Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 40:9
O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift [it] up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
9 11. The prophet announces the triumphal approach of Jehovah to Zion.
O Zion tidings ] R.V. has O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion. Either translation is grammatically admissible; but the second is to be preferred, (1) because of the analogous passages Isa 41:27 and Isa 52:7, and (2) because Zion always in this prophecy represents the community as the passive recipient of salvation. The other rendering might seem to be recommended by the apparent distinction between Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, but this is probably not intended; Zion itself is included among the cities of Judah. The verb employed ( mbassreth) is the Hebrew basis (through the LXX.) of the N.T. ; the fem. partic. is collective, denoting an ideal band of messengers (less probably the company of prophets). These Evangelists are bidden to “go up to a high mountain” to see from afar the coming of Jehovah, then to “lift up their voice without fear” (of being put to shame) and proclaim the glad tidings.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
O Zion, that bringest good tidings – This is evidently the continuance of what the voice said, or of the annunciation which was to give joy to an afflicted and oppressed people. There has been, however, much diversity of opinion in regard to the meaning of the passage. The margin renders it, Thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, making Zion the receiver, and not the publisher of the message that was to convey joy. The Vulgate, in a similar way, renders it, Ascend a high mountain, thou who bringest good tidings to Zion (qui evangelizas Zion). So the Chaldee, understanding this as an address to the prophet, as in Isa 40:1, Ascend a high mountain, ye prophets, who bring glad tidings to Zion. So Lowth, Noyes, Gesenius. Grotius, and others. The word mebas’eret, from bas’ar, means cheering with good tidings; announcing good news; bearing joyful intelligence.
It is a participle in the feminine gender; and is appropriately applicable to some one that bears good tidings to Zion, and not to Zion as appointed to bear glad titlings. Lowth supposes that it is applicable to some female whose office it was to announce glad tidings, and says that it was the common practice for females to engage in the office of proclaiming good news. On an occasion of a public victory or rejoicing, it was customary, says he, for females to assemble together, and to celebrate it with songs, and dances, and rejoicings; and he appeals to the instance of Miriam and the chorus of women Exo 15:20-21, and to the instance where, after the victory of David over Goliath, all the women came out of the cities of Israel singing and dancing to meet Saul 1Sa 18:7. But there are objections to this interpretation; first, if this was the sense, the word would bare been in the plural number, since there is no instance in which a female is employed alone in this service; and, secondly, it was not, according to this, the office of the female to announce good tidings, or to communicate a joyful message, but to celebrate some occasion of triumph or victory.
Grotius supposes that the word is feminine in its sound, but common in its signification; and thus denotes any whose office it was to communicate glad tidings. Gesenius (Commentary in loc.) says, that the feminine form here is used in a collective sense for mebas’eriym in the plural; and supposes that it thus refers to the prophets, or others who were to announce the glad tidings to Zion. Vitringa coincides with our translation, and supposes that the sense is, that Zion was to make proclamation to the other cities of Judah of the deliverance; that the news was first to be communicated to Jerusalem, and that Jerusalem was entrusted with the office of announcing this to the other cities of the land; and that the meaning is, that the gospel was to be preached first at Jerusalem, and then from Jerusalem as a center to the ether cities of the land, agreeably to Luk 24:49. In this view, also, Hengstenberg coincides (Christol. vol. i. p. 424). But that the former interpretation, which regards Zion as the receiver, and not the promulgator, of the intelligence, is the true one, is apparent, I think, from the following considerations:
1. It is that which is the obvious and most correct construction of the Hebrew.
2. It is that which is found in the ancient versions.
3. It accords with the design of the passage.
The main scope of the passage is not to call upon Jerusalem to make known the glad tidings, but it is to convey the good news to Jerusalem; to announce to her, lying desolate and waste, that her hard service was at an end, and that she was to be blessed with the return of happier and better times (see Isa 40:2). It would be a departure from this, to suppose that the subject was diverted in order to give Jerusalem a command to make the proclamation to the other cities of the land to say nothing of the impropriety of calling on a city to go up into a high mountain, and to lift up its voice. On the meaning of the word Zion, see the note at Isa 1:8.
Get thee up into a high mountain – You who make this proclamation to Zion. It was not uncommon in ancient times, when a multitude were to be addressed, or a proclamation to be made, for the crier to go into a mountain, where he could be seen and heard. Thus Jotham, addressing the men of Shechem, is said to have gone and stood on the top of mount Gerizim, and lifted up his voice (Jdg 9:7; compare Mat 5:1). The sense is, that the messengers of the joyful news to Zion were to make themselves distinctly heard by all the inhabitants of the city, and of the land.
Lift up thy voice – As with a glad and important message. Do not deliver the message as if you were afraid that it should be heard. It is one of joy; and it should be delivered in a clear, decided, animated manner, as if it were important that it should be heard.
With strength – Aloud; with effort; with power (compare Isa 35:3-4).
Lift it up – Lift up the voice. The command is repeated, to denote emphasis. The mind is full of the subject, and the prophet repeats the command, as a man often does when his mind is full of an idea. The command to deliver the message of God with animation, earnestness, and zeal is one that is not unusual in Isaiah. It should be delivered as if it were true, and as if it were believed to be true. This will not justify, however, boisterous preaching, or a loud and unnatural tone of voice – alike offensive to good taste, injurious to the health, and destructive of the life of the preacher. It is to be remarked, also, that this command to lift up the voice, pertains to the glad tidings of the gospel, and not to the terrors of wrath; to the proclamation of mercy, and not to the denunciation of woe. The glad tidings of salvation should be delivered in an animated and ardent manner; the future punishment of the wicked in a tone serious, solemn, subdued.
Say unto the cities of Judah – Not to Jerusalem only, but to all the cities of the land. They were alike to be blessed on the return from the captivity – Mike in the preaching of the gospel.
Behold your God! – Lo! your God returns to the city, the temple, and the land! Lo! he comes (note, Isa 40:3), conducting his people as a king to their land! Lo! he will come – under the Messiah in future times – to redeem and save! What a glad announcement was this to the desolate and forsaken cities of Judah! What a glad announcement to the wide world, Lo! God has come to redeem and save; and the desolate world shall be visited with his salvation and smile, in his mercy through the Messiah!
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 40:9
O Zion, that bringest good tidings
The tidings the Church has to publish
The text has been variously rendered.
The best authorities give it, Thou that bringest good tidings to Zion, which rendering better agrees with the latter part of the verse, with some parallel passages, and with the scope of the passage. Our translators took Zion and Jerusalem in the nominative case, and so did others before them, as if the prophet called on the chief city to acquaint the other cities of Judah with the joyful news of their returning inhabitants: but there is far more congruity in the heralds being instructed to ascend the high mountains that the Jewish captives in the remotest corners of Chaldea may hear the joyful proclamation of liberty, and prepare to return to their own country. The Jewish Targum (no mean authority) paraphrases the words thus: O ye prophets that bring glad tidings to Zion Vitringa supports the same idea, as does also Bishop Lowth. The language may, with great force, be addressed to the missionaries of every denomination. O thou that hast good tidings to tell, get thee up into the high mountain. Say to the cities of the Eastern and the Western world, Behold your God.
I. THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH HAS GREAT TIDINGS TO TELL TO THE WORLD AT LARGE. The Jewish prophets were the heralds of a Saviour to come, and beautiful upon the mountains were the feet of those who published peace; but the Christian Church has to proclaim the actual accomplishment of the great salvation. We have to tell of a Saviour incarnate, crucified, enthroned. We have to tell of a justifying righteousness, a sanctifying spirit, a pardoning God: of Satan vanquished. The Christian Church has to reveal–
1. A system of truth as opposed to the errors of heathenism. These truths are universally applicable. All have minds to which truth is precious as life to the eye, and the truth as it is in Jesus is more needful than life itself.
2. A system of devotion, as opposed to the absurdities of their superstition. Would you choose to have them still ignorant of the attributes of acceptable devotion?
3. A system of purity, as opposed to the shameless vices of their idolatry. Morality is interested in the triumph of missions.
4. The Christian Church can tell them of the life and immortality brought to light by the Gospel, as opposed to their obscure and degrading notions of futurity.
II. THESE TIDINGS OUGHT NOT TO BE KEPT SECRET, BUT ARE TO BE URGENTLY AND UNIVERSALLY PROCLAIMED. Lift up thy voice with strength: say, Behold your God. This light ought to be held forth as a burning torch, like the beacon light of ancient Pharos, that it may scatter the darkness of the night, and guide the tempest-tossed vessel of distant nations to the safe anchorage and peaceful haven of the welcome shore. We are bound by every tie, by all that can constitute the most solemn and religious obligation, to diffuse far and wide the grand principles of salvation. Dwell upon the moral destitution and wretchedness of the nations sitting in darkness, and simply ask whether this be a desirable state of things.
III. THE CERTAINTY THAT THESE TIDINGS SHALL NOT BE PROCLAIMED IN VAIN. God has said, My Word shall not return void. The Spirit is promised. (S. Thodey.)
The Church and her message
I. THE THOUGHTS THAT CLUSTER AROUND THE NAME. O Zion, that bringest glad tidings. That is almost a definition of the Church; at any rate, it is a description of her by her most characteristic office and function–that which marks and separates her from all associations and societies of men. Her true dignity is that she bears a Gospel in her hand, and grace is poured into her lips. We are to suppose the manifestation and approach of the Divine Deliverer; hence what constitutes Zion the messenger of good tidings is the presence in her of the living God. Translate that into New Testament language, and it just comes to this: that what constitutes the Church the evangelist for the world is the simple possession of Christ, or of the Gospel, and that breaks out into two or three points.
1. Whoever has Christ has the power to impart Him.
2. The possession of Christ for yourselves imposes upon you the obligation to impart Him.
(1) All property in this world is trust property, and everything that a man knows that can help or bless the moral or spiritual age or intellectual condition of his fellows, he is thereby under solemn obligation to impart. There is an obligation arising from the bands that knit us to one another, so that no man can possess his good alone without being untrue to the solidarity of humanity. You have got, you say, the remedy, healing for all the diseases of humanity. What would you think of a man who in a pestilence was contented with swallowing his own specific, and leaving others to die? You have got the Christ, and you have got Him that you may impart Him.
(2) It is an obligation that arises, too, from the very purposes of your calling. What are you saved for? For your own blessedness? Yes, and No. No creature in Gods great universe but is great enough to be a worthy end of the Divine action. But no creature in Gods universe so great as that he is a worthy end of the Divine action, if he is going to keep all the Divine gifts in himself. We are all brought into the light that we may impart light.
3. The very fact of the possession of this Gospel, or of this Christ, for ourselves ought to–and in all healthy conditions will–inspire the impulse to impart. All deep conviction longs to be vocal.
