Section IX The Second Ennead: The Servant of the Eternal One

Isaiah 49:1—57:21

These nine chapters comprise the most significant portion of Isaiah's entire prophecy. Here he predicts the glorious future deliverance from spiritual captivity through the ministry of the personal Servant of the eternal God. Once again the divisions do not come precisely at each of the chapter breaks, though they are nine in number.

A. THE ETERNAL'S REASSURANCE TO ZION, 49:1—50:3

The argument against idolatry has been concluded. Isaiah now turns our attention to the personal portrait of the ideal Israel, the true Servant of the Lord.

1. The Advent of a Redeemer(49:1-13)

Here the Messiah is introduced as himself speaking, stating the object of His mission with its loving labors lost, His sense of failure keen, and His confidence in the ultimate divine reward.

a. The speaking Servant(49:1-4). Listen … ye people, from far (1). The whole world is called upon to hear what this Individual says about His mission and destiny. Thus He speaks as a Missionary of the eternal God, called in conception (1), made like a sword of truth and a sharp arrow of conviction (2), named Israel, my servant, and designated God's source of glory (3). With His life completely under the rule of God, He is assured that, though His labor seems useless, His strength spent in vain, yet God will see to His reward and can be trusted with its issues (4).

The portrait of Jesus could scarcely have been anticipated in sharper detail. Isaiah speaks of Him as called … from the womb (1), thus indicating His miraculous birth as the Son of God, named before birth just as the angelic messenger commanded His earthly parents. His mouth was like a sharp sword (2) with speech that both wounds and heals, and words that the Holy Spirit inspired. He was hidden away in Egypt under the shadow of the divine hand, where He was safe from Herod's wrath. He was made like a polished arrow in His effective and talented insight (the Heb. uses the same consonants as those for the word meaning “pure or clean”). God kept Him close in his quiver at Nazareth during that period of quiet and undisturbed training in preparation for the divine presentation at the Jordan. Whereupon He was introduced as the One well-pleasing to God, His ideal servant … Israel, in whom God will be glorified (3). Yet His labor seemed in vain (4), as though He were spending His strength for nought. However, He commended His work to God in His final high priestly prayer in the Upper Room (John 17).

b. The speaking Sovereign(49:5-6). The Servant's commission is now spoken of as an honor from the God who chose Him ere ever He was born (5) to be the Restorer of Jacob and the Redeemer of Israel. Yet His commission is not limited to but one nation, for it would be too slight a service to redeem the tribes of Jacob only. Hence the Eternal's promise is, I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth (6). God's program of salvation includes a lost world and involves a universal atonement.

c. Consolation amid contempt(49:7). Here we have the Eternal's word of encouragement to His despised Servant. He who was regarded as a despicable soul, abhorred by His nation, a slave of despots, yet shall be given the homage of kings. No one was ever rejected by any people as was Jesus of Nazareth. He was condemned by the supreme court of His day; publicly denounced by the leaders of His nation; and at the instigation of an assembled mob He was executed as a common criminal in the most shameful and ignominious manner known (Luke 23:18-23). The common name by which He is designated in Jewish writings is Tolvi—“the crucified,” and among both Jewish and Gentile sinners alike, nothing excites more contempt than the thought that they and all others can be saved only through the merits of “the crucified” One. But God, who is faithful in the fulfillment of His promises, has chosen this very Servant and through Him provided salvation (Acts 4:12).

d. Commissioned as Saviour(49:8-12). Here a time of pardon is promised through the travail of the soul of the Servant whom God has prepared as a covenant Mediator with the people. It will be a day of salvation (8) to be sure. The ruined country will be revived and the forfeited lands parceled out anew. Men that are bound in darkness will be restored to freedom and light as the Servant proclaims for them “a new exodus” (9 a ). It was from an assurance such as this that the divine Servant gained confidence and strength.

Thus does the merciful shepherd read the promises of God for them that are homeward bound. They shall find highland pastures with grass a plenty. Theirs shall be safety from both sun and sirocco. Guidance to founts of refreshment will be theirs. Mountains shall be to them as highways, as they come gathering home from north and south, distant west and as far east as China (9 b -12).¹

e. Exultation because of consolation(49:13). “Here again the glorious liberty of the children of God appears as the center and focus from which the whole world is glorified.”² Such interludes of exultation are characteristic of Isaiah as we have previously noted.

Shout for joy, O heavens, rejoice,
O earth!
O hills, burst into song!
For the Eternal has consoled his people
and pitied his forlorn folk(Moffatt)

2. The Assurance of Redemption(49:14-26)

Isaiah is quite sure that God has not forgotten Zion, so let her not lament that she is a wife forsaken by her husband and a mother bereaved of her children.

a. Zion is not forsaken(49:14-18). No more can a mother forget her infant still unweaned (15) than can God forget Zion's image engraved in the palms of His hands (16). Surely the time is now when her builders will outstrip her destroyers (17). She shall be adorned with new recruits like a bride with her ornaments (18). God never forgets! Zion's complaint has called forth the Lord's loving remonstrance. Peradventure a mother might forget her own, but God has Zion's walls tatooed on His palms (16). Hence the time of reconstruction is at hand, and the plan for her walls is complete.

b. The desolate land shall be replenished(49:19-21). In fact, God's blessings will be Zion's embarrassment. For they will be such that she can neither contain nor explain. The land (19) reborn will soon be overpopulated with children born in the time of her bereavement. No longer will she be barren or alone.

This prophecy is now fulfilled, for already the inhabitants of modern Israel are sure that the land is too narrow for them (twelve miles at its narrowest strait, 20), while the influx of immigrants has been the little nation's constant embarrassment.

c. Fosterlings of royalty(49:22-23). Isaiah assures his depopulated land that the Eternal will signal for newborn generations to take the place of those irretrievably lost. They shall return under the homage and protection of their royal fosters, who now kiss the feet of their onetime slaves (disregarding the dust which covers them), as certain evidence of the Lord's fidelity. God fosters for spiritual Israel a countless posterity. At the divine signal they will be nurtured in reverence and assembled in devotion—many children from many lands. For none who look to the Lord are ever disappointed.

d. The prey of the tyrant rescued(49:24-26). God is stronger than the captor and knows how to set His captive ones free. The divine strategy simply involves setting their foes against each other, and snatching His own people from the tyrant. This will vindicate Him as the eternal Saviour and mighty Redeemer of mankind. There will be no arguing the miraculous deliverance wrought by the divine intervention.

3. The Almighty in Rebuttal(50:1-3)

The divine rebuttal appears in the form of questions addressed to individual Israelites who supposed either that God had formally divorced their mother (Zion) according to the law (cf. Deut. 24:1), or had sold (1) them to some creditor in payment of some outstanding debt. Neither supposition is correct. Here God takes up this question of estrangement, and lets it be known that only sin separates from His presence and favor. Hence the divine remonstrance runs somewhat as follows: Did I ever divorce your mother? Did I ever sell you to My creditor's service in payment of My debts? No, you sold yourselves into sin's bondage! Why did My summons awaken no response? Do I lack the power to deliver? Remember, 'tis I who dry up the water-courses, and I who darken the heavens, causing the eclipse of their luminaries. Or, if I withdraw My light, this leaves all nature in absolute darkness.

Sin alone separates from God. The problem was not with God; the trouble was with the individual members of His Zion. God's power over nature is omnipotent. So His ability to redeem and to restore is unimpeachable. Faith, then, along with a ready response to the Lord's call (cf. v. 2) is the solution of Zion's problem.

B. THE ETERNAL VINDICATES HIS OWN, 50:4-11

In this section we have The Servant's Soliloquy concerning His own perfection through suffering. This is the third of the so-called “Servant Songs.”

1. A Lesson Well Learned(50:4-6)

Few men, even ministers, have learned this lesson, yet the Divine Servant declares: “I know how to speak helpfully, to listen wisely, and to obey completely.” His are a trained tongue,³ a listening ear (4), an obedient will, and a silent endurance of suffering. This is an important lesson seldom learned by those who would be the ambassadors of the Eternal. Speaking advisedly to the ungodly, acting spontaneously upon hearing the divine voice, and suffering silently under undeserved abuse are specific qualities of Jesus Christ. No earthly exponent of Deity ever achieves this without “the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Full well may Knight refer to this as an “extraordinary new approach to the problem of man's inhumanity to man.”⁴ It was Isaiah who prophesied it, but it was Jesus who practiced it.

2. A Faith Well-founded(50:7-9)

The reason the Servant can now face such pain and abusive treatment in His humiliation is because of His faith. His soliloquy may be summarized as follows: My Helper and Vindicator is at hand—God will help me (7); hence My unflinching purpose. God will vindicate Me; hence, also, My determined stand. God will justify Me (8); hence, My eventual triumph (9).

