7; xxxvii. 26; li. 9, etc.), so the future is what | lies back ward. Unhappily, there is little prospect of such heeding the future, because Israel does not even heed the chastisement of the immediate present. Vers. 24, 25, therefore, give the reply to the question ver. 23, which itself begins with a question: who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel, etc. The name Jacob here evidently signifies the tribe of Judah (comp. ix. 7 and List). This appears from the two members of the answer. For the first member: he against whom we have sinned, plainly relates to that part of all Israel to which the Prophet himself belongs -hence the first person-while the second member: and they would not walk in his ways, by the third person, signifies the part to which the Prophet did not belong. In vers. 24, 25 is proof that the Prophet has in mind Israel of the Exile as his ideal audience. For, first, chapters xl.-lxvi. are in general addressed to Israel dwelling in Exile, and second, it is seen from vers. 24 a and 25 that Judah and Israel are equally represented as visited by God's destructive judgments. Ver. 25. Therefore he hath poured upon him, etc., describes the consequences of disobedience. (See Text. and Gram.) Elsewhere, too, occurs the image of pouring out wrath as a fiery heat (Ezek. xiv. 19; xx. 33, 34; xxii. 22; Lam. ii. 4, etc.). Israel is represented as a dwelling or city, since it is said it shall be set on fire. But it has not hitherto learned (VT Perf.) the meaning of these divine judgments, and even now does not lay them to heart (Diy Imperf.). Hence we were obliged to say, that the Prophet could only expect an unfavorable reply to his question, ver. 23. DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL. 1. There is neither in heaven nor on earth any thing as rich in wondrous contrasts as the manifestation of the Son of God in the flesh. For there all the divine attributes are united to their corresponding antipodes of creature lowliness in the form of the Servant of Jehovah. The antitheses of power and weakness, wisdom and folly, glory and lowliness, love and anger, surround Him as a radiant crown. This Servant of Jehovah, in whom unite all contrasts, meets us in this chapter. The chosen of the LORD, in whom He is well pleased, on whom the Spirit of the LORD rests so that He may reveal to the heathen the divine law, is still at the same time a Servant, and that, too, a Servant in the completest and most proper sense of the word. He does not rule, He does not suffer Himself to be ministered unto, but He ministers, and with the utmost devotion He serves all. Mild and kind, meek and lowly He appears, though He has the might and power to do the loftiest deeds. He appears weak and yet almighty, He appears poor and yet rich above all. He has not where to lav His head, yet all eyes wait upon Him. He is full of love, yet woe unto those on whom His anger falls (ver. 13). He is wise above all, and yet, from the standpoint of worldly wisdom, how foolish He appears where care for His own human person is concerned. 2. On xlii. 2. "Clamavit non clamore conten tionis, sed caritatis et devotionis. Clamavit dictis et factis, voce et vita, clamavit praedicando, clamavit orando, clamavit Lazarum resuscitando, tandem clamavit moriendo et adhuc quotidie in coelis existens clamat ad nos." AUGUSTIN. 3. On xlii. 2, 3. As the Servant of God, so ought the servants of God to do. It is a chief part of pastoral wisdom not to make a fleshly noise, not to break the bruised reed, and quench the glimmering wick by merciless judging, but rather to heal what has been wounded, and kindle up the faint spark. He that does so, will co-. operate in producing the blessing that the Servant of the LORD (vers. 6, 7) was to bring into the world. Christianus in conscientia debet esse medicus, foris autem in externis moribus asinus, qui ferat onera fratrum." "Necesse est in ecclesia sancta esse infirmos et tales, quorum factis offendamur, sicut in corpore humano non ossa tantum, sed etiam mollis et infirma caro est. Quare ecclesia Christi constat ex portantibus et portatis. Et vita nostra est compositum quoddam ex fortitudine et infirmitate.” LUTHER. 