philistines, Ammonites, Syrians, Assyrians, etc., that took away the bread from the Israelites in their own land (comp. 33:30). Now it is her own children! On the other hand, the ancient , the ancient devourers have disappeared! That is more exactly explained Isa 49:20. The appear as speakers, and beg the mother to make room for them. It is especially to be noted that the mother is addressed as the representative of the family (see Text. and Gram.). The individual crowded inhabitants, one might think, ought to apply to their individual neighbors. But such a moving act can only be possible as the act of the totality. Hence the Prophet lets the demand be addressed to the ideal representative of the totality. So that it is to be remarked respecting , that the word evidently means, not a moving to the speaker, but to the one dwelling in the opposite direction, thus not a moving to but away (comp. Gen 19:9).
Zion, destroyed by Assyrians, Babylonians, Romans (for the Prophet contemplates all these together), stands at last solitary, robbed of all her children. The ideal Zion has become essentially an abstraction, devoid of being. For when all single individuals have disappeared, as was the case after the final destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, then, indeed, the representative of the totality has nothing more to represent, she no more has anything real on which to lean. If now a numerous Israel comes on, then the question of Isa 49:21 is quite natural: who hath borne me these? may not be rendered begotten. For then Zion would know who had borne these children, but not who had begotten them. She rather says: I have not borne them; who then has borne them for me? is a causal clause: for I was childless ( only here in Isa.), unfruitful (, sterilis, again only Job 3:7; Job 15:34; Job 30:3), banished, driven away. Since the children stand before her, not as new born, but as grown up, she asks further: Who hath brought them up for me?
4. Thus saiththat wait for me. Isa 49:22-23. Now the Lord solves the riddle. The countless children are those converted to Jehovah from the Gentiles, and thus primarily become members of the spiritual Israel. But the spiritual Israel is the inward, everlasting core of the fleshly Israel. As the is the everlasting, abiding core of men in general; as therefore after the new birth, after death and the resurrection, the core of the personality remains ever the same, spite of all the changes of the outward manifestation, so is the spiritual Israel ever the same ideal personality that had already formed the centre of the fleshly Israel. Hence, with our Prophet, it is the same subject that complains of the ruin of the outward Theocracy and the loss of motherhood ascribed to that, and then still is required to regard the converts from the Gentile world as its children. Hence I do not believe that by the children coming out of the Gentiles we are to understand the returning Israelites. For Israel could not ask, with reference to these: Who hath borne me these? Though for a time they might have been lost to the sight of the ideal mother, still must she have known them again and recognized them as children of her own body. Whence so many children, whom I have yet not borne myself? is Israels inquiry. The Lord replies: at my sign the Gentiles bring thy children hither. Two things are new here: first, that the streaming hither of the children of Zion happens at the command (see Text. and Gram.) of Jehovah; second, that the Gentiles bring them hither with the greatest care and reverence. The first, already, shows that Jehovah and Zion have a common interest in the matter. They are in fact children of Jehovah and of Zion, viz. spiritual children that have received the spiritual Zion from its Lord, and are now come on to build again Zion corporally, in a certain sense (Isa 49:17). This construction is confirmed by what follows: And they shall bring thy sons in their bosom, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. Therefore these children born in the heathen nations are called Zions, the children of the spiritual Israel. Or, as Paul says, Gal 4:26 : But Jerusalem which is from above is free, which is the mother of us all. Whether he himself understood that correctly or not, still the Prophet sees in the spirit that the outward, corporeal Zion (the Jerusalem that now is) must be repudiated, (Gal 4:30; Gen 21:10; Gen 21:12), destroyed; but that in place of it shall come out of the spirit of Zion (now truly made free and far extended) a countless posterity, that shall build itself up a new, greater and more glorious Zion even in the corporeal sense (comp. Isa 54:1 sqq.). is the sinus formed by the wide upper garment, in which one may even carry small children. For this expression, as also the one following: they shall be carried on the shoulder, denotes such children as demand careful watch and culture. Such care the new Zion shall receive even on the part of princes, i.e., states (comp. Isa 60:16; Isa 66:12). We need not here explain how this prophecy has been realized in a good as well as an evil sense. But fact it is, that the Zion here meant by the Prophet has received from the rich of this world not only nurture, but also reverence, that partly went the length even of idolatry ( ; comp. Gen 19:1; Gen 42:6; 1Sa 24:9, etc.). The Prophet distinguishes here as little the individual princes as he does the gradations of the fulfilment. He does not know that he portrays the mutual relation of the Christian church and the Christian state, and comprehends in one expression blessing and curse, the earthly beginnings and the heavenly completion of this relation. The mention of princesses along with the kings has likely only a rhetorical significance. In a picture of well-nurtured little children, the nurses must not be wanting. Thus Zion will experience that its God is the true God, the eternally existent One, whose divinity evidences itself to men in this, that those who, even in the deepest distress, do not lose their trust in Him, will not be brought to shame (comp. Isa 40:3; Psa 25:3).
5. Shall the preymighty One of Jacob, Isa 49:24-26. The verses 22, 23, testify to a surprising turn in the sentiment of the world-powers toward Israel. The inquiry is suggested: Will all Gentile powers be converted to such a recognition of the high significance of Israel? And if not, what is the prospect for those Israelites that are held fast by such nations as persist in their hostility. To this the Prophet replies in these verses, 2426. He says, to begin with: a strong man will not allow his plunder or captives to be taken from him. In Luk 11:21 the Lord evidently has in mind our passage when He speaks of the strong man armed keeping his palace. (On , see Text. and Gram.). Israel, ready for the return home, is, any way , however it may have been with respect to the guilt or innocence of those that were led away into exile. With reference to Israel it is therefore asked, whether perhaps righteous prisoners are easier to free than others. Of course one would think that, with a strong man, it mattered little whether his captives came into his power justly or unjustly, that thus under any circumstances it were impossible to take his captives from him. But the Prophet, notwithstanding, answers the question whether this be possible, with yes. For the Lord has said so, in case Israel is this captivitas, this spoil. In that case the Lord Himself will be the champion for Israel against those contending against it (, comp. Psa 35:1; Jer 18:19 and , Hos 5:13; Hos 10:6), and will redeem his children (see Text. and Gram.) In Isa 49:26 a, by a strong figure, it is described how the Lord will contend with the contenders; He will reduce them to a condition where they will eat their own flesh and make themselves drunk with their own blood as with new wine. It seems absurd to point to an historical realization of this as e.g.Knobel does by referring our passage to dissensions among the enemies of Cyrus, and especially to the desertion of the Hyrcanians and of the Babylonian subject-kings Gobryas and Gadatas from the Babylonian cause (Cyrop.Isa 4:2; Isa 4:6; Isa 5:1-3). Our entire prophecy has an eschatological character. It presupposes the final judgment of the fleshly Israel, and describes how, like a phnix, the new spiritual Israel will arise out of its ashes. The strong figure of eating ones own flesh, etc., recalls such texts as Isa 9:19 sq.; Zec 11:9; Zec 9:15. Thus shall the whole world know that the alone true, eternally existent God, Jehovah, and the Deliverer and Redeemer of Israel, the Mighty One of Jacob, is one and the same. For Israels deliverance is also only a means to attain the highest end, viz. that all the world may be blessed, and Gods holy name may be known and praised. There occurs a repetition of Isa 49:26 b in Isa 60:16.
Footnotes:
[10]the Lord.
[11]Will.
[12]Heb. From having compassion.
[13]omit shall.
[14]I say thou shalt be too narrow for the.
[15]childlessness, or bereavement
[16]Move for me.
[17]borne.
[18]An exile, and banished.
[19]Jehovah.
[20]peoples.
[21]Heb. bosom,
[22]Heb. nourishers.
[23]Heb. princesses.
[24]whose expectants shall not be ashamed.
[25]Heb. the captivity of the just.
[26]righteous.
[27]Heb. captivity.
[28]matte them eat
[29]Or, new wine.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Isa 49:1. Jactat vocationem suam ad confirmdos gentium animos, ne offendantur stulta et infirma Christi specie, qui praedicatur crucifixus. Nolite me ideo contemnere, inquit. Venio divina auctoritate.Luther.
2. On Isa 49:1-2. When Jesus says here, God has called Him by name from His mothers womb on, it may be seen that no one should press into an office without regular commission (Heb 5:4), and how no man can receive any thing unless it be given him from heaven (Joh 3:27). The power of the divine word is this, that it cuts as a sharp sword and pierces as an arrow and wounds the hearts of men, on the one hand so that they know their sin, accept the offered pardon in Christ, are inflamed with love towards God, and receive everlasting life, on the other hand, however, so that they wilfully oppose the word, and are thus wounded to everlasting death. For this sword of the word can do both, can kill and make alive, as also Paul says, it is to some a savor of death unto death, but to some a savor of life unto life (2Co 2:16).Renner.
3. On Isa 49:3. Jesus is the true, perfect Servant of God, by whom the Father perfectly carries out all His gracious purpose. He is the true Israel, hero of God, and contender with God in one person, and only in and through Him do other men belong to the true Israel. Through Him God performed His highest work; for He conquered sin and death, and won peace with God by His soul-struggle and His bitter suffering. So God is now rightly known in Him, and praised as love. Diedrich.
4. On Isa 49:4. Christ Himself does not suppose. But we, when we see the beginning of Christ, must think and suppose, Christ labors in vain. For if one looks to His birth, to His preaching, to His suffering, to His death, to His poor twelve fisher servants by whom He would reform and take possession of the whole world, one must suppose, for the life of him it will never do. Yet the Lords purpose will still prosper in His hand (Isa 53:11), and His counsel is wonderful and gloriously accomplishes itself (Isa 28:29). But if a preacher happens to think that his labor is in vain, let him consider, first, that the affair is not his, but Gods, who will carry it out (Psa 74:22), for it would be a reproach to him to let it fail. Second, let him consider, that God has called him. He that has put him into the regular office, will doubtless also make him prosper. Cramer.
5. [On Isa 49:6. We may learn hence, (1) that God will raise up the tribes of Jacob; that is, that large numbers of the Jews shall yet be preserved or recovered to Himself; (2) that the gospel shall certainly be extended to the ends of the earth; (3) that it is an honor to be made instrumental in extending the true religion. So great is this honor, that it is mentioned as the highest which could be conferred even on the Redeemer in this world. And if He deemed it an honor, shall we not also regard it as a privilege to engage in the work of Christian Missions, and endeavor to save the world from ruin? There is no higher glory for man than to tread in the footsteps of the Son of God; and he who, by self-denial and charity, and personal toil and prayer, does most for the conversion of this whole world to God, is most like the Redeemer, and will have the most elevated seat in the glories of the heavenly world. Barnes.].
6. On Isa 49:7. He who among all beings unites the greatest contrasts in Himself is that one Mediator between God and man. For He alone belongs to two worlds, and He alone stands on the lowest and the highest step. Many have been born in a stall, and have hung on a cross, but in no one case was contempt so contemptible as in His, and no one felt it so keenly as He. To none however but to Him, is given a name that is above every name (Php 2:9 sqq.). Eo ipso vocabulo, quo se commendat, significat faciem ecclesiae . Coram mundo enim nihil ecclesia est calamitosius, nihil improbius, nihil magis profanum. Quare vocat eam animam contemptibilem, gentem abominabilem et servum tyrranorum. Hi sunt magni tituli Christianorum, quorum si quos pudet, illi cogitent, se frustra Christum quaerere.Luther.
7. On Isa 49:8. The time of Christs sufferings is here called the time of the gracious hearing of the Messiah; the great day of salvation, in which the salvation of men was acquired by Christ; the time of help and deliverance of the Saviour calling for help in deep waters of suffering (Psa 69:2-3), the time of mighty preservation and protection of the Redeemer pressed down to the ground by the burden of sin, the time when God set Him for a covenant among the people. Starke.
8. On Isa 49:12. Although even in the Old Testament, some of the heathen were scatteringly added on, as is seen in the case of Jethro, Ruth, Rahab, the Gibeonites, Ittai the Gittite (2Sa 15:19) and others beside; yet this was first to take place in full measure in the time of the coming of the Messiah, who is especially the consolation of all Gentiles (Hag 2:8). Cramer.
9. On Isa 49:14. If thou thinkest, God has wholly forsaken thee, then He has thee in His arms and fondles thee.Luther.We are not forgotten of God, for there is a memorandum written before Him of those that love the Lord (Mal 3:16). Yea, He has a fatherly and motherly love for us, seeing we are borne by Him in His body (Isa 46:3). We ought, for this reason, not to judge by outward fortune and looks, how God is minded toward us, but hold exclusively to the word and promises.Cramer.
10. On Isa 49:15. God compares Himself to a father (Psa 103:13; Mal 3:17), and if that were not enough, also to a mother. Now as to how a fathers and mothers heart is affected, a father and mother can easily measure with respect to their children. Examples: Hagar cannot bear to see her son Ishmael die (Gen 21:16); the real mother before Solomons judgment seat cannot suffer her son to be divided (1Ki 3:26). Therefore, now God breaks His heart over us, so that He must have mercy on us (Jer 31:20). Yea, Gods love far excels the fatherly and motherly . For there are cases where pitiful women have even boiled their children (Lam 4:10). Examples: In the siege of Samaria (2Ki 6:20), and in the siege of Jerusalem by the Romans (Josephus). But God is very differently affected toward us, for He is love itself, grace itself, compassion itself.Cramer.
11. On Isa 49:22-23. It was known to the Gentiles that the Jews called themselves the chosen people of God. How they made sport of it may, among other instances, be seen from Ciceros oration pro Flacco, chap. 28. This Flaccus, while administering the province of Asia, had prohibited the Jews from sending the annual temple tax to Jerusalem. This constituted one of the points of complaint against him. For the Jews must even at that time have had not inconsiderable influence in Rome. This appears from Cicero giving it to be understood that the matter was dealt with non longe a gradibus Aureliis (probably the Jews quarter for dwelling or business at that time). He adds: Scis quanta sit manus, quanta concordia, quantum valeat in concionibus. Then he continues to speak summissa voce, in order to be understood only by the judges, and not by such as would set the Jews on him. He justifies the procedure of his client as quite legal. Finally he concludes with the words: Sua cuique civitati religio est, nostra nobis. Stantibus Hierosolymis, pacatisque Judaeis, tamen istorum religio sacrorum a splendore hujus imperii, gravitate nominis nostri, majorum institutis abhorrebat; nunc vero hoc magis, quod illa gens, quid de imperio nostro sentiret, ostendit armis. Quam cara Diis immortalibus esset, docuit, quod est victa, quod elocata, quod servata. This last clause evidently contains mockery. Cicero starts with saying that the Jews were described as especially dear to the gods. But how much there is in this special favor of the gods may be seen from the gens judaica being victa, elocata servata. This language seems to be a play on words. For the words can mean: conquered, hired out, saved,but also: conquered, transplanted (from their home to some other place), made slaves. Then servare would be formed ad hoc from servus, as, e.g., sociare from socius, filiare from filius, etc. Pompeius brought many thousands of the Jews to Rome, who being found useless as slaves, laid the foundation of the Jewish congregation of after times. Comp. Pressel in Herz., R.-Enc., XVII., p. 253.
12. On Isa 49:23. Worldly dominion should tend to this, viz., to seek the best advantage of the Church of God, and maintain its protection. Otherwise, if God were not concerned about His Church, kings and princes would be of no use on earth. And just that they ought even to know. Cramer.
13. On Isa 49:24 sqq. Whether we understand by the strong one the devil, or the power of carnal Judaism, or political powers hostile to Christianity, it is in any case certain that the Lord will conquer the strong one in all these forms, and wrest his plunder from him. In reference to the oppressors eating their own flesh and intoxicating themselves with their own blood, it is to be remembered how all enemies of the truth must finally fall out with one another and tear each others flesh, and even devour one another (Jdg 7:22; 1Sa 14:20; Psalms 83). Recall the many judgments of God: Christ and unbelieving Israel (especially the contests of the zealots in the siege of Jerusalem); Nero, who was by the senate declared to be an enemy of the state; the heroes of the French Revolution, etc.
HOMILETICAL HINTS
1. On Isa 49:1-6. In times of the Churchs distress and conflict, when it seems as if the Church of the Lord must be destroyed by its enemies, this passage can be held up to the congregation as a glorious word of consolation. For what is here said primarily of the Servant of God may be so applied to the Church of the Lord to show: The grounds of comfort that assure us that the Church of Christ can never perish. 1) The Church in its beginnings was willed and prepared by the Lord (Isa 49:1); 2) It is equipped with weapons that are effective for all times (sharp sword, clean arrow=word of God, Heb 4:12); 3) It always enjoys the divine protection (shadow of the hand, quiver Isa 49:2); 4) Gods honor and the salvation of the world is its task (Isa 49:3; Isa 49:6), which, a. amid many conflicts and infirmities (Isa 49:4), yet b. in the power of God (Isa 49:5), it will at last gloriously execute (Isa 49:5-6).
2. On Isa 49:6. The Lord Jesus in the halo of the world-mission. 1) It is a small thing for the Lord to be the consolation of Israel, He is also a light to the Gentiles; 2) It is also a small thing for the Lord to be the light to the Gentiles, He is also their salvation to the end of the earth. 3) It is a small thing for the Lord to be light and salvation to the world, He is also thy light and thy salvation. E. Quandt.
3. On Isa 49:7. Even if the Church of Christ be often quite despised, and an object of aversion and trodden under the feet of tyrants like a slave, yet it must never forget that it is where it is for the Lords sake. The Lord can as little give Himself up as forsake His Church. He must be faithful to it, and so the time shall at last come when kings shall see and shall rise up, princes shall worship for the Lords sake.
4. On Isa 49:7-13. The salvation of God. 1) It is well founded, for it rests on the Mediator of the Covenant, Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Isa 49:8). 2) It is universal, for it consists a. in salvation from all distress (Isa 49:8-11); b. it is destined and prepared for all (Isa 49:12). 3) It is exceeding glorious (Isa 49:13). 4) But it has its appointed day, the day of salvation (Isa 49:8), and that must be waited for with patience and hope.
5. On Isa 49:14-16. The motherly love of God. 1) It hides itself at times (Isa 49:14); 2) it is founded on our being children of His body (Isa 49:15); 3) it leads all to a glorious end (Isa 49:15-16).
6. On Isa 49:17-23. This passage must be regarded in the light of Gal 4:22-31. According to that, we know that the ruined and shattered city, the desolate land, is the earthly Jerusalem, that is judged by God, whose children are given up to death and destruction. But in this Jerusalem is concealed, as the abiding kernel, that Jerusalem that is above, the free. This is the mother of us all, viz. us Christians. All out of all nations that come to Christ become children of this heavenly Jerusalem. Dead as the earthly Jerusalem is, conscious of having lost her husband and her children, Zion arises again as the heavenly Jerusalem, and is now visibly surprised to see innumerable hosts of children hasting to her, and herself the recipient of every sign of honor from the rich of this world.
7. On Isa 49:24-26. The redemption that comes by Christ is also a victory over Satan. Hence we also praise Christ as the one who has redeemed us from the power of the devil. 1) By what has He redeemed us? (He quarreled with the quarreler, and on the cross conquered the strong one, Heb 2:14-15; Eph 4:8; Col 2:14-15). 2) How far did He redeem us? (He freed us, a. from the guilt and punishment of sin; b. from the dominion of sin.) 3) To what purpose did He redeem us? (That we should experience and taste the grace of our God, Isa 49:26.)
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
This most interesting Chapter contains the outlines of the covenant of redemption, in the solemn transactions between God the Father and God the Son, concerning salvation. This subject is carried on without interruption from beginning to end.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
We find here some glorious speaker, calling upon the nations of the isles to attend to him, and declaring both the authority upon which he spoke, and the subject of his discourse. And if we make application of it to the Lord Jesus Christ, as God-man Mediator, nothing can be more beautiful and interesting. He first demands attention; then speaks of the persons to whom his discourse was directed; and then of his authority, and the object of his call. And Jesus, and Jesus only, was and is all this; and of no other could it be said or spoken: God the Father is said to have given his dear Son to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, and to be the glory of his people Israel; Luk 2:32 . And from the womb of all eternity, was Jesus called, yea, in the volume of the book was it written of him. If the Reader will compare what the beloved Apostle John saith of the book of the divine decrees, which was in the hand of him that sat upon the throne, and which none was found worthy to open but the Lamb that had been slain; he will be led perhaps to the sense of the passage, and discover that the Bible itself is but the transcript, in the revealed part of it, of what was written therein; Rev 5:1-10 ; Psa 40:6-8 . And when the hour approached for the open revelation or Jesus, the angel declared his name, as we read, Mat 1:21 . But we must not stop here. God the Father, who called Christ to the work, is said to have fitted him for it. So the covenant terms ran, Psa 89:19-24 . Perhaps the hiding of Christ might refer to what Paul speaks of the mystery of redemption, hid from ages and generations, Eph 3:4-10 . The mouth of Jesus, like a sword, hath reference to the power and sovereignty with which he spake as never man spake. The word of Christ is said to be quick and powerful, Heb 4:12 ; Joh 5:25 ; Psa 45:5 . Lastly, God’s owning him in the work, as well as calling him to the work, is most blessedly set forth in this passage: Christ, as Mediator and Surety, is Jehovah’s servant, the Husband of his Church and people; and I hope the Reader will not overlook, what is as sweet a part as any, that Christ takes, in this passage, the name of his Church. It is an usual thing in life for the wife to take the name of her husband but Jesus, in his unequalled condescension, here takes the name of his wife, and is called Israel. Precious Lord Jesus! what humility was thine!
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
I Will Make All My Mountains a Way (Advent Sunday)
Isa 49:11
God says, ‘I will make My mountains a way,’ and the simplest consideration of the facts of life will demonstrate that the saying is true practically, true ideally, true on the plane of earth, true in the region of spirit, true in the domain of prophecy.
I. In the natural sphere the fact of the existence of mountains has ever initiated the stimulus required to surmount them. The physical and moral strength of the race is invigorated through the opposition of mountains, and man, as God’s vicegerent, in his work of subduing the earth, has everywhere in all lands, amongst all peoples, made the mountains a highway to commerce, travel, discovery.
II. The spiritual analogy of the beautiful saying is even more true. There is a fascination a challenge to the imagination in mountain scenery through which He, Who is always appealing to the Divine secret in man, makes ‘His mountains a way’ to gaze into His face, to think into His heart, to hope into His promises.
III. Is there not in this inspired prophecy the Divine solution of a mystery, and the impregnable assurance of a victory? The sternest moral mountain in this perplexing world is the existence and permission of evil. All mountains, however precipitous and threatening, are God’s; the Almighty responsible Father of poor puzzled, trembling humanity says, ‘ My mountains,’ and it is enough. As the challenge of the rugged mountain crest and mighty glacier provide the impulse to muscular exertion which otherwise would slumber, so the energetic struggle against the mountain of moral evil in the world shall make that mountain a ‘way’ to your own perfection, and the perfection of the race; ‘to him that overcometh,’ that maketh mountains a way, ‘will I grant to sit on My throne’.
IV. God will ‘make all His mountains a way,’ but it is His predestined purpose to effect it by the active cooperation of brave-hearted, God-fearing, consecrated men and women in the world. The crowning delusion of modern Christianity is that salvation can be divorced from helpfulness. Do you ask, What shall I do that I may make ‘His mountains a way’? Get your springs of action and emotion right, and conduct will be automatically transfigured; incorporate into the verities of your life the spirit of the Master’s words: ‘One is your Father, even God, and all ye are brethren,’ and your actions will start from another base and correspond to a new environment.
B. Wilberforce, The Gospel of the Kingdom, p. 3.
References. XLIX. 11. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Isaiah XLIX.-LXVI. p. 7. XLIX. 12. G. T. Candlin, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lix. 1901, p. 393. R. F. Horton, ibid. vol. lxxiii. 1908, p. 388. XLIX. 13. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. lii. No. 3012. XLIX. 14. J. C. Shanks, God Within Us, p. 74. XLIX. 16. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. ix. No. 512; vol. xlvi. No. 2672. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Isaiah XLIX.-LXVI. p. 9. XLIX. 20, 21. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xlvi. No. 2692; vol. xlviii. No: 2776. XLIX. 23. A. Murray, Waiting on God, p. 105. XLIX. 24, 25. C. Gore, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lv. 1899, p. 376. XLIX. 26. J. Smith, ibid. vol. lv. 1899, p. 308. L. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxix. No. 2335; vol. xlvii. No. 2738; vol. xlix. No. 2832. L. 2-4. C. Stanford, Symbols of Christ, p. 142. L. 2-6. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xlix. No. 2827. L. 4. H. P. Liddon, Clerical Life and Work, p. 46. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Isaiah XLIX.-LXVI. p. 15. L. 5. Ibid. p. 20. L. 5, 6. T. B. Dover, Some Quiet Lenten Thoughts, p. 124. L. 6. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxv. No. 1486. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Isaiah XLIX.-LXVI. p. 22. J. Keble, Sermons for the Holy Week, p. 325.
Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson
XXVII
THE GOSPEL OF CHRIST IN ISAIAH
The relation between the New Testament Christ and prophecy is that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. To him give all the prophets witness. All the scriptures, the law, the prophets, and the psalms, testify of him. And we are fools, and slow of heart to credit adequate testimony when we distrust any part of the inspired evidence.
Of the ancient prophets Isaiah was perhaps the most notable witness of the coming Messiah. An orderly combination of his many messianic utterances amounts to more than a mere sketch, indeed, rather to a series of almost life-sized portraits. As a striking background for these successive portraits the prophet discloses the world’s need of a Saviour, and across this horrible background of gloom the prophet sketches in startling strokes of light the image of a coming Redeemer.
In Isa 2:2-4 we have the first picture of him in Isaiah, that of the effect of his work, rather than of the Messiah himself. This is the establishment of the mountain of the Lord’s house on the top of the mountains, the coming of the nations to it and the resultant millennial glory.
In Isa 4:2-6 is another gleam from the messianic age in which the person of the Messiah comes more into view in the figure of a branch of Jehovah, beautiful and glorious. In sketching the effects of his work here the prophet adds a few strokes of millennial glory as a consummation of his ministry.
In Isa 7:14 he delineates him as a little child born of a virgin, whose coming is the light of the world. He is outlined on the canvas in lowest humanity and highest divinity, “God with us.” In this incarnation he is the seed of the woman and not of the man.
The prophet sees him as a child upon whom the government shall rest and whose name is “Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isa 9:6 ). This passage shows the divinity of Christ and the universal peace he is to bring to the world. In these names we have the divine wisdom, the divine power, the divine fatherhood, and the divine peace.
In Isa 11:1-9 the prophet sees the Messiah as a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, i.e., of lowly origin, but possessing the Holy Spirit without measure who equips him for his work, and his administration wrought with skill and justice, the result of which is the introduction of universal and perfect peace. Here the child is presented as a teacher. And such a teacher! On him rests the seven spirits of God. The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge, and the fear of the Lord. He judges not according to appearances and reproves not according to rumors. With righteousness he judges the poor and reproves with equality in behalf of the meek. His words smite a guilty world like thunderbolts and his very breath slays iniquity. Righteousness and faithfulness are his girdle. He uplifts an infallible standard of morals.
In Isa 40:3-8 appears John the Baptist, whom Isaiah saw as a voice crying in the wilderness, preparing the way for the coming King.
In Isa 11:2 ; Isa 42:1 ; Isa 61:1-3 the prophet saw the Messiah as a worker in the power of the Spirit, in whom he was anointed at his baptism. This was the beginning of his ministry which was wrought through the power of the Holy Spirit. At no time in his ministry did our Lord claim that he wrought except in the power of the Holy Spirit who was given to him without measure.
In Isa 35:1-10 the Messiah is described as a miracle worker. In his presence the desert blossoms as a rose and springs burst out of dry ground. The banks of the Jordan rejoice. The lame man leaps like a hart, the dumb sing and the blind behold visions. The New Testament abounds in illustrations of fulfilment. These signs Christ presented to John the Baptist as his messianic credentials (Mat 11:1-4 ).
The passage (Isa 42:1-4 ) gives us a flashlight on the character of the Messiah. In the New Testament it is expressly applied to Christ whom the prophet sees as the meek and lowly Saviour, dealing gently with the blacksliding child of his grace. In Isa 22:22 we have him presented as bearing the key of the house of David, with full power to open and shut. This refers to his authority over all things in heaven and upon earth. By this authority he gave the keys of the kingdom to Peter one for the Jews and the other for the Gentiles who used one on the day of Pentecost and the other at the house of Cornelius, declaring in each case the terms of entrance into the kingdom of God. This authority of the Messiah is referred to again in Revelation:
And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying. Fear not: I am the first and the last, and the Living one; and I was dead, and behold I am alive for evermore and I have the keys of death and of Hades. Rev 7:17
And to the angel of the church in Philadelphis write: These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and none shall shut, and shutteth and none openeth. Rev 3:7
In Isa 32:1-8 we have a great messianic passage portraying the work of Christ as a king ruling in righteousness, in whom men find a hiding place from the wind and the tempest. He is a stream in a dry place and the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
In Isa 28:14-18 the Messiah is presented to w as a foundation stone in a threefold idea:
1. A tried foundation stone. This is the work of the master mason and indicates the preparation of the atone for its particular function.
2. An elect or precious foundation stone. This indicates that the stone was selected and appointed. It was not self-appointed but divinely appointed and is therefore safe.
3. A cornerstone, or sure foundation stone. Here it is a foundation of salvation, as presented in Mat 16:18 . It is Christ the Rock, and not Peter. See Paul’s foundation in 1 Corinthians:
According to the grace of God which was given unto me; as a wise masterbuilder I laid a foundation; and another buildeth thereon. But let each man take heed how he buildeth thereon. For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1Co 3:10-11 .
In Isa 49:1-6 he is presented as a polished shaft, kept close in the quiver. The idea is that he is a mighty sword. In Revelation, Christ is presented to John as having a sharp, twoedged sword proceeding out of his mouth.
In Isa 50:2 ; Isa 52:9 f.; Isa 59:16-21 ; Isa 62:11 we have the idea of the salvation of Jehovah. The idea is that salvation originated with God and that man in his impotency could neither devise the plan of salvation nor aid in securing it. These passages are expressions of the pity with which God looks down on a lost world. The redemption, or salvation, here means both temporal and spiritual salvation salvation from enemies and salvation from sin.
In Isa 9:1 f. we have him presented as a great light to the people of Zebulun and Naphtali. In Isa 49:6 we have him presented as a light to the Gentiles and salvation to the end of the earth: “Yea, he saith, It is too light a thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.”
In Isa 8:14-15 Isaiah presents him as a stone of stumbling: “And he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble thereon, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.”
The prophet’s vision of his maltreatment and rejection are found in Isa 50:4-9 ; Isa 52:13-53:12 . In this we have the vision of him giving his “back to the smiters, and his cheeks to them that plucked off the hair.” We see a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. His visage is so marred it startled all nations. He is a vicarious sacrifice. The chastisement of the peace of others is on him. The iniquity of others is put on him. It pleases the Father to bruise him until he has poured out his soul unto death as an offering for sin.
The teaching of Isaiah on the election of the Jews is his teaching concerning the “holy remnant,” a favorite expression of the prophet. See Isa 1:9 ; Isa 10:20-22 ; Isa 11:11 ; Isa 11:16 ; Isa 37:4 ; Isa 37:31-32 ; Isa 46:3 . This coincides with Paul’s teaching in Romans 9-11.
In Isa 32:15 we find Isaiah’s teaching on the pouring out of the Holy Spirit: “Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness become a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be esteemed as a forest,” and in Isa 44:3 : “For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and streams upon the dry ground; I will pour my Spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring.”
In Isa 11:10 he is said to be the ensign of the nations: “And it shall come to pass in that day, that the root of Jesse, that standeth for an ensign of the peoples unto him shall the nations seek; and his resting place shall be glorious.”
Isa 19:18-25 ; Isa 54:1-3 ; Isa 60:1-22 teach the enlargement of the church. The great invitation and promise are found in Isa 55 .
The Messiah in judgments is found in Isa 63:1-6 . Here we behold an avenger. He comes up out of Edom with dyed garments from Bozra. All his raiment is stained with the blood of his enemies whom he has trampled in his vengeance as grapes are crushed in the winevat and the restoration of the Jews is set forth in Isa 11:11-12 ; Isa 60:9-15 ; Isa 66:20 . Under the prophet’s graphic pencil or glowing brush we behold the establishment and growth of his kingdom unlike all other kingdoms, a kingdom within men, a kingdom whose principles are justice, righteousness, and equity and whose graces are faith, hope, love, and joy, an undying and ever-growing kingdom. Its prevalence is like the rising waters of Noah’s flood; “And the waters prevailed and increased mightily upon the earth. And the water prevailed mightily, mightily upon the earth; and all the high mountains, that are under the whole heavens, were covered.”
So this kingdom grows under the brush of the prophetic limner until its shores are illimitable. War ceases. Gannenta rolled in the blood of battle become fuel for fire. Conflagration is quenched. Famine outlawed. Pestilence banished. None are left to molest or make afraid. Peace flows like a river. The wolf dwells with the lamb. The leopard lies down with the kid. The calf and the young lion walk forth together and a little child is leading them. The cow and the bear feed in one pasture and their young ones are bedfellows. The sucking child safely plays over the hole of the asp, and weaned children put their hands in the adder’s den. In all the holy realms none hurt nor destroy, because the earth is as full of the knowledge of the Lord as the fathomless ocean is full of water. Rapturous vision! Sublime and ineffable consummation! Was it only a dream?
In many passages the prophet turns in the gleams from the millennial age, but one of the clearest and best on the millennium, which is in line with the preceding paragraph, Isa 11:6-9 : “And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together: and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea.”
The prophet’s vision of the destruction of death is given in Isa 25:8 : “He hath swallowed up death for ever; and the Lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the reproach of his people will he take away from all the earth: for Jehovah hath spoken it,” and in Isa 26:19 : “Thy dead shall live; my dead bodies shall arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast forth the dead.”
The clearest outlines of the prophet’s vision of “Paradise Regained” are to be found in Isa 25:8 , and in two passages in chapter Isa 66 : Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn over her; that ye may suck and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. For thus saith Jehovah, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream: and ye shall suck thereof; ye shall be borne upon the side, and shall be dandled upon the knees, as one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem. And ye shall see it, and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like the tender grass: and the hands of Jehovah shall be known toward his servants ; and he will have indignation against his enemies. Isa 66:10-14
For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make shall remain before me, saith Jehovah, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith Jehovah. Isa 66:22-23
QUESTIONS
1. What is the relation between the New Testament Christ and prophecy?
2. What can you say of Isaiah as a witness of the Messiah?
3. What can you say of Isaiah’s pictures of the Messiah and their background?
4. Following in the order of Christ’s manifestation, what is the first picture of him in Isaiah?
5. What is the second messianic glimpse in Isaiah?
6. What is Isaiah’s picture of the incarnation?
7. What is Isaiah’s picture of the divine child?
8. What is Isaiah’s vision of his descent, his relation to the Holy Spirit, his administration of justice, and the results of his reign?
9. What is Isaiah’s vision of the Messiah’s herald?
10. What is the prophet’s vision of his anointing?
11. What is the prophet’s vision of him as a miracle worker?
12. What is the prophet’s vision of the character of the Messiah?
13. What is the prophet’s vision of him as the key bearer?
14. What is the prophet’s vision of him as a king and a hiding place?
15. What is the prophet’s vision of the Messiah as a foundation stone?
16. What is the prophet’s vision of him as a polished shaft?
17. In what passages do we find the idea of the salvation of Jehovah, and what the significance of the idea?
18. What is Isaiah’s vision of the Messiah as a light?
19. Where does Isaiah present him as a stone of stumbling?
20. What is the prophet’s vision of his maltreatment and rejection?
21. What is the teaching of Isaiah on the election of the Jews?
22. Where do we find Isaiah’s teaching on the pouring out of the Holy Spirit?
23. Where is he said to be the ensign of the nations?
24. What passages teach the enlargement of the church?
25. Where is the great invitation and promise?
26. Where is the Messiah in judgment?
27. What passages show the restoration of the Jews?
28. What is the prophet’s vision of the Messiah’s kingdom?
29. What is the prophet’s vision of the millennium?
30. What is the prophet’s vision of the destruction of death?
31. What is the prophet’s vision of “Paradise Regained?”
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
XXI
THE BOOK OF ISAIAH PART 13
Isa 49:1-52:12
The general theme of Isaiah 49-57, is the servant of Jehovah as an individual and his offices, or salvation through the servant of Jehovah. In this section the collective sense of the Servant of Jehovah falls into the background. It is the individual Servant, the Servant in the highest, or most restricted sense, with whom we have to do in these chapters. His individuality is indicated by his already having been given a name and having been called from birth.
This section divides itself into three parte, as follows: (1) Isa 49:1-52:12 , his prophetic office; (2) Isa 52:13-54:17 , his priestly office; (3) Isa 55:1-57:21 , his kingly office. More fully the theme of Isa 49:1-52:12 is the prophetic office of the Servant and his awakening calls. The Servant, as an individual represents what Israel ought to have been collectively in the theocracy, executing the offices of prophet, priest, and king, through the Holy Spirit.
This section opens with a call to the isles and peoples from far, the significance of which is that the mission of the Servant of Jehovah is worldwide in its application.
The Servant tells us here (Isa 49:1-4 ) that he was called and named before he was born; that his mouth was prepared by Jehovah, as a sharp sword; that he was hid in his hand and that he had been made a polished shaft. Nevertheless, the Servant felt depressed. His labor seemed all in vain. Yet his confidence in his God was unshaken and well founded.
The Servant’s worldwide mission is again emphasized in Isa 49:5-6 . Jehovah here says that raising up and restoring Israel would be too light a thing for his Servant and so removes the depression of his heart by promising that he should be a light to the Gentiles and his salvation unto the ends of the earth.
There are three peculiarities in Isa 49:7 which indicate how deeply the Servant was affected by the difficulties to be met, but Jehovah encourages his Servant in them. These peculiarities are: (1) He would be despised by man; (2) abhorred by the nation; (3) a servant of rulers. These all find fulfilment in Christ. “He was despised and rejected of men”; he was abhorred by the Jewish nation and rejected; he was truly the servant of kings and rulers. “He came not to be ministered unto but to minister.” The encouragement here offered in view of these characteristics is that kings and princes shall honor him. This has been fulfilled in many instances and is being fulfilled now. Every king who has been converted since the days of Christ’s earthly ministry has done him honor. Many a king has seen and stood up in wonder, just as the prophet here indicates.
Our Lord is here (Isa 49:8-13 ) presented in special relation to the covenant. But before he could occupy such relation, as the basis of the covenant with Jehovah’s people, he had to suffer, which is here intimated in Isa 49:8 , which also should be taken in connection with Psa 22:21 , where he is said to cry out for deliverance from the lion’s mouth and the answer came. This was fulfilled in the suffering of our Lord on the cross. So through suffering he became the basis of the covenant whose blessings are here enumerated. These blessings are the raising up of the land, the inheritance of the desolate places, the liberation of the captives, a supply of food and drink, protection from the sun, and a highway for their journeys all of which has fulfilment in the supply of spiritual blessings to Jehovah’s people through the Lord Jesus Christ. “Whosoever believeth on me shall never hunger; he that believeth on me shall never thirst.” The blessings of the everlasting covenant are sufficient for every need of his covenant people. Not only are they described as ample but they are for all people. They shall come from far; from the north, from the west, and from Sinim which is China. The sight of all this causes the prophet to call for the outburst of joy in heaven and on earth which reminds us of our Saviour’s parables setting forth the joy of heaven when the sinner returns to God.
Zion here (Isa 49:14-23 ) complained that Jehovah had forsaken her; that he had forgotten her to which Jehovah gives the matchless reply found in that passage which has become a classic: “Can a woman forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yea, these may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.” Then the prophet goes on to show how Zion shall possess the world, and in complete astonishment at her success and enlargement, she then will reverse her questions and say, “Who hath begotten me all these children?” Jehovah responds again that he is the author of her success and that all who wait for him shall not be put to shame. This is a glorious outlook for Zion and removes all just cause for complaint.
The passage (Isa 49:24-26 ) alludes to a series of mighty transactions, involving vast and eternal interests. It reveals the most astounding tyranny, the most appalling captivity, the most signal deliverance and by the most eventful tragedy known to the universe. The persons of the great drama, their several parts and their destiny, claim our chief attention. But who is the mighty one of this passage and how did he bring these captives into this captivity? In many places in the Scriptures he is declared to be the “prince of this world.” He is that one who obtained possession of this world by conquest, guile, and conquest. He obtained possession of it in the garden of Eden, through enticement to sin. He captured the first pair, the man and the woman, from whom all of the people of this world are descended; and by that one man’s disobedience, in that first great crisis of this world, there came upon all men death. We died then. All the posterity of Adam and Eve born hitherto or yet to be born died in that great battle by which Satan, the prince of demons conquered this world.
His captives are those beings whose creation was the culmination of the work of God. While incidentally his domain obtained by the Eden-conquest stretches over the material world and the mere animal world, directly and mainly it extends over the intelligent, moral, accountable agents into whose hands God had given this dominion over the earth. When God made man he gave him dominion over the fowls of the air and the fish of the sea and the animals of the forest and he commanded man to multiply and fill the earth with inhabitants, and to subdue all the forces of nature, making them tributary to him and to the glory of God. This delegation of dominion to man was wrested by guile and violence from his feeble hands, and passed by right of conquest into the hands of Satan; so that the captives, the prey of the terrible one, are the people of this earth, and all of them, without any exception of race, or nation, or family, or individual; without any regard to the artificial distinctions of class and wealth and society; without any reference to the distinctions in intellect and culture. The whole of them, even the millionaire and the pauper whom he grinds, the king and the subject whom he oppresses, the gifted orator, the genius of art, the far-seeing statesman, the beautiful woman, the prattling infant, the vigorous youth, all of them are under the dominion of Satan, and his government extends over them by that original conquest.
They are lawful captives and there is a difficulty suggested by the inquiry, “Shall the lawful captives be delivered?” This difficulty can be apprehended in a moment. If one be held in bondage unlawfully it is easy enough to anticipate that there shall be deliverance from that unjust captivity, provided that the law has power to vindicate itself; but if the captive is lawfully a captive mean to say that if it is the law itself that forges his fetters then indeed does it become an inquiry of moment, “Shall the lawful captive be delivered?” It is true that the sting of death is sin, but it is also true that the strength of sin is the law, and a lawful captive is one whose bonds are just as strong as the sanctions of the law which he is violating. And how strong is that law? We have the testimony of inspiration that not a jot or a tittle of it shall fail, even though the heavens fall. And what is the scope of this law? “Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy soul and all thy strength and all thy mind and thy neighbor as thyself.”
That law is an expression, a transcript of the divine mind, in its intent when man was made; and by so much as it is strong, and by so much as it is broad, by that much will it hold the transgressor. Satan knew that it was out of his power to go into that garden of delights and seize by violence alone these moral agents into whose hands had been entrusted the dominion of this world. That would have made them unlawful captives. So he addressed himself to stratagem and guile. It became necessary that though he was the tempter they should consent and by their own act of disobedience should array against themselves the awful law of God. And while sin is the sting of death, the law of God should be the strength of sin. But who shall deliver these lawful captives? This passage is messianic and the Jehovah of this passage we find in Isa 49:26 to be the Saviour, Redeemer, and Mighty One of Jacob which could refer only to our Lord Jesus Christ, who is revealed as the destroyer of the works of the devil.
Then how is he to deliver them? The answer to this also is very explicit. The Scriptures show that he is in some way to deliver these lawful captives by his own death. “When thou shalt pour out thy soul unto death I will divide thee a portion of the great.” “Thou shalt despoil the strong.” And the passage in Hebrews is pertinent: “That forasmuch as the children were partakers of flesh and blood he likewise took part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that has the power of death, even the devil.” Through his death he is to bruise the head of Satan. Hence, just before he died he said to his disciples in the language of the Scriptures, “The prince of this world cometh and findeth nothing in me. Now is the crisis of this world, and I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.” Not a man can be saved except this one be lifted up on the cross.
Not a man can be delivered from the bondage of Satan, not one groaning captive who is the prey of the terrible one, shall be plucked out of his hand, except by the death of this substitute. Then he shall see his seed. Then he shall see of the travail of his soul. Then deliverance shall come because that death takes away Satan’s armor, in which he trusted. What armor? That armor of the law. But that death paid the law’s penalty. That death extinguished the fire of the law. That death blunted the edge of the sword of justice. That death exhausted the penal claims of God against the man for whom he died. It is by death that he is to deliver us, sacrificial, substitutionary, vicarious death, “He being made sin who knew no sin, that we may be made the righteousness of God in him.”
Moreover by that death is secured regeneration, which defeats depravity, and sanctification, which breaks the power of evil habits by perseverance in holiness. And that is why a preacher of this good news declares that he knows nothing but the cross; no philosophy for me; no weapon could have been forged strong enough to smite Satan; no leverage mighty enough to roll off of crushed humanity the ponderous incubus which bondage to Satan had placed upon them. No, I preach Christ and him crucified. “I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.” And hence how infinitesimal does that preacher become, how contemptible in the sight of God and man, who goes out where sin and sorrow and death reigns through the power of the devil, who goes out where men are in bondage, where they are captives, where they are under the power of Satan and in darkness, and would try to charm their captivity by singing his earth songs, by talking of geology and of evolution, or of any fine-spun metaphysical disquisition. Away with it all, and present only the death of Christ; for it is by the death of Christ that this deliverance is to come.
The import of Isa 50:1-3 is that Israel had suffered through her own sin, yet she was to be delivered by almighty grace. It is introduced by a series of questions referring to Israel’s relation to Jehovah under the figure of a marriage. Israel was challenged to show a writing of divorcement, but none could be found, or to find one of Jehovah’s creditors to whom he had sold her, but no creditor could be found, because Jehovah owed no one anything. Since this was true and Israel could produce no writing of divorcement showing that Jehovah had put her away, therefore she was desolate and separate because of her own sins, and Jehovah could redeem her by his mighty arm as he delivered Israel from the bondage of Egypt.
In Isa 50:4-9 we find that the Servant was subjected to a painful training for his great work. This consisted in giving him the tongue of a disciple, an ear to hear, his back to the smiters, his cheek to those who pluck off the hair and his face to shame and spitting. All this was for the training of the prophet whose mission it was to speak, to hear, to suffer, and to sympathize. These are all to be found in much evidence in the life of our Lord. But he goes on to speak of his confidence of victory in it all because God would help and justify him, turning the wickedness of his persecutors upon their own heads.
In Isa 50:10-11 we have a twofold application of these principles, an encouragement to the faithful and a warning to the self-sufficient. The former were promised guidance through the darkness if they would trust in Jehovah, while the latter trying to make their own light, were endangering themselves and their neighbors and coming to sorrow in the end.
The passage (Isa 51:1-52:1 ) consists of a series of prophetic calls. The prophetic character of the Servant having been made sufficiently prominent in the preceding paragraphs, this section gives a series of prophetic calls introduced by such words as “Hearken,” “Awake,” “Attend.”
The first call is a call to the followers of righteousness and the seekers of Jehovah. They are exhorted to take a backward look at their origin and to God’s dealings with them from Abraham to the present. Then he encourages them to look forward to the future when all the waste places and the wilderness shall be like Eden, the garden of Jehovah. This ideal state will not be realized until the millennium.
The second call is a call to the nation to consider the law, the law of the gospel, which was to go forth to bless the nations, the consummation of which is the winding up of the affairs of the earth and the establishment of everlasting righteousness. The third call is a call to them that know righteousness, the ones who know God’s law in their hearts, to fear not the reproaches of men. Many of the very best people do fear the reproaches of men and therefore our Lord gives a like encouragement in the beatitudes to those who are reproached for righteousness’ sake. The reason assigned is that they shall die and be eaten by moths and worms yet the righteousness of Jehovah is forever and his salvation unto all generations. Men may come and men may go But the righteousness of Jehovah goes on forever.