With God's help, this suffering Servant is never confounded. With God's help He is never caused to blush for shame. With God as His Advocate no man can condemn Him (Rom. 8:31, 33-34). It would take His accusers so long to make a case against Him that their very garments would become old and moth-eaten (9). He can trust God for the unknown future since He has learned the fact of God's unchanging loyalty in the present.

3. A Future Most Fitting(50:10-11)

Here counsel is offered for those who walk in darkness but are seeking for the light (10). It is the Servant's assurance to those who trust in God. In the Old Testament, he that feareth the Lord is the synonym for “being religious” in our modern terminology. Such a person, “though he walketh in darkness” (ASV, margin), is facing toward the light. Let him have faith in the fidelity of God (I John 1:7).

Here warning is given to those who kindle strife and torture and are playing with fire (11). C. von Orelli's translation of this verse is an improvement upon the KJV rendering: “Behold, you are all firebrands, and you gird yourselves with fiery darts—go into the flame of your fire, and you shall be burnt with your own fiery darts. From my hand this has befallen you; you shall lie down to torture.” The simple point is, “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Hearken and hope! Persecute and perish! The last sentence in this chapter is God speaking in judgment. Knight has translated the clause following the semicolon in KJV to read: “Depart into the furnace of your own fire.”⁵ This would parallel Jesus' words in Matt. 25:41. In the end, evil consumes those who give themselves to it, just as God vindicates those who commit themselves to Him (I Pet. 4:19).

This passage can refer only to the Ideal Israel as the Servant of Jehovah. Hence it speaks not of the nation but an Individual, and that Individual was Christ.⁶

C. THE ETERNAL'S PROMISED DELIVERANCE, 51:1-23

In this chapter and the next we have a group of more loosely connected dialogues about the divine deliverance. They depict for us the breaking forth of salvation and the taking away of the divine cup of wrath from those who eagerly long for salvation. The clarion call to hearken is threefold, as is the similar call to awaken. The two chapters are therefore closely related, though the discourses are more loosely connected.

1. Hearken I: The Value of Retrospection(51:1-3)

Here the prophet seems to teach that the wonder involved in the origin of Israel is a ground of faith for its restoration and perpetuity. To the loyal nucleus he therefore says: “You who seek redress by way of the Eternal's aid, look again to your providential beginnings (1). Think of Abraham, the rock from which you were quarried, and of Sarah, the pit from which you were digged! Abraham, the aged, and Sarah, the barren, whom God blessed and multiplied (2) !” God called Abraham when he was but a single individual and increased him from “the one” to “the many.” By God's grace the desert becomes the garden of the Lord (3), and a melody of song now delights the former wilderness. It is through faith that the wilderness becomes a watered garden like unto Eden itself. So the message of the prophet is: “Recollect and rejoice!”

2. Hearken II: The Immediate Prospect(51:4-6)

Here the eternal God declares His possessions in such terms as my people, my nation, and promises His blessings in such terms as “My deliverance,” my salvation. Thus we have the assurance that the divine deliverance is immanent and the divine salvation is eternal. “The rules of my religion I send forth to light up every nation” (4, Moffatt). “Henceforth, my law shall be promulgated, my decrees be ratified, for a whole world's enlightening” (4 b, Knox). This is the promise of a new law with some new listeners, resulting in a new liberty. “Soon, now, my faithful servant will come, even now he is on his way to deliver you; these arms of mine shall execute judgment upon the nations; the remote islands are waiting for me, are looking for my aid” (5, Knox; cf. also Moffatt).

Heaven and earth may vanish, but the Eternal One's triumph knows no end. “Look up, then look down,” says the prophet. “The skies shall vanish like smoke, and the earth shall wear out like a garment; its dwellers shall die in swarms; but My salvation shall abide forever, and My victory shall never be annulled” (6, Berk.). With such an “up look” and “down look,” the “outlook” is very promising. Thus does Isaiah bring the immediate prospect into faith's perspective.

3. Hearken III: Persecution Calls for Persistence(51:7-8)

Here the divine message advances with the declaration: “Though you know righteousness and keep the law, you are tempted to fear … the reproach of men (7). Put aside the fear of men! (a) Men are human and subject to decay, like a moth-eaten garment; but (b) God's salvation is for ever” (8). Another Oriental has expressed it in lines that are similar:

Think, in this battered Caravanserai

Whose Portals are alternate Night and Day,

How Sultan after Sultan with his Pomp

Abode his destined Hour and went his way. ⁷

The premise of the prophet here is that persecution is only a passing thing compared to God's faithfulness.

4. Awake I: The Strong Arm of the Lord(51:9-11)

Again, in this fervent call for God's intervention we have Isaiah's characteristic use of double imperatives in an invocation of God's conquering arm. “Put on strength, as when You dealt defeat to the Egyptian crocodile and wounded the dragon of the Nile (9), or dried up the waters and made a path through the sea ['made the sea's caravans a highway'—Knox; 10]. Then Thy ransomed ones shall return with shouting and exultation” (11; cf. 35:10 here; see also Knox's translation).

5. The Lord's Response to His People(51:12-16)

The message of this passage may be summarized in the premise: Forgetfulness of God is what begets the fear of man. The divine message of consolation here is: “I am your Comforter, then why fear frail man? (12) Forget not your maker, and fear not the oppressor (13). Release comes speedily (14). I am your own God, whose name is The Lord of hosts (15). You have My message, My protection, and My covenant, back of which are all of the Creator's resources (16) ! I am the One who says to Zion, ‘You are my people’” (cf. Hos. 1:10).

The enemies of God are mortal and weak; the Protector of the faithful is the Eternal and the Strong One. If God be for us, what matters then who may be against us? (Cf. Knox's translation of this passage.)

6. Awake II: The Prophet Exhorts Jerusalem(51:17-23)

“Up, up, Jerusalem, bestir thyself!” (Knox).

a. The cup of retribution is empty(51:17-20). The prophet recalls how Jerusalem had become but a drunken and desperate castaway, with no one to give her support and none to take her by the hand and steady her in her stupor. In her ruin by famine and sword, her sons (18; princes) had fainted under the divine rebuke. They were left lying at every street corner like an antelope caught in a net (20),⁸ brought down by the Lord's anger. The ruin is twice twofold. The land is ruined by devastation and destruction. The people have fallen by famine and sword (19). Thus had the cup of divine judgment numbed her senses as she drained it to the dregs.

b. The tormentor's turn to drink(51:21-23). A major feature of the entire Book of Isaiah is this motif in his eschatology which prophesies the reversal of the fortunes of the oppressor and the oppressed. Jerusalem is assured that the cup (22) of divine wrath has now been passed to her tormentors who have so thoroughly humbled her. “Cruel oppressors that bade thee lie down and let them walk over thee, dust under their feet, a pathway for them to tread …” (23, Knox). Judgment always begins at the house of God, but let us not forget that the God who punishes us is on our side of the issue.

D. RANSOM OF THE “CAPTIVE DAUGHTER OF ZION,” 52:1-12

This portion of Isaiah continues the prophet's dialogues about deliverance and completes the theme of chapter 51.

1. Awake III: The Hymn of Redemption(52:1-6)

a. The call(52:1-2). Here the call is to attention, strength, beauty, separation, purity, and liberty. The summons quite resembles the initial command of a modern drill sergeant, “Attention!” “Up, up, array thyself, Sion [ sic ], in all thy strength; clothe thyself as befits thy new glory, Jerusalem, city of the Holy One!” (1 abc, Knox) “For pagans and profane men never more shall enter you” (1 d, Moffatt). “Shake off the dust, stand erect, then sit down [upon thy royal throne], Jerusalem; free yourself from the bonds about your neck, captive daughter of Zion” (2, Berk.). Zion is no more to be a castaway or captive. The call summons her to her highest glory as the priestly queen of cities. Her sitting in the dust (2) as a captive is to be exchanged for sitting on a throne as a queen (cf. the contrast here with Babylon's destiny in 47:1). Captives were often bound together by ropes tied from neck to neck. Such bands are now to be removed from Zion, and she shall no more be a captive queen.

b. The condition(52:3-5). Here we have God's soliloquy on Israel's history. The dark strains of the picture are as follows: sold … for nought, oppressed without a cause, ruled over in tyranny, and tortured into blasphemy. But God's musing begins with the promise: “You were bartered away for nothing, and you shall be ransomed without cost” (3, Knox). The Hebrews were enslaved in Egypt and plundered and oppressed beyond all reason by the Assyrians (which might include the Babylonians). They were wantonly carried off into exile, all because they sold themselves by rebellion and disobedience. He who sins always sells himself into bondage, but sin's rewards turn to ashes in his hands. On the other hand, God's atonement is no commercial affair. God owes nothing to the devil, and grace is free to the truly penitent.

c. The promise(52:3, 6). This involves redemption without ransom, as we have already suggested. God owes nothing to any nation. The fact that He uses one as His instrument of judgment upon another is no source of merit to the oppressor. The Assyro-Babylonian captivities brought no glory to the Lord from those nations; hence when His divine purpose was fulfilled, He could wrest their captives from their hands and owe them nothing. But as surely as God predicted His people's captivity, so did He promise their return. By this shall God's people learn His true name and nature. “Therefore shall my people learn my name: therefore on the same day (shall they learn) that I am he who says: “Here am I” (6, Von Orelli).

