Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 42:3
A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.
3. His gentleness towards the downtrodden expiring good in men.
the smoking flax ] R.V. marg. the dimly burning wick. The metaphor (like the preceding) involves a litotes: the meaning is that instead of crushing the expiring elements of goodness he will strengthen and purify them. It is an interesting question whether these rudiments of religion are conceived as existing in the heathen world or in the breasts of individual Israelites. The former view is no doubt that to which the national interpretation of the Servant most readily accommodates itself, and is also most in keeping with the scope of the passage as a whole. But in later sections a mission in and to Israel is undoubtedly assigned to the Servant, and a reference to that here cannot be pronounced impossible.
unto truth ] i.e. probably, in accordance with truth. The rendering of R.V., however, “in truth,” may be right.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
A bruised reed – The word reed means the cane or calamus which grows up in marshy or wet places (Isa 36:6; see the note at Isa 43:24). The word, therefore, literally denotes that which is fragile, weak, easily waved by the wind, or broken down; and stands in contrast with a lofty and firm tree (compare Mat 11:7): What went ye out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken with the wind? The word here, therefore, may be applied to people who are conscious of feebleness and sin; that are moved and broken by calamity; that feel that they have no strength to bear up against the ills of life. The word bruised ( ratsuts) means that which is broken or crushed, but not entirely broken off. As used here, it may denote those who are in themselves naturally feeble, and who have been crushed or broken down by a sense of sin, by calamity, or by affliction. We speak familiarly of crushing or breaking down by trials; and the phrase here is intensive and emphatic, denoting those who are at best like a reed – feeble and fragile; and who, in addition to that, have been broken and oppressed by a sense of their sins, or by calamity.
Shall he not break – Shall he not break off. He will not carry on the work of destruction, and entirely crush or break it. And the idea is, that he will not make those already broken down with a sense of sin and with calamity, more wretched. He will not deepen their afflictions, or augment their trials, or multiply their sorrows. The sense is, that he will have an affectionate regard for the broken-hearted, the humble, the penitent, and the afflicted. Luther has well expressed this: He does not cast away, nor crush, nor condemn the wounded in conscience, those who are terrified in view of their sins; the weak in faith and practice, but watches over and cherishes them, makes them whole, and affectionately embraces them. The expression is parallel to that which occurs in Isa 61:1, where it is said of the Messiah, He hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted; and to the declaration in Isa 50:4, where it is said, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary.
The smoking flax – The word used here denotes flax, and then a wick that is made of it. The word rendered smoking ( kehah) means that which is weak, small, thin, feeble; then that which is just ready to go out, or to be extinguished; and the phrase refers literally to the expiring wick of a lamp, when the oil is almost consumed, and when it shines with a feeble and dying luster. It may denote here the condition of one who is feeble and disheartened, and whose love to God seems almost ready to expire. And the promise that he will not extinguish or quench that, means that he would cherish, feed, and cultivate it; he would supply it with grace, as with oil to cherish the dying flame, and cause it to be enkindled, and to rise with a high and steady brilliancy. The whole passage is descriptive of the Redeemer, who nourishes the most feeble piety in the hearts of his people, and who will not suffer true religion in the soul ever to become wholly extinct. It may seem as if the slightest breath of misfortune or opposition would extinguish it forever; it may be like the dying flame that hangs on the point of the wick, but if there be true religion it will not be extinguished, but will be enkindled to a pure and glowing flame, and it will yet rise high, and burn brightly.
He shall bring forth judgment – (See Isa 42:1). The word judgment here evidently denotes the true religion; the laws, institutions, and appointments of God.
Unto truth – Matthew Mat 12:29 renders this, unto victory. The meaning in Isaiah is, that he shall establish his religion according to truth; he shall faithfully announce the true precepts of religion, and secure their ascendency among mankind. It shall overcome all falsehood, and all idolatry, and shall obtain a final triumph in all nations. Thus explained, it is clear that Matthew has retained the general idea of the passage, though he has not quoted it literally.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 42:3-4
A bruised reed shall He not break
The bruised reed
The reed, or calamus, is a plant with hollow stem, which grew principally by the side of lakes or rivers.
Those who have been in Palestine are familiar with it in the tangled thickets which still line the shores of the ancient Merom and Genesis nesaret, or, above all, in the dense copse fringing the banks of the Jordan. The plant might well be taken as an emblem of whatever was weak, fragile, brittle. The foot of the wild beast that made its lair in the jungle, trampled it to pieces. Its slender stalk bent or snapped under the weight of the bird that sought to make it a perch. The wind and hail-storm shivered its delicate tubes, or laid them prostrate on the ground. A reed shaken by the wind was the metaphor employed by One whose eyes, in haunts most loved and frequented by Him, had ofttimes gazed on this significant emblem of human weakness and instability. Once broken, it was rendered of no use. Other stems which had been bent by the hurricane might, by careful nursing and tending, be recovered; but the reed, with its heavy culm, once shattered, became worthless. In a preceding chapter (36:6) it is spoken of as an emblem of tottering, fragile Egypt. (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)
A bruised reed
Say some an instrument was meant, and there was a rift in it, which spoiled the music. Jesus Christ said, We must repair this; something must be done with this reed; it was meant for music, and we must look at it with that end in view. He does not take it, saying, There is a rift in the lute, and the music is impossible; rend it and throw it away. He always looks to see if a man cannot be made somewhat better. Or a bruised reed may mean that wild beasts in rushing through to the water, or from the flood, have crushed the growing plants, so that they are bent, they no more stand upright; but Jesus Christ comes to heal them and to restore them. (J. Parker, D. D)
The bruised reed and She smoking flax
God has His strong ones in His Church–His oaks of Bashan and cedars of Lebanon; noble forest trees, spreading far and wide their branches of faith and love and holiness; those who are deeply rooted in the truth, able to wrestle with fierce tempests of unbelief, and to grapple with temptations in their sterner forms. But He has His weaklings and His saplings also–those that require to be tenderly shielded from the blast, and who are liable, from constitutional temperament, to become the prey of doubts and fears, to which the others are strangers. Sensitive in times of trial, irresolute in times of difficulty and danger, unstable in times of severe temptation; or it may be in perpetual disquietude and alarm about their spiritual safety. To such, the loving ways and dealings of the Saviour are unfolded. (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)
Rudiments of religion in the heathen world
It is an interesting question whether these rudiments of religion are conceived as existing in the heathen world or in the breasts of individual Israelites. The former view is, no doubt, that to which the national interpretation of the servant most readily accommodates itself, and is also most in keeping with the scope of the passage as a whole. But in later sections a mission in and to Israel is undoubtedly assigned to the servant, and a reference to that here cannot be pronounced impossible. (Prof. J Skinner, D. D.)
The bruised reed
I. INSIGNIFICANCE ESCAPES NOT CHRISTS ATTENTION. There is no insignificant life, nor insignificant incident of life. All is fraught with the importance of endless existence.
II. UNWORTHINESS FORFEITS NOT CHRISTS REGARD. Nothing more worthless than a bruised reed. Yet He will not break it. As there is no trifle that escapes His notice, so there is no unworthiness that transcends His gracious regard. Where is the bruised reed that the Redeemer has ever broken? Is it the dying thief? Is it Mary Magdalene? Is it Saul of Tarsus?
III. UNPROFITABLENESS ABATES NOT CHRISTS LOVE. Nothing more unprofitable than a bruised reed. The heart that yields no large return for all His care He loves and blesses still. The unprofitable bruised reed He will not break. (Homiletic Review.)
Gods negatives imply strong affirmations
As that negative assertion is the Hebrew way of conveying a strong affirmative, it is equivalent to saying that He will bind up the broken heart, that He will cement the splintered stem of the hanging bulrush, endowing it with new life and strength and vigour causing it to spring up among the grass, as willows by the watercourses; that He will pardon, pity, comfort, relieve. (J. R.Macduff, D. D.)
Fragrance from the bruised-soul
In the case of some aromatic plants, it is when bruised they give forth the sweetest fragrance. So, it is often the soul, crushed with a sense of sin, which sends forth the sweetest aroma of humility, gratitude, and love. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. (J. R. Macduff, D. D.)
