The Servant of God here also appears as speaking. In ver. 4, He
intimates His vocation: God has bestowed upon Him the gift of
comforting those who are weary and heavy laden. He then at once turns
to His real subject,--the sufferings which, in fulfilment of this
vocation he has to endure. The Lord has inwardly manifested to Him
that, in the exercise of His office. He shall experience severe trials;
and willingly has He borne all these sufferings, all the ignominy and
shame, ver. 5, 6. With this willingness and fortitude He is inspired by
His firm confidence in the Lord, who, he certainly knows, will help Him
and destroy His enemies, ver. 7-9. The conclusion, in ver. 10 and 11,
forms the prophetic announcement of the different fates of the two
opposing parties among the people. At the foundation of this lies the
foresight of heavy afflictions which, after the appearance of the
Servant of God, will be laid upon the covenant-people. That portion of
the people who are devoted to the Servant of God, are told to hope in
the midst of the misery, and may hope; their sorrows shall be turned
into joy. But the ungodly who, without regarding the Lord, and without
hearkening to His Servant, would help themselves, will bring
destruction upon themselves by their self-willed doings, and shall be
visited by the avenging hand of the Servant of God.
An intimation of the lowliness of Christ at His first appearance occurs
as early as in chap. xi. 1. In chap. xlii. 4, the words: "He shall not
fail nor run away," intimate that the Servant of God has to struggle
with great obstacles and difficulties in the exercise of His calling.
According to chap. xlix. 4, He will labour in vain among the great mass
of the covenant-people, [Pg 248] and spend his strength for nought and
vanity. In ver. 7, it is expressly intimated that severe sufferings
shall be inflicted upon Him by the people. That which was there alluded
to, is here _carried out and expanded_. But the suffering of the
Servant of God is here described from that aspect only which is common
to Christ with His members. It is first in chap. liii. that its
vicarious power is pointed out. The Servant of God comes here before us
in His deepest humiliation. Even in the description of His vocation in
ver. 4, the most unassuming aspect, the prophetic office only, is
brought forward. It is only quite at the close that a gentle intimation
is given of the glory concealed behind the lowliness: He there appears
as the judge of those who have rejected Him.
In the Messianic explanation of this Section, the Lord himself has gone
before His Church. We read in Luke xviii. 31, 32, [Greek: paralabôn de
tous dôdeka eipe pros autous. idou anabainomen eis hIerosoluma kai
telesthêsetai panta ta gegrammena dia tôn prophêtôn tô huiô tou
anthrôpou. paradothêsetai gar tois ethnesi kai empaichthêsetai kai
hubristhêsetai kai emptusthêsetai kai mastigôsantes apoktenousin
auton.] There cannot be any doubt that the Lord here distinctly refers
to ver. 6 of the prophecy under consideration. There is, at all events,
no other passage in the whole of the Old Testament, except that before
us, in which there is any mention made of being spat upon. But in other
respects, too, the reference is visible: "I gave my back to the smiters
( [Greek: mastigôsantes], LXX. [Greek: eis mastigas]), and my cheeks to
those plucking ( [Greek: empaichthêsetai]--the plucking of the beard,
an act of degrading wantonness), my face I hid not from shame ( [Greek:
hubristhêsetai]) and spitting." _Bengel_ draws attention to the fact of
how highly Christ, in the passage quoted, placed the prophecy of the
Old Testament: "Jesus most highly valued that which was written. The
word of God which is contained in Scripture is the rule for all which
is to happen, even for that which is to happen in eternal life." If, in
respect of the high estimation of prophecy, our age were to follow in
the steps of Jesus, it would also most readily agree with Him as
regards the subject of the prophecy before us. This alone is the cause
of the aberration from Him, that people confined and shut up the
prophet within the horizon of his time, and then imagined that he could
not know anything of the suffering of Christ. It was altogether
different in the [Pg 249] ancient Christian Church. In it, the
Messianic interpretation prevailed throughout; and _Grotius_, who in a
lower sense would refer the prophecy to Isaiah, and, in a higher sense
only, to Christ, met with general opposition, even on the part of
_Clericus_.
In favour of the Messianic explanation there is the remarkable
agreement existing between prophecy and fulfilment, comp. Matt. xxvi.