2. Gospel Tidings for Zion(52:7-10)

a. The messengers(52:7-8). These are the beautiful exponents of peace, united in voice and vision. Here is God's characterization of all true evangelists. St. Paul quotes this passage and applies it to the heralds of the gospel, as he catalogues for us his five great missionary “hows”—four questions, followed by this exclamation (Rom. 10:14-15). James Moffatt seems to have caught the beauty of this passage in the following translation:

Look! 'tis the feet of a herald

hastening over the hills,

with glad, good news,

   with tidings of relief,

calling aloud to Sion,

   “Your God reigns!”

All your sentinels are shouting,

in a triumph-song,

for they see the Eternal face to face

  as he returns to Sion.

b. The message(52:9-10). Its keynote was sounded in 7, “Thy God reigneth!” Such good news calls for singing about comfort, redemption, and vindication. God bares his holy arm (10) for action,⁹ so let all … nations and all … earth take note of His salvation.

3. The Summons to a New Exodus(52:11-12)

Here the command is for separation, sanctification, and deliberate action, with the guarantee of the divine protection. Isaiah is again speaking from Jerusalem and summoning the exiles. He warns them not to seek the spoils of an ungodly environment. A later prophet will hear a voice saying, “Come out of her, my people” (Rev. 18:4), and an apostle will recall this passage as he enjoins the sanctified separation befitting holiness (II Cor. 6:17—7:1). “Get ye out of Sodom!” The city of the godless is no place for the godly. But their departure is to be no rout or night flight or clandestine escape. It is to take on the nature of a deliberate march as in a former exodus under the divine protection with the Divine Presence “fore and aft.” There are safety and sure arrival so long as God is both our Vanguard and our Rear Guard.

Nor need you hurry forth,

flying like fugitives,

for the Eternal goes in front of you,

and your rear-guard is Israel's God(Moffatt).

E. “THE SUFFERING SERVANT OF THE LORD,” 52:13—53:12

This passage holds first place among all of the Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament. Who but Isaiah could have composed such a literary miracle? And who but the Holy Spirit could have inspired its details? Polycarp called it the golden passional of the Old Testament.

The previous “servant songs”¹⁰ have depicted the prophetic ministry of this Servant of the Lord. In this one He is pictured as Priest vicariously suffering for the sins of others. He is a sin-bearing Martyr, and because of this great high-priestly act as both Offerer and Sacrifice we henceforth hear no more in Isaiah of “the servant of Jehovah” but of “the servants of Jehovah” (54: 17; 56:6; 63:17; 65:8-9, 13-15; and 66:14—although at 61:1-3 the great single “Servant” himself speaks).¹¹

Now comes the question of identity. What have we here? Who is described here? Is this a person, or only a personification? Even though it may not be certain of the three previous “servant songs,” this fourth one pictures the Servant of Jehovah as an individual Sufferer.¹² He is as plainly announced and described as if the prophet were standing beneath the Cross beholding the Crucifixion. These predictions find their ultimate fulfillment in Jesus Christ. Hence this Servant of the Lord is none other than the Son of Man. This is how the New Testament regards Him (cf. 53:7-8 with Acts 8:26-35; cf. also Luke 24:25-27, 44-47).¹³ St. Paul's commentary on Isaiah 53 is Phil. 2:5-11. Dr. Fausset declares: “The correspondence with the life and death of Jesus Christ is so minute, that it could not have resulted from conjecture or accident.”¹⁴

In this significant passage four voices speak: First, God speaks (52:13-15) introducing His Servant. The divine imperative is, Behold, my servant (52:13), and the divine message is that suffering is fruitful and sacrifice is practical. Second, the conscience of awakened mankind answers, Who hath believed … ? (53:1-3), acknowledging that it has been letting the eye cheat the heart of understanding, admitting that all men have been indifferent to this divinely ordained Sufferer, and confessing the common consciousness of guilt. Thus awakened, it further states: Surely he hath borne our sicknesses … (53: 4-6), as it recognizes that the hand of God was indeed upon the Servant, and the reason was sin—but the sin was ours, not His. Third, the prophet enumerates the circumstances of His death (53:7-10), which may be briefly summarized in the observation that, when oppressed, the Divine Servant humbled himself even unto death (Phil. 2:8). Fourth, God again speaks, giving the final verdict (53:11-12) and corroborating the divine purpose announced in 10. Thus the passage begins and ends with the speaking God. Isaiah was well aware that ours is a communicative God, unlike the deaf and dumb pagan deities. Archer is correct in saying that the “profoundest remarks upon the meaning of Calvary are not to be found in the New Testament.”¹⁵

1. The Divine Introduction and Proclamation(52:13-15)

As we consider the passage verse by verse, the modern translations become exceedingly helpful.¹⁶ The expression my servant (13) indicates that God himself is speaking. At this point the Servant is actually described in terms of divinity—he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. But these are immediately coupled with terms that can be used only of a man, and that one a man whose face is marred (14) by suffering. At the very outset, then, we have introduced here a divine-human Personage.

Shall deal prudently (13; “shall prosper,” RSV; “shall deal wisely,” ASV) involves a verb here that has been a troubler to the translators and the various interpreters. Lamsa's translation of the Peshitta reads “shall understand,” while Knight translates the Hebrew here to say simply “will succeed,” and Von Orelli's translation is “shall deal excellently.” Knox translates: “See, here is my servant, one who will be prudent in all his dealings.” The Berkeley Version reads “shall work wisely.” Thus the task of the divine-human Servant is to accomplish the purposes of the eternal God. Hence at the very beginning of this so-called “servant song” we have the announcement of the exalted nature and destiny of this Martyr-Figure, whose insight enables Him to deal wisely with the greatest problem—that of human hatred and sin.

As many were astonied at thee (14) is still spoken by the voice of Deity. It begins a contrast in this verse that is completed in the next (note the As … so, used to state it), after a descriptive intervening parenthesis. Just as the many (the masses) were amazed at Him, so also shall He purify many nations. The reason for the amazement of the masses is the fact that in His sufferings He was so disfigured by violence that He no longer looked like a man,¹⁷ since He was “marred, beyond human semblance” (RSV).

Marred more than any man … more than the sons of men. “Disfigured till he seemed a man no more, deformed out of the semblance of a man” (Moffatt). “Was ever human form so mishandled, human beauty ever so defaced?” (Knox) The prophet thus indicates that, once the masses of humanity behold this inhumanely marred Servant, they will be appalled. Suffering has ever been the astonishment and the stumbling block of humanity.

So shall he sprinkle many nations (15) has been emended by many commentators in favor of an alternate which would make it read “startle.” But interpreters' emendations can be deceptive. Hence Muilenberg says, “It is best to retain ‘sprinkle’ here, and this interpretation is supported by the Manual of Discipline (iv. 21; cf. iii. 10)”¹⁸ in the recently discovered Dead Sea Scriptures. The idea of sprinkle has in it the intimation of purification; hence “he will purify many people from their sins” is the predication here (note that Lamsa's translation of the Peshitta uses the term “purify”). This is in keeping with the motif of the great reversal which we noted in the preceding chapter and it fits into Isaiah's eschatology. Hence Knox translates: “He will purify a multitude of nations.”

Even kings shall shut their mouths at him and marvel in silent awe as they see what was never told them, and ponder what they have never learned. For, as Knight observes, “the Servant's task is to give the masses a wholly new view of life … for the average man reveals himself as a bully at heart.”¹⁹ Hence the meek acceptance of undeserved cruelty will call for reverential silence even on the part of kings. This is just as Jesus taught it in Mark 10:45, where again Isaiah's term “the many” reappears.

The Christian way to exaltation via lowly humiliation is thus anticipated by the prophet in this divine announcement and introduction of the Servant. “For that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they understand” (The Peshitta, Lamsa's translation). As Coffin pertinently observes:

We do well to emphasize the wisdom of the Lord's servant (cf. Matt. 12:42). Calvary was derided as weakness and folly, but to Paul it was “the wisdom of God” (I Cor. 1:24). The reversals of history, like Israel's restoration from exile, and the Son of God's exaltation from a gibbet to a throne, display divine sagacity which makes human cleverness seem absurd.²⁰

2. The Superficial Human Estimation(53:1-3)

Men from Isaiah's day until now have looked upon this prophetic idea of a suffering Messiah as something incredible. Who hath believed our report? (1) More specifically, “Who could have believed that which we have heard?” Or, “Who has given any credence to our story?” It is not humanly possible to reconcile greatness with suffering. When people are fortunate we say, “You must be living right.” But when reverses come we say, “You must have sinned!” Neither evaluation is wholly or always correct.