II. We have here, in a very picturesque and vivid form, the setting forth of THE MANNER IN WHICH THE EVANGELIST ZION IS TO PROCLAIM HER MESSAGE. The fair-featured herald is bidden to get up into the high mountain, perhaps a mere picturesque detail, perhaps some reference to the local position of the city set upon a hill, like the priests of Ebal or Gerizim, or Alpine shepherds, calling to each other across the valleys, to secure some vantage ground; and, next, to let her voice roll out across the glen. No faltering whisper will do, but a voice that compels audience. Lift up thy voice with strength. But a timid heart will make a tremulous voice, and fear and doubt will whisper when courage will ring it out. So be not afraid; there is the foundation of the clearness and the loudness with which the word is to be uttered. Our message is to be given with a courage and a force that are worthy of it. Be not afraid. That is a lesson for this day. There are plenty of causes of fear round about us, if, like Peter on the water, we look at the waves instead of at the Master.
1. Let us cherish a firm, soul-absorbing confidence in the power and truth of the message we have to tell.
2. Do not let us make too much of the enemy.
3. Let us remember the victories of the past.
4. Above all, let us remember who fights with us.
III. THE SUBSTANCE AND CONTENTS OF THE EVANGELIST ZIONS MESSAGE, Say unto the cities of Judah, Behold you God! They were to be pointed to a great historical act, in which God had manifested Himself to men; and the words are not only an exclamation, but an entreaty, and the message was to be given to these little daughter cities of Judah as representing all of those for whom the deliverance had been wrought;–all which things are paralleled in the message that is committed to our hand. We all have given to us the charge of pointing men to the great historical fact wherein God is visible to men. You cannot reveal God by word, you cannot reveal God by thought. There is no way open to Him to make Himself known to His creatures except the way by which men make themselves known to one another, that is, by their deeds; and so high above all speculation, high above all abstraction, nearer to us than all thought, stands the historical fact in which God shows Himself to the world, and that is in the person of Jesus Christ. How beautiful in that connection the verses following my text are: Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand; yet He shall feed His flock like a shepherd. And so in that Christ is the power of God, for He is the arm of the Lord; and in that Christ is the gentleness of God; and whilst men grope in the darkness, our business is to point to the living, dying Son, and to say, There you have the ultimate, the perfect representation of the unseen God. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
News proclaimed on mountain-tops
Some suppose an allusion to the practice of addressing large assemblies from the summit or declivity of hills Jdg 9:7; Deu 27:12; Mat 5:1). J.D. Michaelis compares the ancient practice of transmitting news by shouting from one hill-top to another, as described by Caesar (Bell. Gall. 7.3)
. The essential idea is that of local elevation as extending the diffusion of the sound. (J. A. Alexander.)
Behold your God
The manifestation of God
Taking the words as they stand in the text, consider them in–
I. THEIR EXTERNAL ACCOMPLISHMENT in the incarnation, nativity, personal appearance, and ministration of the Son of God in Jerusalem and in the cities of Judah.
II. THEIR INTERNAL ACCOMPLISHMENT in the hearts of all those who have spiritually received the tidings of His Gospel. It is the process of Christ, from His incarnation to His ascension, spiritually repeated within us; God and Saviour and our salvation entirely depends upon our beholding this, manifesting Himself in all His amiable attributes within us, and by our will cheerfully co-operating with Him in His great work of love. (J. Duche, M. A.)
The beholding of Jesus Christ
The prophet is directing the attention of his countrymen and of the Church in every age to the Messiah who is the true God and eternal life. This illustrious personage we may behold in a variety of interesting and instructive situations.
1. Carry your thoughts back into eternity, and behold Him, who in time was made of a woman, sitting upon the circle of the heavens, in the essential glory of the Godhead; His habitation immensity, His duration eternity, His perfections uncreated and infinite.
2. As a confirmation of the original glory and Godhead of Jesus Christ, behold your God at the morning of creation, the dawn of time. Was it not His effective hand that planted the pillars of the universe and raised the magnificent fabric of earth and heaven? What He formed as the God of creation, He preserves as the God of power.
3. From the fall of our first parents to the birth of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer is only to be seen in promises and prophecies, in sacrifices and ceremonies. Passing over, therefore, this long lapse of time, suffer me to conduct your thoughts to Bethlehem. There, behold your God.
4. Omitting the occurrences of His childhood and youth, let me invite you to look at Jesus entering into the wilderness under the influence and direction of the Holy Ghost. Behold Him tempted of the devil forty days and forty nights. It is a Divine maxim that God cannot be tempted, neither tempteth He any man. But God in human flesh sustained the hour of trial.
5. After this strange event, permitted to the powers of darkness, Jesus appears in a new scene of life. Behold, then, your God going forth as a teacher, accompanying His ministrations and instructions with signs and wonders, and all the marks of Deity. And He is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. In every age, as well as in the days of His flesh, there is treasured up in Him, for the flee use of all that come unto Him, pardon, and peace, and grace, and strength, and life, and salvation.
6. Just before the close of His ministrations, a profitable view of the Lord Jesus opens to us in the garden of Gethsemane: there behold your God! He appears emphatically a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. But let us follow Him from the garden, through all the intermediate scenes of insult, reproach, and ignominy, to the bar of Pontius Pilate: there at the tribunal of man behold your God! He, who shall one day appear to judge every man according to his deeds, now stands arraigned as a criminal before the judgment-seat of man. Judgment is perverted: Pilate declares Him innocent, yet suffers Him to be mocked, and scourged, and crucified. Mingling in the crowd, follow Him from the common hall, and behold your God as He passes through, the streets of Jerusalem,. bearing. His cross amidst the revilings and tauntmgs of the people, who, m all the virulence of persecution, exclaim, Away with Him, away with Him! crucify Him! Behold your God ascending the summit of Calvary. Oh, what a scene was here! a scene which all nature seems backward to behold. Standing at the foot of the Cross, learn that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, etc. (1Pe 1:18-19).
7. The last view which we have to take of Jesus Christ closes His sufferings, and accomplishes our redemption. Behold your God bursting the barriers of the tomb, vanquishing the king of terrors, despoiling the sepulchre, breaking the bands of corruption, and rising to life, never to die again. Then was fulfilled that prophecy, O death, I will be thy plagues. To enter into the spirit of the passage, you must keep your minds eye upon the Saviour, and behold your God as He is ascending to the realms of bliss. Conclusion–Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation. Now it is your privilege by faith to behold your God as a Saviour, delighting in mercy. (S. Payne.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 9. O Zion, that bringest good tidings – “O daughter, that bringest glad tidings to Zion”] That the true construction of the sentence is this, which makes Zion the receiver, not the publisher, of the glad tidings, which latter has been the most prevailing interpretation, will, I think, very clearly appear, if we rightly consider the image itself, and the custom and common practice from which it is taken. I have added the word daughter to express the feminine gender of the Hebrew participle, which I know not how to do otherwise in our language; and this is absolutely necessary in order to ascertain the image. For the office of announcing and celebrating such glad tidings as are here spoken of, belongs peculiarly to the women. On occasion of any great public success, a signal victory, or any other joyful event, it was usual for the women to gather together, and with music, dances, and songs, to publish and celebrate the happy news. Thus after the passage of the Red Sea, Miriam, and all the women, with timbrels in their hands, formed a chorus, and joined the men in their triumphant song, dancing, and throwing in alternately the refrain or burden of the song: –
“Sing ye to JEHOVAH, for he is greatly exalted;
The horse and his rider hath he cast into the sea.”
Ex 15:20-21.
So Jephthah’s daughter collected a chorus of virgins, and with dances and songs came out to meet her father, and to celebrate his victory, Jdg 11:34. After David’s conquest of Goliath, “all the women came out of the cities of Israel singing and dancing to meet Saul, with tabrets, with joy, and with instruments of music;” and, forming themselves into two choruses, they sang alternately: –
“Saul has slain his thousands:
And David his ten thousands.”
1Sa 18:6-7.
And this gives us the true sense of a passage in the sixty-eighth Psalm, which has frequently been misunderstood: –
“JEHOVAH gave the word, (that is, the joyful news,)
The women, who published the glad tidings, were a great
company;
The kings of mighty armies did flee, did flee:
And even the matron, who stayed at home, shared the spoil.”
The word signifying the publishers of glad tidings is the same, and expressed in the same form by the feminine participle, as in this place, and the last distich is the song which they sang. So in this place, JEHOVAH having given the word by his prophet, the joyful tidings of the restoration of Zion, and of God’s returning to Jerusalem, (see Isa 52:8,) the women are exhorted by the prophet to publish the joyful news with a loud voice from eminences, whence they might best be heard all over the country; and the matter and burden of their song was to be, “Behold your God!” See on Ps 68:11.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
O Zion, that bringest good tidings; O Zion, to whom the glad tidings of the coming of Christ into the world, and of the salvation of mankind by him, were first published by Christ and his apostles, and by whom they were published to all nations. But the words are otherwise rendered in the margin, and by others, O thou (whosoever thou art, prophet or apostle)
that bringest good tidings to Zion. So Zion is not the deliverer, but the receiver, of these good tidings, as she is in the parallel place, Isa 52:7. But our translation seems to agree better with the Hebrew text, in which the particle unto is not here expressed, as it is in the latter part of the verse; by comparing which part with the former, it seems most probable that Zion or Jerusalem is the speaker or publisher, and
the cities of Judah the hearers.
Get thee up into the high mountain, that thy voice may be better heard, as appears from the next branch of the verse: see Jdg 9:7; 1Sa 26:13,14.
Be not afraid, lest thou shouldst be found a false prophet; for it shall certainly be fulfilled.
Say unto the cities of Judah; to all my people in the several places of their abode, whether cities or countries. Only he names cities, to intimate that they also, though they should be destroyed, yet should afterwards be rebuilt, and inhabited again.
Behold your God! take notice of this wonderful work and glorious appearance of your God, who will be visibly present with you, so that men may point at him, and say, Behold, here he is.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. Rather, “Oh, thou thatbringest good things to Zion; thou that bringest good tidings toJerusalem.” “Thou” is thus the collectivepersonification of the messengers who announce God’s graciouspurpose to Zion (see on Isa 40:1);Isa 52:7 confirms this [Vulgateand GESENIUS]. If EnglishVersion be retained, the sense will be the glad message was firstto be proclaimed to Jerusalem, and then from it as the center to all”Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth”(Luk 24:47; Luk 24:49;Act 1:8) [VITRINGAand HENGSTENBERG].
mountainIt wascustomary for those who were about to promulgate any great thing, toascend a hill from which they could be seen and heard by all (Jdg 9:7;Mat 5:1).
be not afraidtoannounce to the exiles that their coming return home is attended withdanger in the midst of the Babylonians. The gospel minister must”open his mouth boldly” (Pro 29:25;Eph 6:19).
