Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 42:2
He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
2. The Servant’s unobtrusive manner of working. Not by clamorous self-assertion in the high places of the world, but by silent spiritual influences his great work shall be accomplished. Comp. the striking application in Mat 12:17 ff. This feature of the Servant’s activity can hardly have been suggested by the demeanour of the prophets of Israel; and for that reason the prophecy is all the more wonderful as a perception of the true conditions of spiritual work. It reminds us of the “still small voice” in which Elijah was made to recognise the power of Jehovah (1Ki 19:12 f). nor lift up ] sc. his voice.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
He shall not cry – He will not make a clamor or noise; he will not be boisterous, in the manner of a man of strife and contention.
Nor lift up – That is, his voice.
Nor cause his voice to be heard in the street – He shall not t use loud and angry words, as they do who are engaged in conflict, but all his teaching shall be gentle, humble, and mild. How well this agrees with the character of the Lord Jesus it is not necessary to pause to show. He was uniformly unostentatious, modest, and retiring. He did not even desire that his deeds should be blazoned abroad, but sought to be withdrawn from the world, and to pursue his humble path in perfect peace.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 42:2-3
He shall not cry
Jesus Christ not a controversialist
He is not a debater; He does not belong to the society of men who walk up and down in the open square, called the street, or agora, or the market-place, saying, Who will talk with Me to-day?
What shall we debate? My sword is ready, who will fence? He does not belong to the word gladiator; from that school He abstains. There were men who delighted in controversy in the open squares of the city. Such controversy took the place of modern literature, morning journals, and the means of publicity of every kind, open to modern society. Jesus Christ spoke whisperingly to hearts. Men had to incline their ear to hear Him. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Christs message self-evidential
What He brings is its own evidence, and needs no beating of drums. (Prof. F. Delitzsch, D. D.)
Christs ministry unhysterical
To be screamy, to be loud, to advertise ones self,–these modern expressions for vices that were ancient as well as modern, render the exact force of the verse. Such the servant of God will not be nor do. That God is with Him, holding Him fast (Isa 42:6), keeps Him calm and unhysterical; that He is but God s instrument keeps Him humble and quiet; and that His heart is in His work keeps Him from advertising Himself at its expense. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)
Christ unlike the prophets of Israel
This feature of the Servants activity can hardly have been suggested by the demeanour of the prophets of Israel; and for that reason the prophecy is all the more wonderful as a perception of the true condition of spiritual work. It reminds us of the still small voice in which Elijah was made to recognise the power of Jehovah. (Prof. J. Skinner, D. D.)
The greatness and the gentleness of Christ
Jesus Christ has fulfilled this passage both in the spirit and in the letter.
I. THE GRANDEUR AND CERTAINTY OF HIS WORK. It could not be expressed in stronger or more graphic words. He shall bring forth judgment or righteousness, according to truth. He shall not fail nor be broken till He have established judgment or righteousness in the earth, and the isles, or far-off lands, shall wait for His law or instruction. This is the Old Testament conception of the Divine work, the setting up of a kingdom of righteousness in the world. In the New Testament it is called the kingdom of heaven, of which righteousness is still the great characteristic. The essence of the aim of the Gospel of Christ may be summed up, therefore, in two words–to win men over to be right and to do right. That which separates men from God and the kingdom of heaven is some kind of wrong in the inward nature–that which arrays itself against the Divine will, which is the Divine law. The self-will which tries, but tries in vain, to trample down the Divine will, which endeavours to have its own way in defiance of all right and justice; the insatiate thirst of the passions for indulgence which must be obtained at whatever cost to honour and conscience, and the readiness to sacrifice truth and honesty and purity in order to achieve what the world calls success,–these things are the essence of all unrighteousness and sin–the cancerous disease of our spiritual nature, which Christ, the Great Physician, came to exterminate and heal. In order to do what is right we must become, first of all, personally right; for Christ traced all conduct up to character. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, etc. He came to build up a society of such men and women, beginning with a small band of immediate personal disciples, whose affection to Himself should make them righteous, who should receive from Him the truths, the impulses, and principles which would enable them to carry the contagion of His Spirit to Greek, and Roman, and Jew, and make the cross on which He died the symbol of all goodness and all righteousness.
II. THE SPIRIT AND METHOD OF CHRISTS WORK. He shall not cry, etc.
1. This is the Divine way of speaking to men, and instructing them in Divine truth. The strong wind can speak to the seas and mountains and forests; the earthquake can speak to Sodom and Gomorrah; the fire can speak to the raving prophets of Baal; but when He speaks to His servant He whispers in that still small voice which penetrates where the thunder would fail to be heard, to the deeps of Elijahs spirit, where the heart and conscience sit enthroned in silence. The deepest affections ever speak thus. The mother speaks to her child in the softest, most subdued accents of speech, and those accents reach farther into the childs heart than the loudest, harshest words of command could reach. When is the orator at the height of his greatest power? Not when he is loudest; not when he thunders forth invective and appeal in high-strung passion; but when the strength of emotion has subdued him, when the rich pathos of his feelings makes his voice tremulous and low; and he just breathes out the thought which you will never forget. This was Christs method of instruction during His earthly ministry. The Sermon on the Mount breathes a Divine calm throughout; there is not one spasmodic sentence in it.