67, 68: [Greek: Tote eneptusan eis to prosôpon autou kai ekolaphisan
auton. hOi de erhrapisan legontes. prophêteuson hêmin, christe, tis
estin ho paisas se]; xxvii. 30: [Greek: kai emptusantes eis auton
elabon ton kalamon kai etupton eis tên kephalên autou],--an agreement,
the significance and importance of which are only enhanced by the
circumstance that one of the most individualizing features of the
prophecy, viz., the plucking off of the beard, is not met with in the
history of Christ; for it is just thereby that this agreement is proved
to be a free and spontaneous one. _Farther_--The exactness with which,
in ver. 10 and 11, the destinies of Israel, after the rejection of
Christ, are drawn; and the destruction which the mass of the people,
who did not believe in the Servant of God, prepared for themselves, by
their attempts to help themselves by their own strength, by enkindling
the flame of war, whilst those who fear the Lord and listen to the
voice of Hs Servant, obtain salvation. _Farther_--Ver. 11, where the
Servant of God ascribes to himself the judgment upon the unbelieving
mass of the people: "From _my_ hand is this to you," in harmony with
Matt. xxvi. 64 and other passages, where the Son of Man appears as
executing judgment upon Jerusalem. _Finally_--The parallel passages.
Most of the modern interpreters assume that the Prophet himself,
Isaiah, or Pseudo-Isaiah, is the subject of the prophecy. _Jerome_
mentions that this explanation was the prevailing one among the Jews of
his time. The explanation which refers it to the better portion of the
people, found only one defender, viz., _Paulus_. The explanation which
refers it to the _whole_ of the Jewish people, or to the collective
body of the prophets, has been entirely abandoned, although it is
maintained in reference to the parallel passages.
Since it is undeniable that this Section is related to the other
prophecies which treat of the Servant of God,--and hence an identity of
subject is necessarily required--those who, in the [Pg 250] Section
under consideration, are compelled to give up their former hypothesis,
themselves bear witness against the correctness of it, at the same
time, also against the soundness of their explanation of the passage
before us. For an explanation which compels to the severance of what is
necessarily connected, cannot be right and true. It is only then that
Exegesis has attained its object, when it has arrived at a subject in
whom all those features, which occur in the single prophecies which are
connected with each other, are found at the same time. _Knobel_, in
saying: "This small unconnected Section, is the only one in the whole
collection, in which the Prophet speaks of himself only, and represents
his suffering's and hopes," has thereby himself pronounced judgment
upon his own interpretation of this Section, and at the same time, of
the other prophecies of the Servant of God.
Moreover, the Prophet would here form rather a strange figure; he would
appear as it were, as if he had been blown in by a snow-storm.
According to _Hofmann_, he describes how he is rewarded for his
activity and zeal in his vocation. But how does this suit the contents
of the second part, which evidently is a whole, the single parts of
which must stand in a close relation to its fundamental idea! _It is
only a person of central importance that is suitable to this context._
It is only when we refer it to Christ, that the expectations are
satisfied which were called forth by the words: Comfort ye, comfort ye
my people. This call is answered only by pointing to the future Saviour
of the world.
One element of truth, indeed, there is in the explanation which makes
the Prophet the subject. It is revealed to him, indeed, that the
Servant of God shall undergo persecution, shame, and ignominy; but he
has the natural substratum for this knowledge in the experience of
himself and his colleagues, comp. Matt. xxiii. 29-37; Heb. xi. 36, 37.
The divine, wherever it enters into the world of sin, as well as the
servant of truth who upholds it in the face of prevailing falsehood,
must undergo struggles, shame, and ignominy. This truth was confirmed
in the case of the prophets as types, in the case of Christ as the
antitype. All that which the prophets had to experience in their own
cases was a prophecy by deeds of the sufferings of Christ; and we
should the less have any difficulty [Pg 251] in admitting their
knowledge of this, that it would be rather strange if they were
destitute of such knowledge.
