Isaiah 50:2

Wherefore, when I came, was there no man? when I called, was there none to answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? or have I no power to deliver? behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh, because there is no water, and dieth for thirst. WHEREFORE, WHEN I CAME. I-Messiah. (WAS THERE) NO MAN? - willing to believe in and obey me (; ). The same Divine Person had 'come' by His prophets in the Old Testament (appealing to them, but in vain, ), who was about to come under the New Testament. IS MY HAND SHORTENED AT ALL, THAT IT CANNOT REDEEM? The shortened hand is the Oriental emblem of weakness, as th...

2._Why did I come? _This might be a reason assigned, that the people have not only brought upon themselves all immense mass of evils by provoking God’s anger, but have likewise, by their obstinacy, cut off the hope of obtaining pardon and salvation. But I think that God proceeds still further. After having explained that he had good reason for divorcing the people, because they had of their own accord given themselves up to bondage, when they might have been free, he adds that still it is not he who prevents them from being immediately set at liberty. As he shewed, in the former verse, that the whole blame rests with the Jews, so now he declares that it arises from their own fault that they grow old and rot in their distresses; for the Lord was ready to assist them, if they had not rejected his grace and kindness. In a word, he shows that both the beginning and the progress of the evil a...

1-3 Those who have professed to be people of God, and seem to be dealt severely with, are apt to complain, as if God had been hard with them. Here is an answer for such murmurings; God never deprived any of their advantages, except for their sins. The Jews were sent into Babylon for their idolatry, a sin which broke the covenant; and they were at last rejected for crucifying the Lord of glory. God called on them to leave their sins, and prevent their own ruin. Last of all, the Son came to his own, but his own received him not. When God calls men to happiness, and they will not answer, they are justly left to be miserable. To silence doubts concerning his power, proofs of it are given. The wonders which attended his sufferings and death, proclaimed that he was the Son of God, Matthew 27:54....

Verse Isaiah 50:2. _THEIR FISH STINKETH _- "Their fish is dried up"] For תבאש _tibaosh, stinketh_, read תיבש _tibash, is dried up_; so it stands in the Bodl. MS., and it is confirmed by the _Septuagint_, ξηρανθησονται, _they shall be dried up_....

WHEREFORE, WHEN I CAME, WAS THERE NO MAN? - That is, when I came to call you to repentance, why was there no man of the nation to yield obedience? The sense is, that they had not been punished without warning. He had called them to repentance, but no one heard his voice. The Chaldee renders this, ‘Wherefore did I send my prophets, and they did not turn? They prophesied, but they did not attend.’ WHEN I CALLED, WAS THERE NONE TO ANSWER? - None obeyed, or regarded my voice. It was not, therefore, by his fault that they had been punished, but it was because they did not listen to the messengers which he had sent unto them. IS MY HAND SHORTENED AT ALL? - The meaning of this is, that it was not because God was unable to save, that they had been thus punished. The hand, in the Scriptures, is an emblem of strength, as it is the instrument by which we accomplish our p

EXPOSITION This chapter seems to be made up of short fragments, which the collector, or collectors, of Isaiah's writings regarded as too precious to be lost, and which they consequently here threw together, though in reality they were detached utterances, and are not even connected in subject-matter. Verses 1-3 are a rebuke to the exiles for deeming themselves wholly rejected, and not rising to the occasion now that deliverance is at hand. Verses 4-9 carry on the account of "the Servant of the Lord" from Isaiah 49:12, further describing his humiliation, and declaring his steadfastness and his faith. Isaiah 49:10, Isaiah 49:11 are an exhortation to weak believers generally, and contain an encouragement and a

WHEREFORE, WHEN I CAME, WAS THERE NO MAN?.... The Targum is, "why have I sent my prophets, and they are not converted?'' And so Aben Ezra and Kimchi interpret it of the prophets that prophesied unto them, to bring them to repentance: the Lord might be said to come by his prophets, his messengers; but they did not receive them, nor their messages, but despised and rejected them, and therefore were carried captive, 2 Chronicles 36:15, but it is best to understand it of the coming of Christ in the flesh; when there were none that would receive, nor even come to him, but hid their faces from him, nor suffer others to be gathered unto him, or attend his ministry; they would neither go in themselves into the kingdom of the Messiah, nor let others go in that were entering, John 1:11,

Isaiah 50:1. _Thus saith the LORD,_ There is always something weighty coming when you have this preface. If God speaks, we ought to hear with reverence, with attention. Isaiah 50:1. _Where is the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you?_ God is here addressing his ancient people; they had been given up, as it were, left, forsaken. They compared themselves to a wife who had been divorced by her husband, or to children who had been sold by their father because of his extreme poverty. The Lord says, «Now, tell me, have I really put away my chosen people as a man in a pet puts away his wife? Have I really sold you to profit by you? What benefit is it to me that you are carried away captive, and that you a

REDEEM (_ See Scofield) - (Isaiah 59:20). _ (_ See Scofield) - (Exodus 14:30). _...

CHAPTER 50 The Servant Speaks of His Determination and Suffering (Isaiah 50:1 belong to the preceding chapter.) 1. _The cause of Zion's present desolation (Isaiah 50:1)_ 2. _The Servant's self-witness (Isaiah 50:4)_ 3. _His obedience and His suffering (Isaiah 50:5)_ 4. _His victorious triumph (Isaiah 50:7)_ 5. _The two classes: Those who fear Him and those who reject Him (Isaiah 50:10) _ The Suffering One is speaking. Little commen