2. And He did not break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax. When the woman who had been a sinner ventured after Him into the house of Simon the Pharisee, where He sat at meat, and began to wash His feet with her tears and to wipe them with the hair of her head, He accepted the service without one thought of spurning her from His presence, because it was the service of a broken, penitent heart. But there is a positive as well as a negative aspect of this truth. He will not merely not break the bruised reed, He will heal and restore it to soundness; He will not merely not quench the smoking flax, He will replenish the exhausted lamp with fresh oil, and make it burn brightly again. This life is hastening to its close with us, and we may have a keen consciousness that our souls are bruised and broken by sin, and we dread to die. What can we do? We can be assured that there is a Saviour who sympathises with us, and who has power to lift the load from our conscience, and restore the breaking, fearful heart; a Saviour who is not willing that you should die as you are, but can even now pour the oil of hope and trust into the lamp of your life. Some of us may have been bruised and almost worn out, not so much by the reproach of our sins, as by the experience of trouble and suffering. (C. Short, M. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
He shall not cry; either,
1. In a way of contention, as anger is oft accompanied with clamour, Eph 4:31. Or,
2. In a way of ostentation. It seems to be meant both ways, by comparing this place with Mat 12:16,17,20. He shall neither erect nor manage his kingdom with violence and outward pomp and state, as Worldly princes do, but with meekness and humility.
Nor lift up his voice, which is easily understood out of the following clause, and from many other scriptures, where that word is added to this verb to complete the phrase.
Nor cause his voice to be heard in the street; as contentious and vain-glorious persons frequently do.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. Matthew [Mt12:19] marks the kind of “cry” as that of altercationby quoting it, “He shall not strive” (Isa53:7).
streetthe Septuaginttranslates “outside.” An image from an altercation in ahouse, loud enough to be heard in the street outside:appropriate of Him who “withdrew Himself” from the publicfame created by His miracles to privacy (Mt12:15; Mt 12:34, there,shows another and sterner aspect of His character, which is alsoimplied in the term “judgment”).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
He shall not cry,….. According to Aben Ezra and Kimchi, as a judge in court is obliged to extend his voice that he may be heard: the Evangelist Matthew renders it, “he shall not strive”; or contend in a disputatious way, about mere words and things to no profit, or litigate a point in law; he shall bring no complaints, or enter an action against any, but rather suffer wrong, as he advises his followers, Mt 5:40, for this does not respect the lowness of his voice in his ministry; in this sense he often cried, as Wisdom is said to do, Pr 1:20: “nor lift up”; that is, his voice, as Jarchi, Kimchi, and Ben Melech supply it; or, as others, he shall not lift up faces, or accept persons; and so the Vulgate Latin version renders it,
neither shall he accept any person; or the person of any man, which is true of Christ; but the former sense seems best, which agrees with what goes before and follows after:
nor cause his voice to be heard in the street; his voice was heard in the street in a ministerial way; he sometimes preached in the street, as in many other public places, Lu 13:26, but not in a clamorous contentious way; not in an opprobrious and menacing manner; nor in a way of ostentation, boasting of himself, his doctrines, and miracles, but behaved with great humility and meekness; his kingdom was without pomp and noise, which worldly princes are attended with; but this was not to be, nor was it his case; [See comments on Mt 12:19].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The prophet then proceeds to describe how the servant of Jehovah will manifest Himself in the world outside Israel by the promulgation of this right. “He will not cry, nor lift up, nor cause to be heard in the street, His voice.” “His voice” is the object of “lift up,” as well as “cause to be heard.” With our existing division of the verse, it must at least be supplied in thought. Although he is certain of His divine call, and brings to the nations the highest and best, His manner of appearing is nevertheless quiet, gentle, and humble; the very opposite of those lying teachers, who endeavoured to exalt themselves by noisy demonstrations. He does not seek His own, and therefore denies Himself; He brings what commends itself, and therefore requires no forced trumpeting.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
2. He shall not cry aloud. The Prophet shews of what nature the coming of Christ will be; that is, without pomp or splendor, such as commonly attends earthly kings, at whose arrival there are uttered various noises and loud cries, as if heaven and earth were about to mingle. But Isaiah says that Christ will come without any noise or cry; and that not only for the sake of applauding his modesty, but, first, that we may not form any earthly conception of him; secondly, that, having known his kindness by which he draws us to him, we may cheerfully hasten to meet him; and, lastly, that our faith may not languish, though his condition be mean and despicable.
He shall not lift up his voice; that is, he shall create no disturbance; as we commonly say of a quiet and peaceable man, “He makes no great noise.” (152) And indeed he did not boast of himself to the people, but frequently forbade them to publish his miracles, that all might learn that his power and authority was widely different from that which kings or princes obtain, by causing themselves to be loudly spoken of in order to gain the applause of the multitude. (Mat 8:4; Mar 5:43; Luk 8:56.)
