Chapter 44

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."