@Isa 63:1-19. MESSIAH COMING AS THE AVENGER, IN ANSWER TO HIS PEOPLE'S PRAYERS.
Messiah, approaching Jerusalem after having avenged His people on His and their enemies, is represented under imagery taken from the destruction of "Edom," the type of the last and most bitter foes of God and His people (see @Isa 34:5, &c.).
1. Who--the question of the prophet in prophetic vision.
dyed--scarlet with blood (@Isa 63:2,3 Re 19:13).
Bozrah--(See on Isa 34:6).
travelling--rather, stately; literally, "throwing back the head"
[GESENIUS].
speak in righteousness--answer of Messiah. I, who have in faithfulness
given a promise of deliverance, am now about to fulfil it. Rather,
speak of righteousness (@Isa 45:19 46:13); salvation being
meant as the result of His "righteousness"
[MAURER].
save--The same Messiah that destroys the unbeliever saves the
believer.
2. The prophet asks why His garments are "dyed" and "red."
winefat--rather, the "wine-press," wherein the grapes were trodden
with the feet; the juice would stain the garment of him who trod them
(@Re 14:19,20 19:15). The image was appropriate, as the country
round Bozrah abounded in grapes. This final blow inflicted by Messiah
and His armies (@Re 19:13-15) shall decide His claim to the kingdoms
usurped by Satan, and by the "beast," to whom Satan delegates his power.
It will be a day of judgment to the hostile Gentiles, as His first
coming was a day of judgment to the unbelieving Jews.
3. Reply of Messiah. For the image, see @La 1:15. He "treads
the wine-press" here not as a sufferer, but as an inflicter of
vengeance.
will tread . . . shall be . . . will stain--rather preterites, "I
trod . . . trampled . . . was sprinkled . . . I stained."
blood--literally, "spirited juice" of the grape, pressed out by
treading [GESENIUS].
4. is--rather, "was." This assigns the reason why He has thus destroyed
the foe (@Zep 3:8).
my redeemed--My people to be redeemed.
day . . . year--here, as in @Isa 34:8 61:2, the time of "vengeance"
is described as a "day"; that of grace and of "recompense" to the
"redeemed," as a "year."
5. The same words as in @Isa 59:16, except that there it is His "righteousness," here it is His "fury," which is said to have upheld Him.
6. Rather, preterites, "I trod down . . . made them drunk." The
same image occurs @Isa 51:17,21-23 Ps 75:8 Jer 25:26,27.
will bring down . . . strength to . . . earth--rather, "I spilled their life-blood (the same Hebrew words as in @Isa 63:3) on
the earth" [LOWTH and Septuagint].
7. Israel's penitential confession and prayer for restoration
(@Ps 102:17,20), extending from @Isa 63:7-64:12.
loving-kindnesses . . . praises . . . mercies . . . loving-kindnesses--The plurals and the repetitions imply that language is inadequate to
express the full extent of God's goodness.
us--the dispersed Jews at the time just preceding their final
restoration.
house of Israel--of all ages; God was good not merely to the Jews
now dispersed, but to Israel in every age of its history.
8. he--Jehovah "said," that is, thought, in choosing them as His
covenant-people; so "said" (@Ps 95:10). Not that God was ignorant
that the Jews would not keep faith with Him; but God is here said,
according to human modes of thought to say within Himself what
He might naturally have expected, as the result of His goodness to
the Jews; thus the enormity of their unnatural perversity is the
more vividly set forth.
lie--prove false to Me (compare @Ps 44:17).
so--in virtue of His having chosen them, He became their
Saviour. So the "therefore" (@Jer 31:33). His
eternal choice is the ground of His actually saving men
(@Eph 1:3,4).
9. he was afflicted--English Version reads the Hebrew as the
Keri (Margin), does, "There was affliction to Him." But the
Chetib (text) reads, "There was no affliction"
(the change in
Hebrew being only of one letter); that is, "In all their affliction
there was no (utterly overwhelming) affliction"
[GESENIUS]; or, for
"Hardly had an affliction befallen them, when the angel of His
presence saved them"
[MAURER]; or, as best suits the parallelism, "In
all their straits there was no straitness in His goodness to them"
[HOUBIGANT], (@Jud 10:16 Mic 2:7 2Co 6:12).
angel of his presence--literally, "of His face," that is, who stands
before Him continually; Messiah (@Ex 14:19 23:20,21 Pr 8:30), language
applicable to no creature (@Ex 32:34 33:2,14 Nu 20:16 Mal 3:1).
bare them--(@Isa 46:3,4 40:11 Ex 19:4 De 32:11,12).