Beholdespecially atHis second coming (Zec 12:10;Zec 14:5).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
O Zion, that bringest good tidings,…. Or, “O thou that bringest good tidings to Zion n”; which rendering of the words is more agreeable to the latter part of the verse,
say unto the cities of Judah, c. and to some parallel places,
Isa 41:27 and to the type, the deliverance of the Jews from Babylon the tidings of which came from Babylon to Zion, or Jerusalem; and to the Targum which paraphrases the words thus,
“O ye prophets, that bring good tidings to Zion;”
and so may be applied to Gospel ministers, who bring the good tidings of the good will, grace, and favour of God, to men, through Christ; of the grace of Christ, in his suretyship engagements and performances; in his incarnation, sufferings, and death, and in his advocacy and intercession; and of the good things that come by him, as peace, pardon, righteousness, salvation, and eternal life:
get thee up into the high mountain; to declare these good tidings, in the most open and public manner, that all might hear and receive them, and rejoice at them; it may also point at the place, the church of God, comparable to a high mountain for its visibility and immovableness, where the Gospel is to be published:
O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings: the church of God so called, to whom the faith of the Gospel is delivered, which is the pillar and ground of truth; which receives, retains, and maintains it, and sends forth ministers to proclaim it; particularly the first church at Jerusalem, where it was first preached, and from whence it went forth into other parts of Judea, and into all the world; here the apostles of Christ were, and from hence they set out, and published the Gospel all the world over, and who seem to be chiefly meant; for the words may be rendered, as the other clause, “O thou that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem o”; so the Targum: “lift up thy voice with strength”; or preach the Gospel with a strong voice, speak it out; do not mutter it over, or whisper it in a corner; proclaim it on the housetops, cry aloud that all may hear; lift up thy voice like a trumpet; blow the trumpet of the Gospel with all the strength thou hast; cause the joyful sound to be heard far and near:
lift it up, and be not afraid; of the reproaches and revilings of men on account of it, or of their persecutions for it; or lest it should not be welcome, or be received as truth:
say unto the cities of Judah; the inhabitants of them literally understood, and to the several churches and congregations of the saints everywhere:
behold your God! that divine Person is come, that was promised, prophesied of, and expected; even Immanuel, God with us, God in our nature, God manifest in the flesh, God your Saviour, and who being God, truly God, is able to save to the uttermost; look to him with an eye of faith, and be saved; behold the Son of God, the Lamb of God, that has bore your sins, and took them away; behold him now, as your King and your God, on the throne, made and declared, Lord and Christ, crowned with glory and honour, on the same throne with his divine Father, having all power in heaven and earth; and let the echo of your faith be,
my Lord and my God. The Targum is,
“the kingdom of your God is revealed; see Mt 3:2.”
n “O quae evangelizas Tsijoni”, Juntas & Tremellius, Piscator. o “O quae evangelizas Jeruschalaimo”, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The prophet accordingly now takes, as his standpoint, the time when Jehovah will already have come. “Upon a high mountain get thee up, O evangelistess Zion; lift up they voice with strength, evangelistess Jerusalem: lift up, be not afraid; say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God.” Knobel and others follow the lxx and Targum, and regard Zion and Jerusalem as accusatives of the object, viz., “preacher of salvation (i.e., a chorus of preachers) to Zion-Jerusalem;” but such parallels as Isa 52:7 and Isa 62:11 are misleading here. The words are in apposition (A. S. Th. ). Zion-Jerusalem herself is called an evangelistess: the personification as a female renders this probable at the outset, and it is placed beyond all doubt by the fact, that it is the cities of Judah (the daughters of Zion-Jerusalem) that are to be evangelized. The prophet’s standpoint here is in the very midst of the parousia. When Jerusalem shall have her God in the midst of her once more, after He has broken up His home there for so long a time; she is then, as the restored mother-community, to ascend a high mountain, and raising her voice with fearless strength, to bring to her daughters the joyful news of the appearance of their God. The verb bisser signifies literally to smooth, to unfold, then to make glad, more especially with joyful news.
(Note: The verb bisser signifies primarily to stroke, rub, shave, or scratch the surface of anything; then to stroke off or rub off the surface, or anything which covers it; then, suggested by the idea of “rubbing smooth” ( glatt ), “to smooth a person” ( jemanden gltten ; compare the English, to gladden a person), i.e., vultum ejus diducere , to make him friendly and cheerful, or “to look smoothly upon a person,” i.e., to show him a friendly face; and also as an intransitive, “ to be glad,” to be friendly and cheerful; and lastly, in a general sense, aliquid attingere , tractare , attrectare , to grasp or handle a thing (from which comes basar , the flesh, as something tangible or material). In harmony with the Hebrew bisser (Jer 20:15), they say in Arabic basarahu (or intensive, bassarahu ) bi – mauludin , he has gladdened him with the news of the birth of a son.)
It lies at the root of the New Testament (evangelize), and is a favourite word of the author of chapters 40-66, that Old Testament evangelist, though it is no disproof of Isaiah’s authorship (cf., Nah 2:1). Hitherto Jerusalem has been in despair, bowed down under the weight of the punishment of her sins, and standing in need of consolation. But now that she has Jehovah with her again, she is to lift up her voice with the most joyful confidence, without further anxiety, and to become, according to her true vocation, the messenger of good tidings to all Judaea.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Evangelical Predictions. | B. C. 708. |
9 O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! 10 Behold, the Lord GOD will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. 11 He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
It was promised (v. 5) that the glory of the Lord shall be revealed; that is it with the hopes of which God’s people must be comforted. Now here we are told,
I. How it shall be revealed, v. 9. 1. It shall be revealed to Zion and Jerusalem; notice shall be given of it to the remnant that are left in Zion and Jerusalem, the poor of the land, who were vine-dressers and husbandmen; it shall be told them that their brethren shall return to them. This shall be told also to the captives who belonged to Zion and Jerusalem, and retained their affection for them. Zion is said to dwell with the daughter of Babylon (Zech. ii. 7); and there she receives notice of Cyrus’s gracious proclamation; and so the margin reads it, O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, c., meaning the persons who were employed in publishing that proclamation let them do it with a good will, let them make the country ring of it, and let them tell it to the sons of Zion in their own language, saying to them, Behold your God. 2. It shall be published by Zion and Jerusalem (so the text reads it); those that remain there, or that have already returned, when they find the deliverance proceeding towards perfection, let them proclaim it in the most public places, whence they may be best heard by all the cities of Judah; let them proclaim it as loudly as they can: let them lift up their voice with strength, and not be afraid of overstraining themselves; let them not be afraid lest the enemy should hear it and quarrel with them, or lest it should not prove true, or not such good tidings as at first it appeared; let them say to the cities of Judah, and all the inhabitants of the country, Behold your God. When God is going on with the salvation of his people, let them industriously spread the news among their friends, let them tell them that it is God that has done it; whoever were the instruments, God was the author; it is their God, a God in covenant with them, and he does it as theirs, and they will reap the benefit and comfort of it. “Behold him, take notice of his hand in it, and look above second causes; behold, the God you have long looked for has come at last (ch. xxv. 9): This is our God, we have waited for him.” This may refer to the invitation which was sent forth from Jerusalem to the cities of Judah, as soon as they had set up an altar, immediately upon their return out of captivity, to come and join with them in their sacrifices, Ezra iii. 2-4. “When the worship of God is set up again, send notice of it to all your brethren, that they may share with you in the comfort of it.” But this was to have its full accomplishment in the apostles’ public and undaunted preaching of the gospel to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. The voice crying in the wilderness gave notice that he was coming; but now notice is given that he has come. Behold the Lamb of God; take a full view of your Redeemer. Behold your King, behold your God.
II. What that glory is which shall be revealed. “Your God will come, will show himself,”
1. “With the power and greatness of a prince (v. 10): He will come with strong hand, too strong to be obstructed, though it may be opposed. His strong hand shall subdue his people to himself, and shall restrain and conquer his and their enemies. He will come who is strong enough to break through all the difficulties that lie in his way.” Our Lord Jesus was full of power, a mighty Saviour. Some read, it, He will come against the mighty one, and overpower him, overcome him. Satan is the strong man armed; but our Lord Jesus is stronger than he, and he shall make it to appear that he is so, for, (1.) He shall reign in defiance of all opposition: His arm shall rule, shall overrule for him, for the fulfilling of his counsels, to his own glory; for he is his own end. (2.) He shall recompense to all according to their works, as a righteous Judge: His reward is with him; he brings along with him, as a returning prince, punishments for the rebels and preferments for his loyal subjects. (3.) He shall proceed and accomplish his purpose: His work is before him, that is, he knows perfectly well what he has to do, which way to go about it, and how to compass it. He himself knows what he will do.
2. “With the pity and tenderness of a shepherd,” v. 11. God is the Shepherd of Israel (Ps. lxxx. 1); Christ is the good Shepherd, John x. 11. The same that rules with the strong hand of a prince leads and feeds with the kind hand of a shepherd. (1.) He takes care of all his flock, the little flock: He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. His word is food for his flock to feed on; his ordinances are fields for them to feed in; his ministers are under-shepherds that are appointed to attend them. (2.) He takes particular care of those that most need his care, the lambs that are weak, and cannot help themselves, and are unaccustomed to hardship, and those that are with young, that are therefore heavy, and, if any harm be done them, are in danger of casting their young. He particularly takes care for a succession, that it may not fail or be cut off. The good Shepherd has tender care for children that are towardly and hopeful, for young converts, that are setting out in the way to heaven, for weak believers, and those that are of a sorrowful spirit. These are the lambs of his flock, that shall be sure to want nothing that their case requires. [1.] He will gather them in the arms of his power; his strength shall be made perfect in their weakness, 2 Cor. xii. 9. He will gather them in when they wander, gather them up when they fall, gather them together when they are dispersed, and gather them home to himself at last; and all this with his own arm, out of which none shall be able to pluck them, John x. 28. [2.] He will carry them in the bosom of his love and cherish them there. When they tire or are weary, are sick and faint, when they meet with foul ways, he will carry them on, and take care they are not left behind. [3.] He will gently lead them. By his word he requires no more service, and by his providence he inflicts no more trouble, than he will fit them for; for he considers their frame.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
V 9-11 JEHOVAH AS CONQUEROR AND SHEPHERD
1. He who heralds to Zion the good tidings of the coming King is to proclaim it from the high mountains of Israel, (Isa 61:1; Isa 52:7). Without fear, he is to lift up a strong voice to the cities of Judah.
2. His message: “Behold, your God!” (Isa 25:9; Isa 35:2; comp. Joh 1:29).
a. The Lord Jehovah comes as a Mighty Conqueror, (comp. Rev 19:11-16).
b. Possessing universal authority, He will rule with a strong arm, (Isa 59:16-18; comp. Psa 2:8-9).
c. His reward is with Him; His work before Him, (Isa 62:11; Mat 16:27; Rev 11:15-18; Rev 22:12).
3. His conduct toward His beloved people is likened to that of a shepherd who deeply cares for His sheep, (Jer 31:10; Eze 34:12-31; Eze 34:31; Mic 5:4; Joh 10:11; Joh 10:14-16).
a. He tends the flock, (Psalms 23).
b. He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them in His bosom.
c. He gently leads the ewes that are with young.