(152) “ Il ne fait pas grand bruit.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(2) He shall not cry . . .Isaiahs ideal of a teacher, but partly realised in himself, is that of one exempt from the violence of strong feelings, calm in the sereneness of authority, strong in his far-reaching and pitying sympathy. False prophets might rave as in orgiastic frenzy. We are reminded of Solon affecting the inspiration of a soothsayer in order to attract attention to his converts. Even true prophets might be stirred to vehement and incisive speech, but it should not be so with him. No point of resemblance between the archetype and the portrait seems to have impressed men so deeply as this (Mat. 7:29; Mat. 12:17-21). The street describes the open space of an Eastern city, in which, as in the Greek agora, men harangued the people, while the gate of the city was reserved for the more formal administration of justice. (Rth. 4:1; Pro. 31:23.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2. He shall not cry Here is described Messiah’s work as unobtrusive and unostentatious. He seeks no publicity by crying or shouting for others to give attention to him. If he work, he works in silence; if he suffer, he suffers in silence. See Isa 38:7; Isa 58:4; Mat 6:5; Mat 12:16.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Isa 42:2-3. He shall not cry, &c. This beautiful passage sets forth not only the method of this great teacher’s instruction, but also the kind and quality of that instruction. Indeed, there is so close an affinity between these, that the one involves the other; for the manner of teaching ought to be conformable to the doctrine itself, and its quality; which is here set forth as peaceable and consolatory. In the first place it is said, that he shall not cry; he shall not strive, according to St. Matthew: “He shall not be the teacher of a contentious disputative doctrine, calculated to obtain the praise of human wit and learning.” He shall not lift up his voice: “He shall not cry; [, St. Matth.] He shall not imitate those Foresian declaimers, who with great art and oratory set forth themselves and their parts to the public.” Upon the whole, the meaning is, that the Messiah, endued with the gifts of the Holy Spirit, should appear among the Jews without pomp, without orientation: that he should deliver a pacific doctrine, tending to reconcile men with God and with themselves, and to bind them in perfect friendship together. That he should by no means disturb the political state of empires and kingdoms; that he should propose his doctrine fully, with divine authority, but yet modestly, and without any boasting or vain display of himself; all of which was remarkably fulfilled in Jesus Christ. With respect to the other quality of his doctrine, that it should be consolatory, and perfectly adapted to raise and to heal the dejected and afflicted soul, the prophet expresses it by two metaphors, than which nothing can more strongly set forth the gentleness and meekness of Christ. He will not break a bruised reed. “He will not reject the most grievous sinners, whose souls are most depressed with a sense of their vileness and unworthiness. He will not reject the weakest beginnings of faith.” He will not quench the smoking flaxwhich should rather be translated, He will not extinguish the dimly-burning lamp. The allusion is here to a dimly-burning flame, which sends forth more smoke than light, through the want of oil in the lamp; and it gives us the idea of a man, in whom the habits of the spiritual life are so weak, that, unless they obtain some supply, they seem about to perish entirely. Such as these the Messiah would succour and assist; (compare chap. Isa 61:1-3.) and such as these Jesus in his ministry did succour and assist. The Chaldee paraphrase on this place is remarkable: “The meek, who are like a bruised reed, shall not be broken; and the poor, who are like dimly-burning flax, shall not be extinguished.” The last phrase, He shall bring forth judgment unto truth, or victory, according to St. Matthew, signifies, “that Jesus Christ should propose the doctrine of evangelical truth, equity, and meekness, with that force and meekness, that it should never more be obscured or put out in the world, but that it shall conquer and triumph over all other doctrines whatsoever.” The passage may be understood, that he shall make his righteous cause gloriously triumphant over all opposition. See Vitringa.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Isa 42:2 He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
Ver. 2. He shall not cry, nor lift up. ] See on Mat 12:19 . Cyrus was a very mild and gentle prince, so that his Persians called him their father, but his son, Cambyses, their lord, as Herodotus a recordeth. Christ’s government b is much more gentle; he will not by a loud and terrible voice frighten broken spirits, or rule them with rigour, &c. Christians must likewise put away all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour. And “be ye kind one to another, tender hearted.” Eph 4:31-32 This is to be like unto Christ – all whose actions, whether moral or mediatory, were either for our imitation or instruction.
a Lib. iii.
b Cyrus umbra, Christus Sol ipse.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
cry. See the Divine interpretation “strive” (Mat 12:19).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
The Bruised Reed and the Smoking Flax
He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench.Isa 42:2-3.
With this chapter we reach a distinct stage in the prophecy of this book. The preceding chapters have been occupied with the declaration of the great, basal truth, that Jehovah is the One Sovereign God. This has been declared to two classes of hearers in successionto Gods own people, Israel, in chap, 40, and to the heathen in chap. 41. Having established His sovereignty, God now publishes His will, again addressing these two classes according to the purpose which He has for each. He has vindicated Himself to Israel, the Almighty and Righteous God, who will give His people freedom and strength; He will now define to them the mission for which that strength and freedom are required. He has proved to the Gentiles that He is the one true God: He will declare to them now what truth He has for them to learn. In short, to use modern terms, the apologetic of chaps, 4041 is succeeded by the missionary programme of chap. 42.
