Isaiah 51:1
LI. (1) LOOK UNTO THE ROCK. — The implied argument is, that the wonder involved in the origin of Israel is as a ground of faith in its restoration and perpetuity. The rock is, of course, Abraham, the pit, Sarah.... [ Continue Reading ]
LI. (1) LOOK UNTO THE ROCK. — The implied argument is, that the wonder involved in the origin of Israel is as a ground of faith in its restoration and perpetuity. The rock is, of course, Abraham, the pit, Sarah.... [ Continue Reading ]
I CALLED HIM ALONE. — Literally, _as one._ If so great a nation had sprung from one man (Hebrews 11:12), so would God out of the faithful remnant once more create a people. (Comp. Ezekiel 33:24, where the exiles arc represented as boastfully inverting the argument: “Abraham was one, and we are many;... [ Continue Reading ]
HE WILL MAKE HER WILDERNESS LIKE EDEN. — Interesting as showing Isaiah’s acquaintance with Genesis 1-3. (Comp. Ezekiel 31:9; Ezekiel 31:16; Ezekiel 36:35; Joel 2:3.) “Paradise” has already entered into the idea of future restoration (Revelation 2:7).... [ Continue Reading ]
A LAW SHALL PROCEED. — “Law” and “judgment” include all forms of divine revelation, and specially the “glad tidings” which are the groundwork of the highest law. (Comp. Luke 1:77; Romans 1:17.)... [ Continue Reading ]
MINE ARMS SHALL JUDGE THE PEOPLE. — Literally, _the peoples,_ including Israel and the heathen. The work of judgment thus, as ever, comes first; after it the _isles_ (_i.e.,_ far-off countries), as representing the heathen, shall be converted, and trust the very Arm that smote them.... [ Continue Reading ]
SHALL DIE IN LIKE MANNER — _i.e.,_ shall vanish into nothingness. Many commentators, however, render, _shall die like gnats;_ shall live their little day and pass away; thus supplying a third similitude, in addition to the “smoke” and the “garment.” We are reminded once again of Psalms 102:26; and w... [ Continue Reading ]
YE THAT KNOW RIGHTEOUSNESS. — Jehovah, through His Servant, speaks to the Israel within Israel, the Church within the Church. They need support against the scorn and reproach of men, and are to find it in the thought that the revilers perish and that Jehovah is eternal.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE MOTH... THE WORM. — The two words in Hebrew have the force of an emphatic assonance — _ash_ and _sâsh. _... [ Continue Reading ]
AWAKE, AWAKE. — Who is the speaker that thus bursts into this grand apostrophe? (1) The redeemed and ideal Israel, or (2) the Servant of the Lord, or (3) the prophet, or (4) Jehovah, as in self-communing, after the manner of men, like that of Deborah in Judges 5:12. On the whole the first seems the... [ Continue Reading ]
THEREFORE THE REDEEMED. — Note worthy as being either a quotation by Isaiah from himself (Isaiah 35:10), or by the unknown writer of Isaiah from the earlier prophet. The assumption that it is an interpolation by a copyist rests on no adequate ground.... [ Continue Reading ]
I, EVEN I. — The iterated pronoun emphasises the true grounds of confidence. If God be with us, what matter is it who may be against us? The enemies are mortal and weak; the Protector is the Eternal and the Strong.... [ Continue Reading ]
AS IF HE WERE READY. — Better, _as he makes him ready to destroy._ The Authorised version unduly minimises the amount of danger. In the case contemplated by the prophet, the oppressor was the Babylonian monarchy, which he sees as already belonging to the past; but the words have, of course, a far wi... [ Continue Reading ]
THE CAPTIVE EXILE. — Literally, _he that is bowed down, i.e.,_ bound in fetters. The “pit,” as in the case of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 38:6), is the underground dungeon, in which the prisoner was too often left to starve.... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT I AM... — Better, _Seeing that I am._ The fact which follows is not contrasted with that which precedes, but given as its ground. The might of Jehovah is seen in the storm-waves of the sea. It is seen not less in the fall and rise of empires.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I HAVE PUT MY WORDS IN THY MOUTH... — Some interpreters assume, that while Isaiah 51:1? was spoken to the Jewish exiles, this, which reminds us of Isaiah 49:2, is addressed to _the_ Servant of the Lord. Of these, some (Cheyne), struck by the apparent abruptness, assume it to be misplaced. There... [ Continue Reading ]
AWAKE... — The words present a strange parallelism to Isaiah 51:9. There they were addressed to the arm of Jehovah, and were the prelude of a glorious promise. Here they are spoken to Jerusalem as a drunken and desperate castaway, and introduce a painfully vivid picture of her desolation. They seem,... [ Continue Reading ]
THESE TWO THINGS... — The two things are amplified into four: (1) the two effects, and (2) the two causes. WHO SHALL BE SORRY FOR THEE? — Better, Be sorry _with_ thee, or _who shall console thee?_ Even Jehovah is represented as failing, or seeming to fail, in finding a comforter for such affliction... [ Continue Reading ]
AS A WILD BULL... — Better, _as an antelope._ The picture explains that of Isaiah 51:17. The sons cannot help the mother, for they, too, have drunk of the same cup of fury, and lie like corpses in the open places of the city. (Comp. Lamentations 2:12.)... [ Continue Reading ]
DRUNKEN, BUT NOT WITH WINE... — Same phrase as in Isaiah 29:9.... [ Continue Reading ]
THY LORD THE LORD... — Note the emphatic combination of _Adonai_ (or rather, in this solitary instance, of the plural _Adonim_ used like Elohim) with Jehovah. Man’s necessity is once more God’s opportunity. He will plead for His people when none else will plead. The cup of trembling shall be taken f... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU HAST LAID THY BODY... — The image is startlingly bold; but our word “prostration,” as applied to the condition of a people, embodies precisely the same thought. (Comp. Psalms 129:3.) The previous words paint the last humiliation of Eastern conquest (Joshua 10:24).... [ Continue Reading ]