Isaiah 53:1

CHAPTER LIII

This chapter foretells the sufferings of the Messiah, the end

for which he was to die, and the advantages resulting to

mankind from that illustrious event. It begins with a complaint

of the infidelity of the Jews, 1;

the offence they took at his mean and humble appearance, 2;

and the contempt with which they treated him, 3.

The prophet then shows that the Messiah was to suffer for sins

not his own; but that our iniquities were laid on him, and the

punishment of them exacted of him, which is the meritorious

cause of our obtaining pardon and salvation, 4-6.

He shows the meekness and placid submission with which he

suffered a violent and unjust death, with the circumstances of

his dying with the wicked, and being buried with the great, 7-9;

and that, in consequence of his atonement, death, resurrection,

and intercession, he should procure pardon and salvation to the

multitudes, insure increasing prosperity to his Church, and

ultimately triumph over all his foes, 10, 11.

This chapter contains a beautiful summary of the most peculiar

and distinguishing doctrines of Christianity.

NOTES ON CHAP. LIII

That this chapter speaks of none but JESUS must be evident to every unprejudiced reader who has ever heard the history of his sufferings and death. The Jews have endeavoured to apply it to their sufferings in captivity; but, alas for their cause! they can make nothing out in this way. Allowing that it belongs to our blessed Lord, (and the best men and the best scholars agree in this,) then who can read Isaiah 53:4; Isaiah 53:8; Isaiah 53:10, without being convinced that his death was a vicarious sacrifice for the sins of mankind? On the first and second verses of this chapter I have received the following remarks from an unknown hand.

"Verse Isaiah 53:1. Who hath believed our report?] The report of the prophets, of John the Baptist, and Christ's own report of himself. The Jews did not receive the report, and for this reason he was not manifested to them as the promised Messiah. 'He came unto his own, but his own received him not.' Before the FATHER he grew up as a tender plant: but to the JEWS he was as a root out of a dry ground. 'He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.'

"Verse Isaiah 53:2. For he shall grow up] Supposes something to have preceded; as it might be asked, what or who shall 'grow up before him,' c. As the translation now stands, no correct answer can be given to this question. The translation then is wrong, the connexion broken, and the sense obscured. זרוע zeroa, translated the arm, from the root zara.

1. To sow, or plant also seed, c.

2. The limb which reaches from the shoulder to the hand, called the arm or more properly beginning at the shoulder and ending at the elbow.

The translator has given the wrong sense of the word. It would be very improper to say, the arm of the Lord should grow up before him; but by taking the word in its former sense, the connexion and metaphor would be restored, and the true sense given to the text. זרע zera signifies, not only the seed of herbs, but children, offspring, or posterity. The same word we find Genesis 3:15, where CHRIST is the Seed promised. See also Genesis 22:17-1; Genesis 26:4; Genesis 28:14. Hence the SEED of the woman, the SEED promised to the patriarchs is, according to Isaiah, the Seed of the Lord, the Child born, and the Son given; and according to St. John, 'the Son of God, the only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.' זרע then, in this place, should be understood to mean JESUS CHRIST, and him alone. To speak here of the manifestation of the arm or power of God would be irregular; but to suppose the text to speak of the manifestation of Jesus Christ would be very proper, as the whole of the chapter is written concerning him, particularly his humiliation and sufferings, and the reception he should meet with from the Jewish nation.

"The first verse of this chapter is quoted John 12:38, and the former part of the same verse Romans 10:16. But no objection of importance can be brought forward from either of these quotations against the above explanation, as they are quoted to show the unbelief of the Jews in not receiving Christ as the promised Messiah."

He hath no form nor comeliness - "He hath no form nor any beauty"]

Ουκ ειδος αυτῳ, ουδε αξιωμα, ἱνα ειδωμεν αυτον· ουδε θεωρια, ἱνα επιθυμωμεν αυτον.

He hath no form, nor any beauty, that we should regard him; nor is his countenance such that we should desire him."

Symmachus; the only one of the ancients that has translated it rightly.