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8 He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me? let us stand together: who is mine adversary? let him come near to me.

9 Behold, the Lord God will help me; who is he that shall condemn me? lo, they all shall wax old as a garment; the moth shall eat them up.

10 Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.

11 Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire,

CHAP. L.

[to trust in Messiah,

and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow. (Z)

CHAP. LI.

HEARKEN to me, ye that follow

after righteousness, ye that seek the LORD: look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.

2 Look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you: for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him.

3 For the LORD shall comfort Zion: he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the LORD; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody,

4 Hearken unto me, my people; and give ear unto me, O my nation for a law shall proceed from me, and I

EXPOSITION.

(Z) God justifies his own conduct: Messiah predicts his own sufferings.-Jewish husbands, through moroseness or levity of temper, often sent bills of divorcement to their wives on slight occasions, as they were permitted to do by the law of Moses. (Deut. xxiv. 1.) And fathers, being oppressed with debt, often sold their children; which they might do till the year of release. (Exod. xxi. 7.) That this was frequently practised appears from many passages of scripture. The widow (2 Kings iv. 1) complains, that the creditor was come to take her two sons to be bondmen. And in the parable (Matt. xviii. 25), the Lord, forasmuch as his servant had not to pay, commands him to be sold, and his wife and children and all that he had, and payment

to be made. "But this (saith God) cannot be my case;" I am not governed by any such motives, nor urged by any such necessity: your captivity therefore and your afflictions are to be imputed to yourselves, and to your own folly and wickedness! Thus God justifies himself against the murmurs aud repinings of his ungrateful people.

At ver. 4. the Messiah is evidently introduced, and some of his bitterest sufferings predicted, according to the interpretation of St. Matthew (ch. xxvi. 67. xxvii. 26.) But he appeals to the Almighty Father as his protector, so far as was consistent with the great object of his incarnation. (See Matt. xxvi. 39, 53, 54.) The two last verses contain an exhortation to faith and confidence in God, with a warning to those who trusted in their own strength and righteousness.

NOTES-Chap. L. Con.

Ver. 6. Plucked off the hair-one of the greatest possible indignities that could be offered to a Jew. Neh. xiii. 25. From shame and spitting. - See Notes on Num. xii. 14; Deut. xxv. 9. But in this case, it cannot be doubted that the insult was carried to its utmost extent. See Matt. xxvi. 67; Mark xiv. 65.-xv. 19.

Ver. 7. I set my face as a flint-Compare Ezek. iii. 8,9.

Ver. 8. He that is near justifieth me.-See 1 Tim. iii. 16. Who is mine adversary- Heb. "The master of my cause?" i. e. the accuser. See John iv. 30; Rom, viii. 33-35.

Ver. 11. All ye that kindle.-Vitringa thinks this may refer particularly to those seditions Jews, who, by exciting the indiguation of the Romans, brought destruction both on themselves and their city.

CHAP. LI. Ver. 4. My people....my nationLowth, as supposing this addressed to the Gentiles, reads, "Ye peoples, . ....ye nations;" but we sce no necessity for alteration, and we are averse to it without. I will make my judgment to rest-rather, "to break forth" So Gataker and Lowth.

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Jews und Gentiles directed]

CHAP. LI.

[to trust in Messiah. will make my judgment to rest for a the son of man which shall be made light of the people. as grass;

5 My righteousness is near; my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people; the isles shall wait upon me, and on mine arm shall they trust.

6 Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righte→ ousness shall not be abolished.

7 Hearken unto me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be ye afraid of their revilings.

8 For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool: but my righteousness shall be for ever, and my salvation from generation to generation.

9 Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD; awake, as in the ancient days, in the generations of -old. Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, and wounded the dragon?

10 Art thou not it which hath dried the sea, the waters of the great deep; that hath made the depths of the sea a way for the ransomed to pass over?

11 Therefore the redeemed of the LORD shall return, and come with singing unto Zion; and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: they shall obtain gladness and joy; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away.

12 I, even I, am he that comforteth you who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of

13 And forgettest the LORD thy maker, that hath stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, as if he were ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor.

14 The captive exile hasteneth tha he may be loosed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail.

15 But I am the LORD thy God, that divided the sea, whose waves roared: The LORD of hosts is his name.

16 And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.

17 Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, which hast drunk at the hand of the LORD the cup of his fury; thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, and wrung them out.