4. On xlii. 4. Gentleness and meekness are not weakness; they are not inconsistent with energy and firmness, indeed with the greatest earnestness and righteous anger. Just for this reason the Servant of the LORD is fitted to be the Saviour of the world. He can be a comfort to the weak, a terror to the wicked, and all things to all. And such is the character of the new covenant established by Him. Comp. Luke i. 52, 53; ii. 34.-Therefore the islands hope in His law. The Christian church with its missions responds not only to the command of its Lord, but also to a longing of the heathen world, even though it be something more or less unconscious. 5. On xlii. 6. "Without Christ God can make no covenant with us. Therefore when God made a covenant with our first parents, the seed of the woman was the security of it. When God made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob the same seed was the ground of it. In fine: Christ is the chief reason and corner-stone both of the Old and of the New Testament covenant. It is important that, when we find ourselves covenantbreakers with God, we take refuge again in this covenant." CRAMER. 6. On xlii. 7. "As long as we are out of Christ we are blind and darkness (Eph. v. 8; Luke i. 79; Matth. vi. 23). For to be carnally minded is enmity against God (Rom. viii. 7). And the natural man understands not the things of the Spirit of God (1 Cor. ii. 14). And we cannot, as of ourselves, form one good thought of ourselves (2 Cor. iii. 5)." CRAMER. 66 7. On xlii. 8. On the words, "I Jehovah, that is My name," Rabbi SALOMON remarks as follows: İllud nomen expositum est in significatione dominii, estque virtus ejus apud me ad ostendendum, me esse dominum." (y inɔ, mis juba ZDE NIT (.לְהַרְאוֹת שֶׁאָרוֹן אָנִי Thus he finds in these words a reference to the boy and gives its meaning by, which is always read by the Jews. On the various other meanings given of the Shem-ham'p 'phorash see BUXTORF. Lex chald., p. 2432 sqq., and OEHLER in HERZ., R.-Enc., VI., p. 455. " is the essential name of the eternal and self-existent God, hence can be given to no one that is not God" (CRAMER). Hence many understand the expression Shem-ham'phorash in the sense that is the nomen Dei separatum, i. e., the incommunicable name of God, that gives instruction only concerning the being of God, and hence cannot be ascribed to others (see OEHLER, 1. c.). But since the Messiah is Himself God, and there is no God but Jehovah; He, too, may be named with the name Jehovah, Deut. xxxiii. 29; Ps. cxviii. 27; Jer. xxiii. 6. See STARKE in loc. not help Himself (Matth. xxvii. 42). The Prophet observes this trait in the life of the Servant of the LORD. He sees in it a symptom of the deepest suffering. But, notwithstanding, He recognizes that at the same time God's approval rests on this man of contradictions, and that He is to become the origin of a new, glorious law. Does not the Prophet see here the unrighteous Righteous one, the wicked Saint, the perishing Saviour, the blind eye-comfort, the dead Prince of life? Yea, he sees the Incomprehensible, who on the cross redeemed the world from hell, who, condemned as the most guilty laden, still was that righteousness for the world that alone avails with God. 8. On xlii. 9. "We adduce other proof of Christian doctrine than do the philosophers who take their grounds from reason. We take our 11. On xlii. 22-25. As experienced salvation grounds out of God's very mouth, who cannot lie, is the pledge of future salvation, yea, of final from His science and omnipotence. Therefore arоkúrρworç, so, too, chastisements already enthis word is so precious (1 Tim. i. 15; iv. 9)."-dured are the pledges of future ones, and, under CRAMER. ["The sense is, that God predicted fu- circumstances, of such as are still greater, yea, of ture events before there was any thing by which utter destruction. Israel ought to have learned it might be inferred that such occurrences would by its first exile, and by all that preceded and take place. It was not done by mere sagacity, as followed it, that God can bring a yet sorer visitamen like Burke and Canning may sometimes pre- tion on His people, yea, destroy their outward dict future events with great probability by mark- existence. Had it regarded this and rightly reing certain political indications or developments. ceived the Servant of the LORD accordingly, it God did this when there were no such indications, might have escaped the second, final, and worst and when it must have been done by mere om- exile. But they were never willing to believe niscience. In this respect all His predictions that the LORD could so jumble up, overthrow, differ from the conjectures of man, and from all and destroy His people, His city, and His house, the reasonings which are founded on mere saga- that a restoration of its outward existence is imcity."