_THE PROPHET, COMPLAINING OF INCREDULITY, EXCUSETH THE SCANDAL OF THE CROSS, BY THE BENEFIT OF CHRIST'S PASSION, AND THE GOOD SUCCESS THEREOF._ _Before Christ 719._ THE scene of this second section is to be placed at the beginning of the oeconomy of grace, when, after the foundations of the kingdo... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO HATH BELIEVED OUR REPORT?— "Who, of the Jews, when the Messiah comes, will believe our report concerning him? Even they before whom the arm of the Lord, the virtue and power of God, is witnessed in his miracles." The Targum on Isaiah 53:8 has it, "Who can declare the miracles which shall be done... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR HE SHALL GROW UP, &C.— _But he groweth up before him, as a tender shoot, and as a branch out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness, that we should gaze upon him, and no beauty,_ &c. "Would you hear the cause of so great unbelief? It is this. Though he shall come before Israel, as the p... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT HE WAS WOUNDED, &C.— "But he _shall be wounded to death_ for our transgressions, he _shall be bruised to death_ (see Isaiah 53:10.) for our iniquities: the punishment which we deserve shall be laid on him, for our peace and benefit; and by his stripes we shall be healed." The word מדכא _meduka,_... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL WE LIKE SHEEP, &C.— "In this sense he is the Saviour: for otherwise none of us, without him, could be saved. We are all sinners, and are gone out of the way of God's laws; and as such, are unable, by any deed or suffering of ours, to claim or deserve God's pardon. And therefore God lays upon him... [ Continue Reading ]
HE WAS OPPRESSED, &C.— _It was exacted, and he engaged for,_ or, _and he answered it, and opened not his mouth,_ &c. Or, _The debt was demanded,_ &c. Chandler: who remarks, that thus the learned L'Empereur renders the word נגשׂ _niggas,_ as we also do in ch. Isaiah 58:3. "God insisted on an adequate... [ Continue Reading ]
HE WAS TAKEN FROM PRISON, &C.— "And yet the indignities of his sufferings were enough to shock his patience, especially their taking away his life, under colour of law and justice, and a fair trial. Who that saw him in these sad circumstances, so evil treated by them, would have supposed him to be t... [ Continue Reading ]
AND HE MADE HIS GRAVE, &C.— _And he committed his burial to the wicked, and to the rich his death,_ &c. Or, _And his burial was appointed with the wicked; but he was with the rich in his death,_ &c. Or, _And he_ [_the people_] _made his grave with the wicked, but it shall be with the rich after his... [ Continue Reading ]
YET IT PLEASED THE LORD, &C.— "However, it pleased God that he should suffer, though God had another view in it than his murderers, even the salvation of mankind." Bishop Chandler reads, _If he shall make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, which shall prolong their days,_ &c. The V... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SHALL SEE OF THE TRAVAIL, &C.— "In consideration of what he suffered, he shall afterwards see all his enemies put under his feet; and by his law and his grace he shall reform the world, and prepare them who will believingly receive the benefits of his death for a total and eternal absolution and... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE WILL I DIVIDE, &C.— "Therefore, I say, he shall become victorious over his most potent adversaries; because by choice he shall offer up his life, and submit to be accounted and treated as a transgressor; whereas his death was intended as a sacrifice for the sins of others, in virtue whereo... [ Continue Reading ]