And here the missionary hope reaches its highest expression in the picture of a Servant of Jehovah, who, with gentle persistence and unostentatious zeal, shall carry to the nations the precious gifts of revelation which have been coming to clearness and power through all the toil and travail of the past. It would be well for the teacher of to-day to linger lovingly over this picture of a divinely elected and supremely gifted minister. From it he may learn to combine reverence for past revelations with quickness to hear the present voice of God, stern faithfulness to God and truth, with keen knowledge of life and kindly sympathy for men. But the fact that concerns us most is that, whether this is a personification of Israel or the picture of the individual ideal Servant, we have the true religion beating against the narrow local barriers and leaping forward to a large universal life. Judaism could never completely fulfil such a picture; it can be realised only by the pure spiritual religion of Jesus. In its earliest days Christianity went forth to free religion and man from narrow prejudices and petty limitations; great things have been done along this line, but an immense task still lies before the Church, demanding both intelligence and love.
The particular topic of our text is the Servants gentle unobtrusive way of carrying out His work. He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. Of this gentle but effective way of working two examples are given. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench. Two pictures are presented by the metaphors that are made use of. The first picture is an exterior. The region represented is a flat and marshy one; the locality is lonely and desolate. Growing amid shallow but cold and swirling waters, we see tall reeds and rushes. The sky is grey and heavy, with clouds fleeting before the blast; the reeds bend under the storm: you can almost feel the nipping wind as you look at the picture. And the reeds are swayed hither and thither, being bruised and battered as they jostle one against the other. Look closely at those reeds, and you will scarcely find one that is not scarred and mangled. They are bruised reeds. The other picture is an interior. The smoking flax shall he not quench. The picture is that of an Eastern room. We dimly see the low divans or lounges around the walls, and if the light were brighter we might discern the features of the persons reclining there. There is a low table in the centre of the room, and upon it stands a lamp. In shape this lamp is something like a modern teapot; the receptacle being for the oil, and the wick protruding from what would be the spout. That wick should be burning brightly; instead of that, however, there is only a dull red glow, and there is more smoke than light. It is a smoking lamp. From these two pictures we may learn something as to Christ and Christian character.
I
The Saviours unobtrusive Way of Working
1. The Restraint of God.This Saviour is Gods Servant. His method of working is therefore Gods method. And so the first thing to notice is the marvellous restraint of God in all His dealings with men. Does it not strike you, says Bishop Wilkinson,1 [Note: The Invisible Glory, p. 50.] that there is something awful about it, this thought of the power of God restrained, kept back? There are souls that will at last reject all Gods love, will go on resisting till they die; yet Christ keeps back His power! He does not manifest His power as a KingHe shall not strive nor cry, neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets. He allows His message to be despised and rejected! He comes to us, with power kept back! Where is the promise of His coming? men say. They think that God is weak, and God seems to say, I am content that you should think Me weak, rather than that I should break the bruised reed, or quench the smoking fire! I see a man whose heart God has stirred rejecting these better impulses; yet God is patient, calm. When I read in my Bible that God is Almighty, and yet I see that His power is not manifested in this dispensation; that He is patient, long-suffering to usward, lest the smoking flax should be quenched, it gives me an awful idea of the majesty of God. I see men and women keeping Christ standing at the door. Their child dies; the blinds are drawn down, and still the Saviour stands outside the long-closed door! And then some dear friend is taken, some one who was as a brother, and again the same Voice speaks; again I see the Saviour standing there, and still the door is closed! And when we think who it isGod, who could destroy that man with a word, yet despised and rejectedgoing forth, as it were, so humbly, with that long funeral procession, to whisper if only a word to one of the mourners; then, in awe, we say, O God, have mercy on that man. He is fighting against God. He is presuming on Gods self-restrained power!
2. The quiet ways of Christ.Pretenders vaunt insolently of their claims, and are elated by a momentary triumph. He is meek and lowly in spirit. His heart beats with even pulse, whether the palm branches are strewed in His path or the thorns are twisted for His crown. False Christs are turbulent and haughty, boasting themselves to be somebody. He withdrew from the royalty which the people would fain have forced upon Him, and charged the healed demoniacs that they should not make Him known. Political demagogues raise tumults for selfish ends. He had no war with Csar, forbade the sword to His disciples, steadily discountenanced the risings of their patriot pride, and impressed upon them that in the diviner monarchy, which was above trappings and legions, He reigned as King for ever. And so quietly has Christianity spread its influences upon men. Not the whirlwind, the pestilence, but the dew, the seed, the leaventhings which work quietly, mighty forces, resistless from the might of their silencethese are its emblems. The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation. Physical convulsions may precede it. The whirlwind of passion, and the earthquake which shaketh the nations, and the fire, consuming to all olden wrong, and all encumbering circumstance, may be the couriers of the Gospel, but it speaks in the still small voicethat majestic whisper which always makes a silence for itselfhowever loud and rude the clamour. It does not strive nor cry, but without strife or crying makes its way into the conscience of the world.
