Commentari biblici

In this chapter, I. We are sure to find the grace of Christ, published by himself to a lost world in the everlasting gospel, under the type and figure of Isaiah's province, which was to foretel the deliverance of the Jews out of Babylon, Isa 61:1-3. II. We think we find the glories of the church of Christ, its spiritual glories, described under the type and figure of the Jews' prosperity after their return out of their captivity. 1. It is promised that they decays of the church shall be repaired, Isa 61:4. 2. That those from without shall be made serviceable to the church, Isa 61:5. 3. That the church shall be a royal priesthood, maintained by the riches of the Gentiles, Isa 61:6. 4. That she shall have honour and joy in lieu of all her shame and sorrow, Isa 61:7. 5. That her affairs shall prosper, Isa 61:8. 6. That prosperity shall enjoy these blessings, Isa 61:9. 7. That righteousness and salvation shall be the eternal matter of the church's rejoicing and thanksgiving, Isa 61:10,11. If the Jewish church was ever thus blessed, much more shall the Christian church be so, and all that belong to it.

This chapter, in its design and structure, is intimately connected with the preceding. That it refers to the Messiah will be shown in the notes at Isaiah 61:1-3, and the main scope and design of the chapter is to show some of the glorious results of his coming.

The chapter may be regarded as divided into the following parts, namely:

I. The public address or proclamation of the Messiah, stating the design for which he had been appointed to his office, and the consolatory nature of his message Isaiah 61:1-3.

II. The happy effects and privileges of his coming Isaiah 61:4-9.

1. The effects of his coming in restoring the old wastes, and in building up the long-fallen ruins Isaiah 61:4-5.

(1) The aid of others would be called in for this.

(2) The sons of foreigners would become tributary to them, and feed their flocks and plow their fields, and dress their vines - that is, the pagan world would become subject to the church.

2. The privileges which would result from Ms coming Isaiah 61:6-9.

(1) Absolutely. They would be named friends of God, and enjoy the wealth of the pagan world.

(2) Comparatively. Their state would be far more than a recompence for all they had suffered.

(3) In the honor which would be put upon them. Their name would be known abroad, and their children be honored as the blessed of the Lord.

III. The occasion of rejoicing which the church would have in this Isaiah 61:10-11.

1. In the beauty and honor with which she would be clothed.

2. In the abundant increase of righteousness and purity.

The subject of the preceding chapter is continued in this; and to give it the greater solemnity, the Messiah is introduced describing his character and office, and confirming the large promises made before, Isaiah 61:1-9. In consequence of this the Jewish Church is introduced, praising God for the honor done her by her restoration to favor, and by to accession of the Gentiles, which is beautifully described by allusions to the rich pontifical dress of the high priest; a happy similitude to express the ornaments of a restored nation and of a renewed mind, Isaiah 61:10. Certainty of the prophecy illustrated by a figure drawn from the vegetable kingdom, Isaiah 61:11.

INTRODUCTION TO Isaiah 61

In this chapter both Christ and the church are introduced speaking, in their turns. It begins with the words of Christ, describing his work and office; his qualifications for it; the several parts and branches of it; and the ends to be answered by it; Isaiah 61:1, the reparation of the church; the feeding it by strangers; its being a holy priesthood; its enjoying the riches of the Gentiles; its having honour and joy, instead of shame and confusion; its prosperity in the work of the Lord, and the continuance of its spiritual offspring among the Gentiles, are prophesied of in Isaiah 61:4, and then the church is represented as rejoicing in the Lord, on account of her being clothed with his righteousness, so ornamental to her, Isaiah 61:10 and the chapter is concluded with a promise of her righteousness and glory appearing before all the nations of the world; of which the following chapter is an illustrious prophecy, Isaiah 61:11.