Bruised reeds
It is quite a relief to come across words of such gracious import as these, and to learn that there is One having to do with us, while immeasurably above us, in whose heart pity has a place, in whose eyes are tears as they look on our woes, whose touch is soft while strong, whose voice has no harshness in it when addressing the weak and failing–for we live in a cold, callous, cruel world, still darkened by the foulest crimes, where thousands are handled roughly and are driven into out-of-the-way places to die, unattended, unhelped, and unblessed, except, perhaps, by the angels of God. Read history: it is written largely in letters of blood. Read your newspaper, that mirror of the worlds daily life, and weep over fallen human nature as you do so. 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 off, says a pitiless science–thus 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 who has been smitten by a mighty misfortune is to have the tenderest attention, 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 slender bulrush,, with its sides crushed and dinted, its head hanging by a thread, stands for that large class who have been injured by evil of any kind, and to all these Jesus deals out an unwonted, unheard of, restorative tenderness.
I. SOME ARE BRUISED BY ANCESTRAL SINS. Our scientists now accept and emphasise the great Mosaic doctrine, The sins of the fathers shall be visited upon the children unto the third and fourth generations of them that hate Me. Many are seriously handicapped by hereditary taints. The great men of the world are the forest kings of the social landscape; the rich are its olives, the clever are its orchids; the fashionable are its climbing roses; the merry are its purple vines; but here at the bottom, in the dirt, are the bruised reeds of humanity, the outcast, the forsaken, the ill-starred, the poverty-stricken, the weak, the wronged, the fallen. To which did Jesus give His best, His primary attention? He won for Himself the name, A friend of publicans and sinners. When His disciples queried Him as to who was responsible for a mans blindness, He refused to be drawn into a discussion of the law of heredity to satisfy their unfeeling curiosity. To Christ the blind man was something more than a scientific or theological problem–he was a brother whose blindness was an appeal for help, and He helped him by opening his eyes.
II. SOME ARE BRUISED BY PERSONAL SIN. There are many who realise that their lives are knocked out of their proper shape. 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 priest, but we have made ourselves vile. God meant us to be His children, but we have wandered away and become Satans serfs. No one has injured us half as much as we have injured ourselves. What a contrast is Jesus even to the best of His followers in the treatment of self-injured men! Someone has said, How surprising it seems that we find in Jesus no feeling of scorn for man. Surprising? There was not a shade of a shadow of contempt in His nature, not even for the sorriest sons of Adam.
III. SOME ARE BRUISED BY THE SINS OF SOCIETY. Some are more sinned against than sinning. Society must be indicted as a great sinner. Full often it is thoughtless, careless, cruel, wicked. It has a dont-care sort of mien. It cares nothing for others rights, feelings, happiness. Its maxim is, Every man for himself, and the devil take the hindmost. Thus the reeds are trodden on, and there is small wonder that they have hard thoughts of man and God. Whatever our treatment of them, our Lord metes out to them a royal generosity, a most delicate consideration. When He was under Calvarys shadow the soldiers put a reed into His right hand–they did it in mockery, but they knew not what they did. That reed was a sceptre, the symbol of the reign of gentleness. The bruised reed may be nothing to us–but to Him who knoweth all things it suggests music, beauty,usefulness. (J. Pearce.)
The weak Christian comforted
Nothing is more common than for the inspired writers to represent spiritual and Divine things by an allusion to those which are natural. Notice–
I. SOME OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BELIEVERS WEAKNESS.
1. He has knowledge, but it is as yet imperfect.
2. He has faith, but as yet it is comparatively powerless.
3. He has hope, but it is faint and feeble.
4. His joys are few and transient. But these characteristics of the Christians weakness are also the sources of his sorrow.
II. SOME OF THE PLEDGES OF THE BELIEVERS SECURITY. He will not break, etc if faith be genuine, though but like the smallest grain of seed, He owns it; if hope be legitimate, though feeble, He owns it; if love be sincere, though languid, He owns it. The pledges of the believers security are many and great.
1. Weak believers, equally with the strong, stand in a Divine relation to God.
2. They are, equally with the strong, the purchased possession of the Redeemer.
3. The weak believer is, equally with the strong, supplied out of the inexhaustible store of Divine grace. (S. Bridge, M. A.)
The bruised reed
I. WHO ARE SET FORTH UNDER THE FIGURE OF A BRUISED REED? It is a description that well suits all believers, without exception. Some are comparatively stronger than others. How is this where all are so weak? Because they have a deeper, more deeply felt experience of weakness. They live more by faith, lean more on Jesus, are brought into deeper poverty of spirit, receive Him more fully. Those branches next the stem are always the strongest. But our text sets forth the weak believer, and one who is conscious of it. It is not only a reed, but a bruised reed. Perhaps heavy afflictions wound the believer, and temporal troubles become strong spiritual temptations. It is storm upon storm, tempest upon tempest, and the poor reed not only bends beneath it, but is bruised beneath it. The world is unkind, friends are unkind, saints are unkind, and faith being weak, God seems unkind; and then the soul, full of suspicion, is unkind to itself, and suspects its own grace. What s bruising is this! Perhaps a deep sense of sin and inward corruption is added to this.
II. OUR LORDS CONDUCT TO SUCH. He will not break this bruised reed.
1. His faithfulness will not permit it. These are of those whom the Father has entrusted to His love.
2. His holiness will not permit it. Here is a spark of His own kindling, a germ of His own planting, a new nature of His own creating, a child of God, one who loves Him–will He bruise such a one?
3. His tenderness will not permit it. Will a kind physician neglect his patient? Will a shepherd forget his wandering sheep? Will a mother dash her sick child to the earth?
Conclusion–
1. Beware lest you make your feebleness an excuse. There is all fulness in Christ.
2. Beware lest you increase your feebleness. Sin enfeebles, neglects enfeeble, the world enfeebles; want of peace in the conscience enfeebles; living on anything but Christ enfeebles.
3. Admire that condescending Saviour who can stoop to this bruised reed.
4. Admire the compassion of the Saviour.
5. Still more admire Him who has supported, who has all grace to help.
6. Be contented to be ever weak in yourself. (J. H. Evans, M. A.)
The compassion of Christ
I. INQUIRE WHY THE PERSONS SPOKEN OF MAY BE COMPARED TO THE BRUISED REED AND SMOKING FLAX.
1. Both these objects have a mean appearance, and are deemed of little use: and low and humble Christians are much the same. Especially if in a declining state, they bring but little honour to their profession, and often afford matter for reproach.
2. The bruised reed has some strength, and the smoking flax some fire, though both in a small degree; so the Christian, though he has but a little strength, like the church at Philadelphia, yet he is still alive, and the light of Israel is not quenched.
3. Many are ready to break the bruised reed and quench the smoking flax. Great also are the oppositions and discouragements which weak believers meet with, and yet they are still preserved.
4. The bruised reed needs to be supported, and the smoking flax to be enkindled: so does the Christian need to be strengthened, and quickened afresh by Divine grace.
II. NOTICE WHAT IS IMPLIED IN CHRISTS NOT BREAKING THE BRUISED REED, NOR QUENCHING THE SMOKING FLAX. Much more is implied than is expressed. The Lord will not put the weak believer to those trials which are disproportioned to his strength. He will not suffer him to be tempted above what he is able to bear; but will with the temptation also make a way for his escape. The following things are also implied.
1. That as Christ will not break the bruised reed, so neither will He suffer others to do it.
2. Instead of breaking the bruised reed, He will binD it up, and strengthen it; and will cherish the smoking flax till it break forth into a flame. He who notices the smallest sins to punish them, will also notice the weakest efforts of grace to encourage and reward them.
III. AN IMPROVEMENT OF THE SUBJECT.
1. Let weak Christians be encouraged from hence to commit themselves to Christ, and place an entire confidence in His faithfulness and compassion.