The fourth call is a call to Jehovah to put on strength, as in the days of old, and prepare the way for his people to return with everlasting joy upon their heads. The reply comes to upbraid the people for fearing man who is only transient and forgetting Jehovah their maker who had exhibited his power, not only in their past history, but in all times since the creation. From this they might take courage, for he who did all this would liberate the captives and bring salvation to his people. The Saviour of the people is Jehovah, whom the waves of the sea obey. This finds its happiest fulfilment in the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The fifth call is obviously the counterpart to the call in the preceding paragraph. This was a call to the arm of Jehovah, this is a call to Jerusalem; that, to put on strength, this to awaken from the effects of the drunkenness from the cup of his wrath, in which condition her sons were like an antelope in the net. But Jerusalem is now bidden to look for favors from Jehovah since his wrath has been transferred from her to those who afflicted her.
The sixth call is to Zion to put on her strength, and beautiful garments. She is assured that her captivity was ended. While this is cast in the mold of the Jewish conception, yet the language looks to a fulfilment which is found only in conditions of the new covenant.
The personal knowledge referred to in Isa 51:6 is the experimental knowledge of the new covenant. It was our Lord Jesus Christ who fulfilled the last clause, “It is I,” or as the margin has it “Here I am.” He said on one occasion, “Before Abraham was, I am,” on another, “Be not afraid; it is I,” and again, “Lo, I am with you all the way.” He alone makes possible the personal, experimental knowledge and abiding presence of Jehovah.
The seventh call, in view of what has gone before, is very significant. There can be no doubt that this applies to the evangels of the cross. Paul quotes it and so applies it in Rom 10 . They are here called watchmen and may refer to the prophets of the Old Testament as well as the preachers and missionaries of the New Testament. But the prophet sees a day far beyond his, when the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God. The joy of the new day for Zion is pictured in glowing colors. They shall sing; they shall see eye to eye; they shall exalt the holy one of Israel as the God of their salvation.
The exhortation in Isa 52:11-12 is primarily an exhortation to depart from Babylon in which the Jews are now represented as being held in captivity, and the description of their going out without haste, etc., fits minutely the exodus from Babylon, cast in the mold of the deliverance from Egypt. But as remarked before, the deliverance from Babylon and Egypt are typical of a greater deliverance of God’s chosen. The deliverance from sin and the Babylon of this world is a far greater deliverance than either of these. This is all in view of the work of the Servant in his prophetic office, which has for the basis of all his success his vicarious suffering, at which this section barely hints.
QUESTIONS
1. What the general theme of Isaiah 49-57?
2. What the threefold division of this section (Isaiah 49-57), and what the special theme of each division?
3. What, more fully, is the theme of Isa 49:1-52:12 ?
4. How does this section open and what its significance?
5. How is this servant of Jehovah equipped for his success and what the state of mind toward the outcome of it all (Isa 49:1-4 )?
6. How is the Servant’s worldwide mission again emphasized (Isa 49:5-6 ) ?
7. What three peculiarities in Isa 49:7 which indicate how deeply the Servant was affected by the difficulties to be met and how does Jehovah encourage his Servant in them?
8. In what special relation is our Lord here (Isa 49:8-13 ) presented and what the blessings of that relation as pictured by the prophet?
9. What Zion’s complaint and what Jehovah’s response to it (Isa 49:14-23 )?
10. What the importance of the passage, Isa 49:24-26 ?
11. Who is the mighty one of this passage and how did he bring these captives into this captivity?
12. Who are his captives, i.e., his prey?
13. Why are they lawful captives and what the difficulty suggested by the inquiry, “Shall the lawful captives be delivered?”
14. Who shall deliver these lawful captives?
15. How is he to deliver them?
16. What the import of Isa 50:1-3 ?
17. What is the painful training of the Servant of Jehovah which assured him of success?
18. What are the twofold application of these principles?
19. Of what does Isa 51:1-52:12 consist and how are the parts introduced?
20. To whom the first call, and what was involved in it?
21. To whom the second call and what the import of it?
22. To whom is the third call and what the import?
23. To whom the fourth call and what the response?
24. To whom the fifth call and what its import?
25. To whom the sixth call and what the import?
26. What is the seventh call, who calls and what the import of this call?
27. What is the exhortation in Isa 52:11-12 ?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Isa 49:1 Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.
Ver. 1. Listen, O isles, unto me, ] i.e., Ye foreigners; for wicked Israel will not, and therefore have no true peace. Isa 48:22 Psa 119:165
Unto me.
The Lord hath called me from the womb.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isaiah Chapter 49
A new division of Isaiah opens here. It is no longer Babylon and idolatry, and a destruction viewed as the overthrow of image worship in the earth. Here it is the far deeper question of Christ Himself and His rejection by the Jews. We find that this portion runs from Isa 49:1 to the end of Isa 57 , where, as the former ending was “There is no peace, saith Jehovah, unto the wicked,” so the latter ends with “There is no peace saith my God, unto the wicked”. “Jehovah” is in contrast with idols, and “my God” is connected with the still deeper iniquity of the people in refusing “the true God and eternal life,” even the Lord Jesus, their anointed King. They were wicked in both respects: wicked in going after false gods of the Gentiles wicked yet more in rejecting their divine Messiah.
The chapter opens with a call to the isles to listen. “Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye peoples from afar. Jehovah hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.” There was a great providential preparation. “And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me.” There was thus protection also. “And he said unto me, Thou [art] my servant Israel, in whom I will glorify myself” (vv. 1-3). Such was the purpose of God about Israel; but, Israel failing, Christ becomes the true Israel. It is the transition from the people to the Messiah in Whom alone it could be.
“And I said (says Christ), I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for naught.” Christ substitutes Himself for Israel. They had been the servant nominally and responsibly; Christ becomes the true and righteous servant of God, when the other proved false. Nevertheless, even in Christ all comes to nothing at first through Jewish unbelief, through man’s evil and enmity. “I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for naught, and in vain; nevertheless my judgement [is] with Jehovah, and my work with my God” (v. 4). The failure, apparently, of the purposes of God in the first instance from man’s wickedness only leads to a better establishment of them, and to a more glorious form and display in result. “And now, saith Jehovah that formed me from the womb [to be] his servant, that I should bring Jacob again to him (though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of Jehovah, and my God shall be my strength).” This is the comfort of Christ, that although the work was not done, and Israel would not be gathered (how often would He have gathered them!) yet would He be glorious. “And he saith, It is a small thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the nations, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth” (vv. 5, 6).
The original thought was to gather Israel, but Israel would not be gathered. Then, says God, That is too small a thing; I will save the nations also. But Christ is first given as a light to the Gentiles. It is rather going out than gathering in: at any rate, such is the turn given to the passage now, under the gospel. While Israel is not yet gathered, Christ becomes a light to the Gentiles. But God’s purpose never fails, and so we find, “Thus saith Jehovah, the Redeemer of Israel, his Holy One, to him whom the soul despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth” (it is clear that Christ is now viewed as a rejected person, the cross being the great expression of that rejection), “to a servant of rulers, kings shall see and arise, princes and they shall worship, because of Jehovah that is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who hath chosen thee. Thus saith Jehovah, In an acceptable time have I answered thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee and give thee for a covenant of the people (that is, of Israel), to establish the land (or, earth), to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; saying to the prisoners, Go forth, to them that [are] in darkness, Show yourselves” (vv. 7-9). It is evident that this supposes all to be in ruin, but that the Lord Jesus is the destined repairer of the breaches.
“They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures [shall be] on all bare heights. They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them will lead them, and by the springs of water will he guide them. And r will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted. Behold, these shall come from afar; and behold, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim” (vv. 9-12). It is the return of Israel that is here predicted from all parts of the earth, but a return after they have been dispersed thither; so that not only from the north and south, but even from the land of Sinim – that is, from China – they finally emerge and gather in Palestine. It may not be known to all who read this volume, that the learned Ewald tries to prove, in opposition to the “higher critics” generally, that Egypt was the land, not Babylon, where these closing chapters of Isaiah (or, as they would say, the pseudo-Isaiah) were written. He bases his dream on the slender ground that there are so many allusions of interest to Egypt and Ethiopia; so much acquaintance with their habits and ways, etc. To this end he binds the name of Sinim to the people of Pelusium. Gesenius, however, was too sensible to overlook that a remote race in the south or east extremity of the world was meant; and even Knobel and Hitzig point to China, the Rabbinical name of which is Tsin.
No wonder that we find not merely a call to the isles, but to heaven and earth to rejoice. “Shout, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains. For Jehovah hath comforted his people and will have mercy on his afflicted ones” (v. 13). It is the last days, and Jehovah reviewing His goodness and calling upon all the universe to be joyful.
“But Zion said, Jehovah hath forsaken me, and the Lord hath forgotten me.” But Jehovah pleads with Zion’s reproach, and says, “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea. they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. ‘Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of [my] hands: thy walls [are] continually before me. Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth from thee” (vv.14-17). The enemies of Israel disappear, and Israel comes forward, long forgotten apparently, but now to be established for ever. So their God calls upon them to see a wondrous sight: “Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, [and] come to thee. [As] I live saith Jehovah, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them [on thee], as a bride [doeth]. For [in] thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, thou shalt even now be too straitened by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away. The children of thy bereavement shall yet say in thine ears, The place [is] too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell” (vv. 18-20).
It is the harvest of joy for the chosen but guilty people, after the long sowing in tears. And now there seems no room to stow away the children. “And thou shalt say in thy heart, Who hath begotten me these (seeing I had lost my children, and was desolate, a captive, and driven to and fro)? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone, these, where [were] they?” (v. 21). It is the joining together of the dispersed of all Israel, those who had been forgotten. At the present time the Jews are the only ones clearly known to be of Israel; but those so long hidden are the ten tribes. The Jews will have the certainty that they are Israel and yet not known to them. They had been in the dark for ages. But now Jehovah signifies His will to the nations of the earth. “Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will lift up my hand to the nations, and set up my ensign to the peoples; and they shall bring thy sons in [their] bosom, and thy daughters shall be carried upon [their] shoulders. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with [their] faces to the earth, and lick the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I [am] Jehovah, and they that wait for me shall not be ashamed” (vv. 22, 23). Such will be the moral state of Israel in that day. They shall wait for Jehovah and shall not be ashamed.
But, further, they will have no reason to fear their enemies. The last verse shows that the same God, Who deals in such incomparable mercy to Israel, will beat down all those who had plundered them. “Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captives be delivered? For thus saith Jehovah, Even the captive of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: and I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children. And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I Jehovah [am] thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob” (vv. 24-26). The condign vengeance of God upon the enemies of Israel is come. Such is the future that Jehovah guarantees to Israel after the rejection of the Messiah. It is impossible therefore, if so applied, to exhaust this chapter in the return from the Babylonish captivity; it beyond doubt speaks of the far more complete ingathering at the end of this age. So opens the new subject of Christ’s rejection by His people, and of their gathering in after He has been made a light to the end of the earth. But when Zion might have thought herself entirely forgotten, Jehovah turns His hand upon these little ones, and puts down the nations of the earth; when either their kings and queens become the servants of Israel, or He makes an example of them in divine judgement.
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 49:1-4
1 Listen to Me, O islands,
And pay attention, you peoples from afar.
The LORD called Me from the womb;
From the body of My mother He named Me.
2He has made My mouth like a sharp sword,
In the shadow of His hand He has concealed Me;
And He has also made Me a select arrow,
He has hidden Me in His quiver.
3He said to Me, You are My Servant, Israel,
In Whom I will show My glory.
4But I said, I have toiled in vain,
I have spent My strength for nothing and vanity;
Yet surely the justice due to Me is with the LORD,
And My reward with My God.
Isa 49:1 Listen See full note on the introductory IMPERATIVE at Isa 48:1.
There are two IMPERATIVES that introduce this new literary unit.
1. listen – Qal IMPERATIVE (BDB 1033, KB 1570)
2. pay attention – Hiphil IMPERATIVE (BDB 904, KB 1151)
God’s revelation of Himself and His purposes was meant to be heard, understood, and acted on!
O islands. . .peoples from afar These parallel phrases show the universal implications of the servant’s task (cf. Isa 42:6-7). The love of God
1. remembers its covenant with Abraham’s descendants (cf. Isa 49:5-6 b)
2. remembers the promise to all humans, Gen 3:15; Gen 12:3 (cf. Isa 49:6 c)
There is a dual aspect to YHWH’s message
1. to the returning Jewish exiles under Cyrus
2. to the returning nations under the Servant/Messiah
There is always in Isaiah an eye on the present (Assyria); the near Future (Babylon, Persia), and the distant future (gospel age). YHWH’s desires for Israel’s
1. righteousness
2. revelation to the nations
was never fulfilled. The evangelistic mandate (see Special Topic at Isa 40:15) was transferred to the NT people of God (cf. Mat 28:18-20; Luk 24:46-47; Act 1:8).
The LORD called Me from the womb The NASB has the PRONOUNS capitalized to show that they refer to the Messiah, the individualized Servant. God’s special call is expressed in the Servant’s prenatal call (as was Jeremiah, cf. Jer 1:5). There is an obvious tension in these Servant passages between the individual and corporate aspects of the Servant. It is clear from Isa 41:8-9; Isa 42:19; Isa 43:10; Isa 49:3 that the title is corporate Israel. However, the individual focus of the SINGULAR PRONOUNS of chapter 49 and the work of the individual in Isa 52:13 to Isa 53:12 show that these passages have a dual focus. This dual focus can also be seen in chapter 42. Isa 49:1-4 relate to the Messiah, while Isa 49:19-21 are obviously corporate Israel. Israel was called to be a kingdom of priests to bring the world to God, Gen 12:1-3; Exo 19:4-6. She failed because she did not and could not keep the covenant. God fulfilled His universal redemptive task through one faithful Israelite-Jesus! This same tension between the individual and corporate can be seen in that Isa 49:6 is quoted in Luk 2:32 to refer to Jesus’ ministry and in Act 13:46-49 referring to the ministry of Paul and Barnabas.
From the body of My mother The word body is literally inward parts (BDB 588). This speaks of the creation and development of a baby (cf. Psa 139:13). This same word is used in Isa 48:19 for offspring (also note Gen 15:4).
He named Me The Servant is called and named before birth by YHWH. He is His special representative.
This parallels what YHWH did for national Israel in Isa 43:1. There is a real and continuing fluidity between the corporate and individual imagery related to the Servant!
Isa 49:2 He has made My mouth like a sharp sword This is a metaphor describing a powerful speaker, and here and in Eph 6:17; Heb 4:12 it speaks of revelation. It is used to describe the glorified Christ as Judge in Isa 11:4; Rev 1:16; Rev 2:12-16; Rev 19:15; Rev 19:21.
In the shadow of His hand This verse has two metaphors of protection and concealment (cf. Isa 51:16) until the right time. The Servant’s task is specialized and specific. This thought is captured by the recurrent NT phrase in the fullness of time (cf. Mar 1:15; Gal 4:4; Eph 1:10; 1Ti 2:6; Tit 1:3).
Isa 49:3-4 The focus of these verses is that the Servant is corporate Israel, but the corporate Servant has failed its assigned task! Israel was to be God’s chosen instrument of world redemption, Isa 49:6 c,d, but now she herself must be redeemed (cf. Isa 49:5-6 a,b; Isa 53:8 d).
Isa 49:4 There is a contextual question if these verses relate to the failure of Israel or the suffering of the Messiah. All the VERBS are PERFECT. The ambiguity may be purposeful!
The closing two lines of Isa 49:4 express an ultimate trust in God’s justice and reward (cf. Isa 49:5 c).
My reward with My God I think this links up with Isa 53:10-11. The reward will be redemption on a global scale!
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
isles = maritime countries.
people = peoples.
hath called. Fulfilled in Mat 1:18. Luk 1:28.
Me. The Messiah prophesied of in Isa 7:14. Neither Isaiah, nor Israel, nor the Church.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 49
Now in chapter 49, we have a fabulous prophecy of Jesus Christ in the first seven verses as God speaks of the Redeemer that He is sending.
Listen, O coasts, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; For the LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me ( Isa 49:1-2 );
You go back to Psa 22:1-31 , that glorious prophetic Messianic psalm of David, and we read there in Psa 22:1-31 verse Isa 49:8 , or no, verse Isa 49:9 : “But thou art he that took me out of the womb: thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother’s breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb: thou art my God from my mother’s belly” ( Psa 22:9-10 ). And that is the equivalent here to, “Thou hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hast thou made mention of my name. You have made my mouth like a sharp sword.” We are told that the word the goes forth out of his mouth is like a sharp, two-edged sword–Revelation. “In the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me.”
And he said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel ( Isa 49:3 ),
And in this Israel is the true name expressed. That is in Christ, he was a man who was governed by God.
in whom I will be glorified. Then I said, I have labored in vain ( Isa 49:3-4 ),
“For He came to His own, His own received Him not” ( Joh 1:11 ). He was despised and rejected. He was crucified. He said, “I have labored in vain.”
I have spent my strength for nothing, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God ( Isa 49:4 ).
As they rejected Him, as they despised Him, His coming to them was in vain.
And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him ( Isa 49:5 ),
The purpose of Jesus Christ was to bring Jacob back to God, back to the Father, and to restore the preserved of Israel. “I will also give thee.” Beg your pardon, I jumped.
Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength. And he said, It is a light thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the eaRuth ( Isa 49:5-6 ).
And so Jesus, who was rejected by the Jews, has become a light unto the Gentiles, and the gospel of Jesus Christ has come unto us who were once alienated from God and far off from the promises. But through Him, we’ve been brought nigh. Oh, thank God for the light of Jesus Christ unto the Gentiles.
Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despised, to him whom the nation abhorred, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee ( Isa 49:7 ).
So the work of Christ among the Gentiles, the kings worshipping and so forth as the gospel of Jesus Christ has permeated many kingdoms of the Gentiles. Now even so, God is going to preserve the people of Israel.
Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in the day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; That you may say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in the high places. They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them ( Isa 49:8-10 ).
This brings to mind in Revelation chapter 7, “And they shall hunger and thirst no more and neither shall the sun shine upon them and all.” And it is equivalent to Rev 7:16 .
And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted. Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of [China] Sinim ( Isa 49:11-12 ).
Is the land of the east.
Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted. But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me ( Isa 49:13-14 ).
Now He speaks here about the fact that He’s going to bring them back again. He’ll gather them from the north and from the west and from the east. And yet they are going to say, “The Lord has forsaken me.” And you go today and the declaration of so many Jews is, “Where was God during the Holocaust? God has forsaken us.” And they are still proclaiming that God has forsaken them. But God said,
Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? well, they may forget, but I will not forget thee ( Isa 49:15 ).
They accused God of forsaking them. God said, “No way. I haven’t forgotten you. Can a nursing mother forget her nursing child?”
You remember in Psa 137:1-9 is the psalm of Babylonian captivity, “When we were in Babylon by the rivers we sat down. We wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps on the willows in the midst thereof. And they that had carried us away captive said, ‘Sing us one of your songs.’ And they required some happy songs from us saying, ‘Sing one of the songs of Zion.’ But how shall we sing the Lord’s songs in a strange land?” ( Psa 137:1-4 ) Now some of the old rabbis say that the next two verses are God’s response to this cry. And that it was actually God who declared, “If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy” ( Psa 137:4-6 ). And some of the old rabbis say that that is God speaking there in response to the people who were captives in Babylon, who said, “God has forgotten us. God has forsaken us.” And, of course, here God said, “Can a mother forsake her or forget her nursing child? She would not have compassion, well she might. But I won’t forget.” You might find case where you say, “Well, there’s a mother forgot.” God says, “It’s all right, but I still won’t.”
Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me. Your children shall make haste; your destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee. Lift up thine eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to thee. As I live, saith the LORD, thou shalt surely clothe thee with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on thee, as a bride doeth. For thy waste and thy desolate places, and the land of thy destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed thee up shall be far away. The children which thou shalt have, after thou hast lost the other, shall say again in thine ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell. Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been? ( Isa 49:16-21 )
So he speaks about them coming into the land and being prospered and the land being too small for them and their desire to extend and expand their borders.
Now the regathering and the rebuilding of the nation Israel has been a very remarkable thing in our days. And God’s purposes are to be fulfilled there. It’s exciting, because God fulfilled His promise. He’s brought them back in the land. They are dwelling there. But they are seeking to expand. They say, “The area that we have is too small.” And if you look at it, it is a very small area. Not much. Well, actually, you can drive from one side of Israel to the other in two hours; you can drive from one end to the other in six hours. Gives you the idea of the size of Israel. It’s two hours wide and six hours long driving in a car. But it’s about 5,800 years deep. The history that is there in the land goes back.
Now there are those who see an interesting scenario arising in the Middle East right now. I’ve heard some Bible scholars suggest the possibility and some analysts, and I’ve talked to some Israelis who have suggested also the possibility, that the next outbreak of warfare over there in the Middle East, that Israel plans for it to be the last outbreak by so thoroughly defeating all of those who have risen against them that they will not be able to rise against them again. They intend to thoroughly thrash their enemies. All of the Arab states that have been giving them such a bad time, they are planning to go full on against the Arab world. And a part of their plan, very shrewd indeed, is to take Saudi Arabia and immediately cut the price of oil in half. And who in the world would object? That’s pretty smart. You see, our world problems today, especially the problem of starving, the great starvation that is coming in the third world is all the result of the increased oil prices. The whole problem that we’re having here with inflation, our whole problem of economy is based to the increased oil prices. That’s where it all comes from.
Now the byproducts of the oil, the fertilizers and the chemical fertilizers that help grow the crops have become so expensive that your food bill has gone up tremendously. The whole inflationary cycle can be placed on the increased oil prices. And it is a thing that is actually causing millions of people to starve to death in the third world. Because they do not have the economic base to afford the worldwide inflation that has ensued from the increased oil prices. Now those men in Libya, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, they could care less what havoc they’ve wrecked upon the world. And when the Israelis go in and take the oil and cut the prices in half, everybody is going to hail them as the heroes, because suddenly this whole problem of world economy is going to be reversed. Price of gasoline will go down, price of raw materials will go down. The whole thing comes back to the oil. So it’s a wise plan, and who’s going to object?
So God speaks here that they’re going to say, “Hey, we need to expand our borders. There’s not enough room.” The land will be too narrow for you by reason of the inhabitants.
Thus saith the Lord GOD ( Isa 49:22 ),
Now God here speaks of the judgment He’s going to bring on their oppressors.
Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring their sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers: they shall bow down to thee with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet; and thou shalt know that I am the LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me ( Isa 49:22-23 ).
The glorious day of Israel’s future when the kings of the earth come and pay their homage year by year.
Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? But thus saith the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contends with you, and I will save thy children ( Isa 49:24-25 ).
God is saying, “I’ll fight with those that fight with you.” So any nation or any people that opposes the Jews is not just contending with a race of people. They are contending with the eternal God of heaven.
And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob ( Isa 49:26 ).
The whole world will know it, and of course, God tells us in that day that He destroys the invading Russian army with her allies shall the whole world know that I am God. And I’ll be sanctified before the nations of the earth.
“
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
In this chapter, we have not merely Isaiah speaking concerning the Christ of God; but it is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, who here speaks concerning himself.
Isa 49:1. Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far;
It is very remarkable how constantly the isles are spoken of in this Book of Isaiah, as if it had been foreseen that, in these far-off islands of the sea, the name of Jesus would be greatly magnified. Listen, says the Messiah, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far.
Isa 49:1. The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.
Christ Jesus our Lord was spoken of by the spirit of prophecy from his very birth, and long before it; and when he did come into the world, and was born of the Virgin Mary, the stars of heaven spake concerning him, and guided the wise men from the East to the place where the young child lay.
Isa 49:2. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword;
There are no words anywhere so piercing as the words of our Lord Jesus Christ. When you are giving quotations from various authors, you need never write the name Jesus at the bottom of any of his words, for they proclaim their own origin. Never man spake like this man.
Isa 49:2. In the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me;
The great weapon of God against sin is his Son Jesus Christ. God has no such means of smiting evil, or effecting his purposes of love, as his own dear Son. This is the polished shaft which Jehovah delights to use.
Isa 49:3. And said unto me, Thou art my servant,
Above all others, Christ is the servant of God. He is a Son by nature, a servant by his condescension, a servant for our sakes.
Isa 49:3. O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
It is very wonderful that the Redeemer should here be called Israel. It is not more wonderful, however, than that in another place his people should he called by his name. You remember those two passages in the prophecy of Jeremiah: This is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS, and This is the name wherewith he shall be called, The LORD our righteousness. There, the people of God take their Lords name; and here, Christ takes the name of his people, and himself deigns to be called Israel. Nor is this an unsuitable name for him, for it is he who wrestled on our behalf, and prevailed even as Israel did at Jabbok. Jesus is a greater Prince with God than Jacob ever was. Well, then, doth Jehovah say to him, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
Isa 49:4. Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for naught, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.
