Isaiah 52

— kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told them shall they see; &c.] Out of respect or fear of Him Gentile kings shall keep silence; and those kings and nations shall be instructed in such heavenly truths as human reason could never be able to discover; and they, to whom no Prophets were sent, or promise made of a Saviour, shall consider and receive his doctrine. Bp. Chandler, W. Lowth.

Chap. LIII. The following chapter is so full a description of our blessed Saviour’s sufferings, that it looks more like a history than a prophecy; and might with more reason be suspected to be a copy drawn from his life, than not to be a description of it. But this Scripture was in being long before our Lord was born, and was in the keeping of his enemies; of those who hated and despised Him, and at last put Him to a shameful death; and were at once the preservers and the fulfillers of the prophecy. Bp. Sherlock. It is certain that both ancient and modern Jews interpret it of the Messiah. Dean Allie. The writers of the New Testament apply it to Christ, and the patrons of infidelity will in vain attempt to apply it to any other. Dr. Berriman. It is so undeniable a proof of the truth of Christianity, that the bare reading of it, and comparing it with the Gospel history, has converted some unbelievers, and brought them home to the faith and religion of Jesus Christ. W. Lowth, Wogan.

Ver. 1. Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? Who of the Jews, when Christ comes, shall believe this our report? even of them, before whom “the arm of the Lord,” the virtue and power of God, is witnessed in his miracles? (so St. John understands the phrase, in the passage referred to in the margin:) the cause of so great unbelief follows, ver. 2. Bp. Chandler. It was the poverty and humility in which He came to visit us, so contrary to their proud and carnal conceits, that induced them to reject the Saviour, whom they were all along taught by their own Scriptures to expect: for this being the season of his humiliation for our sins, He grew up, as Isaiah here describes Him, small and of no reputation, from a

ed with grief: and † we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Isaiah 52:3

3. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, &c.] Many prophecies relating to our Lord regard only particular actions and circumstances of his life: but this points at no single calamity that befell Him, but it is a general description of his condition during his abode on earth. Bp. Sherlock.

— we hid as it were our faces from him;] Out of aversion or contempt. W. Lowth. The margin reads, “He hid his face from us:” mourners covered up the lower part of their face and their heads, 2 Sam. xv. 30; Ezek. xxiv. 17. Bps. Lowth and Chandler.

Isaiah 52:4

4. Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows.] The sense of these words is what St. Peter expresses, “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree,” 1 Pet. ii. 24; and the Apostle to the Hebrews, “Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many,” Heb. ix. 28. St. Matthew’s meaning, in the passage referred to in the margin, is, that Christ healed diseases in such a manner, that even in that sense also the words of Isaiah were literally verified. Dr. S. Clarke. Surely the griefs He bare, and the sorrows He carried, were not his own, but ours; yet we, not considering for whom He suffered, did esteem Him the outcast of heaven and earth, stricken in judgment from above, smitten of God in his anger, and afflicted by his heavy displeasure. Bp. Horne.

Isaiah 52:5

5. — the chastisement of our peace] By which our peace was effected. Bp. Lowth.

Isaiah 52:6

6. — hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.] Alluding to the custom, in making atonement, of laying hands on the head of the sacrifice. Bp. Wilson. See this rite at once enjoined and interpreted, in the law of the scapegoat, Levit. xvi. 21, 22. Dean Stanhope.

Isaiah 52:7

7. — he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.] The liveliest portraiture of resigned innocence!

X 2 e Matt. 8. 17. d Rom. 4. 25. e 1 Pet. 2. 24. f Matt. 26. 63. & 27. 12. Mark 14. 61. & 15. 5. g Acts 8. 32. The good success of Christ’s sufferings. Before CHRIST about 712. Or, He was taken away by distress and judgment, but, &c. the stroke upon him. Or, when his soul shall make an offering.