Scriptures. See Notes on ch. xxxiv. 4. Comp. Heb. i. 11, 12. Ps. cii. 26. 2 Pet. iii. 10-12. IF The earth shall wax oldt &c. Shall decay, and be destroyed. See Ps. cii. 26. IT And they that dwell therein shall die in like manner. Lowth renders this, " like the vilest insect." Noyes, " like flies." The Vulgate, and the LXX, however, render it as it is in our version. Rosenmuller renders it "as flies." Gesenius renders it "like a gnat." This variety of interpretation arises from the different explanation of the word "i? khen, which usually means, as, so, thus, in like manner, &c. The plural form, however, E^?* kinnlm, occurs in Ex. viii. 17. Ps. cv. 31, and is rendered by the LXX gkvT<P£s, and by the Vulgate sciniphes, a species of small gnats, very troublesome from their sting, which abounds in the marshy regions of Egypt; and according to this the idea is, that the most mighty inhabitants of the earth would die like gnats, or the smallest and vilesl insects. This interpretation gives a more impressive sense than our version, but it is doubtful whether it can be justified. The word occurs nowhere else in this sense, and the authority of the ancient versions is against it. The idea as given in the common translation is not feeble, as Gesenius supposes, but io a deeply impressive one, that the heavens, the earth, and all the inhabitants should vanish away together, and alike disappear. IT But my salvation shall be for ever. It is a glorious truth that the redemption which God shall give his people shall survive the revolutions of kingdoms, and the consummation of all earthly things. It is not improbable that the Saviour had this passage iu his eye when he said, " Heaven and earth
7 Hearken runto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart' is my law; fear ye notr the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.
Ehal! pass away, but my word shall not pass away." Matt. xxiv. 35.
7. Hearken unto me, ye that hnow righteousness. My people who are acquainted with my law, and who are to be saved. This is addressed to the pious part of the Jewish nation. IT Fear ye not the reproach of men. If we have the promise of God, and the assurance of his favour, we shall have no occasion to dread the reproaches and the scoffs of men. Comp. Matt. x. 28.
8. For the moth. See ch. I. 9. The idea is, that they shall be consumed as the moth eats up a garment; or rather, that the moth itself shall consume them as it does a garment: that is, that they were so weak when compared with Jehovah that even the moth, one of the smallest and most contemptible of insects, would consume them. An expression remarkably similar to this occurs in Job iv. 18, 19, 20:
Perhaps the following extract from Niebuhr may throw some light on the passage, as showing that man may be crushed by so feeble a thing as a worm. " A disease very common in Yemen is the attack of the Guiney-worm, or the Vcrea-Mcdinensis, as it is called by the physicians of Europe. This disease is Supposed te be occasioned by the use of the putrid waters, which people are obliged to drink in various parts of Yemen; and for this reason the Arabians pl^nys pass water, with the nature of V-mch they are unacquainted, through t linen cloth before using it. When one
8 For the moth shall eat them* up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.
unfortunately swallows the eggs of this insect, no immediate consequence follows; but after a considerable time the worm begins to show itself through the skin. Our physician, Mr. Cramer, was within a few days of his death attacked by five of these worms at once, although this was more than five months i %ev we left Arabia. In the isle of Karek I saw a French officer named Le Page, who, after a long and difficult journey, performed on foot, and in an Indian dress, between Pondicherry and Surat, through the heat of India, was busy extracting a worm out of his body. He supposed he had got it by drinking bad water in the country of the Mahrattas. This disorder is not dangerous if the person who is affected can extract the worm without breaking it. With this view it is rolled on a small bit of wood as it comes out of the skin. It is slender as a thread, and two or three feet long. If unluckily it be broken, it then returns into the body, and the most disagreeable consequences ensue — palsy, a gangrene, and sometimes death." A thought similar to that of Isaiah respecting man, has been beautifully expressed by Gray:
To contemplation's sober eye,
Such is the race of man; And they that creep, and they that fly,
Shall end where they began.
Alike the busy and the gay,
Cut flutter through life's little day,
In fortune's varying colours drest; Brushed hy the hand of rough mischance, Or chilled by aire, their airy dance
They leave, in dust to res*.
IT And the worm shall eat them lik« wool. The word rendered toorm (^^)? probably means the same as the moth. The Arabic renders it by moth, weevil The LXX, cfs. It is of unfrequer.t oc« currence in the Scriptures.
9 Awake, awake, put on" strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, in „he generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut* Rahab, and wounded the dragon 1*
9. 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. 1T 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 Jehovah 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 interpose as he had in former times, and save them from the calamities which they were enduring. IT Awake, as in the ancient days. That is, in the time when the Jews were delivered from their bondage in the land of Egypt, IT Art thou not it. Art thou not the Fame arm? Was it n<r t by this arm that the children of Israel were delivered from bondage, and may we not look to it for protection still 1 f That hath cut llahab. That is, cut it in pieces, or destroyed it. It was that arm winch wielded the sword of justice and of ven- Siance by which Rahab was cut in pieces. The word Rahab here means Egypt. On the meaning of the word, see Notes ch. xxx. 7, corap. Ps. lxxxviii. 8,lxxxix. 10. T And wounded the dragon. The word here rendered dragon, "pap] taintn, means properly any great fish or sea monster; a serpent, a dragon,
10 Art thou not it vhich hath* dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?
(see Notes Isa. xxvii. l),or a crocodile. Here it means, probably, the crocodile as emblematic of Egypt, because the Nile abounded in crocodiles, and because a monster so unwieldy and formidable and unsightly was no unapt representation of the proud and cruel king of Egypt. The king of Egypt is not unfrequently compa ed with the croco dile. See Ezek. xxix. 3, xxxii. 2. Ps. xxxiv. 13, 14. Here the sense is, that he had sorely wounded, i. e. had greatly weakened the power of that cruel nation, which for strength was not unfitly represented by the crocodile, one of the most mighty of monsters, but which, like a pierced and wounded monster, was greatly enfeebled when God visited it with plagues, and destroyed its hosts in the sea.
10. Art thou not it. Art thou not still the same? The ground of the appeal is, that the same arm that dried up the sea, and made a path for the Jewish people, was still able to interpose and rescue them. IT Which hath dried the sea. The Red Sea when the children of Israel passed over. Ex. xiv. 21. This is the common illustration to which the Hebrew prophets and poets appeal when they wish to refer to the interposition of God in favour of their nation. Comp. Ps. cv. See Notes ch. xliii. 16. 1T For the ransomed to pass over. Those who had been ransomed from Egypt. The word rendered ransomed is that which is commonly rendered redeemed. The argument in this verse is, that he who had overcome all the obstacles in the way of their deliverance from Egypt was able also to overcome all the obsta *les in the way of their deliverance from Babylon; and thai he who had thus interposed might be expected again to manifest his mercy and save them again from oppression. Thw
11 Therefore 6the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy' shall he upon their head: they shal obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow 'and mourning shall flee away.
12 I, feven I, am he that comforteth you: who aH thou, that tiiou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of
principle involved in the argument is as applicable now as it was then. All God's past interpositions — and especially the great and wonderful interposition when he gave his Son for his church — constitute an argument that he will still continue to regard the interests of his people, and will interpose in their behalf and save them.
11. Therefore the redeemed of the Lord. This is probably the language of Jehovah assuring them, in answei to their prayer, that his ransomed people should again return to Zion. IT And everlasting joy shall be upon their head. This entire verse occurs also in ch. xxxv. 10. See it explained in the Note on that verse. The custom of singing alluded to here on a journey is now very common in the East. It is practised to relieve the tediousness of a journey over extended plains, as well as to induce the camels in a caravan to move with greater rapidity. The idea here is, that the caravan that should return from Babylon to Jerusalem across the extended plains should make the journey amidst general exultation and joy — cheered on their way by songs, and relieving the tedium of their journey by notes of gladness and of praise.
12. /, even /, am he that comforteth you. Tire word *; I" is repeated here to give emphasis to the passage, and to impress deeply upon them the fact that their consolation camo alone from God. The argument is, that since God was their protector and friend, they had no occasion to fear any thing that man
13 And forgettest the Lord thy Maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he 'were ready to destroy? and 'where is the fury of the oppressor?
could do. IT Of a man thu. shall die. God your comforter will endure for ever. But all men — even the most mighty — must soon die. And if God is our protector, what occasion can we have to fear what a mere mortal can do to us? 7 And of the son of man. This phrase is common in the Hebrew Scriptures, and means the same as man. H" Shall be made as grass. They shalv perish as grass does that is cut down at mid-day. See Notes ch. xl. 6, 7.
13. And forgettest the Lord thy Maker. These verses are designed to rebuke that state of the mind — alas, too common even among the people of God — where they are intimidated by the number and strength of their foes, and forget their dependence on God, and his promises of aid. In such circumstances God reproves them for theil want of confidence in him, and calls on them to remember that he has made the heavens, and has all power to save them. 1T That hath stretched forth the heavens. See Notes ch. xl. 12, 26. IT And hast feared continually every day. They had continually feared and trembled before their oppressors. IT Because of the j:iry of the oppressor. 'i hose who had oppressed them in Babylon. IT As if he were ready to destroy. Margin, made himself ready. The idea is, that he was preparing to destroy the people — perhaps as a marksman is making ready his bow and arrows. The oppressor had been preparing to crush them in the dust, and they trembled, and did not remember thai
14 The captive exile hasten- >th that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, "nor that his bread should fail.