Here is the conscience of an awakened and penitent humanity speaking. The prophet has worded it well for any such (cf. John 12:37-43, Amp. NT commentary on this point). The words spoken by the prophet are those of the Holy Spirit interpreting the scandal of the scene.

To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? The word for arm is zeroa' and indicates the strong right arm of God intervening in the affairs of men. Hence the expression indicates the decisive action of God. The arm of the Eternal works both deliverance and salvation.

If v. 1 is comprised of exclamation, v. 2 is given to explanation. The phrase, He shall grow up (2) is better translated, “He grew up,” for this gives the full force of the historical tense. It is prophetically spoken of a future event as accomplished fact. God grasps history in any of its developments as fact, though the event may have stood about seven hundred years future for the prophet Isaiah. Before him means, “before Jehovah, under the eye of God, and in conformity to His will and purpose.”

As a tender plant would indicate a sapling. The Hebrew term is yoneq and comes from the verb yanaq, meaning “to suck.” Thus the specification is “suckling,” for which the English term “sucker” is more commonly applied to anything of the flora species. Thus the prophet is again thinking of the “sucker” or “shoot” from the stump of a tree hewn down. Earlier he had spoken of the Messiah as a “shoot” from the stump of Jesse (11:1). Thus He is to grow up like a “sucker” from a dead tree stump. (Note here again the evidence of unity of authorship for Isaiah's prophecy).

Hid are the saints of God,

Uncertified by high angelic sign;

Nor raiment soft, nor empire's golden rod,

Marks them divine.

     —J. H. NEWMAN, Lyra Apostolica ²¹

As a root out of a dry ground recalls the fact that God's plants spring up and grow in unlikely places. The Hebrew term here is shoresh(root). Isaiah's concept of the Messiah under the aspect of the “suffering servant” sees Him as both the Shoot and the Root of a theanthropic personality. He grows from the “parched earth” (Heb., 'eres siyah). Isaiah was no doubt aware of the fact that church leaders usually come from the most out-of-the-way and insignificant places of human habitation. Palestine was an unpromising little land from which Messiah came, and little Bethlehem in little Judea was most insignificant. At Nazareth, He grew up in God's sight in humble and lowly circumstances.

He hath no form nor comeliness. There was about Him no majestic kingliness to attract human admiration. The question in Jesus' day was: “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” He was simply the glamourless Nazarene. There is a difference between “glamour” and “glory.” There is no beauty that we should desire him. The Servant lacks that “fair appearance” (Heb., mar'eh) that makes for external allurement. He is shunned because He has been disfigured by human malignity.

He is despised and rejected (3). The Hebrew terms are nibhzeh, “looked upon with disdain,” and hadhel, “forsaken” (cf. Matt. 26:31, 56; John 16:32). Loneliness is often the crown of sorrow and suffering. Despised and rejected of men—first by the rulers, second by the throngs, and third by the disciples. Thus the Christ trod the lonely via dolorosa.

A man of sorrows, i.e., a man of pains. The Hebrew is 'ish makh oboth. Jesus' body was indeed sensitive to pain. Men have sometimes raised the idle question whether this were so. But if not, then He was not thoroughly human, as Isaiah seems to indicate. Acquainted with grief, yedhia holi, “familiar with sickness”—“touched with the feeling of our infirmities” (Heb. 4:15; cf. Heb. 2:18).

We hid … our faces from him, i.e., we turned our faces from Him in horror, that we might not look upon Him. We esteemed him not; we did not reckon Him to be of any significance (cf. John 1:10-11). We took no account of Him, for we regarded Him as an isolated fanatic; hence no one sympathized with Him. Such are some legitimate implications of the Hebrew.

Leaving now the human estimation, we may turn to consider some of the divine realities involved.

3. The Vicarious Suffering for Our Salvation(53:4-6)

The opening word, surely (4), in this strophe is intended to focus our attention upon the key to the riddle of the suffering Just One. It is better translated “assuredly.” G. F. Handel has based one of his most significant songs upon it in his famous oratorio, The Messiah. He hath borne our griefs—it is important to note that the pronoun our is emphatic in this instance. Ours were the sicknesses He carried; ours were the pains He bore. We supposed Him stricken, smitten … afflicted. And it was by means of His stripes that there is healing for us. The Hebrew term for carried, nasa, means “to take up and carry away.” Thus the Christian beholding Calvary exclaims: “He carried my sins with Him there” (cf. Matt. 8:17; Col. 2:14). But the Hebrew holayim(sorrows) seems to indicate more specifically “sicknesses,” and the Greek of the Septuagint indicates not only our infirmities but also our diseases.

Yet we did esteem him stricken—here is man's false estimate of pain. Smitten of God, i.e., under the plague of God. We thought He was under the stroke of a divine penalty. Afflicted, me'unneh, humiliated, degraded, and humbled.

We made our estimation, but the facts of the case are: He was wounded for our transgressions (5). This involves vicarious expiation. The Hebrew term meholal really means pierced, transfixed, or bored through, hence nailed. Nailed for our pesha ', transgressions, which were really rebellions. Hence, “He was pierced on account of our rebellions.” The pain was His, in consequence of the sin that was ours. Rebellion is the primary element in all human sin. Bruised for our iniquities indicates that the Redeemer was shattered for our “inborn crookedness.” The Hebrew, medhukkdh, means utterly crushed or shattered, and awonoth means not only “iniquities” but “twisted and perverted crookedness.” The sin principle is basically an incorrigible perversity.

The chastisement of our peace was upon him, i.e., the punishment leading to our peace. Chastisement has reference to disciplinary sufferings. The Hebrew term for peace is rich in varied meanings. It would indicate not only peace, but soundness, well-being, prosperity, and completeness. With his stripes we are healed, literally, “it has been healed for us.” The idea is that by means of His stripes there is healing for us. The Servant's sufferings are not only vicarious but redemptive and curative. The doctrine of divine healing in both Testaments has been too often neglected by the churches, and left for the perversion of fanatics.

All we like sheep have gone astray (6). Kullanu would indicate “all of us,” “the masses” of mankind, the whole world of men. Ta'ah(gone astray) means “wandered off course so as to get into trouble.” This is Isaiah's vivid description of the manner in which humanity as such behaves. Sheep unattended are always straying, and as wanderers they are both defenseless and lost. This clause is also the confession of a repentant Israel (Ps. 119:176), of a repentant humanity (I Pet. 2:25), confirmed by the mind of our Saviour (Matt. 9:36; John 10:11).

We have turned every one to his own way. Man prefers his own way to God's way. He has transferred his allegiance to the idol of his own will and desires, his own intellect and innate tendencies to be wholly selfish. Sinful man attempts to live a self-contained life. This is humanity's common guilt. And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. God became the Suffering Servant, provided the vicarious atonement, and bore, in His Son, the iniquities of the world. Since then, vicarious pain has been life's highest decoration. God does not punish the righteous with the wicked (Gen. 18:25). He accepts the suffering of the righteous for the wicked (Mark 10:45).

4. The Patient Endurance of Humiliation(53:7-9)

Here the prophet speaks, describing the events of Good Friday. He was oppressed (7), “harshly treated, mishandled,” He was afflicted, “humilated.” He was humbling himself. He let himself be afflicted. It was therefore a voluntary acceptance that characterized the gentle Christ, who bowed before the maltreatment of the servants of Caiaphas and the soldiers of Pilate. He opened not his mouth. This observation of the prophet about the patient Sufferer is spoken twice in this verse. He would not open His mouth. First of all, He did not need to defend himself since no valid accusation was made against Him. Secondly, His trial was only a judicial farce conducted by low-principled hypocrites asserting pious motives, while at that moment they were violating the Jewish laws of jurisprudence; therefore no defense would have made any difference. He spoke to the Sanhedrin only when silence would have been a renunciation of His deity and His messiahship (Matt. 26:63-64). Before Pilate, He spoke only when silence would have renounced His kingship. But before incestuous Herod the Tetrarch, He said nothing at all. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter. The Hebrew term yubhal would indicate that He was led to the altar of sacrifice (cf. John 1:36; Rev. 5:12). It was a predetermined death sentence that had been settled upon before ever they gave Him a hearing or trial. Hence He suffered the fate of the sacrificial lamb. As a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so this divine Sufferer endured in silence.

