Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 51:1
Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock [whence] ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit [whence] ye are digged.
1. ye that follow after (lit. “pursue”) righteousness ] “Righteousness” here means, not “salvation” (as in Isa 51:5-6 ; Isa 51:8), but righteousness in conduct, a way of life in accordance with the will of God (as Isa 51:7); cf. Pro 15:9; Rom 9:30 f.
look unto the rock &c. ] The ancestors of the nation are compared to a quarry, the Israelites to the stones hewn from it, a peculiar image found nowhere else. The word for hole does not occur again in the O.T.; but a noun from the same root is found in the first line of the Siloam Inscription with the sense of “perforation” or “excavation.”
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
1 3. The opening exhortation alludes to a difficulty naturally arising in the minds of believing exiles, viz., that they were too few in number to inherit the glorious promises made to them. This is removed by pointing to the marvellous increase of the nation from a single patriarchal family. There is a curious coincidence between this passage and Eze 33:24, where a parallel line of reasoning, on the part of the ungodly remnant left in the land of Canaan, is denounced by the prophet as impious. The history of Abraham and the religious lessons to be drawn from it must have been familiar in the age of the Captivity.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Ch. Isa 51:1-16. Encouragements addressed to true Israelites
The strain of consolation, which was interrupted by the soliloquy of the Servant at ch. Isa 50:4, is now resumed, and is continued till we reach the fourth and last of the Servant-passages, Isa 52:13 to Isa 53:12. Throughout this long passage (Isa 51:1 to Isa 52:12) the prophet’s thoughts are occupied with the near prospect of deliverance, and his high-strung emotion finds vent in a series of short impassioned oracles, mostly of a lyrical character. These may be divided into two groups, each consisting of three oracles. While those of the second group (Isa 51:17 to Isa 52:12) are addressed to the prostrate and desolate Zion, the first (Isa 51:1-16) contains words of cheer to the faithful but timid hearts in whom the prophet’s message had found an entrance. This section shews some points of contact with the preceding descriptions of the Servant, and the line of thought was probably influenced by the last of these, in Isa 50:4-9. The contents of the section are as follows:
i. Isa 51:1-8. A glowing and animated appeal to the believing exiles to put away the fears and misgivings which hinder their full acceptance of the promise of salvation. The thrice-repeated “Hearken to me” (see, however, on Isa 51:4) indicates a division into three strophes. (1) The first draws a lesson of encouragement from the example of the solitary patriarch Abraham, who by the blessing of Jehovah became the progenitor of a great nation. Let the true-hearted believers, therefore, take courage, in spite of the fewness of their number, for the same blessing rests on them, and will transform the waste places of Zion into a scene of joy and gladness ( Isa 51:1-3). (2) The next strophe directs the hope of the loyal Israelites to the glorious future that belongs to those who wait for Jehovah’s salvation; though heaven and earth pass away that world-wide salvation is imperishable and eternal ( Isa 51:4-6). (3). The last strophe, re-echoing one of the voices of the Prologue (Isa 40:6-8), reminds the exiles that the reproach they fear is that of frail and short-lived mortals, while the salvation they hope for endures for ever.
ii. Isa 51:9-10. Here for a moment the prophetic discourse is interrupted by a magnificent apostrophe to the “arm” of Jehovah. The speakers are most probably those to whom the previous words were addressed. As if all their doubts had been swept away by the impressive appeals to which they have listened, their impatience breaks forth in this impetuous challenge to Jehovah to reveal His power as in the days of old. ( Isa 51:11 has been inserted from ch. Isa 35:10.)
iii. Isa 51:12-16. The Divine voice is again heard (in answer to the people’s prayer). Since their comforter is Jehovah Himself, the Creator of heaven and earth, how unreasonable is their craven fear of their cruel oppressors! ( Isa 51:12-13). Towards the close, however, the connexion becomes very obscure (see the notes).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Hearken unto me – That is, to the God of their fathers, who now addresses them. They are regarded as in exile and bondage, and as desponding in regard to their prospects. In this situation, God, or perhaps more properly the Messiah (compare the notes at Isa. 1), is introduced as addressing them with the assurances of deliverance.
Ye that follow after righteousness – This is addressed evidently to those who sought to be righteous, and who truly feared the Lord. There was a portion of the nation that continued faithful to Yahweh. They still loved and worshipped him in exile, and they were anxiously looking for deliverance and for a return to their own land.
Look unto the rock whence ye are hewn – To Abraham the founder of the nation. The figure is taken from the act of quarrying stone for the purposes of building; and the essential idea here is, that God had formed the nation from the beginning, as a mason constructs a building; that he had, so to speak, taken the materials rough and unhewn from the very quarry; that he had shaped, and fitted them, and moulded them into an edifice. The idea is not that their origin was dishonorable or obscure. It is not that Abraham was not an honored ancestor, or that they should be ashamed of the founder of their nation. But the idea is, that God had had the entire moulding of the nation; that he had taken Abraham and Sarah from a distant land, and bad formed them into a great people and nation for his own purpose. The argument is, that he who had done this was able to raise them up from captivity, and make them again a great people. Probably allusion is made to this passage by the Saviour in Mat 3:9, where he says, For I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
The hole of the pit – The word rendered hole means such an excavation as men make who are taking stones from a quarry. It expresses substantially the same idea as the previous member of the verse. This language is sometimes addressed to Christians, with a view to produce humility by reminding them that they have been taken by God from a state of sin, and raised up, as it were, from a deep and dark pit of pollution. But this is not the sense of the passage, nor will it bear such an application. It may be used to denote that God has taken them, as stone is taken from the quarry; that he found them in their natural state as unhewn blocks of marble are; that he has moulded and formed them by his own agency, and fitted them into his spiritual temple; and that they owe all the beauty and grace of their Christian deportment to him; that this is an argument to prove that he who had done so much for them as to transform them, so to speak, from rough and unsightly blocks to polished stones, fitted for his spiritual temple on earth, is able to keep them still, and to fit them for his temple above. Such is the argument in the passage before us; and such a use of it is, of course, perfectly legitimate and fair.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 51:1-8
Hearken to Me
The thrice Hearken
These paragraphs are exceedingly dramatic.
We become conscious that we are approaching a revelation of unparalleled sublimity which shall be in Scripture what heart or brain or eye is in the human body. And as we consider the thrice Hearken of this paragraph, and the thrice Awake of the succeeding one, we realize that we are entering the presence-chamber of the profoundest mysteries of love and redemption. The people, notwithstanding the promises of deliverance from exile and the summons to depart, seemed unable to believe that they were destined to become again a great nation, or that Zions wastes would be repaired! Already the Servant of Jehovah had sought to answer their anxious questionings, and reassure them by announcing a love that would not let them go. And in these words He betakes Himself to the same strain. He prefaces His words by the thrice-repeated Hearken, addressed to those that follow after righteousness in the first verse; and to those that know righteousness in the seventh. These are always the stages in the development of character: they that follow presently possess.
I. THE LESSONS OF RETROSPECT. It was for her encouragement that Israel was primarily directed to this retrospect. Let us recount the steps of Abrahams pruning, on which God lays stress in saying, When he was but one, I called him.
1. He stood alone. First, Terah died, after having started with him for the Land of Promise, emblem of those who in old age start on the pilgrimage of faith and hope, not too much tied by the conservatism of nature, or the traditions of the past. Then Lot dropped away, and went down to Sodom; and it must have been difficult for the old man, as he saw the retreating forms of his camp followers, to be wholly unmoved. Then Sarahs scheme miscarried, and Hagar was thrust from his tents with her child. Lastly, his Isaac was laid upon the altar. By successive strokes the shadows grew deeper and darker; and he stood alone, face to face with God and His purpose. But the fire that burned in his heart rose higher, shone brighter, and has ignited myriads with its flame.
2. His faith was sorely tried.
3. His history is the type of Gods dealings with men. Not once nor twice in the record of the Church the cause of truth has been entrusted to a tiny handful of defenders, who have deemed it forlorn or lost. Sir Walter Scotts picture of the apparently empty glen suddenly teeming with armed men at the sign of the chieftain has often had its counterpart in the great army which has arisen from the life, or words, or witness, of a single man. Art thou a cypher? but thou mayest have God in front of thee! Art thou but a narrow strait? yet the whole ocean of Godhead is waiting to pour through thee! The question is not what thou canst or canst not do, but what thou art willing for God to do.
II. THE IMPERISHABLENESS OF SPIRITUAL QUALITY. In the following verses there is a marvellous contrast between the material and the unmaterial, the temporal and the eternal. The gaze of the people is directed to the heavens above and the earth beneath. Those heavens seem stable enough. Yet they shall vanish like a puff of smoke borne down the wind. And as for the earth, it shall wax old. But amid the general wreck, spiritual qualities will remain imperishably the same. My salvation shall be for ever, and My righteousness shall not be abolished.
1. This shall be for ever true of God. God will be the same in His feelings and dealings towards us amid the crash of matter and the wreck of worlds as He is to-day. The Jews took great comfort in the thought of Gods unchangeableness.
2. This shall be for ever true of man. When we partake of Gods righteousness and assimilate it, we acquire a permanence which defies time and change. What a lesson is given in these words of the relative value of things!
III. THE IMPOTENCE OF MAN. These exiled Jews hardly dared to hope that they would be able to break away from their foes. To us, as to the exiles in Babylon, the Divine word comes, Fear ye not, neither be dismayed (Isa 51:7). The paragraph closes with an application of the word used by the great Servant of Himself. The moth shall eat them up, we heard Him saying to Himself; they shall all wax old as a garment (chap. 50:9). But now we are bidden to apply those same expressions to ourselves (Isa 51:8). With these assurances behind us, we may face a world in arms. Men may try to wear out the saints, but they must fail. (F. B. Meyer, B.A.)
A bright light in deep shades
The remembrance of Gods mercy in the past is helpful to us in many ways. Isaiah was led by the Spirit of God to admonish the Israelites to look back that they might be cheered and encouraged in a time of gloom and sadness, and that they might be animated with fresh confidence in Gods power to bring them up again from their sad condition, as they thought of all that He had done for them in times past, when they were equally low, or when, peradventure, they were even in a worse plight than they were at present. It is a great thing for people to be encouraged.
I. WE SHALL EXPOUND THE TEXT IN ITS APPLICATION TO ISRAEL LITERALLY. They are bidden to look back to the origin of their nation, in order that they may be comforted. Abraham was the stock out of which the nation of Israel came. Moreover, the man was well stricken in years. As for his wife, she also, it is said, was barren; and yet from these two, who seemed the least likely of all flesh and blood, God was pleased to create a people countless as the stars. Abraham was not a man in a commanding position, with large armies at his feet, who could make a show in the world. He was a dweller in tents, a Bedouin sheik, wandering through the plains of Palestine, yet was he never injured; for God had sent forth a secret mandate, which fell, though they knew it not, upon mens hearts. Now, the prophet turns to the Israelites, and says, You say God can never restore us, we have been thinned out by innumerable invasions, the sword of war hath slain the tribes, Judah and Israel can never rise again. But are there not more left of you than there were at first? There were but two, Abraham and Sarah, that bare you, and yet God made you a people. Can He not make you a people again? etc. The thoughts which would be awakened in the heart of a Jew by these reflections would be eminently consolatory. They ought to be consolatory to us now with regard to the Jewish people. We are encouraged from the very origin of Israel to hope that great things shall yet be done for her.
II. Our text may be used in reference to the CONDITION OF THE CHURCH OF GOD IN THE WORLD.
1. I know many of the people of God who scarcely dare look for brighter times, because they say the people of God are few. Was not the Church very small at the first? It could all be contained in one upper room. Has it not been very small many times since then? But did not the Lord strengthen
His Church in the apostolic times? And, in the dark ages, how very speedily did the time of the singing of birds come! God had but to speak by His servant Luther, and brave men came to His side, and right soon His Church sprang up.
2. But, is it possible, you say, while the Church of God in these days possesses so few men of influence? Did not inspiration say, Not many great men after the flesh, not many mighty have been called, but God hath chosen the poor of this world? Do ye suppose that God has changed His plans, or that men s hearts have changed their bias?
3. But alas, saith one, I see grave cause for sorrow, for in these days many have departed from the faith, and truth lies in the streets bespattered. There have been eras and epochs in which gross heresies spread a contagion through the entire Church.
4. Again, I hear the voice of lamentation, It is not merely that error spreads in the land, but the Church is lukewarm in these times. The Church has: been in a like listless state before, and out of that languid condition God has roused her up and brought her forth.
5. There is a complaint made by some, and I fear there is some truth in it, that we have not many valiant ministers now-a-days. But, for all that, there have been periods in the Church s history when she lacked for men of valour, and God has found them. Why should He not find them again?
III. OUR TEXT MAY BE VIEWED AS INSTRUCTIVE TO OURSELVES. Our experience, varies. It sometimes happens to men who are truly saved, that they fall from the, condition which they occupied when they were in their first love. Your present condition is not what your past one was, and yet the Lord visited you when in your lost estate. There is the same God to-day as there was when first you sought Him.
IV. OUR TEXT MAY BE FITTINGLY USED TO ENCOURAGE OUR HOPE FOR OTHERS. Do you say of some sinner, I am afraid his is a hopeless case? look unto the rock whence you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye were digged. Remember again, that that poor sinner whose soul you are going to seek is where the best and brightest of the saints were. And, recollect, that that sinner you are going to speak with is, to-day, where those that are in heaven once were. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The benefit of reflection
It is the duty, and will be for the benefit of every true servant of God, occasionally to reflect, with due seriousness, on his own original state, on the rise and progress of religion in his own soul, and of the experience which he has thus individually had of the Divine power, goodness and mercy.
I. THE PERSONS HERE ADDRESSED. Those who follow after righteousness and seek the Lord. How exactly does this description accord to the true people of God under the Christian Church?
II. THE EXHORTATION ADDRESSED TO THEM. Look unto the rock, ete. The meaning is obvious, Look back unto yourselves. Consider what you once were; in what a depth of misery you were originally sunk. Reflect on the natural hardness of your heart: on its insensibiliyt to spiritual things; on its dreadful alienation from God. See this state of things exemplified–
1. In your original conversion to God.
2. In your subsequent conduct towards God. Since the time in which you first knew Him in truth, and gave yourself up to serve Him in the gospel of His Son, what has been the state of your heart, of its affections, its tempers, and its dispositions? Have all these been uniformly such as this surrender and profession imply and require? Application: Whet lessons do these reflections teach.
1. Humility and-self-abasement.
2. Patience, contentment and resignation.
3. The necessity of a continual dependence on Divine grace to work in you both to will and to do.
4. Hope and encouragement.
But the subject admits also of another less exclusive application. It furnishes one lesson of general importance: for it teaches ,as how holy and practical in its tendency is true, evangelical religion. (E. Cooper.)
Seeking souls directed
All the invitations and exhortations of the Word of God for spiritual blessings are accompanied with a description of character.
I. THE WORSHIPPERS DESCRIBED.
1. These characters who follow after and seek after must be spiritually alive. It would be strange to talk of a corpse in a churchyard following after or seeking any favours at our hands. As strange would it be to talk of a post in the street following after us, and pursuing us for the same purpose.
2. There is a stirring in the living persons that begins to render them somewhat conspicuous. Wherever there is this stirring inquiry, this dissatisfaction with self, and a stirring to be right for eternity, there is life Divine.
3. Then, there must be sincerity. Then shall ye find Me, when ye seek Me with your whole heart.
4. We will go on to notice their eager following after righteousness. It must be a righteousness that will justify. A righteousness that will sanctify. A righteousness that will glorify. It is imperishable.
5. Follow on to the next description of character. Ye that seek the Lord. Mark a few characteristics of these seekers. They seek Him privately. They seek Him in the place where His honour dwelleth. In His Word. Perseveringly. Seeking souls are well known in heaven, earth and hell.
II. THE EXHORTATION GIVEN. Look unto the rock, etc. (J. Irons.)
The Lords people
I. A DESCRIPTION OF THE LORDS PEOPLE. They follow after righteousness. If you ask what righteousness is, I call upon you to behold Jesus! He is righteousness. The Lords people follow after righteousness. They therefore follow Him. Far better for a man to strive to love Christ than to be trying to lay down certain rules of morality. They follow after righteousness. Does not this imply that they cannot find it in themselves? Some follow after righteousness in fear. Others with many slips. The Lords people follow after righteousness with humility. They follow after righteousness in love. Willingly. Perseveringly. I saw a steamer on the canal drawing after it three large boats. The steamer contained its own motive power, but had there been an engine and boiler in each of those boats they also would have gone on to Liverpool urged on by inward strength. Well, we follow after righteousness, not because Christ has placed some band between Himself and us, but because He has Himself entered our hearts. Christ is the living and moving power in our souls.
II. A KINDLY REMEMBRANCE. The Lord speaks very kindly to those who seek but have not yet found Him. Many are seeking the Lord without a light. Some may seek the Lord in unbelief. Some in a wrong way.
Somebody else replies, Ah, sir, I have no spiritual life, such as I had once. Well, who gave it to you in days gone by? The Lord. And will He not restore it again?
III. A WORD OF ENCOURAGEMENT.
1. Is your soul cast down? Well, remember what God has done for you. Did He not hew you from the rock of the world?
2. If God has hewn us from the rock we ought to hope for all humanity. (W. Birch.)
Look unto the rock whence ye are hewn
Looking to beginnings
1. Look back to beginnings; look along the line from the beginning to the sensations of to-day. A man should have his whole self before him in making his forecast of the future. His whole self should be a Bible, chaptered and versed, well numbered and properly displayed, having its Genesis, and running straight on through prophecy and tragedy, and music and Gospel, into mysterious Apocalypse. You have expurgated this life Bible, killed the promises and Psalms, and have only failures left.
2. Take in all your life: if God has made so much of you, He can make still more. The miracle is not in the great umbrageous tree; it is in that little green blade that pierces the earth and looks like a thing that means to pray. It is not the universe, but the molecule, that is a miracle to me. Looking back at what we were, it is easy to believe and yearn to be more.
3. If God has made so much of you, he can make as much of others. Therefore, do not contemn any man. God shows us in cathedrals what can be done with all stones; He shows us in gardens what can be made of all waste places. I do not read that there are two rocks out of which men are dug–one a very low and disreputable rock, and the other a very high and grand piece of masonry. We are all from the same rock and the same pit; we all have one Father, and we have all suffered the catastrophe of a common apostasy. Have pity upon those who are far behind.
4. Whence are ye hewn–digged; not whence ye hewed, digged yourselves. Are you well educated? It is because others made the way plain and smooth. Are you successful? It is the Lord thy God giveth thee power to get wealth. How much you owe father, mother! As we rise, the account grows, and if God do not forgive us we are lost. (J. Parker, D.D.)
Comparisons
Comparisons are odious; comparisons are highly profitable. They are odious if prompted by malice or meanness. A genius who had risen to a seat in the Commons was reminded by a shallow aristocrat in the lobby that he had formerly been his servant. Well, retorted the man of talent, and did I not serve you well? Such comparisons are hateful; but they may also prove beneficial as promoting due humility and appreciative thankfulness. Take the case of Paul, who, though an apostle of very exceptional ability, would remind himself that he was the chief of sinners. As though he had said, Now, Paul, look unto the rock whence you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence you were digged. (W. J. Acomb.)
Spiritual statuary
It is doubtless serviceable for each of us, however devoted and pure, to be now and then presented with a photograph of our former selves. We can thus see what we should have remained if grace had not refined us. We can measure our growth and development. We can certainly better understand the obligations arising from improved conditions.
I. THE RETROSPECT THAT WAS RECOMMENDED to this godly remnant of Israel. In all ages have existed those to whom God could thus appeal. Their characteristics are ever the same–viz, the endeavour to live righteously and the instinctive craving for a fuller knowledge of God. Such were here bidden to recall the period when their great father, Abraham, had been separated from heathen surroundings, led, and instructed by the Divine Spirit till worthy of the appellation, Friend of God. The nation had been a stone cut out of the mountain without hands and fashioned into something like beauty and grace. In regard to individual stones, it would appear that the work of the Divine statuary is threefold–
1. Detachment from the common mass of material. A stone has no ability to leap from its place. The quarryman must by pick and gunpowder and hammer set the granite free. There is grace at the outset, either in national or individual life. People need graciously saving. You have to be rescued, separated from the power of death, lifted from the sphere of human passion. To do this, various agencies are employed–some almost dynamic, others more gentle.
2. Moulding by religious education and attrition of association. Quarried stones need moulding, whether granite, limestone or freestone. Hammer and chisel must be applied. So, when detached must expect to submit to peculiar processes. Some stones necessitate great labour; others can easily be wrought to any form. Heaps of stones about and in every one an angel!–only the angel requires to be modelled out, chiselled out, filed out. We cant see the angel; God can. None can be a holy person without pain. Salvation is not the deed of a moment, but is a gradual work, stage by stage, here a little and there a little.
3. Vivification of spiritual faculties by the Holy Ghost. Many of you have been extracted from the quarry and rough-hewn by Christian civilization; but you require the grandest thing of all, the breath of spiritual life. Like the child-delighting marionettes that are so skilfully moved by invisible machinery, but which have no appreciation of the part they play, you may be actuated by the forces of custom, or ambition, or fear, but remain dead to all sensations of a purely spiritual nature.
II. THE PURPOSES OF THE SUGGESTED RETROSPECTION. Judging from the context, the intention was–
1. To promote humility.
2. To stimulate hopefulness.
We instinctively argue, If so much, why not more? God has always some better thing in store for us. Have we not a sure word of prophecy which declares that Christ is able to present each one of us faultless before the throne? (W. J. Acomb.)
Characters: unhewn and hewn
Shakespeare is given to present abstract ideas in concrete forms to suit the ordinary obtuse Englishman. Thus we understand Caliban. This low-type creature stands before us destitute of moral sense; his strongest motive to action fear of punishment; he hates unreasonably the best of beings; he luxuriates in grossest vice; his brain so feeble that he kneels to a drunkard. Now the national poet has contrasted this brute-man with Prospero, the refined courtier, the gentle father, the magnanimous Duke of Milan, thus exhibiting the diverse effects of Christian culture and heathen neglect. In one you behold the rough, angular, unhewn block; in the other the exquisitely moulded statue. To assimilate them, what a complicated miracle would be requisite! This is the mission of our Lord and Redeemer. (W. J. Acomb.)
Nature and grace
It is good for those that are privileged by a new birth to consider what they were by their first birth; how they were conceived in iniquity and shapen in sin. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. How hard was that rock out of which we were hewn, unapt to receive impressions; and how dirty the hole of the pit out of which we were digged! The consideration hereof should fill us with low thoughts of ourselves, and high thoughts of Divine grace. (M. Henry.)
A humble origin: John Bunyan
I was of a low and inconsiderable generation, my fathers house being of that rank that is meanest and most despised of all families in the land. I never went to school to Aristotle or Plato, but was brought up in my fathers house in a very mean condition, among a company of poor countrymen. Nevertheless, I bless God that by this door He brought me into the world to partake of the grace and life that is by Christ in His Gospel. This is the account given of himself and his origin by a man whose writings have for two centuries affected the spiritual opinions of the English race in every part of the world more powerfully than any book or books, except the Bible. (J. A. Froude.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER LI
The prophet exhorts the children of Abraham to trust in the
Lord; and briefly, but beautifully, describes the great
blessedness which should be the consequence, 1-3.
Then, turning to the Gentiles, encourages them to look for a
portion in the same salvation, 4, 5;
the everlasting duration of which is majestically described, 6.
And as it is everlasting, so is it sure to the righteous,
notwithstanding all the machinations of their enemies, 7, 8.
The faithful, then, with exultation and joy, lift their voices,
reminding God of his wondrous works of old, which encourage
them to look now for the like glorious accomplishment of these
promises, 9-11.
In answer to this the Divinity is introduced comforting them
under their trials, and telling them that the deliverer was
already on his way to save and to establish them, 12-16.
On this the prophet turns to Jerusalem to comfort and
congratulate her on so joyful a prospect. She is represented,
by a bold image, as a person lying in the streets, under the
intoxicating effects of the cup of the Divine wrath, without a
single person from among her own people appointed to give her
consolation, and trodden under the feet of her enemies; but, in
the time allotted by the Divine providence, the cup of
trembling shall be taken out of her hand, and put into that of
her oppressors; and she shall drink it no more again for ever,
17-22.
NOTES ON CHAP. LI
Verse 1. Ye that follow after righteousness] The people who, feeling the want of salvation, seek the Lord in order to be justified.
The rock] Abraham.
The hole of the pit] Sarah; as explained in Isa 51:2.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness: now he turneth his speech again to the believing and godly Jews.
That seek the Lord; that make it your chief care and business to seek favour and help from God.
Look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged; consider the state of Abraham and Sarah, when they procreated Isaac, from whom Jacob and all of you sprang; for so he explains the metaphor in the next verse. He compareth the bodies of Abraham and Sarah unto a
rock, or pit, or quarry out of which stones are hewed or digged, thereby implying that God in some sort actually did that which Christ said he was able to do, Mat 3:9, even of stones to raise up children unto Abraham; it being then as impossible by the course of nature for Abraham and Sarah in that age to procreate a child, as it is to hew a living child out of a rock, or to dig one out of a pit of stone.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. methe God of your fathers.
ye . . . follow afterrighteousnessthe godly portion of the nation; Isa51:7 shows this (Pro 15:9;1Ti 6:11). “Ye followrighteousness,” seek it therefore from Me, who “bring itnear,” and that a righteousness “not about to be abolished”(Isa 51:6; Isa 51:7);look to Abraham, your father (Isa51:2), as a sample of how righteousness before Me is to beobtained; I, the same God who blessed him, will bless you at last(Isa 51:3); therefore trust inMe, and fear not man’s opposition (Isa 51:7;Isa 51:8; Isa 51:12;Isa 51:13). The mistake of theJews, heretofore, has been, not in that they “followed afterrighteousness,” but in that they followed it “by the worksof the law,” instead of “by faith,” as Abraham did(Rom 9:31; Rom 9:32;Rom 10:3; Rom 10:4;Rom 4:2-5).
hole of . . . pitTheidea is not, as it is often quoted, the inculcation of humility, byreminding men of the fallen state from which they have been taken,but that as Abraham, the quarry, as it were (compare Isa48:1), whence their nation was hewn, had been called out of astrange land to the inheritance of Canaan, and blessed by God, thesame God is able to deliver and restore them also (compare Mt3:9).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Hearken unto me, ye that follow after righteousness,…. After having declared the doom of the wicked, and those that trust to their own righteousness, the Lord returns to them that fear him, whom he describes as such that “follow after righteousness”; not the righteousness of the law, it is the character of carnal Israel to follow after that; nor is that attainable in the way it is pursued by such; nor is there any justification by it; nor is following that consistent with seeking the Lord, in the next clause: but the righteousness of Christ is meant; not his essential righteousness as God; nor the righteousness of his office as Mediator; but that which consists of his active and passive obedience; of which he is the author and giver, and is in him as its subject: this is what is commonly called imputed righteousness, an evangelical one, the righteousness of faith, and is justifying: “following after” this supposes a want of one; a sense of that want; a view of this as out of themselves, and in another; a love and liking of it, and a vehement desire for it; and what determines to an eager pursuit of it are its perfection, suitableness, and use: now such persons are called to hearken to the Lord; to the Word of the Lord, as the Targum; to Christ, to his Gospel, and to his ordinances, particularly to what is after said:
ye that seek the Lord: the Lord Christ, for life and salvation; for righteousness and strength; for more grace from him; a greater knowledge of him, and of doctrine from him, as the Targum; and more communion with him; that seek his honour and glory in the world, and to be for ever with him; who seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; that seek him where he may be found, affectionately and sincerely, carefully, diligently, constantly, and for everything they want:
look unto the rock whence ye are hewn; which is in the next verse interpreted of Abraham; so called, not so much for the strength of his faith, as for his old age; when he looked like a hard dry rock, from whom no issue could be expected; and yet from hence a large number of stones were hewn, or a race of men sprung:
and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged; that is, to Sarah, who was for a long time barren, whose womb was shut up, but afterwards opened; and from whom, as from a cistern, (to which a wife is sometimes compared, Pr 5:15) flowed the waters of Judah, Isa 48:1 or the Jewish nation. Jerom thinks Christ is meant by both, the Rock of ages, in whom is everlasting strength; to whom men are to look for salvation, righteousness, and strength; and out of whose pierced side flowed blood and water: and in this sense he is followed by Cocceius, who interprets the rock of Christ, the Rock of salvation; out of whose side flowed the church, as out of the hole of a pit or cistern.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The prophetic address now turns again from the despisers of the word, whom it has threatened with the torment of fire, to those who long for salvation. “Hearken to me, ye that are in pursuit of righteousness, ye that seek Jehovah. Look up to the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hollow of the pit whence ye are dug. Look up toe Abraham your forefather, and to Sara who bare you, that he was one when I called him, and blessed him, and multiplied him. For Jehovah hath comforted Zion, comforted all her ruins, and turned her desert like Eden, and her steppe as into the garden of God; joy and gladness are found in her, thanksgiving and sounding music.” The prophecy is addressed to those who are striving after the right kind of life and seeking Jehovah, and not turning from Him to make earthly things and themselves the object of their pursuit; for such only are in a condition by faith to regard that as possible, and in spirit to behold that as real, which seems impossible, and in spirit to behold that as real, which seems impossible to human understanding, because the very opposite is lying before the eye of the senses. Abraham and Sarah they are mentally to set before them, for they are types of the salvation to be anticipated now. Abraham is the rock whence the stones were hewn, of which the house of Jacob is composed; and Sarah with her maternal womb the hollow of the pit out of which Israel was brought to the light, just as peat is dug out of a pit, or copper out of a mine. The marriage of Abraham and Sarah was for a long time unfruitful; it was, as it were, out of hard stone that God raised up children to Himself in Abraham and Sarah. The rise of Israel was a miracle of divine power and grace. In antithesis to the masculine tsur , bor is made into a feminine through maqqebheth , which is chosen with reference to n e qebhah . to we must supply … , and to , … . Isa 51:2 informs them who the rock and the hollow of the pit are, viz., Abraham your forefather, and Sarah t e cholelkhem , who bare you with all the pains of childbirth: “ you,” for the birth of Isaac, the son of promise, was the birth of the nation. The point to be specially looked at in relation to Abraham (in comparison with whom Sarah falls into the background) is given in the words quod unum vocavi eum (that he was one when I called him). The perfect relates the single call of divine grace, which removed Abraham from the midst of idolaters into the fellowship of Jehovah. The futures that follow (with Vav cop.) point out the blessing and multiplication that were connected with it (Gen 12:1-2). He is called one ( ‘ echad as in Eze 33:24; Mal 2:15), because he was one at the time of his call, and yet through the might of the divine blessing became the root of the whole genealogical tree of Israel, and of a great multitude of people that branched off from it. This is what those who are now longing for salvation are to remember, strengthening themselves by means of the olden time in their faith in the future which so greatly resembles it. The corresponding blessing is expressed in preterites ( nicham , vayyasem ), inasmuch as to the eye of faith and in prophetic vision the future has the reality of a present and the certainty of a completed fact. Zion, the mother of Israel (Isa 50:1), the counterpart of Sarah, the ancestress of the nation-Zion, which is now mourning so bitterly, because she is lying waste and in ruins – is comforted by Jehovah. The comforting word of promise (Isa 40:1) becomes, in her case, the comforting fact of fulfilment (Isa 49:13). Jehovah makes her waste like Eden (lxx ), like a garden, as glorious as if it had been directly planted by Himself (Gen 13:10; Num 24:6). And this paradise is not without human occupants; but when you enter it you find joy and gladness therein, and hear thanksgiving at the wondrous change that has taken place, as well as the voice of melody ( zimrah as in Amo 5:23). The pleasant land is therefore full of men in the midst of festal enjoyment and activity. As Sarah gave birth to Isaac after a long period of barrenness, so Zion, a second Sarah, will be surrounded by a joyous multitude of children after a long period of desolation.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Encouragement to the Disconsolate. | B. C. 706. |
1 Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. 2 Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. 3 For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
Observe, 1. How the people of God are here described, to whom the word of this consolation is sent and who are called upon to hearken to it, v. 1. They are such as follow after righteousness, such as are very desirous and solicitous both to be justified and to be sanctified, are pressing hard after this, to have the favour of God restored to them and the image of God renewed on them. These are those that seek the Lord, for it is only in the say of righteousness that we can seek him with any hope of finding him. 2. How they are here directed to look back to their original, and the smallness of their beginning: “Look unto the rock whence you were hewn” (the idolatrous family in Ur of the Chaldees, out of which Abraham was taken, the generation of slaves which the heads and fathers of their tribes were in Egypt); “look unto the hole of the pit out of which you were digged, as clay, when God formed you into a people.” Note, It is good for those that are privileged by a new birth to consider what they were by their first birth, how they were conceived in iniquity and shapen in sin. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. How hard was that rock out of which we were hewn, unapt to receive impressions, and how miserable the hole of that pit out of which we were digged! The consideration of this should fill us with low thoughts of ourselves and high thoughts of divine grace. Those that are now advanced would do well to remember how low they began (v. 2): “Look unto Abraham your father, the father of all the faithful, of all that follow after the righteousness of faith as he did (Rom. iv. 11), and unto Sarah that bore you, and whose daughters you all are as long as you do well. Think how Abraham was called alone, and yet was blessed and multiplied; and let that encourage you to depend upon the promise of God even when a sentence of death seems to be upon all the means that lead to the performance of it. Particularly let it encourage the captives in Babylon, though they are reduced to a small number, and few of them left, to hope that yet they shall increase so as to replenish their own land again.” When Jacob is very small, yet he is not so small as Abraham was, who yet became father of many nations. “Look unto Abraham, and see what he got by trusting in the promise of God, and take example by him to follow God with an implicit faith.” 3. How they are here assured that their present seedness of tears should at length end in a harvest of joys, v. 3. The church of God on earth, even the gospel Zion, has sometimes had her deserts and waste places, many parts of the church, through either corruption or persecution, made like a wilderness, unfruitful to God or uncomfortable to the inhabitants; but God will find out a time and way to comfort Zion, not only by speaking comfortably to her, but by acting graciously for her. God has comforts in store even for the waste places of his church, for those parts of it that seem not regarded or valued. (1.) He will make them fruitful, and so give them cause to rejoice; her wildernesses shall put on a new face, and look pleasant as Eden, and abound in all good fruits, as the garden of the Lord. Note, It is the greatest comfort of the church to be made serviceable to the glory of God, and to be as his garden in which he delights. (2.) He will make them cheerful, and so give them hearts to rejoice. With the fruits of righteousness, joy and gladness shall be found therein; for the more holiness men have, and the more good they do, the more gladness they have. And where there is gladness, to their satisfaction, it is fit that there should be thanksgiving, to God’s honour; for whatever is the matter of our rejoicing ought to be the matter of our thanksgiving; and the returns of God’s favour ought to be celebrated with the voice of melody, which will be the more melodious when God gives songs in the night, songs in the desert.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
ISAIAH – CHAPTER 51
EXHORTATIONS TO THE FAITHFUL REMNANT
Vs. 1-3: AN ILLUSTRATION OF DIVINE FAITHFULLNESS
1. Such as follow after righteousness, in seeking the Lord and His will for their lives, are called upon to “hearken” – hear and heed, (vs. 1).
a. Spiritual life is received and sustained by heeding the word of God – trusting in, and entrusting all unto the Lord.
b. They are to look to the rock from whence they were hewn (Abraham), and to the pit from whence they were digged (Sarah).