18 There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand of all the sons that she hath brought up.

19 These two things are come unto thee; who shall be sorry for thee? desolation, and destruction, and the famine, and the sword: by whom shall I comfort thee?

20 Thy sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as a wild bull in a net: they are full of the fury of the LORD, the rebuke of thy God.

NOTES.

Ver. 5. Mine arm`shall judge—that is, my power shall avenge the people.

Ver. 6. Shall die in like manner that is, shall wear out like every object around them; but Bp. Lowth (changing the Heb point) reads, "Like the vilest insect." See Exod. viii. 17.

Ver 9. Cut Rakab-that is, Egypt; and wounded the dragon-that is, the crocodile, which is its emblem. See Ps. lxxxix. 10. This refers to their deliverance from Egypt, as appears by the verse following.

Ver. 10. Art then not it, &c. Compare chap. XXXV, 30.

Ver. 14. The captive exile, &e.-Boothroyd, "He hasteneth on who shall set free the captive; that he should not die in the prison, and that his bread may not fail." In the first and literal sense, this evidently refers to Cyrus; but secondly and principally to Messiah. So Lowth.

Ver. 16. That I may plant the heavens, The original term rendered plant. Gesenius remarks, that the word is used for pitching or planting a tent, Dan. xi. 45. it may therefore be considered nearly synonymous with spreading, the word used ver. 13, and which Lowth thinks was originally used here.

Ver. 19. These two things.-Compare ch. xlvii. 9.

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21 Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine :

22 Thus saith thy Lord the LORD, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again.

23 But I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee; which have said to thy soul, Bow down, that we may go over and thou hast laid thy body as the ground, and as the street, to them that went over. (A)

CHAP. LII.

[from her stupor

self from the bands of thy neck, O cap tive daughter of Zion.

3 For thus saith the LORD, Ye have sold yourselves for nought; and shall be redeemed without money.

ye

4 For thus saith the Lord GOD, My people went down aforetime into Egypt to sojourn there; and the Assyrian oppressed them without cause.

5 Now therefore, what have I here, saith the LORD, that my people is taken away for nought? they that rule over them make them to howl, saith the LORD; and my name continually every day is blasphemed.

6 Therefore my people shall know my name: therefore they shall know in that day that I am he that doth

AWAKE, awake; put on thy strength, speak: Behold, it is I.

O Zion; put on thy beautiful garmentɛ, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no mote come into thee the uncircumcised and the

unclean.

2 Shake thyself from the dust; arise and sit down, O Jerusalem: loose thy

CHAP. LI.

7 How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! 8 Thy watchmen shall lift the

EXPOSITION.

(A) Jews and Gentiles directed to put their trust in the Messiah.-In the opening of this chapter the Jews are considered as living stones dug out of the rock of human nature, and from the quarry of the Chaldees and the object of thus referring them to their humble origin is to remind them, that they, like their early ancestors, were barren as the rock itself, and indebted to the great God their Creator, for all they were, and all they had. Hereby they are at once excited to gratitude in the reflection on past mercies, and to confidence in the fulfilment of God's promise of future blessings, especially under the dispensation of the Messiah. They are then directed to turn their eyes to the nations round, who, under the new and everlasting dispensation here spoken of, were to be admitted to communion with them, and be made partakers of the same redemption.

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The faithful then with exaltation and joy lift their voices, reminding God of his wondrous works of old, which encourage them to look now for the like glorious display of his power and goodness.—“ Awake, awake, O arm of the Lord!" &c. In answer to this, God is introduced comforting his people under their trials, and telling them (ver 14.) that the deliverer (He that a hasteneth to set the captive free) was already on his way to save them. (See Note.) On this the Prophet turns to Jerusalem to comfort and congratulate her on so happy a prospect. She is represented by a bold image, as a woman lying in the streets with her children round her, under the intoxicating effects of the cup of the divine wrath; destitute of every assistance, and trodden under the feet of her enemies till an avenging God takes pity on her, raises and recovers her.

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NOTES.

CHAP. LII. Ver. 2. Sit down, is a most unhappy translation. Lowth renders it, "Ascend thy lofty seat!" meaning, a chair of state, in direct contrast to her lying in the dust, as in the close of the preceding chapter.—The bands of thy neck.-Captives often wore iron collars, like some Negro slaves in the West Indies.

