Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Isaiah 51:16
And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou [art] my people.
16. I have put my words in thy mouth ] recurring in ch. Isa 59:21.
covered thee in the shadow of mine hand ] Taken almost exactly from Isa 49:2.
that I may plant &c. ] This is no doubt the right translation, not “that thou mayest plant” (lit. “to plant”). The metaphor of “planting” the heavens is strange; some critics substitute “to stretch forth” (changing a letter), as in Isa 51:13, with which likewise the following words correspond.
The verse is remarkable in two respects. (1) It throws an important light on the idea of the Servant of the Lord. Language which is elsewhere used of the Servant is here applied to Israel, to whom the verse is undoubtedly addressed. This would be a strong confirmation of the theory that the Servant is in some sense a personification of Israel. (2) The conception of a new moral universe about to be created is partly anticipated both in Isa 51:6 (where the transitoriness of the present world is asserted), and in Isa 51:9 f. (see the notes above). This verse, however, adds the further idea that the new creation is the ultimate goal of God’s dealings with Israel, whose religious mission culminates in a universal and everlasting salvation.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And I have put my words in thy mouth – That is, he had committed his truth to the Jewish people; to Zion. He had entrusted them with his statutes and his laws; he had given them the promise of the Messiah, and through him the assurance that the true religion would be spread to other nations. He would, therefore, preserve them, and restore them again to their own land.
And have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand – That is, I have protected thee (see the notes at Isa 49:2).
That I may plant the heavens – Lowth renders this, To stretch out the heavens. Noyes, To establish the heavens. Jerome, Ut plantes coelos – That thou mayest plant the heavens. The Septuagint, En e estesa ton ouranon By which I have established heaven. The Chaldee renders it, In the shadow of my power have I protected thee, that I might raise up the people of whom it was said, that they should be multiplied as the stars of heaven. But the language here is evidently entirely figurative. It refers to the restoration of the Jews to their own land; to the re-establishment of religion there; to the introduction of the new economy under the Messiah, and to all the great changes which would be consequent on that. This is compared with the work of forming the heavens, and laying the foundation of the earth. It would require almighty power; and it would produce so great changes, that it might be compared to the work of creating the universe out of nothing. Probably also the idea is included here that stability would be given to the true religion by what God was about to do permanency that might be compared with the firmness and duration of the heavens and the earth.
And say unto Zion … – That is, God would restore them to their own land, and acknowledge them as his own.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Isa 51:16
And I have put My words in thy mouth
The seed-corn of a new world
The words in their mouth are the seed-corn of a new world in the midst of the old.
(F. Delitzsch, D.D.)
Commissioned, endowed, preserved
Like the first creation, the new is a gradual process, advancing from age to age.
I. IN THIS WORK GOD EMPLOYS HIS SERVANTS. When it is said, That I may plant, etc., it is obvious that it is through Israel the work is to be 1Co 3:9).
II. FOR THIS WORK GOD ARMS HIS SERVANTS. I have put My words in thy mouth.
III. FOR THIS WORK AND IN IT GOD PRESERVES HIS SERVANTS. I have covered thee, etc. (W. Guthrie, M.A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 16. That I may plant the heavens – “To stretch out the heavens”] In the present text it is lintoa, “to plant the heavens:” the phrase is certainly very obscure, and in all probability is a mistake for lintoth. This latter is the word used in Isa 51:13 just before, in the very same sentence; and this phrase occurs very frequently in Isaiah, Isa 40:22; Isa 42:5; Isa 44:24; Isa 45:12; the former in no other place. It is also very remarkable, that in the Samaritan text, Nu 24:6, these two words are twice changed by mistake, one for the other, in the same verse.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
I have put my words in thy mouth; these great and glorious promises which are in thy mouth are not the vain words of man, a weak, and inconstant, and unfaithful creature, but the words of the almighty, unchangeable, and faithful God, and therefore they shall be infallibly accomplished. These words are manifestly spoken by God, either,
1. To Isaiah, by whom these promises were delivered. Or,
2. To Christ, of whom and to whom many things are said in this prophecy, as we have already seen, and will further appear. And such abrupt and sudden apostrophes to persons not mentioned in the foregoing words are not unusual in this prophecy, as hath been observed. Or rather,
3. To Israel, to Gods church and people, to whom he speaks both in the foregoing and following verses. For Gods word is frequently said to be
put into the mouths, not only of the prophets, but of the people also, as Isa 59:21; as also Deu 30:14; Jos 1:8, &c.
Have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand; have protected thee by my almighty power. See the same phrase Isa 49:2.