He was taken from prison and from judgment (8). The Hebrew suggests that it was by judicial crime that He was taken and by tyranny He was cut off. Books have been written about the illegality of the trial and death of Jesus. Moffatt's translation is valid—“They did away with him unjustly.” Gordon renders it: “Through violence in judgment was he taken away” (Smith-Goodspeed).

Who shall declare his generation? The indifference of public opinion and the apathetic attitude of the masses are often appalling. No one seemed concerned about His fate. His judges were not interested in ascertaining the truth about their Prisoner, but only in being rid of Him. For the transgression of my people was he stricken, says the prophet; “struck down for sins of ours” (Moffatt).

He made his grave with the wicked (9). The Hebrew term resha'im means “the ungodly, or guilty men.” Men assigned the Servant, not the burial of a saint, with reverence and honor, but that of an unjust oppressor for whom no man lamented. In other words, dishonor pursued Him to the very grave. His death was an official execution. And with the rich in his death means, more fully, “and with a rich man in his tragic death.” Joseph of Arimathaea was a wealthy man. His newly hewn sepulcher became Jesus' burying place. Some interpreters read “felon” here instead of rich, but 'ashir does mean a man of wealth. Because he had done no violence (cf. Job 16:17) means He had done nothing to deserve such a death. Neither was any deceit in his mouth. He was an innocent Man. Humanity vented its spleen in vicious treatment of God's Holy One. But “when selfish evil tries to masquerade as justice it prepares its own unmasking.”²²

5. The Divine Reversal in Exaltation(53:10-12)

Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him (10). The Dead Sea Scroll reads: “But Yahweh was pleased to crush him and he pierced him.” In short, God permitted the outrage. Moffatt however has caught the intimation of the Resurrection in this verse as he translates it to read: “But the Eternal chose to vindicate his servant, rescuing his life from anguish; he let him prosper to the full, in a posterity with life prolonged.”

Thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin—here the Hebrew term nephesh(soul) means more fully “person.” Lamsa translates the Peshitta to read: “He laid down his life as an offering for sin.” The Hebrew would seem also to substantiate some such reading as, “Truly He gave himself as an Offering for sin.” Asham really indicates a “guilt offering” (cf. Lev. 5:14—6:7; 7:1-7). He shall see his seed, a spiritual posterity. He shall prolong his days, for He lives by dying (John 12:24). The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. The Hebrew, hephes, may mean not only “the good pleasure” but also the purpose. At this Sufferer's hand the purpose of the eternal God is promoted. “His noblest satisfaction will be, that he will be the living witness of the saving work he has accomplished. … Enough for him, that the Lord's purpose will be certainly and happily realized by His almighty hand.”²³

Now again God speaks the final verdict, at vv. 11-12.

After his travail of soul he shall see light;

He shall be satisfied with his knowledge.

My servant shall justify many,

And he shall bear their iniquities. ²⁴

He shall see of the travail of his soul (11). Through all His troublesome toil He shall not spend himself in vain, for travail is for a purpose. And shall, be satisfied, for henceforth His cross shall be His throne, and by reason of His death He shall rule the ages. He will find satisfaction in the fact that His death is effective for salvation. By his knowledge is a phrase that may be misunderstood unless we are careful to note that the Hebrew, bedha'to, indicates “by the knowledge of or about Him.” It is by knowing the Redeemer personally that men are saved. Christ does not save sinners by their enlightenment but by His deed of atoning sacrifice. Yet none are saved who do not know Him as a personal Saviour by faith. Thus by His wise submission to His Father's will He imparts to many His own righteousness. My righteous servant is a phrase spoken by God. The Ideal Servant is also the Ideal King. God will eventually vindicate His Servant. Christ thus becomes the mighty Victor. Here the Servant's service for God and man reaches its crowning point. Righteous himself, He wins righteousness for many, and makes their iniquities His burden of concern. Justify many means “make the masses righteous.” Hence there is included in this plan the “whosoever will” (cf. I Pet. 3:18). It is through Him that they attain that new quality of life on a higher plane. For he shall bear their iniquities, or, as Moffatt has it, since “'twas their guilt he bore.” Lamsa's translation reads: “He shall justify the righteous; for he is a servant of the many, and he shall bear their sins.”

Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great (12). It was Jesus who told us how to become great (Mark 10:43-45). No doubt He had in mind this very promise of God concerning His reward. “Therefore will I give him the many for his portion.” And he shall divide the spoil with the strong (the numerous). The Berkeley Version reads: “Therefore I will give to Him His portion among the great, and beside mighty ones shall He apportion gain.” St. Paul no doubt has grasped the full meaning of this as he declares: “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name” (Phil. 2:9). God himself states the reason for this: because he hath poured out his soul (life) unto death. He performed the very highest sacrifice for man of which man can conceive, thus binding all mankind to himself in gratitude and adoration. He was numbered with the transgressors. “He let himself be numbered among rebels” (Moffatt). The Sanhedrin condemned Jesus for blasphemy because He asserted His messiahship and His unique sonship to God (Mark 14:61-64; Luke 22:37). He bare the sin of many. Nasa'(bare) means “lifted up and carried off.” Many, rabbim, means “the whole number, the masses.” He interposed himself for the sin of the world. There is an integral solidarity to this human race, and this great Son of the Race “endured in His death the precise racial penalty for human sin; and … so expressed God's hatred of sin as to render possible the immediate foundation and gradual formation of a new race of men which shall at last perfectly manifest the moral love of God.”²⁵

He made intercession for the transgressors when He cried, “Father, forgive them.” He did not die a protesting and indignant victim, invoking the vengeance of God upon His murderers. Instead He prayed for their forgiveness.

This Servant was still future to the prophet but in Jesus Christ of Nazareth this prophetic dream becomes a reality, incarnate in flesh and blood. He is its striking fulfillment in detail.

F. THE LORD'S COVENANT LOVE FOR ZION, 54:1-17

This poem fulfills the command of 40:2 to speak with comfort to God's people. In this message of consolation we have the twofold symbolism of the bride and the city. The bride is re-wooed and rewed; the city is rebuilt and resplendent. Thus we have the metaphor of marriage in the first instance and that of the New Jerusalem in the second. At 53:11 the fruit of Messiah's travail was many sons in righteousness. Here the Eternal One summons His spouse to singing and fruitfulness, peace and prosperity. It is a radiant preview of the coming happiness of Zion.

1. The Bride, Re-wooed and Rewed(54:1-10)

Here the prophet gives us a glimpse of the blessedness of the new people of God. The posterity of the Suffering Servant comprises a host of servants.

a. The fruitful bride(54:1-3). Sing, O barren (1) are words that carry forward the theme of 51:1—52:12. The children of the desolate are essentially the members of the new exodus, comprising those souls redeemed from sin's captivity. Thus Zion's adopted children will far exceed those of her early marriage (cf. I Sam. 2:5 b ). As the family increases, the tent must be enlarged (2). Here the prophet has in mind the old nomadic life with the tent as its dwelling place. The larger tent must have longer cords and stronger and more deeply driven stakes, if the extended curtains of the tent are to be stretched and sustained. Hence the command, Lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy tent-pegs. The overflowing increase of her population will expand her borders right and left to re-inhabit the cities left desolate, and possess the neighboring nations (3). Applied to the Church of today, the call is to lengthen the cords of her affection and strengthen the stakes of her purposes. Churches must not be allowed to become private chapels for a closed society. Nor is the Church an imperial aggressor. She expands by her evangelism that makes her sons into soul winners.

b. The faithful husband(54:4-8). No longer need Zion blush for the shame (4) of her maidenhood (her bondage in Egypt) or the reproach of her widowhood (her Assyrian invasions or Babylonish captivity). All this may now be forgotten. Thy Maker is thine husband (5), whose name is the Lord of hosts; and thy Kinsman, Redeemer, is the Holy One of Israel. His real name, however, is The God of the whole earth. The Church is the chosen bride of the Creator-Governor of the universe. The wife of youth (6), the Lord's first love, was only temporarily rejected. Like Hosea with Gomer, God had not divorced Zion, though He punished her with temporary rejection, that He might receive her back again to His yearning heart of love. One wooed and loved in youth is the more regretfully repudiated and the more joyfully restored when found to be truly penitent. The Hebrew of vv. 7-8 suggests the paraphrase: “If I abandoned you, it was but for a moment; but now I hug you to myself right tenderly. In a burst of wrath I did hide My face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on you, says the Eternal One, your Redeemer.” Marriage vows are too sacred for the alienation of divorce. True love seeks reconciliation. God's wrath is but for a moment, but His love and pity are eternal.

c. The covenant of peace(54:9-10). (1) Sure as the promise made to Noah, 9. “As never again will the earth be destroyed by water, so I will rebuke thee in wrath no more” (paraphrase). (2) More enduring than the hills, 10. God is wedded to the faithful to all eternity.