God was abundantly able to protect them. IT And where is the fury of the oppressor? What is there, to dread? The idea is, that the enemies of the Jews wrid be cut off. and that they phould therefore put their confidence in God, and rely on his promised aid.
and supposes that it refers to Cyrus, if understood of the temporal redemption from the captivity at Babylon, in the spiritual sense to the Messiah. But the meaning, evidently is, that the exile who had been so long as it were enchained in Babylon, was about to be set free, and that the time was veiy near when the captivity was to end. The prisoner should not die there, but should be conducted again to his own land. The word here used and rendered " captive exile," •"l^X from •"'^ means properly that which is turned on one side, or inclined, as e. g. a vessel for pouring. Jer. xlviii. 12. Then it means that which is inclined, bent, or bowed down as a captive in bonds. The Chaldee renders this, " Vengeance shall be quickly revealed, and the just shall not die in corruption, and their food shall not fail." Aben Ezra renders it, " bound." The idea is, that they who were bowed down under bondage and oppression in Babylon, should very soon be released. This is >ne of the numerous passages which show that the scene of the prophetic vision is Babylon, and the time near the close of the captivity, and that the design of the prophet is to comfort them there, and to afford them the assurance that they would soon be released. 1i And that he should not die in the pit. That is, in Babylon, represented as a prison, or a pit. The nation would be restored to their own land. Prisoners were often confined in a deep
15 Bat I am the Lord thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The Lord of hosts is his name.
16 And I have put my words
pit, or cavern, and hence the word is synonymous with prison. The following extract from Paxton will illustrate this. " The Athenians, and particularly the tribe of Hippothoontis, frequently condemned offenders to the pit. It was a dark, noisome hole, and had sharp spikes at the top, that no criminal might escape; and others at the bottom, to pierce and torment those unhappy persons who were thrown in. Similar to this place was the Lacedemonian KaiaSa;, into which Aristomenes the Messenian being cast, made his escape in a very surprising manner." Comp. also Num. xvi. 30. Ps. ix. 15, xxviii. 1, xxx. 3, 9, xl. 2, lv. 23, cxl. 10. Gen. xxxvii. 20, Ps. cxix. 85, cxl. 10. Zech. ix. 11. Jer. xxxvii. 21. If Nor that his bread should fail. His wants shall be supplied until he is released.
15. But I am the Lord thy God. In order to show them that he was able to save them, God again refers to the fact that he had divided the sea, and delivered their fathers from bondage and oppression. TT That divided the sea. The Red Sea. The Chaldee renders this, " that rebuked the sea." The LXX, o Tap'iocwv who disturbs the sea, or who excites a tempest. Lowth renders it, " who stilleth at once the sea." The Hebrew word is the same which occurs in ver. 4, where it is rendered, " I will make my judgment to rest," 2?S"l. Probably the idea here is that he restrains the raging of the sea as if by fear; i. c. makes it tranquil or still by rebuking it. He had this power over all raging seas, and he had shown it in a special manner by his rebuking the Red Sea and making it rest, and causing a way to be made through it, when the children of Israel came out ol Egypt. *ir The Lord of hosts is his name. See Notes ch. i. 9. Comp. Notes ch. xlii. 8.
16. And I have put my words in thy
pin thv mouth, and have covered thee in the shadow' of mine hand, ihat I may plant the heavens, 'and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou ari my people.
mouth. That is, he had committed his truth to the Jewish people; to Zion. He had entrusted them with his statutes, and his laws; he had given them the promise of the Messiah, and through him the assurance that the true religion would be spread to other nations. He would, therefore, preserve them, and restore them again to their own land. IT And have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand. That is, I have protected thee. See Notes ch. xlix. 2. ff That I may plant the heavens. Lowth renders this, " to stretch out the heavens." Noyes, " to establish the leavens." Jerome, " that thou mayest jlant the heavens," ut plantes coelos. The LXX, iv jji, I'oTTjTa rbv oipavov, by which I have established heaven. The Chaldee renders it, " In the shadow of my power have I protected thee, that I might raise up the people of whom it was said, that they should be multiplied as the stars of heaven." But the language here is evidently entirely figurative. It refers to the restoration of the Jews to their own land; to the re-establishment of religion there; to the introduction of the new economy under the Messiah, and to all the great changes which would be consequent on that. This is compared with the work of forming the heavens, and laying the foundation of the earth. It would require Almighty power; and it would produce so great changes, that it might be compared to the work of creating the universe out of nothing. Probably also the idea is included here that stability would be given to the true religion by what God was about to do — a permanency that might be compared with the firmness and duration of the heavens and the earth. IT And say unto Zion. &.c. That is, God would restore them
17 Awake, awake, stand up O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of his fury: "thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.
17. Awake, awake. See Notes or» ver. 9. This verse commences an address to Jerusalem under a new figure or image. The figure employed is tha*. of a man who has been overcome by the cup of the wrath of Jehovah, that had produced the same effect as inebriation. Jerusalem had reeled and fallen prostrate. There had been none to sustain her, and she had sunk to the dust. Calamities of the most appalling kind had come upon her, and she is now called on to arouse from this condition, and to recover her former splendour and power. IT Which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord. The wrath of Jehovah is not unfrequently compared to a cup producing intoxication. The reason is, that it produces a similar effect. It prostrates the strength, and makea the subject of it reel, stagger, and fall. In like manner all calamities are represented under the image of a cup that is drunk, producing a prostrating effect on the frame. Thus the Saviour says, " The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it I'' John xviii. 11. Comp. Matth. xx. 22, 23, xxvi. 39, 42. The effects of drinking the cup of God's displeasure are often beautifully set forth. Thus in Ps. lxxv. 8:
In the hand of Jehovah there is a cup, and the wine is red; It is full of a mixed liquor, and he poureth out of the same, Verily the dregs thereof all the ungodly of the earth shall wring them out and drink them.
Plato, as referred to by Lowth, has an idea resembling this. " Suppose," says he, " God had given to men a medicating potion inducing fear; so that the more any one should drink of it, so much the more miserable he should find himself at every draught, and become fearful of every thing present and future; and at last, though the most courageous of men, should become totally possessed by fear; and afterwards having slept off the effects of it should become himself again." A similar image is used by mixed potion of each: to others from I the evil vessel only, and these are com- |
Two urns by Jove's high throne have ever stood. The source of evil one, and one of good: From thence the cup of mortal man he fills, tileasings to these; to those distributes ills. To most he mingles both: The wretch decreed To ta.^te the bad unmixed, is cursed indeed; Pursued by wrongs, by meagre famine driven He wanders, outcast by both earth and heaven: The happiest taste not happiness sincere, But rind the cordial draught is dashed with care.
But nowhere i3 this image handled with greater force and sublimity than in this passage of Isaiah. Jerusalem ig here represented as staggering under the effects of it; she reels and falls; none assist her from whence she might expect aid; not one of them is able to support her. All her sons had fainted and become powerless (ver. 20); they were lying prostrate at the head of every street, like a bull taken in a net, struggling in vain to rend it, and to extricate himself. Jehovah's wrath had produced complete and total prostration throughout the whole city. IT Thou hast drunken the dregs. Gesenius renders this, " the goblet cup." But the common view taken of the passage is, that it means that the cup had been drunk to the dregs. All the intoxicating liquor had been poured off. They had entirely exhausted the cup of the wrath of God. Similar language occurs in Rev. xiv. 10: " The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured cut without mixture, into the cup of his indignation." The idea of the dregs is taken from the fact that, among the ancients, various substances, as honey, dates, &c, were put into wine in order to produce the intoxicating quality in the highest degree. The sedi ment of course would remain at tht bottom of the cask or cup when thf wine was poured off. Homer, whe lived about a thousand years before Christ, and whose descriptions are always regarded as exact accounts of the customs in his time, frequently mentions potent drugs as being mixed with wines. In the Odyss. iv. 220, he tells us that Helen prepared for Telemacl ns and his companions a beverage which was highly stupefactive and soothing to his mind. To produce these qualities, he says that she threw into the wine drugs which were grief-assuaging, rage-allaying, and the oblivious antidote for every sjiccies of misfortune. Such mixtures were common among the Hebrews. It is possible that John (Rev. xiv. 10) refeia to such a mixture of the simple juice oi the grape with intoxicating drugs wher he uses the expression implying a seeming contradiction, KSKepaa/xcvov dxpiirov — mixed, unmixed wine — rendered in our version, " poured out without mixture." The reference is rather to the pure juice of the grape mixed, or mingled with intoxicating drugs. IT The cup of trembling. The cup producing trembling, or intoxication. Comp. Jcr. xxv. 15, xlix. 12, li. 7. Lam. iv.21. Hah. ii. 16. Ezek. xxiii. 31, 32, 33. The same figure occurs often in the Arabic poets. See Gesenius Coram, zu. Isa. in loc. IF And wrung them out, n"1^19" This properly means, to suck out; that is they had as it were sucked off all the liquid from the dregs.
18. There is none to guide her. The image here is taken from the condition of one who is under the influence of an intoxicating draught, and who needa some one to sustain and guide him. The icca is, that among ail the inhabitants of Jerusalem in the time o( tha
19 These two <7img$ are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and 'destruction, and the famine, and the sword: bye whom shall I comfort thee?
calamity, there was none who could restore to order the agitated and distracted affairs of the nation. All its wisdom was destroyed; its counsels perplexed; its power overcome. ^ All the sons whom she hath brought forth. All the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
19. These two things are come unto thee. Marg. happened. That is, two sources of calnmity have come upon thee; to wit, famine and the sword, producing desolation and destruction; or desolation by famine, and destruction by the sword. See Lowth on Heb. Poetry. Lee. xix. The idea here is, that far-spread destruction had occurred, caused by the two things, famine and the sword. IF Who shall he sorry for thee? That is, who shall be able so to pity thee ns to furnish relief? TF Desolation. By famine. IT And destruction. Marg. as in the Keb. breaking. It refers to the calamities which would be inflicted by the sword. The land would be desolated, and famine would spread over it. This refers, doubtless, to the series of calamities that would come upon it in connexion with the invasion of the Chaldeans. IT By whom shall 1 comfort thee? This intimates a desire on the part of Jehovah to give them consolation. But the idea is, that the land would be laid waste, and that they who would have been the natural comforters should be destroyed. There would be none left to whom a resort could be had for consolation.
