Isaiah 40:11

He shall feed his flock like a shepherd,.... Christ has a flock, a flock of men, a distinct and peculiar people, and it is but one, and that a little one, and yet a beautiful one, though often a

He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

He shall perform all the offices of a tender and faithful shepherd towards his people, carrying himself with great wisdom, and condescension, and compassion to every one of them, according to their several capacities and infirmities.

Isaiah 40:11 He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry [them] in his bosom, [and] shall gently lead those that are with young.Ver. 11. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd.] That good Shepherd shall, the Lord Jesus. See Psalms 23:1, He shall gather the lambs with his arm.] The Lord hath a great care of his little ones, like as he had of the weaker tribes. In their march through the wilderness, in their several companies or brigades, he put a strong tribe to two weak tribes; as Judah to Issachar and Zebulon, lest they should faint or fail.

(11) He shall feed his flock . . .—Psalms 23 is the great embodiment of the thought in the Old Testament, as John 10 is in the New, but the thought itself is everywhere (Psalms 77:20; Psalms 80:1; Jeremiah 13:17; Jeremiah 31:10; Jeremiah 1:19; Ezekiel 34:11-16; Matthew 9:36; Matthew 18:12; Luke 15:4, &c). The tender care of the shepherd for the ewes and lambs finds a parallel in Jacob’s pleas (Genesis 33:13).

Verse 11. Shall gently lead those that are with young - "The nursing ewes shall he gently lead."] A beautiful image, expressing, with the utmost propriety as well as elegance, the tender attention of the shepherd to his flock. That the greatest care in driving the cattle in regard to the dams and their young was necessary, appears clearly from Jacob's apology to his brother Esau, Genesis 33:13: "The flocks and the herds giving suck to their young are with me; and if they should be overdriven, all the flock will die." Which is set in a still stronger light by the following remark of Sir John Chardin: "Their flocks," says he, speaking of those who now live in the east after the patriarchal manner, "feed down the places of their encampments so quick, by the great numbers that they have, that they are obliged to remove them too often, which is very destructive to their flocks, on account of the young ones, who have not strength enough to follow." Harmer's Observ. i., p. 126.

11. Jehovah as the Good Shepherd: an ideal picture of the homeward journey of the exiles, hardly of the permanent relations of Jehovah to His people in the final dispensation. The same image is used of the Restoration in Jeremiah 23:1 ff; Jeremiah 31:10; Ezekiel 34:11 ff.; Isaiah 49:9; cf. Isaiah 63:11. those that are with young] Render, with R.V., those that give suck. cf. Genesis 33:13. Ch. Isaiah 40:12-31. Jehovah, God of Israel, the Incomparable, is the title suggested by Dr Davidson[76] for this great passage. It is a meditation or homily on the immeasurable greatness and power and wisdom of Jehovah, the Creator, as displayed in the works of nature and in the government of the world; an expansion of the idea of Isa 40:6-8. The argument from Creation is handled with a boldness of conception and freedom of imagination to which there is nothing equal in the earlier literature, and the frequent appeal to it on the part of this prophet may be held to mark a distinct advance in Israel’s consciousness of God, coinciding generally with the period of the Exile. The practical aim which the writer has in view appears from Isaiah 40:27 ff.; it is to counteract the unbelief and despondency of his fellow-countrymen and to inspire them with some true sense of the infinitude of Jehovah, their own God, who has addressed to them the consolations of Isa 40:1-11. The passage may be divided as follows:— [76] Expositor, Second Series, Vol. VII. p. 96.i. The argument, Isaiah 40:12-26. (1) Isaiah 40:12-17. The greatness of Jehovah is illustrated by the magnitude of His operations as Creator (Isaiah 40:12), by the perfection and self-sufficiency of His knowledge (Isaiah 40:13-14), and by the insignificance in comparison with Him of all that exists (Isaiah 40:15-17). (2) Isaiah 40:18-20. The thought of the transcendent greatness of Jehovah “suggests the idol, which also bears the name of God.… The magnitude of the true God suggests the littleness of the idol-god. He is incomparable; it is by no means so. Its genesis and manufacture are known. It is a cast metal, gilt article, upheld with chains, lest it should totter and tumble to the ground. Or it is a hard-wood tree fashioned into a block by a cunning workman[77].” This is the first of several sarcastic passages in which the processes of an idol factory are minutely described: Isaiah 41:6-7, Isaiah 44:9-20, Isaiah 46:6-8. [77] Davidson, Ibid. p. 101.(3) Isaiah 40:21-26. The thought of Isa 40:12-17 is now resumed and completed. The intelligent contemplation of nature (Isaiah 40:21 f.) or of history (Isaiah 40:23 f.) is enough to dispel the glamour of idolatry, and force the mind back on the Incomparableness of Him who is the Creator and Ruler of the world (Isaiah 40:25 f.). ii. The application, Isaiah 40:27-31. If such be the God of Israel, how can the exiles think that He is either unobservant of their fate or indifferent to it?

He shall feed his flock - In the previous verse, the fact had been asserted that God would come to subdue his foes, and to reward his people.

10, 11. Behold — Serious attention is again challenged. Amplification of last words in preceding verse.