1) God dug them from the quarry of idolatry.- aged, impotent, and childless.
2) Religiously, they were idolaters; physically, they were the same as dead.
3) Yet, God chose them to be instruments of divine service, and fully enabled them to be all that He expected them to be – to the extent that they trusted in Him.
2. When Abraham was but one, God called him; blessing him, He multiplied his seed, so that he became the father of many nations, (vs. 2; Gen 12:1-4; Gen 15:5-6; Deu 1:8-11; Eze 33:24-25).
a. Abraham counted God faithful and lived in daily expectancy of the fulfillment of His promise, (Rom 4:16-25).
b. And Israel ought to return to the Lord with her whole heart -walk in the steps of her ancient Father’s faith, (Rom 4:11-13).
3. This should encourage the remnant to lay hold on the divine promise (written here in a prophetic present tense) concerning Zion, and the coming fertility of her waste places, (vs. 3; Isa 52:9-10).
a. Her wilderness will be as Eden; her desert like the garden of the Lord, (Isa 35:1; Isa 41:19; Gen 2:8; Gen 13:10).
b. Thus, joy, gladness, thanksgiving and the voice of melodious praise will again be heard within her walls, (Isa 25:9; Isa 65:18; Isa 66:10-14).
c. So, Jehovah comforts (speaks to the heart of) His people, (Isa 40:1; Isa 49:13).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
1 Hearken to me, ye that follow righteousness. The Prophet now exhorts the Jews not to despair because they are few in number; for they had been cut down and diminished to such a degree that they appeared to be on the eve of being reduced to nothing, while there was little or no hope of any to succeed them. He therefore reminds them of their origin, that they may know that, though they are a small remnant, God can increase and multiply them; and he bids them contemplate their father Abraham, who, though he was a single individual, grew to a vast number, and received from God a numerous posterity. Hence they might infer that God, who, in so short a period, had multiplied their fathers, would in future multiply them also; because his power has not been diminished, and his will has not been changed.
Look to the rock of your hewing. (21) Some are of opinion that Abraham is called a “Rock,” because, as Paul declares, “he was strong in faith.” (Rom 4:20.) Others assign a totally opposite meaning to this metaphor; for they think that he is called a “Rock,” because he was worn out by age, and that Sarah is called a Pit, because she was barren. But both, in my opinion, are in the wrong; for it is a simple metaphor, taken from quarries, and declares that they have descended from Abraham and Sarah, as stones are cut out of a “rock” and a “pit.” Amidst the ruin of the nation it was highly necessary that the godly should be supported by this doctrine and admonition. God had promised that the seed of Abraham should be “as the stars of heaven,” (Gen 15:5,) and as “the sand of the sea.” (Gen 22:17.) This promise had apparently failed amidst that desolation in which they who were left hardly differed at all from a few clusters when the vintage was ended.
But since they had already known by experience how powerful was the strength of God to create a vast people out of nothing, the Prophet bids them cherish favorable hopes, that they may not be ungrateful to God; and he addresses his discourse directly to believers, to whom this was a sore temptation. He does not speak to all, but to those only who could rely on the promise, that is, to those whom he calls “followers of righteousness;” for the country abounded with unbelievers and hypocrites, who had formerly revolted from the practice of piety; and so much the more laudable was the steadfastness of those who did not cease to follow what was right. Wherever “righteousness” is practiced, there God is listened to; and wherever unbelief reigns, reliance cannot be placed on any promise. (22) Although therefore they boasted that they were the children of Abraham, yet all were not capable of receiving this doctrine.
Ye that seek Jehovah. He explains the method of “following righteousness” to consist in “seeking the Lord;” for they who make an outward shew of “righteousness,” and do not aim at this end, must have wandered during their whole life. These two things, therefore, must be joined together; namely, the practice of righteousness and seeking God.
(21) “ Regardez a la pierre dont vous avez este coupez.” “Look to the stone whence you were hewn.”
(22) “ On ne sauroit recevoir promesse queleonque.” “No promise whatever can be believed.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE DUTY AND THE BENEFITS OF RETROSPECTION
Isa. 51:1. Hearken unto me, ye that follow after righteousness, &c.
These words were addressed to the pious remnant of true believers among the Jews. They were in an afflicted and discouraged state, and needed appropriate direction and support. What help does the prophet give them? He bids them candidly and closely compare past things with present circumstances, and thus see whether there was not ground for consolation and encouragement; for this is the meaning and object of the figurative exhortation in the text. Were they grieved and discouraged at the depressed condition of the Church? Let them call to mind how small its beginnings had been, how unpromising its commencement; the Lord called Abraham alone, as a single individual, and yet had so blessed and increased him, that out of this rock the whole nation and Church of Israel had been produced. He who had done so much for Israel, could He not do more? Reflections of this nature would tend to instruct and comfort them under existing circumstances; would point out their duty, and minister consolation.
From this counsel addressed to the Jews, I infer that in like manner it is the duty, and will be for the benefit of every true servant of God, occasionally to reflect on his own, original state, on the rise and progress of religion in his own soul, and on the experience which he has thus individually had of the Divine power, goodness, and mercy. Such retrospection will tend to the increase of many graces in his soul:
1. Humility. It will not be possible for him to think of what he was, without feelings of self-abasement; without a check being given to that unholy pride which is so apt to spring up in every breast.
2. Contentment. No man who remembers from what a pit of corruption he was taken by Divine grace will complain that a more elevated, conspicuous, and honourable position in the Church has not been allotted him. If he has been made so much as a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord, he will give thanks.
3. Lowly dependence on Divine help. A survey of his spiritual history will lead him to say with the apostle (1Co. 15:10), and to feel how much he needs the same Divine help to enable him to hold the beginning of confidence steadfast unto the end.
4. Courage. When he remembers how God has helped him in all his troubles, and delivered him in all his temptations, and ministered to all his necessities, he will dismiss all fears as to the future, and will say with wisdom, what the ungodly say in their folly, To-morrow shall be as this day, and much more abundant The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be (Ecc. 1:9).Edward Cooper: Practical and Familiar Sermons, vol. iv. 327346.
These words were intended to encourage Gods ancient people in their expectations of deliverance from the calamities that had befallen them on account of their sins. They are addressed to the pious portion of the people. They introduce the prophecy which is continued to chap. Isa. 52:12. The prophet begins by meeting the fear that the difficulties in the way of so great a deliverance were too formidable. He refers to the origin of the nation, and bids the people mark how much greater difficulties had been overcome. Abraham had been called out of Ur of the Chaldees, to be the founder of their race. Sarah was old and unlikely to have a child. Yet a son was born to them, and in the course of time the promise of a numerous posterity was fulfilled (Isa. 51:2). And if there are difficulties now in the way; if their iniquity is enormous, and if the power of Babylon is overwhelming, He who overcame the former difficulties can overcome these.
The words of the text are applicable still. Here is
I. A DESCRIPTION OF GODS PEOPLE.
Ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord. Two objects of pursuit are pointed out: the Lord and righteousness. They represent the character of the persons described, and their relation to God. These are the two things comprehended in all earnest religion. They suppose
1. Appreciation. He who is earnest in religion has compared a happy relation to God, and the possession of the righteousness that distinguishes His people, with the world and sin. He has found the world worthless. He cannot be happy in sin. He finds that his happiness needs deliverance from it, and a conscious interest in God as his Father and his Friend.
2. Effort. Therefore he seeks the Lord, he follows after righteousness. How does he do this? He whose mind is set on the attainment of an end that commends itself as valuable to him, pursues it by all suitable means. If it is the student seeking knowledge, the sick man seeking health, the ambitious man seeking position, or the business man seeking money, he spares no effort until his end be gained. And he who earnestly desires the possession of spiritual blessings will make every suitable effort. He will consult the Scriptures, frequent the ministry of the Gospel, labour for the removal of obstacles, pray for divine acceptance, comply with the divine command to repent and believe.
3. Progression. Follow. Seek. As this is a permanent description, it supposes that however much of God and His righteousness may be obtained as the result of effort, the point is never reached at which further possession of spiritual blessing and further discovery of God are impossible and needless. There is room for a growing attainment to the end of life. Christians desire advancement on to perfection. They are directed to grow in grace, to press toward the mark.
II. A DIRECTION TO GODS PEOPLE.
Look unto the rock whence ye were hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye were digged.
1. What is involved in this remembrance? Great as they had becomea people built into a magnificent palacethey lay in the rude quarry until the Divine Workman digged them out. At that time none could foresee what they would become. And we are now Christians; but we were not always such. This spiritual habitation of God once lay in the cold rock of fallen, ruined nature. We should remember the sins we at that time committed, the evil propensities and habits we indulged, which were the special barriers in the way of our conversion. We should remember evil surroundingssuch as companionships, business influences, exposure to temptation, which increased the difficulty. We should remember that we are what we are, not by the development of good principles always strong in our nature, but by the conversion of our nature, which was accomplished by nothing less than the power of God.
2. What advantage is this remembrance?
(1.) It preserves and deepens humility. Persons who have rapidly risen in the world sometimes assume airs which constrain observers to say that they have forgotten what they once were. A celebrated minister, who in early life had been a working stonemason, is said to have kept in his study, through a long life, the tools with which he had worked, so that he could look at them whenever he was unduly lifted up. The apostle Paul looked back to what he was previous to his conversion (1Ti. 1:13). God might have left us to ourselves to wander farther from Him. But for the grace of God we might have been to-day as bad as the worst men we know. Those have not right views of the degrading evil of sin who can boast of their former exploits in sin, or so speak of them as to excite the mirth of the listener. If we had committed a great crime against human society and law, we should never think or speak of it without shame.
(2.) It magnifies the grace of God. The work by which we passed from darkness into light was the work of the Divine Spirit. Every regenerated soul has been an object of Divine thought from eternity. The beautiful stone you pick up on the shore has been rolled and polished by the waters in the course of ages. Geologic changes that brought the earth to its present form are interesting to the student because of their high antiquity. But their age is as nothing to Him whose goings forth have been of old from everlasting. Pieces of rock are found which, when split open, display the very slant of the rain-drop which fell on the sandstone of a primval period. But what if one were to find, on such a stone, an inscription referring back to thoughts of love concerning him which were entertained in that distant past? Those thoughts were entertained. They have been carried into effect. Let your thankful song arise.
(3.) It encourages Christian faith and hope. There are difficulties, temptations, weaknesses between us and the great future that is promised. But Israel was encouraged to trust by looking back on the way God had led them and their fathers. See what He has done for you, and believe in the preservation, the resurrection, the heaven. And thus encourage others as well as yourselves. In me first. Encourage coming sinners.
Are you hewn? or still in the quarry? Resist not Him who would dig you out.J. Rawlinson.
Introduction, see preceding outlines.
I. THE CHARACTERS ADDRESSED.
1. Followers of righteousness. That is righteousness of character, obtained in justification (Rom. 4:24). Righteousness of nature, received in regeneration (1Jn. 3:9). Righteousness of practice, displayed in the acts and exercises of an obedient life (1Jn. 3:7). Those who have been justified and regenerated, follow after righteousnessprayerfully, diligently, and progressively.
2. They that seek the Lord. This is sometimes put for the commencement of religion, and sometimes for the sum of it. The latter sense is the meaning of the text. Their desires are after God. His face and favour they constantly prize and seek. They seek
(1.) The blessing of God in prayer.
(2.) The presence of God in ordinances.
(3.) The smile of God in duties.
(4.) The aid of God in difficulties.
(5.) The approbation of God in all things.
II. THE DUTIES ENJOINED.
1. Attention. Hearken unto me. God is our Sovereign, and He claims our subjection and attention; we are to hearken to all His laws and precepts. He is our Redeemer; and we are to hearken to all the statements of His grace and mercy. He is our Friend; and we are to hearken to all His advice and counsel. We are to hearken to Him as He addresses us through His works, providences, word, servants, and especially through His Son and Spirit. We are to hearken to Him on all subjects and at all timeshumbly, affectionately, cheerfully.
2. Retrospection. Look to the rock, &c. Observe
(1.) Our original state. A part of the common rock of depravityhard, cold, inflexible. In the hole of the pit (Psa. 40:1). Pit of depravity and defilement, misery, imminent peril, utter human helplessness.
(2.) Our present state. Hewn from the rock. Digged out of the pit. God saw, and pitied, and saved us. By His word and Spirit He made us soft and tender; and He exalted us, justified us, &c. How great, total, blessed the change!
(3.) Our present duty is to look unto the rock, &c. We should look, and be humble, grateful, obedient, useful, watchful, that we are not again entangled in that yoke of bondage.
Application. The sinfulness, misery, and danger of mankind by nature. The goodness of God, and the efficiency of His grace. The grateful remembrance of His mercy, which His people should cultivate.Four Hundred Sketches and Skeletons, 6th ed., vol. ii pp. 187189.
A BRIGHT LIGHT IN DEEP SHADES
Isa. 51:1. Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord; look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.
The Israelites were commanded to remember all the way which the Lord their God had led them in the wilderness. The remembrance of Gods mercy in the past will often prove bracing to our souls. Should we become rich and increased in goods spiritually, it will humble us and keep us in our right place, if we remember that once we were naked, and poor, and miserable. It will also excite our thankfulness. Gods people are always happy when they are grateful. We should be ten times more full of bliss if we were proportionately more full of thankfulness. We bury Gods mercies, and then sigh for His comforts.
In this particular instance Isaiah was led by the Spirit of God to admonish the Israelites to look back, that they might be cheered in a time of gloom and sadness, and animated with fresh confidence in Gods power to bring them up again from their sad condition, as they thought of all that He had done for them when they were even in a worse plight.
I. THE TEXT IN ITS APPLICATION TO ISRAEL LITERALLY. They are bidden to look back to the origin of their nation, in order that they may be comforted.
Abraham was the stock out of which the nation of Israel came. He was only one man. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you, for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. From these two, who seemed the least likely of all flesh and blood, God was pleased to create a people countless as the stars. You say, God can never restore us; we have been thinned out by innumerable invasions; the sword of war hath slain the tribes; Judah and Israel can never rise again. But are there not more left of you than there were at first? There were but two, Abraham and Sarah that bare you, and yet God made you a people. Can He not make you a people again? You are not lower now than you were then. You say that you are in poverty; true, but these your progenitors were not great on the earth. You say that you have no strength, that the men of valour have ceased, and that you are not skilful in the use of arms. Be it so, neither were your first ancestors expert in war; they were but few and feeble in the land, yet God preserved them, wrought great deliverances for them, and brought the country to great strength and power; and cannot He who did this for them do the same again for you, now that He promises to visit you and to restore you?
The thoughts which would be awakened in the heart of a Jew by these reflections would be eminently consolatory. They ought to be consolatory to us now with regard to the Jewish people. We are encouraged, from the very origin of Israel, to hope that great things shall yet be done for her.
II. OUR TEXT MAY BE USED IN REFERENCE TO THE CONDITION OF THE CHURCH. Let us look back to the rock whence we were hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence Christs Church was digged. We shall see great encouragement under present discouragements if we do so.
Many of the people of God scarcely dare look for brighter times, because they say the people of God are few. Nominal professors abound, but vital godliness, say they, where shall we find it? Hope in thy God! Was not the Church very small at first? It could all be contained in one upper room. But did not the Lord strengthen His Church in the apostolic times? How speedily did the 120 grow to 3000! How soon the 3000 multiplied a hundredfold! How soon all nations felt the growing power of the Church! And, in the dark ages, God had but to speak by His servant Luther, and brave men came to his side, and right soon His Church sprang up. Look back, then, if discouraged with the fewness of Gods people, to the rock whence the Church was hewn.
But is it possible, you say, while the Church of God in these days possesses so few men of influence? Was it not said that it should be so of old? Did not inspiration say, Not many great men after the flesh, not many mighty have been called, but God hath chosen the poor of this world? Do ye suppose that God has changed His plans, or that mens hearts have changed their bias? It will be so to the end of the chapter.
But alas! saith one, I see grave cause for sorrow, for in these days many have departed from the faith, and truth lies in the streets bespattered. It is even so. The times are dark and ominous, and thick clouds are gathering; but for all this there is no room for fear. Put not thine hand upon the ark of the Lord, like Uzzah, for God will preserve it; it is safe in His keeping. There have been eras and epochs in which gross heresies spread a contagion through the entire Church. The period at which Arianism was so prominent comes at once to our recollection. That Christ was merely a man was almost the universal belief of Christendom. Only a few faithful ones maintained His Godhead at all hazards. But, today, where is Arianism? It has gone among the moles and the bats; the few that held the truth survived the deadly epidemic, and won the victory after all. In the dark ages Romanism was not only predominant, but it seemed to be and it really was all but universal; yet by the bright shining of His revealed word, did not God soon chase away the dense shades of ignorance and superstition? So will it be again.
Again, some brother cries, It is not merely that error spreads in the land, but the Church is lukewarm in these times. The indictment is true. Still I see no cause for our being dispirited. The Church has been in a like listless state before, and out of that languid condition God has roused her up and brought her forth.
III. OUR TEXT MAY BE VIEWED AS INSTRUCTIVE TO OURSELVES. To some of Gods people there come hours of terrible despondency (Isa. 1:10). Let them, then, remember the pit of corruption out of which they were dug. The same merciful and almighty power is ready to enable them to keep to the paths of righteousness, and to chase away the darkness that distresses them. Let them look back to what God has done for them, and then they will learn to look forward with hope.
IV. OUR TEXT MAY BE FITTINGLY USED TO ENCOURAGE OUR HOPE FOR OTHERS. Suffer not your thoughts about the character of any man you are trying to save to damp your ardour. Do not say, I am afraid his is a hopeless case. Look unto the rock whence you were hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence you were digged. The same grace that sufficed for you will suffice for him. Therefore, work on!C. H. Spurgeon: Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, No. 1050.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
3. RULE, CHAPTER 51
a. TURN TO JUSTICE
TEXT: Isa. 51:1-8
1
Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek Jehovah: look unto the rock whence ye were hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye were digged.
2
Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you; for when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him, and made him many.
3
For Jehovah hath comforted Zion; he hath comforted all her waste places, and hath made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Jehovah; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
4
Attend unto me, O my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall go forth from me, and I will establish my justice for a light of the peoples.
5
My righteousness is near, my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the peoples; the isles shall wait for me, and on mine arm shall they trust.
6
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath; for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment; and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.
7
Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye dismayed at their revilings.
8
For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool; but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation unto all generations.
QUERIES
a.
Why look unto Abraham and Sarah?
b.
Is the garden of Eden to be reestablished on earth?
c.
How could anyone have the law of God in their heart before Christ?
PARAPHRASE
Listen to Me, you small and fearful remnant: If you are truly seeking to know Jehovah and wanting His way of life, look unto the character of your ancestors Abraham and Sarahthat is where you will find an example of what you seek. I called this one man, Abraham, and he responded in faith and obedience. I delivered him from all that opposed him and made of him a great nation. Now Jehovah has promised to deliver and strengthen true Zion, a small remnant though she may be. He has promised to change Zions despair and destitution into a salvation that will restore the fellowship between Him and man which was present in Eden. True joy and thanksgiving will abound when this has come to pass. Listen to Me, O My people: 1 am going to send into the world the final and full expression of My will and it will be a revelation to the Gentiles as well, to bring them to salvation. This is nearit is as good as done. When it comes to fulfillment (and it is beginning now), it will be both salvation and judgment; salvation for all (even Gentiles) who trust in Me, and judgment upon those who reject My will. Study the universe: both the heavens and the earth are doomed to disintegration and dissolution. All humanity likewise is dying. But what I will and what I work shall endure forever. Listen to Me, you who have allowed My will to rule your mind and heart so that you are doing right: Do not fear the threats of human beings, no matter how powerful they may appear to be. They will all be consumed and disappear like a garment eaten by moths, but My righteousness and salvation will endure forever.
COMMENTS
Isa. 51:1-5 ESTABLISHED: This chapter predicts the coming of Jehovahs rule of justice through His law. It is, of course, an integral part of the whole section discussing Salvation Through Gods Servant (ch. 4053). Thus we are to understand Jehovahs predicted rule of justice will be through the coming Servant. This chapter is a special message to that small remnant of true believers contemporary with Isaiah. They are designated ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek Jehovah. The majority of people in Isaiahs day did not follow after righteousness. And even the remnant which did was sorely tempted to give up all hope. In view of the depraved morality and hypocritical religiosity of most of Israel and in view of the dreadful predictions of the true prophets of God that Babylonian captivity was near, the remnant must be encouraged. This remnant was sincere in its search for righteousness. The Hebrew word rodephey is translated follow after in the ASV, but is stronger and more properly translated pursue as in the RSV. There was not much righteousness to be found among this nation. They were a people laden with iniquity (Isa. 1:4, etc.). Only a few disciples of Isaiah (Isa. 8:16) desired real justice and the rule of Jehovah. The Lord encourages them to believe that He will establish His rule of justice by directing them to look backward to what He did through Abraham and to look forward to what He promises to do in the future. To the tiny remnant of Isaiahs disciples it may appear impossible that Jehovahs rule of justice will ever be established. However, Jehovah is able to do the impossible! Let the remnant look back to the rock from which the nation was hewnAbrahamand the hole of the pit from which it was diggedSarah. That Jehovah could produce a nation of many people from one man and woman who were past the age of childbearing was thought impossible. Nevertheless, from one lone sojourner who had a wife whose womb was barren and who was beyond the age of bearing children and who bore only one child, God produced a nation. Of course, Jehovah could not have done it without the faith of Abraham and Sarah (cf. Rom. 4:1-25; Gal. 3:6-9; Gal. 4:21-27; Heb. 11:8-12; Heb. 11:17-22; Jas. 2:18-26). This is the point. God is able to save this remnant and through them establish His rule of justice, but they must be people of stedfast faith like their forefather Abraham. Through one man, Abraham, and through the one son of Abraham, Isaac, God formed a people for Himself. But this people rejected His rule. Through the one Seed (Christ) of Abraham, Jehovah will produce a new Israel who will submit to His rule (cf. Gal. 3:15-29; Gal. 6:13-16). Isaiahs remnant must believe even though they may not receive what is promised; they must see it and greet it from afar (cf. Heb. 11:13-16). A remnant must be preserved through which the Messiah-Servant may come and establish the rule of Jehovahs justice (cf. Isa. 9:7; Isa. 11:1-9, etc.).
Jehovahs comforting of Zion will reach its culmination in the coming Servant (cf. comments Isa. 40:1-11; Isa. 49:13). Verse three is in the predictive present. What Jehovah will do through the Servant is so certain it may be spoken of by Him as having already been accomplished! When the Servant finishes comforting Zion, all Zions spiritual desolation and moral destitution will be turned into a righteousness that will be like Eden restored. The prophet is not here intending that the land of Palestine shall be physically restored to the flora and fauna of pre-fallen Eden. This world is destined (including Palestine) for destruction (cf. 2Pe. 3:1-13). The prophet is speaking of a restoration of spiritual paradise; a restored Zion over which Jehovah rules in righteousness and justice, in which there shall be joy and gladness (see comments Isa. 35:8-10).
Jehovah will comfort Zion through a rule of torah (law). This is not the law of Moses in commandments and ordinances which stood against us (Col. 2:13-15). No man could be justified by that law (cf. Gal. 3:10-14; Gal. 5:1-6). This is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (cf. Rom. 8:1-17). Young calls it, in particular . . . the law of faith, given by the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith (Rom. 16:26). It is that final and full revelation of the will of God for mans salvation which also sets before man what God requires of him. It is the same going forth of His law as predicted in Isa. 2:1-4. This rule of Jehovah through the law of the Servant will provide light for all people (cf. comments on Isa. 9:1 ff).
The Lords righteousness is near. Near is relative to Gods perspective! All time is as one day with Jehovah. When He declares a thing, it is as good as done. He will begin His great work toward this coming of the Servant with the Babylonian captivity and release from it through Cyrus. Israel may know Jehovahs salvation is on its way when they see Him judge the peoples by His arm. When these great empires fall and Israel continues to survive she may know that His salvation is so certain it may be said to be near (Heb. 11:13-16). For a discussion of the meaning of isles see comments on Isa. 41:1 ff.
Isa. 51:6-8 ENDURING: What seems as if it will go on and on, unalterably fixed and sure (the heavens and the earth) will one day vanish. Even the perpetuity of the human race seems assured. But it too will expire. Only that which is saved by Jehovah will endure forever. What is declared right (His righteousness) by Jehovah is eternal because that is truth. Anything declared not right by Jehovah will perish. And how does man know what God declares right?by hearkening unto Gods law! And what is this law which is in the heart?it is the law of Christ, the law of faith which was in the heart of Abraham and by which he was justified (cf. Rom. 4:1-25). It is the will of God concerning redemption through the Servant (cf. Isa. 42:1-4)the Servants law. That this law (or will) of God concerning future salvation through an atoning Servant was written on the hearts of some before Christ was born is evidenced by Abraham rejoicing to see Christs day (Joh. 8:56), Isaiah seeing the glory of the Christ (Joh. 12:41), the prophets inquiring about Him (1Pe. 1:10-12) and from all the faithful in Hebrews, chapter 11. The prophecy in Jer. 31:31-34 does not exclude every Jew of the Old Testament dispensation from the capacity to have Gods law written on their heart through faith. If that should be the case, it would contradict Romans 4, et al. The Jeremiah 31 passage, taken in harmony with this passage in Isaiah, seems to say that out of a small remnant of O.T. saints who believe Gods promises about an atoning Servant (the law of Jehovah about the Servant written on their hearts), Jehovah is going to form a new covenant people who will be covenant people only because they have His law written on their hearts and not because they were physically born to a particular nationality. In other words, there was a nucleus of people in the O.T. with Jehovahs will (law) written on their hearts and they were justified, in prospect, by their faith. When the Servant came and fulfilled the predicted atonement, these O.T. believers were justified in fact (cf. Heb. 9:15-16). The message of God expressed in all the sacrifices and offerings and in all the prophecies of the suffering Servant was that man could not atone for his sins by any worksGod alone could provide atonement. Now when the O.T. believer took that to heart, with the moral and doctrinal implications it had for his life, then he had the law of God written on his heart! The goal of all this is, of course, the New Testament dispensation. Without that goal the faith of the O.T. believer could not have justified him. If the Servant had not come and accomplished the atonement which was typified and prophesied there could have been no law of God written on any heart either before the fact or after. The N.T. covenant is enacted upon better promises because it is after the fact of the Servants work.
Those who have the law of faith written on their hearts do not need to fear the threats of those who stand in opposition to the rule of Jehovahs Servant. Those who stand for the rule of the Servant will always be in the minority. Those who stand against the rule of the Servant will always be in the majority and will control all the resources of human power. But Jehovah has revealed historically that He is more powerful than all human power put together. His righteousness (what He declares right) will endure every opposition. There may be those of ethnic Israel who do not want to know that what God says is right (cf. Isa. 30:9-11), but those who are true Israel do not need to fear for what God says is right and will last forever.
QUIZ
1.
What is following after righteousness?
2.
What relationship does Abraham have to the needs of Isaiahs audience?
3.
How will Jehovah comfort Zion?
4.
What is the law that goes forth from Jehovah?
5.
How is the Lords salvation near?
6.
How may we say some of the people of Isaiahs day had the law of God written on their hearts?
7.
How are they to know the righteousness of God can withstand all opposition and endure forever?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
LI.
(1) Look unto the rock.The implied argument is, that the wonder involved in the origin of Israel is as a ground of faith in its restoration and perpetuity. The rock is, of course, Abraham, the pit, Sarah.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
1. Hearken to me This formula is used when there is a turn from one class of hearers to another.
Ye that follow ye that seek the Lord The address is to those who fully observe the law, lead just lives, and desire entire approval from Jehovah. Look unto the rock whence
hewn hole whence digged Abraham, who was a selected block, so to speak, out of the original quarry of mankind. The pit therein was formed in extracting the chosen mass on which to build up the house of Israel. That Sarah is named is theologically of account only to connect with the “rock” figure, Jehovah’s task in raising up a race from this father of much people, whose marriage life with Sarah was long fruitless, and called at length for God’s miracle to bring the desired progeny. The mention of Israel is, too, a poetic help to the parallelism.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
God’s Call To His True People To Consider Abraham ( Isa 51:1-3 ).
The first call goes out to ‘listen’. They are to hear His voice as He reminds them about Abraham, the man of faith, who is the father of all who have faith. He was blessed because of his faith (Gen 15:6). Those who would be blessed must be blessed because of their connection with, and likeness to, faithful Abraham. And all has come from the one man to whom God had promised that he would become many.
Isa 51:1-2
“Listen to me you who follow after righteousness,
You who seek Yahweh.
Look to the rock from which you were hewn,
And to the hole of the pit from which you were dug.
Look to Abraham, your father,
And to Sarah, who bore you,
For when he was but one I called him,
And I blessed him and made him many.”
Isaiah now speaks to the believers in Israel, the faithful, those who follow after righteousness and seek Yahweh. To ‘seek’ does not mean try to find Him, but to seek to enter into all His fullness. They know Him and they want to enjoy Him more fully. He tells them to look to Abraham, their father, and to Sarah who bore them. They are now all seen as descendants of Abraham by faith, and within the line of promise through Sarah. He is the rock from which they were hewn, and if they look back they can see the hole in the quarry from which they were dug. They were dug out of him. Thus their position and privilege stems from Abraham.
This ‘descent’ was of course a descent through faith. The majority of them were not literally descended from Abraham. But they had all become linked in one way or anther with the family tribe of Abraham and the covenant with Yahweh. All who truly believe in Yahweh are thus sons of Abraham.
Coming in the midst of the Servant narratives this confirms our application of Isa 41:2-4; Isa 41:25; Isa 46:11 to Abraham. He was the one who came from the east and called on Yahweh and was blessed and made mighty. It was from him that they came. They were of his ‘stuff’, coming from Abraham who loved Him. Without the background there these words would have been of limited significance. It was because Isaiah has previously outlined his greatness and association with God that these words are so significant.