20. Thy sons. Jerusalem is here represented as a mother. Her sons, that is. her inhabitants, had become weak and prostrate every where, and were jnable to afford consolation. IT They lie at the head of all th,c streets. The 1 head" of the streets is the same which Bi Lam. ii. 19, iv. 1, is denominated « the top of the streets." The head, or
20 Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the Lord, the rebuke of thy God.
top of tne stre^'5 denotes, doubtless, the beginning of a way or street; the cor ner from which other streets diverge. These would be public places where many would be naturally assembled, and where in time of a siege, they would be driven together. This is a description of the state produced by famine. Weak, pale, and emaciated, the inhabitants of Jerusalem in the places of public concourse would lie prostrate and inefficient, and unable to meet and repel their foes. They would be overpowered with famine, as a wild bull is ensnared in a net, and rendered incapable of any effort. This refers undoubtedly to the famine that would be produced during the siege of the Babylonians. The state of things under the siege has been also described by Jeremiah:
In the beginning of the watches pour out thine heart before the Lord; Lift up thy hands toward him for the life of thy
The young and old lie on the ground in the streets, My virgins and my young men are fallen by tha
sword; Thou hast slain them in the day of thy anger; Thou hast killed and not pitied. Lam. ii. 19—21.
The tongue of the sucking child cleaveth to the roof of his mouth for thirst; The young children ask bread, and no man break-
eth it unto them; They that did feed delicately are desolate in the streets; They that were brought up in scarlet embrace
IT As a wild bull in a net. The word here rendered wild bull is S*H. Gesenius supposes it is the same as l^fl, a species of gazelle, so called from its swiftness. Acuila, Symm. and Theod. render it here o?v£, oryx; Jerome also renders it oryx, a wild goat or stag The LXX render it aevrXiov fiuis<p6ov, a parboiled beet.' The Chald. as broken bottles. Bochart (Hieroz p. 1. Lib. iii. c. 28), supposes it means a species of
22 Thus saith thy Lo.'d the Lord, and thy God that pleadeth 'the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the
mountain goat, and demonstrates that it is common in the East to take such animals in a net. Lowth renders it oryx. The streets of Hebrew towns, like those of ancient Babylon, and of most modem Oriental cities, had gates which were closed at night, and on some occasions of broil and danger. A person then wishing to escape would be arrested by the closed gate; and if he was pursued would be taken somewhat like a wild bull in a net. It was formerly the custom, as it is now in Oriental countries, to take wild animals in this manner. A space of ground of considerable extent — usually in the vicinity of springs and brooks, where the animals were in the habit of repairing morning and evening — was enclosed by nets into which the animals were driven by horsemen and hounds, and when there enclosed they were easily taken. Such scenes are still represented in Egyptian paintings (see Wilkinson's Manners and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians, Vol. lii. pp, 2 -36), and such a custom prevailed among the Romans. Virgil represents iEneas and Dido as repairing to a wood for the purpose of hunting at break of day, and the attendants as surrounding the grove with nets or toils.
Venatum iEneaa, unaque miserrima Dido, In nemus ire parant, ubi primus crastinus orlus E.xtuieru Titan, radiisque retcxerit orbem. His ego nisrantem commix ta grundinc nimbum, Dum trepidant ala;, salntsqim inda,?i nc a>i gunt, Dssuper infundam, et tonitru caelum orane ciebo.
The idea here is plain. Il is, that as a wild animal is secured by the toils of the hut.ter, and rendered unable to estape, so it was with the inhabitants of Jerusalem suffering under the wrath of Cod. They were humbled, and pros-
dregs of the cup of my fuiy; thou shalt no more 'drink it again. 23 ButCT I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over: and thou hast laid nthy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over.
trate, and powerless, and were, like the stag that was caught, entirely at the disposal of him who had thus ensnared them.
21. And drunken, but not with wine. Overcome and prostrate, but not under the influence of intoxicating drink. They were prostrate by the wrath of
22. I have taken out of thy hand the cup of trembling. See Notes on ver. 17. This verse contains a promise that they would be delivered from the effect of the wrath of God under which they had been suffering so long. ^ Thou shalt no more drink it again. Thou shalt no more be subjected to similar trials and calamities. See ch. liv. 7-9. Probably the idea here is, not that Jerusalem would never be again destroyed, which would not be true, for it was afterwards subjected to severer trials under the Romans; but that the pcoplt who should then return — the pious exiles— should be preserved for ever after from similar sufferings. The object of the prophet is to console them, and this he does by the assurance that they should be subjected to such trials no more.
23. But I will put it into the handoj them that afflict thee. The nations that have made war upon thee, and that have reduced thee to bondage, particu larly the Babylonians. The calamities which the Jews had suffered God would transfer to their foes. IT Which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over. This is a striking description of the pride of eastern conquerors. It was not uncommon for conquerors actually to put theii foot »n the necks of conquered kings, and tread them in th«e dust. Thus in Josh. x. 24, " Joshua jailed for all the men of Israel, and said unto the captains of the men of war that went with them, come near, put your feet upon the neeks of these kings." So David says, " Thou hast given me the necks of mine enemies." Ps. xviii. 40. " The emperor Valerianus being through treachery taken prisoner by Sapor king Persia, was treated by him as the basest and most abject slave; for the Persian monarch commanded the unhappy Roman to bow himself down and offer him iiis back, on which he set his foot in order to mount his chariot, or his horse, whenever he had occasion." Lactanlius, as quoted by Lowth. Mr. Lane in his " Modern Egyptians," Vol. 1, p. 199, describes an annual ceremony which may serve to illustrate this passage. " A considerable number of Durwecshes, Bays he, (I am sure there were not less than sixty, but I could not count their number), laid themselves down upon the ground, side by side, as close as possible to each other, having their backs upwards, having their legs extended, and their arms placed together beneath their (breheads. When the Sheykh approached, his horse hesitated several minutes to step upon the back of the first prostrate man; but being pulled and urged on behind, he at length, stepped upon them; and the* i without apparent fear, ambled with a hign pace over them all, led by two persons, who ran over the prostrate men, one sometimes, treading on the feet, and the other on the heads. Not one of the men thus trampled on by the horse seemed to be hurt; but each the moment that the animal had passed over him, jumped up and followed the Sheykh. Each of them received two treads from the horse, one from one of his fore-legs, and a second from a hind-leg." It seems probable that this is a relic of an ancient usage alluded to in the Bible, in which captives were made to lie down on the ground, and the conqueror rode insultingly over them. IT Thou hast laid thy body as the ground. That is, you were utterly humbled and prostrated. Comp. Ps. lxvi. 11, 12. From all this, however, the promise is, that they should be rescued and delivered. The account of their deliverance is contained in the following chapter (ch. lii. 1-12); and the assurance of rescue is there made more cheering and glorious by directing the eye forward to the coming of the Messiah (ch. lii. 13- 15, liii. 1-12), and to the glorious results which would follow from his advent, ch. liv. seq. These chapters are all connected, and they should be read continuously. Material injury is done to the sense by the manner in which the division is made, if indeed any division should have been made at all.
This chapter is intiimtcly connected with the preceding, and with that constitutes one connected portion. See the nn.jysisof chapter li. This portion, however, extends only tover. 13 of this chapter, wnere there commences a prophecy extending through ch. liii. relating solely to the Messiah, and constituting the most important and interesting part of the Old Testament. In this chapter, the object is to console the pious part of the Jewish community. The general topic is, the promise of a rich Messing, first at the. deliverance from the captivity at Babylon, and then in a more complete sense, at the coming of the Messiah. The chapter comprises the following topics:
t\.) Jerusalem, Ion? in bondage, is called on to arise and shake herself from the dust, and to put on her beautiful garments, vs. 1. 2. She is addressed in accordance with language that is common in isai.'h, and the other prophets, as a female sitting on the ground, covered with dust, and mourning, ever her desolations.
(•2.) JEHOVAH expressly promises to deliver his people from their captivity and bondage, vs. 3—6. n stating this, he says (ver. 3), that they had sold themselves for nothing, and should be redeemeu without money; he appeals to the fact that he had delivered them horn Egyptian oppression in Urmer years, and that he was as able to deliver them now (ver. 4); and he says (vs. 5, 5), that fcw would have compassion on them now that they were suffering under their grie\ous bondage, an4 Aould furnish them with the most ample demonstration that he alone was God.
(3.) The prophet, in vision, sees the messenger on the mountains ihat comes to proclaim restoration to Zion, ver. 7, 8. He speaks of the beauty of the feet of him who bears the glad message, ver. 7; and says that when that messenger is seen bearing the glad tidings, " the watchman " should join n the exultation, ver. 8.
(A.) Jerusalem, and all the waste and desolate regions of Judca are called on to break out into singin? at the glad and glorious events which would occur when the people of God should be again re stored, vs. 9, 10.
(5 j In view of all this, the people are called on to depart from Babylon, and to return to their own.and, vs. 11, 12. They were to go out pure. They were not to contaminate themselves with the pnl-:u?ed objects of idolatry. They were about to bear back again to Jerusalem the consecrated vessel* of the house of JKHOVAH, and they should be clean and holy. They should not go out with haste fts if driven out, but they would go defended by JEHOVAH, and conducted by him to their own land
(6.) At ver. 13 the subject and the scene changes. The eye of the prophet becomes fixed jn tha: greater future event to which the deliverance from Br by Ion was preparatcry, and the whole attention becomes absorbed in the person, the manner of life, and the work of the Messiah. Thij par of the chapter, (vs 13— 15), is an essential part of the prophecy which is continued through tiie liii. chapter, and should by no means have been separated from it. In this portion of the prophecy all reference to the captivity at Babylon ceases; and the eye of the prophet is fixed without vacillating, on the person of the Redeemer. In noother portion of the Old Testament is there so clear and sublime a description of the Messiah as is furnished here; and no other portion demands so profoundly and prayerfully the attention of those who would understand i'ie great mystery of redeeming mercy and love.