-BARNES.] possible. HOMILETICAL HINTS. 9. On xlii. 10-17. In this section the Servant of Jehovah is no more named. Only Jehovah Himself is spoken of. But the actions, for whose sake heaven and earth shall proclaim the praise 1. On xlii. 1-4. "The testimony of our heavenly of the Lord, belong no more to what the Servant Father Himself to His Son. He tells us: 1) Who of Jehovah may do in His servant form, i. e., in He is and why He comes. 2) How He appears His humiliation, but to what He does as one raised and discharges His office. 3) What He brings Advent sermon, up to glory. In the condition of exaltation, how-to pass, and by what means." ever, He has laid aside the form of a servant: E. TAUBE, in "Gottes Brünnlein hat Wassers die thus He is no more called Servant of Jehovah. Fülle. Hamburg, 1872. When they crucified and buried Him, the hum- On xlii. 2, 3. "Christ is the gracious hen that ble Servant of Jehovah, suffering without a mur- woos us under her wings (Matth. xxiii. 37); the mur, seemed to be quite done for. But on the good Shepherd that binds up the neglected (Ezek. day of Pentecost He broke loose again only the xxxiv. 16); that can have compassion (Heb. iv. more mightily. Then the Jews who had not 15); and who does not cast out him who comes to learned to know Him thus, and the heathen that Him (John vi. 37), as He has proved by examhad not learned to know Him at all, were panic-ples, as Mary Magdalene (Luke vii. 37); the wostricken. Then He began His victorious career of conquering (inwardly) the Jews and the heathen. Since that time both are inwardly dried up. As long as the gospel was not there, they had a relative right to live and to a corresponding life power. But after the revelation of absolute truth in Christ they have lost these. Their continued existence is only a vegetation, and if in these days they exhibit a certain revirescence, still it is only like the flaring up of the vital spark in a dying person, which would never happen either did Christianity only let its light shine purer and stronger. But continually the LORD leads the blind of all nations in the path of light. But those that, spite of all, cling to idols, must ever come to more shame. man taken in adultery (John viii. 11); the father of the lunatic (Mark ix. 24); Peter (Luke xxii. 61); the thief on the cross (Luke xxiii. 43); Thomas (John xx. 27), etc."-CRAMER. 2. On xlii. 1-4. "What a glorious Saviour God has given the world in His Son. For He comes to us: 1) As the anointed of the Lord; 2) as the meek and humble Friend of sinners; 3) as the strong and faithful perfecter of His work." Sermon in Advent, W. LEIPOLDT (Festpredigten), Leipzig, 1845. 3. On xlii. 5-9. The New Covenant. 1) The Founder of the covenant (God the Lord who has made the earth ver. 5, will also redeem it; hence He has foretold the new covenant ver. 9, and brought it into being ver. 6). 2) The Mediator of the covenant (Christ, the Son of God and Son of man, is the natural, personal link be tween God and men; He it is who represents men before God as a Lamb, bearing their sin, and God toward men as the One that brings them God's grace and the new, divine vital force). 3) | wicked shall not abide in Thy presence:' and, The Object of the covenant (a. to bring light and 'The LORD thy God is a consuming fire and a freedom to men ver. 7 b. to preserve the honor of the Lord as the only God as opposed to all jealous God:' and, The LORD shall go forth as a mighty man, He shall stir up jealousy like a idols. ver. 8). man of war.'" THOLUCK. 4. [On xlii. 10-12. The new song of the New Testament. The newness: whereas holy songs were before very much confined to the Temple, now they are to be sung all the world over. They were sung by one people and one tongue; they shall be sung by many of many tongues. They were sung by a pastoral people living in valleys among the hills; they are to be sung in all climes, by men of all callings and of every degree of culture. The substance of the song must be new to suit so many. The form in which that substance is reduced to song under these varied influences must be endlessly new. After M. HENRY.] 