2. The City, Rebuilt and Resplendent(54:11-17)

In this picture of the New Jerusalem it is worthy of note that there is no mention of any temple therein (cf. Rev. 21:22). The prophet speaks of physical splendor and spiritual life, of external beauty and inner security, for this new city of God.

a. The firm foundation(54:11). Following a tender apostrophe to the disconsolate, God promises: “I will mortice thy stones with lead ore,²⁶ and make thy foundations of sapphires” (paraphrase). Expensive mortar is fitting for precious stones. Sapphire is the hue of the heavens.

b. The splendid ramparts(54:12). “I am going to make thy minarcts like rubies, and thy gates of sparkling jewels. Thy whole city wall will be of precious stones.”²⁷ John the Revelator saw similar characteristics for the New Jerusalem (cf. Rev. 21:9-27).

c. The prosperous sons(54:13). All thy children shall be taught of the Lord. Jesus applies this verse to His own disciples in John 6:45. The idea here seems to be that every inhabitant will likewise be a disciple. God's people are not only informed but they are disciplined. Here, then, is the inward glory.

d. The civic righteousness(54:14). In righteousness shalt thou be established … far from oppression … fear: and … terror … shall not come near thee. This, too, is a miracle of grace, but it is a consummation devoutly to be wished and sought after. Justice makes a sure foundation for any civilization.

e. The heritage of the faithful(54:15-17). “Let men strive against thee as they will, it is with no sanction of mine; whoever strives against thee shall fall because of thee (or perhaps, shall be compelled to fall in with thee)” (15, Knox). The heritage of the faithful is the alchemy of love which turns one's foes into friends.

The achievements of technology are subject also to the divine sovereignty (16). God is still the Arbiter of the instruments of war. The man who builds them and the man who works destruction by means of them still owe their lives to God, and must surrender them when He wills. God's servants may now be exposed to the attacks and the false accusations of evil men, but there is coming a time when they will be invulnerable. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord (17). “Their vindication is from me” (RSV). The New Jerusalem will be invulnerable to attack without and to calumny within. But with our confidence in God's unshakable control of life's affairs, this promise may also find fulfillment even in the inner security which floods the heart of the faithful.

G. THE SUMMONS TO GOD'S PROFFERED MERCY, 55:1-13

Here we have the universal invitation to divine blessing. This chapter begins with the third Ho or “Oh” of God's promised redemption based upon the vicarious sacrifice of His Suffering Servant. It is the third portion of the grand passage comprising cc. 54—55.

We noted two important words in the concluding verses of c. 53: “seed” (10), and “the many” (12). These thoughts found enlargement in Isaiah's emphasis upon the bride and the city in c. 54. She who heretofore was barren now finds her seed abundantly multiplied through the graciousness of the eternal God, her Husband. The city, once desolate, is rebuilt with all manner of jewels and precious stones, and shall no more be overpowered by her enemies.

Isaiah now turns his thought to “the many” for whom a universal atonement was made, and heralds to them the universal call—the blessed threefold invitation. Like the cry of the Oriental water seller comes this gracious and eternal invitation.

1. The Call to Satisfaction(55:1-5)

Man without God is an aching void, for his heart is made for God.

a. The true satisfaction versus the false(55:1-2). In these two verses the divine imperative is, Come ye (1). (a) First of all, God's provision is free. Such are the paradoxes set forth here that one buys with no money, and purchases without price. The humble seeker comes in self-renunciation, saying: “Nothing in my hand I bring; simply to Thy cross I cling.” In simple self-surrender he accepts the blessing. The best gifts of life cannot be earned by labor nor purchased with money. The simple requirement is a hungering and a thirsting after righteousness (Matt. 5:6). The invitation reads: “Come along, even you who have no money! Buy wheat and eat!”²⁸ Or, as Moffatt has it: “Come, eat, O fainting souls!”

(b) It is universal. The gracious invitation reads: Ho, every one. It is that grand word “Whosoever,” sounded centuries later by the Saviour of the world (John 3:16).

(c) It is nourishing. Water in Isaiah's prophecy is always a symbol of God's presence in the world. Water is for thirst (Ps. 42:2). Milk is for strengthening and growth (I Pet. 2:2). Wine is for rejoicing and happiness (Zech. 10:7; Matt. 26:29).

(d) It is genuine, as compared to that which is not bread (2). Too many now attempt to satisfy their hunger with “the bread of deceit” rather than “the bread of life.” Too many labor for that which satisfieth not. “Always spending, and no bread to eat; always toiling, and never a full belly” (Knox). Smart has stated it for our day and time as follows:

Men are always willing to spend some time and money on religion if they think that through it they can secure the things they want. But the water of life and the bread of life cannot be purchased or earned by any human effort. They have to be accepted as gifts that put one evermore in debt to God, gifts that one can never deserve, because in giving them God gives himself, and in receiving them man receives God himself, the sovereign God, to be the center of his life.²⁹

What George Adam Smith says about the Jew is true of many a modern Christian: “Born to be priests, the Jews drew down their splendid powers of attention, pertinacity, and imagination, from God upon the world, till they equally appear to have been born traders.”³⁰ Selling our souls for material gains, we have too often become “traffickers in trivia,” forgetting as we do so that there is that which money can never buy.

(e) It is spiritual. This divine satisfaction is conditioned upon the hearing of faith, the receptivity of the heart. At this point the divine imperative becomes, “Hear ye!” “Hearing, ye shall give heed and eat the good, and let your soul delight in fatness” (paraphrasing 2 b ). Fatness has reference to delicacies which symbolize the exuberance of spiritual joy. Hearing of this kind is not something done with the ear alone; it involves the will to believe. To the hungry heart of man, there is no real answer save the call of God's own voice to obedience and surrender.

b. The covenant relationship(55:3-5). ( a ) God's everlasting compact with the redeemed (3) is set forth in the exhortations: “Lend an ear and come!” “Listen and you shall live!” The thirsty man must come to the waters, or they flow in vain for him. To hear is to respond with heart and life. To live is to revive and awaken to a whole new life. The gracious promise is, “I'll cut an eternal covenant with you!”³¹—a covenant that is both gracious, and, though ancient, is also new.

(b) God's Messianic mercies involve the unfailing loving-kindnesses which were vouchsafed to David (3 c -4; cf. II Sam. 7:4-17; and Ps. 89:34-35). Here the divine imperative is simply, Behold (4). Just as David was commissioned as a witness and a leader, so the Ideal David was a Prophet and a King, a Martyr and a commander, on the basis of whose person and work God's mercies are sure. Likewise God's people become the Lord's missionaries. They shall sound the call to foreigners, and strangers shall come hurrying to them because of their God (5). God's true (spiritual) Israel includes also converts from among the Gentiles. God's people become attractive when the Holy One honors them with His presence and blessing. “Peoples that never heard of thee shall hasten to thy call” (Knox).

“Salvation is God's Gift” is the subject of 1-3. (1) Salvation is free, 1; (2) Salvation is full, satisfying the thirsty, hungry soul, 2; (3) Salvation is final, unto life everlasting, 3 (G. B. Williamson).

2. The Call to Repentance(55:6-7)

a. The time for repentance(55:6). God's time is always now. This is the moment of greatest opportunity. Hence these two verses (6-7) comprise the best advice in the entire Bible. Again we have Isaiah's typical use of double imperatives. Seek ye … call ye (6). God is not always providentially available, not because He is unwilling and unconcerned, but simply because the hinges on the door of salvation are providential circumstances. We may as well recognize the fact that at some times it is easier to find the Lord than it is at others. While he may be found is spoken to remind us that divine grace is no excuse for human complacency (Ps. 95:7-9; Rom. 6:1; Heb. 3:7-19). While he is near is the time when the human soul is psychologically sensing His presence, and hearing the summons to salvation.

The exhortation is interpreted by Smart as follows:

Now is the moment of greatest opportunity. Now God's word is living and powerful and sounds into the midst of the community like a trumpet note. Now God offers food and drink to the hungry and thirsty. He is near. He is ready to he found. But there is no response, no one to answer when he calls (ch. 50:2); tomorrow he may hide himself again (ch. 45:15). Today he is waiting to forgive. But if his forgiving love is spurned, tomorrow there may be only his wrath that can be known, and this is what makes it so urgent that men should seek and call upon God and turn about in repentance at once.³²

Adam Clarke gives the passage a different turn and reads it as follows: “Seek ye the Lord, because he may be found: call upon him, because he is near. Repent before ye die, for after death there is no conversion of the soul.”³³ Plumptre notes that “the appeal shows that the promised blessings are not unconditional. There may come a time (as in Matt. 25:11) when ‘too late’ will be written on all efforts to gain the inheritance which has been forfeited by neglect (II Cor. 6:2),”³⁴

b. The scope of repentance(55:7). Again the double imperative is sounded: Forsake … return. ( a ) The wicked (the scoundrel) must forsake his guilty way. This is conversion. (b) The unrighteous man (Heb., “the man of iniquity”) must forsake his unclean thoughts ( “schemings,” Berk.) or purposes. This involves cleansing. There is therefore suggested here a repentance for the sinner, Let him return unto the Lord. But there is also suggested a repentance for sins of the spirit (Wesley called it “repentance in believers”). Let such a one return to our own God. Only a radical repentance can really save, for there must be a revolution of the whole order of one's life.

c. The promise for the penitent(55:7). The promised reward of sincere repentance is mercy and abundant pardon (the Heb. says: “He will multiply pardon”). One who comes to God in an attitude of sincere repentance may be sure of realizing full restoration. Forgiveness and cleansing are thorough works.