1. Awake, awake. See Notes ch. li. 9. This address to Jerusalem is intitna\<tty connected with the closing verses of the preceding chapter. Jerusalem is there represented as down-trodden in the dust before her enemies. Here she is described under the image of a female that had been clad in the habiliments of mourning, and she is now called on to arouse from this condition, and to put on the garments that would be indicative of gladness and of joy. The idea is, that the time had come now in which she was to be delivered from her long captivity, and was to be restored to her former prosperity and splendour. IF Put on thy strength. Heb. Clothe thyself with thy strength. The idea is, exert thyself, be strong, bold, confident; arouse from thy dejection, and become courageous as one does when he is about to engage in an enterprise that promises success, and that demands effort. IT Put on thy beautiful garments. Jerusalem is here addressed, as she often is, as a remale. See Note ch. i. 8. She was to »ay asidj the garments expressive of grief and of captivity, and deck herself with those which were appropriate to a state »f prosperity. IT The uncircumcised tnd the unclean. Tha idea is, that there shall no more come unto thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.
those only should enter Jerusalem and dwell there who would be worshippers of the true God. The uncircumcised are emblems of the impure, the unconverted, and the idolatrous; and the meaning is, that in future times the church would be pure and holy. It cannot mean that no uncircumcised man or idolater would ever again enter the city of Jerusalem, for this would not be true. It was a fact that Antiochus and his armies, and Titus and his army entered Jerusalem, and undoubtedly hosts of others did also who were not circumcised. But this refers to the future times when the church of God would be pure. Its members would, in the main be possessors of the true religion, and would adorn it. Probably, therefore, the view of the prophet extended to the purer and happier times under the Messiah, when the church should be characteristically and eminently holy, and when as a great law of that church none should be admitted who did not profess that they were converted.
2. Shake thyself fron the dust. To sit on the ground, to sit in the dust, is an expression descriptive of mourning. Job. ii. 13. Jerusalem is here called on t« arise and shake off the dust, as indicating
arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thyself from the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion.
,hat the clays of her grief were ended, and that she was about to be restored to her former beauty and splendour. T Arise and sit down. There is an incongruity in this expression in our translation which does not occur in the original. The idea in the Hebrew is not that which! seems to be implied in this expression to arise and sit down in the same place, but it means to arise from the dust, and sit in a more elevated, or honourable place. She had been represented as sitting on the earth where her loose flowing robes would be supposed to become covered with dust. She is here called on to arise from that humble condition, and to occupy the divan, or a chair of dignity and honour. Lowth renders this, " ascend thy lofty seat," and supposes it means that she was to occupy a throne, or an elevated seat of honour, and he quotes oriental customs to justify this interpretation. Noycs renders it, " arise and sit erect." The Chaldee renders it, " rise, sit upon the throne of thy glory." 7*he following quotation from " Jowett'3 Christian Researches," will explain the custom which is here alluded to. " It is no uncommon thing to see an individual, or group of persons, even when very well dressed, sitting with their feet drawn under tl.em, upon the bare earth, passing whole hours in idle conversation. Europeans would require a chair, but the natives here prefer the ground. In the heat of summer and autumn, it is pleasant to them to while away their time in this manner, under the shade of a tree. Richly adorned females, as well as men may often be seen thus amusing themselves. As may naturally be expected, with whatever care they may, at first sitting down, choose their place, yet the flowing dress by degrees gathers up the dust; as this occurs, they, from time to time, arise, adjust themselves, shake off the iust, and then sit down again. The
3 For thus saith the Lord, Ye have sold* yourselves fo? nought; and ye shall be rp deemed without money.
captive daughter of Zion, Uierefore, brought down to the dust of suffering and oppression, is commanded to arise and shake herself from that dust, and then, with grace, and dignity, and composure, and secur'.ty fo s.t down; to take, as it were, again her seat and her rank, amid the company of the nations of the earth, which had before afflicted her, and trampled her to the earth." IT Loose thyself from the bands of thy neck. Jerusalem had been a captive, and confined as a prisoner. She is now called on to cast off these chains from her neck, and to be again at liberty. In captivity, chains or bands were attached to various parts of the body. They were usually affixed to the wrists or ancles, but it wrould seem also that sometimes collars were affixed to the neck. The idea is, that the Jews, who had been so long held captive were about to be released and restored to their own
3. Ye have sold yourselves for nought. You became captives and prisoners without any price being paid for you. You cost nothing to those who made you prisoners. The idea is, that as they who had made them prisoners had done so without paying any price for them, it was equitable that they should be released in the same manner. When their captors had paid nothing for them, God would suffer nothing to be paid for them in turn; and they should be released, as they had been sold, without a price paid for them. Perhaps God intends here to reproach them for selling themselves in this manner without any compensation of any kind, and to show them the folly of it; but at the same time he intends to assure them that no price would be paid for their ransom. IT Ye shall be redeemed. You shall be delivered from your long and painfu' captivity without any price being paitf to the Babyloniuis. This was to be a
4 For thus saith the Lord God, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there;
remarkable proof of the power of God. Men do not usually give up captives and ulaves, in whatever way they may have taken them, without demanding a price or ransom. But here God says that he designs to effect their deliverance without any such price being demanded or paid, and that as they had gone into captivity unpurchased, so they should return unpurchased. Accordingly he so overruled events as completely to effect this. The Babylonians, perhaps, in no way could have been induced to surrender them. God, therefore, designed to raise up Cyrus, a mild, just, and equitable prince; and to dispose him to suffer the exiles to depart, and to aid them in their return to their own land. In this way, they were rescued without money and without price, by the interposition of another.
4. For thus saith the Lord God. In order to show them that he could redeem them without money, God reminds them of what had been done in former times. The numerous captives in Egypt, whose services were so valuable to the Egyptians, and whom the Egyptians were so unwilling to suffer to depart, he had rescued by his own power, and had delivered for ever from that bondage. The idea here is, that with the same ease he could rescue the captives in Babylon, and restore them to their own land without a price, f My people went down. That is, Jacob and his sons. The phrase " went down," is applied to a journey to Egypt, because Judea was a mountainous and elevated country compared with Egypt, and a journey there was in fact a descent to a more level and lower country. IT To sojourn there. Not to dwell there permanently, but to remain there only for a time. They went in fact only to remain until the severity of the famine «hould have passed by, and until they could return with safety to the land of Canaan. V And the Assyrians oppressed them without cause. A considera- ble variety has existed in the interpretation of this passage. The LXX render it, " and to the Assyrians they were carried by force." Some have supposed that this refers to the oppressions that they experienced in Egypt, and that the name " Assyrian " is here given to Pharaoh. So Forerius and Cajetan understand it. They suppose that the name, " the Assyrian " became in the apprehension of the Jews, the common name of that which was proud, oppressive and haughty, and might therefore be used to designate Pharaoh. But there are insuperable objections to this. For the name " the Assyrian " is not elsewhere given to Pharaoh in the Scriptures, nor can it be supposed to be given to him but with great impropriety. It is not true that Pharaoh was an Assyrian; nor is it true that the Israelites were oppressed by the Assyrians while they remained in Egypt. Others have supsupposed that this refers to Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans in general, and that the name " the Assyrian " is given them in a large and general sense as ruling over that which constituted the empire of Assyria, and that the prophet here refers to the calamities which they were suffering in Babylon. But the objection to this is not the less decisive. It is true that Babylon was formerly a part or province of Assyria, and true also that in the time of the Jewish captivity it was the capital of the kiiigdom of which the former empire of Assyria became a subject province. But the name Babylonian in the Scriptures is kept distinct from that of Assyrian, and they are not used interchangeably. Nor does the connexion of the passage require us to understand it in this sense The whole passage is in a high degree elliptical, and something must be sup plied to make out the sense. The general design of it is, to show that God would certainly deliver the Jews from the captivity at Babylon without money. For this purpose, the prophet appeals tc
5 Now, therefore, what 1 ave 1 here saith the Lord, that my peoole is taken away for nought? they that rule over them make
(he former instances of his interposition when deliverance had been effected in that way. A paraphrase of the passage, and a filling up of the parts which are omitted in the brief and abrupt manner of the prophet, will show the sense. ' Ye have been sold for nought, and ye shall be ransomed without price. As a proof that I can do it, and will do it, remember that my people went down formerly to Egypt, and designed to sojourn there for a little time, and that they were there reduced to slavery, and oppressed by Pharaoh, but that I ransomed them without money, and brought them forth by my own power. Remember, further, how often the Assyrian has oppressed them also, without cause. Remember the history of Sennacherib, Tiglath-pileser, and SaLnaneser, and how they have laid the land waste, and remember also how I have delivered it from these oppressions. With the same certainty, and the same ease, I can deliver the people from the captivity at Babylon.' The prophet, therefore, refers to different periods and cvent3; and the idea is, that God had delivered them when they had been oppressed alike by the Egyptian, and by the Assyrians, and that he who had so often interposed would also rescue them from their oppression in Babylon.
5. Now, therefore, what have I here? In Babylon, referring to the captivity of the Jews there. The idea is, that a state of things existed there which demanded his interposition as really as it did when his people had been oppressed by tin; Egyptians, or by the Assyrian. His people had been taken away for nought; they were subject to cruel oppressions; and his own name was continually blasphemed. In this state of things, it is inferred, that he would certainly come to their rescue, and that his own perfections as well as their welfare demanded that he should interpose to 'edeem them. The phrase ' what have them to howl, saith ine Lord j and my name continually every day is blasphemed.6
I here,' is equivalent to saying, what shall I do? what am I properly called on to do? or what reason is there now in Babylon for my interposition to rescue my people? It is implied that such was the state of things that God felt that there was something that demanded his interposition. IT That my people is taken away for nought. This was one thing existing in Babylon that demanded his interposition. His people had been made captive by the Chaldeans, and were now suffering under theii oppressions. This had been done " for nought;" that is, it had been done without any just claim. It was on their part a mere act of gross and severe oppression, and this demanded the interposition of a righteous God. 1T They that rule, over them make them to howl. Lowth renders this, " they that a re lords over them make their boast of it." Noyes renders it, " and their tyrant? exult." The LXX render it, " my people are taken away for nought: wonder ye, and raise a mournful cry" — JXvXxJ^rc. Jerome renders it, " their lords act unjustly, and they therefore howl when they are delivered to torments." Aben Ezra supposes that by " their lords" here, or those who rule over them, are meant the rulers of the Jewish people, and that the idea is, that they lament and howl over the calamities and oppressions of the people. But it is probable, after all, that our translators have given the true sense of the text, and that the idea' is, that they were suffering such grievous oppressions in Babylon as to make them lift up the cry of lamentation and of grief. This was a reason why God should interpose as he had done in former times, and bring deliverance. If And my name continually every day is blasphemed. That is, in Babylon. The proud and oppressive Babylonians delight to add to the sorrows of the exiles by reproaching the name of their Godt and by saying that he was unable to de-
6 Therefore my people shall Know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth speak: behold, it U I.
7 How beautiful'5 upon the
fend them and their city from ruin. This is the third reason why God would interpose to rescue them. The three reasons in this verse are, that they had been taken away for nought; that they were suffering grievous and painful oppression; and that the name of God was reproached. On all these accounts he felt that he had something to do in babylon, and that his interposition was demanded.