Ch. 61. The Proclamation of Glad Tidings to Zion

i. Isaiah 61:1-3. The speaker (see below) introduces himself as the herald of the coming salvation. Anointed with the spirit of the Lord, he is commissioned to cheer and comfort the distressed people of God by the announcement of a day of spiritual emancipation and privilege which issues in eternal splendour.

ii. Isaiah 61:4-9. In the end of Isaiah 61:3 the soliloquy has passed insensibly into objective description of the glorious future of Israel; and this is the subject of the remainder of the prophecy. The old waste places shall be rebuilt (Isaiah 61:4); Israel shall be recognised as the priestly people among the nations, while strangers feed its flocks and till its fields (Isaiah 61:5-6); the people shall receive double compensation for their past sufferings, and the blessing of Jehovah shall visibly rest on them (Isaiah 61:7-9).

iii. Isaiah 61:10-11. The prophet, speaking as it would appear in the name of the community, exults in the glorious prospect thus disclosed of a spiritual spring-time when Jehovah shall cause righteousness and praise to sprout before all the nations.

It will be seen that in substance the passage deals with the same theme as ch. 60, the future blessedness of Zion. The important difference is the prominence given in the opening monologue (Isaiah 61:1-3) to the personality and mission of the speaker. The question necessarily arises, Who is this speaker? Whilst the Targum and perhaps a majority of well-known commentators assign the speech to the prophet himself, a number of the best authorities regard it as a self-delineation of the ideal Servant of Jehovah such as we have found in ch. Isaiah 49:1-6 and Isaiah 50:4-9. The question is one of much difficulty, and the chief points involved are the following: (1) The name “Servant of the Lord” does not here occur. But this really counts for nothing, since the same is true of ch. Isaiah 50:4-9, where it cannot be doubted that it is the Servant who speaks. (2) It is said that the prophet invariably keeps his own personality in the background and that where any other than Jehovah speaks of Himself at length, it is always the Servant. This is true of the author of ch. 40–55, but is much less obvious if the present passage has to be assigned to a later writer. The prophet’s consciousness of his own mission is strongly expressed in ch. Isaiah 58:1, probably also in ch. Isaiah 62:1, and it is unsafe to assert that he might not have expanded it in such terms as are here used. Another exception to the rule is found in the earlier part of the book in ch. Isaiah 48:16 (which may however be an interpolation. see on the verse). (3) There are undoubtedly affinities between the conception here and the portrait of the Servant; e.g. the gift of the spirit (Isaiah 42:1), the helpful and consoling ministry (Isaiah 50:4, Isaiah 42:3), the message of emancipation (Isaiah 42:7, Isaiah 49:9). On the other hand the function claimed by the speaker cannot be said to transcend that of a prophet, and seems to fall below the level of the Servant’s great work. He is only the herald of salvation, whereas the Servant is its mediator; there is nothing here to suggest the profound moral influence which is the characteristic of the Servant’s ministry to Israel, for it does not appear that the mission of consolation here described consists in anything else than the proclamation of the coming glory. We miss also the element of universalism which is so conspicuous in the Servant’s work; and the allusion to a “day of vengeance” strikes a note which is never found in the undoubted utterances of the Servant. (4) Although it is a begging of the question to assert that the personification of the Servant ceases with ch. 53, it is certainly difficult to find a place for this portrait in the cycle of Servant-passages. These passages shew a well-marked progression and connexion of thought, and one must hesitate to believe that after the climax in ch. 53 the same personage should again appear in what must be considered a subordinate character. On the whole the objections to taking the words as those of the prophet appear less cogent than those against attributing them to the Servant, but it is probable that the writer was familiar with the earlier portraits of the Servant and that his conception of his prophetic office was influenced by them. That our Lord quotes the passage as descriptive of Himself and His message (Luke 4:18 f.) does not decide the question, for the ideal prophet is as truly a type of Christ as the Servant himself.

Isa 61:1-11.

MESSIAH'S OFFICES: RESTORATION OF ISRAEL.

Messiah announces His twofold commission to bring gospel mercy at His first coming, and judgments on unbelievers and comfort to Zion at His second coming

(Isa 61:1-9);

the language can be applied to Isaiah, comforting by his prophecies the exiles in Babylon, only in a subordinate sense.

1. is upon me; because . . . hath anointed me--quoted by Jesus as His credentials in preaching

(Lu 4:18-21).

