Commentari biblici

1, 2. The term of Jerusalem’s servitude is accomplished; she has suffered the full penalty of her transgressions.

Comfort ye] The repetition of an emphatic opening word is characteristic of the writer’s style; cf. ch. Isaiah 43:11; Isaiah 43:25, Isaiah 48:11; Isaiah 48:15, Isaiah 51:9; Isaiah 51:12; Isaiah 51:17, Isaiah 52:1; Isaiah 52:11 etc. (see Introd. p. xlv). It is rather idle to enquire who are the persons addressed; they might no doubt be prophets (as the clause is paraphrased by the Targ.) or the prophetically minded among the people, but certainly not the priests, as is suggested by the Sept. addition of ἱερεῖς at the beginning of Isaiah 40:2.

saith your God] The verb differs in tense from the usual prophetic formula, being an impf. either of continued or of incipient action (see Introd. p. xlvii, and Driver, Tenses, § 33 (a) Obs.). To translate it by a future and take this as a proof that the words were written by Isaiah 150 years before is quite unwarranted.

Ch. Isaiah 40:1-11. The Prologue

This first proclamation of glad tidings to Zion (see ch. Isaiah 41:27) is a passage of singular beauty, breathing the spirit of new-born hope and enthusiasm with which the prophet enters on his work. The announcement of a miraculous restoration of the exiles to their own land is the central theme of his prophecy, and the point around which all the ideas of the book crystallize. As yet the historical fact is but dimly outlined, the writer’s mind being occupied with its ideal significance as a revelation of the glory and the gracious character of Jehovah (Isaiah 40:5; Isaiah 40:10 f.). His state of mind borders on ecstasy; his ears are filled with the music of heavenly voices telling him that the night is far spent and the day is at hand; and although his home is with the exiles in Babylon, his gaze is fixed throughout on Jerusalem and the great Divine event which is the consummation of Israel’s redemption.—The prologue consists of two parts:

i. Isaiah 40:1-2.—Proclamation of forgiveness and promise of deliverance to the exiled nation.

ii. Isaiah 40:3-11. An imaginative description of the process by which the promise is to be fulfilled,—Jehovah’s return with His people to their ancient abode. This second division contains three sections:—

(1) Isaiah 40:3-5. A voice is heard calling on un seen agencies to prepare a way for Jehovah through the desert. The idea expressed is that already the spiritual and supernatural forces are in motion which will bring about the return of the captives and a revelation of the Divine glory to all the world.

(2) Isaiah 40:6-8. A second voice calls on the prophet to proclaim the fundamental truth on which the realisation of his hope depends,—the perishableness of all human power, and the enduring stability of the word of the Lord.

(3) Isaiah 40:9-11. The prophet himself now takes up the strain; he summons a company of ideal messengers to announce to Zion and the cities of Judah the advent of Jehovah with His ransomed people.

2. speak ye comfortably to] Lit. “speak to the heart of.” To “speak to one’s own heart” is to whisper or meditate (1 Samuel 1:13); to speak to the heart of another is to soothe, or persuade, or comfort. For the meaning of the phrase, see Genesis 34:3; Jdg 19:3; 2 Samuel 19:7; Hosea 2:14; and esp. Genesis 50:21; and Ruth 2:13, where it is parallel to “comfort” as here.

Jerusalem] an ideal representation of the people, like Zion in Isaiah 40:9; cf. Isaiah 49:14 ff., Isaiah 51:16 f., Isaiah 52:1 ff. Isaiah 52:7 ff. That there was an actual population in the ruined city during the Exile is of course not to be inferred from this figure. There are two standing personifications of Israel in this prophecy, the other being the “Servant of the Lord.” These, however, are not interchangeable; Zion represents the nation on its receptive side; she is the mother of the people, the recipient of the blessings of salvation; while the Servant represents the historic Israel, past, present and future, in its religious aspect, with a Divine mission to fulfil for humanity.

her warfare is accomplished] The word for “warfare” is that rendered “appointed time” in A.V. of Job 7:1; Job 14:14. It means properly a term of military service; then figuratively any period of irksome toil or endurance which a man longs to reach the end of; such as life itself had become to Job. The reference here is of course to the Exile. Render: time of service (R.V. marg.).

her iniquity (better, her guilt) is pardoned] The expression for pardon is rare. The verb commonly means “to be pleased with”; in a few places it means (as here) “to pay off a debt to the satisfaction of the creditor” (see Leviticus 26:34; Leviticus 26:41; Leviticus 26:43, and cf. 2 Chronicles 36:21). For the idea see ch. Isaiah 50:1.

for she hath received … double] i.e. “double penalty for her sins” (cf. Jeremiah 16:18; Jeremiah 17:18; Revelation 18:6), not “(she shall receive) double favour for her previous punishment.” It is difficult to say whether the clause is subordinate to the two preceding (as in A.V.) or co-ordinate with them, as in R.V. (reading that instead of for). The idea that Jerusalem’s punishment had been greater than her sin required is not to be pressed theologically; but the idea that Jehovah’s penal purpose can be satisfied by a temporary chastisement is of the essence of the O.T. notion of forgiveness. It must be remembered, however, that in the view of this prophet, Israel includes the Servant of Jehovah, and the unmerited sufferings of the Servant form the atoning element in the punishment which has fallen on the nation as a whole (ch. 53).