4. Loving, compassionate, tender and kind is the Shepherd of Israel. What an exemplary lesson for those who have been appointed as under-shepherds of His flock! (Psa 80:1; comp. Heb 13:20-22; 1Pe 2:25; 1Pe 5:4).
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
9. Ascend on the high mountain. He proceeds with the same subject; for the Lord, having formerly promised that he would give prophets who should soothe the grief and fear of the people by promises, now commands that this consolation shall be more widely spread; because it is his pleasure to diffuse his grace throughout the whole of Judea.
Lift up thy voice aloud, O Jerusalem. Formerly he had given to Jerusalem, and Zion the hope of this joyful message; now he commands that the same voice shall be spread and shall be heard through other cities, and, for this reason, gives orders that the loud voice shall be lifted up, and proclaimed from a lofty place. Although by the words “Zion” and “Jerusalem” he means the same thing, yet the repetition is emphatic; for he shews that one city excels all other cities, for no other reason than because God hath chosen it to be his sanctuary.
That bringest tidings. He gives to the city this appellation, because there the priests and Levites were instructed according to the injunctions of the Law, that they might be the teachers of the whole people, and by their labors might spread the doctrine of salvation. (Mal 2:7.) Yet we ought carefully to observe this commendation which God bestows on his Church, that it may not be without a clear mark of distinction; for an assembly in which the preaching of heavenly doctrine is not heard does not deserve to be reckoned a Church. In this sense also, Paul calls it (1Ti 3:15) “the pillar and foundation of the truth;” for although God might have governed us by himself, and without the agency of men, yet he has assigned this office to his Church, and has committed to it the invaluable treasure of his Word. For the same reason it will be called in another passage, “the mother of all believers.” (Isa 54:1; Gal 4:26.) Hence it follows that nothing is more absurd and wicked than for dumb idols to boast of the name of the Church, as is done in Popery.
We are likewise taught, that the Church has not been instructed by God, in order that she may keep her knowledge hidden within herself, but that she may publish what she has learned. Besides, he commands that grace shall be freely and boldly proclaimed, that prophets and teachers may not speak with timidity, as if it were a doubtful matter, but may shew that they are fully convinced of the certainty of those things which they promise, because they know well that “God, who cannot lie,” ( Titus 1:2,) is the Author of them. He enjoins the witnesses of his grace to proceed from Zion, that they may fill with joy the whole of Judea.
Behold your God! This expression includes the sum of our happiness, which consists solely in the presence of God. It brings along with it an abundance of all blessings; and if we are destitute of it, we must be utterly miserable and wretched; and although blessings of every kind are richly enjoyed by us, yet if we are estranged from God, everything must tend to our destruction. From this circumstance it ought also to be remarked, that nothing is more opposite to faith than to estimate by the present appearances of things what God declares by his prophets, who at that time must have been struck dumb, had they not raised their views above the world, and thus, through the power of unshaken boldness and perseverance, dared to draw others along with them, that they might cherish good hopes when matters were at the worst. And indeed when wicked men and wickedness prevail, the greater the terror that is spread all around, and the greater the seeming wretchedness of the Church, the more ought we to extol the grace of God, and to point out his presence to believers. (113)
(113) “ A ceux qui la veulent contempler en foy.” “To those who wish to behold it by faith.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE PREACHERS TASK
(Ordination or Missionary Sermon.)
Isa. 40:9. O Zion, that bringest good tidings! &c.
This chapter commences the second part of Isaiahs prophecies, in which the local and national is less prominent than in the former, and the visions are carried forward to the time of Messiah. The prophet hears voices, each of which contains a message of consolation. The first bids him announce the coming of the King and command the preparation of His way; the second affirms the everlasting duration of the Lords Word; the third calls attention to the fact of His coming.
The third is our text. It is differently rendered in the margin. O thou that tellest good tidings unto Zion; O thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem. This version is adopted in Handels Oratorio. It is generally preferred. It makes Zion and Jerusalem the recipients of the good tidings along with the cities of Judah.
Gods strong hand would terminate the long Babylonian captivity, and lead His people back, as a shepherd leads his flock. But beyond this is the great salvation the Messiah would accomplish. The call is addressed to those whose business is to proclaim that salvation. Their occupation is described; their challenge is dictated; their methods are prescribed; their sphere is defined.
I. THEIR OCCUPATION IS DESCRIBED.
They are evangelists: tellers of good tidingsa suitable description of the preachers of the Gospel, and their work. The Gospel contains the good news men need. The world lies in ruin. It is sick. It has no power of recuperation. Its disease produces a fatal unwillingness to be cured, if only its consequences may be escaped. The preacher is charged with the good news that the disease can be cured, its consequences averted, the dislike of recovery removed. Gods love in Christ is the essence of the news (Joh. 3:16-17). If it came to you for the first time, you would say it was the most astonishing statement possible. It involves the whole work of Christ. It involves the proclamation of Gods readiness to forgive and cleans the sinner. It is salvation.
Whoever makes this known to any one previously ignorant of it i an evangelista teller of good tidinga preacher of the Gospel. Conventionally this name is given to a professional class. There are many reasons for the existence of such a class. But serious loss is sustained, if the preaching of the Gospel is confined to them. Others should also preach. Parents, Sunday-school teachers, friends in conversation, letters, visitors of the ignorant and neglected, distributors of tracts and books. Every man who has heard and believed the glad tidings should himself be an evangeliser. Every Christian is such a man. He has not heard a secret, but a glorious truth which he is to proclaim.
II. THEIR CHALLENGE IS DICTATED.
The announcement of the glad tidings of salvation does not terminate in itself. It is proclaimed with a view to action. Behold your God. Hence the Gospel is a manifestation of God and a summons to man.
1. A manifestation of God. He is the Author of the salvation, the Doer of the great and gracious things announced. When surveying a manufactory and its machinery, your thoughts turn to the manufacturer and the engineer. Going over a hospital, you think of the benevolence of the man by whom it was built and endowed. Studying the heavens and the earth, you think of their Makers power and skill. So when you think of the Gospel, think of God. It is the medium through which He is best known. His full manifestation waited for the incarnation of His Son (H. E. I. 855857). The world by wisdom knew not God. That was true of the ancient world. It is true still. Men think and dream about God. But they do not know Him until they come in humility to the Cross. It reveals His holiness and His love. It shows Him righteous, yet delighting in mercy. And this representation of Him has ever been most effective in the reclamation of the heathen from idolatry. Judaism was comparatively uninfluential. When Christianity arose, the idols fell (1Th. 1:9-10). The overthrow of ancient idolatry was the work of two or three hundred years. Modern heathenism is falling in like manner before the manifestation of God in Christ as the redeeming God.
2. A summons to man. Behold your God! This is the action required on the part of those to whom the Gospel is addressed. Men must not turn away from the manifestation of God. If a prince were to show himself in an impoverished part of his dominions for the purpose of relieving the peoples wants, would indifference become them? Would they not look to him? This is the look the Gospel demands. Behold Him with the eye of faith. When you carry the Gospel to others, call upon them thus to behold Him. If there are those here who are not saved, we call on you thus to behold Him. As the Israelites, when bitten by the serpents, were told to look to the serpent of brass, we tell you to look to Jesus (Joh. 1:29; Isa. 45:22). Helpless and ruined without Him, we proclaim salvation by Him, and call upon you to look and live.
III. THEIR METHODS ARE PRESCRIBED.
1. For the message they must endeavour to secure publicity. Get thee up into the high mountain, where you can be seen and heard. Go where the people are; seek the centres of population; avail yourselves of all circumstances to attract attention.
2. The message must be delivered with energy. Lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up. As if you believed in it, realised its importance, sympathised with its gladness. Bring into the announcement the vigour of mind and body that is born of earnestness.
3. The message must be proclaimed with courage. Be not afraid. Fearless preaching carries authority and weight. The Gospel has never wanted men of such courage. And it is displayed. Recent offer of Christian young men in South Sea island to take the place of the teachers massacred in New Guinea.
IV. THEIR SPHERE IS DEFINED.
Zion, Jerusalem, the cities of Judah. Every one must have a definite work. It will gradually expand from nearest relations and friends to neighbours, our country, the world.
Tell it, brethren, because
1. It is time.
2. It is needed.
3. Its proclamation is commanded.
4. Success is assured.
5. Faithful service will be rewarded.J. Rawlinson.
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
(9) O Zion, that bringest good tidings.A new section begins. In some versions (LXX. and Targum) and by some interpreters Zion is taken as in the objective case, O thou that bringest glad tidings to Zion; but as the participle, thou that bringest, is in the feminine, and a female evangeliser other than Jerusalem has not appeared on the scene, the Authorised Version is preferable. In that rendering the ideal Zion, seeing or hearing of the return of the exiles, becomes the bearer of the good news to the other cities of Judah. It is not without emotion that we note the first occurrence of the word which, passing through the Greek of the LXX. and the New Testament (), has had so fruitful a history, as embodying the message of the Gospelgood-spell, glad tidingsto mankind. The primary meaning of the Hebrew word is to make smooth, or bright, and so to gladden. (Comp. the connection of this English word with the German glatten.)
The high mountain.There is no article in the Hebrew, but the word is probably connected with the ideal exaltation of the holy city, as in Isa. 2:1.
Behold your God!The words have, in one sense, only an ideal fulfilment; but the prophet contemplates the return of the exiles and the restoration of the Temple worship, as involving the renewed presence of Jehovah in the sanctuary which He had apparently abandoned. He would come back with His people, and abide with them.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
9. O Zion The English Version makes Zion the announcer of the message; in the margin, (backed by nearly all commentators,) Zion is the receiver of it. So the order is in the Hebrew, and so in the Septuagint.
That bringest Rather, thou that receivest.
Good tidings To Zion, to Jerusalem. The one speaking is the “voice,” perhaps in the person of the prophet hitherto proclaiming comfort to exiled ones, now uttering good news to a voice from the high mountain an ideal elevation between Babylon and Jerusalem.
Lift up with strength Fearlessly ring out the words.
Behold God Speak to the people to be returned to their native land and native cities in Judah: speak with bold, confident strength of voice: speak with full knowledge of the case “Behold your God!” Why so speak? Because this watchful, mighty God of Israel does at last restore his remnant people back to Jerusalem. This, indeed: but more than this. Merely for this result the language is too strong. Superadded is the idea of the coming One, the Messiah, whose power to save meek and submissive ones shall be to the end of days! No doubt the outlook takes in unlimited ages. This typical restoration involves victories unnumbered till error and sin are put away, and holiness and truth are forever established; else the terms here used seem strained and extravagant.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Jerusalem Is To Respond Like A Town Crier ( Isa 40:9-11 ).
