Isaiah 42:4

He shall not fail nor be discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law. HE SHALL NOT FAIL - faint: man in religion may become as the almost expiring flax-wick (Isaiah 42:3), but not so HE in His purposes of grace. NOR BE DISCOURAGED - literally, be broken; i:e., checked in zeal by discouragements (cf. Isaiah 49:4). NOR BE DISCOURAGED - literally, be broken; i:e., checked in zeal by discouragements (cf. Isaiah 49:4). Rosenmuller not so well translates (as the Hebrew, yaaruwts (H7533), may be derived from...

4._He shall not faint, nor be discouraged. _The Prophet alludes to the preceding verse, and confirms what he formerly said, that Christ will indeed be mild and gentle towards the weak, but that he will have no softness or effeminacy; for he will manfully execute the commission which he has received from the Father. This is what he means when he says that “he shall not faint;” and in this verb יכהה _(yichheh) _there is an allusion to a former verse, in which he spoke of “smoking flax.” Now, he shews what is the true moderation of meekness, not to turn aside to excessive indulgence; for we ought to use it in such a manner as not to swerve from our duty. Many persons wish to profit by the name of gentleness, so as to gain the applause and esteem of the world, but at the same time betray truth in a base and shameful manner. I remember that there were in a populous city two preachers, one of...

1-4 This prophecy was fulfilled in Christ, Matthew 12:17. Let our souls rely on him, and rejoice in him; then, for his sake, the Father will be well-pleased with us. The Holy Spirit not only came, but rested upon him, and without measure. He patiently bore the contradiction of sinners. His kingdom is spiritual; he was not to appear with earthly honours. He is tender of those oppressed with doubts and fears, as a bruised reed; those who are as smoking flax, as the wick of a lamp newly lighted, which is ready to go out again. He will not despise them, nor lay upon them more work or more suffering than they can bear. By a long course of miracles and his resurrection, he fully showed the truth of his holy religion. By the power of his gospel and grace he fixes principles in the minds of men, which tend to make them wise and just. The most distant nations wait for his law, wait for his gospe...

Verse Isaiah 42:4. _HE SHALL NOT FAIL NOR BE DISCOURAGED_ - "His force shall not be abated nor broken"] Rabbi Meir ita citat locum istum, ut post ירוץ _yaruts_, addat כוחו _cocho, robur ejus_, quod hodie non comparet in textu Hebraeo, sed addendum videtur, ut sensus fiat planior. "Rabbi Meir cites this passage so as to add after ירוץ _yarats_ כוחו cocho, his force, which word is not found in the present Hebrew text, but seems necessary to be added to make the sense more distinct." _Capell_. Crit. Sac. p. 382. For which reason I had added it in the translation, before I observed this remark of _Capellus_. - L....

HE SHALL NOT FAIL - He shall not be weak, feeble, or disheartened. However much there may be that shall tend to discourage, yet his purpose is fixed, and he will pursue it with steadiness and ardor until the great work shall be fully accomplished. There may be an allusion in the Hebrew word here (יכהה _yı̂kheh_) to that which is applied to the flax (כהה _kēhâh_); and the idea may be that he shall not become in his purposes like the smoking, flickering, dying flame of a lamp. There shall never be any indication, even amidst all embarrassments, that it is his intention to abandon his plan of extending the true religion through all the world. Such also should be the fixed and determined purposes of his people. Their zeal should never fail; their ardor should never grow languid. NOR BE DISCOURAGED - Margin, ‘Broken.’ The Hebrew word...

EXPOSITION ISAIAH 42:1 ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE SERVANT OF THE LORD, AND THE WORK WHICH HE WILL PERFORM. There are comparatively few who deny that, in this place at any rate, the "Servant of the Lord" is the Messiah. (So the Targum on the passage; so Abar-barnel; so, among moderns, Oehler, Delitzsch, and Mr. Cheyne.) The portraiture has "so strong an individuality and such marked personal features, that it cannot possibly be a mere personified collective;" and it goes so "infinitely _beyond _anything of which a man was ever capable that it can only be the future Christ" (Delitzsch). It may be added that St. Matthew ...

HE SHALL NOT FAIL,.... For want of strength to go through the work of redemption: or, "grow dim" i and dark, as a lamp for want of oil, or as the wick of a candle ready to go out. Hence the Septuagint version, "he shall shine k"; in the glory of his person, as the Son of God; in the fulness of his grace, as Mediator, which shall never fail; and in the hearts of his people by his Spirit; and in his Gospel published to the world: NOR BE DISCOURAGED; at the number, power, and menaces of his enemies, he had to grapple with, sin, Satan, the world, and death: or, NOR BE BROKEN l; with the weight of all the sins of his people upon him; and with a sense of divine wrath; and with the whole punishment due unto them, inflicted on him, enough to have broke the backs and spirits of men and angels; but he stood up under the mighty load, and did not sink beneath it, but endured all with an invincible...

Isaiah 42:1. _Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles._ Verily this prophecy is concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. Observe the title which he takes. He is called the servant of God. The Father calls him his servant. Above all others is Christ the servant of the Highest deigning to become the servant of servants, though he is the King of kings. «Whom I uphold» which may be read two ways. According to some renderings it should be, «Whom I lean upon» as if God leant the full weight of his glory upon Christ, and gave over the work of grace into his hands, that is, if the passage be read passively. If actively, it runs as in our text, «Whom I uphold.» And both are true. God leans upon Christ. Christ draws his strength from God. They co-work, and mutual is the glory. «Mine elect.»

CHAPTER 42 The True Servant of Jehovah 1. _The Servant of Jehovah and His mission (Isaiah 42:1)_ 2. _His future work among the nations (Isaiah 42:5)_ 3. _The future song of redemption glory (Isaiah 42:10)_ 4. _Jehovah's manifestation in power (Isaiah 42:14)_ 5. _The address of exhortation to the deaf and blind nation (Isaiah 42:18) _ Matthew's Gospel (Matthew 12:20) tells us that this servant is the Lord Jesus Christ. Mark t

THE MISSION OF YAHWEH'S SERVANT (the first of the four so-called Servant Songs; see Introd.). Yahweh bids the nations consider His Servant Israel, whom He sustains and loves. He has equipped him like the prophets with His spirit, so that he may publish the true religion to the nations. The frenzy, however, which often accompanied the utterance of prophecy in the public ways shall not characterise him; he shall be gentle, not crushing the damaged reed, or quenching the feebly-burning wick. Faithfully shall he publish the true religion. He shall not be crushed or grow feeble until he shall have established the true religion universally, and all lands look to him for direction. ISAIAH 42:1. JUDGEMENT here and in Isaiah 42:3 f_._ means the whole collection of Yahweh's ordinances and decisions posse