@Isa 50:1-11. THE JUDGMENTS ON ISRAEL WERE PROVOKED BY THEIR CRIMES, YET THEY ARE NOT FINALLY CAST OFF BY GOD.
1. Where . . . mothers divorcement--Zion is "the mother"; the Jews
are the children; and God the Husband and Father
(@Isa 54:5 62:5 Jer 3:14).
GESENIUS thinks that God means by the
question to deny that He had given "a bill of divorcement" to her,
as was often done on slight pretexts by a husband (@De 24:1), or
that He had "sold" His and her "children," as a poor parent sometimes
did (@Ex 21:7 2Ki 4:1 Ne 5:5) under pressure of his "creditors";
that it was they who sold themselves through their own sins.
MAURER
explains, "Show the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom . . . ;
produce the creditors to whom ye have been sold; so it will be seen that
it was not from any caprice of Mine, but through your own fault, your
mother has been put away, and you sold" (@Isa 52:3).
HORSLEY best
explains (as the antithesis between "I" and "yourselves" shows, though
LOWTH translates, "Ye are sold")
I have never given your mother a
regular bill of divorcement; I have merely "put her away" for a time,
and can, therefore, by right as her husband still take her back on her
submission; I have not made you, the children, over to any "creditor" to
satisfy a debt; I therefore still have the right of a father over you,
and can take you back on repentance, though as rebellious children
you have sold yourselves to sin and its penalty (@1Ki 21:25).
bill . . . whom--rather, "the bill with which I
have put her away" [MAURER].
2. I--Messiah.
no man--willing to believe in and obey Me (@Isa 52:1,3). The
same Divine Person had "come" by His prophets in the Old Testament
(appealing to them, but in vain, @Jer 7:25,26), who was about to
come under the New Testament.
hand shortened--the Oriental emblem of weakness, as the long
stretched-out hand is of power (@Isa 59:1). Notwithstanding your
sins, I can still "redeem" you from your bondage and dispersion.
dry up . . . sea--(@Ex 14:21). The second exodus shall exceed,
while it resembles in wonders, the first (@Isa 11:11,15 51:15).
make . . . rivers . . . wilderness--turn the prosperity of Israel's
foes into adversity.
fish stinketh--the very judgment inflicted on their Egyptian enemies
at the first exodus (@Ex 7:18,21).
3. heavens . . . blackness--another of the judgments on Egypt to be
repeated hereafter on the last enemy of God's people (@Ex 10:21).
sackcloth--(@Re 6:12).
4. Messiah, as "the servant of Jehovah" (@Isa 42:1), declares
that the office has been assigned to Him of encouraging the "weary"
exiles of Israel by "words in season" suited to their case; and that,
whatever suffering it is to cost Himself, He does not shrink from it
(@Isa 50:5,6), for that He knows His cause will triumph at last
(@Isa 50:7,8).
learned--not in mere human learning, but in divinely taught modes of
instruction and eloquence (@Isa 49:2 Ex 4:11 Mt 7:28,29 13:54).
speak a word in season--(@Pr 15:23 25:11). Literally, "to succor
by words," namely, in their season of need, the "weary" dispersed ones
of Israel (@De 28:65-67). Also, the spiritual "weary"
(@Isa 42:3 Mt 11:28).
wakeneth morning by morning, &c.--Compare "daily rising up early"
(@Jer 7:25 Mr 1:35). The image is drawn from a master wakening his pupils early for instruction.
wakeneth . . . ear--prepares me for receiving His divine instructions.
as the learned--as one taught by Him. He "learned obedience,"
experimentally, "by the things which He suffered"; thus gaining that
practical learning which adapted Him for "speaking a word in season"
to suffering men (@Heb 5:8).
5. opened . . .
ear--(See on Isa 42:20;
@Isa 48:8); that is, hath made me obediently attentive
(but MAURER, "hath informed me of my duty"),
as a servant to his
master (compare @Ps 40:6-8, with
@Php 2:7 Isa 42:1 49:3,6 52:13 53:11 Mt 20:28 Lu 22:27).
not rebellious--but, on the contrary, most willing to do the Father's
will in proclaiming and procuring salvation for man, at the cost of His
own sufferings (@Heb 10:5-10).
6. smiters--with scourges and with the open hand
(@Isa 52:14 Mr 14:65). Literally fulfilled
(@Mt 27:26 26:27 Lu 18:33). To "pluck the hair" is the highest insult
that can be offered an Oriental (@2Sa 10:4 La 3:30). "I gave" implies
the voluntary nature of His sufferings; His example corresponds to His
precept (@Mt 5:39).
spitting--To spit in another's presence is an insult in the East, much
more on one; most of all in the face (@Job 30:10 Mt 27:30 Lu 18:32).
7. Sample of His not being "discouraged" (@Isa 42:4 49:5).
set . . . face like . . . flint--set Myself resolutely, not to be
daunted from My work of love by shame or suffering (@Eze 3:8,9).
8. (@Isa 49:4). The believer, by virtue of his oneness with Christ,
uses the same language (@Ps 138:8 Ro 8:32-34). But "justify" in
His case, is God's judicial acceptance and vindication of Him on the
ground of His own righteousness (@Lu 23:44-47 Ro 1:4 1Ti 3:16,
with which compare @1Pe 3:18); in their case, on the ground of
His righteousness and meritorious death imputed to them (@Ro 5:19).
stand together--in judgment, to try the issue.
adversary--literally, "master of my cause," that is, who has real
ground of accusation against me, so that he can demand judgment to be
given in his favor (compare @Zec 3:1, &c. @Re 12:10).
9. (Compare "deal," or "proper," @Isa 52:13, Margin; @Isa 53:10 Ps 118:6 Jer 23:5).
as a garment--(@Isa 51:6,8 Ps 102:26). A leading constituent of
wealth in the East is change of raiment, which is always liable to the
inroads of the moth; hence the frequency of the image in Scripture.
10. Messiah exhorts the godly after His example (@Isa 49:4,5 42:4)
when in circumstances of trial ("darkness," @Isa 47:5), to trust in
the arm of Jehovah alone.
Who is, &c.--that is, Whosoever (@Jud 7:3).
obeyeth . . . servant--namely, Messiah. The godly "honor the Son, even
as they honor the Father" (@Joh 5:23).
darkness--(@Mic 7:8,9). God never had a son who was not sometimes
in the dark. For even Christ, His only Son, cried out, "My God, My God,
why hast Thou forsaken Me?"
light--rather, "splendor"; bright sunshine; for the servant of God
is never wholly without "light" [VITRINGA].
A godly man's way may be
dark, but his end shall be peace and light. A wicked man's way may be
bright, but his end shall be utter darkness (@Ps 112:4 97:11 37:24).
let him trust in the name of the Lord--as Messiah did
(@Isa 50:8,9).
11. In contrast to the godly (@Isa 50:10), the wicked, in times
of darkness, instead of trusting in God, trust in themselves
(kindle a light for themselves to walk by) (@Ec 11:9). The image
is continued from @Isa 50:10, "darkness"; human devices for
salvation (@Pr 19:21 16:9,25) are like the spark that goes out in
an instant in darkness (compare @Job 18:6 21:17, with @Ps 18:28).
sparks--not a steady light, but blazing sparks extinguished in a
moment.
walk--not a command, but implying that
as surely as they would do so, they should lie down in sorrow
(@Jer 3:25). In exact proportion to mystic Babylon's previous
"glorifying" of herself shall be her sorrow (@Mt 25:30 8:12 Re 18:7).