XLIX. (1) LISTEN, O ISLES... — The argument against idolatry has been brought to its close, and a new section opens, and with it there is a new speaker, the mysterious “Servant of the Lord,” (Isaiah 42:1), at once identified with Israel (Isaiah 49:3), in fulfilling its ideal, and yet distinguished... [ Continue Reading ]
HE HATH MADE MY MOUTH LIKE A SHARP SWORD. — The words indicate at once the spiritual nature of the “Servant’s” victories. It is his speech that wounds and heals, his words that go like winged arrows to their mark. The description finds an echo in Hebrews 4:12; Revelation 1:16; Revelation 19:15; Ephe... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU ART MY SERVANT, O ISRAEL. — Not that the “Servant” is merely the nation, but that he fulfils its ideal. “Israel” had begun with being an individual name. It should be so once more in the person of Him who would be truly “a prince with God.” IN WHOM I WILL BE GLORIFIED. — Better, _in whom I wil... [ Continue Reading ]
THEN I SAID. — The accents of disappointment sound strangely on coming from the lips of the true Servant; but the prophet had learnt by his own experience that this formed part of the discipline of every true servant of God, in proportion to the thoroughness of his service, and therefore it was not... [ Continue Reading ]
THOUGH ISRAEL BE NOT GATHERED. — Better, _and that Israel be gathered to Him._ The negative, as in Isaiah 9:3, comes from an error of transcription; for “yet” read _and._ The Servant falls back upon the greatness of the work committed to him, that of restoring Israel, and is certain that sooner or l... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE SAID. — The words are repeated from “saith the Lord” of the preceding verse, where they had been followed by a long parenthesis. The Servant becomes conscious of a higher mission. All national barriers are broken down. He is to be the bearer of a message of peace to the whole race of mankind,... [ Continue Reading ]
TO HIM WHOM MAN DESPISETH. — Literally, _to one despised of soul,_ where “soul” may either stand for “men” as in the Authorised version, or imply that the contempt enters into the soul of the sufferer. (Comp. Psalms 105:18.) The point of the words lies in the fact that the doer of the great work is... [ Continue Reading ]
IN AN ACCEPTABLE TIME. — Literally, _in the season of good pleasure._ The message is borne in on the soul of the servant as the secret of confidence and strength. It will be his work to be the link in a new covenant with the people, an idea afterwards developed by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:31), and reac... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT THOU MAYEST SAY TO THE PRISONERS... — Comp. Isaiah 42:6. Here, perhaps, the thought of the deliverance of Israel is more exclusively prominent; but the words have obviously a yet wider and higher application.... [ Continue Reading ]
NEITHER SHALL THE HEAT... — The word is the same as the “parched ground” of Isaiah 35:7, and stands, as there, for the mirage of the scorching desert.... [ Continue Reading ]
MY MOUNTAINS... MY HIGHWAYS... — The pronoun asserts the universal lordship of Jehovah. The whole earth is His.... [ Continue Reading ]
FROM THE WEST. — Literally, _from the sea,_ which commonly has this meaning. In Psalms 107:3, however, it clearly stands for the south, and is probably used in that sense here. In this case “from far” stands for the south, probably for the distant Ethiopia, where Jewish exiles had already found thei... [ Continue Reading ]
SING, O HEAVENS. — As in Isaiah 44:23, all nature is invited to join in the chorus of praise for the deliverance of Israel.... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT ZION SAID... — In the midst of all that Jehovah was doing for his people they were still showing their little faith, and thinking of themselves as forsaken. They shared the misgivings which were felt even by _the_ Servant, but they did not rise out of them as quickly as He did into the full assu... [ Continue Reading ]
CAN A WOMAN FORGET...? — The love of Jehovah for His chosen ones is more than that of a father, more tender and unchangeable even than the maternal love which exists often in the most depraved. Even that may perish, but not so His pitying affection.... [ Continue Reading ]
BEHOLD, I HAVE GRAVEN THEE... — The words point to the almost universal practice of tattooing. A man thus “engraved” the name of his god, or the outlines of his home, or the face of her he loved, upon his hands or arms. So, by a boldly anthropomorphic figure, Jehovah had “graven” Jerusalem on His ha... [ Continue Reading ]
THY CHILDREN SHALL MAKE HASTE. — A various reading adopted by the LXX., Targum, and Vulg., gives _thy builders._ They rush to their work of restoration; the destroyers and ravagers go forth.... [ Continue Reading ]
LIFT UP THINE EYES. — The daughter of Zion is called on to gaze on the returning exiles. They shall be her gems and her girdle as the bride of her new espousals. A distant parallel is found in the story of the mother of the Gracchi pointing to her children as more precious jewels than those of her w... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL EVEN NOW BE TOO NARROW. — Literally, with a vivid abruptness, _thou shalt be_ ... The over population of the future is contrasted with the depopulation of the past (Isaiah 3:6; Isaiah 4:1).... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CHILDREN WHICH THOU SHALT HAVE... — Better, _the children of thy bereavement_ (i.e., born when Zion thought herself bereaved) _shall yet say_ ...... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO HATH BEGOTTEN ME THESE...? — Better, _who hath borne_ ...? The widowed daughter of Zion cannot believe that these crowding children are her own, and asks, Who then is their mother? She, the widowed one, the prisoner, dragged hither and thither, could not claim them.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE GENTILES... THE PEOPLE... — Both words are used of the heathen. They are summoned by the uplifted signal of Jehovah to do their work as nursing fathers, carrying the children _in their bosom_ (Numbers 11:12).... [ Continue Reading ]
KINGS SHALL BE THY NURSING FATHERS... — As a rule kings gave their children to be brought up by their nobles (2 Kings 10:5). Zion should have kings themselves and their queens to rear her children. They shall bow down to her, the true Israel, the true _Ecclesia,_ as the dwelling-place of Jehovah.... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL THE PREY BE TAKEN...? — The question is asked by Zion in her little faith. The next phrase, “lawful captive,” literally “captive of righteousness,” may mean, (1) as in the Authorised version a captive whom the conqueror had a right to take, or (2) one who was righteous and yet had been given i... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL CONTEND... — The pronoun is specially emphatic. The question of Isaiah 49:24 is answered in the affirmative, because Jehovah is the deliverer.... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL FEED THEM THAT OPPRESS THEE... — The words are, of course, symbolical of the utter collapse, the self-destructive struggles of the enemies of Zion, _i.e.,_ of the company, or _Ecclesia,_ of the redeemed. THE MIGHTY ONE OF JACOB. — Same word, and that a rare one, as in Isaiah 1:24.... [ Continue Reading ]