Ver. 4. "_The Lord Jehovah hath given me a disciples tongue, that I
should know to help the weary with a word: He awakeneth morning by
morning, wakeneth mine ear, that I may hear as the disciples._"
The greater number of expositors explain a disciple's tongue by: "A
tongue such as instructed people or scholars possess,--an eloquent
tongue." But [Hebrew: lmd], everywhere else in Isaiah, means "pupil,"
"disciple," and is used especially of the disciples of the Lord, those
who go to His school, are instructed by Him; comp. chaps. viii. 16;
liv. 13. A disciple's tongue is such as the disciples of the Lord
possess. Its foundation is formed by the disciple's _ear_ mentioned at
the close of the verse. He who hears the Lord's words, speaks also the
Lord's words. The signification, "learned," is not suitable in the last
clause of the verse, and its reference to the first does not permit of
our assuming a different signification in either clause. Just as here
the Servant of God traces back to God that which He speaks, so Jesus
says, in John viii. 26: [Greek: kagô ha êkousa par'autou tauta lalô
eis ton kosmon], comp. iii. 34: [Greek: hon gar apesteilen ho theos ta
rhêmata tou theou lalei.] The verb [Hebrew: smK], which occurs only
here, means, according to the Arabic, "to help," "to support;"
_Aquila_: [Greek: hupostêrisai], Vulg. _sustentare_. Like other similar
verbs, _e.g._, [Hebrew: smK], in Gen. xxvii. 37, it is construed with a
double accusative: "that I may help the weary, word," _i.e._, may
support him by comforting words. The weary or fatigued are, like the
bent reed, the faintly burning wick, in chap. xlii. 3; the blind, the
prisoners sitting in darkness, _ibid._, ver. 7; the broken-hearted,
chap. lxi. 1; them that mourn, _ibid._, ver. 2. Just as here the
Servant of God represents the suffering and afflicted ones as the main
objects of His mission, so Christ announces, that His mission is
specially directed to these, comp. _e.g._, Matt. v. 4; xi. 28. In order
to be able to fulfil this mission. He must be able to draw from the
fulness of God, who looketh to him that is poor and of a contrite
spirit, chap. lxvi. 2, and who alone understands to heal the broken in
heart, and to bind up their wounds, Ps. cxlvii. 3.--In the words: "He
wakeneth, &c." we are told in what manner the Lord gives to His Servant
the disciple's tongue. _To waken_ [Pg 252] _the ear_ is equivalent to:
to make attentive, to make ready for the reception of the divine
communications. The expression "morning by morning" indicates that the
divine wakening is going on uninterruptedly, and that the Servant of
God unreservedly surrenders himself to the influences which come from
above, in which He has become an example to us.
Ver. 5. "_The Lord Jehovah hath opened mine ear, and I was not
rebellious, and have not turned back._"
The phrases "to open or uncover the ear" have always the signification,
"to make known something to some one," "to reveal to him something."
"to inform him," both in ordinary circumstances (comp. 1 Sam. xx. 12;
Ruth iv. 4), and on the religious territory, comp. 2 Sam. vii. 27: "For
thou, Lord of Hosts, God of Israel, hast opened the ear of thy servant,
saying: I will build thee an house;" Isa. xlviii. 8: "Thou heardest
not, thou knewest not, nor was formerly thine ear opened;" chap. xlii.
20: "The ear was opened to him." According to this well established
_usus loquendi_, "The Lord hath opened mine ear," can only mean: The
Lord hath revealed to me, hath informed me inwardly; _Abenezra_:
[Hebrew: glh svdv li] "He has made known to me His secret." What the
Lord has made known to His Servant, we are not here expressly told; but
it may be inferred from ver. 6, where the Servant declares that which,
in consequence of the divine manifestation, He did, viz., that He
should give His back to the smiters, &c. The words: "The Lord hath
opened mine ear" here are connected with: "The Lord wakeneth mine ear,
that I may hear," in the preceding verse: The Lord has specially made
known to me that, in carrying out my vocation, I shall have to endure
severe sufferings. _To this subject the Servant of God quickly passes
over, after having, in the introduction, described, by a few features,
the vocation, in the carrying out of which these sufferings should
befal Him._ As the authors of these sufferings, we must conceive of the
party opposed to the weary, viz., the proud, secure, unbroken sinners.
On "I was not rebellious," compare what, in Deut. xxi. 20, is written
of the stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his
father; and farther, the words: [Greek: plên ouch hôs egô thelô all'hôs
su], Matt. xxvi. 39.
