Isaiah 50:1. The third oracle meets another doubt which must have occurred to the exiles, viz., that the covenant relation between Jehovah and Israel has been broken beyond possibility of renewal. In Isaiah 50:1 this fear is dispelled by the help of two analogies from common life. _Where_is _the bil... [ Continue Reading ]
Isaiah 49:14 to Isaiah 50:3. The Consolation of Zion (i) Isaiah 49:14. In an apostrophe to Jerusalem the prophet announces the speedy return of her population and the rebuilding of her waste places. The poetry of the passage is singularly beautiful, and charged with tender emotion. Zion, the ideali... [ Continue Reading ]
Jehovah expresses surprise that His message of redemption (delivered through the prophet) has been received with so little enthusiasm by the people. was there _no man?_ The expression occurs again in Isaiah 59:16; in both places the indefinite "man" is explained by the second member of the parallel... [ Continue Reading ]
Comp. Exodus 10:21 _with blackness_ with murky storm-clouds. The word, which occurs only here, denotes (like sackcloth in the next clause) the garb of mourning. Cf. Revelation 6:12. The strophe ends somewhat abruptly, and the thought is perhaps incomplete.... [ Continue Reading ]
The relation of the Servant to Jehovah is that of a favourite disciple to his master; from Him he had learned the art of persuasive and consoling speech, and to Him he daily looks for the substance of his message. Comp. Isaiah 49:2 (the Servant's endowment with prophetic eloquence), and Isaiah 42:3... [ Continue Reading ]
Isaiah 50:4-11. The Lord's Servant made perfect through Sufferings In Isaiah 50:4 the Servant is again introduced, speaking of himself and his work, as in Isaiah 49:1-6. He describes in the first place the close and intimate and continuous communion with God through which he has learned the ministr... [ Continue Reading ]
_hath opened mine ear_ The phrase used of the imparting of a prophetic communication in 1 Samuel 9:15 (cf. Psalms 40:6, different verbs). _and I was not rebellious &c._ a circumstantial clause ("I being not rebellious" &c.). Comp. Jonah 1:3 and Jeremiah 20:9. The character and history of Jeremiah s... [ Continue Reading ]
That persecutions were to be incurred in the performance of his work is already indicated in the last words of Isaiah 50:5; now the speaker declares his voluntary acquiescence in the hardships of his appointed lot. _I gave my back to the smiters_ In Psalms 129:3 the same figure is applied to the su... [ Continue Reading ]
The verse is better rendered thus: BUT THE LORD JEHOVAH HELPS ME, THEREFORE I WAS NOT ASHAMED (i.e. felt no shame); THEREFORE I MADE MY FACE LIKE FLINT (figure for determination, cf. Ezekiel 3:9), AND KNEW THAT I SHOULD NOT BE PUT TO SHAME. For the thought cf. ch. Isaiah 42:4.... [ Continue Reading ]
He is _near that justifieth me_ Cf. ch. Isaiah 49:4 ("my judgement is with Jehovah"); Isaiah 51:5. To "justify" is, as nearly always, to declare in the right; so "condemn" in Isaiah 50:9 is to pronounce in the wrong. _who will contend with me?_ cf. Job 13:19. _stand together_ STAND FORTH TOGETHER... [ Continue Reading ]
The consciousness of innocence is expressed (as often in the Book of Job) under the conception of a legal process.... [ Continue Reading ]
_who_is _he_that _shall condemn me_?] Comp. Romans 8:33 f. _wax old_(better, BE WORN OUT) _as a garment; the moth &c._ Common images of gradual but inevitable destruction (cf. ch. Isaiah 51:6; Isaiah 51:8; Psalms 39:11; Psalms 102:26; Job 13:28 &c.). Two striking parallels to the latter part of th... [ Continue Reading ]
Those who fear the Lord are exhorted to imitate the Servant's trust in God. _that obeyeth the voice of his servant_ (lit. "that hearkeneth to" &c.). The LXX. reads "let him hearken," which certainly gives a better balanced verse: "Whoso among you feareth Jehovah, let him hearken" &c. The reference... [ Continue Reading ]
A double message of encouragement and warning based on the preceding soliloquy of the Servant. It seems evident that the Servant here is regarded as the nucleus of the godly party who are addressed in Isaiah 50:10; in other words, as a personification of the true Israel which is in process of being... [ Continue Reading ]
_that compass_yourselves _about with sparks_ Lit. as R.V., THAT GIRD YOURSELVES ABOUT WITH FIREBRANDS (cf. Proverbs 26:18). The verb "gird" hardly suits the metaphor; hence it is better with many authorities to change מאזרי into מאירי ("that kindle"). "Fire" and "firebrands" are both images for the... [ Continue Reading ]