3. The voice of him that crieth] The word “voice” here and often has the force of an interjection; render accordingly: Hark! one crying. The voice is not that of God (on account of the following “our God”), neither is it a human voice; it comes from one of the angelic ministers of Jehovah and is addressed to beings of the same order. The words in the wilderness should be joined with prepare ye etc., in accordance with the accents (R.V.). A.V. agrees with LXX. and Vulg. and the N.T. citations (Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4); but sense and parallelism alike shew that the Heb. accentuation is right.

Prepare] strictly “clear of obstacles” (see Genesis 24:31; Leviticus 14:36; Psalm 80:9; cf. ch. Isaiah 57:14, Isaiah 62:10; Malachi 3:1). The figure is taken from the well-known Eastern practice of repairing the roads for a royal journey. It may be difficult to say how far the representation is ideal. Allusions to the march through the desert are too constant a feature of the prophecy (ch. Isaiah 40:10 f., Isaiah 41:18 f., Isaiah 42:16, Isaiah 43:19 f., Isaiah 48:21, Isaiah 49:9 ff., Isaiah 55:12 f.) to be treated as merely figurative; the prophet seems to have expected the deliverance to issue in a triumphal progress of Jehovah with His people through the desert between Babylonia and Palestine, after the analogy of the exodus from Egypt. But all such passages probably look beyond the material fulfilment and include the removal of political and other hindrances to the restoration of Israel.

3–5. The prophet hears a voice calling on angelic powers to prepare the way of the Lord. It is doubtful whether Duhm is right in regarding this as a case of true prophetic “audition”; it is more naturally understood as a flight of poetic imagination.

4. and the crooked … plain] More literally: and the uneven shall become a plain, and the rugged places a valley. rough places is a word of somewhat uncertain sense, which does not occur elsewhere. straight and plain are nouns in the original.

5. In place of it together LXX. has “the salvation of God,” borrowing apparently from ch. Isaiah 52:10. See Luke 3:6.

for the mouth … it] This prophetic formula is nowhere else used by second Isaiah. The whole verse is deleted as a gloss by Duhm and Cheyne, but on grounds which seem insufficient.

6. The voice said, Cry] Render (as before) Hark! one saying, Cry. “Cry” here evidently means “prophesy” as in Isaiah 40:2, ch. Isaiah 44:7, Isaiah 61:1 f.; Jeremiah 7:27. Hence the response, and one said (R.V.) will naturally come from a prophet, the call being from the same quarter as in Isaiah 40:3. There is no need to suppose that an ideal person is meant, the most probable interpretation is that it is the prophet himself who replies to the voice. It is better, therefore, to change the vowels and read with LXX. and Vulg. “and I said”; in spite of the fact that the author usually keeps his own personality in the background. The other reading does not sufficiently express the distinction between the call and the answer; hence A.V. seems to refer both to the same speaker.

all flesh is grass] The answer to the question, “What shall I cry?” Cf. ch. Isaiah 37:27; Job 8:12; Job 14:2; Psalm 37:2; Psalm 103:15, and esp. Psalm 90:5 f. goodliness] The Heb. word is nowhere else used in this sense. It signifies “lovingkindness” or “grace” (of God to men). The transition from the one meaning to the other is illustrated by the Greek χάρις, and there is no reason to suspect the text.

6–8. The second voice proclaims the double truth: all earthly might is transitory, the word of God is eternal. Logically the section interrupts the connexion between Isaiah 40:5 and Isaiah 40:9, and is itself a prelude to Isaiah 40:12 ff. But to transpose Isaiah 40:6-11, as is done by the two commentators just named, is hardly advisable; logical sequence is not the principle on which the book is arranged.

7. the spirit of the Lord] Better as R.V. the breath of the LORD, i.e. the wind (Psalm 103:16), specially the scorching east-wind (Hosea 13:15) or Sirocco, which blows chiefly in the spring, blighting the fresh vegetation (see Smith, Hist. Geog. of Palestine, pp. 67 ff.).

surely the people is grass] “The people,” used absolutely, must apparently mean “humanity”; although there are no strict parallels to this sense. To understand it of Israel is opposed to the prophet’s general teaching and misrepresents his meaning here. It is not Israel, but the enemies of Israel, whose perishableness he is concerned to assert. The words at best are a flat repetition of Isaiah 40:6 and should probably be removed as a marginal gloss. The LXX., indeed, omits all from because in Isaiah 40:7 to fadeth in Isaiah 40:8 : but this proves nothing, as it is evidently an oversight caused by the homœoteleuton. The resumption of the leading thought is a very effective introduction to the contrasted idea in the end of Isaiah 40:8.

8. the word of our God] is the word spoken by the prophets to Israel, the announcement of Jehovah’s immutable purpose in the world; this is the one permanent factor in human history. It is a mistake to limit the reference to the word of promise just declared by the prophet; the statement is general, although the implied argument is that as the threatening predictions of earlier prophets have been fulfilled, so this new word of comfort shall stand, because it proceeds from the same God, who can dissolve the mightiest combinations of human power (Isaiah 40:23).