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Captives sent home

 

God's people had "sold themselves for nought" gaining nothing from the coward­ly subjection they had accepted. They were to be "redeemed without money" (52:3) — Sennacherib's 200,000 Jewish captives were packed off back home almost as soon as they had arrived in their distant land of bondage, and this without any effort at escape on their part. They had paid tribute in plenty to these rapacious Assyrians and had gained only a broken treaty (33:1). Their redemption from cap­tivity cost them not a penny. It was the free gift of their God.

 

This astonishing reversal of fortunes was not a furtive escape, but a dignified departure: "Ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight*" (52:12). The watchmen of Jerusalem would be heard lifting up their voices in an ecstasy of gladness when they saw in the far distance the incredible sight of a long caravan of God's redeemed now coming happily home. And the "waste places of Jerusalem", the ravaged and devastated area all round the city, would "break forth into joy" at the sight of Zion's children returning home.

 

Another Exodus

 

This was to be a deliverance comparable to that under Moses which ended the dark days of Egypt: "My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn; and the Assyrians oppressed them without cause" (52:4) — the earliest and latest captivities.

 

Phrase after phrase recalls that imperishable Exodus experience: "Art thou not he that cut in pieces Rahab (the OT. nickname for Egypt), and wounded the dragon (the Nile crocodile)? Art thou not he which dried up the sea...that made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?" (51:9,10). "The Lord will go before you (in a pillar of fire); and the God of Israel shall be your rear-ward (in a pillar of cloud)" (52:12; and cp. v. 15; Ex. 14:20).

 

"The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail" (51:14). Here a matchless passage from an earlier Isaiah prophecy is repeated with gusto: "therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away" (51:11, from 35:10). There had been nothing like it since Moses, nor will be until the day when Messiah fulfils this prophecy as he gathers in his Diaspora.

 

Problems for the Modernist

 

The moderns would like to apply all these passages to the return from Babylon under Ezra and Nehemiah. But what difficulties they get into in the process! For instance, the catalogue of sufferings: "desolation, destruction, famine, sword" (51:19), is hopelessly irrelevant to those who had had seventy years of settled prosperity in Babylon. And if the reference be to Jerusalem, then only the first of these four items was relevant in the time of Cyrus. In his day it was full seven­ty years since the sons of Zion had been "full of the fury of the Lord" (v.20).

 

Other phrases present the same difficulty. "Thou hast feared continually every day because of the oppressor" (v.13). This was simply not true of that comfortable prosperous existence the Jews led in Babylon. The picture (v. 14) of the captive fearful lest he die in the pit, lest his bread should fail, is foreign to the ease and plenty in Babylon. And the allusion to Egyptian and Assyrian captives (v.4) makes the reader wonder why Babylon goes unmentioned, if these words were being written in Babylon. Neither can the picture of watchmen on the walls or towers of Zion (v.7) be fitted into the period of Cyrus, for then Zion had neither walls nor towers nor watchmen.

 

The imperative: "Go ye out from thence" (52:11), requires to be read (with a great effort of imagination!) as an apostrophe addressed from an empty desolate Zion to those in far-off captivity. Certainly nothing of this kind happened in the days of Cyrus.

 

Strange that these simple details should go overlooked in the eagerness to establish a theory.

 

But all these features of the prophecy — and many more — fit into place like a hand in a glove when they are read against the proper background — the time of Isaiah, and not a pseudo — or deutero — Isaiah.

 


* The Hebrew text here seems to be making a play on names: haste (Hephzibah); flight (Manasseh); "the Lord will go before you" has the idea of Immanuel; and "rearward" echoes Joseph. A remarkable coincidence — if it is!

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51 (3). Deliverance, as from Egypt (v.9-23)

 

The Scripture already discussed at some length (51:9 — 52:12) has further ramifications of a kind only to be expected in a book of divine inspiration. There are indications that no less than three other schemes of interpretation are to be considered:

 

a. The preaching of the gospel; the New Creation in Christ;

b. The blessing of the saints at the (yet future) coming of the Lord;

c. Israel's deliverance in the Last Days.

 

The third of these is closely related to the others, for Israel's repentance in the end time will bring them the blessings of the New Israel.

 

The call to the Arm of the Lord to "awake, awake" (v.9) may be a poetic apostrophe to a God who can deliver, but in some places this is a title of Messiah: "Behold, the Lord God will come with a strong hand, and his Arm shall rule for him" (40:10; cp. also 53:1; 63:5). This call for help — that God will "awake, as in the ancient days" — is soon answered by the assurance: "I, even I, am he that comforteth you" (v.12) and by "the Arm of the Lord revealed" (53:1).

 

Salvation then and now

 

In ages past had not God come to the rescue of His people "with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments" (Ex. 6:6; cp. 15:16)? The Arm of the Lord which could save from the thraldom and might of Egypt doubtless could and doubtless would save His New Israel from their enemy. "Art thou not he* that did cut Rahab in pieces, that pierced the crocodile?" (v.9).

 

That ancient deliverance, culminating in God "making the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over" (v.10) would dwindle in importance when compared with the Lord's dramatic act of compassion — the redeemed coming to Zion with everlasting joy upon their head (v.11).

 

Joy and gladness

 

This lovely picture of a rescued people was well worth repeating from Isaiah's earlier prophecy (35:10). The moderns, unable to see (in ch. 51,52) anything but restoration from Babylonian captivity, promptly assign Isaiah 35 also to another utterly ignorant and pagan Cyrus! Deliverance in Christ or a final restoration of a lost Israel can only be read into these moving words by a believer's purblind piety or un­tutored enthusiasm, can it? So be it! But it is for such that there is "gladness and joy", even now — the rejoicing which filled the home of the prodigal on his return (Lk. 15:32 s.w. LXX).

 

It is possible, or even probable, that that fine phrase "everlasting joy upon their head" should be replaced by one even finer: "everlasting joy because of their Head." In Him there is comfort and release from all fear: "I am he that comforteth you...sorrow and mourning flee away" (v.12,11). "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted" (Mt. 5:4).

 


* The Hebrew word is feminine, to go with "arm" also feminine.

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Fear?

 

"Who art thou that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die?" Here faith puts the problems of life in perspective. Fear — whether of men or of circumstances — is the negation of faith. It is a sin, the point-blank infringement of a thrice-repeated commandment: "Fear ye not therefore" (Mt. 10:26,28,31).

 

Then "who art thou that thou shouldest be afraid"? This was Moses at his most faithless: "Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh?" (Ex. 3:11). There is a better Deliverer who has not shrunk from meeting the Tyrant in the human arena, the place of his power.

 

Fear only comes in when there is forgetting: "Thou forgettest the Lord thy maker, that stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth" (v.13). Thus all testing situations are put in their proper perspective. Isaiah loved the force of this sublime argument and never tired of it (40:22; 42:5; 44:24; 45:12; and also Ps. 104:2, a psalm of Isaiah).

 

With such grounds for reassurance why should any of God's people "fear continually"? There is something sardonic about this use of a word which so often describes the continual burnt-offering of Israel — constant fear consuming a man to ashes, like the fire of the altar. Could paralysing fear be a man's best and unceasing offering unto the Lord (cp. also 52:5)?

 

Yet, "where is the fury of the oppressor?" (v. 13). In due time there will be recompense enough for those who delight in tyranny (v.22,23). "It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; and to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven" (2 Th. 1:6,7).

 

A New Moses

 

The parallel with the Exodus is resumed. "I have put my words in thy mouth" (v. 16) is almost a verbatim quotation of the passage promising a prophet like unto Moses (Dt. 18:18). It is one of the first qualifications of Messiah that he will love the word of God and make it his constant utterance (49:2; 50:4,5; 59:21). And, like Moses, he is "covered in the shadow of God's hand" (cp. Ex. 33:22; Is. 49:2).

 

This personal experience of Christ is a necessary preliminary to the founding of a New Creation (contrast v.13): "...that I may plant the heavens, and lay the founda­tions of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people" (v. 16). It was at Sinai (Ex. 19:5,6) where God first said to His rescued nation: "Thou art my people". But now here is a New Israel rejoicing in a greater deliverance.

 

"Plant the heavens" is such an unusual expression that doubts have been expressed about its validity, especially since a one-letter change of the Hebrew word would give: "stretch out the heavens," a reading followed by the version of Symmachus.

 

Yet "plant" is not an absurd reading, for the prophecy goes on to describe Messiah as "a tender plant, a root out of a dry ground". And since the verb is that used of "the Lord God planting a garden eastward in Eden" (Gen. 2:8), there is perhaps a hint here of Paradise restored.

 

When the Arm of the Lord awakes again to action, this will be no mere future prospect, but very truth fully realised.

 

The prophet's second and third "Awake, awake, stand up" are addressed to Jerusalem (v.17; 52:1). This in itself suggests that the first apostrophe (v.9) to "the arm of the Lord" is not a call to the power of God in heaven but to His Messiah in Jerusalem. In the second of the three (v.17), LXX pointedly uses two outstanding NT. words for resurrection.

 

It is a picture of a city rising up bright and fresh after being dead drunk — drunk not from self-indulgence but from judgment. The cup of God's wrath has been emptied to the dregs. There is no more judgment to drink, none at all.

 

Nor is there help or restoration to be looked for from any of her sons. All their cleverness and dedicated energy has been given to human effort without faith in God, and see now the result of it in the Last Days: "desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword" (v.19).

 

But Isaiah's phrase is: "these two things" — that is, looking back to verses 17,18 with their twin pictures of judgment to the uttermost, followed by complete helplessness and dereliction when there is no friend or rescuer "that taketh her by the hand."

 

For "thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets" (v.20). This is a picture of tragedy repeated in Revelation — the death of the witnesses (11:8), a vision which combines Ps. 79:2,3 (an Isaiah psalm) with this other passage by the same prophet.

 

How very necessary is the later prophecy (59:16), that "when there was no man...therefore his arm brought salvation"!

 

Now, thanks to the aid of a God who has judged but not forsaken, deliverance is at hand:

 

"Thus saith thy Lord Jehovah, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people..."