2. Let us imitate this part of our Lords conduct, and carry it towards others as He carries it towards us.
3. It becomes us to beware that we do not abuse the mercy of our Saviour, by supposing that we have weak grace, when, indeed, we have none; for it is real and not counterfeit piety to which He shows His tender regard. Nor yet by contenting ourselves with weak grace, though it is true.
4. If weak Christians shall not be neglected, much less the strong. (B. Beddome, M. A,)
The source of Christs perfect tenderness to sinners
The source of Christs perfect tenderness to sinners is none other than the Divine compassion. It was the love and pity of the Word made flesh.
1. It is plain that this gentle reception even of the greatest sinners implies that, where there is so much as a spark of life in the conscience, there is possibility of an entire conversion to God. Where there is room to hope anything, there is room to hope all things. Such is the mysterious nature of the human spirit, of its affections and will, such its energies and intensity, that it may at any time be so renewed by the Spirit of the new creation as to expel, with the most perfect rejection, all the powers, qualities, visions, and thoughts of evil.
2. Another great truth implied in our Lords conduct to sinners is, that the only sure way of fostering the beginning of repentance is to receive them with gentleness and compassion. On those in whom there is the faintest stirring of repentance the love of Christ falls with a soft but penetrating force. To receive sinners coldly, or with an averted eye, an estranged heart, and a hasty, unsparing tongue, will seldom fail to drive them into defiance or self-abandonment. A sinner that is out of hope is lost. Hope is the last thing left. If this be crushed the flax is extinct. Truth told without love is perilous in the measure in which it is true. There is in every sinner a great burden of misery, soreness, and alarm; but even these, instead of driving him to confession, make him shut himself up in a fevered and brooding fear. And it was in this peculiar wretchedness of sin that the gentleness of our Lord gave them courage and hope. It was a strange courage that came upon them; a boldness without trembling, yet an awe without alarm. What little motions of good were in them, what little stirrings of conscience, what faint remainder of better resolutions, what feeble gleams of all but extinguished light,–all seemed to revive, and to turn in sympathy towards some source of kindred nature, and to stretch itself out in hope to something long desired, with a dim unconscious love. It is an affinity of the spirit working in penitents with the Spirit of Christ that made them draw to Him. It was not only because of His infinite compassion as God that Christ so dealt with sinners; but because, knowing the nature of man, its strange depths and windings, its weakness and fears, He knew that this was the surest way of winning them to Himself. (H. E. Manning, D. D.)
The transforming tenderness of Jesus
He uses and loves and transfigures broken reeds. They become pens to write His truth. They become instruments of sweet music to sound forth His praise. They become pillars to support and adorn His Temple. They become swords and spears to rout His enemies; so that, as Mr. Lowell sings, the bruised reed is amply tough to pierce the shield of error through. And He loves and employs and fans into bright and glowing flame dimly burning wicks. They are changed into lamps that shine, into beacon-fires that warn, into torches that hand on His message to the generation following, into lighthouse rays and beams that guide storm-tossed sailors into the desired haven. (A. Sradlle, M. A.)
The long-suffering of Messiah
A passage setting forth the gentleness of the new Prince of Righteousness promised to Israel.
I. THE ANALOGIES OF HIS FORBEARANCE.
1. Few of natures forms are more lovely and symmetrical than the tall cane of the reed rising by the marsh or river edge. One of the elements of our pleasure as we look at it, is derived from our sense of its marvellous power of resisting the pressure of the wind or the dashing of the waves. It is one of the triumphs of natures architecture. Yet let but a rough stroke fall suddenly upon it, and all its glory is abased. Every passing wind only aggravates the injury. Of what good is it henceforth, but to be cut down and cast into the oven! Yet this, which we should esteem reasonable in the husbandman, is precisely what the Messiah does not do with respect to souls that have been similarly injured.
2. The other illustration of the prophet is from the home or the temple. The oil-lamp was one of the most common objects there. The wick fed by the oil is able to sustain a flame which, although feeble, is clear, and sufficient for the small chambers of the poor. The oil, however, is supposed to be exhausted, and the wick is sending forth a weak, smoky, disagreeable light, soon to subside into darkness. Would it not be better, one might ask, to put out such a light altogether than to endure its disagreeable stench, or, all unprepared, find ourselves plunged in darkness? These two images set before us suggestions of what would be reasonable actions on the part of man, when considering merely human ends.
These two things are–
1. Types of spiritual states.
2. Suggestions of judicial action.
II. THE ULTIMATE AIM OF HIS FORBEARANCE. Until He bring forth judgment unto truth. The gentleness of Christ without some such obvious explanation might appear moral indifference, or amiable eccentricity, or insane belief in the inherent goodness of men. This aim gives it an entirely new, a far nobler aspect.
1. To every man is given an opportunity of putting himself right with God. The force of circumstances will be counterbalanced so that the will and affections may work freely; inequalities, opposition, etc., will be neutralised or allowed for in so far as they affect conduct.
2. Judgment will be withheld until the career of man is complete. Good and evil alike will work themselves out. There is a tragic power of evolution latent in all sin. Righteousness, too, is as a seed.
3. The character of this judgment, therefore, will be final and absolute. (St. J. A. Frere, M. A.)
A bruised reed and smoking flax
The two metaphors are not altogether parallel. A bruised reed has suffered an injury which, however, is neither complete nor irreparable. Smoking flax, on the other hand–by which, of course, is meant flax used as a wick in an old-fashioned oil lamp–is partially lit. In the one a process has been begun which, if continued, ends in destruction; in the other a process has been begun which, if continued, ends in a bright flame. So the one metaphor may express the beginnings of evil which may still be averted, and the other the beginnings of incipient and incomplete good. If we keep that distinction in mind, the words of our text gain wonderfully in comprehensiveness. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
The strong servant of Jehovah
It is to be noticed that in Isa 42:4 we have an echo of these metaphors. The word translated fail is the same as that rendered in the previous verse, smoking, or dimly burning; and the word discouraged is the same as that rendered in the previous verse, bruised. So then this servant of the Lord, Who is not to break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax, is fitted for His work because He Himself has no share in the evils which He would heal, and none in the weaknesses which He would strengthen. His perfect manhood knows no flaws nor bruises; His complete goodness is capable of and needs no increase. Neither outward force nor inward weakness can hinder His power to heal and bless; therefore His work can never cease till it has attained its ultimate purpose. He shall not fail nor be discouraged, shall neither be broken by outward violence, nor shall the flame of His saving energy burn faint until He hath set judgment in the earth, and crowned His purposes with complete success. (A. Maclaren, D. D
Christ the arrester of begun evil, and the nourisher of incipient good
We have here set before us three significant representations of that Servant of the Lord, which may well commend Him to our confidence and our love.
I. AS THE RESTORER OF THE BRUISE THAT IT MAY NOT BE BROKEN. He shall not break the bruised reed. It is bruised, but the bruise is not irreparable. And so there are reeds bruised and shaken by the wind, but yet not broken. And the tender Christ comes with His gentle, wise, skilful surgery, to bind these up and to make them strong again. To whom does this text apply?
1. In a very solemn sense to all mankind. In all the dints and marks of sin are plainly seen. Our manhood has been crushed and battered out of its right shape, and has received awful wounds from that evil that has found entrance within us. But there emerges from the metaphor not only the solemn thought of the bruises by sin that all men bear, but the other blessed one, that there is no man so bruised as that he is broken. And Christ 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.
2. But then the words may be taken in a somewhat narrow sense, applying more directly to a class. The broken and the contrite heart, bruised and pulverised as it were by a sense of evil, may be typified for us by this bruised reed. And then there emerges the blessed hope that such a heart, wholesomely removed from its self-complacent fancy of soundness, shall certainly be healed and bound up by His tender hand. Wheresoever there is a touch of penitence there is present a restoring Christ.
3. The words may be looked at from yet another point of view, as representing the merciful dealing of the Master with the spirits which are beaten and bruised.
II. AS THE FOSTERER OF INCIPIENT AND IMPERFECT GOOD. The dimly burning wick He shall not quench. Who are represented by this smoking flax?