The Messiah, prophetically looking forward, complained that, during his life on earth, he seemed to labour in vain. The nation was not saved: he came unto his own, and his own received him not. He wept over the guilty city of Jerusalem; but those tears did not put out the fires of vengeance. He entreated men to turn to God, but they did not and they would not repent. He seemed to labour in vain, and spend his strength for nought, and in vain.
Isa 49:5. And now, saith the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength.
Even though the Jewish nation be not yet gathered to Christ, his labour was not in vain. God will not suffer his Son to spend his strength for nought.
Isa 49:6. And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.
What a blessed word of cheer this is for us poor Gentiles! The favored children of Israel thought us to be little better than dogs; and, behold, we have been lifted up into the childrens place. If Israel be not gathered, the Messiah hath become a light to the Gentiles, and Gods salvation unto the ends of the earth. Yet we cannot help fervently praying, Oh, that Israel might soon be gathered to Christ! Her ingathering will be the time of the fullness of the Gentiles.
Isa 49:7. Thus saith the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth,
Who is this but our Divine Lord, Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ of God? These words are spoken of him whom man despised, of him who was despised and rejected of men, of him whom the nation abhorreth, for that favored nation still, alas! abhors the name of Jesus of Nazareth, and will not cherish towards the Christ anything but thoughts of contempt.
Isa 49:7. To a servant of rulers,
For, though he was the King of kings, and Lord of lords, he submitted to be a servant to the kings of the earth, and obeyed the rules of human governors. Yet,-
Isa 49:7. Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shalt choose thee.
The day is coming when he that was spit upon shall be the admired of all mankind. No more the crown of thorns, but many diadems of glory shall rest upon his blessed head; and all men, with loud acclaim, shall salute him as King of kings and Lord of lords.
Isa 49:8. Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee; and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;
It is the Lord Jesus Christ who shall establish all that is good, and cast down everything that is evil. He shall staunch earths bleeding wounds, and repair her wilderness wastes. Where he comes, flowers spring up all around his blessed feet.
Isa 49:9. That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places.
When Christ leads his flock, wherever they go they shall feed; and even if he leads them to the very tops of the hills, he shall make the pastures grow there for them. There is never a place where Christ leadeth us but what it is safe for us to go there. The Shepherds feet make pasturage for the sheep that follow him; therefore, be not afraid to go wherever he leads you, but rather rejoice that he putteth forth his own sheep, and goeth before them, for they shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places.
Isa 49:10-11. They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them. And I will make all my mountains a way,
Where, naturally, there could not be a way, on those pathless summits of the loftiest Alps, the Lord says, I will make all my mountains a way,-
Isa 49:11. And my highways shall be exalted.
I will throw up causeways. God will make a way for you to get at him if you want to get at him. If you are willing to make a way for God, he will make a way for you; the gulf shall be bridged, the mountain shall be leveled.
Isa 49:12. Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.
The land of Sinim signifies China. Is it not strange that, in this Book, we should find mention of the land of Sinim, the country of China? But God has a people there, and they shall come to him. I was delighted, last Tuesday, to meet with a brother who had broken bread with us at the Lords table; he was a poor Chinaman, so he had helped to fulfill this prophecy:
These shall come from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.
Isa 49:13-15. Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD hath comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted. But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.
Will God ever forget his ancient people, the Jews? Never! They forget their God, but Jehovah never forgets his chosen people: They may forget, yet will I not forget thee.
Isa 49:16. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands;
I cannot work, I cannot even open the palm of my hand without seeing the memorials of my chosen people: I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands.
Isa 49:16-17. Thy walls are continually before me. Thy children shall make haste; thy destroyers and they that made thee waste shall go forth of thee.
For God is full of kindness to his people, and cannot forget them. Oh, that they would never forget him!
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Isa 49:1-6
Isa 49:1-6
(The beginning of Section B of Division VI (Isaiah 49-57))
There is a dramatic switch in this chapter to the development of the most wonderful prophecies in the Old Testament concerning the appearance in our world of the Dayspring from on High, the holy Messiah, the True Israel of God, namely, The Lord Jesus Christ, who in spite of every hindrance, even the rejection of his own nation, would bring God’s salvation to the whole world, Jews and Gentiles alike. Cyrus will be mentioned no more; the Jewish exiles’ return from Babylon will be no longer the focus, which is dramatically shifted to Jesus Christ the Son of God, his mission, his characteristics, his assured success, his rejection by the Jewish nation, etc. “Whereas Section I dealt principally with the Doctrine of God, Section II treats especially the Doctrine of Salvation. Salvation comes from God only, and through the ministry of the Servant of Jehovah. It includes deliverance from the penalty of sin, and a new life of protection, joy, and peace; and it is worldwide in scope,
AN ANALYSIS OF Isaiah 49 :
I. The Messiah himself is introduced as speaking in Isa 49:1-6, stating the purpose of his coming, his rejection by the Jewish nation, and the fact of his enlightening the Gentiles. In Isa 49:1, he calls the nations of the whole world to hear his voice. He announces his call to be the Messiah, and gives his qualifications for his mission (Isa 49:1-3). He identifies himself as “Israel” (Isa 49:3). For the meaning of this word see note below on “Israel.” He was named even while he was in the womb of his mother (Isa 49:1). He was the chosen instrument through whom God chose to be glorified (Isa 49:3); his earthly work would appear to fail (Isa 49:4); his future success, however, would be glorious (Isa 49:5-6). He would gather in the righteous remnant of the old physical nation of the Jews; but he would also become a light to the heathen of all nations, bringing salvation to the ends of the earth.
II. Jehovah directly promises the ultimate success of Messiah’s work (Isa 49:7-12). Men would indeed despise and reject him (Isa 49:7). No matter what the Old Israel did, Jehovah would make Jesus Christ the basis of a New Covenant for all men, the basis of mankind’s renewal of their lost fellowship with God (Isa 49:8). He would free the prisoners (from their sins) and provide light for the peoples walking in darkness (Isa 49:9). He would remove all obstacles from the way of the peoples who would desire to serve him (Isa 49:10-12).
III. A song of praise in view of the Saviour’s marvelous work (Isa 49:13).
IV. Zion is comforted with assurances of the Father’s love, and with the promise that God will never forget or forsake her (Isa 49:13-21).
V. God will extend salvation, with all of its blessings, to the Gentiles. Kings and Queens would bring their wealth into the kingdom of Heaven (Rev 21:24); and all of the enemies of God’s Messiah and his Cause shall be destroyed.
Isa 49:1-6
“Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken ye peoples, from far: Jehovah hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name: and he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me: and he hath made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he kept me close: and he said unto me, Thou art my servant; Israel, in whom I will be glorified. But I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for naught and vanity; yet surely the justice due to me is with Jehovah, and my recompense with my God. And now saith Jehovah that formed me from the womb, to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, and that Israel be gathered unto him (for I am honorable in the eyes of Jehovah, and my God is become my strength); yea, it is too light a thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.”
“Made mention of my name …” (Isa 49:1). This was not true of the nation of Israel, that name, having been given through Jacob in the third generation of Abraham’s “seed.” Gabriel, however, gave the name Jesus to the Messiah before he was born (Luk 1:31).
“My mouth like a sharp sword …” (Isa 49:2). This indicated that the words which would come out of the mouth of Messiah would be the instrument of his power, the words which would judge men and angels on the last day (Joh 12:48). This is “the word” that hurled the suns in space, that lifted up the Cross, that stilled the sea; and it is the word that shall summons all the dead who ever lived to receive the sentence of their eternal destiny on the occasion of the final judgment.
“In the shadow of his hand hath he hid me …” (Isa 49:2). God did indeed hide Jesus. He hid him from the wrath of Herod by taking him into Egypt and hid him from all of those who would have killed him until, in his own time, he would allow his crucifixion on Calvary.
“And he said unto me, Thou art my servant Israel, in whom I will be glorified …” (Isa 49:3). This is punctuated differently from the text of the American Standard Version in the text above; because the semicolon that divides Israel from the previous part of this sentence is an error. In this passage, God Almighty himself named the future Messiah “ISRAEL.” We have already noted that Jesus Christ is indeed the great Anti-type of Israel; and Christ himself accepted this title in Joh 15:1 ff, where it is recorded that he said, “I AM THE TRUE VINE,” the old fleshy Israel, the secular nation, of course, being the corrupt vine or degenerate vine as revealed in both Isaiah and Jeremiah (Isa 5:1-7; Jer 2:21).
MEANINGS OF THE WORD “ISRAEL”
The proper interpretation of the Word of God must always take into account the Biblical pattern of using the same word for multiple meanings. See my discussion of this Biblical phenomenon in Vol. 1 of my Pentateuchal Series (Genesis), p. 15, where I have pin-pointed no less than five meanings of the word “seed.” Similarly, there are no less than eight legitimate meanings of the word Israel in the holy Bible.
(1) This was the name (Israel) given by the angel to Jacob on the occasion when he wrestled with him till daylight (Gen 32:28).
(2) This was the name that came to be applied to the posterity of Jacob through the twelve patriarchs.
(3) This was the name that Ephraim and the ten tribes who seceded from the House of David usurped and claimed for themselves only (Hos 8:14).
(4) This was the name that applied to the kingdom of Judah, after the captivity and loss of the Ten Tribes with Ephraim in the fall of Samaria (722 B.C.).
(5) This was the “covenant name” of the righteous remnant as distinguished from the hypocritical, rebellious majority, who made up the principal mass of those deported into captivity in Babylon.
(6) In the times of the personal ministry of Messiah, the name “Israel” was reserved for a tiny handful of the fleshly nation of the Jews who were called “Israelites Indeed” by Jesus Christ (Joh 1:47), categorically distinguishing between them and the “sons of the devil” who at the same time they plotted the death of Christ were calling themselves “Israelites,” and “sons of Abraham.” (See Joh 8:31-50). Nathaniel, Zacchaeus, Anna, Simeon, Zechariah, Elizabeth, Joseph, Mary, the holy apostles, and that little handful of 120 people who attended that meeting in Act 1:15 made up the total number of Israelites indeed.
(7) The name “Israel” in our own times, and reaching back to the ministry of Jesus Christ, rightfully belongs to the true followers of Jesus Christ, his church. Paul’s letter to the Galatian churches refers to them in Gal 6:16 as “The Israel of God.” The apostles are reigning over the “twelve tribes of Israel,” a name applied to the church of Jesus Christ (Mat 19:28); and the 144,000 of Revelation 7 are none other than the kingdom or church of the Messiah.
(8) The name “Israel” in this very Isa 49:3 refers exclusively to Jesus Christ the Messiah. This corresponds with the fact that Christ is the “head of the church which is his spiritual body,” the whole body (all the church) itself being also “The Israel of God.”
The significance of this meaning of Israel in this passage is very great. Without this information, commentators are simply puzzled and checkmated as regards the discovery of what the passage means. An example of this is seen in the words of Kelley:
“The elusiveness of the servant’s identity is nowhere more apparent than here (Isa 49:3) … He is unequivocally identified as Israel…One way out of the impasse would be to delete the word Israel, but the ancient versions will not support such a deletion … There is no easy solution to the problem of the servant’s identity.
All such confusion and lack of understanding disappears instantly when it is understood that “Israel” in this passage is a God-given title of Messiah himself. After all that Isaiah had already revealed about the blindness and deafness of the fleshly nation (Israel), and of their judicial hardening, and of their being no longer the noble vine God had planted, but a “degenerate vine,” it is a foolish mistake indeed to try to identify that blind, deaf, hardened, hypocrite of the fleshly nation with the “Servant” who would heal that very nation.
The preposterous proposition inherent in such an identification was duly noted also by Kelley:
“If the servant, therefore, is interpreted collectively (that is, of the fleshly nation of Israel), then one is confronted with the strange anomaly of the nation effecting its own spiritual renewal. Even Muilenburg, who believes the reference here (Isa 49:3) applies to the nation collectively, admits that Isa 49:5-6 constitute the most serious obstacle to the collective view.
Of course, such an identification of the servant as Israel in the collective sense as the whole nation is not merely “a serious obstacle” to that viewpoint, it is overwhelming proof of the error of that viewpoint.
“I have labored in vain …” (Isa 49:4). These words from the Messiah himself indicate that Jesus’ work with the nation of Israel would be, in one sense, frustrating, unsuccessful, and in the large measure useless. The discouragement which our Lord surely encountered was first mentioned in Isa 42:4, but here it surfaces again. Thus Isaiah follows the pattern he announced in Isa 28:10; Isa 28:13, the same being proof that our human author here is not some “2nd Isaiah,” but Isaiah himself. Regarding the apparent failure of Jesus’ mission to “the physical Israel,” only 120 were gathered together as his disciples after the resurrection.
These marvelous prophecies of that “Ideal Servant” reveal that Christ alone offers salvation to men. The ancient idolaters who bowed down to images made by men fed their soul upon ashes and wasted themselves in degrading and worthless activities; but, “Even so, in philosophical circles today, Bible-rejecting agnostics demonstrate a similar blindness to the great truth that the mechanism of the Universe demands a Mechanic to fashion it, and the equally great truth that neither the ancient idolaters nor our modern unbelievers can answer the all-important question: “How can I be saved”?
Isa 49:5 speaks of the mission of the Servant to bring Jacob back to the Lord and to restore Israel; but in Isa 49:6, it is revealed that God considered such an achievement on the part of Messiah “too light a thing,” that is a work not sufficiently great to be the full task of Messiah, and that his complete work would involve also his bringing light to the heathen nations of the Gentiles. “It would have been an insufficient reward for the `Ideal Servant’ to have received only the conversion of Jews as a result of his labors; therefore, God gave him for his recompense the gathering in of the Gentles also, and made him the means of salvation even to the uttermost parts of the earth.”
Isa 49:6 reveals that Messiah’s mission to the Jewish nation did not include the restoration of all of the rebellious nation, but “the restoring of the preserved of Israel, thus being a reference to the “righteous remnant” only.
The recognition on the part of the Apostles themselves appeared, not at first, but eventually, that there was “no distinction” between Jews and Gentiles, nor even between Jews and barbarians. The Great Commission was “to all creation,” and “to every creature,” and “all nations.”
Isa 49:1-3 CALL: Who, other than the Messiah-Servant, could be speaking in these verses? Note the following:
1. Called from the womb (he is to be born of a woman) (cf. Isa 7:14; Isa 9:6; Mic 5:2, etc.).
2. Named while still in the womb (Mat 2:18-23; Luk 1:30-35; Isa 7:14; Isa 9:6).
3. His mouth a sharp sword (Rev 1:16; Rev 2:12; Rev 2:16; Rev 19:15; Heb 4:12)
4. He is hid in shadow of Jehovahs hand (Col 3:3)
5. He is called Israel (Prince of God) (Isa 9:6; Dan 9:24-27; Luk 1:30-35, etc.).
6. Jehovah is to be glorified in Him (cf. Joh 12:27-36; Joh 17:1-5)
7. He is to bring Jacob back to Jehovah (Luk 1:33)
8. He is honorable in the eyes of Jehovah (Joh 12:27-36; Luk 3:21-22; Mat 17:5-8; Act 2:22-36; Act 3:17-26, etc.).
9. He is to be a light to the Gentiles (Isa 9:1-2; Mat 4:12-17; Luk 2:29-32, etc.)
10. He is Jehovahs salvation to the end of the earth
A new emphasis is begun by the prophet Isaiah. From this point on Babylon and Cyrus are not directly mentioned. The Messiah-Servant and the glory of His future kingdom will be pre-eminent. Everything the prophet has to say to his contemporaries will, from this point on, be in relationship to the future messianic glory.
Note the absolute authority with which the Servant addresses the world, commanding the isles and all afar off to listen to Him. Jehovah has made the Servant His instrument of conquering warfare. The Servant is a polished arrow and His words are a sharp sword. The Servant is kept in Jehovahs quiver until the proper time for battle. The word of Christ is more powerful than any sword or arrow or any other carnal weapon. The word of Christ converts the mind and soul-carnal weapons only subdue bodies (cf. 2Co 10:3-5; Eph 6:10-20; Heb 4:12). It is imperative that the people of God today remind themselves they are engaged in the warfare of God. God sent His Son as a sword and an arrow! God so loved the world that He sent His Son, but He was sent to engage in a life and death struggle, a war, with the devil and his henchmen. The devil has been defeated and bound, but he still struggles against his chain and will devour all who willingly put themselves within his sphere of influence. God does not see the world, the flesh and the devil as a good place, every day and every way getting better and better. The world, the flesh and the devil are condemned, doomed, judged. Only those who bring every thought into captivity to obedience of Christ will survive the final judgment of the world.
The Messiah-Servant is also called to be anointed Israel (Prince of God). The Hebrew word yiserael means Prince of God. Jesus was descended from David according to the flesh (Rom 1:1-6), and promised the throne of His earthly father and His Heavenly Father-therefore, Prince (cf. Isa 9:6; Dan 9:24-27; Luk 1:30-35, etc.). To glorify is to honor. The highest form of praise or compliment is imitation and impersonation. Jesus reflected the very image of God (Heb 1:3); to see Jesus was to see God (Joh 14:8-10); in Him dwelt all the Godhead bodily (Col 1:15-20; Col 2:9); Jesus was the Word become flesh (Joh 1:1-18); He glorified the Father on earth (Joh 12:27-36; Joh 17:1-5).
Isa 49:4 COMMITMENT: This verse is one of the most unique verses of all the Bible! It predicts, in the words of the Servant-Messiah Himself, a point in the Servants ministry when He will cry out in frustration and disappointment. Edward J. Young comments, The expression of discouragement is no thought of unbelief, but simply of a genuine modesty borne from a consciousness of ones own weakness. Jesus, the Eternal Son, pre-existent with the Father, humbled Himself, emptied Himself and took upon Himself the form of flesh (cf. Php 2:5-11). He partook of the same nature as man (Heb 2:10-18) and was tempted in all points like we are tempted (Heb 4:14-16) yet without sinning. It was in this incarnation that He partook of human weaknesses. Part of that weakness was the frustration and disappointment men know when they love other men and want to lead them to Gods redeeming grace and when sinful, rebellious men refuse to be led (cf. Mat 19:16-22; Mat 23:37-39; Mar 3:1-6; Luk 19:41-44; Joh 12:27-36; Mat 26:36-46). Did Jesus agonize? Did He have to cry out to God in prayer? Yes! (cf. Heb 5:7-9). Jesus was astonished at the unbelief of His countrymen (Mar 6:6); He wept at the grief of Mary and Martha (Joh 11:35); He even despaired of finding faith on the earth at His second coming (Luk 18:8). The earthly ministry of Jesus was not spectacular in its personal results-judged by human standards. He made more enemies, per capita, than friends. He convinced only 12 men to follow Him, one of them was a traitor, and the others disavowed Him at His death. He came unto His own and His own received Him not (Joh 1:9-11). This was predicted (Isa 52:13 to Isa 53:12)!
In spite of the fact that the Messiah experienced discouragement and disappointment and was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, He realistically committed His cause to Jehovah for vindication, justification and reward. The Christian must be a realist also! If they persecuted the Master they will persecute the disciple (cf. Joh 15:18-27; 1Pe 4:12-19, etc.). There will be emotional lows as well as emotional highs for the Christian. The implication that believers should have a constant, happy glow about life is a form of Christian schizophrenia. Christian emotional dishonesty often can lead to deep despair and other psychological problems. A Christian psychologist says: God allows us to experience the low points of life in order to teach us lessons we could not learn in any other way. The way we learn those lessons is not to deny the feelings but to find the meanings underlying them. . . . Emotional dishonesty may be creating problems for others . . . Emotional honesty is necessary for ones own spiritual growth and it also helps others to get the right perspective on their own experience. Commitment to God is not built on human feelings as a basis-they are too subjective, biased and vacillating. Christ did not feel like going to the cross (. . . let this cup pass from me . . .). Commitment to God is built on faith in the facts about who God is as they are objectively revealed in the Scriptures and in the Person of Jesus (. . . nevertheless, not my will but thine be done . . .). Even the Messiah, in His incarnate humiliation, knew emotional depression and could overcome it only by commitment and faith in the knowledge of who the Father is. The Messiah knew He could depend upon the faithfulness of Jehovah to see that justice was ultimately done and that His ministry would receive its eventual reward. Eventually the work of the Messiah would produce a great multitude of believers which no man could number (Rev 7:9 f), but not in the earthly lifetime of the Messiah. Christians need to learn the lesson of the parable . . . first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear (Mar 4:26-29).
Isa 49:5-6 COMMISSION: The Servant is born incarnate to accomplish a specific mission. He is to bring back Jacob and gather Israel to Jehovah. Yeseph is the Hebrew word translated gathered and means, to be brought in; placed in safety. His commission was to go to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. This He did. And He brought to safety all of the true Israel (cf. Gal 6:16; Rom 11:25-32). The parenthetical statement is the Messiah-Servants reiteration that He has committed His cause to Jehovah and He is sure Jehovah will vindicate His ministry with honor and strength.
The Messiah-Servants commission is much broader than physical Israel, although in the sovereign plan of God that is where redemption began (Act 1:8). The Messiah was for the whole world. He was to gather sheep not of Israel into the flock of God to become part of the true Israel (cf. Joh 10:16). Paul the apostle quotes Isa 49:6 in Act 13:47 to give us the inspired interpretation of this prophecy. Jesus Christ is no provincial Messiah; He is not just a prophet of the Jews-He is Savior of the whole world. He is the Light of the world (Joh 8:12 f). One religion is not as good as another-not even to Isaiah. There is salvation in no other name (Act 4:12). Isaiah is the prophet of world missions. Strangely enough, Isaiah says more about the salvation of the Gentiles than any O.T. book, and yet he is the one most read in the Jewish synagogues! Of course, most of the Jews have a different view of what God has in store for the Gentiles than Isaiah predicted (cf. Luk 4:16-30).
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
We now commence the section in which the Prince of Peace is most clearly seen. He is revealed first as sustained through suffering (chapters 49-53), and then as singing in triumph (chapters 54-57).
In this section we hear the call of Jehovah to His own Servant, which may be divided into three parts. First, as to His Servant (verses Isa 49:1-13), the isles and the peoples are commanded to understand that He is called of Jehovah. He is now described as “Israel, in whom I will be glorified,” as in contrast to the national Israel, which has so grievously failed. His reply to the call declares how He had labored in vain, and yet His appeal is to Jehovah. This reply is followed by the confirmation of His call in which Jehovah declares that the first purpose of blessing to Jacob was too light a thing for Him, and proceeds to describe the worldwide audience which He will exert.
Then the call is to Zion (verses Isa 49:14-21). Zion complains that she is forgotten of God, and the reply declares God’s unfailing love and certain deliverance. Finally, the call is to Jehovah Himself, who announces His determination of blessing.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
A Light to the Gentiles
Isa 48:17-22; Isa 49:1-13
The first division of this second part of Isaiah closes at Isa 48:22, with the phrase there is no peace to the wicked. The second division of part 2 closes with a similar phrase, Isa 57:21. The first division here ends with the proclamation for Israel to leave Babylon. They need never have gone there. If only they have been obedient in every particular theirs would have been the happy lot of Isa 48:18, as contrasted with Isa 48:22. But even under such circumstances, in captivity and as slaves of the Chaldeans the redeeming grace of God would triumph, Isa 48:20; Isa 49:5.
The second great division of Part 2 opens with Isa 49:1. In their first and immediate reference, these verses evidently apply to our Lord. See Act 13:47, etc. In the mission of Jesus, the ideal of the Hebrew race was realized. As the white flower on the stalk He revealed the essential beauty and glory of the root, Isa 49:6. See Hos 11:1; Mat 2:1-2; Mat 2:14-15, etc.
There is a secondary sense, also, in which the Christian worker may appropriate many things in this glowing paragraph. Our mouth must be surrendered to God, that He may use it for His own high purposes. But do not dread the shadow of His hand. It is the quiver case in which He keeps His chosen arrows against the battle!
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
EXPOSITORY NOTES ON
THE PROPHET ISAIAH
By
Harry A. Ironside, Litt.D.