 

This is the end, the final end, of all struggle and frustration, of all misery, pain, and woe. The days of holocaust and pogrom are gone at last. "The cup of trembling...thou shalt no more drink it again" (v.22). Israel, relax! For you there is now nothing but the beneficent smile of your God and the comforting presence of your Messiah.

 

And that cup, which has meant so much bitterness, the drunken stupor of tribulation and helplessness, is now to be filled again. But this time it is for "them that afflict thee", the lately-triumphant adversaries who have proudly said: "Bow down, that we may go over."

 

For Israel those days of horror are ended.

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52 (1). "Good Tidings of Good" (v.1-12)

 

The contemporary reference of this third "awake" to the great change in fortune, God-wrought, which came about in Hezekiah's day, has already been indicated (see ch. 34). In addition to this, there are sufficient NT. quotations of this section to require further reference to the era of the preaching of the gospel. Even then the meaning is not exhausted, for a yet more thorough fulfilment awaits in the setting up of Messiah's kingdom. These second and third meanings of an attractive but extraordinarily difficult prophecy now call for attention.

 

The New Zion

 

The exhortation to Zion: "awake, awake, put on strength", is now to be read with reference to the New Zion, "Jerusalem which is above", the community typically identified by Paul (and Isaiah; 54:1-8) with Sarah, the true wife. She puts on a God-given strength. "Beautiful garments" of divine righteousness are provided for her, a cleanness (v.11) which does not come naturally. At Sinai the people were bidden make themselves clean; they were to "wash their clothes" themselves (Ex. 19:10) in preparation for the covenant God was about to make with them. Now, for this New Covenant specially beautiful garments are provided, new raiment fit for priests. The high priest himself shares this experience. Joshua-Jesus, arrayed in filthy garments, is clothed afresh suitably to his office (Zech. 3:1-4) in garments "for glory and beauty" (Ex. 28:2). The same is true for those who derive their holiness from him (Ex. 28:40).

 

"The uncircumcised and the unclean" (v.1) have no part here. Jews undeserved­ly appropriated to themselves the status of an elect people when in fact "their circumcision was made uncircumcision" (Rom. 2:25) by their transgressing of God's law. But into this "holy city" community (v.1) there come no such.

 

Nevertheless, technical uncleanness and lack of physical circumcision are no dis­qualification. When Christ rose from the dead "many bodies of saints which slept arose and came into the holy city, after his raising of them" (Mt. 27:7,53). And it was through the death of Christ that there was provided a place in the holy city "to bury strangers in."

 

Slavery — Freedom

 

No wonder there is an exhortation to "shake thyself from the dust" — from the curse on Adam (Gen. 3:19) and all that that entails. Instead: "arise, and sit (Targum: on a throne of glory)."

 

"The bands of thy neck", the evident tokens of slavery, are loosed (v.2). This was enacted in symbol when Peter, in prison and destined soon to die, was bidden by the angel: "Rise up quickly" (Acts 12:7; cp. v.1 here), and "his chains (s.w.) fell off", so that he was able to go forth to freedom.

 

Using this figure and the spirit of this scripture, James exhorted the council of Jerusalem not to reverse the process and "put a yoke on the neck of the disciples" (Acts 15:10). To this day the warning is needed, for there seems to be a fatal fascination about rules and regulations for the spiritual life.

 

Jewry was specially in need of release from such a wrong attitude to life. Their dedication to the minutiae of a rabbinic regimen was a bondage: "Ye have sold yourselves for nought" (v.3; cp. Ps. 44:12). "For your iniquities have ye, sold yourselves" (50:1).

 

The apostle Paul reviewed his former life critically and found Isaiah's phrase very apt: "I am carnal, sold under sin...who shall deliver me?" (Rom. 7:14,24). Isaiah's answer is: "Ye shall be redeemed without money" (v.3), this word "redeem" signifying the act of a near kinsman — hence Paul's conclusion: "I thank God (that I am delivered) through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Rom. 7:25).

 

"Redeemed without money" is meant to go beyond its face value even though there are plenty of men who think they can use money to ensure "everlasting habitations" for themselves. The phrase emphasizes how completely men's sal­vation depends on God: "Being justified freely by his grace." Yet it is only an Unjust Judge who justifies sinners! And He doesn't need to be bribed or bullied into doing it: "redeemed without money."

 

Until this salvation is known and received, Hallelujahs are no better than howlings (v.5) — the prophet has here a mordant parody of the familiar temple shout. The wrong attitude of God's people hinders not only their own salvation but that of others also. The Jew made his boast of the Law and yet by demonstration of his own non-redemption he dishonoured his God by causing the name of God to be blasphemed among the Gentiles (Rom. 2:23,24*), as it is written (in Is. 52:5). Thus, Paul argues, Jewish circumcision is reckoned by God as uncircumcision (Rom. 2:25-29) — for does not Isaiah say that Jerusalem is full of the uncircumcised and the unclean (52:1)?

 


* James (2:7) appears to use the same Scripture in the same way, with reference to Jews socially and religiously important, who were hostile to the gospel.

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"Eye to eye"

 

However, amongst them are those who truly deserve to be called "my people". These are the New Israel, the faithful remnant, who "know My Name" (v.6). They are as slaves happily acknowledging a new Master. They have his name written in their foreheads (Rev. 14:1). And they recognize their Master's voice: "in that day they shall know that I am he that doth speak: behold, it is I" (v.6). God had said to His own nation who sought Him not: "Behold, it is I" (65:1). But the New Israel, mostly made up of Gentiles, was ready and eager. This phrase, as turned by LXX, was therefore appropriately used by Jesus at his second coming to the blind man: "and he it is that speaks with thee" (Jn. 9:37). Very appropriately, since the man makes a superb type of the enlightenment of the Gentiles, and in Isaiah the text goes on to promise: "they shall see eye to eye when the Lord returneth to Zion" (v.8).

 

Gospel Preachers

 

The beautiful words about "the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace...that publisheth salvation, that saith to Zion, Thy God reigneth" (v.7), describe Christ's preaching. One of the familiar passages in the gospels is marvellously similar (especially in Greek): "he went throughout every city and village (the feet!), preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God" (Lk. 8:1). So also Peter's review of the gospel to Cornelius: "...preaching peace by Jesus Christ...That word...which was published throughout all Judaea. " (Acts 10:36,37).

 

But the apostle Paul goes further than this, boldly changing the pronoun in this passage and appropriating the words to himself and his fellow-preachers (Rom. 10:15). The development of ideas in that place is remarkable.

 

Joel's: "Whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved" (Joel 2:32; Rom. 10:13) is linked with this quotation from Is. 52:7 by an inexorable progression:

 

1. To be saved they must call on the name of the Lord.

2. To call on the Lord they must first believe in Him.

3. To believe in him, they must learn about Him (see 10:19).

4. To know Him, they must hear the message.

5. To hear, they must have a preacher.

6. To be a preacher one must first be commissioned by the Lord.

 

At this point Paul quotes: "How beautiful are the feet of them..." (Is. 52:7; Rom. 10:15), his mind being steered there by Isaiah's context: "therefore my people shall know my name (Joel just quoted)...that I am he that doth speak (the preacher!)"

 

Then the immediate mention of "the arm of the Lord" (52:10) takes the apostle's mind on to the next occurrence of that pregnant phrase "to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" (53:1). Hence his other quotation from the same verse: "Who hath believed our report?" (Rom. 10:16).

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"Him...them"

 

But an integral part of Paul's argument is the switch in his earlier Isaiah quotation from "the feet of him" to "the feet of them...". Was he justified in this?

 

Other examples show that this was a normal element in his concept of the gospel. Just as in the O.T. what God does, operating through man or angel, is spoken of as an act of God Himself, so also in the N.T. the work of the gospel set forward by the apostles is deemed to be the work of Christ himself. Examples:

 

1. "For so hath the Lord commanded
us,
saying, I have set
thee
(the Messiah) to be a light to the Gentiles" (Is. 49:6; Acts 13:47).

2.
"We
then, as workers together with
him,
beseech you...For he saith, I have heard
thee
(the Messiah) in a time accepted..." (Is. 49:8; 2 Cor. 6:1,2).

3. "For he hath said (to Joshua, prototype of the Messiah), I will never leave
thee,
nor forsake
thee.
So that
we
may boldly say, The Lord is my helper..." (Heb. 13:5,6; Josh. 1:5).

Peace with God — for all people

 

The pile-up of equivalent phrases in Isaiah's enunciation of the gospel can often be lost through sheer familiarity with the words: "good tidings...peace...good tidings of good...salvation…Thy God reigneth (or, with re-pointed Hebrew, the King of thy God)". The parallelism highlights the truth, so fundamental, that salvation is essen­tially peace with God. This is the only peace the Bible talks about. To give the word a different slant is to miss a theme of great beauty.

 

This gospel of peace with God means both comfort and redemption to those who feel desolate — "ye waste places"; and not only is this good tidings for Jerusalem but also "in the eyes of all the nations; all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of God" (v.10). Here with a play on his own name Isaiah foretells the divine Jesus, the salvation of God proclaimed to the ends of the earth.

 

Luke rounds off his epitome of the ministry of John and Jesus with these very words: "And all flesh shall see the salvation of God" (3:6), words which come also in his quotation of Isaiah 40:3-5 LXX. Matthew and Mark achieve the same effect by supplying a catalogue of the places contributing their quota to the great crowds round Jesus.


Mark 3:7,8

Matthew 4:24,25

Galilee

Galilee

Judaea

Judaea

Jerusalem

Jerusalem

Idumea


Beyond Jordan

Beyond Jordan

Tyre and Sidon



Decapolis


All Syria

Separateness

 

But this call to join the new Israel of God meant a clean separation from the defile­ment of "Egypt" and "Babylon":

 

"Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the Lord" (v.11). This becomes the in­sistent call of the New Testament — that those consecrated to serve God in His temple show the stamp of something more than a technical consecration: "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord (in Isaiah 52:11), and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you" (2 Cor. 6:17), and — through the sacrifice of Isaiah 53 — will clothe you in "beautiful garments" (v.1).