5. On xlii. 10-17. A missionary sermon. The revelation of salvation among the heathen. 1) Its intentional delay till the point when the time was fulfilled (ver. 14 a). 2) Its appearance at the right time: a. as powerful and accompanied with mighty effect (ver. 13); b. as a painful birth (ver. 14 b. a: resistance on the part of the old, and consequent laborious breaking forth of the new). 3) Its operation: a. on the old heathen existence itself: it dries up (ver. 14, b; B; ver. 15); b. on unbelieving men: they are brought to shame (ver. 17); c. on believing men: they are led to light and freedom (ver. 16); d. for God: the redeemed world sings Him a new song (it praises Him no more merely as Creator, but also as Redeemer, and New Creator, vers. 10-12). 6. On xlii. 13. “That ever kindly smiling God, that covers all suppurating sores, and that every where and every way shows favor and spares men, whom one so often hears preached from the pulpit, is not the God of the Bible. It is another of which the Old Testament writes: "Thou art not a God that hast pleasure in the wicked; the 7. On xlii. 18 sqq. When Peter said to the Lord: "Lord, pity Thyself; this shall not be unto Thee" (Matth. xvi. 22), the Lord was deaf and gave Peter an answer that quenched in him and others all disposition to warn Him again. And when He entered into Jerusalem and cleansed the Temple, and unsparingly scourged the high priests and scribes, was He not blind then? Did He not see what hate He was thereby conjuring up against Himself and what His fate would be? Thus the Lord was deaf and blind, but He was so to His own greatest honor. It is very different, however, with the blindness and deafness of those that would not see in Him the Lord of glory, and would not hear His word. The Lord indeed became a sacrifice to their hatred. But He is, notwithstanding, the One of whom Ps. cx. says: "Sit thou on My right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool." And from Him proceeds the covenant that is as much better than the old one as the blood of Christ speaks better than Abel's. They, however, have become a robbed and plundered people. They are scattered among all people, their Temple, their priesthood is destroyed, their entire old covenant is shivered like an earthen vessel. And the same fate will happen to all who do not take warning from God's judgment on stiffnecked and obdurate Israel. As the first exile ought to have been a warning to the readers for whom this chapter of Isaiah was destined, to prevent them from falling into a second and worse, so for us Christians, the first act of the world's judgment, the judgment on the house of God, should be a warning not to misuse and neglect the time till the second chief act of judgment, the time of the church among the heathen. IV. THE FOURTH DISCOURSE. 1. THE CHIEF INGREDIENTS OF REDEMPTION. CHAPTER XLIII. 1–8. 1 BUT now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, And he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. 2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; 3 For I am the LORD thy God, The Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, 4 Since thou wast precious in my sight, Thou hast been honorable, and I have loved thee: 5 Fear not: for I am with thee; And my daughters from the ends of the earth; 7 Even every one that is called by my name: For I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; 8 Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, And the deaf that have ears. קרא בשם 14 .see on xli TT see on .Exod) מִפְּנֵי אֲשֶׁר for which stands מֵאֲשֶׁר .4 .Ver which occurs in reference to Israel again, vers. 7, xix. 18; Jer. xliv. 23), occurs in this causal sense, only 15; lxv. 18.—78–482. here. When the apodosis is formed with the Vav. cons. and the imperf., it intimates that the notion of giving xli. 25. Ver. 2. DUV—- see xlii. 25. Ver. 3. is conceived of as only eventual: because thou art dear to me, so I would (if need be) give men (generally and in indefinite number) in thy stead, and nations (undetermined which and how many, in antithesis with the definite, ver. 3 b), for thy soul. Comp. EWALD, ? 136 sq. -Thus ver. 4 b in relation to ver. 3 b contains an intensification. Ver. 1. On see on xl. 9.