Both Isa 41:8 and this verse gain significantly from the background of Abraham’s call and activity. They are the many coming from the one, and associated with him as God’s Servant. They had entered the land in him. It was in him that they were called. It was in him that they were to be blessed. It was because Abraham, with Sarah their ‘mother’, was the called one who came and triumphed and defeated and trod down the enemy and divided the spoil (like a bird of prey) that he was so important. The land has become his through his descendants. The mention of Sarah is important because it limits the application of the illustration. It was only given to the spiritual ‘descendants’ of Abraham/Sarah, the children of promise.
It seems to us inconceivable that Isaiah would have introduced Abraham at these two vital points if he had not already provided us with a background to look to. He would not just assume that all Israel would recognise the greatness of Abraham without any reminder about it at all. His points are powerful exactly because he has previously portrayed that greatness. Without it Abraham is just introduced with no background.
But the stress on Abraham’s ‘oneness’ gives special significance to the previous reference to ‘the one’, the unique One, absent in Isa 50:2. Just as Abraham was called as one and became many, so the Servant is to be called as One and will be made many. God’s pattern is repeating itself. From the One will come the many.
Abraham was of course never literally ‘but one’. He came with his wife and his servants, and his herds and flocks. But he was ‘but one’ with regard to his position with God. Then all the others were irrelevant. It was one man and his God. It was from that relationship that the many were blessed. And thus is it to be with the Servant. From One Man and His God will come the promised blessing and the manifold seed and the division of the spoil (Isa 53:10; Isa 53:12), as with Abraham. So let them look back to Abraham to whom they trace their antecedents, and see that all that was promised in Abraham is now to be fulfilled in Yahweh’s greater Servant who is coming, the great Seed of Abraham.
Isa 51:3
“For Yahweh has comforted Zion.
He has comforted all her waste places,
And has made her wilderness like Eden,
And her desert like the Garden of Yahweh.
Joy and gladness will be found in it,
Thanksgiving and the voice of song.”
The blessing of Abraham is here described in the blessing of his seed, as though it were already accomplished. His being blessed was not just the blessing of having many seed, but of what that seed would enjoy. This is the ‘comfort’ to which Isa 40:1 referred. When God has completed His work all her wilderness and waste places will become like Eden, a new Paradise. The effects of the curse will have been removed. It will be made like the Garden of Yahweh. It will be filled with singing. And it is offered to ‘Zion’, God’s wayward people as symbolised by Jerusalem. If only they will they can respond and enjoy His blessing. The devastations of the past will be forgotten. The wilderness will become Paradise, and her people full of gladness and praise and song.
That this is not all intended literally again comes out in the application. It is not really a city which is to be blessed, but a people, and those people of widespread nature. For never again could they all join together in a literal Jerusalem. There would not be room for so many. It would have to be a new Jerusalem of vast proportions, a heavenly Jerusalem as the New Testament declares (Gal 4:26; Heb 12:22; Rev 3:12), just as God would visit His people with a heavenly Temple (Ezekiel 40-48). It is a picture of the sublime. This is even more exemplified in the next summons.
Note that we find here an echo of Isaiah’s previous promises in the first part of his book. Compare Isa 12:3; Isa 33:20-21; Isa 35:10 (quoted in Isa 51:11); see also Isa 11:5-10; Isa 49:10.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Chapter 51 Exhortations To The People To Respond To God.
We now have here three remarkable calls to faithful Israel, ‘listen’ (Isa 51:1) – ‘attend’ (Isa 51:4) – ‘listen’ (Isa 51:7). They have heard the voice of the Servant (Isa 50:10), now it is open to them to respond. And how are they to appreciate the truth about the Servant? They are to look back to Abraham, and to recognise how when he was but one God blessed him and made him many, and then they are to recognise in this new Servant someone who is similar to Abraham, for in His purposes Yahweh is planning to make His people fruitful and bring His blessing on them too, and all this will be through the One who will become many.
Indeed His instruction will go out to the nations, along with His saving purposes, and the isles/coastlands will wait for Him and trust in His arm. The heaven will disappear like a waft of smoke, and the earth will grow old and become worn out, but His salvation will be for ever, and His righteous deliverance will not be done away with.
So those who know His word must stand firm and not be afraid. They must be ready to face the reproach of men without fear or dismay, for while the rebellious against God will be eaten up as by moths, those who experience His righteousness and salvation will endure for ever.
Here Isaiah makes clear that he recognises that earth and heaven will pass away, but that God’s people will go on for ever within His righteous, saving activity. Thus in each case those who do hear and listen can look forward to the everlasting kingdom.
In the passage a clear distinction is made between faithful Israel and the Servant. It is in the Servant that Yahweh’s saving work goes on, and the people receive it at His hands. They are to trust and not be afraid as they behold His powerful activity.
The call then goes up to Yahweh to awaken and reveal His mighty power. He who destroyed Egypt and all that it stood for, can equally make a way for his people to go forward in triumph. All will be joy and gladness, and all sorrow and sighing will flee away. And then the ransomed of Yahweh will return to Zion with singing, with everlasting joy on their heads.
The chapter then finishes with a description of Jerusalem that reveals its present state, but even this ends with the assurance of God’s deliverance .
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Isa 51:1 Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.
Isa 51:1
Isa 51:2 Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.
Isa 51:2
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Certainty of Deliverance
v. 1. Hearken unto Me, ye that follow after righteousness, v. 2. Look unto Abraham, your father, and unto Sarah, that bare you, v. 3. For the Lord shall comfort Zion, v. 4. Hearken unto Me, My people, v. 5. My righteousness is near, v. 6. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, v. 7. Hearken unto Me, ye that know righteousness, v. 8. for the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool, v. 9. Awake, awake, put on strength, v. 10. Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep, that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over? v. 11. Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come with singing unto Zion,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Isa 51:1-8
AN ADDRESS TO FAITHFUL ISRAEL, SUGGESTING TOPICS OF COMFORT.
The address consists of three nearly equal strophes or stanzas, each commencing with a call, Shim’u elai, “Hearken unto me,” or Haqshibu elai, “Attend to me.” The prophet appears to be the speaker, and to address himself to the more faithful portion of the people.
Isa 51:1
Ye that follow after righteousness; i.e. “ye that endeavour to lead righteous lives” (comp. Isa 51:7). Ye that seek the Lord. And do not “seek after idols,” as too many of the exiles did (Isa 40:19; Isa 41:7; Isa 44:9-20; Isa 46:5-8, etc.). Look unto the rock the hole; i.e. look back at your past history, especially at the early beginnings of it. Consider from what a slight and poor commencementan aged man and a barren woman (Isa 51:2)ye were raised up to be God’s people, a numerous nation, a multitude like the sand of the sea. How came this result about? Was it not simply by the blessing of God?
Isa 51:2
I called him alone; or, I called him when he was but ode; i.e. before he had any children (comp. Eze 33:24, “Abraham was one, and he inherited the land”). And blessed him (see Gen 24:1, Gen 24:35). And increased him; i.e. “made him a father of many nations” (Gen 17:5). If God could multiply the progeny of ode man, much more could he make a flourishing nation out of the exiles, who, though but a “remnant” of the pro-Captivity Israel, were yet many thousands in number (see Ezr 2:64).
Isa 51:3
The Lord shall comfort Zion (comp. Isa 40:1; Isa 49:3; Isa 51:12; Isa 52:9, etc.). Literally, the word used is has comforted; i.e. has so determined the matter in his counsels that it may be considered as already accomplished. Her waste places her wilderness her desert. Though Nebuchadnezzar “left of the poor of the land to be vinedressers and husbandmen” (2Ki 25:12; Jer 52:16), yet the population was not sufficient to maintain cultivation generally. Thus, much of Judaea, during the absence of the exiles, became a “wilderness“ and a “desert“ (see Eze 36:34). Like Eden like the garden of the Lord. The Prophet Joel compares Judaea before its desolation to “the garden of Eden” (Joe 2:3): and Ezekiel, like Isaiah, prophesies that it shall once more become “like the garden of Eden,” when the exiles have returned to it (Eze 37:1-28 :35). With the last-named writer, Eden represents all that is glorious, not in nature only, but in art (Eze 28:13; Eze 31:8, Eze 31:9, Eze 31:16, Eze 31:18). The voice of melody (comp. Isa 35:10, and infra, verse 11). As music ceases out of the land in time of affliction (Isa 24:8), so when a “time of refreshing from the Lord” arrives, there is at once singing and “melody” (comp. Rev 5:8; Rev 14:2; Rev 15:2).
Isa 51:4
Hearken unto me; rather, attend to mea stronger term than “hearken”attend, and hear of a greater blessing than the restoration of the land of Judah to cultivation and fruitfulness. God, enthroned anew in Zion, will from thence send forth his light and his truth to the nations, will make his Law known to them, and allow them to partake of his salvation. O my nation. Some manuscripts have “O ye nations.” But the reading is undoubtedly a wrong one. A law shall proceed from me. The Christian “law”the new covenantis probably intended. This became, by the preaching of the apostles, a light of the people, or rather, of the peoples.
Isa 51:5
My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth. “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and. a thousand years as one day” (2Pe 3:8). Isaiah always speaks as if the Messianic kingdom was to supervene almost immediately on the return of the exiles to Palestine. It was not revealed to him that there would be an interval of from five hundred to six hundred years between the two events. By God’s “righteousness“ here we must understand his righteous plans for the redemption of his people through Christ, and for the punishment of those who resist his will and remain impenitent. The salvation and the judgment are the two parts of the “righteousness.” The isles shall wait upon me (comp. Isa 41:1, Isa 41:5; Isa 42:4, Isa 42:10, Isa 42:12; Isa 49:1; Isa 60:9, etc.; and the comment on Isa 42:4). On mine arm shall they trust. God’s “arm” is his executive powerthat might by which he effects his purposes. The “isles” or “countries” that have been expecting the coming of a Deliverer will have faith in his power to redeem and save them. Christianity was received with more readiness by the Gentiles than by the “peculiar people” (Act 11:21; Act 13:42, Act 13:46; Act 14:1, Act 14:2; Act 17:4, Act 17:5; Act 18:6, etc.).
Isa 51:6
Lift up your eyes to the heavens. Look to that which seems to you most stable and most certain to endurethe vast firmament of the heavens, and the solid earth beneath it, of which God “bears up the pillars” (Psa 125:3). Both these, and man too, are in their nature perishable, and will vanish away and cease to be. But God, and his power to save, and his eternal law of right, can never pass away, but must endure for evermore. Let Israel be sure that the righteous purposes of God with respect to their own deliverance from Babylon, and to the conversion of the Gentiles, stand firm, and that they will most certainly be accomplished. The heavens shall vanish away like smoke (comp. Psa 102:26; Mat 24:35; 2Pe 3:10-12). And the earth shall wax old like a garment. So also in Psa 102:26 and Heb 1:11. The new heaven and new earth promised by Isaiah (Isa 65:17; Isa 66:22), St. Peter (2Pe 3:13), and St. John (Rev 21:1) are created in the last times, because “the first heaven and the first earth have passed away.” They that dwell therein shall die in like manner. Dr. Kay observes that the Hebrew text does not say, “in like manner,” but “as in like manner.” Man is not subject to the same law of perishableness as the external world, but to a different law. External things simply “pass away” and are no more. Man disappears from the earth, but continues to exist somewhere. He has, by God’s gift, a life that is to be unceasing.
Isa 51:7
Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness. The highest grade of faithfulness is here addressednot those who “seek” (Isa 51:1), but those who have foundwho “know righteousness,” and have the “law” of God in their “hearts.“ Such persons may still be liable to one weaknessthey may “fear the reproach of men.” The prophet exhorts them to put aside this fear, remembering
(1) the nothingness of humanity, and
(2) the eternity and imperishableness of God’s judgments.
Isa 51:8
The moth shall eat them (comp. Isa 50:1-11 : 9). If men themselves never wholly pass away (see the comment on Isa 51:6), yet it is otherwise with their judgments. These perish absolutely, disappear, and are utterly forgotten.
Isa 51:9-11
AN APPEAL OF THE PROPHET TO GOD TO AROUSE HIMSELF, WITH A PROMISE OF ISRAEL‘S RESTORATION. There has been much doubt as to the utterer of this “splendid apostrophe.” Zion, the prophet, the angels, Jehovah, and God the Son pleading with God the Father, have been suggested. To us it seems simplest and best to assign the passage to the prophet.
Isa 51:9
Awake, awake (comp. Psa 7:6; Psa 35:23; Psa 44:23; Psa 78:65). When God neglects the prayers and supplications of his people, he is spoken of as “asleep,” and needing to be awoke by a loud cry. The anthropomorphism is obvious, and of course not to be taken literally (see 1Ki 18:27, ad fin.). Put on strength. Gird the strength to thee (Psa 93:1) which thou hadst laid aside while thou wept asleep. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab? rather, was it not thou that didst cleave Rahab in pieces? Here, as in Psa 87:4 and Psa 89:10, “Rahab” would seem to be a symbolical expression for Egypt. “Rahab“ is literally “pride,” or “the proud one.” The event alluded to, both here and in Psa 89:10, is the destruction of Pharaoh’s host in the Red Sea (see Psa 89:10). And wounded the dragon. “The dragon” is another symbol of the Egyptian power (comp. Eze 29:3, “Pharaoh, King of Egypt, the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers”). Originally designating God’s great enemy, Satan (Gen 3:14; Rev 12:7-9; Rev 20:2), it is a term which comes to be applied to the adversaries of the Almighty generally.
Isa 51:10
Art thou not it which hath dried the sea? rather, was it not thou that didst dry up the sea? (comp. Exo 14:21, Exo 14:22). The waters of the Red Sea are called those of “the great deep,” because they are a portion of the circumambient ocean, not a tideless land-locked basin, like the Mediterranean. That hath made; rather, that madest. The allusion is to the single occasion of the passage of the Red Sea by the Israelites. Isa 51:11.The redeemed of the Lord (see the comment on Isa 35:10. where the same passage occurs with scarcely any variation). Isaiah is not averse to repetitions (see Isa 5:25; Isa 9:12, Isa 9:17, Isa 9:21; Isa 10:4; Isa 11:1; Isa 65:25; Isa 48:22;Isa 57:21, etc.).
Isa 51:12-16
AN ADDRESS OF GOD TO HIS CAPTIVE PEOPLE. There is no very clear connection between this passage and the preceding, to which it is certainly not an answer. God comforts the captives under the oppression which they are suffering
(1) by reminding them of their oppressors’ weakness and short-livedness;
(2) by assuring them of speedy deliverance (Isa 51:14); and
(3) by impressing upon them his own power as shown in the past, which is a guarantee that he will protect them in the future (Isa 51:15, Isa 51:16).
Isa 51:12
I am he that comforteth you (comp. Isa 51:3, and the comment ad loc). Who art thou? Art thou a poor, weak, powerless, unprotected people, which might well tremble at the powerful Babylonians: or art thou not rather a people under the special protection of Jehovah, bound, therefore, to fear no one? As grass (comp. Isa 37:27; Isa 11:6-8).
Isa 51:13
And forgettest the Lord thy Maker. It is not so much apostasy as want of a lively and practical faith with which captive Israel is here reproached. They did not deny Godthey only left him out of sight, neglected him, forgot him. That hath stretched forth the heavens (comp. Isa 40:22; Isa 42:5; Isa 44:24; Isa 45:12, etc.). And laid the foundations of the earth (see Isa 48:13; Psa 102:25; Heb 1:10). And hast feared continually because of the fury of the oppressor. (On the sufferings of the Israelites under their Babylonian oppressors, see the comment on Isa 42:22, and again on Isa 47:6.) By the present passage it would appear that life itself was not safe from their cruel fury, when their victims had exasperated them. Where is the fury of the oppressor? All their violence and rage will come to nought, when they in their turn become subject to the conquering Persians.
Isa 51:14
The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed; rather, he that is bent down hasteneth to be released; i.e. such of the exiles as were cramped and bent by fetters, or by the stocks, would speedily, on the fall of Babylon, obtain their release. They would not “die unto the pit,” i.e. so as to belong to the pit and to be east into it, but would live and have a sufficiency of sustenance.
Isa 51:15
But I am the Lord thy God, that divided the sea; rather, for I, the Lord thy God, am he that divided the sea (comp. Isa 51:10). The reference is once more to the great miracle wrought at the Exodus, when the Red Sea was “divided” before the host of Israelites (Exo 14:21; comp. Psa 74:13). Whose waves roared (see Exo 14:27; Exo 15:10).
Isa 51:16
And I have put my words in thy mouth. Some commentators detach this verse altogether from the preceding passage, and regard it as a fragment intruded here out of its proper place by some unaccountable accident. From the close resemblance of the expressions used to those in Isa 49:2, they consider that the person addressed must be “the Servant of Jehovah,” and hence conclude that the verse “originally stood in some other context” (Cheyne). It is, however, quite possible to regard Israel as still addressed; since Israel too was the recipient of God’s words (see Isa 59:21), and was protected by God’s hand from destruction, and kept in existence until the happy time should come when God would create a new heaven and a new earth (Isa 65:17) for Israel’s dwelling-place, and say unto Zioni.e. to the “new Jerusalem” Rev 21:2)Thou art my people. This crowning promise well terminates the comforting address wherewith Jehovah at this time saw fit to cheer and encourage his captive people.
Isa 51:17-23
AN ADDRESS OF THE PROPHET TO JERUSALEM. The comfort afforded to Israel generally is now concentrated on Jerusalem. Her condition during the long period of the Captivity is deplored, and her want of a champion to assert her cause and raise her out of the dust is lamented (Isa 51:17-20). After this, an assurance is given her that the miseries which she has suffered shall pass from her to her great enemy, by whom the dregs of the “cup of trembling” shall be drained, and the last drop wrung out (Isa 51:21-23).
Isa 51:17
Awake, awake (comp. Isa 51:9 and Isa 52:1). Isaiah marks the breaks in his prophecy, sometimes by a repetition of terminal clauses, which have the effect of a refrain (Isa 5:25; Isa 9:12, Isa 9:17, Isa 9:21; Isa 10:4; and Isa 48:22; Isa 57:21); sometimes by a repetition of initial clauses of a striking character (Isa 5:8, Isa 5:11, Isa 5:20; Isa 13:1; Isa 15:1; Isa 17:1; Isa 19:1; Isa 21:1,Isa 21:11; Isa 22:1; Isa 23:1; Isa 28:1; Isa 29:1; Isa 30:1; Isa 31:1; Isa 33:1; Isa 48:1, Isa 48:12, Isa 48:16; Isa 50:4, Isa 50:7, Isa 50:9, etc.). Here we have thrice over “Awake, awake”not, however, an exact repetition in the Hebrew, but a near approach to it each summons forming the commencement of a new paragraph or subsection. Which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury. The cup of God’s fury was poured out on Jerusalem when the city was taken by Nebuchadnezzar, the temple, the royal palace, and the houses of the nobles burnt (2Ki 25:9), the walls broken down (2Ki 25:10), and the bulk of the inhabitants carried away captive to Babylon. “The cup of God’s fury” is an expression used by Jeremiah (Jer 25:15). The dregs of the cup; rather, perhaps, the goblet-cup (Cheyne), or the out-swollen cup. It is the fulness of the measure of Jerusalem’s punishment, not its character, which is pointed at.
Isa 51:18
None to guide her. From the time that Johanan, the son of Kareah, and the other “captains of the forces,” quitted Judaea and fled into Egypt, taking with them Jeremiah and Baruch (Jer 43:5-7), there was no one left in the country with any authority or any ability to direct affairs. The city, no doubt, suffered by this state of things, becoming more ruined and more desolate than it would have been otherwise. Had Johanan and the Jews under him remained in the land, God had promised to “build them, and not pull them down;” to “plant them, and not pluck them up” (Jer 42:10). Thus Jerusalem’s extreme desolation was not wholly the result of the Babylonian conquest, but was partly due to the after-misconduct of the Jews left in the country.
Isa 51:19
These two things. What are the “two things,” it is asked, since four are mentioneddesolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword? The right answer seems to be that of Aben Ezra and Kimchi, that the two things are “desolation,” or rather “wasting” within, produced by “famine;” and “destruction” without, produced by “the sword.” Who shall be sorry for thee? rather, who will mourn with thee? Jerusalem is without friends; no man condoles with her over her misfortunes. God alone feels compassion; but even he scarce knows how to comfort. By whom? rather, how? (comp. Amo 7:2, Amo 7:5).
Isa 51:20
Thy sons have fainted, they lie; rather, thy sons fainted; they lay. The prophet describes the siege and capture of Jerusalem as past, because his standpoint is the time of the Captivity. He depicts tile inhabitants of Jerusalem as “faint” through famine, and so weak that they lie prostrate about the streets. As a wild bull in a net; rather, like a gazelle in a netpanting, exhausted, incapable of the hast resistance. They are full of the fury of the Lord; i.e. the fury of the Lord has been fully poured out upon them.
Isa 51:21
Drunken, but not with wine (comp. Isa 29:9; and see above, Isa 29:17, which shows that the appearance of drunkenness had been produced by Jerusalem drinking the cup of God’s wrath).
Isa 51:22
The Lord that pleadeth the cause of his people (comp. Jer 50:34, which contains an allusion to this passage). As his people have a relentless adversary, who accuses them continually, and pleads against them (Rev 12:10), so it is needful that they should have an untiring advocate. God himself is this Advocate. The dregs of the cup (see the comment on Isa 51:17, ad fin.).
Isa 51:23
I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee. Babylon, the oppressor of Judah, shall in her turn be made to drink of the cup of which Judah had so long drunk, and shall suffer nearly the same woes which she had inflicted. Meanwhile, Judah should cease to drink of the cup, and have “a time of refreshing.” Bow down, that we may go over; i.e. “submit yourselves to the uttermost, that we may put upon you the most extreme indignity.” The metaphor is drawn from the actual practise of conquerors, who made captive kings prostrate themselves, and placed their feet upon their necks, or otherwise trampled upon them.
HOMILETICS
Isa 51:7
The servants of God must not fear the reproach of men.
The reproach of men is a thing of small account
I. BECAUSE MEN ARE APT TO BE MISTAKEN IN THEIR JUDGMENTS. The bulk of men have no wish even to be fair in their judgments. They praise and blame, acquit and condemn, either as their own interestsparty or otherare concerned, or sometimes quite at random, according as the fancy takes them. Even such as wish to be fair very often misjudge, either
(1) from a want of capacity to judge aright in a delicate ease; or
(2) from not possessing sufficient data upon which to form a right judgment. It is to be remembered that men’s motives are hidden, and can only be guessed at by others; yet the motive is the main point in an action, and that on which its moral character almost wholly depends. If we mistake the motive, we may condemn severely what, if we had really known the motive, we should have highly praised.
II. BECAUSE MEN‘S JUDGMENTS SO FREQUENTLY CHANGE. The idol of a nation to-day becomes their detestation to-morrow; or, if not to-morrow, at any rote within a few years. Nothing is more fickle than the popular voice, which will cry one day, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” and, a week later, “Crucify him! crucify him!” The opinion formed of a man by his contemporaries is frequently reversed by posterity; and even posterity is not always steadfast, a later age often contradicting the decisions of an earlier. Historic characters, long condemned with almost absolute unanimity, are rehabilitated from time to time by clever writers, and are given niches in the Valhalla of the future.
III. BECAUSE MAN HIMSELF IS ALTOGETHER SO FLEETING, SO WEAK, AND SO LITTLE WORTHY OF REGARD. “Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of?” (Isa 2:22). At the best, what is human praise or blame? An opinion, founded on imperfect data, which can at most affect us during the brief term of our sojourn here. What are reproaches and revilings? The weak ways which men have of venting their spite or their ill humour, when some one, of whom they know very little, has acted otherwise than they expected or wished. “Hard words,” it is often remarked, “break no bones.” Human censure is but a breath. Why should we allow it to affect us at all? It does not matter what men think of us, but what God thinks. No one was ever more reviled than the One only perfect Man whom the world has ever seen.
Isa 51:11
No sorrow nor mourning in the final kingdom of the Redeemer.
The promise here set forth with all brevity is graciously expanded in the revelation of St. John, and is inexpressibly comforting to grieved and harassed souls. “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,” says the apostle, “and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Rev 21:3, Rev 21:4). It may be well to consider
I. THE CAUSES OF THE CHANGE. The apostle notes two causes of the change.
1. There is no more death. The “first death” is past, and the “second death” is not for those who have attained to the glories of the Redeemer’s final kingdom. They are secure of “life for evermore”
2. There is no more pain. No bodily pain, since the resurrection-body shall not be liable to any of those pains and sufferings which cause our present body to be a burden to us here below. No mental pain, since the mind shall be at rest, securely stayed upon him who has given it life, and who is its Life. To these causes we may add two more:
3. There is no more parting: no more separation of loving souls, no more loss of friends, or parents, or children, or wife, or brother. or sister; no more tearing of heartstrings through such separation; no more giving or receiving of last adieus.
4. And there is no more sin. “Old things have passed away; all things have become new.” New hearts have been given to the redeemedhearts that are “from sin set free;” hearts sprinkled with the blood of Christ, and so made clean and pure. The sense of sin is gone; shame is gone; remorse, regret, are gone; and so the worst of all the pains of which man is susceptible are fled away.
II. THE GREATNESS OF THE CHANGE. This world is well called “a vale of tears.” Pain and suffering cling to us throughout the whole course of our lives from our first breath to our last. We enter life with a cry. All the bodily functions are painful, till use dulls the pain. Life is little but “labour and sorrow,” disappointment and illusion. Hunger, thirst, toil, weariness, cold, heat, desire, passion, accompany us through the whole of our worldly existence, and are all of them pains. All of us experience sickness at times, and many of us have chronic ailments which never quit us, and from which we suffer constantly, more or less. There is so much misery in life that numbers quit it voluntarily, at, d thousands more would do the same were they not restrained by a religious motive. Can a greater change be imagined than a transfer from “the miseries of this sinful world” to the glories of the heavenly kingdom?
“There is a blessed home
Beyond this hind of woe,
Where trials never come,
Nor tears of anguish flow;
Where faith is lost in sight,
And patient hope is crown’d,
And everlasting light
Its glory throws around.
“Look up, ye saints of God,
Nor fear to tread below
The path your Saviour trod
Of daily toil and woe.
Wait but a little while
In uncomplaining love,
His own most gracious smile
Shall welcome you above.”
III. THE BLESSEDNESS OF THE CHANGE. It is scarcely necessary to enlarge on thisit is involved in all that has been said. On the one hand, pain, grief, labour, sickness, partings, tears, qualms of conscience, fear of coming evils, sense of sin; on the other, rest, peace, the sense of pardon, of security, of God’s favour, of God’s love; no more vicissitudes, no more partings, no more lapses into sinone constant, unending life of perfect peace and restful joy, in the midst of those we love, and in the continual presence and sight of him who so loved us as to die for us!
“O Paradise, O Paradise,
‘Tis weary waiting here;
We long to be where Jesus is,
To feel and see him near
Where loyal hearts and true
Stand ever in the light,
All rapture through and through,
In God’s most holy sight.”
Isa 51:12-16
A just confidence in God is a security against cowardly fears.
Men “fear continually every day” because of the emnity, or fury, or malignity, or cunning, of those who oppress them, or of those who would fain oppress them. They tremble before the wrath of men; they give little thought to the wrath of God. Half the sins that are committed spring from cowardicea short-sighted cowardice, which consists in fearing those who can, at most, “kill the body,” and not fearing him who after death can “destroy both body and soul in hell” (Mat 5:28). A just confidence in God will secure us against such cowardice, since it will make us feel
I. RELIANCE UPON GOD‘S WILL TO SAVE US. God’s mercy is “over all his works,” over man especially; in a peculiar manner over such as love him and trust in him. He will not suffer them to be tried “above that they are able.” He loves them, and watches over them, and sympathizes with their sufferings, and counts their wrongs, and hears their groans (Exo 2:23), and “knows their sorrows” (Exo 3:7). Oppressors are hateful to him (Isa 1:23; Isa 3:15; Isa 5:7, etc.). They provoke him to send upon them “swift destruction.” The greater their fury, the more they rouse against them God’s indignation, and the closer their destruction draws nigh.
II. RELIANCE UPON GOD‘S POWER TO SAVE US. Men are finite; God is infinite. Man is the creature of a day; God is “from everlasting to everlasting.” Man fades as grass; God is “strong in power” (Isa 40:26), unwearied, unfailing. The “fierceness of man turns to God’s praise,” for that fierceness he is able at any moment to “refrain” (Psa 76:10). He who “has stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth,” and created man and placed him on the earth, and alone sustains him in life, can at any time sweep him into nothingness, destroy him, and make “all his thoughts perish.”
Isa 51:22
God pleads the cause of his people.
How can God, it may be asked, be at once Judge and Advocate? Can he plead at his own tribunal; entreat himself to show mercy; deprecate his own anger? if not, before what tribunal does he plead? whose mercy does he entreat? whose anger does he deprecate? The prophet himself could, perhaps, scarcely have explained his own words; but the Holy Spirit who inspired them knew exactly in what sense they were true. The riddle has to be solved by the consideration of the distinction of Persons in the Godhead. God the Father is the Judge of man, before whose tribunal all men must one day appear. God the Son is the Advocate (1Jn 2:1), who pleads with the Father on their behalf, intercedes for them (Heb 7:25), deprecates the Father’s wrath, implores his mercy, entreats for and obtains their pardon. Satan, on the one side, accuses (Rev 12:10); but on the other, the Lord Jesus Christ defends. He defends his own, and he overcomes by his own blood (Rev 12:11), wherewith he has washed away their sins. He “justifieth” (Rom 8:33), and then “who is he that condemneth?” Assuredly, no one.
HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON
Isa 51:1-8
Instructions to the spiritual Israel.
The people are described as “possessing righteousness,” i.e. following a way of life in accordance with the Divine commands; and “seeking Jehovah,” i.e. attending to all that his mind approves and his will commands.
I. THE LESSON OF THEIR ORIGIN. They had been, as it were, hewn from a rock and dug out of a pit. The allusion is to Abraham. They had sprung from one, and him as good as dead (Heb 11:12). They had been as rough as unhewn materials fresh from the quarry when Jehovah took them in band for his moulding. He had formed the nation out of its primary materialshad taken Abraham and Sarah from a distant land, and formed them into a nation for his own purpose. And then the argument is that he who had done this in the past was able to do as great things in the futureto restore the people from captivity to their own land. The words may be applied more generally (cf. Mat 3:9, “God is able to raise up of these stones children unto Abraham”). From the rudest material God can fashion masterpieces of grace. The greatest sinner may furnish the elements of character for the greatest saint. In any true and humble view of his condition the Christian will feel that the language is apposite to himself. “He was found in his natural state as a block of marble; he was moulded and formed by the agency of the Holy Spirit; he was fitted into the spiritual temple. Christians owe all the beauty and grace of their Christian deportment to him. This is an argument to prove that they are dependent on him for all that they have, and that he will keep them and accomplish all his purposes by them. He who has transformed them from rough and unsightly blocks to polished stones fitted for his spiritual temple on earth, is able to keep them still, and to fit them wholly for his temple above.”
II. COMFORT FOR THE FUTURE.
1. External blessings. The ruined places of Zion are to be restored, the present wilderness of Judaea to be transformed into a garden of Edena scene of joy, thanksgiving, and music. The idea of a terrestrial paradise enters into the lore of other nations. Arab legends tell of a garden in the East, on a mount of jacinth, inaccessible to man, of rich soil and equable temperature, well watered and abounding in trees and flowers of rare colours and fragrance. “In the background of man’s visions lay a paradise of holy joy, secured from profanation and inaccessible to the guilty; full of objects fitted to delight the senses and elevate the mind; a paradise that granted to its tenant rich and rare immunities, and fed with its perennial streams, the tree of life, and immortality” (Hardwick). There is no reason why we should not think of heaven under such a figure; and every happy renewal of the soul by Divine grace may be termed a transformation of the waste and desert of the heart into the garden of God.
2. Spiritual blessings. “Enthroned anew in Israel, Jehovah shall send forth his light and his truth among the distant nations.” His righteousness is newwhich means “his consistent adherence to his revealed line of action which involves deliverance to faithful or at least repentant Israel, and destruction to those who thwart his all-wise purposes.” “Mine arms shall judge the peoples” includes “the darker side of Jehovah’s righteousness” (Cheyne). The countries “shall wait” for Jehovah, and trust upon his “arm,” i.e. his mighty help. Distant lands shall become interested in the true religion, and acknowledge and worship the true God.