 

The "vessel" of the Lord to be cleansed is, of course, one's own life: "That every one of you know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour," writes Paul in a context which could not be more appropriate to an immoral sex-ridden cen­tury (1 Th. 4:3-6). In another "temple" context Paul exhorts: "If a man therefore purge himself from these (unworthy men and ideas), he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use...Flee also youthful lusts" (2 Tim. 2:21,22).

 

This new Israel will have no need for haste or flight (v.1 2), like that ancient exit from Egypt, but there will be the same incomparable assurance of a divine presence — the Glory of the Lord going before in a pillar of fire and behind in a pillar of cloud (v.12; Ex. 14:19). Did not Jesus say: "Lo, I am with you, alway, even to the end of the world"?

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52 (2). "Thy God reigneth" (v.1-12)

 

This prophecy now has to be conned once again, this time with reference to Israel and saints in Christ in the last days. The two can be considered together for there will be no final fulfilment of these words until there is at least a faithful seven thousand in Israel who no longer bow the knee to Baal (T.E. ch.2).

 

Then, indeed, Jerusalem will put on "beautiful garments" appropriate to a new priestly work (Ex. 28:2,40) and fit for a holy city; the new Jerusalem prepared as a bride adorned for her husband (Rev. 21:2). And not only the garments but also "strength", the attribute of a king (Ex. 15:2; 1 Sam. 2:10), one who is a Messiah (Mic. 5:4).

 

There is no place here for the unclean or the uncircumcised (v.1). The people of unclean lips are now touched by a live coal from the altar of the Lord, so that they gladly join in the chorus: "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts" (6:4-6). And the way to Zion is now a way of holiness; the unclean do not pass over it (35:8).

 

Zion is no longer desolate, sitting on the ground (3:26); no longer sharing the dusty curse of the serpent (v.2; Gen. 3:19); no more does she bow down that scornful enemies may go over (51:23). Instead, she shakes herself from the dust, and arises to sit in glory, loosed for ever from all captive bands (v.2).

 

"Sold for nought", God's ancient people are now bought back at the same bargain price (v.3). "He (the Messiah) shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward" (45:13), for their Near Kinsman has long ago paid all that was needful.

 

This startling salvation comes about at a time when "my people is taken away for nought; they that rule over them (now, their vicious enemies) make them to howl" (v. 5). Here is the final tribulation of Israel when they are ground between the upper and nether millstones of the wrath and love of God. It is "the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it" — saved only because there are among them those "that know my name" (Rev. 14:1)..."in that day they shall know that I am he that doth speak" (v.6), a God who predicts and fulfils, who promises that "the redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion" (51:11) and who keeps His promise, so that "sorrow and sighing flee away".

 

Zion's watchmen rejoice

 

The lovely words, already fulfilled in the preaching of the gospel, now find such a transcendent meaning as to set all the Lord's true watchmen singing. "How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him (the Messiah) that bringeth good tidings." Since Isaiah goes on to rejoice in God's comfort of His people (v.9), making a play on the name Nahum, it seems likely that the words just quoted were themselves cited from Nahum 1:15 where the context is that of judgment on the invincible enemy of Israel. There is here an encouragement to read that prophecy also with reference to Israel's final travail and sensational deliverance.

 

The Lord is King

 

Now, with the Messiah enthroned in Zion, the words are true as never before: "Thy God reigneth." "Behold, your God" is the cry to the cities of Judah (40:9). And there is repentance in Israel — "the moon confounded, and the sun ashamed" — when "the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients of glory (men like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, now raised from the dead)" (24:23).

 

Psalms of Isaiah's time (some of them written by Isaiah himself) tell the same glad story: "God is King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding. God reigneth over the nations: God sitteth upon the throne of his holiness" (Ps. 47:7,8). And Psalms 93-100, with their recurring theme: "The Lord reigneth," are to be read as written by Isaiah with reference to (a) the great deliverance in Hezekiah's day, and (b) to the final assertion of God's authority in Israel in the end time. Here are two clues making a considerable difference to the force and worth of these much-neglected psalms. The second of them is reinforced by NT. usage: "As the voice of many waters (Ps. 93:4)...saying, Hallelujah, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth" (Rev. 19:6). This is the praise and rejoicing when "the marriage of the Lamb is come."

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Unquenchable gladness

 

When signs of this fulfilment crowd in thick and fast the watchmen of Zion will lift up their voice in singing (v.8). But watchmen are prophets (21:6,11,1 2; Jer. 6:17; Ez. 3:17; Hab. 2:1), so in these words there may be an implication of an outpouring of the Holy Spirit at the time of the end, as foretold by Joel (2:28). At that time the highest privilege of prophecy will not be to behold the similitude of the Lord (Num. 12:8), but to know the Lord face to face, as a man speaketh to his friend (Ex. 33:11; Dt. 34:10): "They shall see eye to eye when the Lord returneth to Zion*" (v.8) — not "through a glass darkly, but face to face" (1 Cor. 13:12).

 

No wonder the "waste places of Jerusalem break forth into singing" (v.9), for now the holy city is redeemed, and God's people comforted. These glad songs of Zion meant much to Isaiah; in his prophecy there are no less than 21 separate passages which lift up the voice in praise, thanksgiving and joy.

 

Here especially is unquenchable gladness, for "the salvation of our God" (the meaning of Isaiah!) — the Jesus of our God — is seen by all the ends of the earth (40:5), for "the Lord hath made bare His holy arm (the arm of His Holy One?)"

 

The link up here with Psalm 98 is most marked: "O sing unto the Lord a new song...his right hand and his holy arm hath wrought salvation for him...all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God...break forth and sing for joy... make a joyful noise before the Lord who reigneth." Evidently Isaiah was so excited by the prospect that he simply had to sing his song of gladness twice over.

 

More allusions to the Exodus

 

This prophecy ends by harking back once more to the excitement of the Exodus. The call to forsake the old life now takes on a new and fuller meaning: "Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out from thence, touch no unclean thing...ye that bear the vessels of the Lord" (v.11). As the people of Israel were called to forsake all that they had known in Egypt, and go forth to freedom, so also one day the call will come to those who await their Lord.

 

But the people were bidden ask (not "borrow", as AV) "jewels of silver, and jewels of gold" (Ex. 11:2). Were not these an "unclean thing"? No, for the same word reads: "vessels of the Lord" (Is. 52:11). The sanctuary of the Lord was furnished with matchless riches in gold and silver because the unclean things of Egypt were now dedicated to the service of the sanctuary**.

 

There is to be, however, one important difference from that ancient Exodus under Moses. "The Egyptians were urgent upon the people that they might send them out of the land in haste" (Ex. 12:33). But now, "ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight" (v. 12), for those left behind will know nothing about it, and those who are taken will go with a quiet confidence in the Lord who has come to save them.

 

And how will they go? "The Lord God will go before you (as with Israel, in a pillar of fire); and the God of Israel shall be your rearward (in a pillar of cloud)" (v.12; cp. 58:8). Paul says the same: "caught up together with them in clouds (the Glory of the Lord), into the air in order to meet the Lord (at Jerusalem)" (1 Th. 4:17). What a climax of experience for a saved people!

 


* Here is another echo of the wilderness journey (Num. 10:36). The Glory of the Lord, which has been away from the camp, now rests once again in the midst of His Israel.

** So also all the other sanctuaries of the Lord were equipped with dedicated Gentile wealth: Solomon's temple, Ezra's, Herod's, the Lord's spiritual temple of believers, and the temple yet to be.

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53 (1). The Shadow of the Substance (52:13 — 53:12)

 

The greatest of all the "Servant Songs" is the one which also provides the most convincing evidence that the foundation for all these impressive Messianic prophecies is the almost equally impressive experience of Hezekiah. In "proto-Isaiah" (7-35) inspiration guided the prophet to foretell Hezekiah and his work as well as Christ. In "deutero-" (40-66), the problem is not readily resolvable whether the same is true here, or whether Hezekiah is being deliberately used as an already-known prototype of Messiah. Perhaps it doesn't matter much. The main thing is to recognize that the two go inseparably together, like a man and his shadow (Messiah being the Man!). Here is the explanation of the past tenses in v. 1-10, one far more satisfying than the slick invocation of "calling those things which be not as though they were." As with so many other Messianic prophecies, the details often fit Messiah more than his prototype. But not infrequently it happens the other way round. The reader has to be on the alert for both possibilities. Here, first, the search concentrates on the amazing seemliness of the language with reference to Hezekiah.

 

It has long been recognized that "the boil" which brought the good king to his deathbed (38:1,21) was a form of leprosy. The same word describes Job's leprosy (2:7; note the description in 19:13-21). It is "the botch of Egypt" (Dt. 28:27; Ex. 9:9-11). And the same word four times describes Biblical leprosy (Lev. 13:18-23).