6. Therefore my people shall know my name. The idea in this verse is, that his people should have such exhibitions of his power as to furnish to them demonstration that he was God.
7. How beautiful upon the mountains. This passage is applied by Paul to the ministers of the Gospel. See Rom. x. 15. The meaning here seems to be this: Isaiah was describing the certain return of the Jews to their own land. He sees in vision the heralds announcing their return to Jerusalem running on the distant hills. A herald bearing good news is a beautiful object; and he says that his feet are beautiful; i. e. his running is beautiful. He came to declare that the long and painful captivity was closed, and that the holy city and its temple were again to rise with splendour, and that peace and plenty and ioy were to be spread over the land. Such a messenger coming with haste, the prophet says, would be a beautiful object. Some have supposed (see Campbell on the Gospels, Diss. v. p. 11, §3, I), that the idea here is, that the feet of messengers when they travelled in the dust were naturally offensive and disgusting, but that the messenger of peace and prosperity to those who had been oppressed and afflicted by the ravages of war, was so charming as to \ransfor'u a most disagreeable into a pleasing object. But I cannot see any
mountains' are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings* of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!
such allusion here. It is time that the feet of those who had travelled far in diy and dusty roads would present a spectacle offensive to the beholder; and it is true also, as Dr. Campbell suggests, that the consideration that they who were coming were messengers of peace and safety would convert deformity into beauty, and make us behold with delight this indication of their embassy. But it seems to me that this passage ha3 much higher beauty. The idea in the mind of the prophet, is not that the messenger is so near that the sordid appearance of his feet could be seen. The beholder is supposed to be standing amidst the ruins of the desolated city, and the messenger is seen running on the distant hills. The long anticipated herald announcing that these ruins are to rise, at length appears. Seen on the distant hills, running rapidly, he is a beautiful object. It is his feet, his running, his haate, that attracts attention; an indication that he bears a message of joy, and that the nation is about to be restored. Nahum, who is supposed to have lived after Isaiah, has evidently copied from him this beautiful image:
messenger, Of him that announceth peace; Celebrate, O Judah, thy festivals: perform thy
IT That publisheth pence. This declaration is general that the coming of such a messenger would be attendt d with joy. The particular and special idea here is, that it would be a joyful announcement that this captivity was ended, and that Zion was about to be restored. 1T That bringeth good tidings of good. He announces that which is good or which is a joyful mes* sage. IT That saith unto Zion, thy God
8 Thy watchmen shall lift up the voice; with the voice together shall they sing; for they shall
reigneth. That is, thy God has delivered the people from their captivity and is about to reign again in Zion. This •was applied at first to the return from the captivity. Paul, as has been already observed, applies it to the ministers of the Gospel. That is, it is language which will well express the nature of the message which the ministers of the Gospel bear to their fellowmen. The sense is here, that the coming of a messenger bringing good tidings is universally agreeable to men. And if the coming of a messenger announcing that peace is made, is pleasant; or if the coming of such a messenger declaring that the captivity at Babylon was ended was delightful, how much more so should be the coming of the herald announcing that man may be at peace with his Maker.
8. Thy watchmen. This language is taken from the custom of placing watchmen on the walls of a city, or on elevated towers, who could see if an enemy approached, and who of course would be the first to discern a messenger at a distance who was coming to announce good news. The idea is, that there would be as great joy at the announcement of the return of the exiles, as if they who were stationed on the wall should see the long expected herald on the distant hills coming to announce that thev were a '.rout to return, and that the city and temple were about to be rebuilt. It was originally applicable to the return from Babylon. But it contains also the general truth that they who are appointed to watch over Zion and its interests, will rejoice at all the tokens of God's favour to his people, and especially when he comes to bless them after long times of darknets, depression, and calamity. It is by no means, therefore, departing from the apirit of this passage to apply it to the joy tl the ministers of religion in the visit', of divine mercy to a church and 9eop!&. ^ Shall lift up the voice.
see1 eye to eye, when the Lord shall bring again Zion.
That is, with rejoicing. IT With thi voice together shall they sing. They shall mingle their praises and thanksgivings. The idea is, that all who are appointed to guard Zion, should feel a common interest in her welfare, and rejoice when the Lord comes to visit and bless his people. The Hebrew here is more abrupt and emphatic than our common translation would make it. It is literally, " The voice of thy watchmen! They lift up the voice together; they sing" — as if the prophet sulldenly heard a shout. It is the exulting shout of the watchmen of Zion; and it comes as one voice, with no discord, no jarring. IT For they shall see eye to eye. Lowth renders this, " for face to face shall they see." Noyes, «' for with their own eyes shall they behold." Jerome renders it, oculo ad oculum — eye to eye. The" LXX render it, ty&X/urt rrpds d(pOa\jiovg% k.t.\. eyes shall look to eyes when the Lord shall have mercy upon Zion. Interpreters have been divided in regard to its meaning. The sense may be either, that they shall see face to face, i. e. distinctly, clearly, as when one is near another; or it ma) mean that they shall be united — thei shall contemplate the same object, oi look steadily at the same thing. Rosenmiiller, Gesenius, Forerius, Junius, and some others understand it in the former sense. So the Chaldee, " for they shall see with their own eyes the great things which the Lord will do when he shall bring back his own glory to Zion." The phrase in Hebrew occurs in no other place except in Numbers xiv. 14, which our translators have rendered " for thou, Lord, art seen face to face." Heb. " eye to eye;" that is, near, openly, manifestly, without any veil or interposing medium. The expression " face to face," meaning openly, plainly manifestly, as one sees who is close to another, occurs frequently in th* Bible. See Gen. xxxii. 30. Ex. xxxiii. 11. Deut. y. 4, xxxiv. 10. Judges vi. 22.
9 Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the Lord hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.
Prov. xxvii. 19. Ezek. xxx. 35. Acts xxv. 16. 1 Ccr. xiii. 12. 2 John 12. 3 John 14. So the phrase " mouth to mouth," occurs in a similar sense. Num. xii. 8. And there can be but little doubt, it seems to me, that this is the sense here, and that the prophet means to say, that the great and marvellous doings of Jehovah would be seen openly and manifestly, and that the watchmen would thence have occasion to rejoice. Another reason for this opinion besides the fact that it accords with the common usage is, that the phrase, ' to see eye to eye,' in the sense of being united and harmonious, is not very intelligible. It is not easy to form an image or conception of the watchman in this attitude as denoting harmony. To look into the eyes of each other does not of necessity denote harmony, for men oftentimes do this for other purposes. The idea, therefore, is, that when Jehovah should bring back and bless his people, the watchmen would have a full and glorious exhibition of his mercy and goodness, and the result would be, that they would greatly rejoice, and unitedly celebrate his name. According to this interpretation, it does not mean that the ministers of religion would have the same precise views, or embrace the same doctrines, however true this may be, or however desirable in itself, but that they would have an open, clear, and bright manifestation of the presence of God, and would lift up their voices together with exaltation and praise. IT When the Lord shall bring again Zion. Zion here denotes the people who dwelt in Jerusalem; and the idea is, when £he Lord shall again restore them jto their own land. It is not a departure from the sense of the passage, however, to apply it in a more general manner, and to use it as iemonstrating tfyat any signal interposi-
10 The °Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all' the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.
tion of God in favour of his people should be the occasion of;oy, and shall lead the ministers of religion to exult in God and to praise his name.
9. Break forth into joy. Jerusalem, at the time here referred to, was lying waste and in ruins. This call on the waste places of Jerusalem to break out into expressions of praise, is in accordance with a style which frequently occurs in Isaiah, and in other sacred writers, by which inanimate objects are called on to manifest their joy. See Notes ch. xiv. 7, 8, xlii. 11. IT For the Lord hath comforted his people. That is, he does comfort his people, and redeem them. This is seen by the prophet in vision, and to his view it is represented as if it were passing before his eyes. IT He hath redeemed Jerusalem. On the meaning of the word " redeemed," see Notes ch. xliii. 1-3. The idea here is, that Jehovah was about to restore his people from their long captivity, and again to cause Jerusalem to be rebuilt.
10. The Lord hath made bare his holy arm. That is, in delivering his people from bondage. This metaphor is taken from warriors, who made bare the arm for battle; and the sense is, that God had come to the rescue of his people as a warrior, and that his interpositions would be seen and recognized and acknowledged by all the nations. The metaphor is derived from the mannei in which the orientals dressed. The following extract from Jowett's" Christian Researches " will explain the language, f* The loose sleeve of the Arab shirt, as well as that of the outei garment, leaves the arm so completely free, that in an instant, tie left hand passing up the right arm makes it bare; and this is done when a person, a solrdier for example, about to strike w'th the sword, intends to give the ar*n lull play. The image represents jEinvAji as suddenly prepared to inflict some tremendous, yet righteous judgment, so effectual ' that all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God.' " The phrase " holy arm," seems to mean that God would be engaged in a holy and just cause. It would not be an arm of conquest, or of oppression; but it would be made bare in a holy cause, and all it3 inflictions would be righteous. IT And all the ends of the earth. For an explanation of the phrase " the ends of the earth," see Notes ch. xl. 28. The meaning here is, that the deliverance of his people referred to would be so remarkable as to be conspicuous to all the world. The most distant nations would see it, and would be constrained to recognize his hand. It was fulfilled in the rescue of the nation from the captivity at Babylon. The conquest of Babylon was an event that was so momentous in its consequences as to be known to all the kingdoms of the earth; and the proclamation of Cyrus (Ezra l. 1, 2), and the consequent restoration of his people to their own land, were calculated to make the name of Jehovah known to all nations.