10. vexed--grieved (@Ps 78:40 95:10 Ac 7:51 Eph 4:30 Heb 3:10,17).
he fought--rather, "He it was that fought," namely, the angel of His
presence [HORSLEY], (@La 2:5).
11. remembered--Notwithstanding their perversity, He forgot not
His covenant of old; therefore He did not wholly forsake them
(@Le 26:40-42,44,45 Ps 106:45,46); the Jews make this their plea
with God, that He should not now forsake them.
saying--God is represented, in human language, mentally speaking of
Himself and His former acts of love to Israel, as His ground for pitying
them notwithstanding their rebellion.
sea--Red Sea.
shepherd--Moses; or if the Hebrew be read plural, "shepherds,"
Moses, Aaron, and the other leaders (so @Ps 77:20).
put . . . Spirit . . . within him--Hebrew, "in the inward parts
of him," that is, Moses; or it refers to the flock, "in the midst of his
people" (@Nu 11:17,25 Ne 9:20 Hag 2:5).
12. The right hand of Moses was but the instrument; the arm of God was the real mover (@Ex 15:6 14:21).
dividing the water--(@Ne 9:11 Ps 78:13).
13. deep--literally, "the tossing and roaring sea."
wilderness--rather, the "open plain"
[HORSLEY], wherein there is no
obstacle to cause a horse in its course the danger of stumbling.
14. As a beast . . . rest--image from a herd led "down" from the
hills to a fertile and well-watered "valley" (@Ps 23:2); so God's
Spirit "caused Israel to rest" in the promised land after their weary
wanderings.
to make . . . name--(So @Isa 63:12 2Sa 7:23).
15. Here begins a fervent appeal to God to pity Israel now on the
ground of His former benefits.
habitation of . . . holiness--(@Isa 57:15 De 26:15 2Ch 30:27 Ps 33:14 80:14).
zeal . . . strength--evinced formerly for Thy people.
sounding of . . . bowels--Thine emotions of
compassion (@Isa 16:11 Jer 31:20 48:36 Ho 11:8).
16. thou . . . father--of Israel, by right not merely of creation,
but also of electing adoption (@Isa 64:8 De 32:6 1Ch 29:10).
though Abraham . . . Israel--It had been the besetting temptation of
the Jews to rest on the mere privilege of their descent from faithful
Abraham and Jacob (@Mt 3:9 Joh 8:39 4:12); now at last they renounce
this, to trust in God alone as their Father, notwithstanding all
appearances to the contrary. Even though Abraham, our earthly father,
on whom we have prided ourselves, disown us, Thou wilt not
(@Isa 49:15 Ps 27:10). Isaac is not mentioned, because not all his posterity was admitted to the covenant, whereas all Jacob's was;
Abraham is specified because he was the first father of the Jewish race.
everlasting--an argument why He should help them, namely, because of
His everlasting immutability.
17. made us to err--that is, "suffer" us to err and to be hardened
in our heart. They do not mean to deny their own blameworthiness, but
confess that through their own fault God gave them over to a reprobate
mind (@Isa 6:9,10 Ps 119:10 Ro 1:28).
Return--(@Nu 10:36 Ps 90:13).
18. people of . . . holiness--Israel dedicated as holy unto God
(@Isa 62:12 De 7:6).
possessed--namely, the Holy Land, or Thy "sanctuary," taken from the
following clause, which is parallel to this (compare
@Isa 64:10,11 Ps 74:6-8).
thy--an argument why God should help them; their cause is
His cause.
19. thine . . . never--rather, "We are Thine from of old; Thou barest not rule over them" [BARNES]. LOWTH translates, "We for long have been as those over whom Thou hast not ruled, who are not called by Thy name"; "for long" thus stands in contrast to "but a little while" (@Isa 63:18). But the analogy of @Isa 63:18 makes it likely that the first clause in this verse refers to the Jews, and the second to their foes, as English Version and BARNES translate it. The Jews' foes are aliens who have unjustly intruded into the Lord's heritage.