CHAPTER 49
Isa 49:1-26.
SIMILAR TO
CHAPTER
42:1-7
(Isa 49:1-9).
Messiah, as the ideal Israel
(Isa 49:3),
states the object of His mission, His want of success for a time, yet
His certainty of ultimate success.
1. O isles--Messiah is here regarded as having been rejected by the
Jews
(Isa 49:4, 5),
and as now turning to the Gentiles, to whom the Father hath given Him
"for a light and salvation." "Isles" mean all regions beyond
sea.
-
from the womb--
(Isa 44:2;
Lu 1:31;
Joh 10:36).
-
from . . . bowels . . . mention of my name--His
name "Jesus" (that is, God-Saviour) was designated by God before His
birth
(Mt 1:21).
2. my mouth . . . sword--
(Isa 11:4;
Re 19:15).
The double office of the Word of God, saving and damnatory, is implied
(Isa 50:4;
Joh 12:48;
Heb 4:12).
-
shaft--
(Ps 45:5).
"Polished," that is, free from all rust, implies His unsullied purity.
-
in . . . quiver . . . hid me--Like a sword in its scabbard, or a shaft
in the quiver, Messiah, before His appearing, was hid with God,
ready to be drawn forth at the moment God saw fit
[HENGSTENBERG]; also
always protected by God, as the arrow by the quiver
(Isa 51:16).
3. Israel--applied to Messiah, according to the true import of the
name, the Prince who had power with God in wrestling in behalf
of man, and who prevails
(Ge 32:28;
Ho 12:3, 4).
He is also the ideal Israel, the representative man of the nation
(compare
Mt 2:15
with Ho 11:1).
-
in whom . . . glorified--
(Joh 14:13; 17:1-5).
4. I--Messiah.
-
in vain--comparatively in the case of the greater number of His
own countrymen. "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not"
(Isa 53:1-3;
Lu 19:14;
Joh 1:11; 7:5).
Only a hundred twenty disciples met after His personal ministry was
ended
(Ac 1:15).
-
yet . . . my judgment . . . with the Lord--Ultimately, God will do
justice to My cause, and reward (Margin for "work," compare
Isa 40:10; 62:11)
My labors and sufferings. He was never "discouraged"
(Isa 42:4; 50:7, 10).
He calmly, in spite of seeming ill success for the time, left the
result with God, confident of final triumph
(Isa 53:10-12;
1Pe 2:23).
So the ministers of Christ
(1Co 4:1-5;
1Pe 4:19).
5. The reason why He was confident that His work would be
accepted and rewarded, namely, because He is "glorious in the eyes of
Jehovah," &c.
-
to bring Jacob again to him--
(Mt 15:24;
Ac 3:26).
-
Though Israel be not gathered--metaphor from a scattered flock which
the shepherd gathers together again; or a hen and her chickens
(Mt 23:37).
Instead of the text "not," the Keri has the similar
Hebrew word, "to Him," which the parallelism favors: "And that
Israel may be gathered to Him."
-
yet--rather, parenthetically. "For I am glorious, &c., and My
God is My strength." Then
(Isa 49:6)
resuming the words from the beginning of
Isa 49:5,
"He saith" (I repeat), &c. HORSLEY explains,
"Notwithstanding the incredulity of the Jews, Messiah shall be
glorified in the conversion of the Gentiles," reading as English
Version: but if the Keri be read, "Israel shall at one time
or other be gathered, notwithstanding their incredulity during
Messiah's sojourn on earth."
6. It is a light thing--"It is too little that Thou shouldest,"
[HENGSTENBERG], that is, It is not enough honor
to Thee to raise up
Jacob and Israel, but I design for Thee more, namely, that Thou
shouldest be the means of enlightening the Gentiles
(Isa 42:6, 7; 60:3).
-
the preserved--namely, those remaining after the judgments of God
on the nation--the elect remnant of Israel reserved for mercy.
LOWTH,
with a slight but needless change of the Hebrew, translates for
"tribes" and "preserved," the "scions"--the "branches."
7. whom man despiseth--Hebrew, "the despised of soul," that is,
by every soul, by all men
(Isa 52:14, 15; 53:3; 50:6-9;
Ps 22:6).
LOWTH translates, "whose person is
despised."
-
abhorreth--literally, "who is an abomination to the nation"
(Lu 23:18-23).
The Jews contemptuously call Him always Tolvi, "the crucified."
I prefer, on account of Goi, the Hebrew term for
nation being usually applied to the Gentiles, and that
for people to the Jews
(Ho 1:9;
so the Greek terms respectively also Laos and
Ethne,
Ro 9:25),
to take "nation" here collectively for the Gentile world, which
also spurned Him
(Ps 2:1-3;
Ac 4:25-27).
-
servant of rulers--
(Mt 17:27).
He who would not exert His power against the rulers
(Mt 26:52, 53).
-
shall see--namely the fulfilment of God's promises
(Isa 49:3, 6),
"when He (shall be) a light to the Gentiles."
-
arise--to reverence Thee
(Ps 72:10, 11;
Php 2:10).
-
princes also--rather, for the parallelism, supply the ellipsis, thus,
"Princes shall see and shall worship."
-
faithful--namely, to His promises.
-
choose thee--as God's elect
(Isa 42:1).
8. Messiah is represented as having asked for the grace of God in
behalf of sinners; this verse contains God the Father's favorable
answer.
-
an acceptable time--"In a time of grace"
[HENGSTENBERG]. A limited
time
(Isa 61:2;
2Co 6:2).