11. Depart ye, depart ye. This is a direct address to the exiles in their captivity. The same command occurs in ch. xlviii. 20. See Notes on that place. It is repeated here for the sake of emphasis; and the urgency of the command implies that there was some delay likely to be apprehended on the part of the exiles themselves. The fact seems to have been, that though the captivity was at first attended with every circumstance fitted to give pain, and though they were subjected to many privations and sorrows in Babylon (see Pscxxxvii.), yet that many of them became strongly attached to a residence there, and were strongly indisposed to return. They were there Seventy years. Most of those who were made captive would have died before the close of the exile. Their children, who constituted the generation clean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be1 ye clean, thfifc bear the vessels of the Lord.
to whom the command to return would be addressed, would have known the land of their fathers only by report. J; was a distant land; and was to Ins reached only by a long and perilous journey across a pathless desert. They had been born in Babylon. It was their home; and there were the graves of their parents and kindred. Some had been advanced to posts of office and honour; many, it is probable, had lands, and friends, and property in Babylon. The consequence would, therefore, be, Jiat there woild be strong reluctance on their part to leave the country of their exile, and to encounter the perils and trials incident to a return to their own land. It is not improbable, also, that many of them may have formed improper connexions and attachments in that distant lani, and that they would be unwilling to relinquish them, and return to the land of their fathers. It was necessary, therefore, that the most urgent commands should be addressed to them, and the strongest motives presented to them to induce them to return to the country of their fathers. And after all, it is evident that but comparatively a small portion of the exile Jews ever were prevailed on to leave Babylon, and to adventure upon the perilous journey of a return to Zion. ^ Touch no unclean thing. Separate yourselves wholly from an idolatrous nation, and preserve yourselves pure. The Apostle Paul (2 Cor. vi. 17, 18) has applied this to Christians, and uses it as expressing the obligation to come out from the world, and to be separate from all its influences. Babylon is regarded by the Apostle as not an unapt emblem of the world, and the command to come out from her as not an improper expression of the obligation to the friends of the Redeemer to be separate from all that is evil. John (Rev. xviii. 4) haa applied this passage also to denote the duty of true Christians to separate tr imsclves from the mystical Babylon—
12 For 3 e shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for J.he Lord will go before you;
the Papal community — and not to be Dartaker of her sins The passage is applied in both these instances, because Babylon in Scripture language, is regarded as emblematic of whatever is oppressive, proud, arrogant, persecuting, nipure, and abominable. ^That bear the vessels of the Lord. That bear again to your own land the sacred ves- Bels of the sanctuary. It is to be remembered that when the Jews were taken to Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar carried there all the sacred utensils of the temple, and that they were used in their festivals as common vessels in Babylon. 2 Chron. xxxvii. 18. Dan. v. 2-5. These vessels Cyrus commanded to be again restored when the exiles returned to their own land. Ezra i. 7—11. They whose office it was to carry them, were the Priests and Levites (Num. l. 50, iv. 15); and the command here pertains particularly to them. They were required to be holy; to feel the importance of their office, and to be separate from all that is evil. The passage has no original reference to ministers of the Gospel, but the principle is implied that they who are appointed to serve God as his ministers in any way should be pure and holy.
12. For ye shall not go out with haste. As if driven out, or compelled to flee. You shall not go from Babylon as your fathers went from Egypt, in a rapid flight, and in a confused and tumultuous manner. See Deut. xvi. 3. The idea here is, that they should have time to prepare themselves to go out, and to become fit to bear the vessels of the Lord. It was a fact that when they left Babylon they did it with the utmost deliberation, and had ample time to make any preparation that was necessary. IT For the Lord icill go before you. Jehovah will conduct you, as a general advances at the head of an army. The figure here is taken from the march of an army, and the image is that of Jehovah as the leader or head of the host in the march through the desert between Babylon and Jerusalem. See Notes on eh. xl. 3,4. IT And the God:,/ Israel, will be your rerevmrd. Maig. " Gather you up." The Hebrew word used here ^CX means properly to collect, to gather together, as fruits, &c. It is then applied to the act of bringing up the iv ar of an army; and means to be a rear- ward, or guard, agmen claudere — as collecting, and bringing together the stragglers, and defending the army in its march, from an attack in the rear. The LXX render it, " and the God of Israel is he who collects you," b iiriavvayuv v/jtai, i.e. brings up the rear. The Chaldee,"and the God of Israel will collect together your captivity." — Here the chapter should have closed, for here closes the account of the return of the exiles from Babylon. The mind of the prophet seems here to leave the captive Jews on their way to their own land, with Jehovah going at their head, and guarding the rear of the returning band, and to have passed to the contemplation of him of whose coming all these events were preliminary and introductory — the Messiah. Perhaps the rationale of this apparent transition is this. It is undoubtedly the doctrine of the Bible that he who was revealed as the guide of his people in ancient times,and who appeared under various names, as " the angel of Jehovah," " the angel of the covenant," &c.,was he who afterwards became incarnate— the Saviour of the world. So the prophet seems to have regarded him; and here fixing his attention on the Jehovah who was thus to guide his people and be their defence, by an easy transition the mind is carried forward to the time when he would be incarnate, and would die for men. Leaving, therefore, so to speak, the contemplation of him as conducting his people across the barren wastes which separated Babylon from Judea, the mind is, by no unnatural transition, carried forward to the time when he would become a mas of sorrows and would redeem and save the world. According to this supposition^ i3 the same glorious Being whom Isaiah sees as the protector of his people, and almost in the same instant as the man of sorrows; and the contemplation of hirr. as the suffering Messiah becomes bo absorbing and intense, that he abruptly closes the description of him as the guide of the exiles to their own land. He sees him as a sufferer. He sees the manner and the design of his death.
He contemplates the certain result oj that humiliation and death in the spread of the true religion, and in the extension of his kingdom among men. Hence • forward, therefore, to the end of Isaiah, we meet with no reference, if we escep in a very few instances, to the condition of the exiles in Babylon, or to their return to their own land. The mind of the prophet is absorbed in describing the glories of the Messiah, and the certain spread of his Gospel around the globe.
The most important portion of Isaiah, and of the Old Testament, commences here, am here should have been the beginning of a new chapter. It is the description of the suffering Meniah, and is continued to the close of the next chapter. As the closing verses of this chapter are connedeu with the following chapter, and as it is of great importance to have just views of the design of this portion of Isaiah, it is proper in this place to give an analysis of this part of the prophecy. And a J no other part of the Bible has excited so much the attention of the friends and foes of Christianity; as so various and conflicting views have prevailed in regard to its meaning; and as the proper interpretation ofthe passage must have an important bearing on the controversy with Jews and infidels, and on the practical views of Christians, 1 shall be justified in going into an examination of its mean i.ng at considerably greater length than has been deemed necessary in other portions of the prophecy. It may be remarked in general, (I.) That if the common interpretation of the passage as describing a suffering Saviour, be correct, then it settles the controversy with the Jews, and demonstrates that their notions ofthe Messiah aie false. (2.) If this was written at the time when it is claimed by Christians to have been written, then it settles the controversy with infidels. The description is so particular and minute; the correspondence with the life, the character, and the death of the Lord Jesus, is so complete, that it could not have teen the result of conjecture or accident. At the wme time, it is a correspondence which could not have been brought about, by an impostor who meant to avail himself of this ancient prophecy to promote his designs; for a larye portion of the circumstances are such as did not depend on himself, but grew out of the feelings and purposes of others. On the supposition that this hat been found as an ancient prophecy, it would have been imj)ossible for any impostor so to have shaped t/ie curve of events «? to have made his character and life appear to le a fulfillment of it. And unless the infidel could cither make it out that this prophecy was not in existence, or that, being in existence, it was possible lor a deceiver to create an exact coincidence between it and his life and character and death, then, in all honesty, he should admit that it wan eiven by inspiration, and that the Bible is true. (3) A correct exposition of this will be of inestimable value in giving to the Christian just views of the atonement, and of the whole doctrine of re« demption. Probably in no portion ofthe Bible of the same length, not even in the New Testament, is Phere to be found so clear an exhibition ofthe purpose for which the Saviour died. I shall endeavour, therefore, to prepare the way for an exposition of the passage, by a consideration of several points that are necessary to a correct understanding of it.
On this point there will be, and can be, no dispute among Jews and Christians. The general argument to prove this, is the same as that which demonstrates that Isaiah wrote at all before that time. For a view of this, the reader is referred to ihe Introduction. B"iit this general argument may be presented in a more specific form, and includes the following particulars: (l.) It is quoted in the New Testament a? part of the prophetic writings then well known. See John xii. 38, Rom. x. 16, Acts, viii. 28—35, Watt. viii. 17, 1 Pet. ii. 21—25. That the passage was in existence at the time when the New Testament was written is manifest from these quotations. So far as the argument with the infidel is concerned, it is immaterial whether it was written seven hundred years before the events toQ^ place, or only fifty, or ten. It would still be prophecy, and it would still be incumbent on him to shfF how it came to be so accurately accomplished. (2.) It is quoied and translated by writers who u. doubtedly lived before the Christian era. Thus it is found in the Septuagint, and in the Chaldee— ooth of which can be demonstrated to have been made before Christ was Iwrn. (3.) There is not the slightest evidence that it has been interpolated or corrupted, or changed so as to adapt it to tha Lord Jesus It is the same in all copies, and in all versions. (4) It has never even been pretended that it ha* been introduced for the purpose of furnishing an argument for the truth of Christianity. No infidel has ever pretended that it does not stand on the same footing as any other portion of Isaiah. (5.) It is such a passage as Jews wmild not have fonred. It is opposed to all their prevailing notions ofthe Messiah. They have anticipated a magnificent temporal prince and a conqueror; and one of the main reasons why they have rejected the Lord Jesus has been, that he was obscure in.'lij origin, poor, despised, and put to death;— in other words because he has corresponded so entirely with the description here. No passage ofthe Old Testament has ever given them greater perplexity thar this, and it is morally certain that if the Jews had ever fogged a pretended prophecy of the Messiah, it would not have been in the language of this i>ortio!i of Isaiah. They would have described him as the magnificent successor of David and Solomon; as a mighty prince and a tvarrior; as tho *»ad of universal empire, and v ould have said that by his victorious arms he would s ubdue the eartb h himself, and would make Je* isalem the capital ofthe » orld. They never would have describe* him a* despised an 1 rejected of men, and as making his crave with the wicked in his death. (S.) Cbrstians ciyutd not have forgeiand interpolated this. The Jew.-; have always jealously guarded *heirown Scriptures; and nothing would have so certainly excited their attention as an attempt t«.rrterpolate a passage like this, furnishing at once an irrefragable argument against their opinions of the Me-stah, and so obviously anplieabie to Jesu- of Nazareth. It is moreover true, thit no Jewish writer has ever pretended that the passage has either been forged, or changed in any way so as to accommodate it to the opinions of Christians respecting the Messiah.— 'I base remarks may seem to bt unnecessary, and this argument useless, to those who have examined the authenticity of ihe sacred writings. They are of use only in the argument with the enemies of Christianity. Forif this passage was written at the time when it is supposed to have been; and if it had reference to the Lord Jesus, then it demonstrates that Isaiah was inspired, and furnishes an argument tbr the truth of rove- 'ation which is irrefragable. It is incumbent on the unbeliever to destroy all the alleged proofs Rial t was written by Isaiah, or as an horn stroan he should admit the truth of inspiration and of pro] heiy and yield his heart to the influence of the truth of the Bible, in general, it may be ob-erved. that an attempt to destroy the credibility of this portion of Isaiah as having been written several hundred years before the Christian era. would destroy the credibility of all the ancient writings: and that we have as much evidence that this is the production of Isaiah, as we have of the credibility or the authenticity of the writings of Homer or Herodotus.
