The Servant's address to the nations. The passage forms the natural sequel to ch. Isaiah 42:1-4, and adds some fresh features to the portrait there presented. (1) The Servant, speaking now in his own name, expresses his consciousness of the mission entrusted to him by Jehovah (Isaiah 49:1). (2) He r... [ Continue Reading ]
The call and equipment of the Servant by Jehovah. The nations of the world are addressed, because the great announcement that the speaker has to make (Isaiah 49:6) concerns them. Although Jeremiah had already been conscious of being a "prophet to the nations" (Jeremiah 1:5), the self-consciousness h... [ Continue Reading ]
Isaiah 49:1-13. The Servant of Jehovah: His Fidelity amidst Discouragements, and the ultimate Success of His Mission The beginning of ch. 49 seems to mark a distinct advance in the development of the prophet's conceptions. "The controversial tone, the repeated comparisons between Jehovah and the id... [ Continue Reading ]
The Servant is described as one prepared in secret for his great work. He compares himself to a weapon fashioned by Jehovah for His own use, but kept in reserve till the fulness of time. As the ideal prophet, he speaks of his _mouth_, the organ of prophetic utterance (see Jeremiah 1:9; Isaiah 6:7),... [ Continue Reading ]
The word _Israel_may be read either as a vocative or as a continuation of the predicate: "(Thou art) Israel &c." (see R.V.). On either view it presents insuperable difficulties to those who hold that the Servant is an individual. To say that as the supreme personage of Israel's history he receives t... [ Continue Reading ]
Although cast down for a moment by his want of success, he does not yield to despondency (cf. Isaiah 42:4), but leaves his cause in the hands of God. _Then I said_ R.V. BUT I SAID (with a certain emphasis on the "I"). _my judgment_ i.e. "my right," as in ch. Isaiah 40:27. _my work_should be MY REC... [ Continue Reading ]
The Servant's faith is rewarded by the revelation of a loftier mission than he had heretofore been conscious of. _though Israel be not gathered_ R.V. "and that Israel be gathered unto him." We have here the same confusion between _lô"_(not) and _lô_(to him) as in ch. Isaiah 9:3. The verb for "gathe... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he said_ resuming the sentence begun in Isaiah 49:5. R.V. "Yea, he saith." _It is a light thing &c._ Better as R.V. IT IS TOO LIGHT A THING &c. But the literal translation probably is, "It is too light for thy being a servant to me that thou shouldst raise up" &c., i.e. "To restore Israel is t... [ Continue Reading ]
Israel shall be raised from the deepest degradation to the highest honour. The verse is remarkable as anticipating the main idea of ch. Isa 52:13 53:15. _to him whom man despiseth_ Lit. TO THE DESPISED OF SOUL; i.e. "to one who is heartily despised," the "soul" being the seat of emotion. Comp. Psal... [ Continue Reading ]
The Servant's account of his calling forms the basis of a series of promises; Isaiah 49:7 referring to his influence on the nations, and Isaiah 49:8 to the narrower sphere of his activity, the restoration of Israel.... [ Continue Reading ]
_In an acceptable time_ Better: IN A SEASON OF FAVOUR. Cf. ch. Isaiah 41:2, and the citation in 2 Corinthians 6:2. _for a covenant of the people_ See on ch. Isaiah 42:6. _to establish the earth &c._ Render: TO RESTORE (see Isaiah 49:6) THE LAND (of Israel), TO ALLOT (Deuteronomy 21:16) THE DESOLATE... [ Continue Reading ]
A picture of the emancipation and return of the exiles.... [ Continue Reading ]
That _thou mayest say_ Rather, SAYING (R.V.) or possibly (continuing the previous infs.) "To say." _the prisoners_… them _that_are _in darkness_ i.e. the exiles; cf. Isaiah 42:7. The second half of the verse introduces a new figure, that of the flock, (see ch. Isaiah 40:11) led by Jehovah, the Good... [ Continue Reading ]
_neither shall the heat … smite them_ The word for _heat_should probably be rendered THE HOT WIND (Sirocco; LXX., καύσων). It is often taken to denote the mirage (see on ch. Isaiah 35:7), but that meaning is unsuitable here on account of the verb "smite.... [ Continue Reading ]
The expression _my mountains_is difficult. An allusion to the mere fact of creation is not natural, and to understand it of the mountains of Palestine (as in ch. Isaiah 14:25) would limit the image to the last stage of the return journey. Possibly the text should be amended so as to read "mountains... [ Continue Reading ]
The return of exiles from the most distant parts of the earth. _these from the land of Sinim_( THE SINITES)] The last word is a hopeless enigma. As the only proper name in the verse the writer must have had some special reason for mentioning it; and the only reason that can be plausibly imagined is... [ Continue Reading ]
