Isaiah 40:9

O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that bringest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God! O ZION, THAT BRINGEST GOOD THINGS ... O JERUSALEM, THAT BRINGEST GOOD TIDINGS. The Vulgate, Chaldaic, Septuagint, and Arabic translate, 'O thou that bringest good tidings to Zion: thou that bringest good tidings to Jerusalem.' Thou that bringest good tidings ( mªbaseret (H1319): feminine singular, collectively for the plural) is thus the collective personification of the messengers who announce God's gracious purpose to Zion (note, Isaiah 40:1). Isaiah 52:7 confirms this. Co...

9._Ascend on the high mountain. _He proceeds with the same subject; for the Lord, having formerly promised that he would give prophets who should soothe the grief and fear of the people by promises, now commands that this consolation shall be more widely spread; because it is his pleasure to diffuse his grace throughout the whole of Judea. _Lift up thy voice aloud, O Jerusalem. _Formerly he had given to _Jerusalem, _and _Zion _the hope of this joyful message; now he commands that the same voice shall be spread and shall be heard through other cities, and, for this reason, gives orders that the loud voice shall be lifted up, and proclaimed from a lofty place. Although by the words “Zion” and “Jerusalem” he means the same thing, yet the repetition is emphatic; for he shews that one city excels all other cities, for no other reason than because God hath chosen it to be his sanctuary. _That...

1-11 All human life is a warfare; the Christian life is the most so; but the struggle will not last always. Troubles are removed in love, when sin is pardoned. In the great atonement of the death of Christ, the mercy of God is exercised to the glory of his justice. In Christ, and his sufferings, true penitents receive of the Lord's hand double for all their sins; for the satisfaction Christ made by his death was of infinite value. The prophet had some reference to the return of the Jews from Babylon. But this is a small event, compared with that pointed out by the Holy Ghost in the New Testament, when John the Baptist proclaimed the approach of Christ. When eastern princes marched through desert countries, ways were prepared for them, and hinderances removed. And may the Lord prepare our hearts by the teaching of his word and the convictions of his Spirit, that high and proud thoughts m...

Verse Isaiah 40:9. _O ZION, THAT BRINGEST GOOD TIDINGS_ - "O daughter, that bringest glad tidings to Zion"] That the true construction of the sentence is this, which makes Zion the receiver, not the publisher, of the glad tidings, which latter has been the most prevailing interpretation, will, I think, very clearly appear, if we rightly consider the image itself, and the custom and common practice from which it is taken. I have added the word _daughter_ to express the feminine gender of the Hebrew participle, which I know not how to do otherwise in our language; and this is absolutely necessary in order to ascertain the image. For the office of announcing and celebrating such glad tidings as are here spoken of, belongs peculiarly to the women. On occasion of any great public success, a signal victory, or any other joyful event, it was usual for the women to gather together, and with...

O ZION, THAT BRINGEST GOOD TIDINGS - This is evidently the continuance of what the ‘voice’ said, or of the annunciation which was to give joy to an afflicted and oppressed people. There has been, however, much diversity of opinion in regard to the meaning of the passage. The margin renders it, ‘Thou that tellest good tidings to Zion,’ making Zion the receiver, and not the publisher of the message that was to convey joy. The Vulgate, in a similar way, renders it, ‘Ascend a high mountain, thou who bringest good tidings to Zion’ (qui evangelizas Zion). So the Chaldee, understanding this as an address to the prophet, as in Isaiah 40:1, ‘Ascend a high mountain, ye prophets, who bring glad tidings to Zion.’ So Lowth, Noyes, Gesenius. Grotius, and others. The word מבשׂרת _m__e__bas'__e__ret_, from

PART III. ISAIAH'S LATER PROPHECIES (CH. 40-66.). SECTION I. THE PEOPLE OF GOD COMFORTED IN TRIBULATION (Isaiah 40:1.). EXPOSITION PREFATORY REMARKS THE Assyrian struggle is over. The prophet has accepted into the depths of his spirit God's announcement that the true spoiler, "the rod of his anger, and the staff of his indignation," is not Assyria, but Babylon. He has accepted the sentence that his people is to go into captivity. Into this future of his nation he throws himself with a faith, a fervour, and a power of realization, which are all his own. "The familiar scenes and faces, among w

O ZION, THAT BRINGEST GOOD TIDINGS,.... Or, "O thou that bringest good tidings to Zion n"; which rendering of the words is more agreeable to the latter part of the verse, SAY UNTO THE CITIES OF JUDAH, c. and to some parallel places, Isaiah 41:27 and to the type, the deliverance of the Jews from Babylon the tidings of which came from Babylon to Zion, or Jerusalem; and to the Targum which paraphrases the words thus, "O ye prophets, that bring good tidings to Zion;'' and so may be applied to Gospel ministers, who bring the good tidings of the good will, grace, and favour of God, to men, through Christ; of the grace of Christ, in his suretyship engagements and performances; in his incarnation, sufferings, and death, and in his advocacy and intercession; and of the good things that come by him, as peace, pardon, righteousness, salvation,

Isaiah 40:1. _Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath receiveth of the LORD'S hand double for all her sins._ God would have his people happy. He knows that we are not in strong, vigorous state, neither do we honour his name while we are lacking in holy joy. Let the sinners be uncomfortable. Let them be «like the troubled sea that cannot rest»; but as for God's people, it is his great joy that they should be happy. He bids his servants again and again to comfort them. Sometimes we are in a condition of warfare, and we are under the chastising rod but now the Lord appears graciously to his servants, and he says, «Your warfare is over: your chastisement is ended.» Now the Lord returns in mercy, and he grants a sense of forgiven sin....

II. THE LATER PROPHECIES OF COMFORT AND GLORY (40-66) Like the first part this second part of Isaiah has three sections. The three sections of the first part revealed the judgments to come upon the Jewish people, Jerusalem, the nations and the earth. The three sections of the second part reveal the great blessings in store for the people of Israel, Jerusalem, the nations and the earth, after the judgments are passed. These sections give the past, present, and the future history of the Jewish people. In the first section (40-48) they are seen prophetically in Babylon, but about to be delivered and brought back to the land. Cyrus is predicted as the chosen instrument. However, this section looks also beyond the return of the remnant from Babylon. Their present dispersion and coming restoration is predicted as well. In the second section (49-57) we find this period of their history more f...

PROLOGUE ANNOUNCING THE END OF THE EXILE. IF. The prophet sees in the triumphs of Cyrus the coming fall of Babylon's empire, and a revolution in the fortunes of the exiles. These are God's voice bidding the prophet and all who hear it encourage His people. Let them speak tenderly to Jerusalem (_i.e._ the nation, not the city). Her forced service is completed, her punishment has been more than adequate to her offence. ISAIAH 40:3. Rapt from earth, the prophet hears a heavenly being in Yahweh's court bidding other spiritual beings prepare in the wilderness a straight path for Yahweh, who shall march with His people back to their city. Let all hills and depressions be levelled. ISAIAH 40:3. Render, Hark! One is calling, Prepare_ ;_ so too in...