Isa 40:9
‘O Zion, you who proclaim good tidings,
Get up into the high mountain,
O Jerusalem, you who tell good tidings,
Lift up your voice loudly (‘with strength’),
Lift it up, do not be afraid,
Say to the cities of Judah, “Behold your God!” ’
Those who have official responsibility for proclaiming good news when it comes, the ‘town criers’ of Jerusalem, are called on to get busy. They are go into a high mountain where all can hear, they are to shout loudly with their stentorian voices. They are to do it without fear, for it is certain of fulfilment. They are to go to all the cities of Judah and cry, “Behold, your God!”
The implication of this is that they are in Jerusalem and speaking to the people of Judah in Jerusalem’s name. There is no thought of exile here. The feminine verbs indicate that they take Zion and Jerusalem as their subjects. Note the progression from the beginning. In Isa 40:1 God cries out. In Isa 40:3; Isa 40:6 the voices (of heavenly beings) cry out. Now it is Zion which is to cry out through its town criers. All participate in crying out God’s verdict.
‘Do not be afraid.’ This is regularly a preparation for a theophany (Gen 15:1; Gen 26:24).
Isa 40:10
‘Behold the Lord Yahweh will come as a mighty one,
And his arm will rule for him.
Behold his reward is with him,
And his recompense before him.
He will feed his flock like a shepherd,
He will gather the lambs in his arm,
And he will carry them in his bosom,
And gently lead those who are feeding their young (give suck).
This is the good news to be proclaimed to Judah. That Yahweh is coming as a Champion to His people. He will rule by His mighty arm (compare Isa 30:30; Isa 33:2). He has received His reward (His wage) in His people (the Hebrew brings out that it is the reward to Him that is being spoken of), and His recompense for what He has done is before Him. They are the fruits of His victory. For we know that they are His holy ones (Isa 4:3; Isa 26:2), His elect on whom He has set His love (Isa 35:10 compare Isa 1:27), the weak ones whom He has forgiven (Isa 33:23-24 compare Isa 1:25-26). Thus He will reveal His gracious covenant love towards them.
Notice the threefold ‘behold’. They are to behold their God. They are to behold Him as their sovereign Lord Yahweh, their Champion with His mighty arm. They are to behold Him as the One Who has won them and Who treasures them as His reward.
And He has come as their Shepherd. He will feed them as a shepherd feeds his flock, He will gather the lambs in His protective arm where they are safe, He will carry them next to His heart, and have special care for the nursing mothers who are responsible to their lambs. The picture is one of love, concern and protection. He is the good Shepherd (contrast Eze 34:12 where He is the seeking Shepherd).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Isa 40:9-11. O Zion, &c. We have here the fourth voice, directed to the evangelists, to whom it is given in command, to promulgate the true presence of their redeeming God, and the king of his church, among all people. It is true, the words the voice said are to be understood before this period. The divine voice said, ascend into the lofty mountain, O Zion, who art the messenger or declarer of good tidings;the Evangelist. Zion and Jerusalem are here to be understood with respect to the teachers and evangelists, who went forth thence, and diffused themselves through the whole land of Judaea. The command given to these evangelists is proposed in the 9th verse, and again more largely set forth in the 10th and 11th. They are commanded to ascend a high mountain, and in the utmost confidence, without any fear, to promulgate the good tidings concerning the presence of God their Saviour, throughout the cities of Judah. The expression of ascending a high mountain is emblematical, and the meaning in general is this; “Go, ye evangelists, throughout the land of Judaea; enter its synagogues, ascend its pulpits, throw yourselves into the assemblies of men wherever occasion allows, and from its high places, wherever you can, publish the good tidings, that their God, their deliverer, their king, their shepherd, their teacher, the great source of his people’s righteousness and life, their long-expected Saviour, is come.” See chap. Isa 62:11 and Act 8:2-4. The prophet goes on more fully to explain this command. The first clause of the 10th verse should be rendered, Behold, the Lord God will come against the strong one, and his arm shall prevail over him. Mat 12:29 and 1Jn 3:8 fully explain our prophet; whose meaning is, that Christ, preparing his kingdom in the world, would destroy the empire of the strong one,of Satan; and deprive him of all his power. See Luk 10:17-18. Joh 12:31. The sense of the latter clause is, that Jesus Christ, establishing his kingdom in the world, and avenging himself upon his enemies, hath in his hand a reward and recompence wherewith to repay all his ministers; all those who believe and trust in him, and who place their hopes and expectations in his mercy. See Jer 31:10. The connection of the following verse is very plain, wherein the prophet opposes, to the severity wherewith God would treat his enemies, the equity, clemency, and singular indulgence with which he would rule his people under the new oeconomy. The care of God towards his church, in every age and time, has been like that of a faithful shepherd. It is so spoken of under the old dispensation; and under the new, in full completion of this prophesy, the blessed Jesus hath declared himself the good Shepherd: Joh 10:11. Nothing can fully exemplify these beautiful words of Isaiah, but a perusal of the Gospel, and a serious meditation on the inestimable love of Jesus Christ to his faithful people. See Boch. Hieroz. pars 1: lib. 2 cap. 30.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 922
THE MESSIAHS ADVENT
Isa 40:9. Say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God.
THE Gospel with all its sublime mysteries is regarded by the generality with coldness and indifference; whereas the most indistinct prospects of it were sufficient to fill the patriarchs and prophets with holy rapture. It was a view of its Divine Author which drew forth from the prophet this animated exhortation. He saw Jesus as it were already incarnate, and called upon the daughters of Zion and Jerusalem to proclaim and celebrate his advent [Note: It should be read as in the margin, O daughter, that bringest good tidings to Zion, &c. It was customary for women to celebrate the praises of God in public on remarkable occasions. See Exo 15:20-21, and 1Sa 18:6-7.]. That, which he proposed to them as the subject of their song, is the one great subject also of our ministrations. To call your attention unto Jesus, to set him forth as crucified before your eyes, and, with an exalted voice, to cry, Behold your God! this is our commission. But before we proceed to execute it, we shall,
I.
Shew what is implied in this commission
We cannot fail to observe, what the prophet so strongly intimates,
1.
That Christ is God
[This is a fundamental article of our fuith. The Godhead of Christ is that which stamps a value on his sufferings, and renders the whole of his undertaking so meritorious and efficient. It would be to little purpose to say with Pilate, Behold the man, if we could not also add with the prophet, Behold your God. But we are not left to doubt of this important truth: it is clearly established in almost every page of the sacred volume: we need go no further than to the writings of Isaiah; and we shall find it expressly asserted, that the person who was to be a Child born, and a Son given to us, was the mighty god. [Note: Isa 9:6.] He was therefore to be called Emmanuel, because he was God with us [Note: Isa 7:14. with Mat 1:23.]. In the very chapter before us, his forerunner, John the Baptist, was commissioned to cry, Prepare ye the way of the Lord (Jehovah) make straight in the desert an high-way for our God. [Note: ver. 3.] But we need not multiply words on this subject, since the voice of inspiration universally proclaims him to have been, God manifest in the flesh, God over all, blessed for ever [Note: 1Ti 3:16. Rom 9:5.].
2.
That the knowledge of Christ is of universal importance
[It was through all the cities of Judah, and with her voice lifted up with strength, that the daughter of Zion was to celebrate the Messiahs advent. And whence the need of such zeal and labour, but on account of the universal importance of those glad tidings? Indeed there is no other thing which men so much need to be acquainted with as the work and offices of Christ. No attainments can save them, if they be ignorant of Christ; nor can any past sins condemn them, if they be truly acquainted with this divine Saviour. This, as our Lord himself tells us, is life eternal, to know God as the only true God, and Jesus Christ [Note: Joh 17:3.], as our Mediator and Advocate with the Father. So excellent is this knowledge, that St. Paul counted all things but loss and dung in comparison of it [Note: Php 3:8.]. It is the one mean of obtaining reconciliation with God, peace of conscience, and deliverance from the power of sin [Note: 1Jn 1:7.]. O that all were aware how deeply they are interested in receiving these glad tidings! We should proclaim them with infinitely greater pleasure, if we had not so much reason to complain, that they are counted as a strange thing [Note: Hos 8:12.].]
Taking for granted these fundamental and indisputable truths, we shall,
II.
Endeavour to execute the commission
The text does not limit us to any particular point of view in which we are to behold our God; we shall therefore direct your attention to him,
1.
As descending from heaven
[Lo! he comes from his bright abodes: but in what form does he appear? Does he descend in solemn pomp, attended with myriads of the heavenly host? Does he visit the palaces of the great, and assume our nature in its most dignified appearance? No: He is born of an obscure virgin, and has no better place for his reception than a stable. Go, look into his mean abode; see him wrapped in swaddling-clothes, and lying in a manger; look, I say, and behold your God! What marvellous condescension! how does it almost exceed belief, yet, incredible as it appears, we must again say, Behold your God!]
2.
As sojourning on earth
[Surely, no sooner could his incarnation be known, than all the world, like the eastern Magi, must flock to worship him [Note: Mat 2:11.]. So one might reasonably hope; but what is that weeping and lamentation that we hear? The young childs life is sought. The children from two years old and under are massacred through the whole district, that no possibility may be left for his escape: and He is saved only by the special interposition of his heavenly Father [Note: Mat 2:16-20.]. See his parents fleeing with him by night to a distant, a heathen, land, not daring to return to their native country till the death of their blood-thirsty persecutor! But this was only the beginning of sorrows. View him afterwards when he assumed his proper office as the Prophet of his church: no sooner did he open his commission, than the short-lived applause afforded him was turned into the most cruel indignation; and if he had not by an exertion of his own almighty power effected his escape, his very first sermon had proved his last [Note: Luk 4:28-30.]. But to pass over to the period of his death. Whom is it that we see prostrate on the ground, and bathed in a bloody sweat? Who is it that those cruel soldiers are mocking, buffeting, scourging? Who is it that is nailed to yonder cross, and that we see expiring under such an accumulated weight of shame and misery? To all this we answer, Behold your god!]
3.
As exalted to glory
[Hitherto we have witnessed nothing but his humiliation; but the shame of his cross was quickly rolled away. In vain were the stone, the seal, the watch: he burst the bands of death, and rose triumphant. Henceforth we are to view him ascending amidst myriads of exulting angels, sitting on the throne of his glory, dispensing blessings to the church below, and receiving the adorations of his church above. Sinner, lift up thine eyes to heaven, and behold thy once crucified, but now exalted, Redeemer! Now he shines forth in all his glory, and says to thee, even to thee, Behold me, behold me [Note: Isa 65:1.]! O that every eye might see him, and that all, who have pierced him by their sins, might mourn and be in bitterness, as one that mourneth for his first-born son [Note: Zec 12:10.]! Soon indeed all shall see him: the time is shortly coming, when he will descend from heaven again, not however to stand, as before, like a criminal at mans tribunal, but to execute judgment on the assembled universe; and then happy shall they be who have behold him here with suitable affection; they shall behold his face with inexpressible delight; and be the spectators of his glory, and the partners of his throne, to all eternity.]
Address
1.