That I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth; I have given thee these promises and this protection in all thy calamities, to assure thee of any care and kindness to thee, and that I will reform thee in a most glorious manner, and bring thee unto that perfect and blessed estate which is reserved for the days of the Messiah, which in Scripture phrase is called a making of new heavens and a new earth, Isa 65:17; 66:22; 2Pe 3:13, and elsewhere.
And say unto Zion, Thou art my people; that I may own thee for my people, in a more illustrious manner than ever I have done.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. Addressed to Israel,embodied in “the servant of Jehovah” (Isa42:1), Messiah, its ideal and representative Head, through whomthe elect remnant is to be restored.
put my words in thymouthtrue of Israel, the depository of true religion, butfully realized only in Israel’s Head and antitype, Messiah (Isa 49:2;Isa 50:4; Isa 50:5;Isa 59:21; Deu 18:18;Joh 3:34).
covered . . . in . . . shadowof . . . handprotected thee (see on Isa49:2).
plantrather, “fix”as a tabernacle; so it ought to be rendered (Da11:45). The “new creation,” now going on in thespiritual world by the Gospel (Eph2:10), and hereafter to be extended to the visible world, ismeant (Isa 65:17; Isa 66:22;compare Isa 13:13; 2Pe 3:10-13).
ZionIts restoration isa leading part in the new creation to come (Isa 65:17;Isa 65:19).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And I have put my words in thy mouth,…. His promises and his truths, either in the mouth of his church, and people for them, both to preserve and transmit to future generations, and to publish and declare to the comfort of each other, Isa 59:21 or to the Prophet Isaiah, to make known to the people of Israel; or to Christ himself, the great Prophet in Israel, by whom grace and truth are come, and by whom God has spoken all his mind and will, and in whom all the promises are yea and amen. The doctrines of God, and not men, as appears by their truth, purity, harmony and efficacy; they are the words of faith and sound doctrine, of peace and reconciliation, of pardon and righteousness, of salvation and eternal life; and these were put into the mouth of Christ, to be published and declared by him as the great Prophet of the church; for which he was abundantly qualified as man and Mediator, by being anointed with the Holy Ghost, without measure, and by having the tongue of the learned given him: hence he declares, that the doctrine he preached was not his own as man, but his Father’s, and that he spoke nothing of himself, but what he heard of him, and was taught by him, and had a commandment from him to say; and which words or doctrines he delivered to his apostles, and put into their mouths to make known unto men; see Joh 7:16.
And have covered thee in the shadow of my hand; protected and defended both the church and its members, Christ and his ministers, his interest and kingdom, his Gospel, and the truths of it, with its ordinances; and continued them from age to age, notwithstanding the virulence and violence of false teachers and persecutors, see Isa 49:2,
that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth; form and establish Gospel churches in the world, in the Roman empire, and elsewhere, both by the words and doctrines of the Gospel; by the ministry of the apostles, and other preachers of the word; and by the hand of almighty power, the efficacious grace of God attending the same: so the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions connect this clause with the former,
by which I have settled the heavens, c these are called “heavens”, for their purity, brightness, and glory they have from the Lord; for the doctrines and ordinances of the Gospel, which are from heaven, and not of men; and for the true members of them, which are men born from above, and partakers of the heavenly calling; and for the ministers of the Gospel, those stars of light, which here hold forth the light of the divine word to men; and where the sun of righteousness arises with healing in his wings, and where the clouds drop down the rain of heavenly doctrine: these are said to be “planted”, as if they were gardens, as the churches of Christ are, planted with all kind of pleasant plants, with trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified; and these, being watered with the dew of heaven, flourish and bring forth fruit: but planting rather denotes the stability and duration of the churches of Christ, which will continue as long as the days of heaven: or “that thou mayest plant” t; referring either to the ministers of the word, who are instruments in planting churches, 1Co 3:7, or to Christ, the chief master builder and founder of them; though this may principally respect the making of the new heaven, and the new earth, which will be of Christ’s forming and making, Re 21:1 for it is not to be understood of the first making of the heavens and earth in a natural sense, or in a political sense of the settling and establishing of the Jewish nation:
and say unto Zion, thou art my people; the church of God, consisting whether of Jews or Gentiles, especially the latter, who once were not, but now, being called through the ministry of the word, are the people of God: and more particularly this will be declared and made manifest in the New Jerusalem state, when all the elect of God will be gathered in,
Re 21:3.