1. I am not contradicting what I have been saying, if I claim for this second metaphor as wide a universality as the former. There is no man out of hell but has in him something that wants but to be brought to sovereign power in his life in order to make him a light in the world. You have got consciences at the least; you have convictions, which if you followed them out would make Christians of you straight away. You have got 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. Fanned and cared for it can only be by a Divine power coming down upon it from without.
2. Then, in a narrower way, the words may be applied to a class. There are some of us who have a little spark, as we believe, of a Divine life, the faint beginnings of a Christian character. They say that where there is smoke there is fire. There is a deal more smoke than fire in the most of Christian people in this generation. And if it were not for such thoughts as this about that dear Christ that will not lay a hasty hand upon some little tremulous spark, and by one rash movement extinguish it for ever, there would be but little hope for a great many of us. Look at His life on earth; think how He bore with those blundering, foolish, selfish disciples of His. Remember how, when a man came to Him with a very imperfect goodness, the Evangelist tells us that Jesus, beholding him, loved him. And take out of these blessed stories this great hope, that howsoever small men despise the day of small things, the Greatest does not. How do you make smoking flax burn? You give it oil, you give it air, and you take away the charred portions. And Christ will give you, in your feebleness, the oil of His Spirit, that you may burn brightly as one of the candlesticks in His temple; and He will let air in, and take away the charred portions by the wise discipline of sorrow and trial sometimes in order that the smoking flax may become the shining light. The reason why so many Christian mens Christian light is so fulinginous and dim is just that they keep away from Jesus Christ.
III. AS EXEMPT FROM HUMAN EVIL AND WEAKNESS, as the foundation of His restoring and fostering work. He shall not burn dimly nor be broken till He hath set judgment in the earth. There are no bruises in this reed. That is to say, Christs manhood is free from all scars and wounds of evil or of sin. There is no dimness in this light. That is to say, Christs character is perfect, His goodness needs no increase. There is no trace of effort in His holiness, no growth manifest in His God likeness, from the beginning to the end. There is no outward violence that can be brought to bear upon Him that shall stay Him in His purpose. There is no inward failure of strength that may lead us to fear that His work shall not be completed. And because of all these things, because of His perfect exemption from human infirmity, because in Him was no sin, He is manifested to take away our sins. (A. Maclaren, D. D)
The smoking flex shall He not quench
The smoking flax
I. A STATE OF GRACE IS SUPPOSED. The figure is that of a lamp. Such are believers (Mat 5:15-16).
II. THE FEEBLENESS OF THAT STATE. Smoking flax. There is some light, yet but little, and that little seems all but ready to be extinguished. There is something of the light of Gods Word in the soul, a real spark of grace, but it seems little more than this. Some warmth of affection, but it acts feebly. Many causes conspire to produce this. Some have but the first spark. All things seem ready to put it out. Strong corruptions, fleshly passions, vanities of the world, evil companions, entire inexperience are all extinguishers. Others have little light in the school of self-knowledge–the danger of temptation, the evil of the heart, the worth of Jesus, the character of God. There is much of the smoke of vain confidence, fearlessness of consequences, tampering with things dangerous, and this very smoke obscures the light still more. Some are in great prosperity–the wick grows tall and all is dim. In some, the light is obscured by neglects with a certain degree of wilfulness in them. In some, by want of deep humbling and thorough repentance on account of sin. In some, by ceaseless engagement, that scarcely allows any real dealing with God. In some, the constant, undeviating habit of looking at themselves rather than Christ, living more by sense than faith. In short, we may dim the light by whatever grieves the Spirit.
III. THE CONDUCT OF OUR LORD WITH RESPECT TO IT. He shall not quench it. He will greatly exceed this. He will tend this smoking flax. The flax is His own, the light His own, the oil His own, all His heart is shown in all His actings here. He will dress it. True, He may cut down the wick–humble, lower, abase. He will increase the light. He giveth more grace. He will perfect it. Conclusion–
1. Perhaps there are some whose hopes of worldly happiness are like a dying taper, and, alas! they have little, if any other, hope. Such a beam was in the heart of poor Manasseh. Is it but the faintest, the feeblest, yet does it take thee poor and needy to the Saviour? Will He cast out? Never!
2. If the blessed Saviour does not despise, neither should we. (J. H.Evans, M. A.)
Smelting flax
I. WHAT STATE THIS METAPHOR REPRESENTS.
1. A smoking flax represents a state in which there is a little good. The margin is dimly burning flax. It is burning; but it is burning very dimly. There is a spark of good within the heart.
2. You are like smoking flax, because your good is too little to be of much use to anybody. What could we do with a smoking flax if we had it here to-night, and the gas was all out?
3. Smoking flax, then, has a little fire, but it is so little that it is of small service, and, what is worse, it is so little that it is rather unpleasant.
4. Though the good of it is so little that it is of very little use to other people, and sometimes is very obnoxious, yet there is enough good in you to be dangerous in Satans esteem. He does not like to observe that there is yet a little fire in you, for he fears that it may become a flame.
II. WHEN ARE SOULS IN THAT STATE?
1. Some are in that state when they are newly saved–when the flax has just been lighted.
2. Sometimes a candle smokes, not because it is newly lit, but because it is almost extinguished. I speak to some Christians who have been alight with the fire of grace for many years, and yet they feel as if they were near the dark hour of extinction. But you shall not go out. The Lord will keep you alight with grace.
3. Sometimes the wick smokes when worldliness has damped it.
4. At times a wick burns low because a very strong wind has blown upon it. Many men and women are the subjects of very fierce temptations.
III. WHAT DOES JESUS DO WITH THOSE WHO ARE IN THIS STATE? He will not quench the smoking flax. What a world of mercy lies in that word!
1. He will not quench you by pronouncing legal judgment upon you.
2. He will not quench you by setting up a high experimental standard.
3. He will not judge you by a lofty standard of knowledge. The Lord has some of His children whose heads are in a very queer state; and if He first puts their hearts right He afterwards puts their heads right.
4. The Lord will not quench you by setting up a standard by which to measure your graces. It is not, So much faith, and you are saved. So little faith, and you are lost. If thou hast faith as a grain of mustard-seed it will save thee. Come along, you little ones,-you trembling ones! Jesus will not quench you. He will blow upon you with the soft breath of His love till the little spark will rise into a flame. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
A bruised reed shall he not break; he will not break it to pieces, but rather will strengthen and bind it up. It is a common figure, whereby more is understood than was expressed, and one contrary is left to be gathered from another, of which many instances have been given in former texts. The sense is plainly this, Christ will not deal roughly and rigorously with those that come to him, but he will use all gentleness and kindness to them, passing by their greatest sins, bearing with their present infirmities, cherishing and encouraging the smallest beginnings of grace, comforting and healing wounded consciences, and the like.
The smoking flax shall he not quench; the same thing is repeated in other words, to give us the greater assurance of the truth of it. That wick of a candle (called flax metonymically, because it is made of flax) which is almost extinct, and doth only smoke and not flame, he will not utterly quench, but will revive and kindle it again.