 

The catalogue of appropriate details in this prophecy is truly impressive:

  1. "His visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men" (v.14). Contrast the king's recovery: "Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty" (33:17).
  2. "So shall he sprinkle many nations" (v.15). Commentators, mystified by this Hebrew word, try to turn it into "startle" (as RVm); but this is wrong. In all other 23 places its meaning is quite patently "sprinkle". These include 4 occurrences in the leprosy chapter (Lev. 14:7,16,27,51). Thus, the unclean leper sprinkles Gentiles in order to cleanse them! The Messianic meaning here is very beautiful.
  3. "No form nor comeliness" (v.2).
  4. "Acquainted with grief" — literally, "caused to know sickness", the same word as in 38:9 (Hezekiah), Ps. 41:3 (David), 2 Chr. 16:12 (Asa), 2 Chr. 21:15,19 (Jehoram). Uzziah also was a leper (2 Chr. 26:21). It looks as though the sin of David started a streak of rottenness in the royal family (note especially the details in Ps. 38 and 51:7).
  5. "We hid as it were our faces from him" (v.3) can read equally well: "he hid as it were his face from us" (RVm and Targum). This can now be seen as a clear allusion to the leper covering his face and crying, (Unclean, unclean!' (Lev. 13:45). Also, the strange word translated (or rather, paraphrased) "hid" comes in 38:11.
  6. "Stricken" (v.4) — this Hebrew word is used with reference to leprosy no less than 57 times in Lev. 13,14. The Vulgate reads: "stricken as a leper."
  7. "Smitten of God" — note 38:1, and observe that all the lepers (Moses, Miriam, Gehazi, Uzziah, Job, David) received their stroke from God.
  8. "The chastisement of our peace" (v.5) echoes Hezekiah's words: "For peace I had great bitterness" (38:17).
  9. "Stripes" (v.5) has the same word as Ps. 38:5, and also Isaiah 1:6 which describes the leprous nation. Here, then, is the point of Hezekiah's leprosy: the nation's sin and its retribution were exemplified in their leader and representative, himself all undeserving. Hence: "A Man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest" (32:2).
  10. "Healed" (v.5) is used regarding the cured leper (Lev. 13:18,37; 14:3,48) and also of Hezekiah (2 Kgs. 20:8; 2 Chr. 30:20); see also Num. 12:13; Dt. 28:27.
  11. "Who shall declare his generation?" (v.8). The words are specially relevant to Hezekiah inasmuch as he had no son at the time of his disease (cp. 38:5 with Chr. 33:1). Compare also his own words: "Mine age (generation) is departed and is removed from me" (38:12); and note the glad contrast: "The father to the children shall make known thy truth" (38:19). Also: "he shall see his seed" (v.10).
  12. "He was cut off out of the land of the living" (v.8) is matched by: "the cutting off of my days" (38:10) and "the land of the living " (38:11).
  13. For "it pleased the Lord to bruise him" (v. 10); LXX reads "the Lord decided to cleanse him of his plague", evidently reading in the Hebrew a clear allusion to leprosy.
  14. "His soul an offering for sin" (v.10) is, properly: "a guilt offering" (RVm). Note the frequent mention in Lev. 14 of the guilt (trespass) offering.
  15. "He shall prolong his days" (v.10) — Hezekiah's fifteen extra years.
  16. "The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand" (v.10) — Hezekiah "prospered in all his works" (2 Chr. 32:30).
  17. "The travail of his soul" (v.11) cp. "the bitterness of my soul" (38:15).
  18. "By his knowledge shall my righteous servant cause many to be righteous" (v.11). Hezekiah's reformation (2 Chr. 30) would certainly be resumed with increased fervour after his great deliverance.
  19. "He shall bear their iniquities" (v.11) had already been exemplified before this sickness (2 Chr. 30:18-20), and found further illustration in the personal sufferings of the righteous king.
  20. "therefore will I divide Rabbim to him as a plunder, and he shall share out the strong as a spoil" (v.12). Rab-shakeh was probably only one of a number of Assyrian generals who felt the wrath of the Lord at Jerusalem (cp. Jer. 39:3).
  21. "He made intercession for the transgressors" (v.12) — again, cp 2 Chr. 30:18-20.
  22. And now it is permissible to return to v.13; "exalted...extolled...very high", and v.15 "kings shall shut their mouths at him." This is in step with the history: "And many brought gifts unto the Lord to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah; so that he was exalted in the sight of all nations from thenceforth" (2 Chr. 32:23).

What sort of a man was this Hezekiah that he should be selected by God to be the shadow, seen beforehand, of his Messiah?

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53 (2). Who is this Suffering Servant?

 

A thousand years and more before Isaiah wrote, Abraham had been taught that his God-given son was not the promised Seed of the woman. The offering of Isaac could not take away sin. Instead, Abraham — when he "lifted up his eyes and look­ed" — perceived "behind him" another sacrifice of God's providing. And with it came a promise: 'Not your only-begotten son, but mine, shall bring the forgiveness of sins. And through him, you, Abraham, shall be the father of a multitudinous seed.'

 

Now, through the ministry of Isaiah, the curtain was drawn aside again, and revela­tion taught the Lord's faithful to see in good king Hezekiah a picture of the Righteous Servant of God upon whom would yet be laid the iniquity of us all. This Man, dying for the sins of others, would nevertheless "prolong his days" and "see his seed", the "many" who would be made righteous through him.*

 

The Day of Atonement

 

There is, then, a good deal of fitness about the way the phraseology of this chapter echoes the ritual of the great day of Atonement, on which day one specially significant sacrifice was offered for the sins of the people.



Leviticus 16


Isaiah 53

21.

He shall lay his hands upon the head

6.

The Lord hath laid on him the


of the live goat and confess over him


iniquity of us all.


all the iniquities of the children of Israel




and all their transgressions, even




all their sins.



22.

The goat shall bear upon him all their

11.

Surely he hath borne our griefs,


iniquities.


and carried our sorrows.

14.

He shall sprinkle of the blood seven

12.

He poured out his soul (life, which is


times.


in the blood) unto death.


But there is one significant difference:




15.

The goat of the sin offering.

7.

As a lamb to the slaughter.

 

The emphasis here on the Servant's suffering for the sins of others is really tremendous. No less than twelve times this is asserted.** And the pronouns in the Hebrew text add to the emphasis:

 

"He hath borne our griefs" (v.4).

"
He
shall bear their iniquities" (v.11).

"
He
bare the sin of many" (v.12).

The very heart of the Prophecy

 

Understandably, this eloquent prophecy has become "the bad conscience of the synagogue." Over the centuries many a Jew must have wished most fervently that these words were not in his Holy Scriptures. That wish shows itself in the studied omission of Isaiah 53 from the Haphtarah synagogue readings. The sections that come before and after it are both used, but not this!

 

However, such a policy does not get rid of it. Then what do the Jews make of this amazing Scripture?

 

They read it as a prophetic picture of the sufferings of Israel, the Messianic race. Here, they claim, is the agony of the persecuted Jew through the ages — "no form nor comeliness...despised and rejected of men...a man of sorrows...oppressed, afflicted...as a sheep before her shearers...doing no violence, and with no deceit in his mouth." (No deceit in the mouth of the Jew?).

 

Thus the Jew becomes the perennial expiation for the sins of the Gentile world: "the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all...he shall bear their iniquities...he bare the sin of many...with his stripes we are healed." Not so convincing there!

 

But there is great satisfaction to the Jew in all this: "He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied...he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand...he shall be exalted, and extolled, and be very high."

 

Thus, whilst the soul of every true believer is brought down to the dust by a reading of this prophecy, the Jew is taught pride of race!

 

All this is very impressive.*** But it is only as long as there is deliberate selectivity that the case can be made. A more careful examination of all the details exposes this Jewish exegesis for what it is — a pis alter, the fruits of a determination to evade the plain message of the prophecy.

 


* After the pattern of Genesis 22,24, Isaiah 54 continues with references to marriage and the growth of the divine

** Verse 4 (twice), 5 (four times), 6,8,10,11,12 (twice).

*** And has been known, alas, to convert at least one true Christian believer back to Judaism!

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Difficulties


     
  1. "The servant of the Lord" is hardly ever a Biblical title of the nation of Israel. But about sixty times it is applied to David or, in Isaiah, to Hezekiah, David's successor on the throne of the Lord. The primary reference to Hezekiah has already been set out in detail.
     
  2. In an eloquent passage (43:3,4) Isaiah tells how God gives Gentile nations for the saving of Israel. But this Suffering Servant gives himself to save Gentiles.
     
  3. Far too many details in the prophecy simply do not fit the thesis: (a) "He was cut off out of the land of the living" (v.8). But the Jew is imperishable. (b) "For the transgression of my people was he stricken" (v.8). Sinless Jewry dying for sinful Jewry? This makes no sense, (c.) Everything here emphasizes a volun­tary sacrifice. Yet in all generations Jews have only endured suffering because it has proved unavoidable. (d) This Suffering Servant is it has proved unavoidable. (d) This Suffering Servant is unresisting — "as a lamb to the slaughter." Yet whenever they have been able, Jews have fought their foes with ferocity and grim tenacity. Masada! Warsaw! 'Yom Kippur, 73! (e) Most evident of all is the truth that this Righteous Servant of the Lord is a man, and not a nation (v.3).
     
  4. Biggest difficulty of all is Isaiah's unflagging exposure of the sinfulness of Israel: "She (Jerusalem) hath received at the Lord's hand double for all her sins" (40:2). "The Lord...against whom we have sinned; for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they obedient to his law" (42:24). "I was wroth with my people..." (47:6). "Jacob...Israel...Judah, which make mention of the God of Israel, but not in truth, nor in righteousness" (48:1; see v.4,5,9,10). "For your iniquities have ye sold yourselves..." (50:1). One great passage after another makes a sharp distinction between Israel, the Righteous Servant of the Lord, and Israel, the heedless nation (49:3,5,6). Cp. also 1:4,5; 43:8,22-28; 46:8, and the testimony of the other prophets, e.g. Jer. 17:1-4; and especially Dan. 9:5-16; a comprehensively honest and utterly rithless confes­sion; and their own historian: "Nor did any age ever breed a generation more fruitful in wickedness than this was, from the beginning of the world" (Josephus B.J.5.10.5).

 

Even amongst the rabbis there are those that bear witness. Jonathan ben Uzziel referred Isaiah 53 to the Messiah. And the Babylonian Talmud has this comment: "The Name of the Messiah is the Leprous One (v. 14), the Sick One (v.4)."* Also, the current liturgy for the Day of Atonement uses the words of verse 4 with reference to the Messiah.

 

But, with very occasional exceptions, "the blind people that have eyes" are apparently incapable of seeing the radiant truth of this great Scripture.

 


* lt is just possible that these were ambiguous allusions to Israel as the Messianic race.

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53 (3). The Suffering Servant in the New Testament

 

It may be taken as fairly certain that there is no OT. Scripture which is woven into the NT. to the extent that Isaiah 53 is. Besides the 8 explicit quotations, there are about 20 allusions traceable — indeed, in some places the distinction between quotation and allusion is not easily drawn.