The Spirit is upon Me in preaching, because Jehovah hath anointed Me from the womb

(Lu 1:35),

and at baptism, with the Spirit "without measure," and permanently "abiding" on Me

(Isa 11:2; Joh 1:32; 3:34; Ps 45:7;

with which compare

1Ki 1:39, 40; 19:16; Ex 29:7).

"Anointed" as Messiah, Prophet, Priest, and King.

good tidings--as the word "gospel" means.

the meek--rather, "the poor," as

Lu 4:18

has it; that is, those afflicted with calamity, poor in circumstances and in spirit

(Mt 11:5).

proclaim liberty--

(Joh 8:31-36).

Language drawn from the deliverance of the Babylonian captives, to describe the deliverance from sin and death

(Heb 2:15);

also from the "liberty proclaimed" to all bond-servants in the year of jubilee

(Isa 61:2; Le 25:10; Jer 34:8, 9).

opening of the prison--The Hebrew rather is, "the most complete opening," namely, of the eyes to them that are bound, that is, deliverance from prison, for captives are as it were blind in the darkness of prison

(Isa 14:17; 35:5; 42:7)

[EWALD]. So

Lu 4:18

and the Septuagint interpret it;

Lu 4:18,

under inspiration, adds to this, for the fuller explanation of the single clause in the Hebrew, "to set at liberty them that are bruised"; thus expressing the double "opening" implied; namely, that of the eyes

(Joh 9:39),

and that of the prison

(Ro 6:18; 7:24, 25; Heb 2:15).

His miracles were acted parables.

The Spirit of the Lord God - Hebrew, The Spirit of the Lord Yahweh.' The Chaldee renders this, 'The prophet said, the spirit of prophecy from the presence of Yahweh God is upon me.' The Syriac, 'The Spirit of the Lord God.' The Septuagint, Πνεῦμα Κυρίου Pneuma Kuriou - 'The Spirit of the Lord,' omitting the word אדני 'ădonāy. So Luke quotes it in Luke 4:18. That this refers to the Messiah is abundantly proved by the fact that the Lord Jesus expressly applied it to himself (see Luke 4:21). Rosenmuller, Gesenius, and some others, suppose that it refers to Isaiah himself, and that the idea is, that the prophet proclaims his commission as authorized to administer consolation to the suffering exiles in Babylon. It cannot be denied that the language is such as may be applied in a subordinate sense to the office of the prophet, and that the work of the Redeemer is here described in terms derived from the consolation and deliverance afforded to the long-suffering exiles. But in a much higher sense it refers to the Messiah, and received an entire completion only as applied to him and to his work. Even Grotius, who has been said to 'find Christ nowhere in the Old Testament,' remarks, 'Isaiah here speaks of himself, as the Chaldee observes; but in him we see not an obscure image of Christ.' Applied to the Redeemer, it refers to the time when, having been baptized and set apart to the work of the Mediatorial office, he began publicly to preach (see Luke 4:21). The phrase 'the Spirit of Yahweh is upon me,' refers to the fact; that he had been publicly consecrated to his work by the Holy Spirit descending on him at Iris baptism Matthew 3:16; John 1:32, and that the Spirit of God had been imparted to him 'without measure' to endow him for his great office (John 3:34; see the notes at Isaiah 11:2).

Because the Lord hath anointed me - The word rendered 'hath anointed' (משׁח mâshach), is that from which the word Messiah is derived (see the notes at Isaiah 45:1). prophets and kings were set apart to their high office, by the ceremony of pouring oil on their heads; and the idea here is that God had set apart the Messiah for the office which he was to bear, and had abundantly endowed him with the graces of which the anointing oil was an emblem. The same language is used in reference to the Messiah in Psalm 45:7 (compare Hebrews 1:9).

To preach good tidings - On the meaning of the word (בשׂר bâs'ar) rendered here 'to preach good tidings,' see the notes at Isaiah 52:7. The Septuagint renders it, Εὐαγγελίσασθαι Euangelisasthai - 'To evangelize,' to preach the gospel.