He shall bring forth judgment unto truth: judgment may be here taken either,
1. For the law or will of God, or the doctrine of the gospel, which he will
bring forth, i.e. publish, which he will do unto, or in, or with, or according to (for this preposition is used all those ways) truth, i.e. truly and faithfully, not concealing nor corrupting it, as false teachers commonly do. So this is a character like that which is given to Christ, Mat 22:16, Thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth; and thus this phrase of bringing forth judgment is taken here, as it is Isa 42:1. Or,
2. For the cause which is debated, or for the sentence which is given in the cause, as this word is most frequently used, which he will bring forth, i.e. bring to light, or discover, or publish; and this he will do according to truth and equity, and not unjustly and partially, as corrupt judges use to give sentence against the poor and meek. In this sense this very phrase of
bringing forth judgment is taken Psa 37:6. And this sense seems to be favoured, both by the consideration of the quality of the persons, to whom this judgment is here implied to be brought forth, who are called bruised reeds, and smoking flax, whereby they are supposed to be persons discouraged and oppressed, and in a contest with themselves, or with their spiritual adversaries, about the state of their souls; as also by comparing this place with Mat 12:20, where these very words are quoted, and thus rendered, till he send forth judgment unto victory, i.e. till judgment or sentence be given for him, in which case a man is said to be victorious in judgment. If it be said for the former interpretation, that it seems most reasonable to understand judgment here as it is understood Isa 42:1,4, and bringing forth judgment here as it is taken, Isa 42:1, it may be truly and fairly answered, that it is a very common thing in Scripture for the same words or phrases to be used in several senses, not only in two neighbouring verses, but sometimes also in the very same verse, whereof I have formerly given divers instances.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
3. bruised“It pleasedthe Lord to bruise Him” (Isa 53:5;Isa 53:10; Gen 3:15);so He can feel for the bruised. As Isa42:2 described His unturbulent spirit towards His violent enemies(Mt 12:14-16), andHis utter freedom from love of notoriety, so Isa42:3, His tenderness in cherishing the first spark of grace inthe penitent (Isa 40:11).
reedfragile: easily”shaken with the wind” (Mt11:7). Those who are at best feeble, and who besides areoppressed by calamity or by the sense of sin.
breakentirely crush orcondemn. Compare “bind up the broken-hearted” (Isa 50:4;Isa 61:1; Mat 11:28).
flaxput for thelamp-wick, formed of flax. The believer is the lamp (sothe Greek, Mat 5:15;Joh 5:35): his conscienceenlightened by the Holy Ghost is the wick. “Smoking”means “dimly burning,” “smouldering,” the flamenot quite extinct. This expresses the positive side of the penitent’sreligion; as “bruised reed,” the negative. Broken-heartedin himself, but not without some spark of flame: literally, “fromabove.” Christ will supply such a one with grace as with oil.Also, the light of nature smouldering in the Gentiles amidst thehurtful fumes of error. He not only did not quench, but cleared awaythe mists and superadded the light of revelation. See JEROME,To Algasia, Question 2.
truthMt12:20 quotes it, “send forth judgment unto victory.“Matthew, under the Spirit, gives the virtual sense, but varies theword, in order to bring out a fresh aspect of the same thing. Truthhas in itself the elements of victory over all opposing forces. Truthis the victory of Him who is “the truth” (Joh14:6). The gospel judicial sifting (“judgment”)of believers and unbelievers, begun already in part (Joh 3:18;Joh 3:19; Joh 9:39),will be consummated victoriously in truth only at His secondcoming; Isa 42:13; Isa 42:14,here, and Mat 12:32; Mat 12:36;Mat 12:41; Mat 12:42,show that there is reference to the judicial aspect of theGospel, especially finally: besides the mild triumph of Jesus comingin mercy to the penitent now (Isa42:2), there shall be finally the judgment on His enemies,when the “truth” shall be perfectly developed. Compare Isa61:1-3, where the two comings are similarly joined (Psa 2:4-6;Psa 2:8; Rev 15:2;Rev 15:4; Rev 15:19).On “judgment,” see on Isa42:1.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
A bruised reed shall not break,…. The tenderness of Christ to weak and ignorant persons is here and in the next clause expressed; by whom young converts or weak believers seem to be designed; who are compared to a “reed”, because worthless with respect to God, whom they cannot profit; and in the view of men, who reckon them as nothing; and in themselves, and in their own view, who judge themselves unworthy of the least of mercies; and because they are weak, not only as all men are, of which weakness they are sensible; but they are weak in grace, especially in faith, and have but little hope, their love is the strongest; and because they are wavering like the reed, tossed to and fro with every wind of doctrine, and shaken with the temptations of Satan, and disturbed with many doubts and fears; and are like a “bruised” reed that is squeezed, and almost broke to pieces, and so of no use; these are broken in heart, under a sense of sin and unworthiness; whose spirits are bruised and wounded with it, and whose hearts are contrite on account of it. On these Christ does not lay his iron rod, but holds out the golden sceptre of his grace to them; he does not call them to service and sufferings beyond their strength; but strengthens, supports, and upholds them with the right hand of his righteousness; he binds up their broken hearts, having poured in the balm of Gilead, his own blood, and the wine and oil of his love; he encourages them in their application to him for salvation, and manifests his pardoning grace, and restores comforts to them, and revives their souls:
and the smoking flax shall he not quench; or, “the wick of a candle; h” which just going out, has some heat, a little light, smokes, and is offensive; so the persons intended by it are fired or lighted by the divine word; have some heat of affection in them to spiritual things, but have but little light; into the corruption of nature into the glories of Christ’s person; into the doctrines of the Gospel; into the everlasting love of God, and the covenant of grace; and but little light of joy and comfort, and this almost gone, and seemingly ready to go out; and yet Christ will not extinguish it, or suffer it to be extinct; he does not discourage small beginnings of grace, or despise the day of small things; he blows up their light into a flame; he increases their spiritual light and knowledge; supplies them with the oil of grace; trims, snuffs, and causes their lamps to burn brighter. The Targum is,
“the meek, who are like to a bruised reed, shall not be broken; and the poor, who are as obscure as flax (or a lamp ready to go out), shall not be extinct:”
he shall bring forth judgment unto truth; which some understand of Christ’s severity to wicked men, in opposition to his tenderness to his own people; see Isa 11:4, others of the Gospel, as preached by him in truth, as in Isa 42:1, but rather it designs the power of his Spirit and grace accompanying the word, to the carrying on of his own work in the hearts of his people; which, though attended with many difficulties and discouragements, shall go on, and be performed; grace will break through all obstructions, and prove victorious at last; see Mt 12:20.
h “ellychnium fumigans”, Junius Tremellius “fumans”, Piscator.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
With this unassuming appearance there is associated a tender pastoral care. “A bruised reed He does not break, and a glimmering wick He does not put out: according to truth He brings out right.” “ Bruised: ” ratsuts signifies here, as in Isa 36:6, what is cracked, and therefore half-broken already. Glimmering: keheh (a form indicative of defects, like ), that which is burning feebly, and very nearly extinguished. Tertullian understands by the “bruised reed” ( arundinem contusam ) the faith of Israel, and by the “glimmering wick” ( linum ardens ) the momentary zeal of the Gentiles. But the words hardly admit of this distinction; the reference is rather a general one, to those whose inner and outer life is only hanging by a slender thread. In the statement that in such a case as this He does not completely break or extinguish, there is more implied than is really expressed. Not only will He not destroy the life that is dying out, but He will actually save it; His course is not to destroy, but to save. If we explain the words that follow as meaning, “He will carry out right to truth,” i.e., to its fullest efficacy and permanence (lxx ; instead of which we find , “unto victory,” in Mat 12:20,
(Note: “ Ad victoriam enim kri’sin perducit qui ad veritatem perducit .” – Anger.)
as if the reading were , as in Hab 1:4), the connection between the first and last clauses of Isa 42:3 is a very loose one. It becomes much closer if we take the as indicating the standard, as in Isa 11:3 and Isa 32:1, and adopt the rendering “according to truth” (Hitzig and Knobel). It is on its subjective and practical side that truth is referred to here, viz., as denoting such a knowledge, and acknowledgement of the true facts in the complicated affairs of men, as will promote both equity and kindness.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
3. A bruised reed he shall not break. After having declared in general that Christ will be unlike earthly princes, he next mentions his mildness in this respect, that he will support the weak and feeble. This is what he means by the metaphor of “the bruised reed,” that he does not wish to break off and altogether crush those who are half-broken, but, on the contrary, to lift up and support them, so as to maintain and strengthen all that is good in them.
Nor will he quench the smoking flax. This metaphor is of the same import with the former, and is borrowed from the wicks of lamps, which may displease us by not burning clearly or by giving out smoke, and yet we do not extinguish but trim and brighten them. Isaiah ascribes to Christ that forbearance by which he bears with our weakness, which we find to be actually fulfilled by him; for wherever any spark of piety is seen, he strengthens and kindles it, and if he were to act towards us with the utmost rigor, we should be reduced to nothing. Although men therefore totter and stumble, although they are even shaken or out of joint, yet he does not at once cast them off as utterly useless, but bears long, till he makes them stronger and more steadfast.