3. The eternity of God‘s salvations. The order of the world is elsewhere described in Scripture as everlasting (Gen 8:21, Gen 8:22; Gen 9:9-11; Gen 49:26; Psa 148:6). The heavens and the earth appear to be firm and fixed. Yetagainst all appearance and probability, against all that specious constancythey are doomed to vanish away. The most mighty and fixed of created things must disappear; but the promise of God is unfailing, This is one of the finest passages in all poetry. The heavens are to “glide away,” disappearing like wreaths of smoke in the air (cf. Isa 34:4; Heb 1:11, Heb 1:12; Psa 102:26; 2Pe 3:10-12). The Hebrew was wont to look upon the sky as a “firmament,” a solid overarching vault. Yet here it seems thin as a soap-bubble, which the breath of a child may blow into nothingness. There are times when the soul is sick (like Hamlet), and all the magnificence of the heavens seems to pall upon ita hint that the soul feels it partakes of a life higher than that of the natural world. There are times when the soul triumphs in the transiency of the natural world, conscious that it enjoys an immortality in common with the Eternal. “The earth shall fall to pieces like a garment, and the dwellers therein shall die like gnats; but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be annulled.” It is not the contempt of a self-poised soul for the material world and its dimensions and its splendours; but the joy of a trustful soul in affiance with the Saviour-God. That this world will pass away, and that God will remain, are certain. But of what comfort is this to me, unless I am united to the Eternal? He by whose will material things perish and pass away is he by whose will the soul is redeemed and saved for ever. To live in faith upon God is to live the life of intellect and the life of love, neither of which can pass away; for they belong to the eternal essences. In such assurance material things may be seen evaporating, heaven turning to smoke, earth becoming as a tattered robe, “ocean’s self turning dry;” while we ourselves pass to him who has been and will be the Dwelling-place and the Saviour of all successive generations.J.
Isa 51:9-11
The arm of Jehovah.
Either the people call on Jehovah, or he is concerned as calling on himself to awake and rouse up his might for the defence of his people as in the days of old,
I. THE ARM OF JEHOVAH AS SYMBOLIC OF HIS POWER. It is the symbol of spiritual power opposed to that of darkness, death, the under-world, He is said to have “smitten Rahab, and wounded the dragon.” Commonly this has been understood of Egypt, but the reference seems to be more general. It was in ancient thought, generally, the property of a god to be the slayer of monsters, who all of them represent hellish influences. It is spiritual power opposed to worldly violence. He had dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, and made therein a way for the released to pass over. Egypt was the dark historic memory of the people. Its king might well be compared with the fiendish monster of darkness (Eze 29:3; Eze 32:2; Psa 34:13, Psa 34:14). And so the passage of the Red Sea was the standing symbol of deliverance, of redemption (see Psa 105:1-45). And in our own hymns and sacred allusions Egypt stands for the bondage of sin, the captivity of the mind to sense, to the devil. And the passing over the Red Sea may be fitly symbolic of salvation by grace, of regeneration or conversion. The argument is from the past to the future. The God who had overcome all obstacles in the way of their deliverance from Egypt was able to overcome all obstacles in the way of their deliverance from Babylon. He might be expected again to manifest his mercy, and save the nation from oppression. And so, in general, the argument holds good for the Church and for the individual: “Because thou hast been my Refuge, under the shadow of thy wings I will put my trust.” The principle is ever applicable. All God’s past interpositions on behalf of his people constitute an argument that he will continue to regard them.
II. THE FUTURE SEEN BY THE LIGHT OF THE PAST.
1. The ransomed of Jehovah shall return. The power that lies in the word “redeemed,” “ransomed! All the notions of love, sacrifice, purchase, that are connected with it! The assurance that flows from the realization of such a state! God will not desert; he cannot lose those whom he has made by so many ties his own.
2. The joy of the return. “The custom of singing on a journey is still common in the East. It relieves the tediousness of a journey over extended plains, and stirs the camels to greater speed. So the long tedium of the way from Babylon shall be cheered by songs expressive of gladness and praise.” “We are travelling home to God.“ We are under the guidance of a good Pastor, who goes before, who knows his sheep; of a Leader of salvation who has released his people, and will crown his work el’ redemption by glorification.
“Then let our songs abound,
And every tear be dry.”
We are on the way to new releases and fresh redemptions from ill.J.
Isa 51:12-16
Expostulation against unbelief.
If the Eternal be the Pastor and the Comforter of Israel, what has Israel to fear?
I. THE NATURAL TIMIDITY OF THE HEART. We are cravens, all of us. We stand in dread of our own image; we quail before “frail man that dieth, and the son of the earth-born who is given up as grass.” A frown makes us tremble; a menace unmans us. We are the slaves of custom and opinion. Anxiety is ever conjuring up dangers which exist not, and forecasting calamities which do not occur. So were the Jews ever “on the tenter-hooks of expectation. When the ‘aiming’ of the enemy seems to fail, their spirits rise; when it promises to succeed, they fall.” How much do we all suffer from “ills that never arrive”!
II. TIMIDITY CORRECTED BY RELIGION. Its cause is touchedforgetfulness of God. Is forgetfulness the result of want of faith, or the origin of faithlessness? Both may be true. Faith needs to be fed from memory, and memory exerts its proper activity under the instigation of faith. Old truths need constantly to be recalled, and to become new truths through the act of attentionthe “giving heed to the things we have heard, lest at any time we let them slip.” That God is Creator of heaven and earth is an elementary truth of religion. How much may be deduced from it! He who made the earth made the nations that dwell on the face of it; therefore made Israel, and every member of Israel. God creates to preserve. His character of Deliverer flows from that of Creator. There is, then, hope for the fettered captive. For he who is Almighty in nature is equally so in the sphere of human life. He who raises storms is able to still them, so that his friends have no cause to fear. The commitment of the truth to the Jewish people, their protection and restoration, seems to be compared to the vast work of creation. The lesson for the timid apprehensive heart is to learn that Omnipotence is engaged in its protection and defence.
“This awful God is ours.
Our Father and our Friend.”
J.
Isa 51:17-23
Encouragement for Jerusalem.
The prophet, or chorus of prophets, is supposed to salute the holy city with a cheering cry.
I. PICTURES OF DISTRESS. The draught from the cup of Divine wrath. “The cup of his fury””the goblet-cup of reeling.” These are figures for the horror and bewilder-meat caused by a (great catastrophe. It is “to drink the wine of astonishment” (Psa 60:3; Eze 23:2). Then there is utter helplessness. No guide for Jerusalem to be found in all her sons; no strong and helping hand to grasp hers in the hour of her dire need. Desolation, death, famine, and swordthe latter without, the former within (Eze 7:15)such is the state of the city. The afflicted mother and her sons. It is a picture resembling that of Niobe and her doomed offspring. The sons of this mother-city swoon, and lie at the corners of the streets. “Israel the mountain people is likened to a gazelle, which all its swiftness and grace have not saved from the hunter’s snare.” All these things are signs of “the fury of Jehovah, the rebuke of God.”
II. UNEXPECTED ENCOURAGEMENT. “The transition from threatening to promise is marked by “therefore “(Isa 10:24; Isa 27:9; Isa 30:18). The Lord Jehovah, the God who is the Advocate of his people, speaks. This cup, which makes men reel with the madness of bewilderment, shall be taken from them, and put into the hands of their tormentorsthe proud conquerors who had placed their feet upon their necks (c.f. Jos 10:24; Psa 129:3). Such sudden transitions remind us of the fact of providence, and of the coincidence of human extremity with Divine opportunity. God will not leave himself at any age without a witness in the worldwhich shall see that the hand of Divine power is not shortened, nor the bowels of Divine goodness straitened; but that God is as able and ready to save his Church as ever. “The difficulty of affairs has baffled and laughed at all resistances of created power, and so made the omnipotent Author of the deliverance visible and conspicuous.”J.
HOMILIES BY W.M. STATHAM
Isa 51:2
Ancient memories.
“Look unto Abraham your father.” It is wise to surround the young with the statues of great and brave and wise men, and to have hanging in the halls of a nation the portraits of their true leaders. So in the Hebrews we are in a chamber of inspired images of the heroes and heroines of faith.
I. THE EYE IS ALWAYS ON SOME OBJECT. We are looking always to objects that elevate or that debase us. Israel at this time was looking to military leaders, longing for some Messiah who should gather together a power sufficient to break the iron yoke of oppression. They were looking, not to the faithful Abrahams, but to the warrior Sauls. The eye thus becomes a window to the heart.
II. THEY HAD FORGOTTEN THEIR ANCIENT POWER. Abraham was a man of faith. He believed in God, and he lived a life of faith in God. When the spirit of Abraham filled their hearts, then they acted as men who believed that “righteousness exalteth a nation.” The true Hebrew power was righteousness. Their psalms glorified, not the sword, but the moral Law of God. The right hand of the Most High was with them when they were a nation that loved righteousness and hated iniquity. “Therefore God, thy God, hath exalted thee above thy fellows.” The call to all godly men in every age is, “Look to Abraham.”W.M.S.
Isa 51:12
God the Comforter.
“I, even I, am he that comforteth you.” All depends upon who it is that comforts us in the great crises of life. We are so apt to lean on those that excuse our weaknesses and comfort us in our sins.
I. GOD HIMSELF IS A COMFORTER. This is his nature. There is emphasis in it. “I even I“the Lord of hosts; the God of whom it is said, “There is nothing too hard for the Lord.” We gain comfort when we gain confidence. It is faithlessness that makes us feeble. Let us read the revelation of what God is, and study the history of what God has done for his saints in every age, and we shall find comfort.
II. MAN AT THE BEST IS BUT MAN. Why be afraid of him? Study yourself, your failings, timorousness, and frailty, and be sure that your brother man is just like this.
1. We are unreasonably afraid of men. Their power is limited. Their pretension is greater than their power. Do not be deceived by appearances.
2. We are the subjects of forgetfulness. “Man shall be made as grass!” We cannot have a better image of the feebleness of human strength. We think too much of man, and forget the Lord our Maker. Look at the heavens.. Look at the foundations of the earth. What can shake what God upholds? “Where is the fury of the oppressor?” Ask Pharaoh; and be at rest.W.M.S.
Isa 51:13
The nervous temperament.
“Hast feared continually every day.” We are not all constituted alike. The instrumentalities by which the great soul within us does its work are diverse in quality. In a material sense we are but dust, yet the dust itself has more steel in it with some than with others. Many have iron nerves and hereditary health, which make them strangers to the trepidations of others. They never walk those caves of terrible gloom in which others often are doomed to wander, nor have they felt the sensitiveness which often turns the experiences of life into torture. We are to meditate now on the nervous temperament, and to study especially the relation which the gospel occupies in relation to it. There may be other anodynes of consolation, physical and mental; but my argument will be thisthat the religion of Christ stands in special relationship of solace and succour to those who feel with the psalmist, “I am feeble and sore broken, because of the disquietness of my heart.” We cannot help being, in one sense, what we were born. The mimosa plant cannot avoid being a mimosa plant, and nothing else. The sensitiveness of a highly wrought nervous system is born with many, and, do what they will, they must carry it with them to the grave. Often misunderstood and misrepresented, often verging on despair, they are bowed down greatly, and go mourning all the day long. Much depends, of course, on the law of association, and on relationships of persons and things. Much, too, depends on religious ideas. There is, for instance, a form of piety sincere enough in itself which feeds perpetual introspection, and is ever tremulous concerning its own state. How different this from the rest which comes from entire trust in Christ! Then, again, there are human relationships which, instead of being ministrants of consolation, strain the heart and irritate the nerves. Oh, the depression that must come, the anxiety that will do its wear and tear, which is derived from alliance with unthankful and foreboding hearts, from fellowship with those who, if they do not consciously know the science of disheartenment, are at all events au fait at its practice! When Moses spake with Israel on this side Jordan in the wilderness, he had in his thought the carping spirit of those whose criticism suggests difficulty and danger too great to be overcome. Some men always see lions in the way, and do an anticipative roaring themselves. Thus he spoke of some who said,” Whither shall we go up? our brethren have discouraged our heart, saying, The people are greater and taller than we; the cities are great and walled up to heaven.” What an insight this gives on those whose imagination creates giants! Now though we may apply specially the words of our text to a nervous temperamentthey simply represent a special occasion of depression in the prophet’s life; they represent inward fears.
I. THE TRUE PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE IS LIFE IN CHRIST. Not in self. Not in society. But in Christ. We must go out of ourselves, out of our “moods” and “feelings,” that we may look unto Christ and be saved! I am speaking of those who are ever nervously anxious and sensitive. First of all about their salvation, which, alas! is like a “variable quantity” with them. But I wish, also, to apply the idea to human life. Christ is a perfect Brother as well as a perfect Saviour. Redemption is his. Yes; and so is common home-life; so is the gift of daily bread. The great realm of providence is under his sceptre.
1. Meditate well on this dual aspect of the subject. First of all, when you are tempted to be morbid analysts of your own spiritual state, to use the scales of weight and measurement for the depth of your love and the height of your faith. There can be no escape from trepidatory alarms so long as we apply aquafortis to the gold of our affection, so long as we microscopically survey the minutiae of our neglected duties and our multitudinous sins. We must ponder the consolatory words, “As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” And this argument applies as much to the ordinary life of every day. Do things happen to us, or are our times in God’s hands? Our dread of fatalism, with its results of inertia and indifference, has sometimes hindered that quiet trust in God which is the secret of all true strength. Events are in his hand. You cannot make one hair black or white, or add one cubit to your stature. You will become worn and weary by retrospective fears. And what power have you over the dark, deep waves of coming tribulation, or over the advent-hours of grief and death? Bewise. Resolve with promptitude. Persevere with energy. Rise early with alacrity for the service of the day, but cast all anxious thoughts of to-morrow on your Lord.
2. I do not say that so doing all your fears will cease. No act of faith is so complete as to shut out all weakness of the soul. But I do say this will be your most perfect anodyne. Other things will help. The bracing air, the oxygen and ozone of the sea-coast, may tone your nerves, but it cannot create new ones. The gospel
the weak-hearted? Sometimes a sense of rectitude sustains us in trouble, for unquestionably the upright Corinthian column can bear a greater weight than the leaning one. That erect attitude of the soul which the Scriptures call” uprightness” will enable many a man to be strong. But this cannot do all. We have all sinned, and come short of the glory of God; and we have sinned against each other also. We want, above all else, a Saviour. Some suspect their own motives, and are questioners, not of their Lord’s Divinity, but of their own sincerity. Yea! and some are sensitively anxious concerning the very foundations of their first repentance towards Go,t, and their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Study, then, Christ’s infinite compassion, his perfect knowledge of every human heartyes, of yours. “Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee.” Never rest in yourself alone. Wait and pray! Not for ever will you tremblingly bear the burden of nervous sensibility. Not for ever will the immortal spirit dwell in so frail a tabernacle. In God’s own good time, you will be clothed upon with your house from heaven. The day will come when the poor harp will be restrung, sorrow and sighing will be done away; and there shall be no night there.W.M.S.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
Isa 51:3
The garden of the Lord.
The Lord would comfort Zion, and make her wilderness like Eden, her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness would. be found therein. The expression, “garden of the Lord,” signified everything that was choice, inviting, eligible, that ministered to peace and satisfaction. It may be taken as suggestive of the Church of Christ, which ought to be, to the outside and unreclaimed world, what the cultivated garden is to the surrounding wilderness. The Churcheach separate Churchof Christ should be as the garden of Lord in respect of
I. CULTURE, DIVINE AND HUMAN. The garden is marked out from other spaces by the superior culture which it receives; every square inch of it has attention flora the gardener’s hand. The ideal garden is carefully and regularly weeded, digged, planted, pruned, etc. The Church of Christ should show the signs of heavenly, of spiritual culture. On it the Divine Husbandman has bestowed the greatest care. He has wrought upon it, suffered for it, watched over it, tended it with wondrous condescension and inexhaustible love. Human culture has also been expended upon it: the ministry of man, the watchful love, the earnest ‘prayer, the faithful admonition, the solemn vows of its own members, have been given to improve and perfect it: it is, or it should be, well-cultivated ground.
II. SECURITY. The garden is fenced on all sides, that no wild animal, that no intruder of any kind, may enter, to steal or to ravage. The Church of Christ should be a sphere of the greatest possible security. In it there should be no occasion to be dreading the presence of the marauder, of “the thief who comes to steal or to destroy,” of the enemy that undermines faith, or that wins away holy love, or that deadens sacred zeal. There we should be free to walk without apprehension, without fear of harm.
III. BEAUTY. We aim to make our gardens as beautiful as the finest taste can make them; to exclude all that is unsightly, and so to introduce and arrange everything that, in part and in whole, it shall be attractive and inviting. From the Church of Christ should be excluded all that is distasteful to the Divine Lordall that is irreverent, untruthful, discourteous, ungenerous, inconsiderate. Within the Church should grow and flourish all these graces of the Spirit of God which are fair and comely in the sight of God and man.
IV. FRUITFULNESS. What the fruitage of the productive garden is to the house-bolder, that the many-sided usefulness of the active and earnest Church is to the Lord of the vineyard.
V. VARIETY. That is a poor and imperfect garden in which are only two or three kinds of flowers, and where the beds and lawns are laid out so as to suggest monotony. That is a poor and imperfect Church where only one or two orders of intelligence or moral excellence or piety are found. Our Lord does not want to see all the flowers and shrubs and trees in his garden cut and trimmed so as to be of an unvarying pattern.
VI. PEACE AND HAPPINESS. We associate with the garden the thought of tranquility and peace. It is the abode of domestic felicity; there friendship spends its golden hours; it is the resort of happy love. The Church should be the home of peace and joy. To it we should be glad to retire from the bustle and strife of life; in its fold we should find the purest and the sweetest satisfaction which earth can yield. There have been Churches which might justly be called the arena of conflict or the wilderness of neglect. The ideal Churchthat at which we should aim, and for which we should strive and sacrificeis one that might be appropriately designated, “The garden of the Lord.”C.
Isa 51:7, Isa 51:8, Isa 51:12,Isa 51:13
A sure criterion of character, etc.
This address of Jehovah to the good and worthy among his people contains
I. A SURE CRITERION OF CHARACTER.
1. It is well to be hearers of God’s Word. All the Jews were that; they were all the children of privilege. This, however, was by no means sufficient to prove that they were the children of God.
2. It is better to know his Word and to understand his will. It says something for us if we can be thus addressed, “Ye that know righteousness.” But there are many who clearly apprehend their duty, and who, for one reason or another, refrain from doing it.
3. The certain test of spiritual worth is that God’s Law is in the heart: “In whose heart is my Law.” They who can say with the psalmist,” Oh how love I thy Law! it is my meditation all the day” (Psa 119:97, Psa 119:111); who esteem God’s precepts as more desirable than gold and more sweet than honey (Psa 19:10); who delight to do his will, for his Law is within their heart, the object of their affection, the source of their joy, the well-spring of their comfort, the treasury of their hope;these are they whom God loves and honours; and theirs is the kingdom of heaven (see Joh 14:15, Joh 14:16, Joh 14:21, Joh 14:23; Mat 7:21).
II. A PROBABLE INCIDENT OF A FAITHFUL LIFE. “Fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.” It is highly probable, indeed morally certain, that if we are thoroughly loyal to our Lord and true to our own convictions we shall incur the secret dislike and also the active opposition of men. Implicitly, if not explicitly, we shall condemn their theories and their doings, and they will turn upon us in anger or in self-detente. He who never comes into sharp collision with the sentiments and habits of wicked men must either live a life of very unusual seclusion or else have grave reason to suspect his fidelity to Christ.
III. TWO DECISIVE CONSIDERATIONS.
1. Fidelity to conviction means the preference of God to man. Men are saying, “Hearken unto us”unto us, thy fellows, thy partners, thy confederates; unto us who will share thy responsibility and thy sin, and perish with thee when thou tallest. But God is saying, “Hearken unto me”unto me, thy Creator, thy Benefactor, thy Divine Friend. A Divine Saviour is saying unto us, “Follow me,” in the paths of purity, of integrity, of piety, of consecration (see Isa 51:12, Isa 51:13).
2. Fidelity to conviction means ultimate triumph, but unfaithfulness means final ruin. The devices of iniquity will come to nought, and the guilty themselves will perish. “The moth shall eat them up like a garment.” But “he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” “God’s righteousness shall be for ever,” and they who are loving and living it shall never be confounded. Theirs is the present favour and everlasting friendship of the Eternal.C.
Isa 51:9, Isa 51:10
The force in reserve.
It has been said that the battle goes to him who has the best force in reserve. The general who brings all his regiments to the front may expect to be beaten; but he who holds a strong force in reserve may look for victory. ]n the great spiritual struggle now proceeding, the people of God have in reserve that on which they can and will fall back with infinite advantage to their cause.
I. OUR URGENT NEED OF EFFECTUAL SUCCOUR. The battle seems to go against us. We note:
1. The prevalence of evilof poverty, of misery, of vice, of crime, of unbelief, of superstition, of gross idolatry.
2. The comparative failure of the Church to subdue it. Looking at the entire field of activity, we are obliged to own that complete victory is a very long way off; that the millions of men and women whom the gospel has not reached, and those other millions whose spirit and whose life it has not succeeded in transforming, present a view which is very disappointing. Or looking at particular fields of Christian work, either at home or abroad, regarding the towns and villages of our own land, we do not find that the truth of God has the redeeming and elevating influence which answers to our hopes. We am not conquering the evil which surrounds and assails us; our heart sinks at the thought of the stupendous work before us, which seems to grow rather than to lessen, spite of all our struggle.
II. THE DIVINE FORCE IN RESERVE. Behind us is the arm of the Lord, and on this we lean.
1. It is a great thing that we are armed with a truth which is so fitted to do the renewing work on which we are engaged, a truth which so exquisitely meets the necessities of the human soul.
2. It is a great thing that this truth has triumphed gloriously in the case of individual men, families, tribes, and even nations.
3. But our last and best hope is in the presence and power of God. “The Lord of hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our Refuge.” There are two sustaining thoughts here. One is that Almighty God cannot be defeated. The “arm of the Lord” is the power of the Omnipotent; it is the overcoming energy of him who is the Source of all might and strength, and in whom reside all riches and all resources whatever. The other is that God has shown the exceeding greatness of his power many times before, and can work as glorious marvels in the future as in the past. He who smote Egypt could slay Assyria; he who made a passage across the sea could open a way from Babylon to Jerusalem. The God who has smitten the idolatries of Europe can slay the superstitions of Asia. He who has turned the sensuality and savagery of the islands of the sea into purity and peace can and will overcome the mightiest obstacles which remain. subdue the most hostile forces, and cause the “armies of Israel” to be crowned with victory.
(1) Strive with all strenuousness and self-sacrifice, as if everything depended on our fidelity.
(2) Look with confidence to the action of the arm of Omnipotence.C.
Isa 51:17-23
Spiritual stupefaction.
The passage presents one of the most pitiable of all possible spectaclesa nation reduced to utter helplessness and prostration, lying like one that is brought down by intoxication to a motionless stupidity. We learn from this picture, and from the opening summons and concluding promise
I. THAT THE HUMAN SPIRIT AS WELL AS THE HUMAN BODY IS SUBJECT TO STUPEFACTION. It is a striking and suggestive fact that the very thing which at first excites will ultimately stupefy. This is notoriously the case with intoxicants; these first stimulate, then dull and deaden the system. It is also true, though in a less degree, of those things which are called narcotics: both opium and tobacco at first awaken and enlarge faculty; but this condition soon passes away, and is succeeded by one of depression, inactivity, and (in the case of the more noxious drug) stupor and insensibility. So is it with things which act hurtfully upon the soul. At first they excite, then they blunt and deaden. This applies to:
1. Continuous enjoyment of any kind.
2. Excessive responsibilities, demanding exertion beyond the power to maintain them.
3. Heavy and repeated trials. It was from this last that Israel was suffering. The nation had been required to drink of the cup of Divine retribution, and, owing to her persistency in evil, had been compelled to drain that cup. Beside the two evils specified (Isa 51:19), desolation or famine and the violence of the enemy, was the sense of her utter friendlessness (Isa 51:18); and in addition to this was her abject humiliation (Isa 51:23). These calamities would account for her pitiable despondency, her attitude of despair. The sore and accumulated trials which sometimes befall individual men may not justify, but they explain, the complete brokenness and despondency of their spirit. They give themselves up as those abandoned to an evil course and a fatal doom; they are in a state of spiritual stupefaction.
II. THAT THE STRONGEST AND SHARPEST SUMMONS TO AROUSE IS THE FRIENDLIEST VOICE WE CAN THEN HEAR. “Awake, awake, stand up.” These are the words of the God of Israel. And from whomsoever or from whatsoever shall come the summons to arouse ourselves from a guilty and perilous spiritual torpor, however harsh be the tone, however startling be the terms of the awakening, that voice is of the friendliest, and may be taken to be none other than the voice of God.
III. THAT FOR THE NATION OR THE SPIRIT THAT HEARKENS AND ARISES THERE MAY BE COMPLETE RECOVERY. (Isa 51:22, Isa 51:23.) Jehovah would turn humiliation into triumph for his people, arrogance into disaster for her enemies. As complete a reversal, though of an entirely different kind, will God grant to those who arouse themselves from spiritual torpor and walk in his ways: for them shall be peace instead of insensibility: holy usefulness instead of disgraceful helplessness; sacred joy instead of a miserable despair.C.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK
Isa 51:1
Lessons of the past.
This passage has been somewhat misused. The appeal is not made to the miserableness of our spiritual condition before receiving the Divine redemption. It is simply a recalling of the early history of the race, and an appeal that the goodness, care, and mercy of God to the first progenitors of the race should be recognized. The wonder involved in the origin of Israel may be treated as a ground of faith in its restoration and perpetuity. Cheyne gives the meaning thus: “Unlikely as the fulfilment of such exceeding great and precious promises may seem, it is not more unlikely than the original wonder of a great nation being descended from one man, and him as good as dead.” Abraham may be understood by the “rock,” and Sarah by the “pit.” Look unto Abraham, and see what he got by trusting in the promise of God, and take example by him to follow God with an implicit faith. The metaphors are taken from the quarry, and express the general idea of extraction or descent. Retrospection is an important, though difficult and dangerous, Christian duty. It ought to
(1) deepen our humility;
(2) inflame our love;
(3) stimulate our obedience and
(4) perfect our dependence and trust.
But it may, and often does, nourish that subtle form of spiritual pride which poisons the soul, and which is peculiarly difficult to cure. We only recall the past healthily when it is our set purpose to find the traces of God’s gracious working in it all. Studied aright
I. THE PAST TELLS OF OUR INSIGNIFICANCE. Compare the wonder over the insignificance of Israel in its beginnings. So of the Christian Church. It began with the one or two who responded to the call of Christ. Some of us began our Christian lives in childhood, some in ignorance, and some when self-indulgence had marred the powers we possessed. All of us can say, “Chosen not for good in me.”
II. THE PAST TELLS OF GOD‘S CARE AND MERCY. We have been led, guided, provided for, chastised, and taught, even as Israel was. God’s first dealings seem to us a key to all his dealings.
III. THE PAST TELLS OF OUR WILFULNESSES. Israel could never look back without remembering his “way in the wilderness.” Their past was full of murmurings and rebellions.
IV. THE PAST TELLS OF GOD‘S REDEMPTIONS. Exactly the name for God is our Redeemer. And the long and varied past assures us that he will ever be to us, in all times of need, what he always has been.R.T.
Isa 51:4
God’s revelation a light.
“I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people.” The terms “law” and “judgment” are designed to include all forms of Divine revelationthe various ways in which the Divine will is made known to man. Revelation means light. It is a mistake to assume that there are things revealed which are not intended for our comprehension; they are revealed precisely with the purpose of unfolding so that we might understand them. There are hidden and secret things, but Moses carefully distinguishes them from the revealed things, saying thus: “The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but the things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this Law” (Deu 29:29). Only this much is truerevelation is not light to every age equally. Some things seem mysterious at one time that are clear enough at another. And in each fresh generation we may say
“The Lord hath yet more light and truth
To break forth from his Word.”
This, at least, we may assert, prove, and illustratein all essential matters relating to moral conduct and religious faith, God’s revelation is light.
I. GOD‘S REVELATION IS LIGHT THAT SHOWS UP SIN.
1. It gives us proper apprehensions of God himself, and shows sin by our contrast with him.
2. It unfolds before us the graciousness of his relations with us, and convicts of sin as it makes us feel the weakness of our response to such relations (Dan 5:23, last clause).
3. It declares to us the laws by which both our conduct and our spirit ought to be ruled; and by the Law is the knowledge of sin.
4. It presents to us the Lord Jesus Christ as the Gift of God; and “this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.”
II. GOD‘S REVELATION IS LIGHT THAT SHOWS THE WAY OUT OF SIN.
1. By removal of the penalties it has involved.
2. By restoring the broken relations it has caused.
3. By changing the spirit of the sinnermelting him to penitence, quickening him to believe. Illustrate one feature from the parable of the “prodigal son,” and other features by such passages as Rom 3:19-26; Rom 5:8-10.
III. GOD‘S REVELATION‘ IS LIGHT THAT SHOWS THE WAY FOR THOSE REDEEMED FROM SIN. There is the “way of holiness” in which they have to walk. There is a sanctifying, through cares and chastisements, which they have to experience. There is a personal and practical application of the Christian principles to the details of common life which has to be made. And, for all this, God’s Word is a “lamp unto our feet, and a light unto our path.”R.T.
Isa 51:6
Things earthly and things spiritual.
“They that dwell therein shall die in like manner; but my salvation shall be for ever.” Some render, “Shall die like gnats;” that is, shall live their little day, and then pass away (comp. Psa 102:26; Mat 24:35; 2Pe 3:10-13). We get one of our chief impressions of the value of a thing out of the length of time that it will last. Permanence is one of the principal notes of value. The insect that hums through the air of one summer’s evening is. comparatively worthless; the elephant that lives through a hundred years is valuable The wayside weed that lives its brief months is worthless; the giant oak that outlives the storms of generations is valuable. And so our idea of extreme value, of absolutely priceless worth, is put into the figure of permanenceeternal, abiding, and continuing. The highest conceivable good is eternal life; the worst conceivable woe is eternal death. This note of value tests things earthly; they are short-lived, and comparatively worthless. It tests things spiritual; they are long-lived, good, cannot die, and they alone are truly worthy of the pursuit of those in whom God has breathed the breath of life.
1. The material heavens and material earth are the types of all material things. They are the “treasure on earth,” which moth or rust are always corrupting, which thieves are constantly breaking through to steal. “Here we have no continuing city” (see the force of this in view of the ruins of great ancient cities which abound in the East). “The fashion of this world passeth away.” The world is a moving panorama. The generations go by like the ships that sail to the West. “The place that knows us now must soon know us no more for ever.” Everything on which the earthly stamp rests is in its very nature fading. There is no safe holding of what we only get, only become possessed of.
2. But “salvation” and “righteousness” are the types of spiritual things. They bear relation to the man himself, and not to his mere circumstances or surroundings. We can keep for ever only that which we are. Character is our “treasure in heaven, which neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and which no thieves can break through and steal.” But the yet higher truththe one concerning which we need to gain ever new impressionsis that we can only hope to hold on for ever that which we are through Divine grace; that which we are through the Divine redeemings and sanctifyings. God’s “salvation shall be for ever; and his righteousness shall not be abolished,” as the salvation is wrought in us, and the righteousness shines from us.R.T.
Isa 51:7, Isa 51:12, Isa 51:13
Fear, and Fear not.
“Fear ye not the reproach of men;” “Afraid of a man that shall die;” “Forgettest the Lord thy Maker.” It has been said, “Fear God, and thou shalt have none else to fear.” And the apostle, glorifying the fear of God by calling it love, says, “Perfect love casteth out fear.” The immediate connection of the passage is Israel’s fear of the Babylonians. But they need not have feared if they had looked to the “Lord as their Defence, and to the God of Jacob as their Refuge”unto the Lord who “could perform all things for them.” “Let not those who embrace the gospel righteousness be afraid of those who will call them Beelzebub, and will say all manner of evil against them falsely. Let them not be afraid of them; let them not be disturbed by these opprobrious speeches, nor made uneasy by them, as if they would be the ruin of their reputation and honour, and they must for ever lie under the load of them. Let them not be afraid of their executing their menaces, nor be deterred thereby from their duty, nor frightened into any sinful compliances, nor driven to take any indirect courses for their own safety. Those can bear but little for Christ that cannot bear a hard word for him” (Matthew Henry).