- occurs only here. Ver. 3. In the causal clause, N is subject, ap קדוש ישראל .predicate אלהיך position with it is also in apposition with ', and is predicate. This construction is demanded partly for the sake of symmetry, partly the sense requires that in the first member be predicate. For just in the notion of divinity lies the notion of capacity to give protection and help. EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL. 1. Having spoken in chapters xli., xlii. of the Deliverer (in the first and second stage) and of those delivered, the Prophet now deals with the Deliverance in its entire extent. In this discourse he gives first (vers. 1-8) a general view by enumerating the chief ingredients of the deliverance: it rests on the divine redemptive-decree (ver. 1); nothing shall prevent it (ver. 2); no price is too great for it; for the sake of it nations even would be sacrificed, which shows the value of Israel in the LORD's eyes (vers. 3, 4); it is to embrace all Israel, all the scattered members to be called in from all parts of the earth (vers. 5-7); but finally it is attached to a subjective condition, viz., spiritual receptivity (ver. 8). 2. But now- thy life.-Vers. 1-4. With " and now" the Prophet turns from the troubled pictures of the future, presented at the close of the preceding chapter, to joyful and comforting outlooks. The LORD had created and formed (xliv. 2, 24; xlv. 11 (xlix. 5); lxiv. 7), Israel, in as much as he had caused them to grow up to a na tion by means of their ancestors from Adam on successively. DP, as in xl. 26; xlv. 3, 4, signifies the more exact acquaintance. By reason of the fact that the LORD Himself made Israel and from the beginning prepared him as an instrument of His purposes, He calls to the nation living in exile, not to fear, for three things are determined: that Israel shall be delivered, be called to the LORD (comp. xlviii. 12)_and belong to him alone. Thus the Perfects-I have redeemed thee-I have called thee-are praeterita prophetica, and the last three clauses contain an ascending climax. Israel must not suffer itself to be deceived about this promise. It is very possible that, even after receiving it, the nation may pass through great trials—that, as it were, it must pass through waters-even there will the LORD be with it; that it must even pass through rivers (allusion to the Red Sea, Exod. xiv., and the Jordan, Josh. iii.)—the streams will not overflow them. Fire itself will as little hurt them. The ground for this security is the same that prompts the call fear not. Jehovah, Israel's God, is also Israel's protector. bringing future. The verses 1-4 speak of the deliverance in respect to its ground (ver. 1), under all circumstances (ver. 2), and at any price (vers. 3, 4). In this section the particular is made prominent, that all members of the holy nation, no matter how distant nor in what direction, shall be brought back home (comp. xi. 11 sq.). In vers. 5 b and 6 a the four points of the compass are severally enumerated. Give up, and keep not back manifestly involve a contrast with none saith. Restore" xlii. 22. This latter expression is qualified by our passage. The condition it describes is not to be forever, but only to a certain period of time. 2, on the ground of its use Deut. xxx. 3, 4 is the conventional expression for the return of Israel from the Exile (xi. 12; liv., Mic. ii. 12; Jer. xxix. 14; Ezek. xi. 17, etc.). In the second half of ver. 6 a subject is addressed that we must conceive of as the combination of the four quarters of the heavens. The entire earth, then, is meant. Hence, too, the feminine, which previously already was applied to the North and South, as parts of the entire is an intensifying of the thought: not only the earth. In 27, as related to 'N ver. 5, there LORD brings, the lands themselves must co-oper ate in this bringing Israel back (xiv. 2). Ver. 7 gives the reason for the foregoing thought. All the members of the nation must be gathered for and were made for His honor (see Text, and this reason, because they all bear Jehovah's name, Gram.). p is "He that is called by means of my name," i. e., who is called a belonging of Jehovah's (lxv. 1). For the Temple is not itself called “Jehovah" because Jehovah's name is named upon it (Jer. vii. 10); and just as little is one that is called by means of Jehovah's name, Himself called Jehovah. Comp. the remarks on iv. 2 and xli. 25. This bearing of Jehovah's name is, as it were, a