God gave a manifestation of this meekness when he appointed Christ to begin the discharge of his office as ambassador; for the Holy Spirit was sent from heaven in the shape of a dove, which was a token of nothing but mildness and gentleness. (Mat 3:16; Mar 1:10; Luk 3:22; Joh 1:32.) And indeed the sign perfectly agrees with the reality; for he makes no great noise, and does not render himself an object of terror, as earthly kings commonly do, and does not wish to harass or oppress his people beyond measure, but, on the contrary, to soothe and comfort them. Not only did he act in this manner when he was manifested to the world, but this is what he daily shows himself to be by the gospel. Following this example, the ministers of the gospel, who are his deputies, ought to shew themselves to be meek, and to support the weak, and gently to lead them in the way, so as not to extinguish in them the feeblest sparks of piety, but, on the contrary, to kindle them with all their might. But that we may not suppose that this meekness holds out encouragement to vices and corruptions, he adds —
He shall bring forth judgment in truth. Although Christ soothes and upholds the weak, yet he is very far from using the flatteries which encourage vices; and therefore we ought to correct vices without flattery, which is in the highest degree inconsistent with that meekness. We ought therefore to guard diligently against extremes; that is, we must neither crush the minds of the weak by excessive severity, nor encourage by our smooth language anything that is evil.
That we may better understand who those persons are towards whom, following the example of Christ, we ought to exercise this mildness, we ought to weigh carefully the Prophet’s words. He calls them “a bruised reed” and “smoking wick.” These words do not apply to those who boldly and obstinately resist, nor to those who are fierce and headstrong; for such persons do not deserve this forbearance, but rather must be broken and crushed, as by the strokes of a hammer, by the severity of the word. While he praises meekness, he at the same time shews to whom it is adapted, and at what time and in what manner it ought to be employed; for it is not suitable to hardened and rebellious persons, or to those whose rage sends forth flames, but to those who are submissive, and who cheerfully yield to the yoke of Christ.
The word smoking shews that he maintains and cherishes not darkness, but sparks, though feeble and hardly perceptible. Wherever then there is impiety and stubbornness, there we must act with the utmost severity, and exercise no forbearance; but, on the other hand, where there are vices that have not gone beyond endurance, yet by gentleness of this nature, instead of encouraging, we must correct and reform them; for we must always pay regard chiefly to truth, of which he speaks, that vices may not be concealed, and thus acquire a secret corruption, but that the weak may be gradually trained to sincerity and uprightness. These words, therefore, relate to those persons who, amidst many deficiencies, have integrity of mind, and earnestly desire to follow true religion, or, at least, in whom we see some good beginning. It is clearly shewn by many passages (Mat 12:39) how severely Christ deals with despisers; for he is constrained to employ “a rod of iron” to crush those who do not submit to be governed by his shepherd’s crook. As he justly declares that “his yoke is easy, and his burden is light,” (Mat 11:30,) to willing disciples, so with good reason does David arm him with “a scepter of iron” (Psa 2:9) to break his enemies in pieces, and declare that he will be wet with their blood. (Psa 110:6.)
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(3) A bruised reed shall he not break . . .Physical, moral, spiritual weakness are all brought under the same similitude. In another context the image has met us in Isa. 36:6. The simple negative he shall not break implies, as in the rhetoric of all times, the opposite extreme, the tender care that props and supports. The humanity of the servant of the Lord was to embody what had been already predicated of the Divine will (Psa. 51:17). The dimly burning flax, the wick of a lamp nearly out, He will foster and cherish and feed the spiritual life, all but extinguished, with oil till it burns brightly again. In Mat. 25:1-13 we have to deal with lamps that are going out, and these not even He could light again unless the bearers of the lamps bought oil for themselves.
Judgment unto truthi.e., according to the perfect standard of truth, with something of the sense of St. Johns true in the sense of representing the ideal (Joh. 1:9; Joh. 15:1).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
3. A bruised reed In Isa 36:6, Egypt, impaired by Sargon of Assyria, was called a “broken reed.” Figuratively, the bruised and oppressed in Israel are compassionated by Messiah.
Shall he not break He will not bruise it more. His nature is to deal tenderly with all; not to command, but to give help more effective than individuals or peoples can obtain from other quarters.
The smoking flax The dimly burning and smoking wick, ready to go out for lack of oil, he trims and replenishes, thus imparting to it efficiency; whatever the exigency, he is at hand mercifully to give aid.
Judgment The true religion, with all it involves.
Unto truth Unto victory, to the ends of the earth and forever.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
DISCOURSE: 1008
THE CHURCH A ROYAL DIADEM
Isa 42:3. Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God.
IT was promised to our blessed Lord, that, when he should have made his soul an offering for sin, he should see a seed, who should prolong their days, and the pleasure of the Lord should prosper in his hands. These promises are to be fulfilled in the conversion of souls to him: and then only will they be fully accomplished, when all the kingdoms of the world are his, and when the entire Church, both of Jews and Gentiles, shall be a crown of glory, and a royal diadem in his hand. In another part of his writings, the prophet says, that Jehovah shall in that day be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty unto the residue of his people [Note: Isa 28:5.]. And that appears an expression suited to the occasion. But the language of our text seems altogether inexplicable. That God should be a crown of glory to us, as adding glory to us, and crowning us with loving-kindness and tender mercies, is conceivable enough; but that we should be a royal diadem to him, is utterly inconceivable. Yet so it is: and the declaration of it to us will lead me to shew,
I.
In what estimation God holds his Church and people
To form a just idea of this subject, we must consider in what light an earthly monarch views his crown; and then transfer to Jehovah those feelings, as far as they will comport with the holiness of his Nature, and the dignity of his divine Majesty.
God regards, then, his Church.
1.
As an emblem of his power
[Crowns and sceptres are generally used as emblems of royalty, and as bearing witness to the power of Him who is invested with them. Now Gods Church and people are precisely such witnesses for him. The works of creation indeed testify of his eternal power and Godhead, and that in terms that are intelligible to all [Note: Rom 1:19-20.]: but the new creation of his people speaks no less strongly on this subject. By sin, they are fallen from the image in which they were first created, and are transformed into the very likeness of Satan himself. Now, to repair these ruins, to cancel, in consistency with Gods perfections, the guilt that has been contracted, to purge away all the pollution with which the soul is defiled, to impress again upon it the divine image, and to render it meet for the enjoyment of God himself in heaven, is confessedly a work which no finite imagination could ever have contemplated. But God has wrought it; he has wrought it for every individual of his Church and people: and this it is, which, in the judgment of the angelic host, brings glory to God in the highest. It is this in which the exceeding greatness of his power, according to the working of his mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead, is pre-eminently displayed [Note: Eph 1:19-20. Perhaps in no book upon earth will there be found more energetic language than this is in the original.]; and this proclaims him, throughout the whole universe to be King of kings, and Lord of lords.]
2.
As a monument of his love
[Nothing does a monarch behold with more complacency than his crown. And with what delight does God behold his Church and people, whom he accounts his peculiar treasure [Note: Exo 19:5-6. Psa 135:4.], his most inestimable jewels [Note: Mal 3:17.]! He has chosen them in Christ from before the foundation of the world, and predestinated them to be to the praise of the glory of his grace [Note: Eph 1:4-6.]: and he delights in them in that peculiar view; as says the Prophet Zephaniah: The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty: he will save: he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love; he will joy over thee with singing [Note: Zep 3:17.].]
3.
As an object of his peculiar care
[Were his crown menaced, and a confederacy formed to wrest it from him, a monarch would exert himself to the uttermost to defend it. And what will not Jehovah do for the preservation of his Church and people? He has declared that neither the power nor the policy of hell shall ever prevail against them [Note: Mat 16:18.]; that none shall ever pluck them out of his hands [Note: Joh 10:28-29.]; but that they shall be kept by the power of God unto everlasting salvation [Note: 1Pe 1:5.]. They are in the palm of his hand [Note: See Vitringa in loc.], held fast by him, against all the efforts of their enemies. Lest any should hurt them, he keeps them night and day [Note: Isa 27:3.]; nor shall the least jewel of his crown be found wanting in it [Note: Amo 9:9.]. How determined he is to keep them, may be seen by his own gracious declarations in the Prophet Jeremiah: I will rejoice over them, to do them good; and I will plant them in this land assuredly, with my whole heart, and with my whole soul [Note: Jer 32:41.]. They are to him for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory [Note: Jer 13:11.]; and he will never suffer so much as one of them to perish [Note: Mat 18:14.].]