 

This study attempts a brief review of a fairly complete list.

 

1.
Acts 8:32,33
(= Is. 53:7,8).

 

For a proper understanding of the incident, it is important to recognize that the Ethiopian eunuch was not a black man but a Jew. If the former, then Philip was anticipating Peter's divine dispensation to preach the gospel to Gentiles. If it be argued that the man was a proselyte to Judaism, then it may be questioned whether Jewish thinking was so elastic as to accept into fellowship one who was both a eunuch and a black man. On the other hand, if this man were a Jew excluded from full religious privilege because of his physical disability (Dt. 23:1) the Isaiah passage provides the key to the whole situation. Debarred at the temple from entering the court of the men and offering sacrifice, he travelled sadly home reading about one who was himself "cut off" without family so that none could "declare his generation". "But that describes me too," said the eunuch to himself, "only, this Righteous Servant of the Lord is somehow to 'see his seed' — and for me that is not possible!" But then the preacher of the gospel came into his life, so that "which he had not heard, he now considered." The outcome was that "he went on his way (the Way) rejoicing," and reading on in Isaiah of the promise to "eunuchs that...take hold of my covenant" that they shall have "in mine house and within my walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters...an everlasting name that shall not be cut off" (56:4,5).

 

2.
1 Peter 2:22-25

 

Peter falls back on a long series of questions about the Suffering Servant in order to emphasize to servants (slaves) the need for a meek and patient spirit under the ill-treatment meted out by an irascible master — "because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example (the word describes the copyhead for a child learning to write), that ye should follow his steps" (1 Peter 2:21). Then follow no less than seven of these steps — partial quotes from Isaiah 53, and not at all in the right order:

 

22. Who did no sin (violence, in 53:9c). Neither was guile found in his mouth (9d).

23. When he was reviled, he reviled not again (7a,b).

24. He bare our sins (4a, 11a).

By whose stripes ye were healed (5d).

25. Ye were as sheep going astray (6a).

 

But are now returned...(a deliberate contrast with: 'turned every one to his own way'; (6b). In the middle of these there is another allusion much more difficult to recognize: "he bare our sins...on
the tree."
This may, just possibly, be a reference to the hanging of criminals (Dt. 21:22,23) or even to the Tree of Life in Eden. But it is certainly remarkable that "He was taken from prison and from judgment" (v.8a), when re-pointed may also be read: "From the tree he received exalted judgment," or "From the exalted tree he received righteous judgment." This part of Isaiah has plenty of double meanings of this sort. The context of the seven other references to Isaiah 53 makes it possible to see another one here, especially since the phrase: "him that judgeth righteously" comes in the previous verse in Peter.

 

3.
Mt. 8:17

 

This is one of Matthew's notable "misapplications" of the OT. Isaiah 53:4 — "He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows" — seems so palpably to describe the Lord's sin-covering sacrifice. Then why did Matthew drag the words in here with reference to the miraculous healings done by Jesus? The first and obvious answer only serves to weaken confidence in Matthew: the Hebrew words really do mean "infirmities" and "sicknesses". It begins to look as though Matthew picked up this passage regardless of context or basic meaning simply because the words, taken literally, fit very nearly the healings he is describing. Most modernists very happily settle for this approach, the more so since it gives them a nice feeling of superior judgement over this gospel-writing apostle. But there is another way of reading this quotation in this gospel context — i.e. as meaning that the wonderful healings done by the Lord Jesus are to be seen as acted parables of the more profound healing which was his more important work. The examples considered in paragraph 4 show that this must be the right approach here. There is another implicit allusion to Isaiah 53 in the phrase: "he healed
all
that were sick" (v.16) — "the iniquity of us
all"
(53:6).

 

An alternative way of regarding this mode of quotation is to see such examples as reminders that the greater includes the less. If Jesus was raised up to deliver men from the power of sin, he could certainly deliver them also from these lesser evils, the physical disabilities which beset them.

 

There is another awe-inspiring implication behind Matthew's use of these words. The Lord's conquest of sin was not lightly achieved. The context in Isaiah 53 is at pains to emphasize the bitter hardship and sore travail with which redemption was wrought. Then was not Matthew wishing his readers to learn that the same was true (though, again, in lesser degree) when Jesus saved men from their physical afflictions? How did Jesus "perceive that virtue was gone out of him" when a woman surreptitiously sought and found health from the briefest of personal contacts with his garment?

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4.
Luke 22:37; Mark 15:28

 

Herein is a marvellous thing, that not only Matthew but also Luke and Mark were blind to the obvious meaning of a simple OT. prophecy! These two also "misuse" a phrase from Isaiah 53, and in completely different ways: "He was numbered with the transgressors" (v. 12). The misapprehension was not really Luke's but his Lord's whose words he reports in a context where the meaning seems fairly clearly to be this: Before long my disciples will be reckoned as outlaws, the scum of society, and I along with them. Mark makes more factual use of the proof-text. Here is Jesus on the cross with a revolutionary on either hand, a crowned rebel between two other rebels. "Numbered with the transgressors" — could any phrase be more apt, could any prophecy be more exact?

 

But is that what Isaiah's words were intended to mean? Even the immature need no pause in their thinking to discern that "counted with a clutch of criminals" is not the
real
meaning. Everything in the context in Isaiah shouts an emphasis on Christ's sharing human nature in order to save human nature — taking on himself the worst miseries of Paradise Lost in order that trans­gressors might be blessed with Paradise Regained. But, of course, Luke and Mark saw the simple physical facts as an eloquent symbolic expression of the Almighty's sublime one-man rescue operation. These gospel compilers, and Matthew with them, knew what they were doing — and there was power behind their pens.

 

5.
Romans 10:16

 

If Isaiah 53 is about the gospel of redemption, then of course its opening words are about the preaching of that gospel; and, accordingly, in Romans, Paul twice harnesses them to that purpose. In ch. 10:13-15 there is an a-b-c sequence of ideas reinforced by a remarkable catena of OT. passages, with Is. 53:1 in the middle of them. The sequence goes like this:

 

a. Men must be sent with the message of salvation.

b. They must preach it.

c. Those to be saved must hear it (they must listen).

d. Then they must understand it.

e. They must believe it.

f. They will then be led to call on the Lord.

g. And thus they will be saved.

 

and (b) are covered by the quotation (v.15) of Isaiah's jubilant word about preachers of "the gospel of peace...the glad tidings of good things" (52:7 —this is specially appropriate because it says (v.9) that the message is for Israel and (v. 10) for the nations of the world. But "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the spoken word" (v. 17). Have Israel heard? Indeed they have. The call of the gospel has been as universal and unmistakable as the silent message of the night sky* (v. 18). But the trouble is that "they have
not all
believed the gospel" (sinister understatement for 'hardly any'!). And Isaiah foretold that it would be like that: "Lord, who hath believed our report?" (53:1). Is it possible then, that Israel has failed to believe because they failed to
understand
the message. "Surely Israel didn't understand" (v. 19). No! that explanation won't work, for Moses, foretelling the evangelisation of the Gentiles, called
them
"a nation void of understanding" (v. 19: RV). So if
they
could grasp the gospel, Israel certainly could. Indeed, the Gentiles found God in the gospel when they were not looking for Him (v.20; Is. 65:1). So there is no escaping the conclusion that Israel are "a disobedient and gainsaying people" (v.21; Is. 65:2).

 


* Paul evidently saw a two-fold meaning in Ps. 19:1-6. Was he mistaken?

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6.
John 12:38

The context and purpose of Paul's quote from Is. 53:1 are perfectly matched by the commentary with which the apostle John rounds off his record of the Lord's preaching ministry. The last year of that ministry was a depress­ing tale of non-success: the men of power hostile, the nation swithering, and the disciples bewildered. The Lord worked miracles before the great men of Israel, and "yet they believed not on him, in order that the saying of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" The context here in John 12 has a surprising number of contacts with the prophecy of the Suffering Servant:



John 12



Isaiah 52,53

20.

Greeks

15.

Many nations (Gentiles).

24.

A corn of wheat.

1.

The arm of the Lord (in Hebrew =




also the Lord's sown seed).

26.

My servant.

11.

My Righteous Servant.

27.

My soul troubled.

12.

Poured out his soul unto death.

32.

If I be lifted up.

13.

My servant shall understand,




and be lifted up (LXX).

32.

All men.

6.

The iniquity of us all.

28.

I have glorified...and will glorify.

13.

And shall be glorified (LXX).

45.

He that seeth me...

2.

When he shall see him...




 

 

 

 

Thus the ultimate glory of the rejected Messiah is emphasized. So also is the dramatic contrast between his lifting up on the cross and his exaltation in glory.

7. Paul's critics were constantly putting him to the necessity of vindicating the policy of his own preaching to the Gentiles. In Rom. 15 this even meant explaining why his missionary zeal took him so far afield: "Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man's foundation (i.e. preaching done by some other evangelist). But, as it is written (in Is. 52:15), To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see" (15:20,21; LXX verbatim). The immediate context is useful as emphasizing that the message was for Gentiles, even for
kings —
a vindication of the courage with which Paul was willing to proclaim the Word even to men who had the power to crush him. Could any of his detractors match that boldness? This concludes the review of the places where Isaiah 53 is used in specific quotation in the NT. There remains a considerable number of passing allusions in which the text is not directly quoted but where the verbal links are nevertheless readily discernible.

8.
Mark 15:5

When Jesus was before the Roman governor he "yet answered nothing." This is immediately recognizable as the NT. equivalent of "he opened not his mouth" (53:7, repeated). Mark's next phrase is: "so that Pilate marvelled." This has the same word as 52:15 LXX: "Thus shall many nations marvel at him." The same verse continues: "Kings shall shut their mouths at him."

9.
Galatians 3:2,1

Paul's phrase: "the hearing of faith"
(akoes pisteos)
is essentially the same as "believed our report" (v.1;
episteuse te akoe).
And the previous verse has this: "Before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth (Gk: written beforehand, programmed), crucified among you."