Ver. 4. Without cause- - Lowth, "At the last;" literally, "in the end."

Ver. 8. They shall see eye to eye.-The same Heb. phrase in Num. xiv. 14, is rendered "face to face," (as by Lowth here) and is explained by the Chalder to mean," with their own eyes;"'or, as Ainsworth there explains it, "visibly, apparently, plainly," & See Exod. xxxii. 11; Num. xii. 8.

Ver. 9. Ye waste places-Lowth, “Ye ruins."

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by the glad tidings]

CHAP. LII.

voice; with the voice together shall they sing for they shall see eye to eye, when the LORD shall bring again Zion. 9 Break forth into joy, sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem: for the LORD hath comforted his people, he hath redeemed Jerusalem.

10 The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.

11 Depart ye, depart ye, go ye out. from thence, touch no unclean thing; go ye out of the midst of her; be ye clean, that bear the vessels of the LORD.

12 For ye shall not go out with

CHAP. LII.

[of salvation. haste, nor go by flight: for the LORD will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rere-ward.

13 Behold my servant shall deal prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.

14 As many were astonished at thee; his visage was so marred, more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:

15 So shall he sprinkle many nations; the kings shall shut their mouths at him for that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider. (B)

EXPOSITION.

(B) Zion roused from her stupor by the glad tidings of salvation. In allusion, perhaps, to the image in the close of the preceding chapter, Jerusalem is represented as fallen asleep in the dust, and in that helpless state bound by her enemies. The Prophet, with all the ardour natural to one who had such joyful news to communicate, bids her Awake, arise, and put on her strength and beauty; and then he delivers the message he had in charge. Awakening from her stupefaction, Jerusalem sees the messenger of these good tidings on the eminence from which he espied the approaching deliverance. She expresses, in beautiful terms, her joy at the news, repeating with peculiar elegance the words of the cryer; "How beautiful," &c. The tidings immediately spread to others on the watch, who all join in the glad acclamation; and, in the ardour of their joy, call to the very ruins of Jerusalem to sing along with them, (ver. 9, 10.) The Prophet then, to complete the deliverance, bids them march, as it were, in triumph out of Babylon: "De

part ye," &c. We must always remember that the words of our Prophet extend generally beyond the deliverance from Babylon, which is but the type of a greater redemption.

That this chapter relates in the highest sense to the Messiah, see Rom. x. 15.

The last three verses introduce a fresh subject, which is continued throughout the following chapter, and should therefore have been connected with it. The Prophet here drops all inferior topics, and introduces a series of predictions relative to the character and sufferings of Messiah, the most interesting and extraordinary of any throughout the Old Testament. The reader is taken to the foot of the cross, and while he sees the Saviour hanging there, with the blood streaming from "his head, his hauds, his feet;" he is told that many nations shall be sprinkled with this bloodthat Kings (the highest rank of society) shall be struck with astonishment, and their subjects leap with surprise and joy, at the effects produced by the circulation of these extraordinary tidings through the world.

NOTES.

Ver. 11. Touch no unclean thing-this is, " Contract no ceremonial pollution, and especially keep yourselves from idols." See 1 John v.21.

Ver. 14. At thee.-The Syriac and Chaldee, with a few ancient MSS, read" at him." The difference in the Hebrew is but half a letter, and the sense is evidently clearer.

Yer. 15 So shall he sprinkle.-This word is diflicult of interpretation. The original idea of the Heb. root seems to be, that of leaping, (or causing to leap) either with surprise or joy; so Schultens explains the cognate verb in Arabic, and from thence seems to be derived its secondary and more common meaning, to spurt out, as from a wound, from a brush or bunch of hyssop, by way of sprinkling. See Levit. vi. 27; 2 Kings ix. 33; Levit. xiv. 6,7, &c. See Parkhurst and Gesenius, in Nazah,

But taking the word in the former sense, "He shall cause many nations to leap with surprise and joy," (i. e. he shall surprise and rejoice many nations) the words may be applied to the effects produced by the propagation of the gospel, (which is no other than the report of his work and sulleringa) among both Jews and Gentiles. This agrees with the following clause, Kings (not the kings) shall shut their mouths at him, or be silent with surprise and admiration in his presence; for they shall see such things as they never before heard or thought of. See Job xxix. 9, 10.