Copyright @ 1952
edited for 3BSB by Baptist Bible Believer in the spirit of the Colportage ministry of a century ago
ISAIAH CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
MESSIAH DESPISED, GOD’S ANSWER
“Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The Lord hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me; And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified. Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God. And now, saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength. And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth” (verses 1-6).
IN CHAPTER forty-nine Israel is brought before us as the Lord’s servant, but Israel as a nation had failed terribly in that place. And so while it is Israel who speaks and says, “The Lord hath called me from the womb . . . And said unto me, Thou art My servant,” it is really the Lord JESUS CHRIST Himself who takes the place of Israel, the true Israel. The servant here is no longer the nation as such, though it does speak here in these opening verses. But it is the Lord JESUS who takes the place of the nation.
Other scriptures indicate this. In Hosea God speaks of bringing the nation out of Egypt: “Out of Egypt have I called My Son.” That prophecy is referred to the Lord JESUS CHRIST Himself, who as a little babe was carried down to Egypt and brought back to the land “that it might be fulfilled,” Matthew says, “which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called My Son” (Mat 2:15).
So that in the first instance the son there was Israel, but it was the Lord JESUS, the true Israel, who was actually before the mind of GOD.
We often use similar language, substituting an individual for the whole people. Louis the
Fourteenth, that proud French monarch, exclaimed on one occasion: “France must rule the world, and I am France.” And Napoleon Bonaparte said, “The State must be supreme, and I am the State.” If uninspired men use language in that way, how much more has CHRIST the right to say, “I am Israel, the true Israel” The very name “Israel” meant “A Prince with GOD,” and it was He then who was manifested as the true Prince, the servant of the Lord, when Israel, both as a nation and individually, utterly failed.
Next comes a remarkable prophecy of CHRIST’s rejection by Israel and the calling of the Gentiles. Messiah says, “I have laboured in vain, I have spent My strength for nought” (verse 4). That is, as far as Israel is concerned, His work seemed a failure on earth. “He came unto His own, and His own received Him not.” But He leaves all with the Lord, and declares, “Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord.” For He has said unto Him, “It is a light thing that Thou shouldest be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give Thee for a light to the Gentiles, that Thou mayest be My salvation unto the end of the earth.”
Through Messiah’s rejection by Israel, a greater work would be accomplished. The message would go out to the Gentile world.
“Thus saith the Lord, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despiseth, to him whom the nation abhorreth, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the Lord that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose thee” (verse 7).
While in the Old Testament we do not have the present age brought clearly before us, the Old Testament prophet is like a man looking at two mountain peaks, one some distance beyond the other and higher than the first one, and he was therefore unable to see the valley between them. So the prophets testified of the sufferings of CHRIST at His first coming and of the glories that should follow the Second Coming. But they do not give us any clear teaching and outline as to all that goes on in between.
We know now from the New Testament that GOD had us in His heart from all eternity to call out from Jew and Gentile a people to His name, who should be the bride of His Son. So that when the Lord JESUS returns to reign in power and glory, He will not return alone. He will have a bride with Him who shall sit with Him upon His throne.
If Isaiah gives no definite instruction in regard to the present day as yet, it is very evident that such a prophecy does cover the present age as well as looking on to the millennium. It will have its fulfillment in millennial days, when all the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our God and His CHRIST.
Then the Lord speaks to the One whom man despised, the One whom the nation abhorreth, an expression not too strong for the feeling of Israel toward the Lord JESUS CHRIST, for terms are used concerning Him in Jewish writings, the Talmud and others, such as the “leper” and the “hanged-one” – the one whom the nation abhorreth. They could not understand. “Had they known,” Peter says, “they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” But they did not
know.
GOD will glorify that One whom the nation abhorreth, the kings and princes of the earth will recognize Him and bow down before Him. In a remarkable sense that has been true even during the present age, although unforeseen by the prophets. Because as the gospel went from land to land throughout the early centuries, whole nations were brought to profess, at least, subjection to the Lord JESUS and many kings proclaimed themselves His subjects.
Down to the present time among the nations there are rulers who confess the authority of the Lord JESUS CHRIST. The rulers of Great Britain, of Holland, and of Scandinavia are all professed Christians. That does not mean necessarily that they are all born again, but they are all professed Christians and acknowledge, outwardly at least, the authority of the Lord JESUS CHRIST.
Many leaders in the United States have taken the same place. Franklin D. Roosevelt was a professed Christian, a warden of an Episcopal Church. And President Truman, after his first press conference, asked for prayer, saying he would need it. He professes the Christian faith and, in that sense, he recognizes the authority of the Lord JESUS CHRIST.
Queen Victoria was very definite in her confession of faith when a heathen African prince came to Great Britain and was presented to her. He inquired, “Your Majesty, to what do you attribute the great prosperity of the British Empire?” She handed him a Bible and said simply, “This Book.” He carried this Book back to his people, to tell them that it was that on which the prosperity of the British Empire was based.
Toward the end of her life Queen Victoria once publicly stated, “I am a firm believer in the Second Coming of the Lord JESUS CHRIST. And I have sometimes thought that He has permitted me to reign so long that perhaps I will never lay down my crown until I lay it down at His feet, when He comes again.” It was a lovely expression of subjection to the Lord.
Queen Victoria evidently knew CHRIST as her Saviour. She was accustomed every summer to go to Balmoral, a lovely place in Scotland, and used to visit the Highland women living in the little cottages in the hills around. She became acquainted with all of them and went from one to another to chat with them. Of course, they were delighted that the Queen would take such notice of them. Finally, as she was returning to London, she came to bid one old cottager goodbye. The old lady said, “Well, your Majesty, I may never see you on earth again. May I ask your gracious Majesty a question?”
She said, “Yes; as many as you like.”
“Well,” she said, “will your Majesty meet me in heaven?”
The Queen replied, “Yes; through the all-availing blood of JESUS.”
That was a good testimony from the ruler of a mighty empire. The kings have bowed down before the Lord JESUS CHRIST. The nation of Israel rejected Him. They did not understand, but
GOD has made His name glorious throughout the world.
The passage of course looks on to complete fulfillment in millennial days when all the kings of the earth will bring their riches and glory into the New Jerusalem.
“Thus saith the Lord, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages; That thou mayest say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Shew yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places. They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them. And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted” (verses 8-11).
The two parts of this passage are clearly brought before us in the New Testament. “In an acceptable time have I heard thee.” We read in 2Co 6:2, “Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation,” so that GOD applies the words at the present time, while the gospel of the Grace of GOD is going out into all the world.
The latter part of this scripture carries us on to the time of the great awakening when an over the world men will be brought to recognize the Lord JESUS CHRIST. That is pictured in Revelation 7. After giving us the vision of the 144,000 sealed ones of Israel, John says, I saw “a great multitude, which no man could number . . . clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands”; and they stood before the throne of GOD and of the LAMB.
Many commentators say that these are the martyred saints who will be slain under the rule of the Beast and the false prophet, and that now they are seen up in Heaven. But it seems very evident that is an utter mistake; that this is a great multitude who will form the nucleus of the coming glorious kingdom with the Lord JESUS CHRIST here on the earth, because one of the elders turns to John and says, “What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?”
John says, “Sir, thou knowest.” And so the other replies: “These are they that come out of the great tribulation,” – literally there are two definite articles there, “They come out of the tribulation the great one . . . and washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Here is a great blood-washed multitude who have come up out of the great tribulation, not ascended into heaven, but they have gone through all that period of trial and been preserved by GOD.
The Lord says of them in Rev 7:16,17: “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.”
The kindred passage in Isaiah will show how exactly the one fits the other.
“They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places. They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for He that hath mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall He guide them”
(verses 9, 10).
The two passages refer to exactly the same group, an earthly group, who will be saved for the glorious millennial kingdom of our Lord JESUS CHRIST: primarily the remnant of Israel, and associated with them is a great company from among the Gentiles who will be brought to acknowledge the authority of the Lord JESUS CHRIST. The once-rejected Messiah now is their Saviour and their Lord.
So the Spirit of GOD says, as it were, to the Lord JESUS CHRIST, “It is true the nation did not recognize you, that you seemed to have labored in vain and spent your strength for nought, but a coming day will show that a tremendous harvest will result from your labors of love when you were down here unrecognized and misunderstood.”
~ end of chapter 49 ~
http://www.baptistbiblebelievers.com/
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Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Isa 49:4
There are two principal causes of the discouragement of the Christian. The first is the greatness of the task which God sets before him; the second is his inability to accomplish it.
I. We are so constituted that every time the ideal of love and holiness to which the Gospel calls us is presented to us in its sublime beauty, our heart vibrates with a profound assent, and we feel that it is for this end that we were created. But when we must not only admire but act, when we must no longer let the imagination kindle at a perfection which ravishes it, but must realise this perfection in life, then we measure with dismay the distance which separates us from it,-discouragement seizes us. See what takes place in human affairs. Let a commonplace mind propose some end, commonplace like himself; it will cost him but little trouble to attain to it; artist, thinker, or poet, he will be easily satisfied. But let a true genius conceive a sublime ideal, let him seek to reproduce it, you will hear him mourn over his failures! Each of his efforts will perhaps produce a masterpiece which will satisfy everybody but himself. If God demanded less of us than holiness, He would be inferior to us, and our conscience would exact that which He Himself no longer exacted.
II. The second cause of the Christian’s discouragement is the ill-success of his efforts. It enters into God’s plan to conceal from us almost always the results of what we do for Him. Why does God will it? (1) That faith may be exercised. Picture a Christian life, where each effort will bear its fruits, where response will follow prayer, harvest seedtime, and the joy of deliverance long and painful sacrifices. In such a case, who would not be a Christian? Self-interest would be the first motive with all, and the kingdom of God would be peopled with mercenaries. (2) God treats us thus to humble us. (3) In this school He teaches us gentleness and compassion. Success alone will never develop these.
III. The fruit of our labours is only hidden; it will appear in due time. And even when nothing of it shall remain upon the earth, and the indifference of the world shall seem to conceal for ever your labours and your sacrifices, there will be left to you the consolation of the prophet: “My judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God.” This it is which ever constitutes the strength of the Christian. Solitary, deserted, despised by men, he has for Witness, for Approver, for Judge, the invisible Master whom nothing escapes, by whom nothing is forgotten.
E. Bersier, Sermons, 2nd series, p. 305.
I. This is just the language which we find at times forcing its way from the lips of most of those great men who have felt most conscious of having a mission from God. Those who have most deeply and radically influenced for good the minds of their generation have been usually distinguished by fits of profound melancholy; regret that they have ever entered on their heroic course; weariness at the opposition which they meet with; distrust of their own fitness for the task; doubts whether God has really commissioned them to act on His behalf. Why is this? It is because God’s results are for the most part secret. A man who sets a great example is hardly ever conscious of the effect which his example produces. If his plans are not carried out precisely in the way and to the end which he had originally contemplated, he persuades himself that they have been an utter failure, that no good can have arisen from them; whereas the truth is, and other persons see it, that the particular plans were from the outset worthless, in comparison with the exhibition of character by which the very attempt to execute them was accompanied.
II. The cross of Christ is the true guide to the nature and the value of real success. What a failure was the life of Christ, if we measure it by immediate results! No wonder that the cross was to the Jews a sore stumbling-block, and to the cultivated Greeks utter foolishness, just as it would now appear to most of us. For even we, the heirs of eighteen centuries of faith in the Crucified One, seem hardly yet to have learned the lesson that the suffering, self-sacrifice, devotion to principles, and heedlessness of immediate consequences, are the indispensable foundations of all permanent success.
H. M. Butler, Harrow Sermons, p. 308.
I. Some persons give themselves much unnecessary pain by underrating their real service in the world. The question of good-doing is one of great subtlety. The quiet worker is apt to envy the man who lives before society in a great breadth of self-demonstration. It is as if the dew should wish to be the pattering hail, or as if the soft breeze should disquiet itself because it cannot roar like a storm. We forget that whirlwind and earthquake, fire and cloud, tempest and silence, have all been God’s messengers; and it would be foolish of any of them to suppose that it had been of no use in the world.
II. The text shows the true comfort of those who mourn the littleness and emptiness of their lives. “My judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God.” God knows our purposes, our opportunities, and our endeavours, and He will perfect that which concerneth us. The intention of the heart, which it was impracticable to realise, will be set down to our favour, as if we had accomplished it all; and some of us who think that our inheritance can be but very bare and fruitless, will find that instead of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle-tree, and our little portion in Israel shall become a great possession.
Parker, Pulpit Analyst, vol. i., p. 661.
References: Isa 49:4.-J. Ker, Sermons, 2nd series, p. 352; J. Keble, Sermons from Advent to Christmas Eve, p. 401. Isa 49:6.-R. Veitch, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxviii., p. 293. Isa 49:8.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. ii., No. 103; Ibid., Morning by Morning, p. 3. Isa 49:11.-A. Maclaren, Contemporary Pulpit, vol. vii., p. 125. Isa 49:13-20.-C. Short, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvi., p. 163. Isa 49:16.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. ix., No. 512; Ibid., Morning by Morning, p. 312. Isa 49:20, Isa 49:21.-Ibid., My Sermon Notes: Ecclesiastes to Malachi, p. 240.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
2. The Servant of Jehovah, His Suffering and His Glory (49-57)
CHAPTER 49
The Servant of Jehovah and His Mission
1. The servant speaks of himself (Isa 49:1-3) 2. He complains of failure (Isa 49:4) 3. Jehovahs answer to him (Isa 49:5-13) 4. Zion speaks (Isa 49:14) Jehovahs answer (Isa 49:15-26) This entire chapter is the key to the whole section. The Servant of Jehovah, the Lord Jesus Christ, stands in the foreground. He is seen as the Rejected One, who complains that He has labored in vain. The ultimate result of His Work is prophetically described. In the opening verses He speaks of His call. To bring Jacob to God is why He appeared in the midst of His own. But Israel is not gathered, for they rejected Him (Isa 49:5). The nation abhorreth Him. Israels gathering was not accomplished at the first advent. The nation was set aside. By their fall salvation came to the Gentiles. This is fully revealed in Isa 49:6-7. In Isa 49:8-13 we find the future work of Christ as King. When it is accomplished the heavens will sing and the earth will be joyful. Zions present complaint (Isa 49:14) is answered by promises of restoration.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
Listen: Isa 41:1, Isa 42:1-4, Isa 42:12, Isa 45:22, Isa 51:5, Isa 60:9, Isa 66:19, Zep 2:11
and hearken: Isa 55:3, Isa 57:19, Eph 2:17, Heb 12:25
The Lord: Isa 49:5, Psa 71:5, Psa 71:6, Jer 1:5, Mat 1:20, Mat 1:21, Luk 1:15, Luk 1:31, Luk 2:10, Luk 2:11, Joh 10:36, Gal 1:15, 1Pe 1:20
Reciprocal: Gen 10:5 – isles Gen 45:19 – commanded Num 4:49 – every one Num 7:5 – Take it Psa 22:9 – that took Psa 22:10 – cast Psa 97:1 – let the multitude of isles Pro 8:1 – General Ecc 9:1 – that the Isa 24:15 – isles Isa 33:13 – Hear Isa 34:1 – Come Isa 42:6 – called Isa 43:1 – I have called Isa 44:2 – formed Isa 44:24 – and he Isa 45:3 – which call Isa 46:3 – borne Isa 48:12 – Hearken Hag 2:23 – for Mat 12:18 – whom I Luk 2:46 – both Luk 24:44 – in the prophets Joh 15:16 – ordained Rom 1:1 – separated Eph 1:6 – in
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE MESSIAH REVEALED
The thirty-two chapters deal particularly with the Person and work of the Messiah. Isaiah has sometimes been called the evangelical prophet because of the large space he gives to that subject a circumstance the more notable because of the silence concerning it since Moses. The explanation of this silence is hinted at in the lesson on the introduction to the prophets.
In chapter 49, the Messiah speaks of Himself and the failure of His mission in His rejection by His nation (Isa 49:1-4). This rejection works blessing to the Gentiles (Isa 49:5-6; compare Romans 11). Ultimately Israel shall be brought to Him and indeed the whole earth (see the remainder of chap. 49). Zion, i.e., Israel, may doubt this (Isa 49:14), but is assured of it in what follows.
Chapter 50 is connected with the preceding Isa 50:1-3 referring to Zions restoration. But at Isa 50:4 the Messiah bears witness to himself again, His obedience, suffering and triumph down to the end of the chapter.
These verses furnish rich material for a Bible discourse or exposition on The Training of Jesus: (1) His Teacher: The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned; (2) the object of His teaching: That I should know how to speak a word in season,; (3) the method of its impartations: He wakeneth morning by morning; (4) the spirit of the pupil: I was not rebellious; (5) the encouragement He receives: The Lord God will help me; (6) the counsel He offers to others: Who is among you that feareth the Lord? and (7) the warning to the disobedient: Behold all ye that kindle a fire.
In like manner chapter 51 is linked to chapter 50, by the words of comfort to Zion which shall be brought to her through the Messiahs work on her behalf. Isa 51:9-11 are a prayer of faith of the faithful remnant which is answered in the remainder of that chapter and in the following, down to and including Isa 51:12.
Isa 52:13 to Isa 53:12 are a unit in their Messianic character. Christs personal suffering and glorious triumph are depicted in the closing verses of chapter 52. His rejection by Israel in Isa 53:1-6; His submission, deliverance and reward (Isa 53:7-12).
Chapter 54 exhibits the result of this in Israels conversion, restoration and earthly glory in the millennium. Observe the divine oath that this shall be brought to pass (Isa 54:9).
Chapter 55 is the offer of this salvation to Israel, and requires no comment. Chapter 56 shows that when this offer is at last accepted and the salvation experienced by Israel, it will mean similar blessing to the whole earth (Isa 55:1-8).
The rest of this chapter, and nearly the whole of the following one, describe the sad condition of Israel at present, but especially at the end period under the Antichrist (57:9). The section concludes with the customary promises to the faithful (57:15-19).
QUESTIONS
1. What is the chief topic of this lesson?
2. What name has Israel sometimes received, and why?
3. Explain the silence about the Messiah until this period.
4. Who speaks in chapter 49?
5. Have you read Romans 11?
6. Who speaks in chapter 50?
7. Memorize Israel 53.
8. State the connection between chapters 53 and 54.
Fuente: James Gray’s Concise Bible Commentary
Isa 49:1. Listen, O isles, &c. Hitherto the subject of the prophecy has been chiefly confined to the redemption from the captivity of Babylon, with strong intimations of a more important deliverance sometimes thrown in; to the refutation of idolatry, and the demonstration of the infinite power, wisdom, and foreknowledge of God. The character and office of the Messiah were exhibited in general terms, at the beginning of chap. 42., but here he is introduced in person, declaring the full extent of his commission; which is not only to restore the Israelites, and reconcile them to their Lord and Father, from whom they had so often revolted, but to be a light to lighten the Gentiles, to call them to the knowledge and obedience of the true God, and to bring them to be one church, together with the Israelites, and to partake with them of the same common salvation procured for all, by the great Redeemer and Reconciler of man to God. Bishop Lowth. By the isles here, and the people from far, the Gentiles are meant, who are frequently addressed by the appellation of isles, and who, in general, lived in countries far remote from Judea, now the only place of Gods special presence and worship. The person who addresses them is the Messiah, as evidently appears from Isa 49:6, and several other passages of this chapter. If the character here exhibited can, in any sense, as some think it may, belong to the prophet, yet, in some parts, as Bishop Lowth justly observes, it must belong exclusively to Christ; and in all parts to him in a much fuller and more proper sense. God having, in the last words of the preceding chapter, intimated by his prophet, that many of the Jews, notwithstanding the glorious deliverance from Babylon vouchsafed them, would be wicked, and foreknowing that he would cast them off for their wickedness, the Messiah here addresses his speech to the Gentiles, and invites them to hearken to those counsels and doctrines which he foresaw the Jews would reject. The Lord hath called me from the womb This, or the like expression, is used of Jer 1:5, and of Paul, Gal 1:15; but it was far more eminently true of Christ, who, as he was chosen to this great office of redemption from eternity, so he was separated and called to it before he was born, being both conceived and sanctified by the Holy Ghost in his mothers womb, and sent into the world upon this errand.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 49:1. Listen, oh isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people from far. The Hebrews reckoned among the isles, not only those of Greece, but the gentile nations generally, who are represented as waiting for the Messiahs law, that they may submit themselves to him: Isa 42:4. Some however have supposed that the British isles are more especially intended, as the people from far, who are here invited to hearken to the Redeemers voice; and that our highly-favoured country was destined to become, in an eminent degree, the seat of his holy empire. In this view the prediction is invested with peculiar interest, and claims our special regard and admiration.
The Lord hath called me from the womb. A similar expression is used of Jeremiah the prophet, chap. 1:5; and also of Paul the apostle, Gal 1:15. It denotes their having been set apart for their work by the special appointment of heaven, and alludes to the setting apart of all the firstborn of Israel by way of preminence. The sons of Aaron were likewise set apart from their birth to the priestly office. The expression in reference to Christ evidently denotes his being, in a peculiar and extraordinary manner, set apart and devoted to the great work of making known the will of the Father. He is the great prophet whom the Lord had promised to raise up, to teach and to bless his people.
Isa 49:2. He hath made my mouth like a sharp sword, which according to the figure in the next words, is hidden under the shadow of a mans left arm. This must apply to the Messiah. His preaching and his doctrine are represented by an apostle as quick and powerful, sharper than any two- edged sword: Heb 4:12. In another place it is said that out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations. Rev 19:15. The sword is a weapon of war and of death; the word of Christ is also of a piercing and penetrating nature, by which he subdues his enemies, and the people are made to fall under him. Psa 45:4-5. Oh what an effect his all-subduing doctrine had upon the hardened Jews under Peters sermon, when three thousand of them were at once pricked to the heart, and cried out what must we do to be saved! The gospel when brought home to the heart, furnishes matter for bitter reflection, and is like a sword in the bowels. The love also that is mixed with Christs word gives it a keener edge, and makes it cut the deeper. They shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. Zec 12:10.
He hath made me a polished shaft. In the former sentence the Messiah speaks of his doctrine and ministry as a sharp sword. Here he speaks of himself as a polished shaft, or a bright arrow, the great weapon in Gods hand, by which he has smitten and wounded the cause of the grand adversary, and destroyed the empire of sin. This is effected not only by the word of Christs mouth, but by his mediatorial work, and his sufferings on the cross, when he spoiled principalities and powers, and triumphed over them. Then it was he wounded the head of the dragon in the wilderness, and destroyed him that had the power of death, that is the devil.
In the shadow of his handin his quiver hath he hid me. The hand is the proper place for the sword, and the quiver for the arrow, and these are said to have been hidden. Before the rebellion broke out in this sinful and apostate world, God had a weapon in reserve, by which he would crush the revolt in due time. Intimations had been given, ever since the fall of man, though comparatively obscure, that God had provided himself with a weapon to drive out the enemy, as Israel did the Canaanites; and at the time that Christ came the sword was drawn, and the war began. He suffered the enemy however to proceed to the greatest height before he encountered him, and he still exercises great longsuffering towards wicked men, who if they repent not will find the impending stroke the heavier when it comes.
Isa 49:3. Thou art my servant. Ministers, private christians, all things are Gods servants; but there is an essential difference between Christs being a servant, and creatures being so. His was voluntary, but this cannot be said of any created being in heaven or earth; the motto upon all besides is, I serve. But He who was in the form of God, took on him the form of a servant; and because the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same. No mere man could do this, being by necessity what he is; and no created intelligence, however highly exalted in the scale of being, could voluntarily take on him the form of a servant, seeing he never had any other form, nor ever could have in any imaginary state of existence. Christ was therefore exclusively and in a preminent sense, the Lords servant; that in the economy of redemption he might act in subordination to the will of the Father, and exhibit in the midst of an apostate world an example of the most entire and perfect obedience.