[Pg 253]
Ver. 6. "_I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to the pluckers,
I hid not my face from shame and spitting._"
The words express in an individualizing manner the thought, that the
Servant of God, in His vocation as the Saviour of the _personae
miserabiles_, would experience the most shameful and ignominious
treatment, and would patiently bear it. In God's providence, part of
the contents was literally fulfilled upon Christ. But the fact that
this literal agreement is not the main point, but that it serves as a
hint and indication only of the far more important _substantial_
conformity which would take place, although the hatred of the world
against the Saviour of the poor and afflicted should have manifested
itself in forms altogether different,--this fact is evident from the
circumstance that regarding the fulfilment of the words: "and my cheeks
to the pluckers"--plucking the cheeks, or plucking off of the beard
being the greatest insult and disgrace in the East, comp. 2 Sam. x.
4--there is no mention in the New Testament history.
In vers. 7-9 we have the future glory, which makes it easy for the
Servant of God to bear the sufferings of the Present. If God be for
Him, who may be against Him?
Ver. 7. "_But the Lord Jehovah helpeth me, therefore I am not
confounded, therefore I make my face like a flint, and I know that I am
not put to shame._"
[Hebrew: nklmti] refers to [Hebrew: klmvt] in the preceding verse. He
whom the Lord helps is not confounded or put to shame by all the
ignominy which the world heaps upon him. The expression: "I make my
face like a flint" denotes the "holy hardness of perseverance"
(_Stier_); comp. Ezek. iii. 8. In that passage it is especially the
assailing hardness which comes into consideration; here, on the
contrary, it is the suffering one. There is an allusion to the passage
before us, in Luke ix. 51: [Greek: egeneto de tô sumplêrousthai tas
hêmeras tês analêpseôs autou, kai autos to prosôpon autou estêrixe tou
poreuesthai eis hIerousalêm.]
Ver. 8. "_He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with one? Let
us stand together; who has a right upon me, let him come near me._"
In the confidence and assurance of Christ, His redeemed ones, too,
partake,--those that hear the voice of the Servant of God, ver. 10,
comp. Rom. viii. 33, 34, where this and the [Pg 254] following verse
are intentionally alluded to. The justification is one by _deeds_. It
took place and was fulfilled, in the first instance, in the
resurrection and glorification of Christ, and, then, in the destruction
of Jerusalem.--[Hebrew: bel mwpTi] literally, "the master of my right,"
_i.e._, he who according to his opinion or assertion which, by the
issue is proved to be false, has a right over me, comp. the [Greek:
en emoi ouk echei ouden] which, in John xiv. 30, the Lord says in
reference to the chief of His enemies.
Ver. 9. "_Behold the Lord Jehovah will help me; who is he that shall
condemn me? Lo, they shall wax old as a garment, the moth shall eat
them._"
That which is said herein reference to the enemies of Christ is, in
chap. li. 8, with a reference to our passage, said of the opponents of
those who know righteousness, and in whose heart is the law: "The moth
shall eat them up like a garment." Enmity to Christ and His Church is,
to those who entertain it, a prophecy of sure destruction. The words:
"The moth shall eat them," are farther expanded in ver. 11, where it is
described how the people who ventured to _condemn_ the Servant of God,
become a prey to destruction.
The Servant of God closes with a double address; first, to the godly;
and then, to the ungodly.
Ver. 10. "_Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the
word of His Servant? When he walketh in darkness, in which there is no
light to him, let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his
God._"
From the words: "Of mine hand," in ver. 11, it appears that the Servant
of God is continuing the discourse. Hence "the voice of His Servant,"
_q.d._, the voice of me who am His Servant. By the words: "Among you,"
the address is directed to the whole of the people. In this two parties
are distinguished. The first is formed by those who fear the Lord, and
obey the voice of His Servant. Both of these things appear as
indissolubly connected. The fear of God must necessarily prove itself
in this, that He whom He has sent is obeyed. It is a mere imagination
on the part of the people to think that they can fear God without
obeying the voice of His Servant; comp. John v. 23. There is in this an
allusion to the emphatic "Unto him ye shall hearken," which, in Deut.
xviii. 15, had been said in reference to _the_ Prophet. [Pg 255] From
ver. 11 it appears that the darkness in which those walk who fear the
Lord, is not to be understood of personal individual calamity which
befals this or that godly one, nor of the sufferings which happen to
the pious godly _party_, in contrast to the ungodly wicked, but rather
that we have before us the foresight of a dark period of sufferings
which, after the appearance of the Servant of God, shall be inflicted
upon the whole people; so that both of the parties,--that devoted to
the Servant of God, and that opposed to Him,--are thereby affected, but
with a different issue. For in ver. 11, it is described how the
ungodly, who likewise walk in darkness, endeavour to light up their
darkness by a fire which they have kindled, but do so to their own
destruction. Behind the exhortation: "Let him trust in the name of the
Lord, and stay upon his God," there is concealed the promise: he _may_
trust, his darkness shall be changed into light, his sorrow into joy.
