Isaiah 51:9

Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon? AWAKE! AWAKE! PUT ON STRENGTH, O ARM OF THE LORD - Impassioned prayer of the exiled Jews. AWAKE! AS IN THE ANCIENT DAYS - (Psalms 44:1.) (ART) THOU NOT IT THAT HATH CUT RAHAB - poetical name for Egypt (note Isaiah 30:7). (AND) WOUNDED THE DRAGON? (Hebrew, taniyn (H8565)) - the crocodile, an emblem of Egypt, as presented on coins struck after the conquest of Egypt by Augustus; or rather here, its king, Pharaoh (note,...

9._Awake, awake. _Here the Prophet instructs us, that, when God cheers us by his promises, we ought also to pray earnestly that he would perform what he has promised. He does not comfort us in order to render us slothful, but that we may be inflamed with a stronger desire to pray, and may continually exercise our faith. The Prophet speaks according to our feelings; for we think that God is asleep, so long as he does not come to the relief of our wants; and the Lord indulges us so far as to permit us to speak and pray according to the feeling of our weakness. Believers therefore entreat the Lord to “awake,” not that they imagine him to be idle or asleep in heaven; (24) but, on the contrary, they confess their own sluggishness and ignorance, in not being able to form any conception of God, so long as they are not awaro of receiving his assistance. But yet, though the flesh imagine that he...

9-16 The people whom Christ has redeemed with his blood, as well as by his power, will obtain joyful deliverance from every enemy. He that designs such joy for us at last, will he not work such deliverance in the mean time, as our cases require? In this world of changes, it is a short step from joy to sorrow, but in that world, sorrow shall never come in view. They prayed for the display of God's power; he answers them with consolations of his grace. Did we dread to sin against God, we should not fear the frowns of men. Happy is the man that fears God always. And Christ's church shall enjoy security by the power and providence of the Almighty....

AWAKE, AWAKE - This verse commences a new subject (see the analysis of the chapter). It is the solemn and impassioned entreaty of those who were in exile that God would interpose in their behalf, as he did in behalf of his people when they were suffering in cruel bondage in Egypt. The word ‘awake’ here, which is addressed to the arm of Jehovah, is a petition that it might be roused from its apparent stupor and inactivity, and its power exerted in their behalf. O ARM OF THE LORD - The arm is the instrument by which we execute any purpose. It is that by which the warrior engages in battle, and by which he wields the weapon to prostrate his foes. The arm of Yahweh had seemed to slumber; For seventy years the prophet sees the oppressed and suffering people in bondage, and God had not come forth to rescue them. He hears them now lifting the voice of earnest and tender entreaty, that he would...

EXPOSITION ISAIAH 51:1 AN ADDRESS TO FAITHFUL ISRAEL, SUGGESTING TOPICS OF COMFORT. The address consists of three nearly equal strophes or stanzas, each commencing with a call, _Shim'u elai_,_ _"Hearken unto me," or _Haqshibu elai_,_ _"Attend to me." The prophet appears to be the speaker, and to address himself to the more faithful portion of the people. ISAIAH 51:1 YE THAT FOLLOW AFTER RIGHTEOUSNESS; _i.e. _"ye that endeavour to lead righteous lives" (comp....

AWAKE, AWAKE, PUT ON STRENGTH, O ARM OF THE LORD,.... The Septuagint and Arabic versions take the words to be an address to Jerusalem; and the Syriac version to Zion, as in Isaiah 51:17, but wrongly: they are, as Jarchi says, a prayer of the prophet, or it may be rather of the church represented by him; and are addressed either to God the Father, who, when he does not immediately appear on the behalf of his people, is thought by them to be asleep, though he never slumbers nor sleeps, but always keeps a watchful eye over them; but this they not apprehending, call upon him to "awake"; which is repeated, to show their sense of danger, and of their need of him, and their vehement importunity; and that he would clothe himself with strength, and make it visible, exert his power, and make bare his arm on their behalf: or they are an address to Christ, who is the power of God, that he would appe...

Isaiah 51:1. _Hearken to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the Lord: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him._ This is for your comfort, dear friends. If God could make out of Abraham and Sarah so great a nation as that of Israel, what is there that he cannot do? Do you say that the cause of God is brought very low in these evil days? It is not so low as when there seemed to be none but Abraham faithful in the whole world; yet God made that one mighty man to be like a foundation upon which he built up the chosen people, to whose keeping he committed the sacred oracles; and if he did that, what can he not do? However low you may individually sink, or however weak you may feel, look back to Abraham,

ART THOU NOT The reference is to Egypt (Isaiah 30:7) at the Exodus....

CHAPTER 51 Jehovah Encourages His Faithful People, the Remnant of Israel 1. _The call to remember Abraham (Isaiah 51:1)_ 2. _Zion to be comforted (Isaiah 51:3)_ 3. _His righteousness near and His arm to judge the people (Isaiah 51:4)_ 4. _Fear ye not (Isaiah 51:7)_ 5. _The prayer of faith (Isaiah 51:9)_ 6. _Jehovah answers (Isaiah 51:12)_ 7. The suffering of the nation to end ...

AN APPEAL TO YAHWEH TO DISPLAY HIS MIGHT AS OF OLD. Let Yahweh's strong arm manifest its power as it did in slaying the dragon Rahab, the personification of the mighty deep regarded as the power of Chaos (Job 9:13 *). This thought naturally suggests another work of Yahweh's arm, the drying up of the Red Sea, the more easily that Rahab was an emblem for Egypt (_cf._ Isaiah 30:7 *). Isaiah 51:10. great deep: this expression makes it clear that the reference to the Exodus begins only with the following words. Isaiah 51:11. A scribe's quotation from...