Seeing, then, that God esteems his people so highly, we may perceive,
II.
The interest which we also, from this consideration, should take in their welfare
They should undoubtedly be dear to us. We should take a lively interest in,
1.
The Church at large
[We are taught, in our daily prayers, to make this a leading petition, Thy kingdom come. And we should not only desire it, but labour to promote it to the utmost of our power. We should labour in it for the worlds sake. Who would not wish that the wretched bond-slaves of Satan should be rescued from his dominion, and be brought into the liberty of Gods dear children? It matters not whether they belong to the civilized or uncivilized world; for with God there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond, nor free; but Christ is all, and in all [Note: Col 3:11.]. The meanest Hottentot, who is brought to the knowledge of Christ, is made a jewel in the Redeemers crown, and is not a whit less dear to him than the greatest monarch upon earth. And should we account any labour too great, if peradventure we may be instruments in Gods hands to pluck brands out of the burning, and to form them as pillars for the temple of our God; or to wrest jewels from Satans crown, and polish them for the crown of our Redeemer? I say, the man who pants not to help forward such offices of love as these, has yet to learn wherein true love consists.
And should we not engage in this work for our Redeemers sake? Has he left his throne in glory for us, and submitted to death, even the accursed death upon the cross, for us? and shall we feel no zeal for his glory; Shall we be indifferent, whether he ever see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied? The prospect of bringing many sons to glory was the joy set before him, for which he endured the cross and despised the shame, till he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God [Note: Heb 12:2.]. And shall we be indifferent, whether he ever attain that joy? Even the honour of having men as our own joy and crown of rejoicing in the latter day [Note: 1Th 2:19-20.], might well be a sufficient stimulus to our exertion in their behalf: but, to gather them as jewels for the Redeemers crown, jewels in whom he shall be glorified to all eternity, should be regarded by us as the most honourable office that can be sustained, the most delightful work in which it is possible to be engaged.]
2.
The Jewish Church in particular
[It is of them that the prophet speaks in the whole context, and to them chiefly that the words in my text refer. They were Gods chosen people from the beginning; even from the moment that God called Abraham their father, and entered into covenant with him. It was to them that he revealed himself as their God in a more eminent and peculiar way than he was of any other people: and in them has he been more glorified than in the whole world besides. Though they are under his displeasure, scattered over the face of the whole earth, yet are they preserved in a way that no other people have ever been; and are kept for the express purpose, that his glory may again be displayed in them, far beyond what it has been at any former period of their existence. It is at the period of their destined conversion that they are to be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of their God. This is plainly declared by the Lord himself: I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them as at the first: and I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me. And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise, and an honour before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them [Note: Jer 33:7-9.]. Hence are we called to be fellow-workers with God in their conversion. For Zions sake we should not hold our peace; and for Jerusalems sake we should not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. To this period God himself looks forward, even as a bridegroom to the day of his nuptials; saving, As a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons (who build up the families of their ancestors) marry thee; and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee [Note: ver. 1, 5.]. At that period, through the labours of Gods people [Note: ver. 10.], shall the attention of the whole world be directed to them [Note: ver. 11.], and men shall call them, The holy people, the redeemed of the Lord, a people sought out, a city not forsaken [Note: ver. 12.]. Say then, Brethren, whether we should not, both by secret prayers and public exertions, labour, all of us, according to our respective abilities, to hasten forward this glorious day, when that people, hated and despised as they have been, shall become an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations, the branch of Gods planting, the work of his hands, in which he shall be glorified [Note: Isa 60:15; Isa 60:21.]? Yes: we should not hold our peace day nor night. O ye that make mention of the Lord, and profess to serve him, in the name of Almighty God I say to you, keep not silence, and give God no rest, till he establish and make Jerusalem a praise in the earth [Note: ver. 6, 7.]!]
As a further improvement of this subject, I wish you particularly to observe,
1.
What obligations we are under to look well to our ways
[Every true Believer is a jewel in the Redeemers crown. And does it become persons so honoured to be regardless of their ways? Should we not rather be studious, as sons of God, to be blameless and harmless in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, shining as lights in the world, holding forth in the whole of our conversation the word of life [Note: Php 2:15-16.]? I call upon you, Brethren, to remember what a conspicuous place you are ordained to fill to all eternity; and to walk worthy of your high calling, yea, and worthy of the Lord himself too, unto all pleasing: and however bright you already shine, let your path shine brighter and brighter unto the perfect day.]
2.
What encouragement we have to labour for the Lord
[It is no worthless object that we have in view. What if we be not able to labour on an extended scale? If, in the course of our whole lives, we can add but one jewel to Jehovahs crown, we shall have effected, both for God and man, a work that is superior in value to the whole world. See, then, whether God may not enable you to effect this in behalf of a parent or child, a brother or sister, a friend or servant, a neighbour, or some person in a state of deep affliction. It is not human skill that is requisite, like that which is necessary to prepare stones for an earthly crown: the speaking of a word for God, and in dependence upon him, may, through his blessing, accomplish this glorious undertaking. And, O! how rich a recompence would one single instance of success be for the labours of our whole life! If, indeed, we are able to extend our labours to the very ends of the earth, let us account it our highest privilege to do so. Let us, for the joy that is set before us, endure any cross, and despise any shame, even as our Lord and Saviour did, if, peradventure, we may prepare a crown of rejoicing for ourselves [Note: Php 4:1.], and a crown of glory for our God.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 42:3 A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth.
Ver. 3. A bruised reed shall he not break, ] i.e., A contrite heart, Psa 51:17 in whom there shall appear to be anything of Christ, though never so little: that are faithful in weakness, though but weak in faith, as he was who cried out, Lord, I believe, help mine unbelief; Mar 9:24 and another, Invoco te fide quamvis languida, fide tamen. a See on Mat 12:20 .
He shall bring forth judgment unto truth.
a Cruciger.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Isaiah
CHRIST THE ARRESTER OF INCIPIENT EVIL AND THE NOURISHER OF INCIPIENT GOOD
Isa 42:3 – Isa 42:4
The two metaphors which we have in the former part of these words are not altogether parallel. ‘A bruised reed’ has suffered an injury which, however, is neither complete nor irreparable. ‘Smoking flax,’ on the other hand-by which, of course, is meant flax used as a wick in an old-fashioned oil lamp-is partially lit. In the one a process has been begun which, if continued, ends in destruction; in the other, a process has been begun which, if continued, ends in a bright flame. So the one metaphor may refer to the beginnings of evil which may still be averted, and the other the beginnings of incipient and incomplete good. If we keep this distinction in mind, the words of our text gain wonderfully in comprehensiveness.
Then again, it is to be noticed that in the last words of our text, which are separated from the former by a clause which we omit, we have an echo of these metaphors. The word translated ‘fail’ is the same as that rendered in the previous verse ‘smoking,’ or ‘dimly burning’; and the word ‘discouraged’ is the same as that rendered in the previous verse ‘bruised.’ So then, this ‘Servant of the Lord,’ who is not to break the bruised reed nor quench the smoking flax, is fitted for His work, because He Himself has no share in the evils which He would heal, and none in the weaknesses which He would strengthen. His perfect manhood knows no flaws nor bruises; His complete goodness is capable of and needs no increase. Neither outward force nor inward weakness can hinder His power to heal and bless; therefore His work can never cease till it has attained its ultimate purpose. ‘He shall not fail nor be discouraged’; shall neither be broken by outward violence, nor shall the flame of His fading energy burn faint until He hath ‘set judgment in the earth,’ and crowned His purposes with complete success.