What a strange mode of bringing forth judgment! What a strange mode especially of bringing forth judgment to the Gentiles. A Gentiles evidence for a mans possession of the Divine Spirit was just the contrary; it was his power to cry, to lift up his voice, to let his anger be heard in the street, to break the bruised reed and quench the smoking flax; it was for gifts such as these that the Roman raised his heroes to the skies. But here is a new and unheard-of heroism. Here is a heroism whose strength consists in the power to suffer and not cry. Here is a Spirit which claims to be Divine on the ground not of breaking but of being broken, not of bruising but of being bruised. The Gentiles are judged by a new standard of strengththe standard of patience. They are no longer measured by what they can do, but by what they can bear. They are no longer valued by the burdens they can impose, but by the burdens they can sustain. They are no longer asked how many towers they have pulled down, how many victims they have slain, how many homes they have made desolate. They are asked how many defeats they have borne undismayed, how many crosses they have received unmurmuring, how many obloquies they have endured unavenged. The valley has become a mountain, and the mountain a valley. The gentleness which was a mark of contempt has made its possessor great, and the testimonial for admission into the new army is this: He shall not strive nor cry.1 [Note: G. Matheson, Voices of the Spirit, p. 66.]
II
His Tenderness with the Broken Reed
He shall not break the bruised reed. Here is the picturea slender bulrush, growing by the margin of some tarn or pond; its sides crushed and dented in by some outward power, a gust of wind, a sudden blow, the foot of a passing animal. The head is hanging by a thread, but is not yet snapped or broken off from the stem.
And the first thing that emerges from the metaphor is not only the solemn thought of the bruises by sin that all men bear, but the other blessed one, that no man is so injured that restoration is impossible, no depravity so total but that it may be healed, no one so far off but that he may be brought nigh. On no man has sin fastened its venomous claws so deeply but that these may be wrenched away. And so the text comes with its great triumphant hopefulness, and gathers into one mass as capable of restoration the most abject, the most worthless, the most ignorant, the most sensuous, the most godless, the most Christ-hating of the race. Jesus looks on all the tremendous bulk of a worlds sins with the confidence that He can move that mountain and cast it into the depths of the sea.
Nature throws away her broken vessels with no compunction or pity whatever. Everywhere the weak and sickly among the lower animals are ruthlessly killed off, and only those remain which are able to do for themselves. The fit survivethe feeble perish. It is hardly necessary to lead any proof of this. The stricken deer turns aside to die, while the fat herd sweeps on indifferent to its fate. The pack of lean wolves know of no surgery for a fainting comrade, except to fall on him and rend him in pieces. The frail bird that cannot fly with the rest of the brood is tumbled from the nest and left to its fate. Nature has, indeed, a great healing power for the strong and healthy in case of accident, so that wounds and broken bones soon come together again. But among wild animals sickness, disease, feebleness, and age meet with no compassion. In their warfare it is still Vae victis, for they cannot cumber themselves with the wounded. The halt and the blind get no chance at all. The weak and sickly are left to their fate, and the sooner it comes the better, for their kindred turn from them and their friends will not know them. Unfit for the struggle of existence which is their supreme business, they perish without ruth or remorse. Thus everywhere on sea and land, and in the lightsome air, among all creatures that swim, or fly, or creep, or run, we find this law working, and doubtless working for the general good of the whole, yielding a benevolent harvest of health and comfort to the unthinking creatures of God.
But now, when we pass from them into the province of man, we meet at once with a law which breaks in upon this, and controls it. The struggle for existence goes on there too, but it is no longer supreme and all in all. Everywhere it is modified by ideas that are confessedly of greater moment and higher authority. Sometimes it is set aside altogether, for we are not always bound to exist if we can, but we are always bound to do right. Thus the moral rises above the natural, and even flatly contradicts it. The struggle for existence is subordinated to the struggle for a higher perfection. Instead of the survival of the fittest, we have a law requiring the strong to help the weak, the healthy to improve their health for the sake of the diseased; and even those who are hopelessly stricken, and for ever invalided from the battle of life, are cast on us as a peculiar care, to neglect which were to outrage the noblest instincts of humanity. The natural law, everywhere else in full swing, that the weak and sickly, the halt and the blind, must be left to their fate, or even hurried out of the way, not only does not hold among us, but the very reverse of it holds.
The poor cripple whom natural law would have cast away, has grown up to bless the world with wise and noble counsel; and blind men, all unfit for the mere struggle of animal life, have yet done brave and good service in the high warfare of humanity; even the utterly broken, the helplessly disabled, who can only stand and wait, have yet, by their meek patience under affliction, shown us an example which made our hearts gentler, humbler, better, and was well worth all the care we bestowed on them.