I. NATURAL FEAR OF MAN. Because the conquest of man by the spirit of self, self-will, self-pleasing, has set every man, in greater or less degree, upon getting advantage over his brother; and so we all go in suspicion and fear of one another. Illustrate from the jealousies and rivalries of society, the competitions of business, the ambitions and conflicts of nations. Governments are organizations to keel) within safe limits men’s fears of one another. The only natural triumph over such fear is for men to become possessed with the idea of serving one another, instead of taking advantage of, and getting something out of, one another. George Macdonald has a dream in one of his works (‘Wingfold, Curate’), in which heaven is pictured as busy earth, just as we know it, only everybody is set upon serving his neighbour, and nobody ever gets the idea of making his neighbour serve him. Nobody has anything to fear in such a heaven or in such an earth.
II. PROPER FEAR OF GOD. That must be supreme. It must be the fear that draws us near to him in trust; that gives us the joy of obeying and following him; and that really is filial love. That fear is a sanctifying force to us, just as reverent fear of his father mightily helps the boy to do right. That fear is a resting, quieting influence upon us; it makes us feel safe as the boy feels in the storm, if the father whom he fears is at the helm.R.T.
Isa 51:11
Joy-song on the way to Zion.
(See Isa 35:10.) There may be an allusion to the custom, so common in the East, of singing upon a journey, particularly with a view to quicken the pace of the camels. Bush writes, “We should not have passed this plain so rapidly, but for the common custom of the Arabs of urging on their camels by singing. The effect is very extraordinary; this musical excitement increases their pace at least one-fourth. First one camel-driver sings a verse, then the others answer in chorus. It reminded me somewhat of the Venetian gondoliers. I often asked the camel-drivers to sing, not only to hasten our progress, but also for the pleasure of hearing their simple melodies! Some of their best songs possess a plaintive sweetness that is almost as touching as the most exquisite European airs.” And Pitts, in describing the order of the caravans, tells us, “Some of the camels have bells about their necks, and some about their legs, like those which our carders put about their fore-horses’ necks, which, together with the servants (who belong to the camels and travel on foot) singing all night, make a pleasant noise, and the journey passes away delightfully.” The picture is of the return of Israel from captivity to Jerusalem. ]t is an ideal picture of what might have been, but the actual circumstances of the return came very far short of the pictured ideal. As an earlier homily has dealt with this verse, only a fresh line of thought need be suggested. It is that through all the Christian pilgrim-way there ought to be joy and song; the “joy of the Lord our Strength.”
I. THE JOY OF BEGINNING A CHRISTIAN LIFE, This is usually an intense joy, born of the freshness of our experience, the brightness of our newly kindled hope, and our ignorance of the conflict which the Christian life must witness. It is the joy of the ransomed. Illustrate from the freed slave. It is the joy of the delivered. Illustrate by song of Israel on the Red Sea shore. People usually set out on an expedition with much song and hope.
II. JOY ON THE WAY IN CHRISTIAN LIVING. This is a calmer joy; found rather in what God’s grace proves able to do for us, than in any circumstances through which we pass; for the way itself is often rough and hardwe can seldom sing about it.
III. JOY AT THE END WHEN HOME IS WON. Illustrate by Moore’s ‘Paradise and the Peri’
“Joy, joy for ever! the work is done,
The gate is passed, and heaven is won.”
True joy, be it remembered, is not a fitful response to circumstances, but an ever-bubbling and upspringing soul-wellR.T.
Isa 51:16
Man, God’s agent.
“I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand.” This statement was most perfectly realized in the ideal Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, who could say, “The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself; but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.” Possibly the figures in the text are designed to represent the re-establishment of Jerusalem as the centre of a restored Jewish nation, and God likens this to the putting up of a fallen tent, and intimates that his faithful ones should be used as his agents, in setting up the poles, driving in the pegs, and straining the cords.
I. MAN‘S POWERS FITTED FOR GOD‘S SERVICE. God made him, adapted him, and endowed him, precisely with a view to service. We recognize a design and an aim in everything God has made. We set before ourselves a distinct purpose in anything we makeit is to serve us. Because man has the trust of what he calls “independence” and “free-will,” he does not cease to be God’s servant, God’s agent; though, turning his free-will into self-will, be too often spoils his powers, and renders them unfit for God’s service. Each one of us ought to find out precisely the powers with which we are endowed; and in the line of them we must look for our spheres and our work. What we can do, that we must do for God.
II. MAN‘S POWERS OUGHT TO BE AT GOD‘S DISPOSAL. The call should be heard by us each new morning, “Who is willing to consecrate himself this day unto the Lord?” God should have first choice of our service. It should ever be enough to us that God calls. “As the eyes of a servant.; to the hand of the master, so our eyes should wait on God.” The practical rule of life should be this”I belong to God. My service is for him, my leisure may be for others and myself.”
III. MAN‘S POWERS ARE IN GOD‘S USE. It is not a question that he may use us, he does use us, we are his voice, his sword, his staff. He is now working out his purposes on earth by human agencies. Nothing alters the fact; but the joy of being willing workers may be ours. And our doings are ennobled when we can see them to be God’s doings by us. Man realizes Iris noblest individuality, the design of his being, only as thus he is willing to be mouthpiece for God, and to be covered in the shadow of God’s hand, as he plants, or digs, or builds.R.T.
Isa 51:22
God our Advocate with himself.
“Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, and thy God who is the Advocate of his people.” He will plead for his people when none else will plead (comp. Isa 63:5). In this we find a foreshadowing of the idea of Christ as our Advocate with God, which, most deeply, most spiritually apprehended, is God pleading with GodGod an Advocate with himself. This may be worked out thus
I. JESUS PLEADS FOR US WITH GOD. “There is one God, and one Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus;” “If any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous.”
II. BUT JESUS IS GOD. “In him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” “The Word was God.” He was God “manifest in the flesh.” “The Brightness of the Father’s glory, and express Image of his Person.”
III. THEN THIS IS GOD PLEADING WITH GOD. It is a way of figuring for our apprehension what seems to be the fact, that God holds argument with himself.R.T.
Isa 51:23
Divine judgment on persecutors.
“Thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.” This is a figure for the last humiliation of an Eastern conquest. Joshua called his captains, and even his soldiers, to put their feet upon the necks of the conquered kings (Jos 10:24). Matthew Arnold’s note on this verse is as follows: “A trait of the humiliation of the conquered and the insolence of the conqueror in Eastern kingdoms. So it is related that when Sapor, King of Persia, got on horseback, the Roman Emperor Valerian had to kneel down, and make his back a step for him.” Henderson, quoting from Ibn Batuta, says that “when the negroes who appeared before the black sultan at Mall, in Nigritia, fell down, they laid bare their backs, and covered their heads with dust, as tokens of the most profound submission.” Further illustration may be found in the Eastern custom called the doseh, which is still prevalent, or only very recently extinct. Dervishes lay themselves down side by side on the ground, backs upward, legs extended, and their arms placed together beneath their foreheads. Over these the sheikh on horseback rides. The assurance made is that the enemies and persecutors of Israel, and notably Babylon, should be made to drink of the same bitter cup that they had made Israel drink so deeply. And Babylon had to taste the bitterness of captivity. Very striking facts are narrated concerning the Divine retributions which persecutors have suffered, and though some may be but imaginative creations under impressions of what ought to be, there are sufficient cases that are strictly historical to convince us that, in this sphere, “though hand join in hand, the wicked do not go unpunished;” and not infrequently what is known as “poetical justice ‘ is meted out to them even in this life. If the persecutor should escape the retribution, the judgment comes upon his fame. After-generations say worse things of persecutors than of any of the ancestors. They live in the execration of the ages. Yet the persecutor can never permanently harm the Church. Its conquest is ,well assured, and that conquest involves the judgment, humiliation, and degradation of the persecutors, who shall have measured to them what they meted out to others; for “our God is known by the judgments which he executeth.”R.T.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Isa 51:1-2. Hearken to me, &c. The Messiah, about to comfort the true church remaining in the land of Judea, which consisted of a small number, called by him a little flock, and whom he had just before marked out as a small company fearing the Lord,begins with a gracious address, calling them a company following after righteousness, seeking Jehovah, and demanding attention from them. He orders them to look to Abraham and Sarah, from whom they derived their original, who alone being called by God to enjoy the blessings of a new and higher dispensation, were increased by his remarkable blessing, and multiplied into an immense number; that they might understand hereby, that they, the true heirs of the blessing of Abraham, should enjoy the same privilege of the divine blessing: and this foundation of comfort being laid down, Isa 51:1-2 he immediately explains the purpose of the divine grace, whereby it was determined to place the church, formed of this seed, in a happy and prosperous state, abounding with all the goods of divine grace and true consolation, that they might exhibit a type of the blessing of Abraham and Sarah, Isa 51:3. The reader will easily discern that the third verse is figurative: in its primary sense referring to the state of Sion, after the restoration from Babylon; in its secondary and spiritual sense, to the redemption of the church by the Messiah, and the consequent blessings of grace. See chap. Isa 49:19 Isa 52:9.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
III.THE THIRD DISCOURSE
The Final Redemption of Israel. A Dialogue between the Servant of Jehovah who appears as one veiled, Israel, Jehovah Himself and the Prophet
Isaiah 51
This chapter speaks of high and mighty things. We hear four persons speak one after the other. Each of the speakers from his view-point announces what he has to produce in reference to the chief subject. The Servant of God, appearing significantly veiled, presents to Israel the condition of its redemption (Isa 51:1-8). Israel then turns with believing supplication to its Lord, praying for a display of power as of old (Isa 51:9-11). The Lord answers Israel with comfort and exhortation, but then turns to the Servant, who is called to execute the work of redemption, in order to set before Him the origin, means and goal of His work (Isa 51:12-16). Finally the Prophet himself takes up the word in order to exhort Israel that it would take to heart the consolation given by Jehovah (Isa 51:17-23).
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1. THE (VEILED) SERVANT OF JEHOVAH PRESENTS TO ISRAEL THE CONDITION OF THE REDEMPTION
Isa 51:1-8
1Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness,
Ye that seek the Lord:
Look unto the rock whence ye are hewn,
And to the hole of the 1pit whence ye are digged.
2Look unto Abraham your father,
And unto Sarah that bare you:
2For I called him alone,
And blessed him, and increased him.
3For the Lord shall comfort Zion:
He will comfort all her waste places;
And he will make her wilderness like Eden,
And her desert like the garden of the Lord;
Joy and gladness shall be found therein,
Thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
4Hearken unto me, my people;
And give ear unto me, O my nation:
For a law shall proceed from me,
And I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people.
5My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth,
And mine arms shall judge the people;
The isles shall wait upon me,
And on mine arm shall they trust.
6Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
And look upon the earth beneath:
For the heavens shall vanish away like smoke,
And the earth shall wax old like a garment,
And they that dwell therein shall die in like manner:
But my salvation shall be forever,
And my righteousness shall not 3be abolished.
7Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness,
The people in whose heart is my law;
Fear ye not the reproach of men,
Neither be ye afraid of their revilings.
8For the moth shall eat them up like a garment,
And the worm shall eat them like wool:
But my righteousness shall be forever,
And my salvation from generation to generation.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
See List for the recurrence of the words: Isa 51:3. which, beside Psa 51:10, occurs only in Isaiah; Jer 15:16; Jer 31:13, uses , and Isa 7:24; Isa 16:9 . Comp. Zec 8:19. Isa 51:5. . Isa 51:6. . Isa 51:8. , comp. Psa 72:5; Psa 102:25.
Isa 51:1. abbreviated relative clause for .
Isa 51:2. The imperf. , before which is likewise to be supplied, occasions surprise. Why is the perf. not employed? Had the Prophet had in mind the one act of physical birth he must have put the perf. As the word cannot be treated as a substantive (comp. Psa 139:21), the choice of the word and the verbal form must be explained by understanding the Prophet to be thinking, not merely of the torqueri that accompanies the act of birth, but also of that torqueri spe (comp. Gen 8:10; Job 35:14 : Psa 37:7) that Sarah had to endure through so many years.The punctuation of the verbs and with the mere Vav, copulative indicates that we are to construe the Vav as denoting intention (Ewald, 347, a).
Isa 51:3. and are praeterita prophetica.The expression occurs only here. occurs several times in Eze 28:13; Eze 31:8-9, occurs beside here in Psa 98:5. Isaiah uses again Isa 12:2; Isa 24:16.
Isa 51:4. It is needless and conflicting with the context to read and (Codd., Syr.), instead of and , or even to take and as plural endings (Gesen.) and to refer both to the Gentiles. For these verses contain an exhortation to Israel not to renounce its privilege. is indeed nowhere else used for Israel. Yet the use of Zep 2:9 is analogous. In this case as there, the want of a second word fitted to correspond in parallelism with occasions the abnormal use.The diversities of meanings encountered in the root , (e.g., the meanings of emotion, trembling, resting seem to combine in the same root), is probably to be explained thus: we must distinguish between a with original , and another with an that is derived from a hissing consonant. Probably , denoting tremefecit, terruit, and from which is derived momentum (movimentum, moment of the trembling emotion), is softened from , (as e.g., the Hebrew becomes in Aramaic, comp. ,,=, etc.). But that involves the meaning to rest has an original . The Hiph. in our text means to make rest, and that in a similar sense to and , which forms, as is well known, in like manner acquire the meaning deposuit, demisit, posuit, collocavit (comp. Isa 30:32; Isa 14:1; Isa 46:7, etc.). Thus would involve the meaning of settling permanently. For this right is that which from now on remains permanently, everlastingly.
Isa 51:6. It is uncertain whether is radically related to conterere, hence contritum, what is broken small, both salt and rags (Jer 38:11-12); or whether has the fundamental meaning to flood, to flow, hence =flow, salt-flux, salt and=that which has flowed, passed away. is taken by the ancient translators and expositors in the sense of just as, which grammatically is quite correct, but is thought to be flat as to sense. Hence, after the example of Lowth and Vitringa, most recent expositors take to mean gnat. But does not occur in this sense in the singular; and the plural Exo 8:12 sqq.; Psa 105:31 is without doubt to be referred to (comp. Exo 8:13-14) and not to . Hence Delitzsch is of the opinion that is to be taken in the sense of a so to which an accompanying gesture imparts a contemptuous meaning. But for this he can only appeal to classic analogies; for 2Sa 23:5; Num 13:33; Job 9:33 are not fitting comparisons. I am of the opinion that if is not taken in the sense of just as, the application of the comparison is wanting. For whether be taken=gnat, or=contemptuous so, in either case the clause to still belongs to the comparison and the application is wanting. Thus the discourse becomes obscure; whereas it is quite clear if the clause contains the application. For then it is said that all, that is nothing more than citizen of the earth, will pass away just as heaven and earth.
Isa 51:7. comp. Psa 22:7; and concerning the remarks on Isa 8:1. with fem. ending only here; yet comp. Eze 5:15; with masc. ending Isa 43:28; Zep 2:8.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. Connecting with the exhortation, Isa 50:10, to hearken to the voice of the Servant of God, the Prophet first lets a speaker enter of whom one does not exactly know whether he is Jehovah or one closely connected, indeed, with Jehovah, yet a distinct person from Him. If he is the latter, he can be no other than the Servant of Jehovah, who, veiling here His servant-form, already suffers His unity with Jehovah to appear. The following are reasons for thinking that it is the Servant of Jehovah that speaks in Isa 51:1 to Isa 8:1) the reference of , Isa 51:1, to , Isa 50:10; Isaiah 2) Isa 51:1; Isa 51:3, speak of Jehovah in the third person; 3) Isa 42:4, the Zionitic law is called the law of the Servant of Jehovah, and the speaker in these verses describes the same law as proceeding from him (Isa 51:4) and as his law; 4) in Isa 51:16 the Servant is evidently addressed, and thus is assumed to be a participator in the dialogue, as . This discourse divides into three sections, each of which begins with an emphatic summons to give heed: (Isa 51:1), , (Isa 51:4), (Isa 51:7).
2. Hearken to mevoice of melody, Isa 51:1-3. The exhortation hearken to me refers back to who hearkeneth to the voice of my Servant, Isa 50:10. Although Isa 51:2 is proof that Jehovah is the speaker, still on the other hand Jehovah in Isa 51:1 a once and in Isa 51:3 twice is spoken of in the third person. Should not the Servant of Jehovah Himself be regarded as the speaker? His unity with Jehovah and His glory begin to shine through here; but because the servant-form and glory still stand uncombined side by side, He does not here appear plainly as the bearer of the latter. Those whom He summons to hear Him are the same that, Isa 50:10, are described as those that fear the Lord. The last expression is a general one. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Pro 1:7). To fear God includes earnest endeavor after righteousness in the widest sense, involving being right and having salvation (proof-text for , Deu 16:20; comp. Pro 21:21). But the possession of salvation is assured to those that seek and find the Lord Himself, the highest good ( said with reference to Exo 33:7; Deu 4:20, especially in Hos 3:5; Hos 5:6; Hos 7:10). These upright souls that strive after true righteousness and communion with God, and who are, hence, inclined and fitted to trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon their God (Isa 50:10), the Servant of the Lord would strengthen and confirm by referring them to Abraham and Sarah. He compares Abraham to a rock from which building-stones are hewn, and Sarah to a well-hole ( , the latter reminding one of , comp. Isa 48:1), from which earth, clay, etc., are taken. There lies in the figure the notion of the primitive paternal and maternal ancestry. Ancestors are authority. Their posterity ought to resemble them, not only physically, but spiritually. Israel, then, ought to look back to its ancestors in order to imitate their example. It is to be noticed that Sarah is named here, as in Heb 11:11, along with Abraham, as the companion of his faith (see Text. and Gram.). Sarahs pains in bearing the son of promise were two-fold: first, the inward struggles of faith, the sorrows of a hope again and again deceived, and yet not given up, joyfully ended at last by the physical sorrows of the birth. Thus leads over to the fact in which Abraham approved himself as an example of faith: the Lord called him as standing alone, as it were a solitary tree, but of course in order to bless and multiply him (see Text. and Gram.). The verbs to bless and multiply play a chief part in the promise given to Abraham. Therefore the Prophet points to these here (comp. Gen 22:17; Gen 12:2-3; Gen 13:15-16; Gen 18:18, etc.). Through long decennials and up to years when posterity was no longer naturally to be expected, Abraham had stood alone like a tree in a wide field, about which, even after long years, there appeared no sign of young growth from seeds falling from it. But he was not on that account weak in faith. And thus he is a comforting example to his posterity. For that Zion that the Prophet has in mind, which will be contemporary with the Servant of God, and wasted and forsaken (comp. Isa 49:14 sqq.), shall also grow up again and have a numerous seed and become a glorious garden of the Lord. By pointing to believing Abraham, the Prophet lets it be understood that just and only on the condition of a faith like Abrahams can wasted Zion become again a paradise (, Gen 2:15; Joe 2:3). Unbelieving Israel, however, remains a waste!
3. Hearken unto menot be abolished.
Isa 51:4-6. This section begins with a summons to hearken, still more emphatic than the preceding. It reminds one of Isa 49:1. The Lord will let a new law go forth, He will promulgate a new right to the nations. According to Isa 42:1-4; Isa 49:6, it is the Servant of God that is the medium of this new revelation of Jehovahs. The Thorah here spoken of is, therefore, the Zionitic law, or the Gospel, and the right that will be set for a light to the nations is the new ordinance which, resting on the fact of the offering made on Golgotha, makes faith, and no longer works, the central point of subjective performance. I repeat here expressly, that I do not ascribe to the Prophet this knowledge, but that I only explain here what is objectively implied in the Prophets words, but not clearly known by him.
If this new Thorah is promulgated, then, on the one hand, righteousness is come near that avails with God (Isa 46:12-13), and with it salvation is gone forth (i.e., given out, offered to all); but, on the other hand, the time also of universal judgment has arrived. For when the Saviour of the world has appeared, then the time of judgment has come. But the judgment begins at the house of God. The destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans is the first act of the worlds judgment (Matthew 24). We men living at present are, therefore, already in the worlds judgment. In this time, then, of the publishing of the Zionitic law on the one hand, and of the worlds judgment on the other, the isles shall hope in the Lord, and wait on his arm ( symbolically=protection, support, hence singular; whereas before in the word is taken in the physical sense, therefore the plural). Here it is intimated, therefore, that just the isles, i.e., the remote, heathen nations, especially of the West, in that last time, that is to be both a time of salvation and of judgment, will accept salvation. It is to be noted that the Prophet says nothing of Israels believing on the Servant of the Lord and on His law. Here, therefore, is a hint of that conflict in which Israel stood after the appearance of the Servant and still stands: either to cleave to the gospel with the Gentiles and thereby to disappear as a nation, or to reject the gospel and thereby to be themselves rejected, yet to be preserved as a nation for the time when, without jealousy or competition, the kingdom of God shall appear as the kingdom of David, and will be still one flock under one Shepherd. On comp. on Isa 42:4.
Of course Israel acts thus from no praiseworthy motives, but from obstinacy and pride. And hence fleshly Israel shall be destroyed in the judgment. In Isa 51:6 the Prophet commands to consider heaven and earth. The heavens, seemingly so firm (firmamentum, ) shall vanish away like smoke, the earth that bears all, will become worm-eaten and rotten and pass away as an old garment, and the inhabitants of the earth shall perish just so. But the salvation of Jehovah shall be forever and his righteousness shall not perish. Therefore whoever possesses this salvation and this righteousness shall be preserved. It is not said that whoever is dug out of the fountain of Abraham shall be blessed. But he that will follow the call of the Lord as Abraham, he that takes His law and believes Him, he shall be blessed, though he were a heathen. Whoever does not believe, though of the seed of Abraham after the flesh, shall perish away just as (see Text. and Gram.) the heaven and earth. Thus the difference between Israel and Gentiles disappears. He that has not the salvation and righteousness of the Lord is a mere earth inhabitant, whether of the race of Israel or not, and as such he shall perish with the earth.
4. Hearken unto megeneration.
Isa 51:7-8. For the third time we hear the summons to hearken. This time it is not addressed to Israel, but to all those that know the true righteousness, and have the law of the Servant of Jehovah in their hearts. Those that know righteousness differ from those that follow after righteousness only so far as that one must first know righteousness before he can follow after it. It is implied that, not a mere outward acquaintance is meant, but one truly inward and experimental. With this agrees the additional clause the people in whose heart is my law. From this is seen: 1) That not the outward Israel is meant, that received the Mosaic law outwardly. The words manifestly contain an express antithesis (comp. Jer 31:33, which seems to rest on our text). 2) That here, too, the Servant of Jehovah is thought of. For this new, higher law is in Isa 42:4, expressly called His law, and the Thorah of which Isa 51:4 speaks, can be no other than that of which the Servant of Jehovah is called to be the mediator. Just on this account, however, the nation, in whose heart is the law of the Servant of Jehovah cannot be regarded here as itself appertaining to the Servant of Jehovah, as Del. [also J. A. A.] supposes. The people that has the righteousness and the law of the Servant of Jehovah in their hearts is not the people of Israel. It is a great people, a more numerous congregation. It is believing mankind, the congregation of those born again, the spiritual Israel, in distinction from unbelieving mankind, the world. This believing congregation has ever and everywhere to contend with the world. It is hated and persecuted by the world (Mat 10:34 sqq.; 2Ti 3:12). But it can rest assured of the protection of its Lord. Hence the exhortation: fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings. For the moth shall eat them up as a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool. There is a play of sound in the original and that cannot be well reproduced in another language. This is the third time that the figure of the garment recurs (Isa 50:9; Isa 51:6), and the second time for that of the moth (Isa 50:9). Both are here combined and strengthened by the rhetorical variation, the worm shall eat them like wool. , probably from the fundamental meaning of to spring, allied to , is the Greek (Mat 6:19, comp. Bochart, Hieroz., Lib. IV, cap. 25). The concluding clause, but my righteousness, etc., Isa 51:8 b, corresponds in part verbatim to the close of Isa 51:6; only that here, too, for the sake of variety there occurs a transposition of the notions.
Footnotes:
[1]well.
[2]For he was alone when I called him.
[3]perish.
2. ISRAEL EXHORTS THE LORD TO A NEW DISPLAY OF HIS ANCIENT POWER, AND HOPES FOR THE BEST FROM IT
Isa 51:9-11
9Awake! Awake! put on strength, O arm of the Lord;
Awake! as in the ancient days, in the generation of old.
Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab,
And wounded the dragon?
10Art thou not it which hath dried the sea,
The waters of the great deep;
That hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?
11Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return,
And come with singing unto Zion;
And everlasting joy shall be upon their head:
They shall obtain gladness and joy;
And sorrow and mourning shall flee away.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
See List for the recurrence of the words: Isa 51:9. Poel. Hiph.
Isa 51:9. depends on the before , and not, as Hitzig and Hahn suppose, on ; for the expression never occurs, and the absence of the preposition before is according to common usage (comp. Isa 48:9; Isa 48:14; Isa 46:5; Isa 44:28, etc.). On the other hand the is a frequent expression (Isa 23:7; Isa 37:26; Mic 7:20; Jer 46:26; Psa 44:2; 2Ki 19:25; Lam 1:7; Lam 2:17). The expression does not occur again. The plural, , expressing the relative notion of an immeasurable duration of time past or to come (comp. Isa 63:11), belongs to the words that occur only in Part Second.
Isa 51:10. , according to the Masoretic pointing with double-Pashta (comp. Olsh., 41, k, 47, c. Anm.), should be read as Milel [accented on the penult.Tr.], consequently regarded as third pers. fem. perf. Then the expression must be taken in a relative sense (Gesen., 100, Rem.). But this punctuation seems to me a needless refinement. For there is no grammatical or logical ground for departing from the simple and natural construction of the verse, according to which the word is a parallel participle to the foregoing .
Isa 51:11. The verse is repeated almost verbatim from Isa 35:10. The only difference is the small one of in our text instead of the of Isa 35:10, which may be referred to an error of transcription. In 35 Isa 51:9 concludes with the words . Our Isa 51:10 also concludes with . It is possible, indeed, that thus ending Isa 51:10, the Prophet was reminded of Isa 35:9, and that occasioned his repeating here the words that there follow, viz., Isa 35:10. But it is not correct, when Hitzig remarks, that Isa 51:11 does not suit the context because here those delivered from Egypt are meant. For the deliverance out of Egypt is only a type of that of final history.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Awakeflee away.
Isa 51:9-11. In accordance with the almost dramatic arrangement that the Prophet observes, Zion now takes up the discourse. It is so bold as to return exhortation for exhortation. For if Israel was reminded in Isa 51:1-6 of what it needed to do for its salvation, it in turn summons the Lord to do His part now, i.e., in the time of the Servant of Jehovah, in the last time, as He did in the beginning time, in Egypt. There is in awake a slight intimation that the arm of the Lord has slept, i.e., that there has been a pause in the display of its power. How else could the destruction and desolation (Isa 51:3) of Zion, and its consequent second and greatest exile have come about? Thrice is the cry awake called out to the arm of the Lord, as to one lying in deepest slumber, and that can only be wakened by repeated calling. Comp. Isa 52:1; Jdg 5:12. Put on strength, equip ones self with strength, is a figure drawn from the arming of a warrior with pieces of armor. The naked arm is thought of as weaker, that covered with brazen bands as stronger, firmer, better able to resist (comp. Isa 52:1; Psa 93:1). Hitzig cites Homer, Il. 19, 36, ; Delitzsch, Rev 11:17, . And now the Lords former doings are, as it were, held up to Him as an example. Art thou not He that cut Rahab asunder, etc. Rahab, properly ferocia, then designation of a monstrum marinum, in which sense it corresponds to , and thence, like the latter, which=the crocodile, a symbolical name for Egypt (comp. on Isa 30:7). On comp. List and Eze 29:3; Psa 74:13-14.
In Isa 51:10, reference is further made to the drying up of the Red sea and the passage of the Israelites through it. Therefore here again we find the deliverance out of Egyptian bondage as a type of the last and final redemption. In Isa 51:11 (see Text. and Gram.) the Prophet, in entire agreement with the context, expresses the confidence that the arm of the Lord will, indeed, in the last time give proof again of its power displayed in ancient time, and that therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return home to Zion with rejoicings and to everlasting joy.
3. JEHOVAH SPEAKS: HE REPLIES TO ISRAELS EXHORTATION WITH EXHORTATION, AND HOLDS UP TO HIS SERVANT THE ORIGIN, MEANS AND GOAL OF HIS LABOR
Isa 51:12-16
12I, even I, am he that comforteth you:
Who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die?
And of the son of man which shall be 4made as grass;
13And forgettest the Lord thy Maker,
That hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth;
And hast feared continually every day
Because of the fury of the oppressor,
5As if he 6were ready to destroy?
And where is the fury of the oppressor?
147The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed,
And 8that he should not die in the pit,
Nor that his bread should fail.
159But I am the Lord thy God,
That 10divided the sea, whose waves roared:
The Lord of hosts is his name.
16And I have put my words in thy mouth,
And I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand,
11That I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth,
And say unto Zion, Thou art my people.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
See List for the recurrence of the words: Isa 51:14, , comp. Jer 2:20; Jer 48:12; Isa 51:15 ; the expression occurs in the same form in Jer 10:16; Jer 31:35 : Jer 32:18; Jer 46:18; Jer 48:15; Jer 50:34; Jer 51:19; Jer 51:57. It seems original with Amos, where it appears now in a simpler form (Amo 5:8; Amo 9:6), now in a more extended form (Amo 4:13; Amo 5:27).
Isa 51:12. In the is self-evidently qualis. The expression also corresponds in sound to Isa 51:9. The Prophet uses freedom in respect to gender and number. After he puts the sing , and after the feminine the masculines and , according as the notion Zion or Israel is uppermost. The Vav consec. after expresses the effect, and hence is=ut; qualis eras, ut timeres. Thus by no means signifies how little art thou? (Knobel). For the same interrogative form may mean: how great art thou? comp. Jdg 9:28. And any way may, regardless of size great or small, inquire for the occasioning quality generally. Comp. Isa 51:19 and Rth 3:16 with the same phrase, Rth 3:9; Isa 57:4; Isa 57:11.
Isa 51:13. One may supply his arrows after (Psa 11:2; comp. Isa 7:13); still, without an expressed object, the word also means to aim (Psa 21:13).
Isa 51:14. is construed as e.g., Gen 27:20. is to bow transitive and intransitive. Here it means the one bowed down by chains or the (Jer 20:2; Jer 29:26; 2Ch 16:10). is a metonymy as in Isa 14:17, etc.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. I, even Ishould fail.
Isa 51:12-14. Jehovah enters here as the third and most exalted person of the dialogue. The I, even I corresponds to the awake, awake of Isa 51:9 and replies to it. It seems to me that He that comforteth you refers back to the double comforted Isa 51:3. It is as if the Lord would say: Have ye not heard that I, I Jehovah am He that comforts Zion? Are ye not competently assured of this? Who art thou, now, that thou fearest a man that will die? (See Text. and Gram.). Man that dies, the son of man who is given away as grass, such is the enemy that Israel ought not to fear. There could be no mention of this fear, were it not that Israel forgot Jehovah, who, as Maker of His people (Isa 43:1) stretcher forth of the heavens and founder of the earth (Isa 40:22; Isa 42:5; Isa 44:24; Isa 45:12) surely offered a sufficient guaranty for trusting in Him. Forgetting Jehovah is really the cause both of fearing men (Isa 51:12) and of the continual trembling (Isa 51:13). The mention of one effect before and of the other after the cause, thus proceeding in the one case from effect to cause, and in the other from cause to effect, though not quite exact, is still a common way of speaking (comp. Amo 5:10-12; Jer 2:9 sq.; Isa 49:19 sq.; 2Sa 12:9). Evidently and hast trembled every day, etc., Isa 51:13, makes stronger the expression of Isa 51:12, both qualitatively and quantitatively. To understand by the oppressor the Babylonian oppressor (Knobel) is only possible to one that has no conception of the wide reach of the prophetic gaze. Though Babylon may be included, it cannot be all that is meant, for the Prophet sees together all that Israel feels as an oppressor until the end. Moreover the expression is founded on Deu 28:53; Deu 28:55; Deu 28:57, and is used by Isaiah here and Isa 29:2; Isa 29:7 in this sense, and besides only by Jer 19:9. =according as, and thus expresses that the trembling is in proportion to the aiming of the oppressor.
But where is the fury of the oppressor? asks the Lord, anticipating, as it were, the future. The question intimates that a time will come when that fury shall suddenly vanish. With this wondrously quick disappearance of the oppressor connects the instant, and unhindered release of the captives. Prison scenes appear here before the Prophets mind: he sees captives bent under the weight of chains, or, worse still, by racking instruments, who are now quickly let go, and thus escape a dreadful fate of slow dying to the pit (a pregnant construction) for want of necessary food.