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10.
Revelation 22:16,17

 

"I am the roof and
offspring
of David." These paradoxical ideas come together in v.2. He is "a roof out of a thirsty (LXX) ground;" but he is also "a tender
plant."
In Rev. 22, the next verse has this: "Let him that is
athirst
come." An accidental connection? And "tender plant" is the same (in LXX) as "the child" (Lk. 2:40). Another accident?

 

11.
Luke 20:13,11

 

In the parable of the vineyard Jesus steered his hearers back to Is. 53. "It may be they will reverence him
when they see him"
is a sardonic echo of
"when we shall see him,
there is no beauty" (v.2). And "treated shamefully" is the same as "despised" (v.3 LXX). Jn. 8:49 "I honour my Father, and ye do
dishonour
me" also has the same word.

 

12.
Hebrews 12:11,25

 

"No
chastening
for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: never­theless afterward it yieldeth the
peaceable
fruit of righteousness..." Is this a reminiscence of: "the chastisement of our peace" (v.5)? Could be! Later another key word creeps in: "much more shall not we escape, if we turn
away
from him who (has now spoken) from heaven." Here is the same verb as in "we
hid
our faces from him" (v.3 LXX). The same word is used by Paul with caustic power: "all they of Asia be turned away from me" (2 Tim. 1:15) — as who should say: This was the treatment meted out to my Lord, so of course those who closely follow him may expect the same.

 

13.
Revelation 14:5

 

"In their mouth (the 144,000 on mount Zion) was found no guile." This ex­pression
might
look back to Ps. 32:2, or even more probably, to Zech. 13:3. But what settles that the allusion is to 53:9: "neither was any deceit in his mouth", is the mention of the Lamb (v.4 and 53:7), and the ensuing phrase: "without blemish", which invariably refers to an acceptable sacrifice. That is why they are on mount Zion — because a Lamb without blemish has been offered on their behalf, and they have sought to emulate his sacrifice.

 

14.
Ephesians 1:5

 

"...the adoption of
children
by Jesus Christ...according to the
good pleasure
of his
will."
The words here seem to echo phrases in Is. 53: "the
pleasure
of the Lord shall prosper in his hand...It pleased (it was the
will
of: LXX) the Lord to bruise him...he shall see his
seed."
Compare also v.9: "according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in him" (and declared in Is. 53)

 

15.
Matthew 20:28

 

Jesus was teaching the way to greatness: "Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your
servant"
(Mt. 20:19) — and that last word took his mind to the prophetic description of himself: "My Righteous
Servant
shall justify many...he poured out his
soul
(life) unto death." So he went on: "Even as the Son of man came...to give his
life
(soul) a ransom for
many."

 

16.
Romans 5:19

 

"...so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." This is surely 53:11: "...shall my Righteous Servant justify many (make many righteous)." But
there
it is: "by his knowledge," not "by obedience." Why the difference, Paul?

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17.
Luke 11:21,22

 

The Lord's vigorous mini-parable about the armed strong man being plundered by one who is stronger than he, is usually referred to Is. 49:24,25. But Jesus seems to have had his eye on 53:12; for his final phrase: "and he divideth his spoils", is very close indeed to LXX there: "he shall divide the spoils of the strong ones." The Hebrew text might even read: "He shall divide strong ones as a spoil." It becomes important, then, to identify the "strong ones," and this is not easy. The context in Luke suggests an assertion of the superior authority of the Son of God over that of the angels of evil (B.S. 16.01). And Col. 2:15 comes in here as being remarkably similar: "And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them by it (by his cross)". * Is there any alternative explanation which is more convincing? One is reluctant to be convinced by those who assert that the mini-parable is not intended to be interpreted! What a contrast Jn. 19:24 presents!

 

18.
Mark 14:11 etc.

 

In LXX, the last phrase of Is. 53 reads: "and he was
delivered
for their iniquities." It is the same word which the gospels employ (about 60 times) for the betrayal of Jesus (see para. 22 below).

 

19.
Hebrews 9:28

 

Here, "to bear the sins of many" is a straight quotation from 53:12. And if the writer of Hebrews were not committed to using the LXX version in his OT. quotations, he would doubtless have gone on to quote the next phrase: "and made intercession for the transgressors," for the context in Heb. 9 is so emphatically that of priesthood. However, strangely enough, LXX translation loses this idea (see para. 18 again).**

 

20.
John 1:29

 

When John the Baptist acclaimed Jesus with the words: "Behold, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world," he was surely expressing a Biblical idea familiar to his readers. But which? Many moderns plump for the Passover Lamb, or even the lamb of the daily burnt-offering. But almost certainly this is the Baptist's summary of the great theme of Is. 53:5-7, for everything else in his teaching came out of Isaiah.

 

21.
Matthew 26:28

 

At the other end of his ministry the Lord Jesus himself bade his disciples see him henceforth as the Righteous Servant of the Lord: "For this is my blood of the new covenant (Jer. 31:31, inescapably) which is shed
for many for the remission of sins."
Who can doubt that Is. 53 is the original of these words?

 

22.
Acts 3:13,14

 

It is difficult to be sure whether, in this speech after the healing of the lame man, Peter was harnessing Is. 49 or 53 to his theme. But certainly the verbal contacts with ch. 53 are intriguing: "his servant (AV: Son)...glorified (52:13)...whom he delivered up (v.12 LXX; see para. 18)...why marvel ye? (52:13,15, LXX)...shewed by the mouth of all his holy prophets, that the Christ should suffer..." There are similar possibilities about Acts 22:14 and context.

 

23.
John
1:1

 

"The Word was
with God"
is an expression which has had many readers groping. Some have even got as far as wishing the words were not there! But this is the exact equivalent of "he shall grow up
before him."
It is another in­dication that the opening verses of Jn. 1 are not about a woolly philosophical Logos idea, but about Jesus the Man, who wholly lived a God-ward life and was in truth a manifestation of God, "the arm of the Lord."

 


* Reference of this passage to human rulers goes clean against the context, and makes nonsense of Paul's argument. See B.S. 16.05.

** lt may be that in Rom. 8:27 Paul is alluding to 53:12. In that case, "according to God" means "according to God's purpose already declared in Isaiah 53."

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52 (3). "Behold my Servant (v.13-15)

 

There are still many details in this remarkable prophecy which call for examination. Its opening words: "Behold my Servant..." (v. 13), identify the Servant of chapter 42, the One who with quiet unobtrusive character lives close to the God of Israel, who opens the eyes of the blind people and sends a message of salvation to benighted Gentiles. The Lord is well pleased with him. Now, in this new prophecy, the message is essentially the same although the words are different.

 

Four remarkable words describe this despised Servant of God — he deals prudently and he is exalted and lifted up and is made very high (v.13). The first of these is used about David's circumspect behaviour at the court of Saul (1 Sam. 18:14) and also regarding the Messianic King, Son of David, foretold by Jeremiah (23:5). But these first two verbs could also read: "he gives understanding, he teaches them". (Isaiah's double meanings once again!)

 

Even if it be insisted on, that the second of these words be read as "exalted", there is still a double meaning to consider — uplifted in crucifixion and also in glory (cp. Jn. 12:32 and Is. 6:1, referred to in Jn. 12:41). Cp. also Is. 57:15, Ps. 89:27 s.w.

 

Alternatively, it has been suggested that the four verbs indicate a progression:

 

Deal prudently — the Lord's ministry.

Exalted (lifted up) — his crucifixion.

Extolled — his resurrection.

Very high — his ascension.*

 

And yet the parenthesis in the next verse emphasizes that the one so blessed had first to endure humiliation: "His visage was so marred more than any other man."

 

These words have their symbolic meaning, doubtless, but they should certainly be read also as meaning just what they say. The man this prophecy describes was repeatedly handed over to the rough buffoonery and cruelty of Roman soldiers and temple guard. It is probably correct to think of the Son of God as appearing before the mob not only with a lacerated back (Mt. 27:26) but also with a mass of contusions on his face (Mt. 27:30; 26:67), with a black eye and teeth knocked out, and certainly with a long red weal across his face (Jn. 18:22mg; Mic. 5:1). "Behold the Man!"

 

Strangely enough, the Dead Sea scroll of Isaiah reads: "Thou hast anointed his visage more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men." In that case, the words are a close parallel to the Messianic Psalm 45:7: "Thy God hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows" (another Hezekiah psalm!). However, it is difficult to decide in favour of this variant for all the other evidence appears to support the received reading.

 

"As many (Jews) were astonied at thee...so shall he sprinkle many nations (Gentiles)." The translation "sprinkle" is certainly correct.** It conjures up a remarkable picture of one accounted leprous becoming the priest who cleanses and sanctifies Gentiles.*** Here is the answer beforehand to the question in the next verse: "Who hath believed our report?"

 

"Kings shut their mouth at him" in awe and astonishment (cp. Job 29:9; 40:4). Another of the "Servant Songs" has precisely this idea: "Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship" (49:7, and cp. v.23),

 

This is the effect of the gospel — for what he has not told them**** (being sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel) shall they see: and that which they had not heard shall they consider" — "for since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth for thee" (64:4; a passage which Paul expounds in connection with the preaching of the gospel).

 

Thus this great prophecy begins and concludes (53:12) with assurances that the sufferings of Christ shall lead on to a glory that shall follow.

 


* And in that case v. 14a, 15 describe the gospel being proclaimed to unbelieving Jewry and to Gentiles.

** Even though it is tempting to compare Mic. 7:16.

*** The Hebrew word for "so" echoes the word for "priest", but even without that the idea is

certainly there.

**** Hebrew re-pointed.

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53 (4). "Who hath believed our report?" (v.1-3)

 

Although the theme of this prophecy is one — the Suffering Servant of the Lord — it is both impressive and helpful to note how each of the 5 three-verse paragraphs moves to a different aspect of that theme. Each of these sections is admirably summed up in its opening words. Thus:

 

52:13-15: "Behold my Servant" — the two-fold aspect of Messiah in suffering and glory.

52:1-3: ”Who hath believed our report?" — the appeal of Christ heard by Israel, and rejected.

52:4-6: "He hath borne our griefs" — why the Lord suffered.