stamp that denotes that the one so marked was called into being (7), formed (73) and finished (comp. vers. 1, 21) to the honor of Jehovah. How shall such an one be destroyed, in whose preparation | the LORD has so greatly concerned Himself? In what sense does Jehovah give other nations as a ransom for Israel? HAHN understands it to mean that other nations are given to destruction as satisfaction for the injustice done Israel. But why does Jehovah give to destruction, not the nations themselves that carried Israel into exile, but other nations? According to KNOBEL'S idea, Cyrus is conceived as having some claim on the Jews belonging to the Babylonish kingdom. For letting them go free, satisfaction is offered to him in new conquests in Egypt, Ethiopia, and Meroe. But the Persian kingdom did not lose the Jews as subjects. Palestine belonged to it, and those returning back to it belonged to it. The relation must be more exactly defined thus: the worldpower, conceived of in a sense as a bird of prey, shall have offered to it Egypt, Ethiopia and Seba to devour, as indemnity for the mildness it has used to Israel contrary to its nature. It is true Cyrus did not himself make war on Egypt. What Xenophon says on this subject he characterizes as merely hearsay (μετὰ ταῦτα ἡ εἰς Αἴγυπτον στρατεία KéуETαι уEVÉσvaι Kai karaoтpéyпovaι AiуORTOV, Cyrop. VIII. 6, 20 coll. I. 1, 4). HERODOTUS relates that Cyrus only had a purpose of making war on Egypt (ἐπεῖχε στρατηλατέειν ἐπὶ τοὺς Αἰγυπτίους, 1. 153). The actual conquest of Egypt was made by Cambyses his son, who also at least attempted the conquest of Ethiopia (HEROD. III. 25). It may be said of him, that in Egypt he made havoc in the brutal manner of a genuine world-power. Egypt's being subjected to this was probably a nemesis for much that it had practised on other nations before, and especially also on Israel. According to Gen. x. 6, 7, Cush was the older brother of Mizraim, and Seba the oldest son of Cush. It cannot be doubted that the Prophet understood by Cush and Seba the lands that bounded Egypt on the south. By Cush, therefore, must certainly be understood African Ethiopia (xi. 11; xviii. 1; xx. 3; xxxvii. 9). Seba is Meroe, the city lying between the White and Blue Nile, which HERODOTUS calls the unrрóñoλię τāv åĥλwv Aiviónov (II. 29). Comp. STADE, De vatt. Is. aeth. p. 13. Isaiah mentions the Sabeans in only one other place (xlv. 14), and there as here after Egypt and Ethiopia. 7, properly "covering" then = “expiation, ransom, indemnity," occurs only here in Isaiah. This statement that other nations shall be offered up as satisfaction for Israel, expresses the high value that Israel Three things I think must be insisted on: 1) has in God's eyes, and makes plain in what a that our passage looks back to xlii. 7. There it glorious sense Jehovah calls Himself Israel's God was said of the Servant of Jehovah, that He was and Redeemer. He discharges this office with destined to open blind eyes, and to lead (8317) such consistency and energy that, if need be, He prisoners out of prison; 2) That where three prewill give such great nations as those named indicates, "blind, deaf, imprisoned" are joined to ver. 3, as the price of their deliverance. If it be asked, why He undertakes such an office? He replies: because Israel is precious in my eyes, honorable, and I have loved thee. Love, then, is the ground that determines Jehovah to assume that protectorate. see Text. and Gram. 3. Fear not-have ears.-Vers. 5-8. The 66 I fear not "" connects what follows with the "fear not" ver. 1, as a new phase of the salvation Ver. 8, is by many connected with what follows. But that would require us to construe yin as imperative, which would be utterly abnormal. Beside, (and that is the chief thing), neither "bring forth, nor the designation of the nation as being blind yet having eyes finds an adequate motive in the context. one and the same subject, the sense is quite different from what it would be if only one of these predicates were joined to one subject. For the former case affirms only the accumulation of every sort of suffering upon one and the same subject; whereas the latter case really concerns in some sense or other the special condition of sickness named (see on xlii. 16). 3) It makes a great difference whether I say: they have eyes and see not," or "they are blind and have eyes." |