Unto the meek - The word rendered 'meek' (ענוים ‛ănâviym) properly denotes the afflicted, the distressed, the needy. The word 'meek' means those who are patient in the reception of injuries, and stands opposed to revengeful and irascible. This is by no means the sense of the word here. It refers to those who were borne down by calamity in any form, and would be particularly applicable to those who had been sighing in a long captivity in Babylon. It is not improperly rendered by the Septuagint by the word πτωχοῖς ptōchois, 'poor,' and in like manner by Luke Luk 4:18; and the idea is, that the Redeemer came to bring a joyful message to those who were oppressed and borne down by the evils of poverty and calamity (compare Matthew 11:5).

To bind up the broken-hearted - (See the notes at Isaiah 1:6). The broken-hearted are those who are deeply afflicted and distressed on any account. It may be either on account of their sins, or of captivity and oppressionk, or of the loss of relations and friends. The Redeemer came that he might apply the balm of consolation to all such hearts, and give them joy and peace. A similar form of expression occurs in Psalm 147:3 :

He healeth the broken in heart,

And bindeth up their wounds.

To proclaim liberty to the captives - This evidently is language which is taken from the condition of the exiles in their long captivity in Babylon. The Messiah would accomplish a deliverance for those who were held under the captivity of sin similar to that of releasing captives from long and painful servitude. The gospel does not at once, and by a mere exertion of power, open prison doors, and restore captives to liberty. But it accomplishes an effect analogous to this: it releases the mind captive under sin; and it will finally open all prison doors, and by preventing crime will prevent the necessity of prisons, and will remove all the sufferings which are now endured in confinement as the consequence of crime. It may be remarked further, that the word here rendered 'liberty' (דרור derôr) is a word which is properly applicable to the year of Jubilee, when all were permitred to go free Leviticus 25:10 : 'And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty (דרור derôr) throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.' So in Jeremiah 34:8-9, it is used to denote the manumission of slaves: 'To proclaim liberty (דרור derôr) unto them; that every man should let his man-servant and every man his maid-servant, being an Hebrew, or an Hebrewess, go free.' So also Isaiah 61:1, of the same chapter.

So also in Ezekiel 46:17, it is applied to the year in which the slave was by law restored to liberty. Properly, therefore, the word has reference to the freedom of those who are held in bondage, or to servitude; and it may be implied that it was to be a part of the purpose of the Messiah to proclaim, ultimately, universal freedom, and to restore all people to their just rights. If this is the sense - and I see no reason to doubt it - while the main thing intended was that he should deliver people from the inglorious servitude of sin, it also means, that the gospel would contain principles inconsistent with the existence of slavery, and would ultimately produce universal emancipation. Accordingly it is a matter of undoubted fact that its influence was such that in less than three centuries it was the means of abolishing slavery throughout the Roman empire; and no candid reader of the New Testament can doubt that if the principles of Christianity were universally followed, the last shackle would soon fall from the slave. Be the following facts remembered:

1. No man ever made another originally a slave under the influence of Christian principle. No man ever kidnapped another, or sold another, BECAUSE it was done in obedience to the laws of Christ.

2. No Christian ever manumitted a slave who did not feel that in doing it he was obeying the spirit of Christianity, and who did not have a more quiet conscience on that account.

3. No man doubts that if freedom were to prevail everywhere, and all men were to be regarded as of equal civil rights, it would be in accordance with the mind of the Redeemer.

4. Slaves are made in violation of all the precepts of the Saviour. The work of kidnapping and selling men, women, and children; of tearing them from their homes, and confining them in the pestilential holds of ships on the ocean, and of dooming them to hard and perpetual servitude, is not the work to which the Lord Jesus calls his disciples.