52:7-9: "He was oppressed and afflicted" — what his sufferings involved.

52:10-12: "It pleased the Lord" — the divine purpose behind Messiah's suffering.

 

Throughout v. 1-6, the plural pronoun refers to the people of Israel. But "Who hath believed our report?" does not mean "what we have reported", but "what is reported to us." The parallelism confirms this: "And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?"

 

The "report" is, of course, the invigorating "good tidings of good" proclaimed to Zion that "Thy God reigneth, the Lord is returning to Zion" in the person of One who is "the Arm of the Lord" — "the Lord hath made bare his holy arm" (52:7-10). "Behold, the Lord God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him...He shall feed his flock like a shepherd, and gather the lambs with his arm" (40:10,11). And so, indeed, it would have been, had not Israel stubbornly decided otherwise — "ye would not". Instead of a message of gladness, there unfolds a sad story of "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief."

 

The Arm of the Lord

 

In ancient days, the arm of the Lord was Moses — so Isaiah himself declares: "Therefore mine own arm brought salvation unto me...Then he remembered the days of old, Moses and his people. Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock...that led him by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm...?" (63:5,11,12).

 

So also in an earlier appeal to God to redeem His people: "Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab (Egypt), and wounded the dragon (the Egyptian crocodile)? Art not thou it that hath dried the (Red) sea, the waters of the great deep...a way for the ransomed to pass over?" (51:9,10). Cp. also Ps 77:15-89:10; 136:12.

 

But now the enquiry: "To whom (al-mi, literally, upon whom) is the arm of the Lord revealed?" is answered by almah, the Virgin whom Isaiah had already foretold (7:14) as the mother of a divine child (and cp. v.2 here). And sharing the nature of those whose sins he takes upon himself, this Arm of the Lord is described as leprous, like the arm of Moses (Ex. 4:6) whose experience with leprosy and ser­pent threat pre-figured Christ's redemption.

 

"He shall grow up before him (before God) as a tender plant* and as a root out of a dry ground" (v.2). Several ancient versions introduce this with: "We announced that..." It does not read like a scribal addition or invention. If authentic, the allusion is clearly back to the announcement in Isaiah 11:1: "There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots" — the Messiah who will rule and guide with heavenly wisdom and power will first know the meaning of obscurity, weakness and discouragement — as a shoot out of a dry ground.

 


* This phrase makes certain that when Isaiah wrote "arm of the Lord" he intended a double meaning: "whom the Lord has sown."

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Not desired

 

For, alas, the "dry ground" of Jewry (Heb. nearly = "the Land of Zion") gave no encouragement: "he hath no form nor comeliness" — neither human nor divine attractiveness, so the words imply. It can be argued from these words that the Christ of the painters is altogether unreal, that neither in physique nor features was there anything in Jesus to draw men to himself. But such a conclusion depends on these words only and no others; so, at best, this conclusion should be tentative (c.f. Lk. 2:40).

 

His enemies saw to it that "his visage was marred more than any man." But even before that the strain of the ministry was such that he was prematurely aged — men mistook this man of 33 for one nearly fifty (Jn. 8:57).

 

But it was in a more basic sense that "when we see him, there is no beauty (no divine glory) that we should desire him." Even "an Israelite indeed in whom was no guile" was full to the top with prejudice: "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" (Jn. 1:46)*. And to that there was only one answer: "Come and see" — and that was usually a failure.

 

Here, then, was one "despised and rejected" (v.3). An earlier Servant prophecy said the same: "him whom man despiseth, whom the nation abhorreth" (49:7). Now the minatory words of Moses' law take on a new meaning: "Because he hath despised the Word of the Lord...that soul shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be upon himself" (Num. 15:31), instead of laid upon him who is the Word of the Lord and His Suffering Servant.

 

It was this rejection by his own people which more than anything else made Jesus "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief." This was his greatest sorrow and grief, so that he wept over Jerusalem. In this twentieth century "acquainted with grief" reads as deliberate understatement, but the word really means "caused to know;" it was not self-sought, but brought upon him by men — the Hebrew form is a very unusual plural, as though to emphasize that it was the chief men of the nation who were set on rejecting the Son of God. "Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?" they demanded roughly. Yet there in their midst was one as able as the best of them, a silent uncommitted disciple (Jn. 7:48-52).

 

God had said to Moses concerning Israel, His firstborn: "I know their sorrows" (Ex. 3:7). Then how much more was it true of His Firstborn Son! "They went both of them together" — the Father and the Son (Gen. 22:6,8) — all the days that Jesus set his face steadfastly to go to Jerusalem.

 

 


* Yet the name Nazareth echoes Is. 11:1: "Branch".

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53 (5). "He hath borne our griefs" (v.4-6)

 

Of the 12 impressive assertions that Christ suffered for others, no less than 7 come in this group of three verses. They begin with the word "Verily", as though to counter strong disbelief.

 

The word "griefs" is, strictly, "sicknesses", but the same word is used in parallel with "iniquity" (33:24), so there can be little doubt that the spiritual meaning is the right one here. The immediate emphasis on "transgressions, iniquities" (v.5) settles this.

 

The words are written not as an expression of faith from thankful believers but as an interpretation of the attitude of an unbelieving Israel. This Suffering Servant is deemed to be "smitten of God." They so "esteemed him" i.e. imputed this to him. A passage in the Talmud puts Jesus of Nazareth in hell along with Balaam, the false prophet, and Titus, the destroyer of Jerusalem. Reprobation could hardly go further than that.

 

The Suffering of Death

 

Yet in truth Jesus suffered a hell of torment — wounds, bruises, chastisement, stripes (v.5) — not for his own sins but because of the worthlessness of others: "for our transgressions, our iniquities," to bring about "our peace, our healing."

 

So it was not just the death of Jesus which made atonement but his dying, "the suffering of death" (Heb. 2:9). Theologically, the fact that he died is central. But a theology which encourages neglect of the shame and torment is out of balance. In Gethsemane Jesus sweat as it were great drops of blood. Not that he actually exuded blood, but rather that the sweat of that struggle is to be seen as the beginn­ing of his sacrifice at Golgotha. And so, too, one may be sure, that miserable night spent in being shuttled between Annas and Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin, enduring remorseless interrogation, spitting, buffoonery and beating, and being weighed down by an almost intolerable fatigue. All this, too, was "for our transgressions, for our iniquities."

 

Bruised, crushed

 

In a wide variety of ways God's appointments for Israel's tabernacle of the con­gregation forced upon their attention this inescapable element in their religious life. The golden candlestick and the cherubim of glory were of beaten work; with their daily sacrifice there must be oil beaten out; the memorial Shewbread must be baked from flour made fine by long grinding and sieving, and the meal offering of their firstfruit must be of corn first bruised and then parched with fire; the manna, their bread of life, was useless to them except they first "ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar."

 

The true Israel must not fail, then, to appreciate that not only the sacrifice but also "the chastisement of our peace" was upon him. Without this, no covenant of peace with God (see 54:10), no fellowship — the Hebrew word for "stripes" actually echoes "fellowship"!

 

The pronouns in this central passage are very eloquent, pointing the contrast between him in his humiliation and wretchedness, and us in our sins and a different kind of wretchedness.

 

This contrast intensifies: "All we like sheep have gone astray...and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." That night in Gethsemane, the disciples, like a panic-stricken stampeding flock, "forsook him and fled" (Mt. 26:56). And next morning "he bearing his cross went forth to a place called 'the place of a skull'" (Jn. 19:17).

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53 (6). "Oppressed and Afflicted" (v.7-9)

 

The prophecy moves on to picture afresh not the reason for this undeserved suffering but the horrifying fact of it.

 

The opening statement is a noticeably defective parallelism, and the ingenious suggestion has been made that since the word 'anah means both "answer" and "afflict" it originally occurred twice, in both senses, but that because of the repetition one 'anah has been dropped in transmission. If this is correct, then there was originally a characteristic Isaianic play on words: "He was oppressed, and he answered not; and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth." This is linguistically satisfying, but it actually adds nothing to the message.

 

No Rebuttal

 

"Answerest thou nothing what these witness against thee," demanded Caiaphas roughly. But Jesus held his peace (Mt. 26:63). "Herod questioned him in many words; but he answered him nothing" (Lk. 23:9). "Whence art thou?" asked a ruffled, puzzled, frightened Pilate. But Jesus gave him no answer (Jn. 19:9). Was this because Jesus was intent on fulfilling what he knew to be a Messianic prophecy? Or was it because, whether the words were written or not, this was his character: "as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth" (v.7)?*

 

Somewhat remarkably, Jeremiah appropriated this passage to describe the way in which the men of his own village (priests, like himself) set themselves to compass his destruction: "I was like a pet lamb** that was led to the slaughter." These men were saying: "Let us cut him off from the land of the living" (11:19).

 

Jeremiah must have recognized the Messianic character of Isaiah 53. Then why did he use such a striking passage about himself? Most probably because, like David and Hezekiah and others, he knew himself to be a prototype of Messiah.*** So the words belonged to him as well as to the Christ.

 

The description: "taken from prison and from judgement", is not without its difficulty, unless the assumption is made that for part of the night of his trial Jesus was thrown into a dungeon. But that phrase could read: "taken from the assembly," i.e. the Sanhedrin, "and from the judgement (of Pilate)." There is then a perfect parallel with Ps. 22:16: "For dogs (i.e. Gentiles) have compassed me: the assembly (the Sanhedrin) of the wicked have inclosed me."

 


* A further small textual correspondence: "brought as a lamb" has the same word (in LXX) as Lk. 23:1,32.

** AV: "ox" is a mistake readily accounted for. Another possible meaning is: chief of the flock.

*** The correspondences are considerable. See "Of whom the world was not worthy", H.A.W., ch. 45.

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No Family

 

But why does the prophecy go on to lament: "And who shall declare his gen­eration? for he was cut off out of the land of the living"? Presumably because to mete out such unjust condemnation to a young man must mean the extinction of his line. This is the end of all hopes of being honoured by his posterity, for there can be no posterity.