If this sprinkling be considered as of water, to an Asiatic it must yield pleasure as well as surprise: but we read, Heb. xii. 24, of "the blood of sprink ling," which refers undoubtedly to its atoning efficacy; and thus, metaphorically, bas he sprinkled many nations with his blood.

The rejection, sufferings,]

CHAP. LIII.

ISAIAH.

WHO hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?

2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness: and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him,

3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

6 All we like sheep have gone

[and death of Messiah.

astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken. 9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant

NOTES.

CHAP. LIII. Ver. 1. Who hath believed. - See John xii.3; Rom. x. 16. -Our report - Marg, "Doctrine." -The arm of the Lord- that is, his power; generally considered in its exertion for the salvation of his people. See chap. xl. 10.-li. 5, 9.

Ver. 2. For he-that is, Messiah, shall grow up before him, namely, Jehovah. Some ancient Jewish writers have thus explained it. See Scott's Answer to R. Crool, p. 284.

Ibid. A tender plant-is here, a sickly one, droop. ing for want of water.—A root out of a dry ground. -Compare ch. xi. 1.

Ver. 3. We hid as it were sur faces from kim — that is, we, speaking in the person of the Jewish ngtion, gave him no countenance, but turned away from him, as disgusted with his mean appearance.

This seems to us the most natural interpretation; it cannot, however, be denied, that the LXX, Vul gate, and some MSS, read as our margin, and as Lowth has rendered it, "As one that hideth his face from us," that is, as a mourner, (2 Sam. xix. 4; Ps. Ixix. 7.) or a leper; and so some ancient versions and commentators understand it. See Levit. xiii, 45.

Ver. 4. He hath borne our griefs.-This he did in two ways; 1. by healing the diseases and infirmities of men, Matt. viii. 17; 2. and principally, by suffer. ing for our sins, as in the next verse. Compare 1 'eter ii. 24.

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Lowth, By his

Ver. 5. The chastisement of our peace By which our peace was effected. stripes-Heh." Bruises."

Ver. 6. Hath laid on him-Heb. "Hath made to mert on him," Lowth, "To light upon him."

Ver. 8. He was taken from prison and from judgment-Marg, "He was taken away by distress, &c. Rather, "It was exacted, (i. e. the penalty of sin) and he was made answerable." Bps. Chandler and Lowth, Dr. Boothroyd, and Mr. Scott. Though

Christ was not literally in prison, he was in custody, from his surrender to his death.

Ibid. And who shall declare his generation?-The meaning of this term has been much disputed. Lowth renders it, "his manner of life," and refers to Kennicott, who cites the Mishna, and other Jewish authorities, to prove, that on trials among the Jews for capital offences, proclamation used to be made, that any person who knew any thing of the prisoner's innocence should come forward and declare it; but no such proclaization was made on the trial of Jesus, though he has been thought to refer to such a enstom, John xviii. 20, 21. So St. Paul, in like manner, Acts xxvi. 4. 5. Generation, means "His tory:" so when the Rajah of Tanjore spoke to Bp. Middleton of the History of England, he caked it "The Book of the Generations of the Kings of Eng land." Bonney's Life of Bp. M. Was he stricken? -"Smitten to death," LXX, Coptic, Origen, &c. See Low th.

Ver. 9. He made kis grave with the wicked, &c.— Lowth, "And his gave was appointed with the wicked; but with the rich man was his tomb." Kennicott and Boothroyd, by the transposition of two words, render it, "He was placed with the wicked in his death; but with the rich man was his sepulcare." This answers literally to the history. Bp. Marsh, however, agrees with Lowth. xxi. p. 37.

Lect.

Ver. 10. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruiseLowth, "Crush him" (see Ps. lxxii. 4, &c.) with allition.- When thou shalt make his sunt an of ter ny for sin-Marg. "When his soul shall make." Lowth, "If his soul shall make a propitiatory sacri

fice"

Ver. 11. Shall be satisfied-that is, with the fruit of his travail, with a numerons offspring, Grotius quotes an ancient Rabbin, who explains this of con verts, or disciples. Compare Ps, ex. 3, and Notes,

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