The time judged by God to be the best fitted for effecting the purposes
of His grace by Messiah.
-
heard thee--
(Ps 2:8;
Heb 5:7).
-
day of salvation--when "the fulness of time"
(Ga 4:4)
shall have come. The day of salvation is "to-day"
(Heb 4:7).
-
helped--given Thee the help needed to enable Thee, as man, to
accomplish man's salvation.
-
preserve--from the assaults and efforts of Satan, to divert Thee
from Thy voluntary death to save man.
-
covenant of the people--(See on
Isa 42:6).
"The people," in the singular, is always applied exclusively to
Israel.
-
establish the earth--rather, "to restore the land," namely, Canaan
to Israel. Spiritually, the restoration of the Church (the spiritual
Israel) to the heavenly land forfeited by man's sin is also included.
-
cause to inherit . . . desolate heritages--image from
the desolate state of Judea during the Babylonish captivity.
Spiritually, the Gentile world, a moral waste, shall become a garden of
the Lord. Literally, Judea lying desolate for ages shall be possessed
again by Israel (compare
Isa 61:7,
"in their land"). Jesus, the antitype of, and bearing the same
name as Joshua
(Heb 4:8),
shall, like him, divide the land among its true heirs
(Isa 54:3; 61:4).
9.
(Isa 42:7;
Zec 9:12).
-
prisoners--the Jews bound in legal bondage.
-
them . . . in darkness--the Gentiles having no light as to the one
true God [VITRINGA].
-
Show yourselves--not only see but be seen
(Mt 5:16;
Mr 5:19).
Come forth from the darkness of your prison into the light of the Sun
of righteousness.
-
in the ways, &c.--In a desert there are no "ways," nor "high places,"
with "pastures"; thus the sense is: "They shall have their pastures, not
in deserts, but in cultivated and inhabited places." Laying aside the
figure, the churches of Christ at the first shall be gathered, not in
obscure and unknown regions, but in the most populous parts of the Roman
empire, Antioch, Alexandria, Rome, &c.
[VITRINGA]. Another sense
probably is the right one. Israel, on its way back to the Holy Land,
shall not have to turn aside to devious paths in search of necessaries,
but shall find them in all places wherever their route lies; so
ROSENMULLER. God will supply them as if He
should make the grass grow in the trodden ways and on the barren
high places.
10. Messiah will abundantly satisfy all the
wants, both of literal Israel on
their way to Palestine, and of the spiritual on their way to heaven, as
their Shepherd
(Isa 65:13;
Mt 5:6),
also in heaven
(Re 7:16, 17).
11. my--All things are God's.
-
mountains a way--I will remove all obstructions out of the way
(Isa 40:4).
-
exalted--that is, cast up
(Isa 57:14; 62:10);
for instance, over valleys. VITRINGA explains
"mountains" as great kingdoms, Egypt, Syria, &c., subjected to
Rome, to facilitate the spreading of the Gospel; "highways," the
Christian doctrine wherein those who join the Church walk, and
which, at the time of Constantine, was to be raised into prominence
before all, and publicly protected
(Isa 35:8, 9).
12. Sinim--The Arabians and other Asiatics called China Sin, or
Tchin; the Chinese had no special name for themselves, but either
adopted that of the reigning dynasty or some high-sounding titles. This
view of "Sinim" suits the context which requires a people to be meant
"from far," and distinct from those "from the north and from the west"
[GESENIUS].
13. So
Re 12:12.
God will have mercy on the afflicted, because of His compassion;
on His afflicted, because of His covenant.
14. Zion--the literal Israel's complaint, as if God had forsaken her
in the Babylonian captivity; also in their dispersion previous to their
future restoration; thereby God's mercy shall be called forth
(Isa 63:15-19;
Ps 77:9, 10; 102:17).
15.
(Isa 44:21;
Ps 103:13;
Mt 7:11).
16. Alluding to the Jews' custom (perhaps drawn from
Ex 13:9)
of puncturing on their hands a representation of their city and temple,
in token of zeal for them [LOWTH],
(So 8:6).
17. Thy children--Israel
(Isa 49:20, 21;
Isa 43:6).
JEROME reads, for "Thy children," "Thy builders";
they that destroyed thee shall hasten to build thee.
-
haste--to rebuild thy desolate capital.
-
shall go forth--Thy destroyers shall leave Judea to Israel in
undisturbed possession.
18. As Zion is often compared to a bride
(Isa 54:5),
so the accession of converts is like bridal ornaments ("jewels,"
Isa 62:3;
Mal 3:17).
Her literal children are, however, more immediately meant, as
the context refers to their restoration; and only secondarily to her
spiritual children by conversion to Christ. Israel shall be the
means of the final complete conversion of the nations
(Mic 5:7;
Ro 11:12, 15).
-
as a bride--namely, binds on her ornaments.
19. land of thy destruction--thy land once the scene of destruction.
-
too narrow--
(Isa 54:1, 2;
Zec 10:10).
20. children . . . after . . . other--rather, "the children of thy
widowhood," that is, the children of whom thou hast been bereft during
their dispersion in other lands
(see on
Isa 47:8)
[MAURER].
-
again--rather, "yet."
-
give place--rather, "stand close to me," namely, in order that we
may be the more able to dwell in in the narrow place
[HORSLEY].
Compare as to Israel's spiritual children, and the extension of the
gospel sphere,
Ro 15:19, 24;
2Co 10:14-16.
But
Isa 49:22
(compare
Isa 66:20)
shows that her literal children are primarily meant. GESENIUS translates, "Make room."
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