The careless
[Know you what the sins, which you commit so lightly, have occasioned? Go to Calvary and behold your God; and then judge whether sin be so light and venial a matter as you are ready to imagine! The Jews and Romans were the immediate actors in that bloody tragedy; but your sins, and the sins of an ungodly world, were the real occasion of all that your God endured; and, while you continue in your sins, you crucify him afresh, and put him to an open shame. Ah! did David cast away the water, for which the lives of three men had been endangered, and will not you cast away the sins which have actually shed the blood of God [Note: 2Sa 23:16-17. with Act 20:28.]? Let this thought induce you to put away the polluted cup from your lips; and and let the love of Christ constrain you to live unto him who died for you and rose again.]
2.
The heavy-laden
[To you especially the Saviour cries, Look unto me, and be ye saved! Come unto me, and find rest unto your souls! Consider well, who it is that thus invites you; it is your Saviour, and your God; there can be no want of efficacy in his blood, or of power in his arm: he is a strong rock, a sure foundation, an all-sufficient help. Trust then in him; and, as a sight of the brazen serpent healed the dying Israelites, so shall a view of your divine Saviour prove an effectual remedy for all your wants. You shall soon, like Thomas, exclaim with holy rapture, My Lord and my God! or, in the language long since dictated to you by the spirit of prophecy, Lo, this is Our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord; we have waited for him: we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation [Note: Isa 25:9.]!]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
This is a most beautiful address to Zion, the gospel church of Jesus, and to Jerusalem the beloved city. Some have thought that it had an allusion to the proclamation made by Cyrus, for the people in Babylon to return from their captivity; but certainly the grand and leading object was, to tell poor captive sinners in Zion, of their recovery from sin and Satan, by the Lord Jesus. For here are the well known character-offices of Christ. Will enemies oppose them? the Lord’s strong arm shall cast them down. Are Jesus’s sheep weak and tender? His compassion will be suited for them. The lamb unable to walk, he will carry in his bosom, Joh 10:11 . I must not forget to observe that some have read the passage of Behold the Lord God will come with strong hand; Behold the Adonai shall come against the strong one; meaning the devil; and his arm shall rule for him; they have rendered, shall rule over him. And if the words be accepted in this sense, as well as the other, they are not only most blessed, but agreeable to all the divine truths. Our Lord himself beautifully illustrates the doctrine, under the figure of a strong man being overcome, by a stronger. Luk 11:15-22 ; Isa 49:24-26 ; Joh 12:31 ; Col 2:15 ; Heb 2:14 ; 1Jn 3:3 . Reader! do not fail to remark the blessed views this short but sweet passage gives of the Lord Jesus. He is described as destroying all his and his Church’s enemies, as a King; while feeding, nourishing, and protecting his people; with all the tenderness of a Shepherd.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 40:9 O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift [it] up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
Ver. 9. Oh Zion, that bringest good tidings. ] That evangelist. The gospel is the sum of all the good news in the world. Christ’s incarnation ( bisher, the word here used, cometh of bashar, which signifieth flesh ), was “glad tidings of great joy to all people.” Luk 2:10
Get thee up into the high mountain.
Lift it up, be not afraid,
Behold your God.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Isa 40:9-11
9Get yourself up on a high mountain,
O Zion, bearer of good news,
Lift up your voice mightily,
O Jerusalem, bearer of good news;
Lift it up, do not fear.
Say to the cities of Judah,
Here is your God!
10Behold, the Lord GOD will come with might,
With His arm ruling for Him.
Behold, His reward is with Him
And His recompense before Him.
11Like a shepherd He will tend His flock,
In His arm He will gather the lambs
And carry them in His bosom;
He will gently lead the nursing ewes.
Isa 40:9 O Zion. . .O Jerusalem Both of these terms refer to Jerusalem. The Temple was built on Mt. Moriah but the term Zion (another hill in the city where David built his palace) is an idiom for the whole city.
Who do these personifications refer to?
1. God’s prophets
2. God’s Levitical teachers
3. the herald of the new age (i.e., John the Baptist)
Does this refer to
1. return from Babylonian exile (i.e., Isa 52:7-9; Isa 62:10-12)
2. Maccabean victories
3. the first coming of Jesus (Isa 62:11 quoted in Mat 21:5)
4. the second coming of Jesus (Isa 40:10; Isa 62:11, alluded to in Rev 22:12)
There is a fluidity between (1) God’s promise of restoration to Israel and (2) the new age in Christ. Here is where the mega-narrative must include the NT. Jesus fulfills these hopes, but the two comings of Christ (Savior, later King) causes a twofold fulfillment. These prophecies of the eschaton are still future. They were surely not fulfilled in the return of Zerubbabel and Joshua in 539 B.C. and not in the lifetime of Jesus of Nazareth.
Just one more thought, the paragraph, Isa 40:9-11, is the proclamation of a watchman to a city of an approaching group/person/army. However, notice the powerful one (i.e., God) comes, not as an invader but as a compassionate Shepherd. He comes to save, protect, and provide. The Shepherd of Israel (Psalms 23) returns to His land/people whom He abandoned in Ezekiel 8-10!
SPECIAL TOPIC: WHY ARE THE END-TIME EVENTS SO CONTROVERSIAL?
good news This is the VERB (BDB 142, Piel PARTICIPLE) which means bear glad tidings. Here it denotes the merciful message of YHWH’s redemption and acceptance (cf. Isa 40:9 [twice]; Isa 41:27; Isa 52:7 [twice]; Nah 1:15). Paul quotes Isa 52:7 in Rom 10:15 and relates it to Christ (Rom 10:16 quotes Isa 53:1). The gospel of Jesus Christ is characterized as good news in the NT.
do not fear This VERB (BDB 431, KB 432, Qal IMPERFECT) is JUSSIVE in meaning, referring to Jerusalem (i.e., God’s people). Sin causes fear! How often God says this to His people! (cf. Isa 41:10; Isa 13:14; Isa 43:1; Isa 43:5; Isa 44:2; Isa 44:8 [different words]; Isa 51:7; Isa 51:12; Isa 54:4; Isa 54:14).
Say to the cities of Judah Those who hold to a later, post-exilic writer instead of Isaiah have trouble explaining this reference because all of the cities were destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar II in 586 B.C.
Here is your God God is with His people! The wait is over (cf. Isa 25:9; Isa 26:8; Isa 33:2; Isa 40:31; Isa 49:23; Isa 51:5; Isa 60:9)!
Isa 40:10 the Lord GOD Literally this is Adonai YHWH, which is literally translated Lord, LORD cf. Psa 110:1). Lord is the Hebrew word adon, which denotes master, owner, husband, lord.
With His arm ruling for Him This is a Semitic anthropomorphic idiom (see Special Topic: God Described As Human [anthropomorphism] ) for divine action and power. From Isa 9:6-7; Isa 11:1-5; and Mic 5:2-5 a, we know this refers to the agency of the Messiah (cf. Psalms 110).
SPECIAL TOPIC: MESSIAH
His reward is with Him
And His recompense before Him This exact phrase is also found in Isa 62:11 and alluded to in Rev 22:12.
Isa 40:10 is speaking of the personal presence of Deity (Isa 41:10 a). Emmanuel has come (cf. Isa 7:14)!
Isa 40:11 Like a shepherd YHWH, the mighty (cf. Isa 40:10), is also a Shepherd (cf. Psalms 23; Psa 80:1; Jer 31:10; Eze 34:11-16). Notice that also in Eze 34:23-24, YHWH appoints His Messiah to represent Himself! Jesus is the good Shepherd (cf. John 10). He is the wounded shepherd of Zechariah 11-12 and Isa 52:13 to Isa 53:12.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
O Zion, that bringest: or, O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion. Compare Isa 41:27.
that bringest. This is feminine, personifying the “heraldband”.
good = joyful.
O Jerusalem. See note on “O Zion”, above.
strength = power, strength (to endure). Hebrew. koah. Same as in Isa 40:31; not the same as in Isa 40:10.
behold your God. See note on the Structure of the four Gospels, which shows this sentence as being applicable to the Gospel by John.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
40:9-11. O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! Behold, the Lord God will come with a strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
This office of Christ makes glad the hearts of those who have to preach it. To lift up our voice and to proclaim to others the good tidings is grateful service. It is the joy of the church that Jesus, the Lord God Almighty, is strong for the defense of his people, and at the same time tender towards their infirmities. Let us rejoice and be glad in him. Now let us hear what our Shepherd saith by the mouth of the prophet Ezekiel. After he has been complaining of the hireling shepherds the false ones who sought the fleece and not the flock, who did not feed the sheep nor care for them, nor had any tenderness toward them; he goes on to show what he will do for his own.
This exposition consisted of readings from Psalms 23, Isa 40:9-11, Eze 34:11-25.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Isa 40:9-11
Isa 40:9-11
“O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, get thee up on a high mountain; O thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold, your God! Behold, the Lord Jehovah will come as a mighty one, and his arm will rule for him: Behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will feed his flock like a shepherd, he will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, and will gently lead them that have their young.”
The repetition of the same thought in successive clauses, as in Isa 40:9, “is quite in the manner of Isaiah.” Some scholars seem to be troubled here by the use of a feminine pronoun in “Thou that tellest good tidings to Zion.” But the solution proposed by Archer appears to us as correct. “Jerusalem, the Holy City (The New Jerusalem that cometh down out of heaven as a bride, the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ), she is to announce Jehovah’s coming.” Archer also pointed out that “thou that preachest the Gospel” is a better rendition than appears in the American Standard Version.
Note that “the Lord’s arm and the Lord’s hand” in Isa 40:10, as Rawlinson pointed out is a favorite expression of Isaiah, occurring in “Isa 5:25; Isa 9:12; Isa 10:4; Isa 11:11; Isa 31:3; Isa 51:9; Isa 53:1; and Isa 62:3. This is a good place to notice that other verses in this same chapter exhibit expressions and usages peculiar to Isaiah. In Isa 40:5, we have the words “The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” Isaiah used this expression here, and in Isa 1:20, and in Isa 58:14. “No other writer uses this expression. Also, in Isa 40:25, we have an abbreviated form of Isaiah’s special designation of God as, “The Holy One of Israel,” an expression used dozens of times in Isaiah, and only once or twice by any other Old Testament writer.
Isa 40:27 has this: “O Jacob … O Israel.” “This pleonastic combination, so characteristic of Isaiah, is also found in Isa 9:8; Isa 10:21-22; Isa 14:1; Isa 27:6; Isa 29:23 in the earlier chapters, and in Isa 41:8; Isa 42:24; Isa 43:1; Isa 43:22; Isa 43:28; Isa 44:1; Isa 44:5; Isa 44:23; Isa 45:4; Isa 46:3; Isa 49:5-6, etc. in the last twenty-seven chapters!
The significance of this, along with other things cited here, is that it earmarks this chapter as having been written by Isaiah just as clearly as if he had signed it a half dozen times.
Isa 40:11 is an expression of the tenderness of God toward his people under the metaphor of a loving shepherd; and Jesus Christ our Lord called attention to the application of this metaphor to Himself when he declared that, “I am the Good Shepherd” (Joh 10:14 ff).