5. Slavery, in fact, cannot be maintained without an incessant violation of the principles of the New Testament. To keep people in ignorance; to witchold from them the Bible; to prevent their learning to read; to render nugatory the marriage contract, or to make it subject to the will of a master; to deprive a man of the avails of Iris own labor without his consent; to make him or his family subject to a removal against his will; to prevent parents from training up their children according to their own views of what is right; to fetter and bind the intellect and shut up the avenues to knowledge as a necessary means of continuing the system; and to make people dependent wholly on others whether they shall hear the gospel or be permitted publicly to embrace it, is everywhere deemed essential to the existence of slavery, and is demanded by all the laws which rule over the regions of a country cursed with this institution. In the whole work of slavery, from the first capture of the unoffending person who is made a slave to the last act which is adopted to secure his bondage, there is an incessant and unvarying trampling on the laws of Jesus Christ. Not one thing is done to make and keep a slave in accordance with any command of Christ; not one thing which would be done if his example were followed and his law obeyed. Who then can doubt that he came ultimately to proclaim freedom to all captives, and that the prevalence of his gospel will yet be the means of universal emancipation? (compare the notes at Isaiah 58:6).

And the opening of the prison - This language also is taken from the release of those who had been confined in Babylon as in a prison; and the idea is, that the Redeemer would accomplish a work for sinful and suffering people like throwing open the doors of a prison and bidding the man who had been long lying in a dungeon to go free. On the grammatical structure of the verb rendered here 'opening of the prison' (פקץ־קיץ peqach-qôach), Gesenius (Lexicon) and Rosenmuller may be consulted. According to Gesenius, it should be read as one word. So many manuscripts read it. It occurs nowhere else. It means here deliverance. The Septuagint renders it, 'And sight to the blind,' which is followed by Luke. The sentiment which is found in the Septuagint and in Luke, is a correct one, and one which elsewhere occurs in the prophets (see Isaiah 34:5): and as the sentiment was correct, the Saviour did not deem it necessary to state that this was not the literal translation of the Hebrew. Or more properly the Saviour in the synagogue at Nazareth Luke 4:19 used the Hebrew, and when Luke came to record it, he quoted it as he found it in the version then in common use. This was the common practice with the writers of the New Testament. The Evangelist wrote probably for the Hellenists, or the Greek Jews, who commonly used the Septuagint version, and he quotes that version as being the one with which they were familiar. The sense is not materially varied whether the Hebrew be followed, or the version by the Septuagint. The Arabic version agrees nearly with the Evangelist. Horne (Introduction, ii. 403) is of opinion that the Hebrew formerly contained more than we now find in the manuscripts and the printed editions. Of that, however, I think there is no good evidence.

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me "The Spirit of Jehovah is upon me" - The Septuagint, Vulgate, and St. Luke, (Luke 4:18), and a MS., and two old editions omit the word אדני Adonai, the Lord; which was probably added to the text through the superstition of the Jews, to prevent the pronunciation of the word יהוה Jehovah following. See Kennicott on the state of the printed Hebrew text, vol. i., p. 610.

In most of Isaiah's prophecies there is a primary and secondary sense, or a remote subject illustrated by one that is near. The deliverance of the Jews from their captivity in Babylon is constantly used to shadow forth the salvation of men by Jesus Christ. Even the prophet himself is a typical person, and is sometimes intended to represent the great Savior. It is evident from Luke 4:18 that this is a prophecy of our blessed Lord and his preaching; and yet it is as evident that it primarily refers to Isaiah preaching the glad tidings of deliverance to the Jews.

The opening of the prison "Perfect liberty" - פקח קוח pekach koach. Ten MSS. of Kennicott's, several of De Rossi's, and one of my own, with the Complutensian, have פקחקוח pekachkoach in one word; and so the Septuagint and Vulgate appear to have taken it: not merely opening of prisons, but every kind of liberty - complete redemption.

The proclaiming of perfect liberty to the bound, and the year of acceptance with Jehovah. is a manifest allusion to the proclaiming of the year of jubilee by sound of trumpet. See Leviticus 25:9, etc. This was a year of general release of debts and obligations, of bondmen and bondwomen, of lands and possessions which had been sold from the families and tribes to which they belonged. Our Savior, by applying this text to himself, (Luke 4:18, Luke 4:19), a text so manifestly relating to the institution above mentioned, plainly declares the typical design of that institution.