Isa 49:4. I have laboured in vain. A complaint like this is often made by Christs servants, and no wonder; but it is not a little remarkable that it should be made by Christ himself, seeing that his mouth was like a sharp sword, and never man spake like him. Yet Isaiah foresaw that only a remnant of the Jewish nation would embrace his doctrine, and by the greater part he would be rejected and despised. He was no loiterer in the vineyard, and sought not his own ease; he laboured hard, and more fervently than any of his servants. He went everywhere preaching the word, and stretching forth his hands all the day long to a disobedient and gainsaying people. Human depravity is of itself sufficient to defeat the most benevolent intentions, and the most ardent exertions, for the recovery of man from his apostasy; and he who attempts it will find that he has to contend, not with flesh and blood only, but with principalities and powers, with spiritual wickednesses in high places, and with all the prejudices and enmity of the carnal heart, so that the weapons of his warfare can only become mighty through God. Feeling an unfeigned love to the souls of men, our Lord was grieved for the hardness of their heart; feeling also for the dishonour cast on Gods holy name, in the violation of his righteous law, and the subsequent rejection of the overtures of mercy, he utters the pathetic lamentation, I have laboured in vain, and spent my strength for nought.
Isa 49:5. Yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength. The great errand of the blessed Saviour was to gather Israel into his fold, and to bring Jacob back again to God; to restore sinners to his favour which they had forfeited, and bring them to a state of allegiance to the moral governor of the world. Yet the greater part of the tribes of Jacob did not return, nor was Israel gathered by his ministry, though unto Shiloh should the gathering of the people be. Many however did believe on him in the days of his flesh, many more believed after his death and resurrection, and more still shall believe in the latter day; and so, eventually, all Israel shall be saved. Meanwhile the Redeemer comforted himself with the assurance of the divine approbation, and found in that an ample recompense for all his labour, and for all the ignominy which he had endured. I shall be glorious, says he, in the eyes of the Lord, however lightly esteemed in the sight of men. The love which accompanied his obedience, as the Lords servant, and the great love he bore to men, rendered him highly acceptable in the sight of God, whether Israel were gathered or not. In the great work of mediation he was governed by a supreme regard to the divine glory; he loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; he abated not the claims of the divine law, but fulfilled all righteousness; and in making intercession for transgressors, he attempted not to palliate the enormity of their guilt. In the work of preaching the gospel he was faithful to the souls of men, and faithful to him that appointed him, even as Moses was faithful in all his house. God therefore became his strength; he did not fail, nor was he discouraged; he set judgment in the earth, and the isles are still waiting for his law.
Isa 49:6. It is a light thing that thou shouldest raise up the tribes of Jacob, and restore the preserved of Israel. This is mentioned as a reason for the extensive promise given, in reference to the salvation of the heathen world. The redemption of one soul is matter of unspeakable importance, much more the conversion of innumerable multitudes from among the Jewish nation: yet all this in Gods sight is but a light thing. Light in comparison of the infinite dignity of the Saviour, of the unutterable importance of his mediation, and the reward he was to receive for his obedience unto death, even the death of the cross. If God is to be manifest in the flesh, to become incarnate, and dwell amongst us, it is becoming the majesty of his character that he should have an unlimited sphere of action, and the opportunity of filling the whole earth with his glory. It was not a light thing for him to take upon him our nature, to obey and suffer in our stead, to be crucified and slain: and what therefore can be an adequate recompense for such humiliation, for such obedience, and such a sacrifice offered in our stead. But on any other hypothesis than that of Christs being really and truly the Son of God, possessing essentially all the attributes of supreme divinity, there is neither truth nor consistency in the prophets statement.
I will also give thee for a light to the gentiles. This implies the dreadful darkness in which the nations were involved, dwelling in the land of the shadow of death, as in Isa 9:2. They were conversant it is true, with many of the arts and sciences, and had acquired much learning; but with all their wisdom they knew not God. Living without hope of future blessedness, and without God in the world, they knew not the way to heaven and glory, nor of deliverance from the wrath to come. Sinful man is by nature in a lost condition, like the benighted traveller who has missed his way, or the lost sheep that has wandered from the fold; but Christ is given for a light to the gentiles, to chase away the darkness of error, sin and superstition, which had long brooded over them, and to shed abroad the light of life by his gospel among all nations. This blessed promise is in course of fulfilment: the sun of righteousness has arisen upon a benighted world, and the light is diffusing itself abroad in all directions.
Isa 49:7. To him whom man despiseth, whom the nation abhorreth. The prophet affectingly describes the different degrees of that contempt which the Lord Messiah should meet with in this sinful world. He is not only despised, but despised of men; not only abhorred, but abhorred of his own nation, and ignominiously made a servant of rulers. It greatly aggravated Jobs affliction that he became the song of fools, and was scorned by such menials as he would scarcely have set with the dogs of his flock. David also complained of being made the song of the drunkard, and earnestly deprecated the reproach of the foolish. What then must it have been for the unveiled brightness of the Fathers glory, for immaculate purity and innocence itself, to be made the subject of public obloquy; for him whom all the angels are commanded to adore, to be treated with scorn and contempt in a world which he had himself created, and by sinful beings whose salvation he came to seek. Yet he was abhorred as the vilest of men; he was charged with blasphemy, was condemned as a malefactor, as one unfit to live, a nuisance in society, while the infuriated multitude cried out, away with him, away with him, crucify him, crucify him. Oh what unparalleled abasementwhat love that passeth knowledge! But for all this the blessed Saviour shall be crowned with glory and honour, shall have a name that is above every name, and to him every knee shall bow and every tongue confess.
Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship. Kings shall rise from their seats, in token of respect and homage, as was the ancient custom on the appearance of some superior personage. Lot rose up from his seat when the angels presented themselves at the gate of Sodom, and bowed himself with his face to the ground. Abraham did the same, when they approached his tent in the plains of Mamre. In like manner shall the exalted Saviour be reverenced and adored: yea, all kings shall fall down before him, all nations shall serve him. Princes also shall worship: persons of the highest rank, as well as in the lower stations of society, shall esteem it their highest honour to give him the glory due unto his name. Already the kings of the earth are admonished to serve the Lord Messiah with fear, and to rejoice with trembling; to pay their homage to the Son, lest he be angry, and they perish from the way. Psa 2:11-12.
Isa 49:8. I will give thee for a covenant of the people. In the great work which the Messiah was to undertake, he looked for succour from above, and was heard in an acceptable time. Assistance should be afforded him: in the day of salvation have I helped thee. And though not spared from sufferings, he should not be overwhelmed by them: I will preserve thee. His sufferings should also be followed with the most blessed effects: I will give thee for a covenant of the people. He was originally given of the Father as a Saviour, to become a sin-offering, to die the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God; and having borne our sins in his own body on the tree, the original grant is now renewed and enlarged, as the reward of all his sufferings. Covenants are at all times the sign of peace and friendship; and by Christs being given for a covenant of the people, it is intimated that he should be the centre of union between God and man, so that sinners of every description should look to him as the way of peace and reconciliation; and in doing so they shall, for his sake, find acceptance and eternal life. His being given for a covenant seems also to imply, that Christ should be the sum and substance of all the blessings promised to his people. He is the head of the covenant, in contradistinction to the first Adam, the federal head of all his posterity. He is also the Mediator, in contradistinction to Moses, who was the mediator of the legal covenant. Considered as the testator of the new covenant, the shedding of the blood of Christ would be its confirmation, and give it force, as to the actual bestowment of all its blessings.
Isa 49:9. That thou mayest say to the prisoners, go forth; to them that are in darkness, show yourselves. This is an allusion to the year of jubilee, which was proclaimed throughout the land of Israel, when all that were in bondage were set at liberty. On the coming of Christ, a similar enlargement, but of a much higher character, should take place. The year of my redeemed is come, said the blessed Saviour; the day of vengeance is in my heart, to comfort all that mourn. The coming of Christ and his kingdom is the grand jubilee of the world. Sinners of every description, both Jews and gentiles, are all under sin, enslaved by their passions and abominable idolatries, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and are under the dominion of the god of this world. Nor is this all; sinners are likewise in bondage under the curse and condemnation of the law, and so are prisoners to divine justice. Having sinned against God, they are under an arrest of judgment, and are bound over to an appearance at the great day. While in a state of impenitence and unbelief, they enjoy nothing more than a reprieve; sentence is deferred, but not remitted, it still remains in full force. It is the prerogative of Christ to say to these prisoners, go forth, and show yourselves. As it respects the claims of divine justice he sets the prisoners free, not by denying but completely satisfying those claims, by paying down the ransom price, that the captive may be set at liberty. But in reference to the bondage of sin and Satan, a very different process is adopted. The detention here, though voluntary on the part of the enslaved, is unlawful and unjust. Christ therefore enters into no parley; he breaks down the prison walls, and sends forth the immured into open day. He calls his servants to preach the gospel, which is mighty through God, to pull down the strongholds, to cast down imaginations, that the prey of the terrible one may be delivered. The language here is highly encouraging; it says in effect to the weeping prisoners, do not be afraid, the debt is all discharged, the ransom price is paid. Do not be ashamed; go forth and show yourselves as my disciples. If the Son shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.
They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places. Cyrus was the Lords shepherd, he was to collect the scattered flock of Israel, and send them back to their own land. Here it is promised they should be provided for on their return, that even the tops of the barren mountains, over which they had to pass, should yield them sufficient sustenance. Under this beautiful figure is shadowed forth the care of the great Shepherd, who when he had laid down his life for the sheep, would not leave them to perish in the wilderness, but would plentifully provide for all their wants. It is also implied, that when souls are released from the dominion of sin, and the curse of the law, they begin to relish the green pastures of the gospel, and long for the living stream. They now feed on the promises, drink of the water of life freely, and find spiritual food and nourishment, where before they had no delight.
Isa 49:10. They shall not hunger nor thirst. This is still the language of a shepherd concerning his flock, and may more immediately refer to the return of the Jews from captivity. When the Lord brought them out of Egypt, he led them like a flock, by the hand of Moses and Aaron: now he would lead them in like manner, in their way from Babylon. The elements shall favour them on their passage, the sun and the wind shall be attempered to the shorn lamb. All this however is highly illustrative of the tender care of the great Shepherd, in conducting to his kingdom and glory the flock committed to his care; and though some of them may at times know what it is to hunger and thirst, and to be stricken through for want of the fruits of the field, yet he has promised to supply all their need, and what is more, has even covenanted to give meat to them that fear him. Psa 111:5. Their spiritual wants especially shall be well supplied; and blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Men of the world are thirsting after what they never will obtain, seeking happiness where it cannot be found; but those who believe in Jesus and follow him, shall be abundantly satisfied. He that cometh to me, says the Saviour, shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
Neither shall the heat nor the sun smite them. Not only shall their wants be well supplied, they shall also be protected from the dangers of the way. In these milder regions we scarcely know the value of such a promise, but in other latitudes where the traveller is exposed to the vertical sun, persons are often smitten, or die of excessive heat. An instance of this kind is recorded in the history of Jonah, who, impatient of his gourd, wished rather to die, than be long exposed to the solar heat. Allusions to the insalubrity of hotter climates are not unfrequent in sacred history, and have given occasion for various promises, ensuring protection and relief. Isa 4:5-6; Isa 32:2. Our Lord has noticed the excessive heat of the sun in Judea, its scorching and withering effects on vegetation, as figurative of the fiery trials and persecutions to which his more immediate followers would be exposed. Mat 13:6. Believers are not to expect an exemption from fiery trials, though protected from persecution by the benignant laws of the country, but they shall not be so smitten by them as to be overcome. The Lord is thy keeper, the Lord is thy shade upon thy right hand. Psa 121:5.
Isa 49:11. I will make all my mountains a way. When the Lord redeemed Israel out of Egypt, he made a path for them through the mighty waters, and a way in the wilderness; and when he brought them out of Babylon, the mountains and the vallies should become a plain, to expedite their safe return. Difficulties which appeared insurmountable vanished at once; and as in the former instance, he led them by a right way to a city of habitation. Insuperable difficulties present themselves in the way of a sinners salvation. Gods righteous law pronounces him accursed, and demands his punishment; the sinner owes ten thousand talents, and has nothing to pay. Inflexible justice declares, the soul that sinneth shall die; the sentence was passed as soon as man had sinned. God is not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should repent. Supposing the supreme Being to bear infinite goodwill to his sinful and apostate creatures, yet he cannot consistently, as the moral governor of the world, exercise mercy at the expense of righteousness. To connive at sin, or not manifest his displeasure against it, would be to impeach his own law as neither just nor good, and his own veracity in not executing the threatened punishment. There is therefore no way of return to God on the footing of justice, nor even on the ground of mercy, without the interposition of a Mediator. But by the death of Christ the punishment due to sin has been fully endured, its exceeding sinfulness has been demonstrated in a more awful and affecting manner than it could have been by the eternal destruction of the human race. All the ends of divine government are fully answered, and all the divine perfections are harmonised and glorified in the great scheme of mans redemption. Now therefore the way is opened for the honourable exercise of mercy; the sinner is pardoned, justice is satisfied, and sin condemned to everlasting infamy. Rom 8:4. All the difficulties are now removed, and the way to God is made plain; even the mountains become a way, and the highways are exalted.
Isa 49:12. These shall come from farand these from the land of Sinim. A way having been cast up, it is here promised that it shall be occupied. The Jews shall be collected from their various dispersions; and the parts from whence they should come appear to mean the four quarters of the earth, as in Mat 8:11. This prediction has been partially fulfilled, but the greater part is still to come, when they shall be brought in with the fulness of the gentiles. The passage is besides indicative of the nature of true conversion, whether of Jews or gentiles, showing that its tendency is to bring sinners to a oneness of heart with Christ and his people. He is the great centre of attraction, to which all hearts are drawn; and their language is like that of old, Tell me, oh thou whom my soul loveth, where thou causest thy flock to rest at noon. Under the former dispensation Jerusalem was the centre of union; and when any were proselyted from among the gentiles, they immediately resorted thither. Now Christ and his people become the centre of union; and those who come to the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, come also to mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.
Isa 49:14. But Zion said, the Lord hath forsaken me. While the heavens and the earth are called upon to rejoice, because the Lord had comforted his people with the promise of a final and glorious restitution, and the accession of converted gentiles to the church, Zion is sinking into unbelief, and fearing she should be utterly forsaken. She is sighing and mourning, because the coming of the Messiah was so long delayed. The Lord therefore assures her, to the end of this chapter, of his faithfulness and lovingkindness, and that his attachment was even stronger than that of a mother towards her sucking child. He would multiply her children, and encrease her blessings, and would never forget his Zion. I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands, thy walls are continually before me. The same assurance is repeated in chap. 54:10. These promises were only partially fulfilled on the return from Babylon, heathen kings being then in succession oppressors of Zion, till the Jews sheltered themselves under the iron wings of Roman protection.
Isa 49:24. Shall the prey be taken from the mighty. Yes, the Lord made Babylon give up her captives, and disgorge her gold and plunder.
REFLECTIONS.
The prophet having spoken of Babylon for the last ten chapters, with now and then a strong reference to the Messiah, he speaks here most obviously of his incarnation and ministry. See Act 13:47, 2Co 6:2, where these prophecies are so applied. The preseding chapter closes with encouragement of deliverance from Babylon, from the circumstances of their deliverance from Egypt. On a similar mode of argumentation, the redemption of the world, and the glory of the church are inferred from the illustrious character of Cyrus; for the Jews as well as Christians understood this chapter of Christ.
We have here the designation of the Saviour to his work. He was called from the womb, or according to St. Peter, foreordained before the foundation of the world. 1Pe 1:20. We have also the derivation of the Messiahs offices and power, his offices especially of Prophet, Priest, and King, which must ultimately be given up to the Father again, that the Son, in his humanity, may be subject unto him who put all things under him. The Lord put a sharp sword into his mouth, and a keen arrow into his bow; and Christ made use of this sword when he sentenced Jerusalem to destruction, and announced vengeance on all the enemies of his church. He began his work with war, and fought a good fight against idolatry and sin.
The Messiah is here called Israel, because Jacob was a type of Christ, who is both the father and the firstborn of all the faithful. This name cannot be applied to Isaiah, because he was never sent to the gentiles; nor did the Jews ever understand it of any prophet but the Messiah. Of him it is literally true, for he gathered only a remnant of Israel, and yet he was glorified with the Father; and his word had free course among the gentiles, until he became salvation to the ends of the earth. Sincere and faithful ministers should be comforted by this thought, that if they are not useful to one people, they may be useful to another.
As the Israelites were heard in a time accepted when they prayed, being pursued by Pharaoh; so Christ, given for a covenant to the people, was heard in the garden, and on the cross: he was heard when despised of men, and abhorred of kings and rulers. The head and the members being one, we have here a promise that God will ever hear the penitents who cry for pardon in the day of trouble, and save them with a sense of pardoning love shed abroad in their hearts, as a pledge of providential deliverance in due time.
The going forth of the prisoners, the calling of those who sit in darkness to show themselves, the gathering of the people, after the Messiah has become the light of the gentiles, the encrease of population, and the feeding of those who oppress Zion with their own flesh, do so strikingly accord with the latter-day glory of the church, that every commentator who is resolved to apply these prophecies to the return of the people from Babylon, or to the first propagation of the gospel, very much cramps himself, and diminishes the glory of the several subjects.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 49:1-6. The Preparation of Yahwehs Servant, and its Purpose (the second Servant Song).The Servant of Yahweh speaks, bidding the far lands hearken; for them he has a glorious message, which is, however, not uttered at once but forms the climax of the song (Isa 49:6). Yahweh has from my earliest days ordained and nominated me to be His Servant. My mouth He has made like a keen blade, for I am to speak for Him a piercing word. Like an arrow saved in the quiver for a special quarry He has made me ready against the time. But when He told me that He would use me to His glory I answered, With no result have I exhausted my strength: yet my right and reward are in Yahwehs keeping. But now the moment has come. Yahweh purposes to bring His exiles home, and I am glorified in His sight, and He is become my strength. Nor will this task suffice Him: He will make me a light for the nations to achieve a world-wide deliverance.
Isa 49:4. judgement: render right, i.e. what is due to me.
Isa 49:5. This very difficult and certainly corrupt verse has been variously construed and emended. Read perhaps, And now Yahweh that formed . . . servant, promiseth to bring Jacob again to him and to gather Israel. It is Yahweh, not the Servant, who brings back Jacob.
Isa 49:6. that thou shouldest be my servant: delete as an incorrect gloss.salvation: i.e. deliverance; read mg.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
49:1 Listen, to me O isles; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called {a} me from {b} the womb; from the body of my mother hath he made mention of my name.
(a) This is spoken in the person of Christ, to assure the faithful that these promises should come to pass: for they were all made in him and in him would be performed.
(b) This is meant of the time that Christ would be manifested to the world, as in Psa 2:7 .
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Comfort through the Servant 49:1-13
Isaiah began this pericope by clarifying the calling and ministry of the Servant. He referred to this Servant earlier (Isa 42:1-9), but now he reiterated and reinforced what he had revealed in preparation for further revelation about this key figure. [Note: See F. Duane Lindsey, "The Commission of the Servant in Isaiah 49:1-13," Bibliotheca Sacra 139:554 (April-June 1982):129-45.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
1. Anticipation of salvation 49:1-52:12
This first segment focuses on the anticipation of salvation. Israel needed to believe the promises of God concerning the coming salvation. The possibility of a restored relationship between Israel and her God becomes increasingly clear as this section unfolds. Likewise, the cosmic dimension of this salvation becomes increasingly obvious. The section reaches its climax with the announcement that God has won victory and the people are free (Isa 52:7-12).
"These chapters present God’s Servant, Messiah, in three important relationships: to the Gentile nations (Isa 49:1 to Isa 50:3), to His Father (Isa 50:4-11), and to His people Israel (Isa 51:1 to Isa 52:12)." [Note: Wiersbe, p. 54.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The Servant’s calling 49:1-7
"The first [biographical Servant] Song was a word from the Lord to the world about his Servant: ’Your plight is known, my Servant will deal with it’ [Isa 42:1-4]; but the second [autobiographical] Song is the Servant’s testimony how that world-wide task devolved upon one who was already commissioned to minister to Israel." [Note: Motyer, p. 384.]
"If . . . the first song can be viewed as contemplating the ministry of Jesus the Servant in prospect from the perspective of his baptism, this second song seems to be looking back on that ministry from its close." [Note: Grogan, p. 285.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Using the same terminology with which the Lord had appealed to Israel to listen to Him (cf. Isa 41:1; Isa 46:3; Isa 46:12; Isa 48:1; Isa 48:12), someone called the world’s population to pay attention to what he had to say. He claimed a divine calling from his birth; God had commissioned him to announce what he would reveal (cf. Jer 1:5; Mat 1:21; Luk 1:31-33; Luk 1:41; Luk 2:21; Gal 1:15). There was more to announce than just that Yahweh would redeem Israel from Babylonian captivity (cf. Isa 48:20). Who is the speaker? What follows, which this description of Him corroborates, is that the Servant Messiah is speaking, not Israel, [Note: Watts, Isaiah 34-66, p. 187.] or the believing remnant in Israel, or Cyrus, or Isaiah. Several of the Messiah predictions, including this one, refer to His mother (cf. Isa 7:14; Gen 3:15; Psa 22:10-11; Mic 5:2).
"When Assyria was coming to prominence Isaiah predicted the coming of the King, the virgin’s Son [Isa 7:14]. Now that the world power is exercising its might and will take God’s people captive, Isaiah announces the Servant of the Lord as the true Deliverer. Thus the two epochs point us to the Messiah, first to His Person and then to His work." [Note: Young, 3:268.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
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CHAPTER XVI
THE SERVANT OF THE LORD
Isa 41:8-20; Isa 42:1-7; Isa 42:18; Isa 43:5-10; Isa 49:1-9; Isa 1:4-10; Isa 52:13-15
With chapter 42, we reach a distinct stage in our prophecy. The preceding chapters have been occupied with the declaration of the great, basal truth, that Jehovah is the One Sovereign God. This has been declared to two classes of hearers in succession-to Gods own people, Israel, in chapter 40, and to the heathen in chapter 41. Having established His sovereignty, God now publishes His will, again addressing these two classes according to the purpose which He has for each. Has He vindicated Himself to Israel, the Almighty and Righteous God, Who will give His people freedom and strength: He will now define to them the mission for which that strength and freedom are required. Has He proved to the Gentiles that He is the one true God: He will declare to them now what truth He has for them to learn. In short, to use modern terms, the apologetic of chapters 40-41 is succeeded by the missionary programme of chapter 42. And although, from the necessities of the case, we are frequently brought back, in the course of the prophecy, to its fundamental claims for the Godhead of Jehovah, we are nevertheless sensible that with ver. 1 of chapter 42 (Isa 42:1) we make a distinct advance. It is one of those logical steps which, along with a certain chronological progress that we have already felt, assures us that Isaiah, whether originally by one or more authors, is in its present form a unity, with a distinct order and principle of development.
The Purpose of God is identified with a Minister or Servant, whom He commissions to carry it out in the world. This Servant is brought before us with all the urgency with which Jehovah has presented Himself, and next to Jehovah he turns out to be the most important figure of the prophecy. Does the prophet insist that God is the only source and sufficiency of His peoples salvation: it is with equal emphasis that He introduces the Servant as Gods indispensable agent in the work. Cyrus is also acknowledged as an elect instrument. But neither in closeness to God, nor in effect upon the world, is Cyrus to be compared for an instant to the Servant. Cyrus is subservient and incidental: with the overthrow of Babylon, for which he was raised up, he will disappear from the stage of our prophecy. But Gods purpose, which uses the gates opened by Cyrus, only to pass through them with the redeemed people to the regeneration of the whole world, is to be carried to this Divine consummation by the Servant: its universal and glorious progress is identified with his career. Cyrus flashes through these pages a well-polished sword: it is only his swift and brilliant usefulness that is allowed to catch our eye. But the Servant is a Character, to delineate whose immortal beauty and example the prophet devotes as much space as he does to Jehovah Himself. As he turns again and again to speak of Gods omnipotence and faithfulness and agonising love for His own, so with equal frequency and fondness does he linger on every feature of the Servants conduct and aspect: His gentleness, His patience, His courage, His purity, His meekness; His daily wakefulness to Gods voice, the swiftness and brilliance of His speech for others, His silence under His own torments; His resorts-among the bruised, the prisoners, the forwandered of Israel, the weary, and them that sit in darkness, the far-off heathen; His warfare with the world, His face set like a flint; His unworldly beauty, which men call ugliness; His unnoticed presence in His own generation, yet the effect of His face upon kings; His habit of woe, a man of sorrows and acquainted with sickness: His sore stripes and bruises, His judicial murder, His felons grave; His exaltation and eternal glory-till we may reverently say that these pictures, by their vividness and charm, have drawn our eyes away from our prophets visions of God, and have caused the chapters in which they occur to be oftener read among us, and learned by heart, than the chapters in which God Himself is lifted up and adored. Jehovah and Jehovahs Servant-these are the two heroes of the drama.