When the destruction of Jerusalem approached, the cry came to believing
Israel: "Lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh," Luke
xxi. 28. In the destruction of apostate Israel, not obeying the Servant
of God, but persecuting His faithful ones, they beheld the beginning of
the victory of the true people of God over the world.
Ver. 11. "_Behold all ye that kindle a fire, that gird sparks,--walk in
the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. From
mine hand is this to you; ye shall lie down in pain._"
The image begun in the preceding verse is continued. The pious walk in
confidence and patience through the lightless darkness, until the Lord
kindles a light to them. Those who do not hear the Lord, who do _not_
obey the voice of His Servant, kindle a fire which is to light up their
darkness; but instead of that, they are consumed by the fire. Thus the
Servant of God, who brings this destruction upon them, obtains His
right upon them.--The _fire_ is often in Scripture the fire of war,
chap. ix. 18; Jer. li. 5; Rev. viii. 7-10. According to several
interpreters (_Hitzig_, _Ewald_, _Knobel_), it is assumed that the
discourse is here not of "self-assistance by rebellion," but "of the
attacks of the wicked upon the godly, and of the destruction, into
which these attacks turn out for their authors." But this view is
opposed by the circumstance that the darkness [Pg 256] is common to
both parties; hence, it must come from some other quarter. The fire
which the wicked kindle is destined to enlighten the darkness in which
they also are, which is especially evident from the words: "Walk in the
_light_ of your fire." They now have a light which enlightens their
darkness; but this self-created light consumes them.--To _gird_ stands
for, "to surround one's self with a girdle," "to put on a girdle." In
substance it is equivalent "to provide one's self with it."--The
[Greek: hapax legomenon] [Hebrew: ziqvt] cannot with certainty be
explained from the dialects. The connection and parallelism are in
favour of the signification "sparks," "flames," which is found as early
as in the Septuagint ( [Greek: phloga]), and Vulg. (_flammas_). In
Syriac [Hebrew: ziqa] has the signification "lightning." Those who
explain it by "fiery darts" are not at liberty to refer it to the
[Hebrew: zqiM] in Prov. xxvi. 18. The signification "flames" (not
"sparks," as _Stier_ holds), is, in that passage, quite suitable;
simple arrows could there not be mentioned after the fiery darts
without making the discourse feeble.--[Hebrew: lki] "walk ye," is
equivalent to: "ye shall walk," yet with an intimation of the fact that
this result, as we are immediately afterwards expressly told, proceeds
from the speaker: _sic volo, sic jubeo._ The words: "From mine hand is
this to you," are, by those who make the Prophet the subject of this
prediction, supposed to be spoken by Jehovah. But throughout the whole
section, the Lord is always only spoken of, and never appears as
speaking. The words are in harmony with the exalted dignity which,
elsewhere also, is attributed by the Prophet to the Servant of God who
plants the heavens, and lays the foundation of the earth, chap. li. 16;
whose mouth the Lord makes like a sharp sword, chap. xlix. 2; who is
the personal salvation, the Saviour for the whole earth, chap. xlix. 6;
and the embodied Covenant for the covenant-people, chaps. xlii. 6;
xlix. 8. The last passages, especially, are of no small importance. The
saving and judging activity go hand in hand, and cannot be separated.
We have here thus the Old Testament beginnings and preparation for the
doctrine of the New Testament, that the Father has given all judgment
to the Son, The Servant of God, in the highest sense, is Lord and judge
of the fellow servants.--The [Hebrew: l] in [Hebrew: lmecbh] serves for
designating the condition: so that you belong to pain, [Hebrew: wkb]
occurs in [Pg 257] chap. xliii. 17 of the Egyptians lying down; comp.
Ps. xli. 9: "He that _lieth_ shall rise up no more." In the
announcement that Israel's attempt to help themselves would turn out to
their destruction, the Song of Solomon, in chap. iii. 1-3; v. 7, has
preceded our Prophet: "The daughter of Zion, in her restlessness,
endeavours to bring about, by worldly, rebellious doings, the Messianic
salvation. It is in vain; what she is seeking she does not find, but
the heavenly watchmen find her."