Isa 40:9-11 SURRENDER: The construction of the Hebrew in verse nine does not necessitate the tidings to be told to Zion. Literally translated the verse would read, So, a mountain high go you to, you bringer of good tidings, Zion. We have indicated this in our paraphrase. In other words, Zion is the bringer of good tidings-not the one to whom good tidings are brought. Zion and Jerusalem are personified as proclaimers of good news. Isaiah predicted earlier that the law and the word of the Lord would go forth out of Zion and Jerusalem (Isa 2:3). The good tidings are to be proclaimed koakh, powerfully, and, tiyraaiy, fearlessly.
What is Zion to proclaim? Behold! God is coming in mightiness! Adonai-Yaweh, the Lord-Jehovah is coming. Zeroau, arm, usually symbolizes a characteristic-power. It may also symbolize the Messiah who came as Gods Arm to rule (cf. Isa 51:4-5; Isa 52:7-10; Isa 53:1; Luk 1:51). Isa 52:7-10 also predicts the good tidings by which the covenant people are to be comforted involving the Lord baring His holy arm before the eyes of all the nations. It is apparent that arm here and in Isa 52:7-10 refers to the Messiah.
There could hardly be a better climax to this great Messianic prologue of the comfort section in Isaiahs book than Isa 40:11. The shepherd can be none other than Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd. The Messiah-shepherd is one of the greatest concepts of Old Testament prophecy (cf. Eze 34:20-31; Mic 5:1-4; Zec 11:7-14; Zec 13:7, etc.). Jesus called Himself, The Good Shepherd (Luk 15:3-7; Joh 10:1-30) and His audience as a flock that needed shepherding (Mat 9:36-38; Joh 10:1-30).
If Isaiah and those prophets who come after him are to prepare mankind for the coming of the Lord, they must get men to prepare their wicked, desert-like hearts like a smooth, straight highway; they must straighten out their evaluation of mans ability to save himself and decide that man is capable of abiding forever only if he abides in the eternal word of God; they must surrender to the good tidings that God is going to send His Arm-the tender, Good Shepherd-to rule for Him.
Isaiah was writing of the glorious future for the benefit of the people of his day. Isaiahs task was to preserve a remnant of faithful Israelites who would be able to endure the disintegration of their nation, go into captivity and return to carry on the Messianic destiny. This remnant was to pass on their faith in the prophetic promises that this destiny would be preserved by God and ultimately fulfilled-if not in their lives, in some glorious era to come. There may be an initial reference in this prologue to the restoration of the Jews to Palestine in the days of Ezra, Zerubbabel and Nehemiah.
But, unquestionably, the ultimate focus of the great redemption promised here-the coming of God to His people who are prepared-is to the Messiah and His kingdom-the church. We have inspired documentation in the New Testament that this is so!
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Creator and Ruler of All the Earth
Isa 40:9-17
Zion is bidden to climb the highest mountain within reach, and announce the advent of the Savior-God. When all eyes are turned to behold Him, expecting a mighty hero, lo, a shepherd conducts His flock across the waste lands, gathering the weakly lambs to His bosom and gently leading the ewes with their young. Do not be afraid of God; He has a shepherds heart. Words can never tell out all His tenderness; His pitying, understanding love.
We are next conducted to the Great Sea, Isa 40:12. Remember, says the prophet, that Gods hands are so strong that the ocean lies in them as a drop of water in mans. He can place mountains in the scales He holds. So great is He that if all Lebanons forests were laid as wood on His altar, and all its beasts were consumed as burnt sacrifices, it would not be sufficient to set forth Page 68 His praise. And this God is our God forever and ever. The Creator of the ends of the earth is our Father.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
O Zion, that bringest good tidings: or, O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, Isa 41:27, Isa 52:7, Ezr 1:1, Ezr 1:2, Luk 24:47, Rom 10:18
get: Jdg 9:7, 1Sa 26:13, 1Sa 26:14, 2Ch 13:4
O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings: or, O thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem
lift up: Isa 52:8, Isa 58:4, Jer 22:20, Act 2:14
be not: Isa 35:3, Isa 35:4, Isa 51:7, Isa 51:12, Act 4:13, Act 4:29, Act 5:41, Act 5:42, Eph 6:19, Phi 1:28, Phi 1:29, 1Pe 3:14
Behold: Isa 12:2, Isa 25:9, 1Ti 3:16, 1Jo 5:20, 1Jo 5:21
Reciprocal: Psa 96:2 – show Psa 100:3 – we are his Psa 146:10 – thy God Isa 12:5 – this is known Isa 12:6 – Cry out Isa 24:14 – General Isa 58:1 – lift up Isa 62:11 – Say Isa 65:1 – Behold Jer 23:5 – Branch Jer 31:6 – a day Dan 3:4 – aloud Nah 1:15 – upon Zep 3:14 – shout Zep 3:16 – be said Zec 2:10 – and rejoice Zec 9:9 – Rejoice Zec 11:4 – Feed Mat 21:5 – the daughter Mat 23:39 – Blessed Luk 2:10 – I bring Luk 13:35 – Blessed Joh 1:1 – the Word was Joh 12:15 – Fear Joh 19:5 – Behold Joh 20:28 – My Lord Act 13:32 – we Act 26:6 – the promise Rom 10:15 – and bring Col 1:16 – by him were Rev 14:7 – with
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
In spite of the fact that the revelation of the glory of the Lord brings to light, as nothing else does, the sinfulness and frailty of man, there is also brought “good tidings,” and this it is which furnishes the “comfort” for “My people.” Zion and Jerusalem are represented as lifting up the voice and saying to the cities of Judah “Behold your God!”
About the sixth hour on the day of the crucifixion Pilate brought forth Jesus, and said to the crowd in Jerusalem, “Behold your King!” (Joh 19:14). This provoked the violent cry, “Away with Him, crucify Him.” In our Scripture the prophet sees the same wonderful Person, but coming in the splendour of Deity with “strong hand.” This will be good tidings indeed, after the painful display of sin and utter weakness on the part of men.
It is the Lord Jehovah who is coming with might; but it is “His Arm” who will rule for Him. As we go through these later chapters of Isaiah we shall find the Lord Jesus presented as the Arm of Jehovah some ten or twelve times. In this character He is seen as the One who executes in power all the will and purpose of Jehovah. He is also presented as the “Servant,” who is to carry out the yet more wonderful work of sin-bearing and suffering. In the passages that speak of Him as the Servant we see predictions that view Him in His first advent in grace: in those that present Him as the “Arm” our thoughts are carried on to His second advent in glory.
It is so here in verse Isa 40:10. The Arm is going to rule for Jehovah rather than suffer for Him. He will dispense reward and recompence to others in the day of His glory; and at the same time He will be a tender Shepherd to those who are His flock, gathering even the lambs to His bosom. In other words, while ruling in power at His second advent, He will display to His own; all the grace which shone forth in Him at His first advent. As we look abroad in the earth today, we see how badly needed is the ruling power of a strong hand, and men desire to grasp that power so as to rule in their own interests. The Arm of Jehovah will rule “for Him,” and what a day that will be when the will of God will be done on earth as it is in heaven!
The verses that follow present to us the greatness and glory of the Creator-God in the most exalted language. So great is He that the mighty oceans lie in the hollow of His hand like a few drops of water; the expanse of the heavens, illimitable to us, is but the span of His hand; the dust of the earth as well as the mountains and hills are but small things, weighed in His scales. As to understanding, the Spirit of the Lord is far above taking any counsel from man.
We live in a day when nations are rising up and asserting themselves, and arming to the hilt, in order to enforce their will. What are they in the presence of God? They are like a small drop which may hang on a finger-tip, when taken out of a bucket of water; or like the small dust left on the scales when the substance weighed therein has been removed – so insignificant that no one pays attention to it. The nations that look so imposing and threatening to us, are counted by Him as “less than nothing, and vanity.” It is good for us to measure them by God’s standards and not by our own.
God then is great beyond all our thoughts, as verse Isa 40:18 indicates, and in the presence of His glory how foolish and contemptible, as verses Isa 40:19-20 say, are the makers of graven images that have not even the power of motion. And further, how feeble and insignificant are men, who appear but as grasshoppers, and their princes and judges but as nothing and vanity, and as stubble in the face of a whirlwind. We may also lift up our eyes and behold the mighty creation outside our little earth; all numbered and named by Him, and upheld by Him too, so that not one fails. He who created them has no equal and cannot be likened to any other. We do well to ponder this magnificent passage, for this God of ineffable power and majesty has been made known to us in Christ as our Father.
The closing verses of the chapter, while not revealing Him as Father, do make known His care and support for those who trust in Him. Where all human power fails He gives strength to those who express their trust by waiting upon Him. As they wait their strength is renewed, and granted as it is needed. Some may need the strength that elevates, others the strength that runs the errands appointed of God, and others again that which enables for the steady and continuous walk through life for the pleasure of God. As we wait on God each shall receive the needed strength. The greatness of our God, as well as His goodness is the guarantee of it.
In view of this disclosure of the glory of God a call goes out to all mankind as chapter 41 opens – for the word “people” in verse Isa 40:1 should really be in the plural “peoples.” God will reason with them as to His governmental ways in the earth. Verse Isa 40:2 mentions a king, coming from the east of Palestine, who should be a conqueror, ruling over kings. It seems that this is a prophecy as regards the day in which Isaiah wrote, and was fulfilled in Cyrus, who is named in the verse that opens Isa 45:1-25. God raises up whom He pleases to carry out His designs in the earth. In contrast with this men in their folly and blindness manufacture their idols, as stated in verses Isa 40:6-7. This controversy with Israel as to their persistent turning to idols continues till we reach the end of Isa 48:1-22.
In verses Isa 40:8-9 of our chapter Israel is reminded that as the seed of Abraham, who is honoured as “My friend,” they are a chosen people and called to be the servant of God. How foolish then this turning to idols! And in the succeeding verses we find the most assuring words of encouragement and support which, if only received in faith, would have lifted them far above any reliance on idolatrous things. They should be upheld and their enemies confounded. The Holy One of Israel would be their Redeemer, and make them like a threshing instrument scattering their foes. Moreover He would be as a fountain of water to them, meeting all their needs.
In the light of this comes the challenge to the idols and their followers. Let them produce their cause; let them foretell the future and “declare things for to come.” This they could not do, and an abomination were they and their votaries. A further reference to the coming conqueror from the north-east is found in verses Isa 40:25-26, and the chapter closes with words of contempt for the men who supported the idols and the counsels they gave.
This throws into relief the opening of Isa 42:1-25, where the prophecy turns from Israel, as the failing servant of God, to introduce the Lord Jesus as the true Servant of God. Our attention is to be fixed on Him for He is the chosen One in whom the delight of God rests. He it is, who will bring forth judgment for the nations, and not only for Israel. Here again we find a prophecy which was fulfilled in part at His first advent, but awaits His second advent for the fulfilment of other details.