1. Bruised reeds! How true an emblem of our experience and condition the picture is! Plunge in among these reeds, and you will not find one free from scars and bruises. Some of the marks will need searching for, but they are there. And if you could read the secret history of every individual in a crowd of people, you would find that not one had escaped being battered by storm and tempest; and, indeed, sometimes almost uprooted by the cold and swirling waters of sorrow. Men everywhere are truly bruised reeds. It may save us from harsh and uncharitable judgments if we never forget it.
Read your newspaper, that mirror of the worlds daily life, and weep over fallen human nature as you do so. What horrible revelations meet you! In this country the darkest deeds mans mind can conceive and his fingers can execute are enacted day by day. Under the power of the drink fiend a woman will forget her sucking child, and will have no compassion on the son of her womb. Under the influence of the devil of lust men will ruthlessly trample the fairest flowers under their feet. Under the dominance of the devil of greed some will sell their own brothers for a few paltry coins. Read your scientific books, and you will find vivisection preached so far as animals are concerned, and natural selection and the survival of the fittest so far as the race is concerned. Let the weak perish, let the afflicted be cut offsays a pitiless sciencethus following the ancient Spartans, who killed off their sickly and deformed offspring, and Plato, who favoured infanticide. These people would deliberately and in cold blood break the bruised reed and quench the smoking flax. Into such a world as this Christ comes, comes to teach us that God is love, that the strongest being in the universe is the gentlest, that all life is precious, that even maimed humanity is worth saving, that the man most in the mud is to be lifted out, so that his powers may unfold themselves in winsome and undecaying blossoms by the river of life. The bruised reed shall he not break.1 [Note: J. Pearce, Life on the Heights, p. 139.]
He uses and loves and transfigures broken reeds. They become pens, to write the marvels of His truth and the riches of His grace. They become instruments of sweet music, to ring forth His praises in winning melody. They become columns which support and adorn His temple. They become swords and spears to rout His enemies; so that, as a poet sings, the bruised reed is amply tough to pierce the shield of error through.1 [Note: A. Smellie, In the Hour of Silence, p. 92.]
2. But the bruising may be due to personal sin. There are many who realise that their lives are knocked out of their proper shape. They have dealt out to themselves many a rude blow, have battered their hearts, and there they are, sick at heart, ready to die. Ah, poor fellow, he is his own enemy, is our comment on some of our fellows who are spoiling their lives. Alas! how many of us are our own enemies! How many of us have robbed, degraded, and damaged ourselves. God meant us to be temples, but we have desecrated the hallowed shrine. God meant us to be kings, but we have given our crowns away. God meant us to be priests, but we have made ourselves vile. God meant us to be His children, but we have wandered away and become Satans serfs.
As Prebendary Carlile was going into the Church Army Headquarters he saw six strong, rough-looking men gazing at the building. He said, What department are you going into? It was evident that the men did not like to say. So he said, Where do you come from? They hesitated still more. Then one of them said, From Pentonville. Six bruised reeds! The State, with a machinery magnificently worked by devoted people, cannot help these reeds. Many of them start by breaking into a bakers shop for a loaf of bread. The unemployed are not all frauds. Listen to what the head of the Church Army tells us: I knelt beside a man in my own Church, at the communion-rail, a few Sundays ago. The man was a bruised reed. We prayed together as two poor sinners, and I turned to him after hearing his very fluent cries and said, Dont go on like this. You only want to get a nights lodging out of me, dont you? He said, I dont want a nights lodging. I wouldnt take it if you offered it me. I said, Why do you come to-night and join with me at the altar? He said, Last week my friend and I walked for three nights, and we tried for three days to get some one to give us some work. And it affected my friend so badly that he hung himself. I thought perhaps I should have to hang myself next week, so I have come here to try to get right with God before I do it.1 [Note: The Church Pulpit Year Book, 1910, p. 3.]
Whoso hath anguish is not dead in sin,
Whoso hath pangs of utterless desire.
Like as in smouldering flax which harbours fire,
Red heat of conflagration may begin,
Melt that hard heart, burn out the dross within,
Permeate with glory the new man entire,
Crown him with fire, mould for his hands a lyre
Of fiery strings to sound with those who win.
Anguish is anguish, yet potential bliss,
Pangs of desire are birth-throes of delight;
Those citizens felt such who walk in white,
And meet, but no more sunder, with a kiss;
Who fathom still-unfathomed mysteries,
And love, adore, rejoice, with all their might.2 [Note: Christina G. Rossetti.]
III
His Gentleness with the dimly burning Lamp
1. If we take the bruised reed as representing the last ravages of suffering and sin, we may take the smoking lamp as representing the first faint signs of goodness. Then this second metaphor will have as wide a sweep as the former. There is something in all men, something in their nature which corresponds to this dim flame that needs to be fostered in order to blaze brightly abroad. There is no man out of hell, says Maclaren, but has in him something that only needs to be brought to sovereign power in his life in order to make him a light in the world. You have consciences at the least; you have convictions, you know you have, which, if you followed them out, would make Christians of you straight away. You have aspirations after good, desires, some of you, after purity and nobleness of living, which only need to be raised to the height and the dominance in your lives which they ought to possess, in order to revolutionise your whole course. There is a spark in every man which, fanned and cared for, will change him from darkness into light.