t “ut plantes”, V. L.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The promise, as the pledge of which Jehovah has staked His absolute power, to which everything must yield, now rises up to an eschatological height, from the historical point at which it began. “And I put my words into thy mouth, and in the shadow of my hand have I covered thee, to plant heavens, and to found an earth, and to say to Zion, Thou art my people.” It is a lofty calling, a glorious future, for the preparation and introduction of which Israel, although fallen as low as Isa 51:7 describes, has been equipped and kept in the shadow of unapproachable omnipotence. Jehovah has put His words into the mouth of this Israel – His words, the force and certainty of which are measured by His all-determining absoluteness. And what is the exalted calling which it is to subserve through the medium of these words, and for which it is preserved, without previously, or indeed at any time, passing away? We must not render it, “that thou mayest plant,” etc., with which the conclusion does not harmonize, viz., “that thou mayest say,” etc.; for it is not Israel who says this to Israel, but Jehovah says it to Israel. The planter, founder, speaker, is therefore Jehovah. It is God’s own work, to which Israel is merely instrumentally subservient, by means of the words of God place din its mouth, viz., the new creation of the world, and the restoration of Israel to favour; both of them, the former as well as the latter, regalia of God. The reference is to the last times. The Targum explains it thus: “to restore the people of whom it is said, They will be as numerous as the stars of heaven; and to perfect the church, of which it is said, They will be as numerous as the dust of the earth.” Knobel understands by this a completion of the theocracy, and a new arrangement of the condition of the world; Ewald, a new spiritual creation, of which the liberation of Israel is the first corner-stone. But the prophecy speaks of a new heaven and a new earth, in something more than a figurative sense, as a new creation of God (Isa 65:17). Jehovah intends to create a new world of righteousness and salvation, and practically to acknowledge Zion as His people. The preparation for this great and all-renewing work of the future is aided by the true Israel, which is now enslaved by the heathen, and disowned and persecuted by its own countrymen. A future of salvation, embracing Israel and the heaven and the earth, is implied in the words placed by Jehovah in the mouth of His church, which was faithful to its calling. These words in their mouth are the seed-corns of a new world in the midst of the old. The fact that the very same thing is said here of the true spiritual Israel, as in Isa 49:2 of the one servant of Jehovah, may be explained in the same manner as when the apostles apply to themselves, in Act 13:47, a word of God relating to the one Servant of Jehovah, by saying, “So hath the Lord commanded us.” The One is, in fact, one with this Israel; He is this Israel in its highest potency; He towers above it, but only as the head rises above the members of the body, with which it forms a living whole. There is no necessity, therefore, to assume, as Hengstenberg and Philippi do, that Isa 51:13 contains an address from the One who then stood before the mind of the prophet. “There is no proof,” as Vitringa affirms, “of any change in the object in this passage, nor any solid reason for assuming it.” The circumference of the idea is always the same. Here, however, it merely takes the direction towards the centre, and penetrates its smaller inner circle, but does not go back to the centre itself.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
16. And I have put my words in thy mouth. He again retums to the doctrine which he had formerly stated, namely, that the Lord comforts his Church: “I, I am he that comforteth you,” (ver. 12.) So he now says that he put into the mouth of the prophets what they should say. Hence we may infer that these words do not proceed from men, who often prove false, but from “God, who cannot lie.” (Tit 1:2.) The Lord speaks to all the prophets, first to Isaiah, and then to the rest in their order; but at last we must come to Christ. These things must not be limited either to Isaiah or to Christ, but must be extended to all the prophets. The Lord wishes that believers should hear the consolation from the prophets, as if he were present and addressed them, and even declares that he speaks openly by their mouth.
Hence also we ought to conclude that none ought to come forward to comfort the Church but they who speak from the mouth of the Lord; for they who alter their own dreams, though they take shelter under the name of God, ought to be rejected. But; we must understand the Prophet’s meaning; for, seeing that he shows that the consciences of men always tremble, till the Lord confirm them, he instructs us to abide by this principle, that it is God who speaks by the prophets; for otherwise consciences will always remain in doubt and uncertainty. Yet the mode of expression is highly emphatic, when he repeats the commandments of God, by which he was encouraged to the execution of his office.
And in the shadow of my hand. Though he had already said this, yet the repetition is not superfluous, that we may fully believe that God will always assist his ministers, so that, relying on his immediate aid, they may be raised by him above all obstructions. Now, in order to being covered with that shadow of the Lord, two things are necessary; first, that they are certain that what they utter is the word of God, and secondly, that they do so by God’s command. They who rashly put themselves forward may indeed boast of the name of God, but in vain; for when they come to fight in earnest, they will faint. And if we have the testimony of conscience, we have no reason for entertaining doubts as to God’s protection and aid, by which he will enable us to gain the victory. Next comes the object of the embassy.