Now we might naturally expect that so indispensable and fondly imagined a figure would also be defined past all ambiguity, whether as to His time or person or name. But the opposite is the case. About Scripture there are few more intricate questions than those on the Servant of the Lord. Is He a Person or Personification? If the latter, is He a Personification of all Israel? Or of a part of Israel? Or of the ideal Israel? Or of the Order of the Prophets? Or if a Person-is he the prophet himself? Or a martyr who has already lived and suffered, like Jeremiah? Or One still to come, like the promised Messiah? Each of these suggestions has not only been made about the Servant, but derives considerable support from one or another of our prophets dissolving views of his person and work. A final answer to them can be given only after a comparative study of all the relevant passages; but as these are scattered over the prophecy, and our detailed exposition of them must necessarily be interrupted, it will be of advantage to take here a prospect of them all, and see to what they combine to develop this sublime character and mission. And after we have seen what the prophecies themselves teach concerning the Servant, we shall inquire how they were understood and fulfilled by the New Testament; and that will show us how to expound and apply them with regard to ourselves.
1.
The Hebrew word for “Servant” means a person at the disposal of another-to carry out his will, do his work, represent his interests. It was thus applied to the representatives of a king or the worshippers of a god. All Israelites were thus in a sense the “servants of Jehovah”; though in the singular the title was reserved for persons of extraordinary character and usefulness.
But we have seen, as clearly as possible, that God set apart for His chief service upon earth, not an individual nor a group of individuals, but a whole nation in its national capacity. We have seen Israels political origin and preservation bound up with that service; we have heard the whole nation plainly called, by Jeremiah and Ezekiel, the Servant of Jehovah. Nothing could be more clear than this, that in the earlier years of the Exile the Servant of Jehovah was Israel as a whole, Israel as a body politic.
It is also in this sense that our prophet first uses the title in a passage we have already quoted; {Isa 51:8} “Thou Israel, My Servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, seed of Abraham My lover, whom I took hold of from the ends of the earth and its corners! I called thee and said unto thee, My Servant art thou. I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.” Here the “Servant” is plainly the historical nation, descended from Abraham, and the subject of those national experiences which are traced in the previous chapter. It is the same in the following verses:- Isa 44:1 ff: “Yet now hear, O Jacob My Servant; and Israel, whom I have chosen: thus saith Jehovah thy Maker, and thy Moulder from the womb, He wilt help thee. Fear not, My servant Jacob; and Jeshurun, whom I have chosen I will pour My spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing upon thine offspring.” Isa 44:21 : “Remember these things, O Jacob; and Israel, for My servant art thou: I have formed thee; a servant for Myself art thou; O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of Me.” Isa 48:20 : “Go ye forth from Babylon; say ye, Jehovah hath redeemed His servant Jacob.” In all these verses, which bind up the nations restoration from exile with the fact that God called it to be His Servant, the title “Servant” is plainly equivalent to the national name “Israel” or “Jacob” But “Israel” or “Jacob” is not a label for the mere national idea, or the bare political framework, without regard to the living individuals included in it. To the eye and heart of Him, “Who counts the number of the stars,” Israel means no mere outline, but all the individuals of the living generation of the people-“thy seed,” that is, every born Israelite, however fallen or forwandered. This is made clear in a very beautiful passage in chapter 43 (Isa 43:1-7): “Thus saith Jehovah, thy Creator, O Jacob; thy Moulder, O Israel Fear not, for I am with thee; from the sunrise I will bring thy seed, and from the sunset will I gather thee; My sons from far, and My daughters from the end of the earth; every one who is called by My name, and whom for My glory I have created, formed, yea, I have made him.” To this Israel-Israel as a whole, yet no mere abstraction or outline of the nation, but the people in mass and bulk-every individual of whom is dear to Jehovah, and in some sense shares His calling and equipment-to this Israel the title “Servant of Jehovah” is at first applied by our prophet.
2.
We say “at first,” for very soon the prophet has to make a distinction, and to sketch the Servant as something less than the actual nation. The distinction is obscure; it has given rise to a very great deal of controversy. But it is so natural, where a nation is the subject, and of such frequent occurrence in other literatures, that we may almost state it as a general law.
In all the passages quoted above, Israel has been spoken of in the passive mood, as the object of some affection or action on the part of God: “loved,” “formed,” “chosen,” “called,” and “about to be redeemed by Him.” Now, so long as a people thus lie passive, their prophet will naturally think of them as a whole. In their shadow his eye can see them only in the outline of their mass; in their common suffering and servitude his heart will go out to all their individuals, as equally dear and equally in need of redemption. But when the hour comes for the people to work out their own salvation, and they emerge into action, it must needs be different. When they are no more the object of their prophets affection only, but pass under the test of his experience and judgment, then distinctions naturally appear upon them. Lifted to the light of their destiny, their inequality becomes apparent; tried by its strain, part of them break away. And so, though the prophet continues still to call on the nation by its name to fulfil its calling, what he means by that name is no longer the bulk and the body of the citizenship. A certain ideal of the people fills his minds eye – an ideal, however, which is no mere spectre floating above his own generation, but is realised in their noble and aspiring portion-although his ignorance as to the exact size of this portion must always leave his image of them more or less ideal to his eyes. It will be their quality rather than their quantity that is clear to him. In modern history we have two familiar illustrations of this process of winnowing and idealising a people in the light of their destiny, which may prepare us for the more obscure instance of it in our prophecy.
In a well-known passage in the “Areopagitica,” Milton exclaims, “Methinks I see in my mind a noble and puissant nation rousing herself and shaking her invincible locks; methinks I see her as an eagle renewing her mighty youth, and kindling her undazzled eyes at the full midday beam while the whole noise of timorous and flocking birds, with those also that love the twilight, flutter about, amazed at what she means.” In this passage the “nation” is no longer what Milton meant by the term in the earlier part of his treatise, where “England” stands simply for the outline of the whole English people; but the “nation” is the true genius of England realised in her enlightened and aspiring sons, and breaking away from the hindering and debasing members of the body politic-“the timorous and flocking birds with those also that love the twilight”-who are indeed Englishmen after the flesh, but form no part of the nations better self.
Or, recall Mazzinis bitter experience. To no man was his Italy more really one than to this ardent son of hers, who loved every born Italian because he was an Italian, and counted none of the fragments of his unhappy country too petty or too corrupt to be included in the hope of her restoration. To Mazzinis earliest imagination, it was the whole Italian seed, who were ready for redemption, and would rise to achieve it at his summons. But when his summons came, how few responded, and after the first struggles how fewer still remained, -Mazzini himself has told us with breaking heart. The real Italy was but a handful of born Italians; at times it seemed to shrink to the prophet alone. From such a core the conscience indeed spread again, till the entire people was delivered from tyranny and from schism, and now every peasant and burgher from the Alps to Sicily understands what Italy means, and is proud to be an Italian. But for a time Mazzini and his few comrades stood alone. Others of their blood and speech were Piedmontese, Popes men, Neapolitans, -merchants, lawyers, scholars, -or merely selfish and sensual. They alone were Italians; they alone were Italy.
It is a similar winnowing process, through which we see our prophets thoughts pass with regard to Israel. Him, too, experience teaches that “the many are called, but the few chosen.” So long as his people lie in the shadow of captivity, so long as he has to speak of them in the passive mood, the object of Gods call and preparation, it is “their seed,” the born people in bulk and mass, whom he names Israel, and entitles “the Servant of Jehovah.” But the moment that he lifts them to their mission in the world, and to the light of their destiny, a difference becomes apparent upon them, and the Servant of Jehovah, though still called Israel, shrinks to something less than the living generation, draws off to something finer than the mass of the people. How, indeed, could it be otherwise with this strange people, than which no nation on earth had a loftier ideal identified with its history, or more frequently turned upon its better self, with a sword in its hand. Israel, though created a nation by God for His service, was always what Paul found it, divided into an “Israel after the flesh,” and an “Israel after the spirit.” But it was in the Exile that this distinction gaped most broad. With the fall of Jerusalem, the political framework, which kept the different elements of the nation together, was shattered, and these were left loose to the action of moral forces. The baser elements were quickly absorbed by heathendom; the nobler, that remained loyal to the divine call, were free to assume a new and ideal form. Every year spent in Babylonia made it more apparent that the true and effective Israel of the future would not coincide with all the “seed of Jacob,” who went into exile. Numbers of the latter were as contented with their Babylonian circumstance as numbers of Mazzinis “Italians” were satisfied to live on as Austrian and Papal subjects. Many, as we have seen, became idolaters; many more settled down into the prosperous habits of Babylonian commerce, while a large multitude besides were scattered far out of sight across the world. It required little insight to perceive that the true, effective Israel-the real “Servant of Jehovah”-must needs be a much smaller body than the sum of all these: a loyal kernel within Israel, who were still conscious of the national calling, and capable of carrying it out; who stood sensible of their duty to the whole world, but whose first conscience was for their lapsed and lost countrymen. This Israel within Israel was the real “Servant of the Lord”; to personify it in that character-however vague might be the actual proportion it would assume in his own or in any other generation-would be as natural to our dramatic prophet as to personify the nation as a whole.
All this very natural process-this passing from the historical Israel, the nation originally designed by God to be His Servant, to the conscious and effective Israel, that uncertain quantity within the present and every future generation-takes place in the chapters before us; and it will be sufficiently easy for us to follow if we only remember that our prophet is not a dogmatic theologian, careful to make clear each logical distinction, but a dramatic poet, who delivers his ideas in groups, tableaux, dialogues, interrupted by choruses; and who writes in a language incapable of expressing such delicate differences, except by dramatic contrasts, and by the one other figure of which he is so fond-paradox.
Perhaps the first traces of distinction between the real Servant and the whole nation are to be found in the Programme of his Mission in Isa 42:1-7. There it is said that the Servant is to be for a “covenant of the people” (Isa 42:6). I have explained below why we are to understand “people” as here meaning Israel. And in Isa 42:7 it is said of the Servant that he is “to open blind eyes, bring forth from prison the captive, from the house of bondage dwellers in darkness”: phrases that are descriptive, of course, of the captive Israel. Already, then, in chapter 42 the Servant is something distinct from the whole nation, whose Covenant and Redeemer he is to be.
The next references to the Servant are a couple of paradoxes, which are evidently the prophets attempt to show why it was necessary to draw in the Servant of Jehovah from the whole to a part of the people. The first of these paradoxes is in Isa 42:18.
Ye deaf, hearken! and ye blind, look ye to see!
Who is blind but My Servant, and deaf as My Messenger whom I send?
Who is blind as Meshullam, and blind as the Servant of Jehovah?
Vision of many things-and thou dost not observe,
Opening of ears and he hears not.
The context shows that the Servant here-or Meshullam, as he is called, the “devoted” or “submissive one,” from the same root, and of much the same form as the Arabic Muslim-is the whole people; but they are entitled “Servant” only in order to show how unfit they are for the task to which they have been designated, and what a paradox their title is beside their real character. God had given them every opportunity by “making great His instruction” (Isa 42:21), and, when that failed, by His sore discipline in exile (Isa 42:24-25). “For who gave Jacob for spoil and Israel to the robbers? Did not Jehovah? He against whom we sinned, and they would not walk in His ways, neither were obedient to His instruction. So He poured upon him the fury of His anger and the force of war.” But even this did not awake the dull nation. “Though it set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it kindled upon him, yet he laid it not to heart.” The nation as a whole had been favoured with Gods revelation; as a whole they had been brought into His purifying furnace of the Exile. But as they have benefited by neither the one nor the other, the natural conclusion is that as a whole they are no more fit to be Gods Servant. Such is the hint which this paradox is intended to give us.
But a little further on there is an obverse paradox, which plainly says, that although the people are blind and deaf as a whole, still the capacity for service is found among them alone. {Isa 43:8; Isa 43:10}
Bring forth the blind people-yet eyes are there!
And the deaf, yet ears have they!
Ye are My witnesses, saith Jehovah, and My Servant whom I have chosen.
The preceding verses (Isa 43:1-7) show us that it is again the whole people, in their bulk and scattered fragments, who are referred to. Blind though they be, “yet are there eyes” among them; deaf though they be, yet “they have ears.” And so Jehovah addresses them all, in contradistinction to the heathen peoples (Isa 43:9), as His Servant.
These two complementary paradoxes together show this: that while Israel as a whole is unfit to be the Servant, it is nevertheless within Israel, alone of all the worlds nations, that the true capacities for service are found-“eyes are there, ears have they.” They prepare us for the Servants testimony about himself, in which, while he owns himself to be distinct from Israel as a whole, he is nevertheless still called Israel. This is given in chapter 49. And He said unto me, “My Servant art thou; Israel, in whom I will glorify Myself. And now saith Jehovah, my moulder from the womb to be a Servant unto Him, to turn again Jacob to Him, and that Israel might not be destroyed; and I am of value in the eyes of Jehovah, and my God is my strength. And He said, It is too light for thy being My Servant, merely to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel; I will also set thee for a light of nations, to be My salvation to the end of the earth”. {Isa 49:3-6} Here the Servant, though still called Israel, is clearly distinct from the nation as a whole, for part of his work is to raise the nation up again. And, moreover, he tells us this as his own testimony about himself. He is no longer spoken of in the third person, he speaks for himself in the first. This is significant. It is more than a mere artistic figure, the effect of our prophets dramatic style-as if the Servant now stood opposite him, so vivid and near that he heard him speak, and quoted him in the direct form of speech. It is more probably the result of moral sympathy: the prophet speaks out of the heart of the Servant, in the name of that better portion of Israel which was already conscious of the Divine call, and of its distinction in this respect from the mass of the people.
It is futile to inquire what this better portion of Israel actually was, for whom the prophet speaks in the first person. Some have argued, from the stress which the speaker lays upon his gifts of speech and office of preaching, that what is now signified by the Servant is the order of the prophets; but such forget that in these chapters the proclamation of the Kingdom of God is the ideal, not of prophets only, but of the whole people. Zion as a whole is to be “heraldess of good news”. {Isa 40:9} It is, therefore, not the official function of the prophet-order which the Servant here owns, but the ideal of the prophet-nation. Others have argued from the direct form of speech, that the prophet puts himself forward as the Servant. But no individual would call himself Israel. And as Professor Cheyne remarks, the passage is altogether too self-assertive to be spoken by any man of himself as an individual; although, of course, our prophet could not have spoken of the true Israel with such sympathy, unless he had himself been part of it. The writer of these verses may have been, for the time, as virtually the real Israel as Mazzini was the real Italy. But still he does not speak as an individual. The passage is manifestly a piece of personification. The Servant is Israel- not now the nation as a whole, not the body and bulk of the Israelites, for they are to be the object of his first efforts, but the loyal, conscious, and effective Israel, realised in some of her members, and here personified by our prophet, who himself speaks for her out of his heart, in the first person.
By chapter 49, then, the Servant of Jehovah is a personification of the true, effective Israel as distinguished from the mass of the nation-a Personification, but not yet a Person. Something within Israel has wakened up to find itself conscious of being the Servant of Jehovah, and distinct from the mass of the nation-something that is not yet a Person. And this definition of the Servant may stand (with some modifications) for his next appearance in Isa 50:4-9. In this passage the Servant, still speaking in the first person, continues to illustrate his experience as a prophet, and carries it to its consequence in martyrdom. But let us notice that he now no longer calls himself Israel, and that if it were not for the previous passages it would be natural to suppose that an individual was speaking. This supposition is confirmed by a verse that follows the Servants speech, and is spoken, as chorus, by the prophet himself. “Who among you is a fearer of Jehovah, obedient to the voice of His Servant, who walketh in darkness, and hath no light. Let him trust in the name of Jehovah, and stay himself upon his God.” In this too much neglected verse, which forms a real transition to Isa 52:13-15, the prophet is addressing any individual Israelite, on behalf of a personal God. It is very difficult to refrain from concluding that therefore the Servant also is a Person. Let us, however, not go beyond what we have evidence for; and note only that in chapter 1 the Servant is no more called Israel, and is represented not as if he were one part of the nation, over against the mass of it, but as if he were one individual over against other individuals; that in fine the Personification of chapter 49 has become much more difficult to distinguish from an actual Person.
3.
This brings us to the culminating passage- Isa 52:13-15 through Isa 53:1-12. Is the Servant still a Personification here, or at last and unmistakably a Person?
It may relieve the air of that electricity, which is apt to charge it at the discussion of so classic a passage as this, and secure us calm weather in which to examine exegetical details, if we at once assert, what none but prejudiced Jews have ever denied, that this great prophecy, known as the fifty-third of Isaiah, was fulfilled in One Person, Jesus of Nazareth, and achieved in all its details by Him alone. But, on the other hand, it requires also to be pointed out that Christs personal fulfilment of it does not necessarily imply that our prophet wrote it of a Person. The present expositor hopes, indeed, to be able to give strong reasons for the theory usual among us, that the Personification of previous passages is at last in chapter 53 presented as a Person. But he fails to understand, why critics should be regarded as unorthodox or at variance with New Testament teaching on the subject, who, while they acknowledge that only Christ fulfilled chapter 53, are yet unable to believe that the prophet looked upon the Servant as an individual, and who regard chapter 53 as simply a sublimer form of the prophets previous pictures of the ideal people of God. Surely Christ could and did fulfil prophecies other than personal ones. The types of Him, which the New Testament quotes from the Old Testament, are not exclusively individuals. Christ is sometimes represented as realising in His Person and work statements, which, as they were first spoken, could only refer to Israel, the nation. Matthew, for instance, applies to Jesus a text which Hosea wrote primarily of the whole Jewish people: “Out of Egypt have I called My Son.” {Hos 11:1; Mat 2:15} Or, to take an instance from our own prophet-who but Jesus fulfilled chapter 49, in which, as we have seen, it is not an individual, but the ideal of the prophet people, that is figured? So that, even if it were proved past all doubt-proved from grammar, context, and every prophetical analogy-that in writing chapter 53 our prophet had still in view that aspect of the nation which he has personified in chapter 49, such a conclusion would not weaken the connection between the prophecy and its unquestioned fulfilment by Jesus Christ, nor render the two less evidently part of one Divine design.
But we are by no means compelled to adopt the impersonal view of chapter 53. On the contrary, while the question is one to which all experts know the difficulty of finding an absolutely conclusive answer one way or the other, it seems to me that reasons prevail which make for the personal interpretation.
Let us see what exactly are the objections to taking Isa 52:13-15 through Isa 53:1-12 in a personal sense. First, it is very important to observe that they do not rise out of the grammar or language of the passage. The reference of both of these is consistently individual. Throughout, the Servant is spoken of in the singular. The name Israel is not once applied to him: nothing-except that the nation has also suffered-suggests that he is playing a national role; there is no reflection in his fate of the features of the Exile. The antithesis, which was evident in previous passages, between a better Israel and the mass of the people has disappeared. The Servant is contrasted, not with the nation as a whole, but with His people as individuals. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” As far as grammar can, this surely distinguishes a single person. It is true, that one or two phrases suggest so colossal a figure-“he shall startle many nations, and kings shall shut their mouths at him”-that for a moment we think of the spectacle of a people rather than of a solitary human presence. But even such descriptions are not incompatible with a single person. On the other hand, there are phrases which we can scarcely think are used of any but a historical individual; such as that he was taken from “oppression and judgment,” that is from a process of law which was tyranny, from a judicial murder, and that he belonged to a particular generation-“As for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living.” Surely a historical individual is the natural meaning of these words. And, in fact, critics like Ewald and Wellhausen, who interpret the passage, in its present context, of the ideal Israel, find themselves forced to argue that it has been borrowed for this use from the older story of some actual martyr-so individual do its references seem to them throughout.
If, then, the grammar and language of the passage thus conspire to convey the impression of an individual, what are the objections to supposing that an individual is meant? Critics have felt, in the main, three objections to the discovery of a historical individual in Isa 52:13-15 through Isa 53:1-12.
The first of these that we take is chronological, and arises from the late date to which we have found it necessary to assign the prophecy. Our prophet, it is averred, associates the work of the Servant with the restoration of the people; but he sees that restoration too close to him to be able to think of the appearance, ministry, and martyrdom of a real historic life happening before it. (Our prophet, it will be remembered, wrote about 546, and the Restoration came in 538.) “There is no room for a history like that of the suffering Servant between the prophets place and the Restoration.”
Now, this objection might be turned, even if it were true that the prophet identified the suffering Servants career with so immediate and so short a process as the political deliverance from Babylon. For, in that case, the prophet would not be leaving less room for the Servant, than, in chapter 9, Isaiah himself leaves for the birth, the growth to manhood, and the victories of the Prince-of-the-Four-Names, before that immediate relief from the Assyrian which he expects the Prince to effect. But does our prophet identify the suffering Servants career with the redemption from Babylon and the Return? It is plain that he does not-at least in those portraits of the Servant, which are most personal. Our prophet has really two prospects for Israel-one, the actual deliverance from Babylon; the other, a spiritual redemption and restoration. If, like his fellow prophets, he sometimes runs these two together, and talks of the latter in the terms of the former, he keeps them on the whole distinct, and assigns them to different agents. The burden of the first he lays on Cyrus, though he also connects it with the Servant, while the Servant is still to him an aspect of the nation (see Isa 49:8-9). It is temporary, and soon passes from his thoughts, Cyrus being dropped with it. But the other, the spiritual redemption, is confined to no limits of time; and it is with its process-indefinite in date and in length of period-that he associates the most personal portraits of the Servant (chapter 1 and Isa 52:13-15 through Isa 53:1-12). In these the Servant, now spoken of as an individual, has nothing to do with that temporary work of freeing the people from Babylon, which was over in a year or two, and which seems to be now behind the prophets standpoint. His is the enduring office of prophecy, sympathy, and expiation- an office in which there is all possible “room” for such a historical career as is sketched for him. His relation to Cyrus, before whose departure from connection with Israels fate the Servant does not appear as a person, is thus most interesting. Perhaps we may best convey it in a homely figure. On the ship of Israels fortunes-as on every ship and on every voyage-the prophet sees two personages. One is the Pilot through the shallows, Cyrus, who is dropped as soon as the shallows are past; and the other is the Captain of the ship, who remains always identified with it – the Servant. The Captain does not come to the front till the Pilot has gone: but, both alongside the Pilot, and after the Pilot has been dropped, there is every room for his office.
The second main objection to identifying an individual in Isa 52:13-15 through Isa 53:1-12, is. that an individual with such features has no analogy in Hebrew prophecy. It is said that, neither in his humiliation nor in the kind of exaltation which is ascribed to him, is there his like in any other individual in the Old Testament, and certainly not in the Messiah. Elsewhere in Scripture (it is averred) the Messiah reigns, and is glorious; it is the people who suffer, and come through suffering to power. Nor is the Messiahs royal splendour at all the same as the very vague influence, evidently of a spiritual kind, which is attributed to the Servant in the end of chapter 53. The Messiah is endowed with the military and political virtues. He is a warrior, a king, a judge. He “sits on the throne of David, He establishes Davids kingdom. He smites the land with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He slays the wicked.” But very different phrases are used of the Servant. He is not called king, though kings shut their mouths at him, -he is a prophet and a martyr, and an expiation; and the phrases, “I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,” are simply metaphors of the immense spiritual success and influence with which His self-sacrifice shall be rewarded; as a spiritual power He shall take His place among the dominions and forces of the world. This is a true prophecy of what Israel, that “worm of a people,” should be lifted to; but it is quite different from the political throne, from which Isaiah had promised that the Messiah should sway the destinies of Israel and mankind.