2. But I amMy people.
Isa 51:15-16. I regard both these verses as the address of Jehovah to His Servant. Such an address is not out of place, but the contrary, if we were right in regarding the Servant of Jehovah as taking part in the dialogue and the Isa 51:1-8 as His words. and I answers to the double Isa 51:12 as a similar beginning. The Servant of Jehovah has also great conflicts to endure. The world storms against Him like a raging sea (Psa 2:1; Isa 57:20). Hence Jehovah, to strengthen Him, calls Himself in relation to Him His God, that has power over the sea, to raise it up and, naturally, to quiet it again (Isa 17:12-13; Isa 23:11; Isa 50:2; Isa 51:10). Jehovah Sabaoth is this God called, as Lord of the heavenly hosts. Shall He that has dominion over the powers of heaven not have dominion also over the powers of the earth?
The expression to arouse the sea occurs first Job 26:12. Afterwards comes our text, and our text is literally reproduced by Jer 31:35. [The Author has an argument that follows here to prove that the language is original with Isaiah, and borrowed by Jeremiah. This is reproduced in brief in the Introduction, pp. 23, 24. The present amplification adds nothing to the clearness of it, and is omitted to save space. As an argument it is not forcible. His explanation is that Jeremiah uses the language in question to denote a regularly recurring motion of the sea, and that the ebb and flow of the tide must be meant, because that is the only firmly established ordinance for the seas motion that can be classified with the sun, moon and stars, and made a type of the stability of Gods covenant with His people. But the context of Jer 31:35 does not require us to think that Jeremiah gives this application to the language. Moreover in any of its accepted meanings is unsuitable to express such motion as the tide. Besides, to Hebrews, remote as they were from the ocean, the tide was an unfamiliar phenomenon, and thus does not appear in their literature. And it may be said that, in relation to our Isa 51:13 a. the notion of phenomenal stability is as much demanded for Isa 51:15 as in Jer 31:35.
The best treatment of the attempt to prove that our text is borrowed from Jeremiah, and therefore not genuine Isaianic, is to ignore it as frivolous. Still, perhaps, the scrutiny which the debate occasions may lead to a more exact understanding of the language in question. The LXX render Job 26:12, , . The Authors discussion of under Isa 51:4 shows how ambiguous the word is in itself, and that we must rely on our tact and the context to determine its meaning. The general scriptural appeal to the sea as proof of Gods power, is to the evidence it gives of His controlling it. It is the sea that rages, He settles it and holds it in bounds. Comp. Job 38:8-11, and Christ stilling the tempest Mar 4:35 sqq. It seems preferable therefore to accept Lowths rendering. He who stilleth the sea, though the waves thereof roar, which also Barnes adopts. Tr.]
The words Isa 51:16 can only be spoken to the Servant of God. I have put My words in Thy mouth designates both the task and the equipment the Servant of God receives. The words recall Isa 49:2, where it is said: And He hath made My mouth like a sharp sword. The Servant of God must proclaim the will of God. To be able to do this, He must be able to find the proper, powerful, incisive words (Heb 4:12). This comes about by Gods word being put into His mouth. If the wrath of men that are enemies to the truth be thereby aroused, the Lord protects Him: I have covered Thee in the shadow of My hand. The same is said Isa 49:2, in almost the same words of the Servant of the Lord, viz., . By this means the Servant of God will be preserved and enabled to carry out His work. The aim of this work is that He may plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth. Who must this Servant of God be to whom is assigned such a task? What heaven shall He plant? what earth shall He found? Certainly not the old heaven and the old earth that have already been planted and founded, but which, too, are destined, according to Isa 51:6 to vanish away like smoke, and wax old like a garment, in that assize that the Servant of God will hold. But the Servant of God will plant a new heaven and found a new earth (Isa 65:17; Isa 66:22; Rev 21:1). Concerning the way in which He has done this see under Doctrinal and Ethical, p. 559, 6. But the new heaven and the new earth are also a dwelling for the people of God, the , which of course has not proceeded merely from the Twelve Tribes. Nevertheless the historical Israel constitutes the frame into which the new humanity will be joined on as members. Hence, as is said Isa 66:22 : For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before Me,so shall your seed and your name remain, so here the people that is to populate the new heaven and new earth is called Zion. Jerusalem, which is from above is the mother of us all, says Paul (Gal 4:26).
Those that do not recognize the Servant of God as the speaker in Isa 51:1-8, must, in order to get tolerable sense out of our passage, assume that Jehovah is the subject of to plant, to found and to say. Let this even be justified respecting to plant and to found, yet it remains inexplicable how Jehovah should put His word in Zions mouth, in order that He, Jehovah, may say: thou art My people.Others, as Hitzig, take the three infinitives in a gerundive sense: in planting a heaven, and founding an earth, and saying to Zion, etc. Apart from the planting and founding of heaven and earth being made to mean only a new order of things on this earth, or even a new founding of Israel as a state, one can never prove that the Lordthereby put His word into the mouth of His Servant, and thereby protected Him, in that He renewed heaven and earth. For it is inconceivable that the Servant of the Lord will still stand in need of inspiration after heaven and earth are become new.Less justifiable still, grammatically, is the exposition of Hahn, who would take simply as a paraphrase of the future: I will plant. He appeals to the usage that permits the use of with following and the infin. constr. to paraphrase the verb. fin. But there can be no mention of this here, not, indeed, because is wanting, which would make no difference, but because the subject is wanting. For according to Hahn should represent an independent sentence. But for that at least a subject were requisite. It must at least read . But as a subject is every way wanting, it follows, necessarily, that can only be construed as a dependent infinitive clause.
Footnotes:
[4]given.
[5]As he took aim.
[6]Or, made himself ready.
[7]The one bowed down hastens.
[8]he will not die away to the pit, and will not want his bread.
[9]And.
[10][stilleth, Lowth.TR.]
[11]To plantto lay, etc.
4. THE PROPHET SPEAKS. HE EXHORTS ISRAEL TO TAKE TO HEART THE COMFORT THAT JEHOVAH DISPENSES
Isa 51:17-23
17Awake! Awake! stand up, O Jerusalem,
Which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury;
Thou hast drunken the 12dregs of the cup of 13trembling,
And 14wrung them out.
18There is none to guide her
Among all the sons whom she hath brought forth;
Neither is there any that taketh her by the hand
Of all the sons that she hath brought up.
19These two things 1are come unto thee;
Who shall be sorry for thee?
15Desolation, and 16destruction, and the famine, and the sword:
17By whom shall I comfort thee?
20Thy sons 18have fainted.
They lie at the head of all the streets, as a 19wild bull in a net:
20They are full of the fury of the Lord,
The rebuke of thy God.
21Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted,
And drunken, but not with wine:
22Thus saith thy Lord the Lord,
And thy God that 21pleadeth the cause of his people,
Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of htrembling,
Even the 22dregs of the cup of my fury;
Thou shalt no more drink it again:
23But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee:
Which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over:
And thou hast laid thy body as the ground,
And 23as the street, to them that went over.
TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
See List for the recurrence of the words: Isa 51:17. . Isa 51:19. . Isa 51:20. . Isa 51:21.. Isa 51:22. . Isa 51:23. .
Isa 51:18. Note the many liquidae, and the likeness in sound of the conclusion of both halves of the verse. Both impart to the words a character of tenderness, sadness.
Isa 51:19. Here, too, both halves of the verse have a similar conclusion. For the two interjection-like parentheses and , each beginning with , are two rhymes in sentiment. The form of expression recalls Job 13:20; Pro 30:7; comp. Jer 2:13; Jer 15:3. (from = Isa 60:18), and also , and are undeniable points of contact between our text and Nah 3:7. For our answers to the there; our to there; our to the there. in the concluding question can only mean quails. It is properly an abbreviation of , answering to the , Isa 51:12.
Isa 51:20. means the same as (Isa 19:8; Hab 1:15-16) and Psa 141:10). part. pass, only here, comp. Isa 29:9; the st. constr. is explained by all that follows being conceived of as one notion, a very common construction in Isa 5:11; Isa 8:6; Isa 9:2; Isa 28:9; Isa 16:6,19; Isa 56:9-10, etc.
Isa 51:22. of Jehovah only here. with that for which God contends in the accusative as in Isa 1:17; comp. on Isa 49:25.
Isa 51:23. tormentors, occurs only here in Isaiah, but occurs oftenest in Lamentations, where, however, it is used only of God who visits men with tribulation (Lam 1:5; Lam 1:12; Lam 3:32-33). Only in Job 19:2, is it used, as here, of men who torment the souls of their fellow-men. Perhaps the latter passage was in the mind of the Prophet. It favors this that he continues: Which have said to thy soul.Our text is the only one in all the Old Testament where the Kal. occurs. With this exception the verb is only used in Hithp. may depend on , hut also on . The latter is more likely: first, because of the position; second, because just in the connection with there is a strengthening of the thought. For the earth is not chiefly destined to serve the use of the ; but such is the special destination of a street.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
1. The reverse side of the redemption of Israel is here presented, viz., the judgment on the enemies of the Theocracy (comp. Isa 11:14; Isa 14:2; Isa 25:10 sqq.; Isa 34:1 sqq., etc.), as if to strengthen the effect of light by contrast with its corresponding shadow. But now it is the Prophet that speaks, as if he, too, on his part would induce Israel to take cheerful courage from Gods word. Perhaps this section is meant to form a transition to chap. 52. For instance, in this Isa 51:17-23 the population of Jerusalem is addressed, whereas chap. 52. speaks of the holy nation reunited to the holy places.
2. Awakerebuke of thy God.
Isa 51:17-20. The double corresponds to the double (Isa 51:9) and (Isa 51:12). In relation to , the Hithp. involves the idea of self as an object,=rouse thyself. Jerusalem must not persist in a state devoid of comfort and courage; it must wake itself up, cheer up, rouse itself (comp. Isa 64:6). It has received from the hand of its Lord the cup of His fury, which by its intoxicating contents, is also a cup of reeling, and has drunk it to the dregs, even sipped it empty. The figure of the cup of wrath is found also Psa 75:9; Jer 25:15; Jer 25:17; Jer 25:28; Jer 49:12; Jer 51:7; Hab 2:16; Eze 23:31 sqq.: Lam 4:21. The figure of drinking divine fury occurs already Job 21:20, and beside that Oba 1:16; Jer 48:26. (comp. , a helmet, , cupa, Passow, s. v.), the helm-like, rounded [convex] top of the cup, occurs only here and Isa 51:22. (comp. 3:19) that denotes the effect of the drink, beside here and Isa 51:17, occurs only Psa 60:5. The intensifying of the figure by occurs for substance Oba 1:16, by the same word Psa 75:9 (8), and (which is probably an imitation of our text) Eze 23:34. In Isa 51:18 the figure of the drunken woman is continued by saying, that none of the sons of Zion have been in condition to lead their drunken mother. What the Prophet means by this figure appears from Isa 51:20. What is said figuratively in Isa 51:17-18, is said without figure in Isa 51:19-20. Answering to the full cup, Jerusalems misfortune is Isa 51:19, represented as a double one, each half, of which is again divided into two parts, so that there results a sort of arithmetical progression. See Text. and Gram. Whether our text or the similar one in Nah 3:7 is the original, in my opinion, cannot be doubtful. Manifestly the passage in Isaiah is bolder, of more original construction, it even sounds harsh compared with the smooth form in which it appears in Nahum. The two interjectional clauses have disappeared. The bold, and difficult is resolved into the sober: whence shall I seek comforters for thee? And it may be further remarked, that appears to be referred to a human subject and not to the person of Jehovah. Thus it may be said, that the modern expositors, who following the LXX. and Vulg. take without further ado for (Boettcher, N. ex. krit. hrenlese, Nr. 765), or construe > as acc. Instrument. (Hitzig.), have their predecessor already in Nahum. is commiserari, to compassionate, sympathize with, and occurs with following and also Job 2:11; Job 42:11; comp. Jer 15:5; Jer 16:6; Jer 22:10; Jer 48:17.
Each of the two evils that come on Jerusalem is, according to the parenthesis, represented as a whole consisting of two parts. The first whole is called the blow and the downfall [E. V., desolation and destruction]. The two words occur together as here Isa 59:7; Isa 60:18; Jer 48:3, which last text seems to lean on Isa 60:18, because in both is spoken of as something audible. While the blow and the downfall primarily concern the city as a complex of buildings, and hunger and sword relate to the persons. The conjunction of these words occurs in Isaiah only here. It occurs more frequently in Jer., and Ezek. (Jer 14:15-16; Jer 21:7, etc.; Eze 14:21; Eze 6:11; Eze 12:16). Isa 51:20 corresponds to Isa 51:18, explaining what has rendered the sons of Jerusalem incapable of helping their mother. They were themselves overtaken by the destroying woe. , which occurs only in Pual and Hithp., means to be enveloped, especially by a night of tribulation (comp. Amo 8:13). The Prophet graphically describes the scenes that took place in the city just taken. Thy sons are not small children as in Lam 2:11-12; Lam 4:4, but children in general, and especially the sons that ought to be able to help their mother. At the corner of all the streets these unfortunate children lie. This expression, also, appears in Nah 3:10, as if borrowed from our passage (comp. Lam 2:19; Lam 4:1), and Nahum seems to have taken our passage in the sense of Isa 13:16, in as much as he writes . The vigorous, and genuinely Isaianic expression proves the originality of our passage. The children of Jerusalem are compared to an antelope entangled in a net, and making desperate, but vain efforts to free itself. occurs again only Deu 14:5, and is there pointed . It signifies a large kind of antelope, classified among the clean beasts, fit for food. Comp. Bochart, Hieroz. Tom. II. p. 367, ed. Lips., and especially the remarks of Rosenmueller, pp. 369,281. is in apposition with . The words form, so to speak, the bridge between the figure of the cup of fury, Isa 51:17 and the literal description in Isa 51:20 a. so that Isa 51:20 a. is a description of the effect of the cup of fury.
3. Therefore hearwent over.
Isa 51:21-23. Having, from Isa 51:17 on, described the effect of the cup of fury, the Prophet now gives his reason for calling to Jerusalem rouse thyself. Jerusalem, that hitherto was wretched (Isa 10:30; Isa 54:11), that was drunken but not with wine, but with misery, shall hear (Isa 47:8) that its Lord, Jehovah, its God, who represents His people in the judicial contest ( see Text. and Gram.), takes the cup of fury out of their hand, and gives it into the hand of their enemies. The thought is the same as Oba 1:16; Jer 49:12; Jer 48:26. By the departure of the cup of fury from the hand of Jerusalem into the hand of its enemy is revealed the rule of the divine nemesis. The enemies had provoked this by the arrogance with which they had illtreated and abused Jerusalem. The expression: which said to thy soul, bow down, beside being an echo of Job 19:2, is a sort of metonymy. For what the humiliation feels is named as that which the outward act suffers. The figure indicates how wicked and excessive had been the ill usage inflicted on Israel (comp. Isa 10:5 sqq.; Jer 51:20 sqq). [See Barnesin loc., for rich illustration of the final clause from oriental usages.Tr.].
Footnotes:
[12]Heb. happened.
[13]reeling.
[14]sipped it.
[15]The blow and the downfall.
[16]Heb. breaking.
[17]How.
[18]are benighted.
[19]antelope.
[20]They that.
[21]avengeth.
[22][convex] top of.
[23]as a street for passengers.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. On Isa 51:1-3. Here one clearly recognizes the evangelist of the Old Testament. Is it not as if we heard Paul, who wrote Rom 4:11 sqq.; Gal 3:6 sqq.? Abraham, says Isaiah, is not merely the rock from which ye are hewn, i.e. he is not merely your fleshly ancestor. Look also on his faith. Become also his spiritual children! And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarahs womb; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God, and being fully persuaded that what He had promised He was able to perform (Rom 4:19-21). So ye should have a firm faith that God can make also the ruins of Zion into an Eden, and her waste places into a garden of God. And this hope we ought ever to have respecting the Church of the Lord. If it has even become a solitarius Abraham et sicut desertum et ruina, still it may hope to become a paradise and garden of God. And just so may the individual episcopus et pastor cheer himself in such a away, ut credat, ministeriam, suum non esse inefficax, etiamsi in specie nullus fructus videatur sequi (Luther).
2. On Isa 51:4-6. The time when the gospel, the tidings of justification by faith, went forth into the world was at once a time of salvation and of judgment. For these tidings were despised by the Jews and received with joy by the Gentiles. Hence Jerusalem was destroyed. That was the beginning of the judgment of the world, which needed to happen to the house of God. Had Israel received the gospel, it would have disappeared among the Gentiles. We see this daily in the case of single Israelitish families that are converted to Christianity. They mix with the Gentiles and disappear in their preponderant numbers. Such would have been the case with all Israel had the nation en masse believed on Christ. Just by its unbelief it was preserved as a nation. At last, when the fulness of the Gentiles shall have entered in, all Israel, too, will become believing. That is, the , the remnant, will become so. All the rest of Israel, all the , will be overtaken by the judgment, and, with the earthly heaven and the earthly earth and all earthly minded men on it, they shall pass away like smoke in the wind, or like a garment consumed by fire. But everything that will have laid hold on the salvation of the Servant of God and His righteousness shall be called Zion, and will belong to the Bride of the Lord, whose wedding-day will then have come. The people of Israel will, indeed, even then retain their individuality, as generally every creature that becomes new in the kingdom of God will retain its specific peculiarity. Indeed, Israel will ever remain what it was: the son of the house, the first-born. But then it will assume this position without prejudice or disregard of the Gentile world, and without danger for itself. For no one will then any more be able to make of any avail personal reputation or personal merit, but all will recognize that they are what they are by Gods grace.
3. On Isa 51:7-8. Jerome says of the and the , that they are those qui habeant legem, quam per Jeremiam Dominus pollicitur, dicens, statuam testamentum novum, non juxta testamentum, quod deposui patribus eorum; sed statuam testamentum, dans leges meas in mentibus eorum (Jer 31:31 sqq.), ut nequaquam vivant juxta literam, sed juxta spiritum instaurantes naturalem legem in cordibus suis (Rom 2:14; Psa 37:30-31). But those who have the law of the Servant of God in their hearts, stand in the directest opposition to the world, and have only to expect the hatred of the world in the highest degree; yet even alone they are strong against the world, and need not fear its rage (Mat 5:11-12; Mat 10:28).
4. On Isa 51:9-11. Dicit consurge, perinde atque si Deus altum somnum dormiat. Luther. Comp. the sleeping of Jesus in the boat (Mat 8:24 sqq.Arise! So the pious pray, not because they believe God is lying idle in heaven, but because they confess their slothfulness and their ignorance, inasmuch as they are unable to think of God as long as they do not feel His help. But although the flesh supposes He sleeps, and that He does not concern Himself about our suffering, yet faith raises itself higher up and lays hold on Gods everlasting power. Heim u. Hoffmann.Sentit ecclesia suam Aegyptum et premitur variis tentationibus mundi, Satanae et conscientiae. Christus tamen promittit: tristitia vestra vertetur in gaudiam. Sed hoc molestum est, quod Christus et Petrus dicunt, modicum expectandum esse. Videtur enim hoc modicum turn, cum in tentatione sumus, aeternitas quaedam esse, quare opus habemus his consolationibus verbi. Luther.As the Prophets appeal to previous examples, and, as has happened a little before, the Prophet Isaiah quotes Abrahams history, and here recalls that of Pharaoh, thus the ancient books of Moses are canonized and confirmed, so that one may not doubt their certainty. Cramer.As the people of Israel in the Babylonian captivity sighed for deliverance and said: If the Lord will redeem the captives of Zion, then we will be like those that dream; then our mouth shall be full of laughter, and our tongue full of singing (Psa 126:1-2); and as the most ardent longings of the believers in the ancient world were for the coming of Christ in the flesh, as old Jacob says: I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord (Gen 49:18), so we are to long for nothing more than for the coming of Christ to judgment, in which also John precedes us with the words: Even so come, Lord Jesus! after it was said: I come quickly. Amen (Rev 22:20). When, therefore, we hear of the signs of the coming of Christ, we should raise up our heads because our salvation draws near (Luk 21:18). There will be no more suffering, cry, pain (Rev 21:4), but fulness of joy and lovely existence at the right hand of God forevermore (Psa 16:11). Renner.
5. On Isa 51:12-14. I, I comfort thee. Not gold, not silver, not honor, not the world, but my word, my Spirit, shall keep and protect thee. Thou fearest men that terrify thee. Why then dost thou not let thyself be raised up when I comfort? For I am God that fill heaven and earth. They are water-bubbles, moths, stalks of straw, drops in the bucket, dust in the balance, burning thorns. I am a comforter, not alarmer, although the flesh in time of tribulation so judges. I am thy Creator, not thine executioner or tormentor, and my power is so great that I have spread out the heavens and founded the earth. Hence thou hast no cause to fear that I have not strength enough to redeem thee. Heim and Hoffmann.God often withdraws from us consolationes rerum, so that the consolatio verbi may have room and operation with us. Foerster.What is man? What is he good for? What can he profit, or what harm can he do (Sir 18:7; Psa 56:12; Psa 118:6)? And if God be for us, who can be against us (Rom 8:31)? As is to be seen in the examples of Pharaoh, Sennacherib and countless others. Cramer.
6. On Isa 51:15-16. In the second Psalm it is said: Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth cast away their cords from us. And in Psalms 16 : God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar, etc. The Lord who has power over the sea, and over those powers that rage like the sea, protects His servant against this raging. The Servant of the Lord does not speak of himself, but what He speaks He speaks as the Father has said to Him (Joh 12:49-50). And even if what He has spoken and done according to the Fathers will bring Him on the cross, still this bitter day of death is followed by a glorious day of resurrection. And this day of the resurrection is a second creative day. It is the beginning of a new and better world. The glorified life, which in Christ entered into this world out of the cavern of the grave, was not confined to His person. Rather it has penetrated from Him forth, by word and sacrament, to all men. As through the first Adam death seized also the creation, so through the second Adam the glorified life communicates itself to the whole creation. Not only a new humanity will be formed from Him, but a new heaven and a new earth. Thus it can be said of the Servant of God, that He plants the heaven and lays the foundation of the earth.
7. On Isa 51:15-16. Comfort for the sacred office of the ministry. 1) On account of the founder, who is God Himself. As the great lords, when they issue commands, use their titles in advance, and subscribe themselves by their lands and peoples, so God does also, who is the Lord of hosts. He is strong and reputable enough. 2) This founder and beginner Himself makes those in the gospel ministry capable persons to discharge the office of the Spirit. For our ability is of God (2Co 3:5). 3) The word that they preach is not their own, but Gods word, which He Himself puts into their mouths (Mat 10:20). 4) God takes the preachers under His guidance, protection and shelter, and covers them under the shadow of His hand, hides them secretly with Himself against every mans arrogance (Psa 31:21). 6) Their office is dear and precious before God, because through them not only are the foundations of the earth laid, but also heaven is set with glorious plants of honor that shall grow and bloom in all eternity to the glory of God.Cramer.
HOMILETICAL HINTS
1. On Isa 51:4-6. Missionary Sermon. The Lord says: This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. Mat 24:14. According to this, there is a close connection between missions and the judgment of the world. The former belongs to the preliminary conditions of the latter. The judgment of the world does not come before missions have accomplished their task, and at the same time missions offer to men what they must have in order to be able to stand in judgment. If now, beside this, all believing souls long for the second coming of the Lord, because only by that will our redemption be accomplished (Luk 21:18), and the first three petitions of the Lords Prayer be heard, so, from the view-point of Christianity, the wish is justified, that missions may soon accomplish their work, that the day of the Lord may soon come. In this lies a motive to be, not neglectful, but diligent and zealous in missionary labor. Thus we may discourse in this wise on the connection between the last judgment and missions, and show: 1) how the coming of the judgment depends on missions accomplishing their task (Isa 51:4-5, the law of the Lord and His righteousness are here; the isles wait. Let us bring to them the former; the sooner they come to all nations, the sooner will the Lord come also, and with Him our redemption). 2) How standing in judgment depends on the acceptance of what missions offer (Isa 51:6, he that has the righteousness of Christ will not despond; he that has it not, will perish).
2. On Isa 51:7-8. Consolation in time of persecution. Why the children of God need not fear the hostility of the World. 1) Because they are strong (the law of God is in their hearts, they have the righteousness that avails with God; God Himself lives in them with His Spirit and His strength; their cause is Gods cause, therefore the power of God is on their side). 2) Because the world is weak (its power is only apparent; the world is inwardly hollow, untrue, therefore forsaken of God, and judged, and this condition of being judged must in a short time become manifest).
3. On Isa 51:9-11. These words, too, can be applied to address consolation to the Church. The appeal is to the facts by which the Lord even in ancient time proved His saving power, especially by redeeming the people of Israel out of Egyptian bondage, and by leading them through the Red Sea. God is still the same that He was then. His arm is still just as strong. Therefore He can do again what He did then. Hence the children of God, to-day also, have nothing to fear from the fury of the dragon, from the deep waters through which they must pass. They shall arrive prosperously at their goal, and everlasting joy shall be their portion (Isa 66:14; Joh 16:22).
4. On Isa 51:12-14. Warning against the fear of man. 1) It is a sin. For it is to forget what God has already done for us, and what He promises. 2) It is folly; for men are powerless and perishing.
5. On Isa 51:15-16. Even though the world tosses and rages ever so much, still let us hold fast to Jesus Christ the Son of God; for in Him we find 1) the divine truth, 2) the most powerful protection, 3) participation in divine glory (the new heaven and new earth).
6. On Isa 51:17-23. A call to the Church militant. Two things are certainly in prospect for it: 1) That here on earth, for its trial and purification, it must empty the cup of wrath; 2) That, after it has drunk, the cup of wrath shall be put into the hands of its enemies that they may be judged, while it is saved.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
DISCOURSE: 957
CONSOLATION FOR THE AFFLICTED
Isa 51:1-3. Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and in the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places, and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord: joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
AN attention to the voice of God in his word would comfort us under all troubles, and keep us steadfast amidst all the vicissitudes of life. God, anxious for the welfare of his people, has just before exhorted them, when walking in darkness, to trust in him [Note: Isa 50:10.]. He now bids them bear in mind his former mercies, and expect yet richer blessings at his hands, when the destined period of their captivity shall have elapsed. Thus did God provide comfort for them against the day of their calamity; and the same comfort is reserved for all his people in their seasons of darkness or affliction. To obtain the consolation which the text is suited to convey, it will be proper to consider,
I.
What God has done for us already
The description given of Gods people is sufficiently appropriate, and will distinguish them from all other people upon earth. They seek the favour of the Lord, and follow after it with incessant care in the way of righteousness. But,
They once had little prospect of ever attaining to the blessings they enjoy
[The Jewish nation was to descend from Abraham; but the promised seed was not given him till, according to the course of nature, there was no probability that his family should be increased. There was then little reason to expect that that nation ever should exist. Thus the people of God may look back upon the time that they were lying as stones in a quarry, and as clay in a pit. How little prospect was there then, that they should ever form a part of Gods spiritual building! They were as blind, as stupid, as averse to God and holy exercises, as any people in the universe [Note: Rom 3:10-19; Rom 8:7.]. If they ran not to the same excess of riot as others, they were restrained merely by the overruling providence of God, and not by any hatred of sin which they had more than others.]
Yet they are now called and blessed of the Lord
[The descendants of Abraham rapidly increased, and in process of time formed a very numerous and powerful nation. Who that beheld them at their departure from Egypt would have imagined that, only four hundred years before, these two millions of people had no existence but in the loins of Abraham? And who, that sees a person now following after righteousness, would imagine that he was once a determined enemy to God, and had a nature as corrupt as any of his fellow-creatures? Let the saints remember what they were, that they may see what great things the Lord has done for them: let them walk softly all the days of their life under a sense of their former guilt; and stand amazed at the goodness of their God, who has so distinguished them with his favour.]
Nor is this any thing more than an earnest of,
II.
What he has engaged to do
As the Church at large, so every individual member of it may be in very afflictive circumstances
[The Jews were reduced to the greatest distress during their captivity in Babylon; and their once fertile country was become a wilderness; nor could they remember Zion but with deep sorrow and regret. Thus the people of God at this time may be brought into great tribulation. Through persecution or temptation their sorrows may be enlarged, and their joys be turned into pain and anguish.]
But God promises to interpose for them in the time of need
[He repeatedly foretold that he would deliver his people from their Babylonish captivity; and restore them with joy and triumph to their own land. This was a faint representation of what he would do for the true seed of Abraham under the Christian dispensation. He will revive his people with spiritual consolations. He will make their hearts, which now seem barren, or productive only of thorns, to be fruitful in every good word and work. Paradise itself, before sin had deformed its beauty, was a just emblem of what the soul shall be when God returns to visit it. The harp hung upon the willows shall be strung anew; joy and gladness shall succeed to the effusions of sorrow, and the groans of contrition yield to thanksgivings and the voice of melody. Let but the afflicted soul tarry the Lords leisure, and it shall surely experience the wished-for deliverance.]
To encourage all to confide in this promise, let us consider,
III.
In what respects the recollection of mercies received may strengthen our expectations of those that are promised
Nothing could be more animating to the Jews in Babylon than the recollection of what God had done in raising so flourishing a tree from the dead stock of Sarahs womb, and in continuing to water it for so many centuries, notwithstanding the bad fruit it had continued to produce. Nor can any thing be more consoling to us than a retrospective view of Gods dealings with us. In them we may behold,
1.
His sovereign grace
[In every thing relative to the raising of the Jewish nation God displayed his sovereignty. And may we not behold the same in his choice of us? Why did he hew us out of the quarry, while such a mass of stone, equally fit for his purpose, was left behind? Why did he form us into vessels of honour, while so much of the very same lump was left to form vessels of dishonour? Who shall deny the fact that such a selection has been made? or Who shall say unto God, What doest thou? Shall any drooping saints then despond because of their unworthiness? Let them remember, that, as God never chose them for their superior worthiness, so he may still continue his favours towards them notwithstanding their unworthiness: his grace is still his own as much as ever; and, if they do but lament their unworthiness and cast themselves on his mercy, it shall still be glorified in their restoration and bliss.]
2.
His almighty power
[As the Omnipotence of God was manifest in producing such a nation from two, whose bodies were as good as dead, so is it no less visible in the quickening of those who are dead in sin, and forming an host of living saints from those who were like dry bones scattered over the face of the earth. Can any then, who have been quickened by grace, doubt whether God be able to preserve or restore them? Can any thing appear to them too hard for God? Surely though their souls appear at present only like a desert or a wilderness, they need not stagger at the promises of God; but yet may entertain the hope that they may blossom as the rose, yea, that they shall put off their sackcloth, and gird them with gladness.]
3.
His unchanging faithfulness
[After God had promised to Abraham, he never would recede: though he delayed, he did not forget his promise: and even when constrained to punish his people, he did not cast them off. Not even at this time are they finally abandoned; but are preserved a distinct people, monuments of Gods faithfulness, and a seed for a future harvest. And is not every saint a distinguished monument of Gods faithfulness? Would any one stone of Gods building have withstood the shocks and tempests that have assaulted it, if God himself had not interposed to keep it fixed on the foundation? Would not every vessel of his sanctuary have been dashed in pieces times without number, if the potter himself had not averted the stroke, or hardened us to endure it? Where is there a saint who is not a wonder to himself, a spark kept alive in the midst of the ocean? Well then may the faithfulness we have already experienced confirm our hope, that God will never leave us nor forsake us. And well may the most disconsolate of Gods people wait, knowing in whom they have believed, and assuredly expecting the promised revival.]
Application
Let us hearken to the advice given us in the text:
1.
Let us, both for our humiliation and comfort, review the dispensations of Gods providence and grace towards us
2.
Let us, under our heaviest trials, look forward to the season when Gods promises shall receive their final accomplishment
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
CONTENTS
Here is another blessed Chapter, full of Christ, and the blessings of his gospel, the Lord is calling upon his people, under several endearing characters, to attend to him, as the only source of their hope and salvation.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
In opening this Chapter, and listening to the call of God in this verse, I beg to remind the Reader of the observations at the close of Isa 46 , for this is but a continuation of the same gracious subject. Indeed, the Prophet may be considered, from the beginning of Isa 40 , to the close of his prophecy, to be preaching but one and the same sermon. The text is Christ, and the whole subject is Christ, and no other. In these verses, the people, who are seeking after the Lord, are spoken to, and particularly directed, with a view to find him, to consider what they are in themselves, that they may be the better prepared to know what the Lord is in himself, and what he is to his people. This divine teaching was what Jesus told his disciples, the Holy Ghost would accomplish upon the hearts of the people. He shall convince, said Jesus, of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. And this corresponds with what is here said, of looking unto Abraham and Sarah; that is, looking so unto them, as, in their nothingness and original sinfulness, to trace our own; and to let God have, what is his most just due, all the glory of our conversion. For Abraham, the great father of the faithful, was originally an idolater; and Sarah a daughter of Eve: and both were of that stock, of whom it is truly said, there is none that doeth good, no not one. Hence, therefore, when the Lord commands his people, who are following after righteousness, and seeking the Lord, to look back, and to look in, it is in order that they may look up to Him, from whom alone cometh every good and every perfect gift. Reader! you and I shall never be able rightly to value the Lord’s righteousness, until convinced that we have none of our own: then Jesus will be indeed precious as a Saviour, when we feel, and know, and are convinced, that we are poor lost sinners. Gen 11:31 ; Rom 4:1-3 ; Joh 16:7-8 ; 1Pe 2:7 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
The Pentateuch Genesis
Isa 51:1-2
Today we begin to examine the early books of the Old Testament. The first five books stand together by themselves. Sometimes they are called the Pentateuch, which means only ‘the book of five volumes ‘. First we must attend to the place which these five books hold in the history of the Jews. Speaking roughly, we may say that they tell us the beginning of the Jewish people. The early steps and stages by which they become a people.