2. But the metaphor may be applied in a narrower way. It may be applied to those who have something of the Divine life in them, although it may be but a little spark. Our best example is the first disciples of our Lord and the way in which He dealt with them. Wherever there were the first faint stirrings of faith or love, He cherished and sheltered them with tender care. In His teaching He led them on little by little, line upon line, drawing them first to familiar converse with Himself; not upbraiding their slowness; not severely rebuking their faults. When James and John would have brought fire from heaven, He said only, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. To Philip, when he blindly asked to see the Father, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? And when He detected their ambitious contests which should be the greatest, being in the house He asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way? Even at the last supper He said, I have many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now; and to St. Thomas, after his vehement unbelief, Reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side; and be not faithless, but believing. And to St. Peter, in chastisement for his three open denials, He said thrice, as in a doubting, melancholy tenderness, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me?
3. And it is, further, a picture of the timid, unsatisfactory Christianunsatisfactory to God, unsatisfactory to man. What is the use of a lamp that does not give light, a knife that will not cut, a pen that splutters when you attempt to write with it? How many professing Christians there are who are not burning and shining lights, but smoking lamps! and what a trouble they are both in the Church and out of it! In a village church lighted with lamps, if one among them smokes, it attracts a great deal of attention and criticism; the others are scarcely noticed. Just so is it with Christians who are symbolised by a smoking lamp. Everybody observes them, and everybody criticises them. They bring dishonour upon themselves and upon their Church.
But though the lamp be a smoking one, He will not quench it. How patient is the Saviour in His dealings with men!
Hell never quench the smoking flax,
But raise it to a flame.
The harsh, pharisaical spirit says of the unsatisfactory tree, Cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground? But Jesus says, Let it stand this year also. Here is guidance for the Church. What Christ would not do, the Church must not do. If a man be overtaken in a fault, what is to be done with him? Is he to be at once excommunicated? Not so, says the apostle. Ye which are spiritual restore such an one. We must not quench the smoking lamp. Comfort the feebleminded, cries Paul in another place: stretch out a helping hand to him; speak a word of encouragement. Forgive such an one even unto seventy times seven. As long as the ship floats, it must never be abandoned; as long as there is a vestige of life in the plant, it must not be uprooted. We dare not extinguish the smoking lamp.
In Christ there was no scorn, no contempt, no insolence, no taunting. One poet speaks of
Those eyes,
Which, though they turn away sometimes,
They never can despise.
And another has written
For Hes not a man that He should judge by the seeing of His eyes,
Hes not the son of man that He should anyone despise;
Hes God Himself, and far too kind for that, and far too wise.
He did not despise our world. This earth of ours is the Valley of the Humiliation of the Son of God. He did not despise our nature, for He took it on Himself, and has carried it to the Eternal Throne. He did not despise the meanest of His creatures. Aristotles magnanimous man used irony with the common herd. Christ cared for the individual. He never saw men as in a herd. In His days at Nazareth He bathed in the fountain of youth, and was wise in the lore hid from a world grown old. Did a golden dawn entrance sea and shore for Him in that small and homely worlda world of few ideas and little knowledge? Doubtless he did not miss the morning glory. But he was never deceived, and in every step of His pilgrimage till He ascended the high and hard bed where His work was accomplished, He was still the same, full of grace and truth. To Him the single life was of infinite pathos and importance. The mystery and immensity of the universe did not perplex Him. He bad come from Sion. Nor did He despair of any human soul. To despair of a soul, however sunken, is to scorn that soul, but the seat of the scorner was not for Him. He drew near to the fallen, made Himself familiar with their misery, understood all their wild, weary wish for the mercy of the grave, saw how they were ground down without help or horizon, and declared to them a gospel of boundless hope. He suffered them to lay their abased heads at His feet that He might lift them up for ever. This was more than justice. True, He was dyed to the depths in justice, but He was full of pity, full of reverence, full of love. This was the attitude of the Redeemer towards our lost humanity, and this was the attitude which befitted the worlds Expectancy and Rose. He came that the lost and erring might return and know the great warmth of the Divine welcome.1 [Note: W. Robertson Nicoll, The Garden of Nuts, p. 112.]
Christ loves and employs and fans into bright and glowing flame dimly burning wicks. They are changed into lamps that shine for the guidance of wandering feet, into beacon fires that warn the voyagers from sandbank and iron coast, into torches which hand on His message to the generation following, into lighthouse rays and beams which conduct storm-tossed sailors to their desired haven.2 [Note: A. Smellie, In the Hour of Silence, p. 92.]
I know not what the future hath
Of marvel or surprise,
Assured alone that life and death
His mercy underlies.
And if my heart and flesh are weak
To bear an untried pain,
The bruised reed He will not break,
But strengthen and sustain.