The lyrical conclusion of the passage on the Servant, partly resembling ch. Isaiah 44:23. _his afflicted_ See on Isaiah 41:17.... [ Continue Reading ]
_But Zion said_ Zion is the city of Jerusalem personified (cf. Isaiah 49:16) and, by a common O.T. figure, conceived as the mother of the citizens (see further on Isaiah 49:21). This is no doubt the primary reference of the figure, but since the city derives its religious significance from its being... [ Continue Reading ]
Isaiah 49:14 to Isaiah 50:3. The Consolation of Zion (i) Isaiah 49:14. In an apostrophe to Jerusalem the prophet announces the speedy return of her population and the rebuilding of her waste places. The poetry of the passage is singularly beautiful, and charged with tender emotion. Zion, the ideali... [ Continue Reading ]
Jehovah's remembrance of Zion is more enduring than the strongest human affection. Even a mother's pity for an infant may fail. _yea, they may forget_ Or, SHOULD EVEN THESE FORGET (Cheyne). _yet will I not forget thee_ See on ch. Isaiah 44:21.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I have graven thee_ Not the name merely but the picture of the city, as the next clause shews. _Thy walls_may refer to the ruined walls with their mute appeal to Jehovah's compassion, or to the plan of the new walls, which reminds Him of His purpose to rebuild them. The latter is more likely. _upo... [ Continue Reading ]
Already in vision the prophet sees the return of the exiles and calls on Zion to welcome her sons. Instead of _Thy children_the chief ancient Versions, and the important Babylonian Codex have "Thy builders" (בֹּנַיִךְ for בָּנַיךְ), a sense which is recommended both by the antithesis to "thy destro... [ Continue Reading ]
As _I live, saith the Lord_ Jehovah's oath by Himself, ch. Isaiah 45:23. It introduces a new, though closely related, conception; the inhabitants being compared to the bridal attire with which Zion replaces the signs of her widowhood. _bind them_on thee] Strictly GIRD THEM ON. The verb is connected... [ Continue Reading ]
_For_ AS FOR _thy waste and thy desolate places and_ THY _land_ THAT HATH BEEN DESTROYED, SURELY _now_ SHALT THOU _be too_ STRAIT FOR _the inhabitants, &c._ So R.V. But there appears to be some textual disorder, the subjects in the first half of the verse having no predicate. The R.V. gets over the... [ Continue Reading ]
In place of her present solitude, the ideal Zion shall yet look down on a densely peopled city, whose inhabitants are embarrassed for want of room.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The children … other_ Lit. THE SONS OF THY BEREAVEMENT, i.e. those born to thee in the time of thy bereavement (see Isaiah 49:21). SHALL YET SAY _in thine ears_ The mother overhears the talk of her vigorous and enterprising offspring. _the place is too strait for me_ Cf. 2 Kings 6:1. _Give place... [ Continue Reading ]
Zion is bewildered at finding herself once more "a joyful mother of children" (Psalms 113:9). _Who hath begotten_ Rather, WHO HATH BORNE (in spite of the masculine gender of the verb). The peculiar figure is probably to be explained by the custom illustrated in Genesis 16:1 ff; Genesis 30:1 ff., &c... [ Continue Reading ]
The first of the three short oracles describes the restoration of the exiles as a spontaneous act of homage on the part of the Gentiles. The conception is intermediate between that of ch. Isaiah 45:14 ff., where the nations acknowledge the divinity of Jehovah and the religious supremacy of Israel, a... [ Continue Reading ]
_thy nursing fathers_ THY GUARDIANS; i.e. of course, the guardians of her children (in spite of ch. Isaiah 60:16); see Num 11:12; 2 Kings 10:1; Esther 2:7 &c. The figure appears to express the permanent relation of the kingdoms of the world to the glorified people of God. _lick up the dust of thy fe... [ Continue Reading ]
_from the mighty_ FROM A HERO. _the lawful captive_ lit. THE CAPTIVITY (captives) OF A RIGHTEOUS ONE. This is the only sense that the phrase will properly bear; all the attempts to construe it otherwise are futile. Many authorities, however, adopt the reading of the Pesh. and Vulg. (עריץ instead of... [ Continue Reading ]
The emancipation of Israel is here regarded as having to be effected by force, and Jehovah pledges His omnipotence to the task. The bright picture of Isaiah 49:22 does not touch the gravest difficulty of the situation, the formidable power and settled hostility of Babylon.... [ Continue Reading ]
Read FOR instead of _But_, and later in the verse BUT instead of _for_.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will feed them that? &c._ Better: I WILL CAUSE THINE OPPRESSORS (the Chaldæans) TO EAT THEIR OWN FLESH (cf. ch. Isaiah 9:20; Zechariah 11:9). The enemies of Zion shall be consumed by internecine war a common eschatological representation (Ezekiel 38:21; Haggai 2:22; Zechariah 14:13). _and all fl... [ Continue Reading ]