That I may plant the heavens; that is, that I may restore everything to its proper order. There are, indeed, various interpretations of these words; but the true meaning appears to me to be this, that heaven and earth are said to be restored by the doctrine of salvation; because “in Christ,” as Paul says, “are collected all things that are either in heaven or in earth.” (Eph 1:10.) Since the fall of the first man we see nothing but frightful confusion, which troubles even the dumb creatures, and makes them suffer, in some respects, the punishment of our sins; and, consequently, that confusion cannot be repaired but by Christ. Since therefore the whole face of the world is disfigured by frightful desolation, there are good grounds for saying that godly teachers renovate the world, as if God formed heaven and earth anew by their hand. And hence it is evident how great is the heinousness of our guilt, which has been followed by such dreadful confusion in the nature of things. Thus, “the heavens” are said to be “planted and the earth to be founded,” when the Lord establishes his Church by the word; and he does this by the agency of ministers, whom he directs by his Spirit, and protects against hidden enemies and various dangers, that they may effectually accomplish what he has enjoined.
That I may say to Zion, Thou art my people. At length he shews that this aims at something higher than the visible form of the world, which shall quickly perish; namely, to excite and nourish in the hearts of believers the hope of a heavenly life. The true stability of the Church, the restoration of the world, consists in this, that the elect be gathered into the unity of faith, so that, with one consent, all may lift their hearts to God, who also invites them sweetly and gently by these words, “I am thy God.” And hence we see how highly God values the salvation of the Church, since he not only prefers it to the whole world, but even shews that the stability of the world depends upon it. We must likewise observe what is the word which the Lord enjoins to be proclaimed; for it not only lays down a rule of life, but also gives a testimony of our adoption, in which our salvation chiefly consists.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(16) And I have put my words in thy mouth . . .Some interpreters assume, that while Isa. 51:1? was spoken to the Jewish exiles, this, which reminds us of Isa. 49:2, is addressed to the Servant of the Lord. Of these, some (Cheyne), struck by the apparent abruptness, assume it to be misplaced. There seems no adequate reason for adopting either hypothesis. The words are spoken to Israel, contemplated as in its ideal, as were the others to the actual Israel. It remains true, as ever, that that ideal is fulfilled only in the Servant.
That I may plant.Noteworthy as the first intimation of the new heaven and the new earth, implying a restitution of all things, of which we find the expression in Isa. 65:17; Isa. 66:22.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Isa 51:16 And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou [art] my people.
Ver. 16. And I have put my words in thy mouth. ] O Isaiah, my servant; but especially, O Christ, my Son.
That I may plant the heavens, &c.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
put My words in thy mouth. See note on Isa 50:4 (“that I should know”). Reference to Pentateuch (Deu 18:18). App-92.
that: i.e. in order that.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
I have put: Isa 50:4, Isa 59:21, Deu 18:18, Joh 3:34, Joh 8:38-40, Joh 17:8, Rev 1:1
I have covered: Isa 49:2, Deu 33:27
plant: Isa 45:18, Isa 60:21, Isa 61:3, Isa 65:17, Isa 66:22, Psa 92:13, 2Pe 3:13
and lay: Isa 48:13, Isa 49:8, Psa 75:3
Thou art: Isa 60:14, Isa 60:15, Jer 31:33, Jer 32:38, Zec 8:8, Zec 13:9, Heb 8:10
Reciprocal: Gen 1:1 – God Exo 4:15 – and put Num 23:5 – General Deu 31:19 – put it in their Deu 33:12 – cover him 2Sa 14:3 – put the words Psa 93:1 – world Psa 125:1 – be as mount Isa 26:20 – my Jer 1:9 – Behold Jer 10:20 – there Joe 3:16 – hope Heb 12:22 – ye are come
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
51:16 And I have put my words in thy {n} mouth, and have covered thee in the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the {o} heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say to Zion, Thou [art] my people.
(n) Meaning, of Isaiah and of all true ministers who are defended by his protection.
(o) That all things may be restored in heaven and earth, Eph 1:10 .
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Though God spoke this verse to Israel, it is clear that only the ideal Israel, the Servant, could be the ultimate fulfillment of what He said. Watts again identified this servant as Darius. [Note: Watts, Isaiah 34-66, p. 213.] He had put His words in the mouth of the Israelites but would also do so uniquely for His Servant (cf. Isa 49:2). He had provided compassionate care for the nation but would do so in a special way for His Servant (cf. Isa 49:2). He would use the Israelites to create new heavens and a new earth, in the spiritual sense of their being His instruments of transformation in the Millennium. However, He would use His Servant Messiah to create new heavens and a new earth literally at the end of the Millennium (cf. Isa 51:6: Rev 21:1 to Rev 22:5). And He would use the Servant Messiah to reaffirm His commitment to Israel in the future. How God would use the Servant to do all this becomes clearer in Isa 52:13 to Isa 53:12, the final Servant Song. This was a fitting culminating assurance to the Israelites.