In order to a clear understanding of the passage, it is proper to give a summary view of the mode* of interpretation which have prevailed in regard to it both among Jews and Christians. For this historical view. I am indebted mainly to Hengstenberg, Chris. I. p. -181 seq. The several opinions whick nave prevailed among the Jewish expositors are the following:
There is the fullest evidence that the passage was applied by the early Jews, both before and after ihr: Lrth of Jesus to the Messiah, until they were pressed by its application to Jesus of Nazareth, and were compelled in self-defence to adopt some other mode ofinterpretat ion. and even aferthat. it is evident t>l-o that not a few of the better and more pious portion of the Jewish nation still continued to regard it as descriptive of the Messiah. So obvious is the application to the Messiah, so clear and full is ihe description, that many of them have adopted the opinion tnat there would be two Messiahs, one a suflermg Messiah, and the other a glorious and triumphant prince and conqueror. 'Ihe Old Testament plainly foretold that, the Messiah would be " God and man; exalted and debased; master ami servant; priest and victim; prince and subject; involved in death, and yet a victor <;vei death; iich and poor; a king, a conqueror, glorious; a man of griefs, exposed to infirmities, unknow n, and in a state of abjection and humiliation." Valine'. All these apparently contradictory qeal ties had their' fuliillment in the person of Jesus of Nazareth: but they were the source of great difficulty to the Jews, and have led to the great variety of opinions which have prevailed among them in regard to him. In the Lord Jesus they harmonize; but when Ihe Jews resolved to reject him, they were at once thrown into endless embarrassment i:i regard to the character, coming, and work of him whom they had so long e.vpected. The following extract from Calmet. (Die.) will explain some ofthe modern prevailing views of him, and js necessary to a clear understanding ofthe grounds which have been taken in the interpretation of 'his propnecy. " Some of them, as the famous Millel, who lived, according to the Jew-, before Christ, maintain that the Messiah was already come in the person of Ilezekiah; others that the b, bef of the comhig ofthe Messiah is no article of faith. Ihixtorf says, thai the greater part of t.h? modern Rabbins believe, that th • Messiah has been come a good v. hile, but keeps himself concealed in some part ofthe world or other, and will no' man fe-t himself because of the sins o.'the Jews. Jarchi affirms that the Hebrews believe that the Messiah was born on the day of the last destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. Some assign him the tone-trial paradise for his habitation; others the city of Rome, where, according to the Talmudists, he keep.* himsi If concealed among the leprous and infirm, at the gate of th;: city, expecting Klias to come and manifes. hirn. A great number believe that lie is yet to come, but th ■>' are strangely divided about the time and the circumstances of his coming. Some expect him at the end of six thousand years. Kimr-hi, who lived in the twelfth century believed that the coming ofthe.Messiah was very near. Some have fixed the time ofthe end of their misfortunes to A. 1). lt.9v', others to 1598. others to 1600, others yet later. Last of all, tired out with these uncertainties, they have pronounced an anathema against any who shall pretend to calculate the time ofthe coming ofthe Messiah."
It is capable however of clear demonstration that the ancient Jews before the birth of Jesus were not thiis embarrassed in the interpretation of their own prophets. The following extracts from their writings will show that the opinion early prevailed that the passage before us had reference to the.Messiah, and that they had to some extent rij.ht views of him. Even by the later Jewish interpreters who give a different exposition of the prophecy, it is admitted that it was formerly referred to the Messiah. This is admitted by Aben Ezra, Jarchi, Abarl.-anel, and Moses Nuchmanides. Among the testimonies of the ancient Jews are the following: The Chaldee Paraphrast, Jonathan, expressly refers it the Messiah. Thus in ver. 13, of this chapter, he renders the first member, " Rehold my servant the Messiah shall prosper." Thus in the Medrascli Tanchuma (an old commentary on the Pentateuch) on the words ** Rehold my servant shall prosper," it is remarked, "'This is the -ing Messiah, who is high, and lifted up, and very exaited. hgher than Abraham, exalted above Mo-
4, higher than the ministering angels," Similar is the language of Rabbi Moses Hnddarschan on Jen. i. 3. "JEHOVAH spake: Messiah, my righteous one, those who are concealed wiih thee, will be such that their sins will bring a heavy yoke upon thee. The Messiah answered: Lord of the world, I cheerfully take upon myself those plagues and sorrows. Immediately, therefore, the Mes ■iah took unon himself, out of love, all torments and sufferings, as it is written in!sa liii., ' He waf abused ana oppressed.'" Many other passages may be seen collected by Hengstenberg, Cn.istei vol. I. 48;), 48S.
But this interpretation was abandoned by the Jewish interpreters w'len the passage was vtrped against them by Christians as demonstrating that Jesus Of Nazareth was the Messiah, and when they could not reconcile it with their prevailing notions that the Messiah was to be a magnificent temporal prince. Gesenius asserts that "the later Jews, no doubt, relinquished this interpretation in consequence of their controversy with Christians." The Jews early formed the opinion t tat the Messiah was to be a king like David and Solomon, and was to be distinguished as a conqueror They, therefore, looked exclusively at the passages of the Old Testament which spoke of his c.\ illation, ►aid they were rendered averse to applying a passage like this to him ^hich spoke of bis poverty, reicctian, humiliation, and death. They did not, or would not, vjderstand how passages apparency f eontrndictory, could be applied to the same individual; and they therefore fixed iheir attention on tho-e which predicted his exultation and majesty, and rejected the idea that the Messiah would be a juffbrer. 80 long as ihey applied this 1 ortionof Isaiah to the Messiah, ihey could not deny that thera was a remarkable correspondence between it and Jesus of Nazareth, and they were unable;o mte/ the force of the argument thence derived in favour of his claims to;he Mess ahship. It became necessary, therefore, for the Jews to seek some other explanation of the passage, and to deny that it had reference to the Messiah. Accordingly, the great effort of the Jewish interpreters has been;o ascertain to whom the passage can be made, with any show of ptobability, to apply. The great mass agree that it is not to be applied to the Messiah, and this is now the prevailing opinion among them.
Among th^ more modern Jewish expositors who agree that the passage is not to be applied to the Messiah, the following opinions have prevailed:
1 The most commonly received opinion is, that it refers to the Jewish people. This is the opinion o:*J.:rchi, Aben Ezra. Kimchi, Abarbancl, and Lipmann. According to them, the prophecy describes the condition of the Jews in their present calamity and exile; the firmness with which tney endure it lor the honour of God, and resist every temptation to forsake his law and worship; and the prosperity, honour, and glory which ihey shall obtain in the time of their redemption. In eh. liii. vs. 1—10, the heathen are regarded as speaking, and making an humble and penitential confession thai they have hitherto mistaken the people ot God, and unjustly despised them on account of their sufferings, since it now appears from their exaltation that those sufferings have not been inflicted on them on account of their sins.
2. Others take the appellation, " salvation of JEHOVAH," in the passage, to mean, the pious portion of the nation taken collectively, and regarded as making a kind of vicarious satisfaction for the ungodly. This class of interpreters among the Jews however has been small. They refer it to those among them who endure much affliction and suffering, but more especially to tho-e who arc publicly put to death. 'Ihey mention particularly Babbi Akiba as one who suffered martyrdom in this manner. This interpretation retains indeed the essential idea of substitution which runs through the passage, and it is not improbable that it is on this account that it has found so little favour with the modern Jews, since they rej ct with abhorrence the whole doctrine of vicarious sufferings as designed to make an atonement tor uthcrs,
3. A few others among the Jews make the passage refer to an individual. A barbanel. besides Supposing that it refers to the Jewish people in general, suggests also that it may refer particularly to Isaiah. Rabbi Saadias Haggaon explained the whole as referring to Jeremiah —still the 1 a sage is so plain in its general meaning, the reference 10 the Messiah is so obvious, that the Nabbing have not been able with all their ingenuity to propo-e an interpretation that shall be entirely satisfactory to *heir nation. It has probably been the means of the conversion of mo e Jews from the errots of their system to Christianity, than any other portion of their.Scriptures. We know that, as it was explained and applied by Philip, it was the means of ihe conversion of the Ethiopian eunuch. Acts vin. 27 — 40. And so Jo. Isaac Levita, a learned Jew, says it was the means of first leading him to the Christian religion. " I frankly confess," says he, " that this chapter first conducted me to the Christian faith. i'or more than a thousand times I read this chapter, and accurately compared it with many translations, I lbund that it contained a hundred more mysteries respecting Christ, than are found in an* version." Many similar instances occur, 6ays Hengstenberg, in the reports of Missionaries among the Jews.