The prophecy is quoted in Mat 12:14-21, as showing the lowliness and forbearance of His coming in grace. The Pharisees were indeed as unreliable and worthless as a bruised reed, and as objectionable as smoking flax, yet He neither broke nor quenched them. He was not an agitator, inflaming the multitude. The powers that were against Him were calculated to make any servant of God be discouraged and fail, yet He carried on His service to the end. He brought forth judgment according to truth by His sacrificial death and resurrection, though we must wait for the second coming to see the public establishment of judgment in the earth, so that the most distant isle shall wait for His law.
Our attention having been called to this true Servant, we have in verses Isa 40:5-9, words prophetically addressed to Him. In verse Isa 40:5 the acts of God in creation are stressed. Not only are the heavens and the earth the work of His hands but mankind also. He has given us not only the breath of our bodies but also the spirit, that is man’s distinguishing feature in contrast to the beasts. Now this mighty Creator has called His true Servant in righteousness and established Him as a covenant to the people and a light to the nations. In verse Isa 40:9 Jehovah is presented as declaring new things, so we may discern that the new covenant is predicted here, though not stated with the fulness found in Jer 31:1-40.
We may note that Eze 36:1-38 predicts the new birth, which is needed if the blind eyes are to be opened, as in verse Isa 40:7 of our chapter, to “see the kingdom of God,” (Joh 3:3); whilst in Jeremiah we have predicted the new covenant, under which the kingdom will be established. In Isaiah we have many of the new things predicted, that will mark the kingdom when it is finally established under the rule of Christ.
These new things will move those who enter into them to “Sing unto the Lord a new song;” and the thought, of how the glory of the Lord will be manifested and His praise be sung, fills verses Isa 40:10-12. But the next verses show that what will bring blessing to His people will mean judgment and destruction to His foes. While the call will come to many who once were deaf and blind, that they may hear and see, the folly and judgment of those who turned to idols will be revealed.
The chapter closes with an appeal to those of Isaiah’s day in view of these things. Israel had been called as God’s servant and should have been a messenger to the nations on His behalf, yet they had been blind in all essential things. As to privilege they were “perfect,” as to their moral state they were blind. Still, as verse Isa 40:21 indicates, God is not thereby defeated. His righteousness will be established and His law magnified and made honourable – doubtless in connection with His true Servant. But for the present all was failure on the part of Israel and consequently they were spoiled and robbed, and the law dishonoured by their disobedience.
We might have expected therefore that Isa 43:1-28 would have contained further warnings and judgments, but it opens rather on a note of grace. The Apostle Peter wrote to the scattered Jewish believers of his day how, “the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you,” which grace meant “salvation” (1Pe 1:10); and here is a case in point. In the presence of their evil God falls back upon His original purpose and His redeeming work. Redemption by power was what the people looked for, and was mainly the theme here, as the succeeding verses show; but presently there will come before us the far deeper work of the suffering Servant – redemption by blood.
The whole chapter is characterized by two things. First, by the declaration of what God will do in His sovereign mercy for His poor blind and deaf people, who were set up to be His witnesses to the other nations. He will bring down their foes, be they Babylon and the Chaldeans or other peoples, and He will deal with their sins, as indicated in verse Isa 40:25. How He will do this in righteousness is not revealed in this chapter; but the result will be that this people whom He had formed for Himself will ultimately show forth His praise, as stated in verse Isa 40:21.
But second though all this grace is so strikingly promised, the existing state of the people in rebellion and sin is not glossed over. They are again made to face their fallen state. There is the promise of a re-gathering of their seed from the east and west, from north and south, but at the moment they had turned from the Lord, as verse Isa 40:22 says; they did not honour Him with offerings and sacrifices, but wearied Him with their iniquities. As their first father – Adam – had sinned, so they had-followed in his footsteps. Because- of this the curse and reproach lay upon them, imposed by the hand of God.
But yet again, Isa 44:1-28 opens with a word of mercy. In spite of his crookedness Jacob was God’s servant, chosen by Him, and God is always true to His purpose and able to carry it out. This fact should bring comfort and strength to every believer today. The history of the church, like that of Israel, is one of failure and departure from the Divine call and way, yet the purpose of God for us will stand no less securely than His purpose for Israel. The failure and sin is not excused, though in the presence of it the sovereign grace of God is magnified.
The first eight verses of this chapter breathe out that grace in no uncertain terms. The sovereignty of God is declared, for He is the First and He is the Last, and beside Him there is no “God,” or, “Rock,” as the margin reads. Consequently, though He will chastise in His holy government, He will ultimately bless according to His original purpose.
But at the time when Isaiah wrote there was among the people this persistent tendency to turn to their idols and false gods. Hence once more, in verses Isa 40:9-20 of our chapter, God reasons with the people about their folly in this matter. The work of smith and carpenter are described, as a result of which an image is constructed, “according to the beauty of a man,” which can be kept in the house. Then our thoughts are carried to the work of planting trees, or hewing them down, and then the absurdity of using some of the wood for warming oneself, or baking bread and roasting meat, and then out of the remainder fashioning a “god,” before which one falls down and asks for deliverance!
The folly and absurdity of such doings should have been plain to all the people, but it was not. How was it that their eyes were closed and their understanding darkened? The trouble lay in their hearts, which were deceived. Hence they were unable to consider and discern the lie in their ” right hand.” The position today is just the same. Why do so many take up the erroneous religious cults that abound? The trouble lies not so much in their intellects as in their hearts. It is true for them as for Israel of old that, “a deceived heart hath turned him aside.”
Having thus reasoned with the people, once more the prophet announces the merciful interposition of God, both in its ultimate display, which is still future, and in its more immediate display in the raising up of an eastern monarch, who should be favourable to them. As to the future, they would yet be the servant of God, their transgressions and sins blotted out. This would be accomplished on the basis of redemption so that the very heavens as well as the earth will break into song, and the Lord Himself be glorified.
Then in the closing verses a deliverance that reached them about two centuries later is predicted, and Cyrus is named long before he was born The statement that Jerusalem and the temple should be rebuilt clearly indicated that they should be destroyed, and this would confound the tokens of the lying diviners, who were always saying smooth and prosperous things, as other scriptures show. Judgment would fall, but mercy would in its season be shown, and the man through whom it would reach them is named.
In the opening verses of Isa 45:1-25, the prophet speaks to Cyrus on God’s behalf, though as yet he had no existence. He was to be raised up as anointed for this particular service and his hand would be holden of God till it was accomplished. The details given in verses Isa 40:1-3 were strikingly fulfilled, as we find recorded in the book of Daniel, though Darius the Mede is the conqueror mentioned there. He was the commander of the Medo-Persian army, but the rising power of Cyrus the Persian lay behind him. As we read these verses, we see Belshazzar, and “the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another” (Dan 5:6). We see the great gates of Babylon open and broken; and then, as a result of the fall of the great city “the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places” are in the hands of Cyrus. We see here an allusion to the vessels of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried to Babylon, being restored, as recorded in Ezr 1:7-11.
Here then is a remarkable prophecy that was literally fulfilled within two hundred years of its utterance. God called him by his name, and surnamed him, though Cyrus had not known Him. Yet the words of the decree of Cyrus, recorded in 2Ch 36:23; and again in Ezr 1:2; would make it likely that in some way Isaiah’s prophecy was brought to his notice.
With Israel’s penitent idolatry still in mind, Jehovah declares in the succeeding verses His surpassing greatness. All things are in His hands. He creates the light and the darkness, the peace and the “evil,” in the sense off disaster. Man is but a potsherd of the earth – the broken piece of a pot! Let man recognize his own littleness. Let him strive with another potsherd like himself if he will, but let him not strive with the Creator. It is not fitting that a man should strive with his father or mother, much less with his Maker. Verses Isa 40:5, Isa 40:13-14 again refer to Cyrus and the way in which God would raise him up. It would be “in righteousness,” for he would carry into effect the will of God; and to do the will of God is righteousness.
The raising up of Cyrus and the granting to him such wide dominion was a surprising act, in view of the previous power and magnificence of Babylon. We need not wonder that it is claimed as a display of the surpassing power of God, in the presence of which idols are nothing.
Fuente: F. B. Hole’s Old and New Testaments Commentary
Isa 40:9. O Zion, thou bringest good tidings Of deliverance from the Babylonish captivity, to other cities, and parts of the country; and of redemption by Christ to other nations. Lowth, and many other interpreters, think the marginal reading is to be preferred, as giving a better sense, O thou that bringest good tidings to Zion, &c. According to which, Zion is not the deliverer, but the receiver of the tidings, as she is in the parallel place, chap. 52:7. But the translation in our text agrees better with the Hebrew, in which the word for the bringer of the tidings, , and the verb , get thee up, are both in the feminine gender, and agree with Zion and Jerusalem, continually spoken of, as cities generally are, in that gender, but not with any prophet, apostle, or other messenger of God in the masculine gender. It is true, Bishop Lowth supplies a word to suit the text, as to this particular, and reads, O daughter, that bringest good tidings. But that seems to be taking a liberty with the text which necessity only could warrant, a necessity which certainly does not here exist. For the passage, as we have it rendered, makes good sense, representing Zion or Jerusalem, collectively considered, and including its inhabitants, as the publisher, and the cities of Judah as the hearers of the good tidings. The glad tidings of the coming of Christ into the world, and of the salvation of mankind through him, having been made known to Zion, or Jerusalem, were carried from thence, first to all the cities of Judah, and then to the most distant nations. For out of Zion went forth the gospel law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem: and the rod of the Messiahs strength, the gospel word, was sent forth out of Zion. See notes on Isa 2:3; and Psa 110:2. Get thee up upon the high mountain That thy voice may be better heard. Lift up thy voice; be not afraid Lest thou shouldest be found a false witness, for the declaration shall certainly be verified; say to the cities of Judah To all my people in the several places of their abode, whether cities or countries; behold your God Take notice of Gods appearance for your comfort and deliverance; and also that the Messiah, so long expected, is now at last exhibited, in and through whom God will be so present with you, that men may point at him, and say, Behold, here he is! See Hag 2:7; Zec 9:9; Mal 3:1; Act 13:32-33.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
40:9 O Zion, that bringest good tidings, go up upon the high {n} mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift [it] up, be not afraid; say to the cities of Judah, Behold {o} your God!
(n) To publish this benefit through all the world.
(o) He shows in one word the perfection of all man’s happiness, which is to have God’s presence.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Worldwide blessing 40:9-11
God’s deliverance of His people was not just for their own blessing, however. It was to be for the blessing of the whole world.
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The voice now summoned the people of Israel, collectively identified with Zion and Jerusalem, to announce the coming of their God. They were to go up on a high mountain and speak loudly without fear, so everyone else would hear their message of good news (cf. Act 1:8).
"The essence of the message is: ’Look, it’s God.’" [Note: John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 40-66, p. 54.]