3. The Call to Transformation(55:8-13)

The transformation of human nature is a task for Deity based upon the divine ideal. It is likewise an imperative necessity if there is to be any divine-human fellowship worthy of the name.

a. The superiority of the divine ideal(55:8-9). God's people must have His mind dwelling in them in all its holiness and fullness. This is what makes them His people—“zealots for good works” (see Titus 2:14). ( a ) The divine ways versus the human (8). Here there is a great abyss which separates the two. It was recognized by Isaiah in his Temple vision in c. 6. It reappears here in his thought about the mere human manner of life in contrast with that which is divinely ordained. ( b ) The heavenly ways versus the earthly (9). Heaven's ways and thoughts are full of godliness and grace. As Smart observes: “Heaven comes to earth when a people on earth responds truly to the word that God speaks from heaven.”³⁵

Plumptre's observation is: “Men think that the gifts of God can be purchased with money (Acts 8:20). They think that the market in which they are sold is always open, and that they can have them when and how they please (Matt. 25:9-13).”³⁶

One's way is his established practices. One's thoughts are his concepts and ideas—his patterns of thinking. God's thoughts are not so low, common, impure, and trivial as are those of men.

b. The surety of the divine promise(55:10-11). Nothing grows on earth without rain (10) from above. This verse includes almost every element in Jesus' parables of agriculture (especially that of the soils). Plumptre's observation is again pertinent: “The ‘rain’ and the ‘dew’ are the gracious influences that prepare the heart; the ‘seed’ is the Divine Word, the ‘sower’ is the Servant of the Lord, i.e., the Son of Man (Matt. 13:37); the ‘bread’ the fruits of holiness that in their turn sustain the life of others.”³⁷

The divine word (11) achieves its purpose. There is no word that man can say that will melt the stony heart. Therefore let the preacher strive to be in the goodly fellowship of the prophets and let his message be, “Thus saith the Lord.” Let the word he utters be the very word of God. It alone controls the future. Its fulfillment is beyond question, for what God says carries in itself a life-giving and fertilizing energy. “It will not come back an empty echo” (Knox).

c. The signs of the divine revelation(55:12-13). These are: (a) A joyful spiritual exodus from the land of spiritual captivity and bondage (12 a ). (b) The peaceful bliss of divine guidance (12 b ). (c) All nature joining in the paean of praise (12 c ). The joy of salvation is felt by redeemed mankind, but the imprisoned creation also awaits its liberation as the transformed environment of a saved and happy race. The entire creation is to share in the freedom and glory of the children of God. Thorn and brier are transformed into God's evergreens, for such are the fir tree and the myrtle tree (13). A transformed earth, community, and humanity will thus bear witness to the reality of God. Spiritually, this means: Instead of the sot the saint, and instead of the rascal the righteous. Such is the living monument (name) of the Lord; the perpetual memorial to the glory of the eternal God is nothing less than a transformed humanity in the midst of a transformed environment. Praise God!

H. SABBATH KEEPING AND WORSHIP, 56:1-8

Isaiah was no narrow-minded nationalist. He believed that the Lord's redemption was without respect of persons. Hence the great invitation sounded in the previous chapter must be made to include the “others” that are to be gathered unto Him. God's house is open to all true worshippers. This poem begins and ends like an oracle, but between its termini is an exhortation followed by a beatitude, which in turn is followed by special promises to two types of proselytes, the foreigner and the unfortunate. Isaiah's God is not only the Lord God which gathereth the outcasts of Israel, but He is also One who saith, Yet will I gather others … beside those (8). Such was Isaiah's worldwide view of God's people.

1. Salvation's Imminence Makes Righteousness Imperative(56:1-2)

Centuries later the Prophet of all prophets began His ministry with a similar text: “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 4:17). Thus God's reign is always at hand throughout history (Mark 1:15) and expectation is a part of faith. Furthermore, Isaiah would have no one suppose that moral uncleanness is compatible with participation in the promised salvation. God's grace is designed not only to make men blessed but to sanctify them (cf. I Cor. 6:9-11; Eph. 5:5; Heb. 12:14). In true Isaianic fashion come again the double imperatives, Keep ye judgment, and do justice (1)—keep the law and do what is right—preserve equity and practice ethics!—attend to justice and produce righteousness! Justice is what is lawful, and righteousness is conduct in conformity to divine truth.

Blessed is the man that doeth this (2). This has specific reference to the individual son of man (person). Keeping the Sabbath and refraining from doing any evil cover both tablets of the law—man's responsibility to God and his responsibility to man. The urgency of living according to the divine precepts is a note which needs to be recovered in modern preaching. The Hebrew word for blessed means “happy,” as does the Greek word in each of our Lord's beatitudes (Matt. 5:3-10; cf. Ps. 1:1).

2. Salvation's Inclusiveness Welcomes Outsiders(56:3-8)

Isaiah is aware that the new covenant of grace will include both the foreigner and the eunuch (3). Son of the stranger (benhannekhar) is one who does not make his home within the borders of Palestine as does the resident alien—ger. The foreigner must not say: “The Eternal will excommunicate me” (Moffatt). For God will not deny him citizenship in the Kingdom of grace. Nor should the eunuch complain that he is harren and worthless. For not fleshly descent, but receptivity for God's word and a willingness to receive of His grace, is the basis of the new covenant. Everlasting life thereunder is not dependent upon fleshly conditions. Ancient Israel had been an exclusive nation and church, but now the door is thrown wide-open to all who will join ranks with the faithful.

a. A monument for the mutilated(56:4-5). The eunuchs were excluded from the Old Testament church (Deut. 23:1). This would include not only Israelites who were compelled to submit to such mutilation by their foreign captors, but also many such unhappy victims among the heathen, who had suffered in like manner under the despotism of Oriental courts where polygamy prevailed. Intentional mutilation of the body is a widespread practice among heathen people, but it is a defacing of God's holy creation.

God's promise is that those who keep the Sabbath rest, choose what God approves, and abide faithful to the covenant will be given a memorial, better than posterity, which time cannot efface (4-5). Stewardship of time for rest and religion, commitment to a way of life that pleases God, and fidelity to one's vows to Him make one a welcome member of the company of the redeemed. Within God's house such will be given both a place and a name. The Hebrew word for place is better translated “memorial” or “monument,” but the term yadh really means “hand.” On ancient Phoenician and Punic stones the figure of a hand is often found. Can it be that God's promise is not only to preserve the hand print of such a devout person within his walls but also to give him a new name typical of a transformed nature? (Cf. Rev. 3:12.) Often a spiritual son or daughter perpetuates one's work and memory better than those of the flesh.

b. Favor for the foreigner(56:6-8). Isaiah has a word of encouragement for the pious proselyte whose life is characterized by (a) service, (b) reverence, and (c) fidelity. Such will find favor from the Lord and their worship will be accepted. They will be allowed to join in the religious festivals, their sacrifices will be accepted, and their prayers heard (7). The promise pertains to every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it (6). This was the distinguishing mark of the true Israelite, just as the keeping of “the Lord's Day” is the distinguishing mark of a true Christian.

God's holy mountain was Mount Moriah, where the Temple was located and a portion of which was the Court of the Gentiles. Solomon had anticipated the possibility of foreign participants in Jewish worship (I Kings 8:41-43). Jesus' anger with the Jewish leaders of His day was due to the fact that this portion of the Temple had been turned into a common bazaar, when Isaiah had indicated that God's house should be called an house of prayer for all people (7; cf. Matt. 21:13; Mark 11:17). Every privilege of the Israelite worshipper is to belong also to the devout proselyte. Thus Isaiah anticipates Jesus (John 10:16) and Paul (Eph.2:14).

The oracle concludes with its final and beautiful promise, The Lord God, who gathers the scattered sheep of Israel, will gather still others from among the heathen (8). Gordon's translation makes it even stronger:

This is the oracle of the Lord God,

Who gathers the outcasts of Israel:

“I will yet gather to them

Those who were gathered against them”

       (Smith-Goodspeed)

Racial prejudice and social snobbery are sins which should be rejected by the Christian. For like his Master, he too believes that “there shall be one fold, and one shepherd” (John 10:16). We shall all be brothers there regardless of our skin pigmentation or social status, if and when we arrive in the city of God.