No offering of my own I have,
Nor works my faith to prove;
I can but give the gifts He gave,
And plead His love for love.
And so beside the Silent Sea,
I wait the muffled oar;
No harm from Him can come to me
On ocean or on shore.
I know not where His islands lift
Their fronded palms in air;
I only know I cannot drift
Beyond His love and care.1 [Note: J. G. Whittier, The Eternal Goodness.]
4. Should not Christs method be the method of all who are Christs? Send them away, we say; Give ye them to eat, He answers. Wilt thou that we call down fire to consume them? we ask; He answers, Ye know not what manner of Spirit ye are of.
A mere plodding boy was above all others encouraged by Arnold. At Waleham he had once got out of patience and spoken sharply to a pupil of this kind, when the pupil looked up in his face and said, Why do you speak angrily, Sir? Indeed I am doing the best that I can. Years afterwards he used to tell the story to his children, and said, I never felt so much ashamed in my lifethat look and that speech I have never forgotten.2 [Note: Stanley, Arnold of Rugby.]
Judge not; the workings of his brain
And of his heart thou canst not see;
What looks to thy dim eyes a stain,
In Gods pure light may only be
A scar, brought from some well-won field,
Where thou wouldst only faint and yield.
The look, the air, that frets thy sight,
May be a token that below
The soul has closed in deadly fight,
With some infernal fiery foe
Whose glance would scorch thy smiling grace,
And cast thee shuddering on thy face!
The fall thou darest to despise
May be the Angels slackened hand
Has suffered it, that he may rise
And take a firmer surer stand;
Or, trusting less, to earthly things,
May henceforth learn to use his wings.
And judge none lost; but wait, and see,
With hopeful pity, not disdain;
The depth of the abyss may be
The measure of the height of pain
And love and glory that may raise
The soul to God in after days!1 [Note: A. Proctor.]
The Bruised Reed and the Smoking Flax
Literature
Dykes (J. O.), Plain Words on Great Themes, 131.
Jeffrey (R. T.), Visits to Calvary, 284.
Jordan (W. G.), Prophetic Ideas and Ideals, 253.
Manning (H. E.), Sermons, ii. 377.
Matheson (G.), Voices of the Spirit, 66.
Maurice (F. D.), Prophets and Kings, 292.
Oosterzee (J. J. van), The Year of Salvation, i. 20.
Pearce (J.), Life on the Heights, 138.
Punshon (W. M.), Sermons, i. 18.
Selby (T. G.), The Imperfect Angel, 1.
Smellie (A.), In the Hour of Silence, 92.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xxxi. No. 1831.
Wells (J.), Bible Images, 19.
Wilkinson (G. H.), The Invisible Glory, 46.
Windross (H.), Life Victorious, 197.
Christian World Pulpit, x. 177 (Smith); xiv. 291 (Hubbard); xv. 241 (Short).
Church Pulpit Year Book, vii. 3.
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible
Zec 9:9, Mat 11:29, Mat 12:16-20, Luk 17:20, 2Ti 2:24, 1Pe 2:23
Reciprocal: Jos 6:10 – any noise with your voice Jdg 14:6 – he told 1Ki 6:7 – neither hammer Ecc 9:17 – General Mar 7:24 – and would Luk 8:51 – he suffered Joh 7:10 – not
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Isa 42:2-3. He shall not cry In a way of contention or ostentation. He shall neither erect nor govern his kingdom with violence or outward pomp and state, like worldly princes, but with meekness and humility. He shall not lift up Namely, his voice; nor cause it to be heard in the street As contentious and vain-glorious persons frequently do. He shall instruct those that oppose themselves, with all meekness and gentleness; he shall patiently endure the contradictions of sinners against himself, and not vindicate himself against their calumnies in an angry or clamorous manner. Lowth. A bruised reed shall he not break He will not deal roughly or rigorously with those that come to him, but he will use all gentleness and kindness to them, bearing with their infirmities, cherishing and encouraging the smallest beginnings of grace, supporting and comforting such as are bowed down under the burden of their sins, and healing wounded consciences. And the smoking flax shall he not quench That wick of a candle, which is almost extinct, he will not quench, but revive and kindle it again. He shall bring forth judgment, &c. The law of God, or the doctrine of the gospel, which he will bring forth unto, with, or according to truth That is, truly and faithfully. St. Matthew reads the clause, Till he send forth judgment unto victory, expressing not so much the words, as the sense, of the original, which seems to be, till he make the cause of righteousness and truth completely victorious, and gloriously triumphant over all opposition.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
42:2 He shall not {e} cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.
(e) His coming will not be with pomp and noise, as earthly princes.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
He would not serve the Lord ostentatiously, nor would He advertise Himself. His ministry would be quiet, non-aggressive, and unthreatening. Obviously Cyrus was not this Servant.
"In Isa 42:1 we met the quintessential servant; here is quintessential service. It was forecast by Isaiah, exemplified perfectly in the Lord Jesus Christ, and is to be reproduced in all who would serve the Lord with true service." [Note: Ibid., p. 320.]