Isaiah 53:6

All we like sheep have gone astray,.... Here the prophet represents all the elect of God, whether Jews or Gentiles; whom he compares to "sheep", not for their good qualities, but for their

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. The extent of our malady, and our urgent need of cure, are next set forth.

All we, all mankind, the Jews no less than the Gentiles, like sheep, which are simple and foolish creatures, and exceeding apt to straggle and lose themselves, have gone astray from God, and from the way of his precepts, in which he put our first parents, and in which he commanded us to walk. To his own way; in general, to the way and course of sin, which may well be called a man’ s own way, as sins are called men’ s own lusts, , and elsewhere, because sin is natural to us, inherent in us, born with us, and very dear to us; and in particular, to those several paths of divers lusts which several men choose and follow, according to their differing opinions, inclinations, occasions, and circumstances. Hath laid, Heb. hath made to meet, as all the rivers meet in the sea. The iniquity; not properly, for so he knew no sin, ; but the punishment of iniquity, as that word is most frequently used, as :3 , &c.; that which was due for all the sins of all his people, whether Jews or Gentiles, which must needs be so great and heavy a lead, that if he had not been God as well as man, he must have sunk under the burden of them. This was actually verified in Christ. And both this and divers other passages here do as manifestly and fully point at Christ, as if they were not a prophetical representation of things to come, but an historical relation of them after they were done. Nor do I see how they can be excused from the fearful wresting of the Scripture that expound these places of the prophet Jeremiah, of any other person but Christ.

Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.Ver. 6. All we, like sheep, have gone astray.] Gone of our own accords, as "longing to wander"; to wander as sheep, lost sheep, than the which no creature is more apt to stray, and less able to return. "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’ s crib. "The very swine accustomed to the trough, if he go abroad, yet at night will find the way home again. Not so the silly sheep. "Lo, ye were all as sheep going astray," saith Peter, "but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls." We have turned every one to his own way.] Quo variae errorum formae innuuntur, dum suas quisque opiniones sectatur. Each one, as he is out of God’ s way, so hath his own by way of wickedness to wander in; wherein yet, without a Christ, he cannot wander so far as to miss hell. And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all,] i.e., Of all his elect. The iniquity of us all he hath made to meet on him, so the Hebrew hath it; or, To light on him, even the full weight of his wrath and dint of his displeasure, for our many and mighty sins imputed unto him. Let the Jew jeer at this and say, that every fox must pay his own skin to the flayer; let the Romanist reject imputed righteousness, calling it putative, by a scoff; there is not anything that more supporteth a sinking soul than this "righteousness which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." This manus Christi, as nailed to the cross, is the only medicine for a sin sick soul, believe it.

(6) All we like sheep have gone astray . . .—The confession of repentant Israel (Psalms 119:176), of repentant humanity (1 Peter 2:25), was also the thought present to the mind of the Servant, as in Matthew 9:36; John 10:11. Hath laid on him.—Better, as in the margin, hath made to light on him. The words express the fact, but do not explain the mystery, of the substitutive satisfaction. The two sides of that mystery are stated in the form of a seeming paradox. God does not punish the righteous with the wicked (Genesis 18:25). He accepts the suffering of the righteous for the wicked (Mark 10:45).

Verse 6. The iniquity of us all.] For עון avon, "iniquity," the ancient interpreters read עונות avonoth, "iniquities," plural; and so the Vulgate in MS. Blanchini. And the Lord hath הפגיע בו hiphgia bo, caused to meet in him the iniquities of us all. He was the subject on which all the rays collected on the focal point fell. These fiery rays, which should have fallen on all mankind, diverged from Divine justice to the east, west, north, and south, were deflected from them, and converged in him. So the Lord hath caused to meet in him the punishment due to the iniquities of ALL.

6. Looking back on their former irreligious condition the people see that their rejection of the Servant was the natural outcome of the heedless and inconsiderate selfishness in which they were living. For the figure of the strayed sheep, cf. Psalms 119:176; Matthew 9:36; Matthew 10:6; Luke 15:4. For have gone … have turned, read had gone … had turned. every one to his own way] selfishly following his individual impulses and interests; cf. Isaiah 56:11. hath laid on him the iniquity] made to light on him the guilt.

All we, like sheep, have gone astray - This is the penitent confession of those for whom he suffered.

6. The sufferings described in Isaiah 53:5 were those endured by Jehovah’s innocent and righteous Servant, such as he took on himself; and this voluntary endurance in our stead became the source of our healing.