I. THE BANE OF APOSTASY AND IDOLATRY, 56:9—57:21

This passage gives evidence that it was written before the actual Babylonian exile. Its geography is that of Palestine. Its moral picture is Judah in the days of the wicked King Manasseh just prior to Isaiah's death. It also stands as evidence against the “two Isaiahs” theory.

The message of this section is God's moral indictment of an evil generation. The sketch of the national character shows a people with a gnawing conscience but a lost God (quite contemporary to be sure). Their idolatry reacts into weariness. Finally the lost God speaks of His nature and His will. Though He always punishes sin, yet a contrite sinner is never abandoned. But impenitence is destined only for gloomy restlessness.

Its four major sections reveal the faithfulness of the prophet, even in the face of advancing age and increasing antagonism, to proclaim in full strength the diagnosis God had revealed of the moral situation.

1. The Beastliness of Judah's Leaders(56:9-12)

Isaiah could engage in biting and fierce denunciation when the occasion called for it. Yet we have here not so much the voice of the prophet as the voice of God speaking through His prophet to the people.

a. A call to the beasts of prey(56:9). Isaiah's characteristic style utters a twofold call, as he summons the enemies of the nation to do their work of judgmental punishment. Recall the ravages of Judah's territory by Assyria and other foreign invaders that were evident in Isaiah's earlier chapters.

b. Sleeping sentinels(56:10). Isaiah's paradoxes here are most graphic: blind watchmen. Good eyesight is imperative to a watchman, but Judah's leaders do not see impending perils. Self-styled prophets who are ignorant of the real dangers have no real insight. Theirs is but an intellectual and moral fuzziness. Mute dogs that are unable to bark are a peril to safety. Isaiah makes a play on words here indicating that though these men ought to be khozim(seers), they are actually only hozim(dreamers). Thus they talk only delirious nonsense. Yet given the men who are described in 5:22; 28:7-8; 30:10, plus the circumstances of Manasseh's reign, no other result could be expected. Isaiah pictures them as sentinels who cannot see, nor comprehend, nor warn, nor even stay awake.

c. “Greedy dogs” and hireling shepherds(56:11). Isaiah sees them as dogs with a ravenous appetite and shepherds without sense, insatiable for their own advantage. Prophets who could not even qualify as watchdogs were assuming the office of shepherd. They were unable even to handle a shepherd's crook, much less carry back to the fold a sick and ailing sheep.

d. Singing the song of drunkards(56:12)

“Come, fetch the wine,

Let's swill our fill!” they say;

“And to-morrow will be a rare time too,

A royal day!”  (Moffatt)

Such is the attitude of these heedless and dissolute revelers. But who can be sure of to morrow? Four things that disqualify the minister of any congregation or the ruler of any nation are: blindness, cowardice, indolence, and greed.

2. The Untimely Fate of the Righteous(57:1-2)

a. The demise of the men of piety(57:1). Pity the nation when the few devout souls it still has are taken by death, for they are not succeeded by others of like precious faith. Pity the nation when among its statesmen it has left only a few survivors of a more devout past generation and there are none of like caliber among the younger to replace them. Their death leaves a spiritual and moral vacuum.

b. Rest in the grave(57:2). Their souls are vexed by the sodomy and godlessness about them while they live. Mourning over the fact that the nation is being “sold down the river of no return,” it becomes a mercy to them when death claims them before calamity falls. Life behind the veil is better far than this.

3. Debauchery of the Idolatrous Degenerates(57:3-13)

a. Summoning the reprobates(57:3-5). “But you, … [come] to me, children of the sorceress, seed of the adulterer and of her who played the whore!” (Von Orelli) “But you” is an expression of indignant scorn. Note the prophet's threefold characterization: (a) Degenerate parentage (3). Nothing is more cutting and insulting than to revile a person's parents. But the severity of the prophet's invectives arises from the factual nature of their contents. They were, indeed, children of apostasy. ( b ) Insolent mockers (4). “What are you but sons of shame, a bastard race?” (Knox) Don't you realize that what one mocks is an index of his own character and of his own sense of values? (c) Passionate perverts practicing infanticide (5). Inflamed with sexual passion under every green tree, slaughtering children in the ravines between the rocky cliffs—what a picture of an idolatrous and sex-mad age! Child-sacrifice was condemned by most of the Hebrew prophets, yet Ahaz had practiced it, and his grandson followed in his footsteps. Here Isaiah is scorning the orgiastic rites of heathenized worship.

b. Lascivious, idolatrous worship(57:6-10). Here Isaiah depicts the utter profligacy of his countrymen. C. C. Torrey offers the following classification of their gods: gods of the valleys (6), gods of the mountains (7), gods of the house (8), and gods of the foreign shrines (9-10).³⁸

Moffatt translates v. 6 as follows: “You choose the slippery gods of the glen, you settle to have them! To them you pour out your libations and offer cereals! Am I to leave all that unpunished?”

Mountain sanctuaries were, and are, common in the Near East. The prophet's indictment now is that Judah, in the persons of her leaders, has set up on these heights her lascivious bed (7) and there climbed up to sacrifice. Again he scorns the practices of the immoral sex cult.

Venerating the genital organs was common in pagan worship. Gordon translates v. 8 as follows: “Behind the door and the side posts you have set up your phallic symbol; and apart from me you have stripped and gone up, you have distended your parts; you have bargained for those whose embraces you love; and with them you have multiplied your harlotries, while gazing on the phallus” (Smith-Goodspeed). Carvings of the sexual organs were prominent in the Asherah worship, which led to the exposing of the worshipers' secret organs themselves. One is tempted to ask how much better we moderns are with our multitudinous peddlers of pornography and our sex cinemas, patronized by our worshipers of sex and seduction.

Molech worship, with its perfumed debauchery, was characteristic of the Ammonites, whose god he was (9). Moffatt translates: “For Molek you perfumed yourself, with scent on scent; you made your messengers go far, even to the gods below.” Unguents played a great part in the cults of the Semites. Exhausted with lust, when your strength revived you betook yourself to it again, and had not the sense to realize the futility of it all (10).

c. The Lord's remonstrance(57:11-13). Divine forbearance must now give way to intervention and exposé. The three items here are as follows: Why such craven fear? (11) Men should not be led by the fear of men to forget and forsake the fear of the Lord. We must not mistake God's patience for apathy.

The Lord now calls for a showdown among the deities. “But I will expose your doings, this ‘religion’ of yours” (12, Moffatt). The word righteousness in KJV is used sarcastically, for such religion is far from it. So Gordon reads: “I will expose this righteousness of yours, these doings of yours” (Smith-Goodspeed).

The fate of false gods and their worshipers is set in contrast with the faith of the meek (13). Heaped-up divinities all shall vanish before one gust of the Eternal's breath. But he that putteth his trust in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain. “The meek … shall inherit the earth” (Matt. 5:5).

4. Removing the Obstacles to Reconciliation(57:14-21)

a. Preparing the way(57:14). This involves the removal of every hindrance, i.e., the sins heretofore denounced. It should be noted that this motif of exhortation appears in all three enneads of Isaiah's second main division—at 40:3; here; and at 62:10. We may recall that the Church has something to do about revival.

b. Transcendent but condescending Deity(57:15-16). Here God's immeasurable greatness meets man's frailty and need. God, as a faithful Creator, has a deep concern for the works of His own hands. He not only dwells on high, but in the hearts of the humble and contrite—the crushed and lonely spirits.

c. God's hiding and His healing(57:17-18). God smites men in their sin and rebellion, that He might heal their mourning and restore their consolations. Because of man's wicked avarice, God smote the sinner and hid himself, but man went on in rebellion (17). All sin is self-assertion against the will of God. But now, God says, I … will heal … I will lead … and restore (18). This means full consolation to the mourners, those touched and filled with godly sorrow for sin.

d. God is the Author of peace(57:19-21). The fruit of the lips (19) is joyous confession and thankful praise. Here God offers the Near Eastern greeting to all: Peace, peace to him, both far … and … near. This means everyone, everywhere. But the wicked continue restless and roiled, like the tossing sea (20). Their lives betray their inner unrest and uncleanness. For their thoughts are restlessly seething with evil, which is constantly ripening into acts. Godlessness knows no peace. A rage of passion ferments the inner man; past guilt casts up its mire in memory; fear for what the future holds torments and blights one's hope. All such, like the uptossed sea, cannot rest, since life's waters toss up mire and filth.

So concludes, with the same refrain, Isaiah's second ennead of his second division, as did the first, with the eternal contrast of peace and no peace (21)—There is no peace … to the wicked.