I. We see at the beginning of all things God Himself, making all things. He is not the earth or the heavens, or anything that is therein: He is distinct from them all: He made them all: He was before them all. Last of all came man. Man was a part of the world, and was meant to remember that. The next step brings us into the state into which sin has entered. Here I wish you to notice especially two things. First the Bible does not begin with sin, it begins with innocence and goodness. Secondly observe that the first evil is distinctly religious evil. The temptation comes through the fruit; but the great force of the temptation lies in impatience of the restraint which God for good reason ordained; in trying to be independent of Him, in other words of being as Gods. Then the outward curses follow. The earth is no longer a garden but a place of thorns for those who have become estranged from its Maker and their own. Estrangement from God leads to estrangement between men even members of the same family. The husband becomes the accuser of the wife. The elder brother is jealous of the younger brother, and his jealousy has its natural fruit in murder. As mankind multiplies so does crime. The earth we are told was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. Then the just anger of God went forth, and used the power of the world for the punishment of man. A flood of waters overwhelmed the sinful race, and only one small family was preserved. To these survivors, to Noah and his family, God renewed the blessing which He had given to Adam. Immediately, however, evil sprung up afresh. It showed itself in a shameful want of respect in one of Noah’s sons towards his father. Presently we hear of men joining together to build a high tower whose top might reach to heaven. This was evidently done out of pride against God; but He scattered them abroad on the face of the earth, and with the scattering came the beginning of different languages, so that henceforth the different branches of the same race became foreign to each other. Such are the chief points in the first part of Genesis.
II. At this point the new life begins, which was to go on growing till it reached its full height in the person of Christ. God called on an old man named Abram to leave his country and go into a land which He should show him, promising to make him a great nation, and in him to bless all the families of the earth. This was the seed of the Jewish people: here we have in a few words the plan of the whole Bible, God making Himself known to a chosen few, that through them the whole race may be partakers in the blessed gift.
F. I. A. Hort, Sermons on the Books of the Bible, p. 24.
References. Lev 1:2 . W. J. Knox-Little, The Journey of Life, p. 103; see also Christian World Pulpit, vol. liii. 1898, p. 134.Lev 2 . Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvii. No. 1633.Lev 2:3 . Ibid. vol. xxvii. No. 1596. Lev 3 . H. Jones, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lv. 1899, p. 215.Lev 4 . S. R. Driver, Church Times, vol. 1. 1903, p. 173; see also Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxiv. 1903, p. 104.Lev 8 . A. Murray, The Children for Christ, p. 192.
The Needs of the Age
Isa 51:9
Who can be the speaker of this interesting passage? Is it the Prophet himself? Is it the cry of the Church of God? Or is it the Great Intercessor Himself Who speaks? Is it the Servant of Jehovah Who came in the fullness of time to bear our sins and to work out for us an everlasting righteousness? I am disposed to take this third view, partly because it seems to explain most simply and faithfully the whole passage, and partly because whatever of reality there is in the intercession either of an individual servant of Christ on earth or in the Church of Christ herself here below, as a whole, the strength and value of such pleading are entirely dependent on the work of the great High Priest and Intercessory Himself. It is the call of the Divine Intercessor, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Servant of Jehovah, addressed to God Himself on behalf of the present needs of the Church. What more powerful appeal could be made than by Him? When He speaks, surely He must prevail. It might have appeared sufficient if He had simply urged his personal claim, but He grounds the appeal upon an historical fact; He refers to the past. A pledge for help in the present is taken up from the help given in the past.
What are some of our great needs?
1. There is needed a higher standard of Christian teaching. There is a superficial knowledge of Divine truth in many directions, but those who are to reach the intellect, and heart, and conscience of men must make it plain that they have a distinct message, that they are conscious that this message is of supreme importance.
2. We want the prophetic spirit in our ordained ministers; men who have a witness for God that they must deliver, and if they cannot deliver it they must die. ‘O arm of the Lord, awake,’ and send us such prophets as these!
3. The masses can be won by holier living on the part of the Church of Christ. Example tells everywhere. A holy life is a searching sermon, a holy life is a homily that cannot be rejected or neglected, and the holy life is not to be lived by the minister alone; it is to be lived by those to whom he ministers, and who are gathered round him as disciples round a teacher. Are you fully aware of the fact that unless you live a holy life for God the kingdom of Christ cannot extend? You may be a stumbling-block in the way of your fellow-men if you make a profession of Christ and do not come up to that profession. A holy Church, men and women that are living according to the mind of Christ, with His example always before them, are an army irresistible. No force of evil can stand against such a power as that.
4. We want more fervent intercession for our great cities. We want a cry to God to go up day by day from the hearts of those who love the Lord, that these places may be given to Him for His inheritance.
5. We want more generous and ready self-sacrifice. We live in an age of great pleasure-seeking, an age of materialism, an age in which the race seems to be one day for the amassing of wealth and another day for the expending of the wealth so amassed upon the pleasures of this life. Will not the spirit of self-denial ever be granted to us again? Will not men put aside this seeking after self-indulgence in order that by sacrifice of this kind they may have time, and energy, and wealth to give unto the Lord?
6. If England is to be won for Christ, those who are in authority as Christ’s ministers must pay much more earnest heed to the question of visiting from house to house those who are ignorant about Divine things. The sympathizing touch, the sympathizing look of a servant of Christ in some miserable so-called ‘home’ is of infinite value. O, if all who have this sympathy in their heart were to go out, give of their best, and touch with the hand of love those who seem cut off from all the joy of this life or the life to come, and who say, ‘No man has cared for my soul’.
References. Lev 9 ; Lev 1 . A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Isaiah XLIX.-LXVI. p. 51.Lev 9:10 . G. H. Wilkinson, Outlines of Sermons on the Old Testament, p. 214.
The Fear of Man and the Fear of God
Isa 51:12-13
Man is here represented as standing between two powers God and his fellow-man each claiming to influence his life; and God calls upon him to consider whether, being what he is, his conduct should be influenced by the fear of man, or by the fear of God. I. Man is first to consider what he is to look into himself. And what does he find? Two things weakness, and therefore dependence. Man is as grass, which groweth up in a day and withereth; and man is dependent for the preservation of his life, and for the supply of his needs, to some extent, upon his fellow-man, but far more upon God. That which a man knows of himself that he is weak and unable to stand alone this he knows also of his fellow-man. Why, then, should he live in continual fear of the world, which is made up of men like himself, weak and dependent, whilst he forgets God, Who is All-Powerful and absolutely independent?
How wonderfully this passage brings before us the folly of moral cowardice! It is an anticipation of the teaching of our Blessed Lord, Who said, ‘Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell’. Not only is our own life in God’s hands, but the life of those who oppose us. Not only can He give us strength to meet the difficulties put in our path by others, but He can remove those difficulties.
There is another way in which this fear of man affects our life. It robs our Spiritual life of all definiteness and power. The man whose words are inspired, whose actions are directed by mere human respect, the fear of what men will say or think, is never likely to dare anything noble for love of God.
II. Consider what forgetfulness of God carries in its train:
1. It results in loss of faith.
2. Loss of hope, for hope depends largely on memory.
3. Loss of love.
III. What does God promise if, instead of fearing man, we fear Him? We find it in the first words: ‘I, even I, am He that comforteth you’, Life is full of sorrows; the world is not a congenial environment for those who love and fear God; but God says to such, ‘I, even I, am He that comforteth you’. The reiteration of the pronoun emphasizes the greatness of the Comforter.
A. G. Mortimer, The Church’s Lessons for the Christian Year, part i. p. 126.
References. LI. 12,13. J. Martineau, Hours of Thought, vol. ii. p. 150. Lev 15:16 . H. Scott Holland, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlix. 1896, p. 49. Lev 16 . J. Hamilton, Faith in God, p. 112. LII. Rutherford Waddell, Behold the Lamb of God, p. 81.Lev 1 . S. Martin, Rain Upon the Mown Grass, pp. 72, 83. J. Martineau, Hours of Thought, vol. ii. p. 334.Lev 2:3 . J. M. Neale, Sermons Preached in Sackville College Chapel, vol. iv. p. 196. Lev 3 . A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Isaiah XLIX.-LXVI. p. 71.
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 51:1 Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock [whence] ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit [whence] ye are digged.
Ver. 1. Hearken unto me, ye that follow after righteousness. ] Heb., Ye that pursue or follow hard after it, as Paul did. Php 3:13-14 The speech is directed to those Jews that embraced the gospel; persuading them to persist in the faith, “in nothing terrified by their adversaries,” since Almighty God would keep and help them, as he had done faithful Abraham and Sarah, their ancestors; to whom also he would of stones raise up sons a in the conversion of the Gentiles, and could do it as easily as he had hewed the Hebrews, that great nation, out of aged Abraham, and superannuated Sarah; who are here compared to a dry rock, and a deep pit.
And to the hole of the pit whence ye were digged.
a Banim Meabanim.
Isaiah Chapter 51
In Isa 50 we have seen the divine Messiah in the depths of humiliation, but the Lord Jehovah helping and justifying Him. In Isa 53 (which really begins at Isa 52:13 ) we shall see Him “wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities,” when Jehovah “laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Cp. Psa 22 . and Psa 69 ) Between these everlasting foundations of blessing for Israel (or for any), the Holy Spirit gives us awakening appeals of the utmost force, interest, and beauty. It is a complete whole, consisting of seven distinct parts (Isa 51:1-3 ; 4-6; Isa 7:8 ; then, 9-16; 17-23; Isa 52:1-10 ; lastly, 11, 12), which trace the gradations of the godly Jewish remnant from their deep distress, fearing Jehovah and obeying the voice of His Servant, though in darkness as yet and having no light, but gradually advancing till they stand in the full glory that was promised them.
The first remark to be made is one of no small importance as affecting the interpretation or rather application of this prophetic strain. It is not under the head of Babylon, but of a rejected Messiah. And in fact the attempt to apply to their state after the return from Babylon either the calls of righteousness to them, or the answers of the Spirit in them, and the final word as of a priest to Jehovah abandoning their old seats of impurity, is not worth a refutation hardly a notice. Isa 48 closed the old part of the subject. Isa 49 opened the new complaint and ground of judgement God lays against His people not the idolatry judged by the captivity in Babylon, but the refusal of Christ, the ground of their dispersion and distresses under Rome, the fourth Gentile empire. Therefore was Israel divorced from Jehovah; but a remnant, poor in spirit, by grace obey the voice of His humbled Servant. Their moral restoration and final triumph are here brought before us in as orderly a way as is compatible with the sublimest of prophets.
The first appeal to hear is to them as following after righteousness and seeking Jehovah. Such will be few indeed at first. They may feel themselves alone, the mass of Israel being apostate like the Gentiles. But they are exhorted to look to Abraham and Sarah. “Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek Jehovah: look unto the rock [whence] ye were hewn and to the hole of the pit [whence] ye were digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah [that] bare you: for when he was alone I called him, and blessed him, and made him many” (vv 1, 2). Then faith must count on no less but more manifest blessing, after all their sorrow now at its worst. “For Jehovah will comfort Zion; he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Jehovah: joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody” (v. 3).
The next goes farther and calls them Jehovah’s people and His nation. “Listen unto me, O my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall go forth from me, and I will make my judgement to rest for a light of the peoples. My righteousness [is] near, my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the peoples: the isles shall wait for me, and on mine arm shall they trust. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner; but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished” (vv. 4-6). “Listen,” etc. (the word being a different one from the more general term in verses 1, 7, and implies attention). It is a total mistake in Bishop Lowth to think the address in this case is made not to the Jews but to the Gentiles, “as in all reason it ought to be”! It was the more required as a comfort for the Jews, because they have been so long called Lo-ammi. (Compare Hosea 1 – 2) “The peoples” are distinguished, for whose light His judgement should be established, as His arms should judge them, while His righteousness and salvation made good for ever should be the portion of Israel.
The third calls them to hear, as knowing righteousness and having Jehovah’s law in their hearts. Why should such fear the reproach and revilings of men whom the moth and the worm, little and feeble as they are, should devour? “Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart [is] my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye dismayed at their revilings. For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation unto all generations” (vv. 7, 8).
Similarly the Spirit now answers, as it were, in the remnant. First, they call for the power of Jehovah to assert itself against their mighty foes, as of old against proud Egypt. “Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of Jehovah; awake, as in the ancient days, the generations of old. [Art] thou not he that cut Rahab in pieces, [and] wounded the monster? [Art] thou not he who dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?” (vv. 9, 10). They predict their deliverance in verse 11, and Jehovah’s reply to their trembling hearts in terms as full of pathos as of grandeur in verses 12-16. “And the ransomed of Jehovah shall return and come to Zion with singing; and everlasting joy [shall be] upon their heads: they shall obtain gladness and joy; sorrow and sighing shall flee away. I, I, [am] he that comforteth you: who [art] thou, that thou art afraid of weak man [that] shall die, and of the son of man [that] shall be made [as] grass; and thou hast forgotten Jehovah thy Maker, who stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and thou fearest continually all the day because of the fury of the oppressor, when he maketh ready to destroy? And where [is] the fury of the oppressor? The captive exile shall speedily be loosed, and he shall not die [and go down] into the pit, neither shall his bread fail. And I [am] Jehovah thy God, which stirreth up the sea, that the waves thereof roar: Jehovah of hosts [is] his name. And I have put my words in thy mouth, and have covered thee with the shadow of my hand, to plant the heavens, and to lay the foundations of the earth, and to say unto Zion, Thou [art] my people” (vv. 11-16).
Next, the Spirit of God summons Jerusalem to arise and stand up, with a most vivid description of her reeling under Jehovah’s judgement without one of her sons to guide or help, and of His taking the cup from her hand, not here to drink it Himself, but to put it into the hands of their oppressors. “Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of Jehovah the cup of his fury; thou hast drunk hast drained out the bowl of the cup of staggering. [There is] none to guide her among all the sons [whom] she hath brought forth; neither [is there any] that taketh her by the hand of all the sons [that] she hath brought up. These two [things] are befallen thee; who will bemoan thee? desolation and destruction, and famine and sword; how shall I comfort thee? Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the top of all the streets, as an antelope (or, oryx) in a net; they are full of the fury of Jehovah, the rebuke of thy God. Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted and drunken, but not with wine: thus saith thy Lord Jehovah, and thy God [that] pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thy hand the cup of staggering, the bowl of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again: and I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee. who have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy back as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over” (vv. 17-23). It is no wonder that interpreters should be much divided who apply these appeals and answers of increasing earnestness, either to the past history of the Jews or to the time of the first advent. Neither at all corresponds to the language of the Holy Spirit, Who really looks forward to the gradual progress of Jehovah’s dealings with the future remnant and His working in their souls as they rise from their degradation or apprehend their calling.
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 51:1-3
1Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,
Who seek the LORD:
Look to the rock from which you were hewn
And to the quarry from which you were dug.
2Look to Abraham your father
And to Sarah who gave birth to you in pain;
When he was but one I called him,
Then I blessed him and multiplied him.
3Indeed, the LORD will comfort Zion;
He will comfort all her waste places.
And her wilderness He will make like Eden,
And her desert like the garden of the LORD;
Joy and gladness will be found in her,
Thanksgiving and sound of a melody.
Isa 51:1 Listen This is the Hebrew word Shema (BDB 1033, KB 1570). It means hear so as to do. The IMPERATIVE is recurrent in Isaiah! This same word starts the famous monotheistic prayer of Deu 6:4-6.
you who. . . This is speaking to the faithful covenant people (cf. Isa 50:10). There are three descriptive phrases.
1. who pursue righteousness, Isa 51:1
2. who seek the Lord, Isa 51:1
3. who have the law in their hearts, Isa 51:7
It is possible that deliverance (BDB 841, righteousness) is parallel to YHWH in line 2, therefore, it may be a title, The Righteous One. The you who. . . would speak of the faithful who
1. pursue God, line 1
2. seek God, line 2
the rock. . .the quarry This refers to Abraham and Sarah (cf. Isa 51:2) The geographical location of Abraham’s call (i.e., Ur of the Chaldees) was the same as the location of the Babylonian captives (Channel Chebar). YHWH had promised to bless Abraham and his seed (cf. Gen 12:1-3; Gen 15:1-11; Gen 18:18; Gen 22:16-18).
Isa 51:2 who gave birth to you in pain This refers to normal childbirth (cf. Gen 3:16).
I blessed him and multiplied him YHWH promised two things:
1. to bless Abraham – BDB 138, KB 159, Piel IMPERFECT
2. to multiply him – BDB 915, KB 1176, Hiphil IMPERFECT
God promised Abraham a land and a seed. He was told his descendants would be like
1. dust of the earth (Gen 13:16; Gen 28:14; Num 23:10)
2. stars of the heavens (Gen 15:5; Gen 22:17; Gen 26:4)
3. sand of the seashore (Gen 22:17; Gen 32:12
From Isaiah and Micah we learn that Abraham’s family would be even larger than anyone dreamed. It will include believing Gentiles and Jews (cf. Rom 2:28-29; Rom 3:21-31; Rom 4:1-25; Gal 3:1-29; Gal 6:16).
Isa 51:3 the LORD will comfort Zion The VERB comfort (BDB 636, KB 688, Piel perfect) appears twice in line 1 and line 2. This is a recurrent theme of this section of Isaiah (cf. Isa 40:1 [twice]; Isa 49:13; Isa 51:3 [twice],12,19; Isa 52:9; Isa 54:11; Isa 61:2; Isa 66:13 [thrice]). Its basic meaning in Piel is to comfort, to console. This means to bring the captivity to an end and restore them to the fertile Promised Land (cf. Isa 40:1). This is a re-institution by God of the covenant of Deuteronomy 27-28.
waste places. . .wilderness. . .desert like the garden of the LORD Physical beauty and fruitfulness are a sign of God’s blessing (cf. Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 27-29). The mentioning of Eden implies not only abundance but fellowship with a present God! Eden was a sanctuary of God (cf. John H. Walton, ANE Thought and the OT, p. 124).
SPECIAL TOPIC: EDEN
Hearken. Note the call to hear. See Structure, above.
are = were.
hole of the pit = the hollow of the quarry.
Tonight we have a marvelous study as we look at Isaiah, chapters 51-55, in which the prophet sees so clearly the suffering and the rejection of God’s provision for man in sending His Son to die for our sins. In fact, these prophecies of Isaiah so clearly describe what did happen to Jesus Christ in His rejection, in His suffering, in His death, it is as though they were written after it happened rather than 600 years before it happened.
The Lord is calling unto the nation of Israel, unto His people, and God calls unto them to hearken to Him.
Ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD ( Isa 51:1 ):
Two important things: following after righteousness, seeking the Lord. “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness” ( Mat 5:6 ).
look to the rock from whence ye are hewn ( Isa 51:1 ),
Actually, they are encouraged to look back to their roots. To look back to Abraham. To the heritage that they had. To the covenant that God had made with their fathers.
and to the hole of the pit whence ye were digged. Look unto Abraham your father, to Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all of her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody ( Isa 51:1-3 ).
So God speaks of what is yet a future day of restoration. As God will restore again the nation of Israel in full glory, in full beauty, in full blessing. And their wilderness areas will become like the Garden of Eden, and the desert like the garden of the Lord.
It is interesting how that it would seem that already we can see the beginnings of the fulfillment of this prophecy. As you see the areas that were once so barren and deserty down around Beersheba and you see now the beautiful crops that are grown in that area. However, there are troublous times yet ahead for the nation of Israel. These people that have endured such tragedy through their history have yet another seven years in which they are to be tested to the limits. Jeremiah called these seven years, “the time of Jacob’s trouble.” They will be forced to flee the land once more. But not this time for a millennium or two, but they will be out of the land for about three-and-a-half years, as once more a world leader turns his wrath against these people. But at the end of that period is when God is going to restore the glory unto the nation, for the Messiah shall come and He will establish God’s kingdom and God’s throne upon the earth. And He will rule from Zion, and at this time this prophecy of Isaiah shall be fulfilled as God just brings a whole new condition to the earth as He restores the earth to its glory, to its beauty, before the fall of man in Genesis.
There are some very interesting things that Isaiah has prophesied concerning the future and concerning the earth from a purely physical standpoint. As he talks about the earth staggering to and fro and like a drunken man and being removed out of her place.
Now back prior to the time of the flood that came as the result of God’s judgment upon the earth, before the flood the earth had a canopy around it, a water canopy that actually reflected much of the cosmic radiation that is really… has a detrimental effect upon life and upon life forms. Prior to the flood, this heavy moisture shield in the atmosphere shielded the earth from much of this cosmic radiation. As the result, man lived an average of around nine hundred years. Thus, man was able to develop during that period of time his mental capacities to a great extent. Think of being able to continue to learn for nine hundred years. They say that man only uses about twenty percent of his brain and his brain capacities. Well, that’s because we’re only here such a short time. What can you learn in a hundred years? But if you could go on learning, absorbing for nine hundred years, you’d be using much more of your capacity, brain capacity, and you’d be able to do many more interesting things. Now as we study some of the architecture and some of the buildings that these people created, we find out that they had all kinds of sciences that are astounding as you look at ancient man. He wasn’t some grunting half-beast with a club dragging his wife by the hair into the cave. He was a highly intelligent being. And he had marvelous capacities intellectually. In fact, Adam was able to name all of the animals according to their characteristics. Took tremendous genius for that.
Now in that kind of earth you would never really have a dark night because all of this moisture would give you the diffused light of the sun all night long. And thus, you would have much longer growing periods and everything would grow larger in that because of the fact that you wouldn’t be bombarded by these cosmic rays which would begin the mutation of cells which would create the breaking down. And so they have discovered how large many of the animals were before the flood as they look at some of these animals that were caught in the flood and through the sediment were kept in place, they found cockroaches that were a foot long. Man, you wouldn’t go after them with your shoe. You’d go after them with a shotgun, you know. Asparagus ferns sixty feet tall. All kinds of tropical vegetation up in the North Pole area. And the whole earth was no doubt just a lush, beautiful, glorious place.
God’s going to restore it to such a state, and He speaks about it here. As the waste places will be restored, the wilderness like Eden, and the deserts like the garden of the Lord, joy and gladness will be found therein, thanksgiving, the voice of melody.
Again, God, as He began in verse Isa 51:1 , cries to the people to hearken.
Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people ( Isa 51:4 ).
The Lord is going to come. He will sit in judgment and the law will proceed from Him as Jesus Christ comes to reign in righteousness.
My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the coasts shall wait upon me, and upon mine arm shall they trust ( Isa 51:5 ).
So the universal trusting in the Lord.
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished ( Isa 51:6 ).
So the heavens shall vanish away. Peter describes the vanishing away of the heavens in Second Peter chapter 2. Jesus said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My words shall never pass away” ( Mat 24:35 ). It is interesting that the earth is growing old. “The earth shall wax old like a garment.” The universe, according to the great scientist Sir Herschel Gene, like a giant clock that was wound up and is gradually slowing or winding down, the sun loses one million, two hundred thousand tons of mass every second. Fortunately, it’s large enough to continue to support life in the next ten billion years. So you don’t have to stay awake at night worrying about the fact that the sun is gradually burning out. But that isn’t so gradual. One million… or one billion two hundred. Or one million, two hundred thousand tons of mass per second. And so the earth growing old like a garment. The heavens will one day vanish away, but the Word of God shall endure forever.
And at that time God is going to create a “new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” ( 2Pe 3:13 ). The old will not be remembered or brought into mind. The whole new order that God is going to create for us. An order that knows no chaos. An order that knows no decay. An order that knows no sin or rebellion. Just the glorious kingdom of God and everything in the universe subject unto that kingdom.
Hearken unto me ( Isa 51:7 ),
The third cry of God for them to hearken.
ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings. For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation ( Isa 51:7-8 ).
And so for the righteous enduring forever. For the evil that would reproach the righteous or revile them, they will be destroyed. “The moth will eat them up like a garment, the worm shall eat them like wool.” Jesus in describing the conditions of Gehenna said, “Where their worm dieth not, neither is the fire quenched” ( Mar 9:44 ). The wicked shall be cast into hell and all those that forsake God. But the righteous they shall endure, they shall be forever and ever.
Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD ( Isa 51:9 );
Now here is the response of the people to God. God thrice called them to hearken to Him. And so they said, “Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord.” There are times when it would appear to us that God is asleep. How can God be so patient with the blasphemies of man? How can God put up with evil as He does? Why does He allow evil people to go on for a period of prosperity? Why doesn’t He smite them down immediately? This is a problem. It troubles me. If I were God, I’d just wipe them out so fast their heads would be swimming. “Just take that, you little rat! You want to go that way? All right,” you know. Smack! But God is so patient. He lets people get by with so much. They blaspheme Him. They mock Him. They ridicule Him. And it’s like He doesn’t even… it’s like He’s sleeping. He doesn’t even know. And so the people cry, “Wake up, God, wake up. Put on strength, O arm of the Lord.”
awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon? ( Isa 51:9 )
Now Rahab is a poetic reference to Egypt. He uses it also in the thirtieth chapter in the seventh verse. It’s just the poetic reference to Egypt. And so he is. “Wake up, God, wake up. You are the God that was showing Yourself so powerful in our history and especially in the deliverance out of Egypt.”
Art thou not the one which hath dried the sea, and the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over? ( Isa 51:10 )
And so the reference to the drying of the Red Sea to make a path for the people of God to pass through.
I have very little patience for those men that classify themselves “higher critics” who try to talk about a Sea of Reeds that is usually only a foot or so deep, that the children of Israel passed through. And that quite often when a strong wind blows for a period of time it sort of forces back the tide of that sea from this one area where they presume the children of Israel went across. But in reality, they tell us that the sea is only about a foot deep at that area. And thus, it really wasn’t much of a miracle that they did cross. Well, as far as the nation of Israel was concerned it was a marvelous miracle. They looked upon it as a marvelous miracle, and here the reference is to the depths of the sea. And even to the waters of the great deep. Now Isaiah was much closer to the time and he understood the language much better than these modern critics of the Bible who pass themselves off as biblical scholars. And I will go along with Isaiah much quicker than I will these men today. For if indeed they’ve made the sea only a foot deep, they surely have not removed the miraculous from the story, because it’s a miracle how God could drown the whole Egyptian army in one foot of water. You see, you might try to figure out one way, but you’re only creating another problem.
“You dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; You’ve made the depths of the sea a path for the ransomed to pass over.” The ransomed, of course, were those who through the Lamb that was slain in Egypt were ransomed.
Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return ( Isa 51:11 ),
The future day when God is going to gather again the people when Christ returns in power and great glory. Then shall He gather together the elect from the four corners of the earth. As the Jews will be gathered back into the land, “the redeemed of the Lord shall return.”
and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away ( Isa 51:11 ).
What a glorious day that is going to be, the glorious day of the Lord when He comes to establish the kingdom of God upon the earth and He again takes Israel as His people, as His bride. And they recognize Him, and there is this glorious receiving and accepting, each of the other.
I, even I, am he that comforteth you: who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass ( Isa 51:12 );
Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid of those that kill your body, and after that have no power. But rather fear Him, that after the body is killed has power to cast your soul into Gehenna; yea, I say unto you, ‘Fear ye Him'” ( Luk 12:4-5 ). The Bible says, “The fear of man brings a snare, but whoso will put his trust in the Lord shall be saved” ( Pro 29:25 ). And again, why should you fear man who is going to die himself? Son of man whose life is as the grass of the field which today is and tomorrow is dried and cast into the oven?
And forget the LORD your Maker, that stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? where is the fury of the oppressor? The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail. But I am the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts is his name ( Isa 51:13-15 ).
Now you see, for a moment they cried unto God, “Wake up, wake up, put on strength, O arm of the Lord. Awake. And aren’t You the God that brought our fathers through the sea and all?” And in verse Isa 51:11 , God begins to speak again of the glorious future as the redeemed of the Lord returns and God declares, “I am He that comforteth you. Why should you be afraid of man? I’m the One that is with you. I’m the One that brought your fathers through the sea, divided the sea whose waves roared. The Lord of hosts is His name.”
And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people ( Isa 51:16 ).
God declares, “Hey, thou art My people.” Oh, what a tragic thing it is that people misread the Bible and say that God is through with the nation of Israel. He cut her off forever. God forbid!
Now as if to say, “Hey, I’m not the One that’s sleeping. You’re the ones that are sleeping,” God says to them,
Awake, awake ( Isa 51:17 ),
The same thing they said. So many times we say to God, “Awake, God, awake.” And He says, “I’m not sleeping.” And He calls; we’re the ones that are sleeping. We’re the ones that don’t see what’s really going on.
Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; you have drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out. There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up ( Isa 51:17-18 ).
They are lacking in real leadership.
These two things are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee? ( Isa 51:19 )
So he speaks of the terrible time of tribulation that they will go through as they experience desolation, destruction, famine, the sword. And really no one seems to be concerned. It is interesting today how that the whole world seems to be willing to just dump these people. And yet God declares that they are His people and He will receive them again.
Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of thy God. Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine: Thus saith the Lord the LORD, thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again ( Isa 51:20-22 ):
The day will be over. No more tribulation for these people. There will be this glorious reuniting of them with their God and God with them.
But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee: which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over ( Isa 51:23 ).
And so God is going to put His hand against those that have afflicted them. When Jesus comes back, His first duty is going to be that of judging the earth. And the judgment will be of the nations will be relative to their treatment of the Jews, as He says, “Come, ye blessed of the Father, inherit the kingdom. I was hungry, and you fed Me: thirsty, and you gave me to drink.” “Lord, when did we see You?” “Inasmuch as you did it unto the least of these My brethren [speaking of the Jews], you did it unto Me. Those that are on the left, depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. I was hungry, you did not feed Me: thirsty, you did not give Me to drink,” and so forth. “Lord, when did we see You this way?” “Inasmuch as you did it not to the least of these My brethren” ( Mat 25:34-45 ). So the Lord here affirms much of what Jesus declared there as God will take up their cause once more.
But you say, “Why was God so severe with them? It seems that they have suffered more than any other race of people.” Well, that is not completely true. There are other races of people that have been totally obliterated. They no longer exist. Many races of people that have been completely wiped out. However, the reason for the severity is this: the Lord said, “Unto whom much is given, much is required” ( Luk 12:48 ). And that should be a warning to us who have received so much from God; so much of the understanding of God’s purposes and God’s plans. We who have come to an understanding of His truth and of His Word. There comes with that understanding an incumbent responsibility to walk according to the understanding. To live in harmony with that which we know. This they failed to do. God had given them much. What advantage then doth hath the Jew? Paul said, “Much and in every way.” Unto them were committed the oracles of God. And the covenants and the promises and the fathers and the law and the statutes. God gave them so much. And the more God gives you, the greater is your responsibility unto God for those things that you have received. They failed in their responsibility, and that is why God has dealt so severely is because they turned against all of that background and knowledge and all that God had given to them. “Unto whom much is given, much is required.”
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Isa 51:1-2. Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.
This is for your comfort, dear friends. If God could make out of Abraham and Sarah so great a nation as that of Israel, what is there that he cannot do? Do you say that the cause of God is brought very low in these evil days? It is not so low as when there seemed to be none but Abraham faithful in the whole world; yet God made that one mighty man to be like a foundation upon which he built up the chosen people, to whose keeping he committed the sacred oracles; and if he did that, what can he not do? However low you may individually sink, or however weak you may feel, look back to Abraham, and learn from his experience what God can do with you.
Isa 51:3. For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord;
Then what will her gardens be in those glorious days? When her very wilderness is like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord, what will her cultivated places be? Oh, what grand times are yet in store for the Church of the living God! Let us hope on, and pray on, and work on, never doubting; for, as John Wesley said, the best of all is, God is with us; and if he is with us, all must be well.
Isa 51:3. Joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
For Gods Church is no prison-house, no den of dragons, or cage of owls: it is a place for joy and gladness, for thanksgiving, and the voice of melody. Come, then, and let us bless the Lord with all our hearts. God is still good to Zion, and he will not desert her. He did much for Abraham; he will do much for us. We may find many precious things in the hole of that pit whence we were digged.
