Bible Commentaries

Isa 49:1-26.

SIMILAR TO CHAPTER

42:1-7

(Isa 49:1-9).

Messiah, as the ideal Israel

(Isa 49:3),

states the object of His mission, His want of success for a time, yet His certainty of ultimate success.

1. O isles--Messiah is here regarded as having been rejected by the Jews

(Isa 49:4, 5),

and as now turning to the Gentiles, to whom the Father hath given Him "for a light and salvation." "Isles" mean all regions beyond sea.

from the womb--

(Isa 44:2; Lu 1:31; Joh 10:36).

from . . . bowels . . . mention of my name--His name "Jesus" (that is, God-Saviour) was designated by God before His birth

(Mt 1:21).

2. my mouth . . . sword--

(Isa 11:4; Re 19:15).

The double office of the Word of God, saving and damnatory, is implied

(Isa 50:4; Joh 12:48; Heb 4:12).

shaft--

(Ps 45:5).

"Polished," that is, free from all rust, implies His unsullied purity.

in . . . quiver . . . hid me--Like a sword in its scabbard, or a shaft in the quiver, Messiah, before His appearing, was hid with God, ready to be drawn forth at the moment God saw fit [HENGSTENBERG]; also always protected by God, as the arrow by the quiver

(Isa 51:16).

3. Israel--applied to Messiah, according to the true import of the name, the Prince who had power with God in wrestling in behalf of man, and who prevails

(Ge 32:28; Ho 12:3, 4).

He is also the ideal Israel, the representative man of the nation (compare

Mt 2:15 with Ho 11:1).

in whom . . . glorified--

(Joh 14:13; 17:1-5).

4. I--Messiah.

in vain--comparatively in the case of the greater number of His own countrymen. "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not"

(Isa 53:1-3; Lu 19:14; Joh 1:11; 7:5).

Only a hundred twenty disciples met after His personal ministry was ended

(Ac 1:15).

yet . . . my judgment . . . with the Lord--Ultimately, God will do justice to My cause, and reward (Margin for "work," compare

Isa 40:10; 62:11)

My labors and sufferings. He was never "discouraged"

(Isa 42:4; 50:7, 10).

He calmly, in spite of seeming ill success for the time, left the result with God, confident of final triumph

(Isa 53:10-12; 1Pe 2:23).

So the ministers of Christ

(1Co 4:1-5; 1Pe 4:19).

5. The reason why He was confident that His work would be accepted and rewarded, namely, because He is "glorious in the eyes of Jehovah," &c.

to bring Jacob again to him--

(Mt 15:24; Ac 3:26).

Though Israel be not gathered--metaphor from a scattered flock which the shepherd gathers together again; or a hen and her chickens

(Mt 23:37).

Instead of the text "not," the Keri has the similar Hebrew word, "to Him," which the parallelism favors: "And that Israel may be gathered to Him."

yet--rather, parenthetically. "For I am glorious, &c., and My God is My strength." Then

(Isa 49:6)

resuming the words from the beginning of

Isa 49:5,

"He saith" (I repeat), &c. HORSLEY explains, "Notwithstanding the incredulity of the Jews, Messiah shall be glorified in the conversion of the Gentiles," reading as English Version: but if the Keri be read, "Israel shall at one time or other be gathered, notwithstanding their incredulity during Messiah's sojourn on earth."

6. It is a light thing--"It is too little that Thou shouldest," [HENGSTENBERG], that is, It is not enough honor to Thee to raise up Jacob and Israel, but I design for Thee more, namely, that Thou shouldest be the means of enlightening the Gentiles

(Isa 42:6, 7; 60:3).

the preserved--namely, those remaining after the judgments of God on the nation--the elect remnant of Israel reserved for mercy. LOWTH, with a slight but needless change of the Hebrew, translates for "tribes" and "preserved," the "scions"--the "branches."

7. whom man despiseth--Hebrew, "the despised of soul," that is, by every soul, by all men

(Isa 52:14, 15; 53:3; 50:6-9; Ps 22:6).

LOWTH translates, "whose person is despised."

abhorreth--literally, "who is an abomination to the nation"

(Lu 23:18-23).

The Jews contemptuously call Him always Tolvi, "the crucified." I prefer, on account of Goi, the Hebrew term for nation being usually applied to the Gentiles, and that for people to the Jews

(Ho 1:9;

so the Greek terms respectively also Laos and Ethne,

Ro 9:25),

to take "nation" here collectively for the Gentile world, which also spurned Him

(Ps 2:1-3; Ac 4:25-27).

servant of rulers--

(Mt 17:27).

He who would not exert His power against the rulers

(Mt 26:52, 53).

shall see--namely the fulfilment of God's promises

(Isa 49:3, 6),

"when He (shall be) a light to the Gentiles."

arise--to reverence Thee

(Ps 72:10, 11; Php 2:10).

princes also--rather, for the parallelism, supply the ellipsis, thus, "Princes shall see and shall worship."

faithful--namely, to His promises.

choose thee--as God's elect

(Isa 42:1).

8. Messiah is represented as having asked for the grace of God in behalf of sinners; this verse contains God the Father's favorable answer.

an acceptable time--"In a time of grace" [HENGSTENBERG]. A limited time

(Isa 61:2; 2Co 6:2).

The time judged by God to be the best fitted for effecting the purposes of His grace by Messiah.

heard thee--

(Ps 2:8; Heb 5:7).

day of salvation--when "the fulness of time"

(Ga 4:4)

shall have come. The day of salvation is "to-day"

(Heb 4:7).

helped--given Thee the help needed to enable Thee, as man, to accomplish man's salvation.

preserve--from the assaults and efforts of Satan, to divert Thee from Thy voluntary death to save man.

covenant of the people--(See on

Isa 42:6).

"The people," in the singular, is always applied exclusively to Israel.

establish the earth--rather, "to restore the land," namely, Canaan to Israel. Spiritually, the restoration of the Church (the spiritual Israel) to the heavenly land forfeited by man's sin is also included.

cause to inherit . . . desolate heritages--image from the desolate state of Judea during the Babylonish captivity. Spiritually, the Gentile world, a moral waste, shall become a garden of the Lord. Literally, Judea lying desolate for ages shall be possessed again by Israel (compare

Isa 61:7,

"in their land"). Jesus, the antitype of, and bearing the same name as Joshua

(Heb 4:8),

shall, like him, divide the land among its true heirs

(Isa 54:3; 61:4).