But in answer to this objection to finding the Messiah, or any other influential individual, in chapter 53, we may remember that there were already traces in Hebrew prophecy of a suffering Messiah: we come across them in chapter 7. There Isaiah presents Immanuel, whom we identified with the Prince-of-the-Four-Names in chapter 9, as at first nothing but a sufferer – a sufferer from the sins of His predecessors. (Isa 1:1-31; Isa 2:1-22; Isa 3:1-26; Isa 4:1-6; Isa 5:1-30; Isa 6:1-13; Isa 7:1-25; Isa 8:1-22; Isa 9:1-21; Isa 10:1-34; Isa 11:1-16; Isa 12:1-6; Isa 13:1-22; Isa 14:1-32; Isa 15:1-9; Isa 16:1-14; Isa 17:1-14; Isa 18:1-7; Isa 19:1-25; Isa 20:1-6; Isa 21:1-17; Isa 22:1-25; Isa 23:1-18; Isa 24:1-23; Isa 25:1-12; Isa 26:1-21; Isa 27:1-13; Isa 28:1-29; Isa 29:1-24; Isa 30:1-33; Isa 31:1-9; Isa 32:1-20; Isa 33:1-24; Isa 34:1-17; Isa 35:1-10; Isa 36:1-22; Isa 37:1-38; Isa 38:1-22; Isa 39:1-8) And, even though we are wrong in taking the suffering Immanuel from the Messiah, and though Isaiah meant him only as a personification of Israel suffering for the error of Ahaz, had not the two hundred years, which elapsed between Isaiahs prophecy of Israels glorious Deliverer, been full of room enough, and, what is more, of experience enough, for the ideal champion of the people to be changed to something more spiritual in character and in work? Had the nation been baptised, for most of those two centuries, in vain, in the meaning of suffering, and in vain had they seen exemplified in their noblest spirits the fruits and glory of self-sacrifice? The type of Hero had changed in Israel since Isaiah wrote of his Prince-of-the-Four-Names. The king had been replaced by the prophet; the conqueror by the martyr; the judge who smote the land by the rod of his mouth, and slew the wicked by the breath of his lips, -by the patriot who took his countrys sins upon his own conscience. The monarchy had perished; men knew that, even if Israel were set upon their own land again, it would not be under an independent king of their own; nor was a Jewish champion of the martial kind, such as Isaiah had promised for deliverance from the Assyrian, any more required. Cyrus, the Gentile, should do all the campaigning required against Israels enemies, and Israels native Saviour be relieved for gentler methods and more spiritual aims. It is all this experience, of nearly two centuries, which explains the omission of the features of warrior and judge from chapter 53, and their replacement by those of a suffering patriot, prophet, and priest. The reason of the change is, not because the prophet who wrote the chapter had not, as much as Isaiah, an individual in his view, but because, in the historical circumstance of the Exile, such an individual as Isaiah had promised seemed no longer probable or required.
So far, then, from the difference between chapter 53 and previous prophecies of the Messiah affording evidence that in chapter 53 it is not the Messiah who is presented, this very change that has taken place, explicable as it is from the history of the intervening centuries, goes powerfully to prove that it is the Messiah, and therefore an individual, whom the prophet so vividly describes.
The third main objection to our recognising an individual in chapter 53 is concerned only with our prophet himself. Is it not impossible, say some-or at least improbably inconsistent-for the same prophet first to have identified the Servant with the nation, and then to present him to us as an individual? We can understand the transference by the same writer of the name from the whole people to a part of the people; it is a natural transference, and the prophet sufficiently explains it. But how does he get from a part of the nation to a single individual? If in chapter 49 he personifies, under the name Servant, some aspect of the nation, we are surely bound to understand the game personification when the Servant is again introduced-unless we have an explanation to the contrary. But we have none.. The prophet gives no hint, except by dropping the name Israel, that the focus of his vision is altered, -no more paradoxes such as marked his passage from the people as a whole to a portion of them, -no consciousness that any explanation whatever is required. Therefore, however much finer the personification is drawn in chapter 53 than in chapter 49, it is surely a personification still.
To which objection an obvious answer is, that our prophet is not a systematic theologian, but a dramatic poet, who allows his characters to disclose themselves and their relation without himself intervening to define or relate them. And any one who is familiar with the literature of Israel knows, that no less than the habit of drawing in from the whole people upon a portion of them, was the habit of drawing in from a portion of the people upon one individual. The royal Messiah Himself is a case in point. The original promise to David was of a seed; but soon prophecy concentrated the seed in one glorious Prince. The promise of Israel had always culminated in an individual. Then, again, in the nations awful sufferings, it had been one man-the prophet Jeremiah-who had stood forth singly and alone, at once the incarnation of Jehovahs word, and the illustration in his own person of all the penalty that Jehovah laid upon the sinful people. With this tendency of his school to focus Israels hope on a single individual, and especially with the example of Jeremiah before him, it is almost inconceivable that our prophet could have thought of any but an individual when he drew his portrait of the suffering Servant. No doubt the national sufferings were in his heart as he wrote; it was probably a personal share in them that taught him to write so sympathetically about the Man of pains, who was familiar with ailing. But to gather and concentrate all these sufferings upon one noble figure, to describe this figure as thoroughly conscious of their moral meaning, and capable of turning them to his peoples salvation, was a process absolutely in harmony with the genius of Israels prophecy, as well as with the trend of their recent experience; and there is, besides, no word in that great chapter, in which the process culminates, but is in thorough accordance with it. So far, therefore, from its being an impossible or an unlikely thing for our prophet to have at last reached his conception of an individual, it is almost impossible to conceive of him executing so personal a portrait as Isa 52:13-15 through Isa 53:1-12, without thinking of a definite historical personage, such as Hebrew prophecy had ever associated with the redemption of his people.
4.
We have now exhausted the passages in Isa 40:1-31; Isa 41:1-29; Isa 42:1-25; Isa 43:1-28; Isa 44:1-28; Isa 45:1-25; Isa 46:1-13; Isa 47:1-15; Isa 48:1-22; Isa 49:1-26; Isa 50:1-11; Isa 51:1-23; Isa 52:1-15; Isa 53:1-12; Isa 54:1-17; Isa 55:1-13; Isa 56:1-12; Isa 57:1-21; Isa 58:1-14; Isa 59:1-21; Isa 60:1-22; Isa 61:1-11; Isa 62:1-12; Isa 63:1-19; Isa 64:1-12; Isa 65:1-25; Isa 66:1-24 which deal with the Servant of the Lord. We have found that our prophet identifies him at first with the whole nation, and then with some indefinite portion of the nation-indefinite in quantity, but most marked in character; that this personification grows more and more difficult to distinguish from a person; and that in Isa 52:13-15 through Isa 53:1-12 there are very strong reasons, both in the text itself and in the analogy of other prophecy, to suppose that the portrait of an individual is intended. To complete our study of this development of the substance of the Servant, it is necessary to notice that it runs almost stage for stage with a development of his office. Up to chapter 49, that is to say, while he is still some aspect of the people, the Servant is a prophet. In chapter 1, where he is no longer called Israel, and approaches more nearly to an individual, his prophecy passes into martyrdom. And in chapter 53, where at last we recognise him as intended for an actual personage, his martyrdom becomes an expiation for the sins of the people. Is there a natural connection between these two developments? We have seen that it was by a very common process that our prophet transferred the national calling from the mass of the nation to a select few of the people. Is it by any equally natural tendency that he shrinks from the many to the few, as he passes from prophecy to martyrdom, or from the few to the one, as he passes from martyrdom to expiation? It is a possibility for all Gods people to be prophets: few are needed as martyrs. Is it by any moral law equally clear, that only one man should die for the people? These are questions worth thinking about. In Israels history we have already found the following facts with which to answer them. The whole living generation of Israel felt themselves to be sinbearers: “Our fathers have sinned, and we bear their iniquities.” This conscience and penalty were more painfully felt by the righteous in Israel. But the keenest and heaviest sense of them was conspicuously that experienced by one man-the prophet Jeremiah. And yet all these cases from the past of Israels history do not furnish more than an approximation to the figure presented to us in chapter 53. Let us turn, therefore, to the future to see if we can find in it motive or fulfilment for this marvellous prophecy.
CHAPTER XVII
THE SERVANT OF THE LORD IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
IN last chapter we confined our study of the Servant of Jehovah to the text of Isa 40:1-31; Isa 41:1-29; Isa 42:1-25; Isa 43:1-28; Isa 44:1-28; Isa 45:1-25; Isa 46:1-13; Isa 47:1-15; Isa 48:1-22; Isa 49:1-26; Isa 50:1-11; Isa 51:1-23; Isa 52:1-15; Isa 53:1-12; Isa 54:1-17; Isa 55:1-13; Isa 56:1-12; Isa 57:1-21; Isa 58:1-14; Isa 59:1-21; Isa 60:1-22; Isa 61:1-11; Isa 62:1-12; Isa 63:1-19; Isa 64:1-12; Isa 65:1-25; Isa 66:1-24, and to the previous and contemporary history of Israel. Into our interpretation of the remarkable Figure, whom our prophet has drawn for us, we have put nothing which cannot be gathered from those fields and by the light of the prophets own day. But now we must travel further, and from days far future to our prophet borrow a fuller light to throw back upon his mysterious projections. We take this journey into the future for reasons he himself has taught us. We have learned that his pictures of the Servant are not the creation of his own mind; a work of art complete “through fancys or through logics aid.” They are the scattered reflections and suggestions of experience. The prophets eyes have been opened to read them out of the still growing and incomplete history of his people. With that history they are indissolubly bound up. Their plainest forms are but a transcript of its clearest facts; their paradoxes are its paradoxes (reflections now of the confused and changing consciousness of this strange people, or again of the contrast between Gods design for them and their real character): their ideals are the suggestion and promise which its course reveals to an inspired eye. Thus, in picturing the Servant, our prophet sometimes confines himself to history that has already happened to Israel; but sometimes, also, upon the purpose and promise of this, he outruns what has happened, and plainly lifts his voice from the future. Now we must remember that he does so, not merely because the history itself has native possibilities of fulfilment in it, but because he believes that it is in the hands of an Almighty and Eternal God, who shall surely guide it to the end of His purpose revealed in it. It is an article of our prophets creed, that the God who speaks through him controls all history, and by His prophets can publish beforehand what course it will take; so that, when we find in our prophet anything we do not see fully justified or illustrated by the time he wrote, it is only in observance of the conditions he has laid down, that we seek for its explanation in the future.
Let us, then, take our prophet upon his own terms, and follow the history, with which he has so closely bound up the prophecy of the Servant, both in suggestion and fulfilment, in order that we may see whether it will yield to us the secret of what, if we have read his language aright, his eyes perceived in it-the promise of an Individual Servant. And let us do so in his faith that history is one progressive and harmonious movement under the hand of the God in whose name he speaks. Our exploration will be rewarded, and our faith confirmed. We shall find the nation, as promised, restored to its own land, and pursuing through the centuries its own life. We shall find within the nation what the prophet looked for, -an elect and effective portion, with the conscience of a national service to the world, but looking for the achievement of this to such an Individual Servant, as the prophet seemed ultimately to foreshadow. The world itself we shall find growing more and more open to this service. And at last, from Israels national conscience of the service we shall see emerge One with the sense that He alone is responsible and able for it. And this One Israelite will not only in His own person exhibit a character and achieve a work that illustrate and far excel our prophets highest imaginations, but will also become, to a new Israel infinitely more numerous than the old, the conscience and inspiration of their collective fulfilment of the ideal.
1. In the Old Testament we cannot be sure of any further appearance of our prophets Servant of the Lord. It might be thought that in a post-exilic promise, Zec 3:8, “I will bring forth My servant the Branch,” we had an identification of the hero of the first part of the Book of Isaiah, “the Branch out of Jesses roots,” {Isa 11:1} with the hero of the second part; but “servant” here may so easily be meant in the more general sense in which it occurs in the Old Testament, that we are not justified in finding any more particular connection. In Judaism beyond the Old Testament the national and personal interpretations of the Servant were both current. The Targum of Jonathan, and both the Talmud of Jerusalem and the Talmud of Babylon, recognise the personal Messiah in chapter 53; the Targum also identifies him as early as in chapter 42. This personal interpretation the Jews abandoned only after they had entered on their controversy with Christian theologians; and in the cruel persecutions, which Christians inflicted upon them throughout the Middle Ages, they were supplied with only too many reasons for insisting that chapter 53 was prophetic of suffering Israel-the martyr-people-as a whole. It is a strange history-the history of our race, where the first through their pride and error so frequently become the last, and the last through their sufferings are set in Gods regard with the first. But of all its strange reversals none surely was ever more complete than when the followers of Him, who is set forth in this passage, the unresisting and crucified Saviour of men, behaved in His Name with so great a cruelty as to be righteously taken by His enemies for the very tyrants and persecutors whom the passage condemns.
2. But it is in the New Testament that we see the most perfect reflection of the Servant of the Lord, both as People and Person.
In the generation from which Jesus sprang there was, amid national circumstances closely resembling those in which the Second Isaiah was written, a counterpart of that Israel within Israel, which our prophet has personified in chapter 49. The holy nation lay again in bondage to the heathen, partly in its own land, partly scattered across the world; and Israels righteousness, redemption, and ingathering were once more the questions of the day. The thoughts of the masses, as of old in Babylonian days, did not rise beyond a political restoration; and although their popular leaders insisted upon national righteousness as necessary to this, it was a righteousness mainly of the ceremonial kind-hard, legal, and often more unlovely in its want of enthusiasm and hope than even the political fanaticism of the vulgar. But around the temple, and in quiet recesses of the land, a number of pious and ardent Israelites lived on the true milk of the word, and cherished for the nation hopes of a far more spiritual character. If the Pharisees laid their emphasis on the law, this chosen Israel drew their inspiration rather from prophecy; and of all prophecy it was the Book of Isaiah, and chiefly the latter part of it, on which they lived.
As we enter the Gospel history from the Old Testament, we feel at once that Isaiah is in the air. In this fair opening of the new year of the Lord, the harbinger notes of the book awaken about us on all sides like the voices of birds come back with the spring. In Marys song, the phrase “He hath holpen His Servant Israel”; in the description of Simeon, that he waited for the “consolation of Israel,” a phrase taken from the “Comfort ye, comfort ye My people” in Isa 40:1; such frequent phrases, too, as “the redemption of Jerusalem, a light of the Gentiles and the glory of Israel, light to them that sit in darkness, and other echoed promises of light and peace and the remission of sins, are all repeated from our evangelical prophecy. In the fragments of the Baptists preaching, which are extant, it is remarkable that almost every metaphor and motive may be referred to the Book of Isaiah, and mostly to its exilic half: “the generation of vipers,” the “trees and axe laid to the root,” “the threshing floor and fan,” “the fire,” “the bread and clothes to the poor,” and especially the proclamation of Jesus, “Behold the Lamb of God that beareth the sin of the world.” To John himself were applied the words of Isa 40:1-31 : “The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make ye “ready the way of the Lord, make His paths straight”; and when Christ sought to rouse again the Baptists failing faith it was of Isa 61:1-11 that He reminded him.
Our Lord, then, sprang from a generation of Israel, which had a strong conscience of the national aspect of the Service of God, -a generation with Isa 40:1-31; Isa 41:1-29; Isa 42:1-25; Isa 43:1-28; Isa 44:1-28; Isa 45:1-25; Isa 46:1-13; Isa 47:1-15; Isa 48:1-22; Isa 49:1-26; Isa 50:1-11; Isa 51:1-23; Isa 52:1-15; Isa 53:1-12; Isa 54:1-17; Isa 55:1-13; Isa 56:1-12; Isa 57:1-21; Isa 58:1-14; Isa 59:1-21; Isa 60:1-22; Isa 61:1-11; Isa 62:1-12; Isa 63:1-19; Isa 64:1-12; Isa 65:1-25; Isa 66:1-24 at its heart. We have seen how He Himself insisted upon the uniqueness of Israels place among the nations-“salvation is of the Jews”-and how closely He identified Himself with His people-“I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” But all Christs strong expression of Israels distinction from the rest of mankind is weak and dim compared with His expression of His own distinction from the rest of Israel. If they were the one people with whom God worked in the world, He was the one Man whom God sent to work upon them, and to use them to work upon others. We cannot tell how early the sense of this distinction came to the Son of Mary. Luke reveals it in Him, before He had taken His place as a citizen and was still within the family: “Wist ye not that I must be about My Fathers business?” At His first public appearance He had it fully, and others acknowledged it. In the opening year of His ministry it threatened to be only a Distinction of the First-“they took Him by force, and would have made Him King.” But as time went on it grew evident that it was to be, not the Distinction of the First, but the Distinction of the Only. The enthusiastic crowds melted away: the small band, whom He had most imbued with His spirit, proved that they could follow Him but a certain length in His consciousness of His Mission. Recognising in Him the supreme prophet-“Lord to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life”-they immediately failed to understand that suffering also must be endured by Him for the people: “Be it far from Thee, Lord.” This suffering was His conscience and His burden alone. Now, we cannot overlook the fact that the point at which Christs way became so solitary was the same point at which we felt our prophets language cease to oblige us to understand by it a portion of the people, and begin to be applicable to a single individual, -the point, namely, where prophecy passes into martyrdom. But whether our prophets pictures of the suffering and atoning Servant of the Lord are meant for some aspect of the national experience, or as the portrait of a real individual, it is certain that in His martyrdom and service of ransom Jesus felt Himself to be absolutely alone. He who had begun His Service of God with all the people on His side, consummated the same with the leaders and the masses of the nation against Him, and without a single partner from among His own friends, either in the fate which overtook Him, or in the conscience with which He bore it.
Now all this parallel between Jesus of Nazareth and the Servant of the Lord is unmistakable enough, even in this mere outline; but the details of the Gospel narrative and the language of the Evangelists still more emphasise it. Christs herald hailed Him with words which gather up the essence of Isa 53:1-12 : “Behold the Lamb of God.” He read His own commission from chapter 61: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me.” To describe His first labours among the people, His disciples again used words from chapter 53: “Himself bare our sicknesses.” To paint His manner of working in face of opposition they quoted the whole passage from chapter 42: “Behold My Servant He shall not strive.” The name Servant was often upon His own lips in presenting Himself: “Behold, I am among you as one that serveth.” When His office of prophecy passed into martyrdom, He predicted for Himself the treatment which is detailed in chapter 50, -the “smiting,” “plucking” and “spitting”: and in time, by Jew and Gentile, this treatment was inflicted on Him to the very letter. As to His consciousness in fulfilling something more than a martyrdom, and alone among the martyrs of Israel offering by His death an expiation for His peoples sins, His own words are frequent and clear enough to form a counterpart to chapter 53. With them before us, we cannot doubt that He felt Himself to be the One of whom the people in that chapter speak, as standing over against them all, sinless, and yet bearing their sins. But on the night on which He was betrayed, while just upon the threshold of this extreme and unique form of service, into which it has been given to no soul of man, that ever lived, to be conscious of following Him-as if anxious that His disciples should not be so overwhelmed by the awful part in which they could not imitate Him as to forget the countless other ways in which they were called to fulfil His serving spirit-“He took a towel and girded Himself, and when He had washed their feet, He said unto them, I, I, then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one anothers feet”-thereby illustrating what is so plainly set forth in our prophecy, that short of the expiation, of which only One in His sinlessness has felt the obligation, and short of the martyrdom which it has been given to but few of His people to share with Him, there are a thousand humble forms rising out of the needs of everyday life, in which men are called to employ towards one another the gentle and self-forgetful methods of the true Servant of God.
With the four Gospels in existence, no one doubts or can doubt that Jesus of Nazareth fulfilled the cry, “Behold My Servant.” With Him it ceased to be a mere ideal, and took its place as the greatest achievement in history.
3. In the earliest discourses of the Apostles, therefore, it is not wonderful that Jesus should be expressly designated by them as the Servant of God, -the Greek word used being that by which the Septuagint specially translates the Hebrew term in Isa 40:1-31; Isa 41:1-29; Isa 42:1-25; Isa 43:1-28; Isa 44:1-28; Isa 45:1-25; Isa 46:1-13; Isa 47:1-15; Isa 48:1-22; Isa 49:1-26; Isa 50:1-11; Isa 51:1-23; Isa 52:1-15; Isa 53:1-12; Isa 54:1-17; Isa 55:1-13; Isa 56:1-12; Isa 57:1-21; Isa 58:1-14; Isa 59:1-21; Isa 60:1-22; Isa 61:1-11; Isa 62:1-12; Isa 63:1-19; Isa 64:1-12; Isa 65:1-25; Isa 66:1-24 : “god hath glorified His Servant Jesus. Unto you first, God, having raised up His Servant, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquitiesIn this city against Thy holy Servant Jesus, whom Thou didst anoint, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, were gathered together to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel foreordained to pass. Grant that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Thy Holy Servant Jesus.” It must also be noticed, that in one of the same addresses, and again by Stephen in his argument before the Sanhedrim, Jesus is called “The Righteous One,”: doubtless an allusion to the same title for the Servant in Isa 53:11. Need we recall the interpretation of Isa 53:1-12 by Philip?
It is known to all how Peter develops this parallel in his First Epistle, borrowing the figures, but oftener the very words, of Isa 53:1-12 to apply to Christ. Like the Servant of the Lord, Jesus is “as a lamb”: He is a patient sufferer in silence; He “is the Righteous (again the classic title) for the unrighteous”; in exact quotation from the Greek of Isa 53:1-12 : “He did no sin, neither was found guile in His mouth, ye were as sheep gone astray, but He Himself hath borne our sins, with whose stripes ye are healed.”
Paul applies two quotations from Isa 52:13-15 through Isa 53:1-12 to Christ: “I have striven to preach the Gospel not where Christ was named; as it is written, To whom He was not spoken of they shall see, and they that have not heard shall understand; and He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin.” And none will doubt that when he so often disputed that the “Messiah must suffer,” or wrote “Messiah died for our sins according to the Scriptures,” he had Isa 53:1-12 in mind, exactly as we have seen it applied to the Messiah by Jewish scholars a hundred years later than Paul.
4. Paul, however, by no means confines the prophecy of the Servant of the Lord to Jesus the Messiah. In a way which has been too much overlooked by students of the subject, Paul revives and reinforces the collective interpretation of the Servant. He claims the Servants duties and experience for himself, his fellow-labourers in the Gospel, and all believers.
In Antioch of Pisidia, Paul and Barnabas said of themselves to the Jews: “For so hath the Lord” commanded us, saying, “I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation to the ends of the earth.” {Act 13:47, after Isa 49:6} Again, in the eighth of Romans, Paul takes the Servants confident words, and speaks them of all Gods true people. “He is near that justifieth me, who is he that condemneth me?” cried the Servant in our prophecy, and Paul echoes for all believers: “It is God that justifieth, who is he that condemneth?” {Isa 1:8 and Rom 8:33; Rom 8:24} And again, in his second letter to Timothy, he says, speaking of that pastors work, “For the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle towards all”; words which were borrowed from, or suggested by, Isa 42:1-3. In these instances, as well as in his constant use of the terms “slave,” “servant,” “minister,” with their cognates, Paul fulfils the intention of Jesus, who so continually, by example, parable, and direct commission, enforced the life of His people as a Service to the Lord.
5. Such, then, is the New Testament reflection of the Prophecy of the Servant of the Lord, both as People and Person. Like all physical reflections, this moral one may be said, on the whole, to stand reverse to its original. In Isa 40:1-31; Isa 41:1-29; Isa 42:1-25; Isa 43:1-28; Isa 44:1-28; Isa 45:1-25; Isa 46:1-13; Isa 47:1-15; Isa 48:1-22; Isa 49:1-26; Isa 50:1-11; Isa 51:1-23; Isa 52:1-15; Isa 53:1-12; Isa 54:1-17; Isa 55:1-13; Isa 56:1-12; Isa 57:1-21; Isa 58:1-14; Isa 59:1-21; Isa 60:1-22; Isa 61:1-11; Isa 62:1-12; Isa 63:1-19; Isa 64:1-12; Isa 65:1-25; Isa 66:1-24 the Servant is People first, Person second. But in the New Testament-except for a faint and scarcely articulate application to Israel in the beginning of. the gospels-the Servant is Person first and People afterwards. The Divine Ideal which our prophet saw narrowing down from the Nation to an Individual, was owned and realised by Christ. But in Him it was not exhausted. With added warmth and light, with a new power of expansion, it passed through Him to fire the hearts and enlist the wills of an infinitely greater people than the Israel for whom it was originally designed. With this witness, then, of history to the prophecies of the Servant, our way in expounding and applying them is clear. Jesus Christ is their perfect fulfilment and illustration. But we who are His Church are to find in them our ideal and duty, -our duty to God and to the world. In this, as in so many other matters, the unfulfilled prophecy of Israel is the conscience of Christianity.