Isaiah 51

Chap. LI. Ver. 1—23. 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 to be made partakers of the same redemption.

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 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.

Chap. LI. Ver. 1—15. 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

Notes on the verses

Chap. LI. Ver. 4. My people…. my nation.—Lowth, as supposing this addressed to the Gentiles, reads, “Ye peoples,…. ye nations;” but we see 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. Ver. 5. My righteousness.—[The word tzedek, “righteousness,” observes Bp. Lowth, is used in such a great latitude of signification, for justice, truth, faithfulness, goodness, mercy, deliverance, salvation, &c. that it is not easy sometimes to give the precise meaning of it without circumjocusd) it, means here the faithful completion of God’s promises to deliver his people.]—Bagster.—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 Bishop Lowth, (changing the Hebrew point,) reads, “Like the vilest insect,” See (Exodus 8:17). Ver. 9. Awake, awake, &c.—(The prophet, by an elegant figure, addresses himself to God, desiring him to exert his power in behalf of his distressed people, as he had done in ancient times, when he delivered them from the slavery of Egypt. Rahab, we have seen, denotes Lower Egypt; and under the image of the dragon, or crocodile, the Sacred Writers generally designate Pharaoh, and sometimes any tyrant, or cruel persecutor of the church.)—Bagster. Ver. 10. Art thou not it, &c.—Compare ch. xxxv. 10, Ver. 14.

The captive exile, &c.—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, (Daniel 11:45).; it may therefore be considered nearly synonymous with spreading, the word used in ver. 13. and which, Lowth thinks, was originally used here. Ver. 19. These two things.—(That is, says Bishop Lowth, desolation by seas and destruction by the sword; taking the numbers alternately.)— Ver.

20. Wild bull.—(The oryx, which Pliny reckons among the wild goats: and which is probably the same as the Bekker-el-wash, which Dr. Shaw describes as “a species of the deer kind, whose horns are exactly in the fashion of our stag, but whose size is only between the red and fallow deer.”)—Bagster. Ver. 21. Drunken, &c.—[Schylus has the same expression; “Intoxicate with passion, not with wine.”]—Bagster. Chap. LII. Ver. 2. Sit down.—(The common mode of sitting in the East, is upon the floor with the legs crossed; and when sitting is spoken of as a posture of more than ordinary state, it means sitting on high, on a chair of state, or throne.)—Bagster. Lowth renders it, “Ascend thy lofty seat!” meaning, 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. 7. How beautiful.—[This is a highly poetical expression, for, How welcome is his arrival! how agreeable are the tidings which he brings!]—Bagster. Ver. 8. Lift up the voice.—(Bishop Lowth reads, ‘All bn! watchmen lift up their voice, they shout together.’ But we may render with Bishop Stock—“The voice of thy watchmen! They lift up their voice together,” &c.)—Bagster.—They shall see eye to eye.—The same Hebrew phrase in (Numbers 14:14), is rendered “face to face,” (as by Lowth here,) and is explained by the Chaldee to mean, “with their own eyes;” or, as Ainsworth there explains it, “visibly, apparently, plainly,” &c.