 

The superb correction of this seemingly inevitable outcome follows in verse 10: "He shall see his seed." And again there is a splendid parallel in Ps. 22: "A seed shall serve him; it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be (new-)born, that he hath done this" (v.30,31).

 

But that phrase: "cut off out of the land of the living," is not without its difficulty; for, strictly, it means: "cut in two" (e.g. 1 Kgs. 3:25; Ps. 136:13). The similar prophecy in Isaiah 49:8 resolves the problem: "I will give thee for a covenant of the people" — and a covenant was ratified by severance of the covenant victim (Gen. 15:10). So here, less directly than in the explicit declarations already made, is an in­timation that the victim described is so appointed to confirm a New Covenant: "for the transgression of my people was he stricken."

 

Here, again, is yet another of Isaiah's double entendres, for, whilst this doubtless is the meaning intended, the words can also be construed to read: "because of the rebellion of my people, a plague is on them" — Israel came to be reckoned a leprous race. And yet they are "My people" — the expression: "My Righteous Ser­vant" (v.11) proves God to be the speaker.

 

This Servant of the Lord was so stricken "because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth" (v.9a is a parenthesis). It was only by his utter separation from human sin that Jesus qualified for this high role of becoming an all-sufficient offering "without blemish."

 

There was both shame and honour in his dying: "He made his grave with the wicked and with the rich in his death." That last word is not singular (see AVmg), so it must be read as an intensive plural (a common phenomenon in OT. Hebrew*) meaning: "his terrible death." But this does not preclude a further interpretation: a death in which many others have a share symbolically.

 

The details here are wonderfully accurate. For Jesus died between two malefac­tors (the word "wicked" is plural), and he was buried in the tomb of a wealthy man ("rich" is singular). More than this, the literal translation is not "he made" but "he gave" or "he appointed". The first of these possibilities is meaningless. The second could not be more fitting, for it was God who appointed that His Son should be "numbered with the transgressors" and yet have a burial fit for a king. Remarkably, on the human level also, the very man who signed Christ's death warrant was also the one who granted his body to Joseph of Arimathea for prompt and honourable in­terment. If only unbelievers would face facts such as these!

 

 


* 1:15,18 (bloods, scarlets); 45:24 (righteousnesses); Ps. 116:7,13 (rests, salvations); 2 Chr. 16:14 (sepulchres); Jer. 14:1 (deaths); Dan. 2:1,5 (dreams); and in the N.T. 1 Thess. 4:17; Jude 13; 2 Pet. 3:11. There are many more.

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53 (7). "It pleased the Lord" (v.10-12)

 

There are many Scriptures which assert that the death of Christ was central and utterly necessary in God's redemption of fallen mankind.

 

It was by "the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God" (Acts 2:23). "The Son of man must (GK: it is necessary that he) be lifted up" (Jn. 3:14).

 

That it should "please the Lord to bruise him" is a thing hard to be understood. When Jesus set his face to go steadfastly to Jerusalem, so also did the Father. As with Abraham and Isaac, "they went both of them together." The suffering of His only begotten Son was no light thing to his Father in heaven. This may be taken as certain. Yet Omniscience, foreseeing the outcome of this travail, rejoiced in ultimate victory: "He shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand."

 

Such words, written concerning a man going to ignominious death can only mean his resurrection.

 

The Fifth Commandment spoken at Sinai gave assurance that "thy days will be prolonged" by obedience to parents. Here is one who prolonged his days by honouring both Father and mother and who in turn "sees his seed" who honour him.

 

Thus the tale of shame and sufferings ends not in oblivion but in a multitudinous happy family: "thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles" (54:3). "Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth" (Ps. 45:16).

 

Appeal to the Reader

 

But there is a problem about the accompanying phrase: "when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed." Many read this as a parallel to "it pleased the Lord to bruise him." But then the change of person from "the Lord" to "Thou" calls for explanation.

 

It is more satisfactory, more consistent, and also more satisfying to read these words as the prophet's apostrophe to his reader: "When thou shalt make his soul an offering for (thy) sin..." The merits of this vicarious sacrifice do not pass over to others automatically, but only when they are appreciated and sought for with heart and soul.

 

The eunuch from Ethiopia evidently grasped this truth, for his reaction was: 'In Jerusalem I was shut out from participation in sacrifice, and this not by my own choice. Then am I likewise hindered from making this Man's soul an offering for my sin?' The emphatic answer was: 'One thing, and one thing only, debars a man from sharing this redemption, and that is disbelief. If thou believest in Christ with all thine heart, thou mayest be baptized.'

 

Each time there is this positive response, the prophecy finds further fulfilment: "He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied." This was "the joy set before him" (Heb. 12:2) — the prospect of knowing a multitude of sinners re­deemed, through faith in himself. What happier outcome from that long haul of the cross to Golgotha?

 

It is at this point that the Dead Sea Isaiah scroll has one of its few remarkable variant readings (partly supported by LXX): "After all his pains he shall be bathed in light." This, if it can be sustained (which is a little doubtful), becomes a more emphatic declaration of resurrection; it also adds to the completeness of this superb prophecy by the mention of the glory and ascension of the risen Christ.

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How to know the Father

 

In what sense is it true that "by his knowledge shall my Righteous Servant justify many"? First, in that he is not only servant but also teacher: "The Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary" (50:4). "Learn of me (for I am meek and lowly in heart*), and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Learn of me, "for no man knoweth the Father, save the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him" (Mt. 11:29,27).

 

It is possible that "his knowledge" is really "knowledge of him" (cp. "my knowledge" in Pro. 22:17) — that is, "the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord...that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings" (Phil. 3:8,10). It is "by the knowledge of him" that God gives "a spirit of wisdom and revelation" (Eph. 1:17), for "in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col. 2:3; cp. also 2 Pet. 2:20).

 

It has been plausibly suggested that by the slightest possible emendation to one letter (the kind of error which crops up fairly frequently in the Hebrew text) the passage would read: "In his adversity my Righteous Servant will justify many," thus providing a fairly good parallel to: "the travail of his soul," and chiming in more obviously with the main theme of the prophecy.

 

There are two remarkable explanations behind this pro-evangelium: "my Righteous Servant shall justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities." First, the grim truth that it is only by such vicarious bearing of their iniquities that men can be justified, accounted righteous — and by no other way; such is the intractability of human nature.

 

Secondly, the prophet insists that it is "only in the Lord" that there is righteousness and strength..."In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified" (45:24,25). "Their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord" (54:17). Then who is this Humble Servant who bears iniquity and so justifies many?

 

Servant...servants

 

This is the last of the twenty references in Isaiah 40-53 to the Servant of the Lord. Hereafter, in chapters 54-66, there is only the plural: "servants", eleven times. This is obviously by design and either goes a fair way towards proving Isaiah 40-66 to be by one author; or by two, with a division at the end of 53 (which no-one has argued for yet). The modernist sub-division, 40-55, 56-66, can do nothing with an awkward fact of this kind.

 

There remains the final climactic verse in which a three-fold repetition of the tale of suffering is framed by a triple triumphal declaration of a glorious and happy outcome.

 

"He poured out his soul unto death." The verb also means "made naked." Thus in a word there is the shame of crucifixion and also the agonizing surrender of life symbolized in the end by a gush of blood after the casual thrust of a spear.

 


* It is important to remember that in the Bible "heart" is not an emotional word, as it is in modern speech. "Mind" is a much closer equivalent.

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Numbered with the transgressors

 

Not only in his death but also in his life Jesus was "numbered with the tran­sgressors." This was openly expressed at his baptism when he insisted: "Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness" (Mt. 3:15). The "us" there does not signify the baptizer and the baptized. It links Jesus in his baptism with those others who came to be "baptized of John in Jordan confessing their sins" (3:6). In Luke's record this conclusion is inescapable: "Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also being baptized and praying, the heaven was opened..." (Lk. 3:21). Thus he openly declared the precious and essential truth that the sinless Saviour and the saved truly are one. The entail of selfish and sinful propensities which are the inheritance of every man came through to him also and yet were consistently disowned at every moment.

 

In the Law of Moses it was commanded that at every numbering of the people each man must pay half a shekel of silver, "to make atonement for your souls" (Ex. 30:12-16). So Jesus, "numbered with the transgressors", shared the atone­ment which they needed. More than that, he paid the atonement price for himself and for all the rest (Mt. 17:27).

 

The Many

 

Thus he "bare the sin of many." It is a truth which is also illustrated when, at Kadesh, Israel faithlessly turned their back on God's promises. For this, "your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your whoredoms" (Num. 14:33). The sins of these fathers were borne by their children as well as by themselves. Thus also Jesus bore our sins. But he bore them away.

 

"Therefore will I give him the many as his share of the plunder." The booty accruing from his agonizing struggle was "a multitude which no man can number" except he who has paid the atonement price.

 

Remarkably enough, this eloquent expression occurs in Jacob's prophecy to his sons — not, as might be expected concerning Judah, but with reference to Benjamin: "In the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil (with the strong)" (Gen. 49:27). At first Saul of Benjamin did "ravin as a wolf" among the Christian believers. But later he brought further fulfilment of these words in Isaiah, helping his Lord to divide "strong ones" of the Gentiles as a spoil.

 

Here there comes in yet another of Isaiah's double meanings. The words could be read: "I will give rabbis for his share..." The time came when men like Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea read those words with deep satisfaction. One of them was "the teacher of Israel", the other was "an honourable counsellor." These men who had met with high dignity in the Sanhedrin met again in brave humility at the foot of the cross. Their faith, now no more to be repressed, asserted a conviction that the Man whom they sought to honour in his interment would yet make intercession for them and for all transgressors.

 

Thus he saves "to the uttermost" (Heb. 7:25). Like the Samaritan paying two pence (the exact equivalent of that half-shekel of atonement money) and promising all else that is needful, so the One who bare sin for sinners also "ever liveth to make intercession for them" (Heb. 7:25) — "he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God" (Rom. 8:27).

 

It is all "according to the will of God", all of it.

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