For seventeen centuries the view which was taken of this passage was uniform. By all the fathers of the Christian Church it was regarded as having an indisputable reference to Christ. In their arguments with the Jews, it was quoted as containing a full refutation of their opinions respecting the Messiah, and as demonstrating that Jesus of Nazareth was he who had been so long announced by the prophets a3 " he who was to come " In their arguments with infidels, it was a strong proof to which they appealed of the truth of revelation; and in their homilies and expositions it was referred uniformly to the Lord Jesns. If we accept Grotius, who supposed that if referred to Jeremiah, who lie says (Note on eh. hi. 13) wasfigura Christi—lhe type of the Messiah— it was not until the last quarter of the sixteenth century that this interpretation began to be called in question. The reason why the uniform exposition of the Christian Church was abandoned then by any was, that it could no 'onger be retained consistently with the notions which prevailed, especially in German;.-, of the Bible. The grand principle which began to prevail in the interpretation of the Bible was, that all which is there recorded is to be accounted for on natural principles. But if this passage refers to the Messiah, it harmonizes so exactly with the lite and character of the Redeemer, and it is so entirely removed from the possible range of mere conjecture, that it cannot be accounted for except on the supposition of supernatural revelation. Many profe-sed Christian interpreters, therefore, have •ought other ways of explaining it, and have diligently inquired to whom it referred. As &sj)eci>/icn of the manner in which the exposition of the Bible has been conducted in Germany, we may just refer to the opinions which have prevailed in the interpretation of this, the plainest and most splendid of all the prophecies pertaining to the Messiah.
1. Comparatively the greatest number of non-Messianic interpreters make the whole Jewish peopVe the subject. A large number of German expositor*, whose names may be seen in Hengstenberg'a Christol. i. 491, have adopted this view. The only difference between this interpretation and that adopted by the later Jews is, that the Gorman critics suppose it refers to the Jews in the Babylonish exile, while the Jews suppose that it refers to their nation suffering in their present exile.
2. It was held by Eckermann that it refers to tr.e Jewish nation in the abstract, in opposition to i.« individual members. In other words, it seems to have been held that the nation in the abstract was guilty a». S was suffering, while the individual members were innocent, and escaped suffering and punishn.ent.
3. It has been held that it refers to the pious part of the Jewish people as contrasted with the ungodly. This opinion wa: defended by Paulus. His view is the following] The pious part of the Jewish people were carried into captivity with the ungodly, not on account of their own sins, but the sins of the latter. The ungodly inferred that the hope of the pious that J EHO VA H would help them was in vain, but as the exile came to an end, and the pious returned, they saw that they had erred, and that their hope was well grounded. 'Ihey deeply lament, therefore, that ihey have not long ag* gone penance.
4. One author has maintained that the Jewish priesthood is the subject cf the prophecy, bui u ih is he standi ah tie.
.i. It has lieen maintained by others that the prophets collectively are referred to in the passage This was at first the opinion ol Ro»enmuller, but was abandoned by him, and was then defended bj De Wctte. and is maintained by Gesenius
6. Others have referred it to some individual. Thus Crotius supposes that Jeremiah is meant. Augusti supposed that Uzziah was intended Others that Ilczekiah was meant; and others that Isaiah here refined to himself: and others that it refers to some unknown prophet 6lain by the Jew3 in their exile; and others that it ronrs to ihe Maccabees!
Those strange and absurd opinions are s])ecimcns of the unhappy manner of exposition which has prevailed amoni; the Gorman neologists; and they a'e specimens too of the reluctance of the human mind to embrace the truth as it is in Jesus, and of its proneness to the wildest aberrations, where mere human reason is Fullered to take the reins in the interpretation of the Bible. Perhaps there is scarcely to be found an instance of interpretation that is more fitted to humble us in regard to the proueneBS of men to err, than in these modes of explaining this beautiful portion of Isaiah. And there is not to be found any where a more striking proof of the reluctance of the human mind to contemplate the sufferings and death of the Redeemer of the world, or to embrace the great and glorious truth that men can be saved only by the vicaiious sacrifice of the Son of God.
More ample proof of this will he furnished in the exposition of the passage itself than can now be given. Cut still, it may not be improper to refer to a few of the considerations which go to demonstrate that the prophei here refers to the Lord Jesus Christ.
L.-He refers to an individual, and not to a people, or a nation It is not either to the collective body" of the Jewish people, or to the pious portion of the Jewish people, or to the collective body of the prophets. This is evident on the slightest examination of the passage. The prophet speaks of the "' servant of.JEHOVAH:" and the whole representation is that of an individual, and not of any collective body of men. Thus his visage was marred, and his form was disfigured; he wa> as a tender plant; he was despised; he was rejected; he was smit'en, wounded, put to death: he made his grave with the wicked and with the rich. Of what collective body of men could this be said? How absurd to apply this to a nation, or to any portion of a nation! It canno' be applied (A) t-i the whole people. In ch. liii 3. the subject is called "a man," an appellation which cannot be given to a nation. Nor is there an instance in all the sacred writings where there can be found such an extended allegory as this would be on the supposition that this refers to the Jewish people. Besides, with what po-sible propriety can it be said of a nation that it has borne the griefs and carried (tie sorrows of fithcrs; that it was stricken for the transgression of the people of (jod; that it was made an ottering for sin: and that it made intercession lor the sin of the transgressors 7 If this refers to a nation, then all settled views of interpretation are at an end. The circumstances which are usually sup; oscd to nark individual existence may in all other circumstances in like manner be supposed to mean nations, and we shall have no longer any way marks in guiding us in the interpretation of the plainest writings. Nor (B) can it refer to the pious portion of the Jewish people taken collectively. For the subject of the prophecy suffers voluntarily; he himself innocent, bears the sins of others (Hi 4 — 6, 9): his sufferings are the efficient cause of the righteousness of his people (ver. ll); and he puffers quietly and patiently, without allowing himself to be provoked to bitterness against the authors of his sufferings. Of all these four marks, not one belongs to the people of Israel. For (.'/) they went n'. voluntarily into the Babylonish exile, but were carried there by violence (/') They did not sutler innocently but sid'ercd for their sins (c) The sufferings of the Jews can in no sense be represented as the cause of the righteousness of others, (d) Nor did the Jews evince that patience and devotedne>s to the will of God which is here attributed to the subject of this prophecy. How can it be said that they were led like a lamb to the slaughter, that they did not open the mouth to complain, when even the noblest, and best of them poured out their sadness in complaints and lamentations? Comp. Jer. xx. 7, Si o- xv. 10—21, Ps exxxvii. 8. 9. Nor (C) can it refer to the prophets taken collectively, as Gesenius supposes. On this it is sufficient to ask, where did such a collection of the prophets ever exist? When did they suffer together? What evidence is there that they were in exile? Where and when did they take upon themselves the sins of the people, cr suffer for them, or maki their grave with the wicked and the rich in their death, or see of the travail of the soul, and become the means of the justification of many! All that has been said in favour of this is so entirely the work of conjecture, and is so manifestly designed to evade the obvious reference to the Messiah, that it is necessary to reler to it only as a specimen of the manner of interpretation which has prevailed, and which still prevails in the explanation of the sacred Scriptures. But it' the passage does not refer either to the collective Jewish people, or to the pious portion of them, or to the prophets regarded as a collective body, then it must refer to an individual, and the only question is whether it refers to the Messiah, or to some individual of the Jewish nation. As a simple and satisfactory argument that it refers to some individual, an appeal might be made to the common sense of the mass of men. Not one in a million— and he not unless he had some favourite hypothesis to defend— would ever suppose on reading the passage that it could have any reference to a collection of people of any kind. Bjit the common sense of the mass of men is generally the best criterion of the meaning of anj Written document, and the best interpreter of the Bible.
II. If it reers to an individual, it must refer to the Messiah. It cannot refer to Isaiah, or Jerc miah, or Uzziah, or Akiba, for the following, among other reasons. («) The advocates of this theorj have not been able to airrec on any individual to whom it can be applied. Grotius suggested Jeremiah, some Others Uzziah. or Isaiah, and some of the Jews Akiba. But each of these theories has been *.infined to the single interpreter whn suggested it, and has been rejected by all the rest of the world. Vv hat better proof could there be that there is not even plausibility in the statement? What itronger demonstration that it is a theory srot. zip on purpose to avoid the reference to the Messiah? (i) None of the individuals named had any claim to the statements here made respecting the individual sufferer. Did kings shut their mouths at them, and stand in awe of them? Did Jeremiah sprinkle many nations'.' Did Uzziah bear the griefs and the sorrows of men? Did JEHOVAH lay on Isaiab 'he it 'uuity of all men? Did either of them make their grave with the wicked and the rich in th*2it teath? But if it cannot be shown to have reference to any other individual, then the fair inference is, Jiat. it refers to the Messiah.
III. The argument that it refers to the Messiah has all the force of tradition iv itafavcta. "Wa have seen that the Jews in more ancient times referred this prophecy to the Messiah. This fad proves that such is the the obvious reference. When their minds were not prejudiced and blinded bj their hatred of Jesus of Nazareth, and their opposition to his claims; when they were looking forward with deep anxiety to the coming of a deliverer, they applied tins passage to hm. And though there were embarrassments in their minds, and they were not well aide to explain how this was consistent with what is elsewhere state:! of his exalted nature, yut such was its obvious reference i> tha Messiah, that they did not dare to call it in question. Such was the fact in the Christian churcn foi seventeen hundred years. It was the unbroken and the unvarying voice of interpretation. Now tliia proves, not indeed that it is necessarily the true interpretation, for that is to he settled on other grounds than mere tradition, but that it is the exposition which the language naturally conveys. The unvarying sense affixed to any written document tor seventeen hundred years, is likely to lie tha true sense. And especially is thi3 so, if the document in que-tion has been in the hands of ths learned and the unlearned; tire high and the low; the rich and the poor, the oor.d and the free; and if they concur in giving to it tiie same interpretation, such an interpretation cannot eas.ly or readily be set aside.