Isa 51:4-5. Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people. My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust.
God will not always be forgotten; man will not always trust to his fellow-man to save him, or put his confidence in the idols he has himself made. The day is coming when the King of Kings shall come to claim his own again, and his loyal people shall see the kingdom spread as it never has done yet. Blessed be his name, this promise shall certainly be fulfilled, the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust. It is remarkable that there are so many prophecies made concerning the isles; and that it is in islands, at this day, that the gospel seems to have spread so marvelously. In our own British isles, in the isles of the southern seas, and in Madagascar, what wonders of grace have been wrought!
Isa 51:6-7. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.
What a mercy it is to get a hold of something that will never wear out, and that can never be dissolved, something against which the tooth of time may fret itself in vain! This abiding, indestructible thing is the eternal salvation the everlasting righteousness which the Lord Jesus has wrought out and brought in for his people. Happy people who have this treasure for their eternal heritage!
Isa 51:7. Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness,
In the first verse of this chapter, there is a message for those who follow after righteousness; here is a word for those who know it: Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness,
Isa 51:7. the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.
If you are true to God, they will be sure to revile you. A Christian should not expect to go to heaven in a whole skin; it is a part of the nature of serpents and snakes in the grass to try, if they can, to bite at the heel of the child of God, even as that old serpent, the devil, bit at the heel of him who has broken the dragons head. Fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings, for your Master suffered in the same fashion long ago.
Isa 51:8. For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.
Let them snarl, and let them bite, if they will; they can do no harm to that righteousness which shall be for ever, or to that salvation which is from generation to generation.
Isa 51:9. Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old.
We long for God to come again upon the stage of action, to interpose in the worlds affairs, and to let men see what he can do. Time was when he was to be found by the burning bush, or on the mountains brow, or in the cave, or by the well, and earth seemed then like the vestibule of heaven. Come again, O Jehovah, great Lord and King, let thy goings be seen once more in the sanctuary.
Isa 51:9-10. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon! Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over.
Our prayer is that God may do all this over again; and the answer to our prayer is found in the following verse.
Isa 51:11. Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion;-
Just as they came out of Egypt of old, and with singing and with sound of timbrel, marched through the Red Sea, so shall God bring his people with singing unto Zion;
Isa 51:11. And everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.
Just as Pharaoh turned his chariot to flee from Israel, and the depths covered him and all his Egyptians, so sorrow and mourning shall flee away from the redeemed of the Lord.
Isa 51:12. I, even I, am he that comforteth you:
Oh, the beauty and blessing of these glorious words! Let me read them again: I, even I, am he that comforteth you.
Isa 51:12. Who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass;–
You see the grass, cut down by the mowers scythe, lying in long rows, and withering in the sun; are you afraid of that grass? no, you say; certainly not. then, be not afraid of men, for they shall be cut down after the same fashion.
Isa 51:13. And forgettest the Lord thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?
Why! in the hand of God, and he can let it out, or hold it in, according to his infinite wisdom and almighty power. Why, then, art thou afraid? Is there any might in all the world except the might of the Omnipotent One? Can anything happen but what he permits? Be thou still, then, and rest in him: Who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and forgettest the Lord thy Maker? In thy fear there is something of egotism, something of thine own self. Lay that aside; and, as a babe does not feel itself wise enough to judge of danger, but sleeps calmly upon its mothers bosom, so do thou. All is well that is in Gods hand; and thou also art in Gods hand if thou hast received his atonement in the person of his dear Son. Wherefore, give up thy heart to joy and gladness, and let sorrow and sighing flee from thee. Even now, let this be your happy song, as it is also mine,-
All that remains for me Is but to love and sing,
And wait until the angels come to bear me to the King.
Isa 51:1-8
Isa 51:1-3
Douglas divided this chapter and Isaiah 52 into seven divisions, as follows: the 1call (Isa 51:1-3), 2call (Isa 51:4-6), 3call (Isa 51:7-8), 4th call (Isa 51:9-16), 5th call (Isa 51:17-23), 6th call (Isa 52:1-6), and 7th call (Isa 52:7-10). This is an interesting arrangement, in spite of the fact that it is not always clear as to just who is doing the calling. Kelley’s arrangement of this chapter classified the first three of these “calls” as “The consolation of Zion, with three strophes, corresponding to Douglas’ three calls.
Isa 51:1-3
“Hearken unto me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek Jehovah: look unto the rock whence ye were hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye were digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you; for when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him, and made him many. For Jehovah hath comforted Zion; he hath comforted all her waste places, and hath made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Jehovah; and joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.”
“Look unto the rock …” (Isa 51:1). Actually, the meaning here is not merely a rock, as indicated by its being called “hole” in the next line. The passage “should be read, `Look unto the quarry whence ye were digged.’ The comparison, of course, is a metaphor instructing faithful believers to look back to their ancestry, Abraham and Sarah.
The persons addressed in this paragraph are called Israelites; but it is obvious that only the “righteous remnant” are meant; and therefore the ultimate application of the passage extends to the Ideal Servant and his holy Church. This does not diminish either the need of the discouraged captives in Babylon for such marvelous encouragement as that given here, or its ultimate application to all the discouraged followers of the Messiah in future generations.
The purpose of the encouragement given here is, “To convince them of the certainty and permanence of the coming deliverance.
“He was but one when I called him …” (Isa 51:2). The point here, given for the encouragement of the captive remnant is simple enough. If God called Abraham when he was only one person, and a hundred years old at that, and his wife barren at the age of 90 years, yet, despite all that, did indeed make him a mighty nation as he had promised, why should the thousands of the “righteous remnant” have any doubt whatever that God indeed had the power to bless and multiply them, overthrow their enemies and pour out the blessings of heaven upon them that trusted him? Kelley also pointed out that, “The fact that the prophet addressed these words to them in the very land in which Abraham and Sarah had indeed received their first call gave added meaning to what is said here.
Note that these sacred promises should be restricted to the “righteous remnant,” despite the fact of their being identified as “posterity of Abraham” (which, of course, they were). That portion of rebellious Israel, however, that included sons of the devil such as Manasseh and the nation of blind and deaf hypocrites, most of whom remained in Babylon even after being commanded to leave, certainly never participated in the consolation and blessing detailed in this passage. Of course, this remark is not intended as a judgment upon Manasseh following his repentance.
The promise in Isa 51:3 that God would comfort Zion means that he would intervene to rescue the “righteous remnant” and return them to Jerusalem.
“Ye that pursue righteousness …” (Isa 51:1). This mark of identification eliminates all of the captives except the righteous remnant, the ones who would return. As to what the “pursuit of righteousness” actually meant, Lowth cautioned us that, “The word has a great latitude in meaning, signifying: justice, truth, faithfulness, goodness, mercy, deliverance, salvation, etc. In this particular verse, Cheyne was sure that the meaning of the word was “fair dealing.” This may be correct, because a great many Jews by their unfair dealings became wealthy citizens of Babylon and refused to leave when the time came.
Isa 51:4-8
“Attend unto me, O my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall go forth from me, and I will establish my justice for a light of the peoples. My righteousness is near, my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the peoples; the isles shall wait for me, and on my arm shall they trust. Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath; for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment; and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished. Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye dismayed at their revilings. For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool; but my righteousness shall be forever, and my salvation unto all generations.”
“This second strophe describes God’s salvation as comprehending all mankind and as outlasting the heavens and the earth.” This analysis is certainly true, and therefore, we must question the use of the word “nation” here instead of “nations,” the latter word meaning “Gentiles,” and the former leaving the impression that the old fleshly nation of the Jews were God’s chosen people. That was never the case. The chosen were then, and always, the persons of like faith and character of Abraham. Both Lowth and Adam Clarke who quoted him correctly rendered the word here “O my peoples.” adding that, “The address here is not to Jews but to Gentiles.
Two additional meanings of “righteousness” appear in Isa 51:4-5; it means “justice” in Isa 51:4, and “salvation” in Isa 51:5. “It means here the faithful completion of God’s promise to deliver his people. See also Footnote No. 6.
“Isa 51:6 here affirms that the heavens and the earth are less stable than God’s Word; and Isa 51:7 goes on to urge the exiles to trust God’s promises, putting aside any fear of men who, after all, are far more transient than the material universe. There are reflections of this passage (and of all of Isaiah) throughout the New Testament, especially in Heb 1:11.
“It is a justifiable conclusion from this paragraph that: Since all Christ-rejecting unbelievers are doomed to utter destruction, no believer should ever quail before the menace of the world or the hostility of ungodly men, whose plight is desperate, and their doom sure.
Isa 51:1-5 ESTABLISHED: This chapter predicts the coming of Jehovahs rule of justice through His law. It is, of course, an integral part of the whole section discussing Salvation Through Gods Servant (ch. 40-53). Thus we are to understand Jehovahs predicted rule of justice will be through the coming Servant. This chapter is a special message to that small remnant of true believers contemporary with Isaiah. They are designated ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek Jehovah. The majority of people in Isaiahs day did not follow after righteousness. And even the remnant which did was sorely tempted to give up all hope. In view of the depraved morality and hypocritical religiosity of most of Israel and in view of the dreadful predictions of the true prophets of God that Babylonian captivity was near, the remnant must be encouraged. This remnant was sincere in its search for righteousness. The Hebrew word rodephey is translated follow after in the ASV, but is stronger and more properly translated pursue as in the RSV. There was not much righteousness to be found among this nation. They were a people laden with iniquity (Isa 1:4, etc.). Only a few disciples of Isaiah (Isa 8:16) desired real justice and the rule of Jehovah. The Lord encourages them to believe that He will establish His rule of justice by directing them to look backward to what He did through Abraham and to look forward to what He promises to do in the future. To the tiny remnant of Isaiahs disciples it may appear impossible that Jehovahs rule of justice will ever be established. However, Jehovah is able to do the impossible! Let the remnant look back to the rock from which the nation was hewn-Abraham-and the hole of the pit from which it was digged-Sarah. That Jehovah could produce a nation of many people from one man and woman who were past the age of childbearing was thought impossible. Nevertheless, from one lone sojourner who had a wife whose womb was barren and who was beyond the age of bearing children and who bore only one child, God produced a nation. Of course, Jehovah could not have done it without the faith of Abraham and Sarah (cf. Rom 4:1-25; Gal 3:6-9; Gal 4:21-27; Heb 11:8-12; Heb 11:17-22; Jas 2:18-26). This is the point. God is able to save this remnant and through them establish His rule of justice, but they must be people of stedfast faith like their forefather Abraham. Through one man, Abraham, and through the one son of Abraham, Isaac, God formed a people for Himself. But this people rejected His rule. Through the one Seed (Christ) of Abraham, Jehovah will produce a new Israel who will submit to His rule (cf. Gal 3:15-29; Gal 6:13-16). Isaiahs remnant must believe even though they may not receive what is promised; they must see it and greet it from afar (cf. Heb 11:13-16). A remnant must be preserved through which the Messiah-Servant may come and establish the rule of Jehovahs justice (cf. Isa 9:7; Isa 11:1-9, etc.).
Jehovahs comforting of Zion will reach its culmination in the coming Servant (cf. comments Isa 40:1-11; Isa 49:13). Verse three is in the predictive present. What Jehovah will do through the Servant is so certain it may be spoken of by Him as having already been accomplished! When the Servant finishes comforting Zion, all Zions spiritual desolation and moral destitution will be turned into a righteousness that will be like Eden restored. The prophet is not here intending that the land of Palestine shall be physically restored to the flora and fauna of pre-fallen Eden. This world is destined (including Palestine) for destruction (cf. 2Pe 3:1-13). The prophet is speaking of a restoration of spiritual paradise; a restored Zion over which Jehovah rules in righteousness and justice, in which there shall be joy and gladness (see comments Isa 35:8-10).
Jehovah will comfort Zion through a rule of torah (law). This is not the law of Moses in commandments and ordinances which stood against us (Col 2:13-15). No man could be justified by that law (cf. Gal 3:10-14; Gal 5:1-6). This is the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus (cf. Rom 8:1-17). Young calls it, in particular . . . the law of faith, given by the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith (Rom 16:26). It is that final and full revelation of the will of God for mans salvation which also sets before man what God requires of him. It is the same going forth of His law as predicted in Isa 2:1-4. This rule of Jehovah through the law of the Servant will provide light for all people (cf. comments on Isa 9:1 ff).
The Lords righteousness is near. Near is relative to Gods perspective! All time is as one day with Jehovah. When He declares a thing, it is as good as done. He will begin His great work toward this coming of the Servant with the Babylonian captivity and release from it through Cyrus. Israel may know Jehovahs salvation is on its way when they see Him judge the peoples by His arm. When these great empires fall and Israel continues to survive she may know that His salvation is so certain it may be said to be near (Heb 11:13-16). For a discussion of the meaning of isles see comments on Isa 41:1 ff.
Isa 51:6-8 ENDURING: What seems as if it will go on and on, unalterably fixed and sure (the heavens and the earth) will one day vanish. Even the perpetuity of the human race seems assured. But it too will expire. Only that which is saved by Jehovah will endure forever. What is declared right (His righteousness) by Jehovah is eternal because that is truth. Anything declared not right by Jehovah will perish. And how does man know what God declares right?-by hearkening unto Gods law! And what is this law which is in the heart?-it is the law of Christ, the law of faith which was in the heart of Abraham and by which he was justified (cf. Rom 4:1-25). It is the will of God concerning redemption through the Servant (cf. Isa 42:1-4)-the Servants law. That this law (or will) of God concerning future salvation through an atoning Servant was written on the hearts of some before Christ was born is evidenced by Abraham rejoicing to see Christs day (Joh 8:56), Isaiah seeing the glory of the Christ (Joh 12:41), the prophets inquiring about Him (1Pe 1:10-12) and from all the faithful in Hebrews, chapter 11. The prophecy in Jer 31:31-34 does not exclude every Jew of the Old Testament dispensation from the capacity to have Gods law written on their heart through faith. If that should be the case, it would contradict Romans 4, et al. The Jeremiah 31 passage, taken in harmony with this passage in Isaiah, seems to say that out of a small remnant of O.T. saints who believe Gods promises about an atoning Servant (the law of Jehovah about the Servant written on their hearts), Jehovah is going to form a new covenant people who will be covenant people only because they have His law written on their hearts and not because they were physically born to a particular nationality. In other words, there was a nucleus of people in the O.T. with Jehovahs will (law) written on their hearts and they were justified, in prospect, by their faith. When the Servant came and fulfilled the predicted atonement, these O.T. believers were justified in fact (cf. Heb 9:15-16). The message of God expressed in all the sacrifices and offerings and in all the prophecies of the suffering Servant was that man could not atone for his sins by any works-God alone could provide atonement. Now when the O.T. believer took that to heart, with the moral and doctrinal implications it had for his life, then he had the law of God written on his heart! The goal of all this is, of course, the New Testament dispensation. Without that goal the faith of the O.T. believer could not have justified him. If the Servant had not come and accomplished the atonement which was typified and prophesied there could have been no law of God written on any heart either before the fact or after. The N.T. covenant is enacted upon better promises because it is after the fact of the Servants work.
Those who have the law of faith written on their hearts do not need to fear the threats of those who stand in opposition to the rule of Jehovahs Servant. Those who stand for the rule of the Servant will always be in the minority. Those who stand against the rule of the Servant will always be in the majority and will control all the resources of human power. But Jehovah has revealed historically that He is more powerful than all human power put together. His righteousness (what He declares right) will endure every opposition. There may be those of ethnic Israel who do not want to know that what God says is right (cf. Isa 30:9-11), but those who are true Israel do not need to fear for what God says is right and will last forever.
Three messages to the faithful immediately follow. The first is a call to courage (verses Isa 51:1-8), in which they are charged to look back to Abraham, to look on to the nearness of God’s activity, to look around and be without fear in the presence of opposition.
The next is a cry of courage (verses Isa 51:9-11), in which they first look up to the arm of the Lord, and then look back and remember how He has delivered, and, finally, look on in the assurance that He will deliver.
The last (verses Isa 51:12-16) is a great message of comfort. First of all, fear is rebuked as due to forgetfulness of Jehovah, and, finally, Jehovah is pledged by His might to succor and establish His people. Three messages to the fitted people as a whole follow. The first (verses Isa 51:17-23) calls on Jerusalem to awake, because the end of her suffering is approaching. A graphic picture of that suffering is given in which she has been bereft of her children and overtaken by desolation and destruction. The hour has come in which the cup of staggering and of fury is taken out of her hand and put into the hand of those who afflict her.
Awake, O Arm of Jehovah!
Isa 51:1-11
This chapter is extremely dramatic. We are conscious that we are nearing a revelation of unparalleled sublimity. As we hear the thrice Hearken in Isa 1:1-8, and the thrice Awake, Isa 51:9, which follows, we realize that we are traversing the entrance portico of a noble temple. When God says, Hearken, it is for us to ask Him to fulfill-Awake!
Recall the loneliness of Abraham. He was but one! Terah died, Lot dropped away, Hagar was thrust out, Isaac was laid on the altar, but the fire that burned in his heart only grew brighter. Do not despair if you are alone in your stand for God. One acorn, when the life of Nature touches it, may become parent to a forest. These exiled Jews hardly dared to hope that they could escape from their foes. The air was heavy with their revilings, but compare Isa 51:8 with Isa 50:9. With such assurances we may face a world in arms. The forces of evil are strong, but God is stronger. The clouds threaten, but the sun is shining. Dont forget the Lord thy Maker, thy Redeemer, thy Father! He cannot fail or forsake!
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 FIFTY-ONE
THE CALL TO AWAKE
IN CHAPTER fifty-one GOD stresses the disobedience of Israel and their suffering because of it, and also emphasizes the coming day when Messiah will be recognized and granted the fullness of blessing.
“Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him. For the Lord shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places: and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody” (verses 1-3).
GOD will fulfill every promise He has made. He says, “Look unto Abraham.” GOD had said to Abraham, “in thee and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.” Israel failed in that blessing. But still the promise abides, and the day is coming when they themselves will enter into fullness of blessing through the Son of Abraham and when they will be made a blessing to the whole earth, because they have become like a nation of priests in the coming day and will be used of GOD to bless all the Gentile nations.
The nations that once persecuted them will have to suffer, but after GOD has destroyed the enemies – those who are taken in red-handed opposition to His Word – the nations that have never been guilty of these things will find the Lord as their Saviour and enter into blessing in the millennial day.
In the rest of this chapter and the first part of chapter fifty-two, we have three calls to awake. First is a call addressed to the arm of the Lord, “Awake, awake.” Then we have a call addressed to Jerusalem as she now is with her suffering and sorrow, calling her to arise. And then there is a call to Zion and to Jerusalem, as she will be in the coming day, when the Lord leads her into blessing.
“Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord: awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon? . . . Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out” (verses 9, 17).
In verse 9 Rahab the dragon refers to Egypt; it is the term here used for that land.
~ end of chapter 51 ~
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Isa 51:6
I. Consider, first, the heavens above and the earth beneath, as temporal either in themselves or in regard to us who must “die in like manner.” (1) Our text is the record of a great appointment extending to the whole surrounding universe, and sentencing it to dissolution and extinction. Without supposing the actual annihilation of matter, we may speak of the universe as destined to be destroyed, seeing that the systems which are to succeed to the present will be wholly different, and wear all the traces of a new creation. We have been accustomed to distinguish between what we count fleeting and what we regard as enduring, between the rock and the mountain, the flower and the moth. Is it not a confounding thought, that by a simple effort of His will the Almighty is to unhinge and dislocate the amazing mechanism of the universe, sweep away myriads upon myriads of stupendous worlds, and yet remain Himself the great “I Am,” the same when stars and planets fall as when in far back time they blazed at His command? (2) Our text marks out a second way in which our connection with visible things-the heavens and the earth-may be brought to a close. “They that dwell therein shall die in like manner.” There comes a day when our connection with earth must be terminated by death, when the sun must rise on us for the last time, though millions of cheerful eyes will hail his rising on the morrow. The simple consideration that we must soon die, and that death must for ever withdraw us from the objects of sense, ought in itself to suffice to persuade us of the madness of living for the present instead of to the future.
II. A contrast is drawn between God, His salvation, and His righteousness, and the heavens and the earth. It seems the design of the passage to affix a general character to the objects of faith as distinguished from the objects of sense-the character of permanence as distinguished from that of decline. We need not analyse with a close scrutiny the exact import of the words “salvation and righteousness.” They plainly include all those rich mercies and those gifts of grace here and of glory hereafter, which are promised to such as believe on Jesus and commit to Him the keeping of their souls. And thus they affix the character of “everlasting” to that city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Look on the heavens that are now, they “shall vanish away like smoke;” look on the earth beneath, “it shall wax old as a garment.” But we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. These shall be for ever; these shall not be abolished.
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 2169.
References: Isa 51:6.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. ix., p. 124; Literary Churchman Sermons, p. 242.
Isa 51:9; Isa 52:1
Notice:-
I. The occurrence in the Church’s history of successive periods of energy and of languor. The uninterrupted growth would be best; but if that has not been, then the ending of winter by spring, and the supplying of the dry branches, and the resumption of the arrested growth is the next best and the only alternative to rotting away. We ought to desire such a merciful interruption of the sad continuity of our languor and decay. The surest sign of its coming would be a widespread desire and expectation of its coming, joined with a penitent consciousness of our heavy and sinful slumber. And another sign of its approach is the extremity of the need. “If winter come, can spring be far behind?”
II. The twofold explanation of these variations. (1) It is true that God’s arm slumbers, and is not clothed with power. There are, as a fact, apparent variations in the energy with which He works in the Church and in the world. And they are real variations, not merely apparent. The might with which God works in the world through His Church varies according to the Church’s receptiveness and faithfulness. (2) If God’s arm seems to slumber, and really does so, it is because Zion sleeps. The law has ever been, “According to your faith be it unto you.” God gives as much as we will, as much as we can hold, as much as we use, and far more than we deserve.
III. The beginning of all awaking is the Church’s earnest cry to God. Look at the passionate earnestness of Israel’s cry, thrice repeated, as from one in mortal need, and see to it that our drowsy prayers be like it. Look at the grand confidence with which it founds itself on the past, recounting the mighty deeds of ancient days; and looking back, not for despair, but for joyful confidence on the generations of old; and let our faint-hearted faith be quickened by the example to expect great things of God.
IV. The answering call from God to Zion. Our truest prayers are but the echo of God’s promises. God’s best answers are the echoes of our prayers. (1) The chief means of quickened life and strength is deepened communion with Christ. (2) This summons calls us to the faithful use of the power which, on condition of that communion, we have.
A. Maclaren, The Secret of Power, p. 58.
References: Isa 51:9.-A. Rowland, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxviii., p. 264. Isa 51:9, Isa 51:10.-G. H. Wilkinson, Penny Pulpit, No. 1038 (see also Old Testament Outlines, p. 214). Isa 51:11.-Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xvi., p. 15; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. v., p. 25.
CHAPTER 51
Jehovah Encourages His Faithful People, the Remnant of Israel
1. The call to remember Abraham (Isa 51:1-2) 2. Zion to be comforted (Isa 51:3) 3. His righteousness near and His arm to judge the people (Isa 51:4-6) 4. Fear ye not (Isa 51:7-8) 5. The prayer of faith (Isa 51:9-11) 6. Jehovah answers (Isa 51:12-16) 7. The suffering of the nation to end (Isa 51:17-23)The Lord speaks to His faithful people. He reminds them of Abraham and the covenant. He assures them that the wilderness of Zion shall become like Eden, like the garden of the Lord. Judgment shall overtake the earth. It is beautiful to see how the faithful pray in faith after this message from Jehovah (Isa 51:9-11), and how Jehovah answers them (Isa 51:12-16).
Hearken: Isa 51:4, Isa 51:7, Isa 46:3, Isa 46:4, Isa 48:12, Isa 55:2, Isa 55:3
ye that follow: Isa 51:7, Psa 94:15, Pro 15:9, Pro 21:21, Mat 5:6, Mat 6:33, Rom 9:30-32, Rom 14:19, Phi 3:13, 1Ti 6:11, 2Ti 2:22, Heb 12:14
ye that seek: Isa 45:19, Isa 55:6, Psa 24:6, Psa 105:3, Psa 105:4, Amo 5:6, Zep 2:3
look: Gen 17:15-17, Eph 2:11, Eph 2:12
Reciprocal: Deu 5:15 – remember Deu 6:21 – General Deu 15:15 – General Deu 24:22 – General Deu 26:5 – ready Jer 2:4 – Hear ye Eze 16:3 – Thy birth Act 2:14 – hearken Act 13:26 – children 1Co 14:1 – Follow Phi 3:12 – I follow
Isa 51:1-2. Hearken unto me, &c. Here again he addresses his discourse to the believing and godly Jews, whom he describes as following after righteousness That is, earnestly desiring and diligently pursuing the justification of their persons, the sanctification of their nature, and practical obedience to Gods law; for which blessings they sought the Lord That is, sought an acquaintance and reconciliation with him, the manifestation of his favour, and the communication of his Spirit. These, his true people, he exhorts to look unto the rock whence they were hewn, &c. To consider the state of Abraham and Sarah before God gave them Isaac, from whom Jacob and all his posterity sprang. He compares the bodies of Abraham and Sarah unto a rock, or pit, or quarry, out of which stones are hewn or dug; thereby implying, that God, in some sort, actually did that which John the Baptist said he was able to do, (Mat 3:9,) even of stones to raise up children unto Abraham; it being then as impossible, by the course of nature, for Abraham and Sarah, in such an advanced age as they then were, to have a child, as it is to hew one out of a rock, or dig one out of a pit. For I called him alone Hebrew, , one; that is, when he was but one single person, without child or family, I called him from his country and kindred to follow me to an unknown land, where I promised that I would multiply him exceedingly. And I blessed him, and increased him Namely, into a vast multitude, when his condition was desperate in the eye of reason. And therefore God can as easily deliver and raise his church when they are in the most forlorn condition, and seem to be consumed, dead, and buried, so that nothing but dry bones remain of them, as is declared at large, Ezekiel chap. 37.
Isa 51:4. A law shall proceed from me. The gospel law of liberty and love is here intended, as in Joe 2:31. No other law ever emanated from Jerusalem.
Isa 51:5. My righteousness is near. Christ, the Just and Holy one, the Lord our righteousness. The isles shall wait upon me. Better thus, the distant lands shall expect me, the desire of all nations. Christ was the earnest expectation of the whole creation. Rom 8:19.
Isa 51:6. They that dwell therein shall die in like manner. The sense of the English is, they shall die as the heavens vanish, and as the earth waxes old like a garment. Thus is a sublime passage gaited and marred; whereas the true reading relieves it at once. They shall die as the feeble insect.
Isa 51:9. That cut Rahab, called by the Arabians Rav or Rif; that is, Memphis, the capital of Egypt, so surnamed for her pride; and wounded Pharaoh, the dragon. God will destroy all the future enemies of his church, as he destroyed Egypt and Babylon.
Isa 51:11. The redeemed of the Lord shall return. These words afforded great consolation to the Jews, under the Babylonian oppression; but they shall give still greater comfort to the church in the latter day, when many nations shall come to the gospel Zion, built on the tops of the mountains. Preachers improve and apply these words to penitents that seek the Lord, who wipes away their tears, and fills the contrite with everlasting joy.
Isa 51:20. As a wild bull in a net, they are full of the fury of the Lord. There is no better figure than an infuriated bull, to describe a wicked army to whom no quarter will be given. They have often cut their way through the mass of their fellow soldiers, as when the trumpets of Gideon were sounding behind the Midianites. But he who rests in Zion shall not make haste. Isa 28:16.
REFLECTIONS.
This and the following chapters obviously comprise the same subject, and often in the same words. There were four captivities of the Jewish nation, the Egyptian, the Assyrian, the Babylonian, and their present dispersion, which Abarbanal, on Isa 49:1, calls the Roman captivity. Vitringa says, Censet Abarbanal prophetam hic transitum facere a Liberatione ex exilo Babylonico ad Liberationem exilo Romano. Israel menaced with the rod, Israel languishing in Babylon, and Israel under the long and gloomy dispersion by the Romans, are here called to look to the rock whence they were hewn, and to see what God did in calling Abraham, and in giving an heir to the world by those two righteous persons, whose bodies were as good as dead. Therefore the same God can still repeat his mercies to the promised seed. When a good man is in trouble, the idea of what God has done for his religious parents emboldens his confidence in the rock of his fathers.
The Lord will surely keep his word: he will comfort Zion, he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her waste places as the garden of the Lord. This promise comforted the people in Babylon: yet as Judea never recovered the glory which Solomon shed upon it; and as both Antiochus Epiphanes, and the Romans, did most awfully profane the sanctuary, which is contrary to the promise that the unclean and the uncircumcised should not pollute it, Isa 52:1, Messiah spake here of more than the Babylonian deliverance, because he says a law, the evangelical law shall proceed from me; consequently he must speak of the latter day, when the exiled Hebrews shall enjoy more glory than their fathers ever saw. Then shall the isles wait for him, all the gentile nations shall trust in him, and all the enemies of truth vanishing like smoke, or fretting like a garment, shall perish under the displeasure of heaven. There is no text which speaks of the millennium but it speaks of the terrors of God on the unbelieving world. The change shall be so great, that in a manner it may be called a new heaven and a new earth.
The church, hearing these glad tidings, implores the Lord to make haste. Awake, awake, put on strength, oh arm of the Lord, as when thou didst cut Rahab, and wound Pharaoh, as the dragon of the sea. So also in the eleventh chapter, which speaks of the restoration of the Jews, the Lord promises to deliver his people by the power which smote the Egyptians. The redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy.
God gives a speedy answer to the cry of his afflicted people. I, even I, am he that comforteth you. I who have laid the foundations of the earth, and who divided the sea. Hence I bid thee not to be afraid of men who shall die. Therefore awake, oh Jerusalem; recover from thy stupor, occasioned by my bitter cup, which henceforth shall be drunk by thine enemies, and no more by thee. The messengers shall bring thee joyful tidings, not only of deliverance from Babylon, but of restoration to the christian Zion, the city of glory and of beauty.
Isa 51:1-8. A Heartening Consolation.Yahweh, in words that echo Isa 50:4-9, bids His people, who seek the victory which ever eludes them, consider their origin. Abraham was but one; yet He made him a great people: how much more from a people, though their numbers be decreased, can He make a mighty nation. He will comfort Zionthe perfects of Isa 51:3 are perfects of certaintyher ruins shall be rebuilt and her waste places made fruitful as Eden. Instruction in the true religion shall go forth from Him as a light for the nations. His vindicating victory is near at hand; His power shall judge the nations. Though heaven and earth pass away, and men perish like gnats (mg.), His victory shall be eternal. Let not His people, who know His vindicating power and understand His instruction, fear the taunts of men. Their oppressors shall vanish like moth-eaten garments, but His victory shall endure for ever.
Isa 51:1. Read, and to the quarry whence ye were digged.
Isa 51:4 b Isa 51:5 a. Read, for a law shall go forth from me, and my judgement for a light of the peoples. Suddenly I bring near my victory, etc.
Isa 51:6. Translate, and the earth as a garment; the world shall fall to pieces and they, etc.be abolished: read fail (LXX, Vulg.).
51:1 Hearken to me, {a} ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look to the {b} rock [from which] ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit [from which] ye were dug.
(a) He comforts the Church, that they would not be discouraged for their small number.
(b) That is, to Abraham, of whom you were begotten, and to Sarah of whom we were born.
Listening to the Servant 51:1-8
This section of Isaiah, like the preceding one, reflects on the third Servant Song (Isa 50:4-9). Here the emphasis is on the expectations of those who will listen to the Servant, as well as encouragement for those who are followers of righteousness. From this point through Isa 52:12, the Servant theme builds to its climax in Isa 52:13 to Isa 53:12.
God directed His people three times, in Isa 51:1-8, to listen. They should listen and look back, to remember what He had done (Isa 51:1-3). They should listen and look up, to remember who God is (Isa 51:4-6). And they should listen and not fear, to remember what God had promised (Isa 51:7-8). [Note: Adapted from Dyer, in The Old . . ., p. 573.]
The Lord appealed to the righteous in Israel to listen to Him (cf. Isa 50:10). Watts believed the speaker, through Isa 51:4, was Darius. [Note: Watts, Isaiah 34-66, p. 204.] These were the Israelites who sincerely wanted to trust and obey God, but found it difficult to do so because impending captivity seemed to contradict God’s promises. The Lord directed them to consider their history, their origin.
"Abraham was the rock from which his descendants were hewn-having a rocklike quality imparted to him by God’s faithfulness and grace." [Note: Archer, p. 645.]
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)