We have, then, here set before us three significant representations of the servant of the Lord, which may well commend Him to our confidence and our love. I shall not spend any time in answering the question: Of whom speaketh the prophet this? The answer is plain for us. He speaks of the personal Servant of the Lord, and the personal Servant of the Lord is Jesus Christ our Saviour. I ask you then to come with me while I deal, as simply as may be, with these three ideas that lie before us in this great prophecy.
I. Consider then, first, the representation of the Servant of the Lord as the arrester of incipient ruin.
But, blessed be God! there emerges from the metaphor not only the solemn thought of the bruises by sin that all men bear, but the other blessed one, that there is no man so bruised as that he is broken; none so injured as that restoration is impossible, no depravity so total but that it may be healed, none 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. In none of us has the virus so gone through our veins but that it is capable of being expelled. The reeds are all bruised, the reeds are none of them broken. And so my 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 world’s sins with the confidence that He can move that mountain and cast it into the depths of the sea.
There is a man in Paris that says he has found a cure for that horrible disease of hydrophobia, and who therefore regards the poor sufferers of whom others despair as not beyond the reach of hope. Christ looks upon a world of men smitten with madness, and in whose breasts awful poison is working, with the calm confidence that He carries in His hand an elixir, one drop of which inoculated into the veins of the furious patient will save him from death, and make him whole. ‘The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin.’ ‘He will not break,’ and that means He will restore, ‘the bruised reed.’ There are no hopeless outcasts. None of you are beyond the reach of a Saviour’s love, a Saviour’s blood, a Saviour’s healing.
But then the words in my text may be taken in a somewhat narrower sense, applying more particularly to a class. In accordance with other metaphors of Scripture, we may think of ‘the bruised reed’ as expressive of the condition of men whose hearts have been crushed by the consciousness of their sins. ‘The broken and the contrite heart,’ bruised and pulverised, as it were, by a sense of evil, may be typified for us by this bruised reed. And then from the words of my text there emerges the great and blessed hope that such a heart, wholesomely removed from its self-complacent fancy of soundness, shall certainly be healed and bound up by His tender hand. Did you ever see a gardener dealing with some plant, a spray of which may have been wounded? How delicately and tenderly the big, clumsy hand busies itself about the tiny spray, and by stays and bandages brings it into an erect position, and then gives it water and loving care. Just so does Jesus Christ deal with the conscious and sensitive heart of a man who has begun to find out how bad he is, and has been driven away from all his foolish confidence. Christ comes to such an one and restores him, and just because he is crushed deals with him gently, pouring in His consolation. Wheresoever there is a touch of penitence, there is present a restoring Christ.
And the words may be looked at from yet another point of view. We may think of them as representing to us the merciful dealing of the Master with the spirits which are beaten and bruised, sore and wounded, by sorrows and calamities; to whom the Christ comes in all the tenderness of His gentleness, and lays a hand upon them-the only hand in all the universe that can touch a bleeding heart without hurting it.
Brother and sister suffering from any sorrow, and bleeding from any wound, there is a balm and a physician. There is one hand that will never be laid with blundering kindness or with harshness upon our sore hearts, but whose touch will be healing, and whose presence will be peace.
The Christ who knows our sins and sorrows will not break the bruised reed. The whole race of man may be represented in that parable that came from His own lips, as fallen among thieves that have robbed him and wounded him and left him bruised, but, blessed be God! only ‘half dead’; sorely wounded, indeed, but not so sorely but that he may be restored. And there comes One with the wine and the oil, and pours them into the wounds. ‘The bruised reed shall He not break.’
II. Now, in the next place, look at the completing thought that is here, in the second clause, which represents Christ as the fosterer of incipient and imperfect good.
Then again, dear brethren, in a narrower way, the words may be applied to a class. There are some of us who have in us a little spark, as we believe, of a divine life, the faint beginnings of a Christian character. We call ourselves Christ’s disciples. We are; but oh! how dimly the flax burns. They say that where there is smoke there is fire. There is a great deal more smoke than fire in the most of Christian people in this generation, and if it were not for such thoughts as this of my text about that dear Christ who will not lay a hasty hand upon some little tremulous spark, and by one rash movement extinguish it for ever, there would be but small hope for a great many of us.
Whether, then, the dimly-burning wick be taken to symbolise the lingering remains of a better nature which still abides with all sinful men, yet capable of redemption, or whether it be taken to mean the low and imperfect and inconsistent and feeble Christianity of us professing Christians, the words of my text are equally blessed and equally true. Christ will neither despise, nor so bring down His hand upon it as to extinguish, the feeblest spark. Look at His life on earth, think how He bore with those blundering, foolish, selfish disciples of His; how patient the divine Teacher was with their slow learning of His meaning and catching of His character. Remember how, when a man came to Him with a very imperfect goodness, the Evangelist tells us that Jesus, beholding him, loved him. And take out of these blessed stories this great hope, that howsoever small men ‘despise the day of small things,’ the Greatest does not; and howsoever men may say ‘Such a little spark can never be kindled into flame, the fire is out, you may as well let it alone,’ He never says that, but by patient teaching and fostering and continual care and wise treatment will nourish and nurture it until it leaps into a blaze.
How do you make ‘smoking flax’ burn? You give it oil, you give it air, and you take away the charred portions. And Christ will give you, in your feebleness, the oil of His Spirit, that you may burn brightly as one of the candlesticks in His Temple; and He will let air in, and sometimes take away the charred portions by the wise discipline of sorrow and trial, in order that the smoking flax may become a shining light. But by whatsoever means He may work, be sure of this, that He will neither despise nor neglect the feeblest inclination of good after Him, but will nourish it to perfection and to beauty.
The reason why so many Christian men’s Christian light is so fuliginous and dim is just that they keep away from Jesus Christ. ‘Abide in Me and I in you.’ ‘As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in Me.’ How can the Temple lamps burn bright unless the Priest of the Temple tends them? Keep near Him that His hand may nourish your smoking dimness into a pure flame, leaping heavenward and illuminating your lives.
III. And now, lastly, we have here the representation of the servant of the Lord’s exemption from human evil and weakness, as the foundation of His restoring and fostering work.
‘What in me is dark
Illumine; what is low, raise and support,’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
the smoking flax: i.e. the wick (made of flax) that is burning dim.
flax. Put by Figure of speech Metonymy (of Cause), for the wick made of it.
not quench: i.e. not put it out, but trim it and make it burn brightly. This was the servant’s work.
unto = in accordance with.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
bruised: Isa 35:3, Isa 35:4, Isa 40:11, Isa 40:29-31, Isa 50:4, Isa 50:10, Isa 57:15-18, Isa 61:1-3, Isa 66:2, Psa 103:13, Psa 103:14, Psa 147:3, Jer 30:12-17, Jer 31:18-20, Jer 31:25, Eze 34:16, Mat 11:28, Mat 18:11-14, Luk 22:31, Luk 22:32, Joh 20:19-21, Joh 20:27, Heb 2:17, Heb 2:18
smoking: or, dimly burning
quench: Heb. quench it
he shall: Isa 11:3, Isa 11:4, Psa 72:2-4, Psa 96:13, Psa 98:9, Mic 7:9, Joh 5:30, Rev 19:11
Reciprocal: Gen 49:10 – the gathering Lev 13:6 – pronounce Job 34:23 – he will Zep 3:5 – bring Mat 12:20 – till Mar 4:40 – Why Luk 4:18 – bruised Joh 6:37 – I will Joh 7:10 – not Joh 10:36 – whom Rom 14:1 – weak 2Co 10:1 – by
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
42:3 A {f} bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking {g} flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment to {h} truth.
(f) He will not hurt the weak and feeble, but support and comfort them.
(g) Meaning, the wick of a lamp or candle which is almost out, but he will cherish it and snuff it, that it may shine brighter.
(h) Although he favours the weak, yet will he not spare the wicked, but will judge them according to truth and equity.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Lord’s Servant would be gracious and patient. He would not discard what seemed to others useless, and He would not extinguish what seemed to others too spent. His calling was to save, not destroy. He would be faithful to His calling to bring forth justice to the nations (Isa 42:1; cf. Isa 11:3-4).