Isaiah 12:1

And in that day thou shalt say,.... The following song of praise; just as Israel did, when they were brought through the Red sea, and saved out of the hands of their enemies; to which there are

And in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.

ISAIAH CHAPTER 12 A thanksgiving of the faithful for their redemption. In that day; when this great work of the reduction of God’ s Israel, and of the conversion of the Gentiles, promised in the foregoing chapter, shall be fulfilled.

Isaiah 12:1 And in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.Ver. 1. And in that day,] sc., When there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse. Blessed be God for a Christ. Thou shalt say.] It is not a dumb kind of thank fulness that is required of the Lord’ s redeemed, but such as from a heart full of spiritual joy breaketh forth into fit words, such as are here set down in this ditty or directory. I will praise thee.] The whole life of a true Christian is a holy desire, saith an ancient. It is, or should be surely, continua laetitia, et laus Dei, a continual hallelujah. Deo gratias was ever in Augustine’ s mouth. Laudetur Deus, laudetur Deus, in another’ s - i.e., Praised be God, praised be God. The saints here "with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." The saints and angels do so in heaven incessantly, hoc est iuge eorum negotiosum otium et otiosum negotium. Thine anger is turned away.] My sins are forgiven me, and hence I am of so good cheer, though otherwise distressed. Feri, Domine, feri; a peccatis absolutus sum, said Luther; Strike while thou wilt, Lord, so long as my sins are pardoned. See Psalms 103:1-3. And thou comfortedst me,] viz., With gospel comforts, which are strong and satisfying. I do "overabound exceedingly with joy in all our tribulation," saith Paul.

XII. (1) In that day thou shalt say . . .—The prophet becomes the psalmist of that new Exodus, and the hymn that follows is based upon the type of that in Exodus 15, though with less of local and historical colouring. He has been taught that confession must be blended with thanksgiving—that those only can rightly estimate the comfort which God gives who have first felt His wrath. The fact that the prophet appears as a psalmist was a natural result of the training of the schools of the prophets, as described in 1 Samuel 19:20, possibly also of his familiarity with the Temple service as a priest or Levite. The group of psalms ascribed to the sons of Korah presents so many parallelisms to the writings of Isaiah, and so obviously belongs to the same period, that we may reasonably think of him as having been associated with that goodly company. (See Introduction.)

CHAPTER XII Prophetic hymn of praise for the great mercies vouchsafed to the children of Israel in their deliverance from the great Babylonish captivity, and for redemption by the Messiah, 1-6. This hymn seems, by its whole tenor, and by many expressions in it, much better calculated for the use of the Christian Church than for the Jewish, in any circumstances, or at any time that can be assigned. The Jews themselves seem to have applied it to the times of Messiah. On the last day of the feast of tabernacles they fetched water in a golden pitcher from the fountain of Shiloah, springing at the foot of Mount Sion without the city: they brought it through the water-gate into the temple, and poured it, mixed with wine, on the sacrifice as it lay upon the altar, with great rejoicing. They seem to have taken up this custom, for it is not ordained in the law of Moses, as an emblem of future blessings, in allusion to this passage of Isaiah, "Ye shall draw waters with joy from the fountains of salvation," expressions that can hardly be understood of any benefits afforded by the Mosaic dispensation. Our Saviour applied the ceremony, and the intention of it, to himself, and the effusion of the Holy Spirit, promised, and to be given, by him. The sense of the Jews in this matter is plainly shown by the following passage of the Jerusalem Talmud: "Why is it called the place or house of drawing?" (for that was the term for this ceremony, or for the place where the water was taken up) "Because from thence they draw the Holy Spirit; as it is written, And ye shall draw water with joy from the fountains of salvation." See Wolf. Curae Philol. in N.T. on John 7:37; John 7:39. - L. The water is Divine knowledge, says Kimchi, and the wells the teachers of righteousness. The Targum renders this in a very remarkable manner: "Ye shall receive with joy (אולפן חדת ulephan chadath) a new doctrine from the chosen among the righteous." Does not this mean the Gospel, the new covenant? And did not the Targumist speak as a prophet? NOTES ON CHAP. XII Verse 1. Though thou wast angry - "For though thou hast been angry"] The Hebrew phrase, to which the Septuagint and Vulgate have too closely adhered, is exactly the same with that of St. Paul, Romans 6:17: "But thanks be to God, that ye were the slaves of sin; but have obeyed from the heart;" that is, "that whereas, or though, ye were the slaves of sin, yet ye have now obeyed from the heart the doctrine on the model of which ye were formed."

1, 2. The first song, the singer being the individualised community, as frequently in the Pss.

And in that day - The day referred to in the previous chapter, the time of the Messiah, when the effects of his reign shall be seen everywhere.