Isaiah 50

miraculous change, viz. that God would put it in the hearts of thergentiles, whither the Jews were led captives, to send them home again with all necessary provisions for their journey. (See Ezra i. 4.) This may yet receive a farther accomplishment. (Compare xi. 12. lx. 4.) God encourages his people still to depend upon him, by assuring them, that he hath not rejected them, but their sins have, constrained him to deal severely with them. And the prophet shews both his Divine commission to publish to them the glad tidings of redemption, and his readiness to discharge that office, whatever discouragements Or ill treatment he might meet with upon that account, wherein he was an t > exact type or figure of Christ.

Isaiah 50:1

ff HERE is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I put away?. The covenant which God made with his.peoplc is commonly represented under the notion of a marriage-contract. (See note onxlviii. 8.) In allusion to this notion, God demands of the captives, who despaired of his mercy, (see xlix. 14.) to produce the bill, of divorce which he had given to their mother: whereas, on the contrary, he was ready to receive her, whenever she would return from her idolatries, and other iniquities. (See Jer. iii. 1.) Or which of my creditors is it to tvhom I have sold you?] Those that were.poor used to sell their children, and sometimes themselves, to their creditors, for the discharge of their debts. (See Exod. xxi. 7. Nehem. v. 5. Ley. xxv. 39.) The same power masters had over their servants, (Matt, xviii. 25.) God; tells them^hehad no occasion to exercise such a power over them, but it was owing to their own sins that they were made^slaves to foreign nations. (Compare Hi. 3. Psal. xliv. 12.),

Isaiah 50:2

Wlierefore, when I came, was there no man?. How comes it to pass, saith God, that, when I sent messages to you by my servants the prophets, there was no man would take any notice of them? (See Jer. xxxv. 15.) i In the same sense Christ, is said to come and preach peace, that is, by his apostles and ministers, Ephes. ii. 17. Wlien I called, was there none to answer?] Compare lxv; 12. lxvi. 4. Prov. i. 24.,. Behold, at my rebuke I dry up s the sea, &c J For a proof of his. power, God appeals to the miracles he wrought in Egypt, (Exod.vii. 18.) at the Red Sea, and. at Jordan, (Psal. lxxiv. 12-r-lS.)

Isaiah 50:3

I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth Mieir covering. The expressions allude to the Egyptian darkness; (Exod. x. 21.) sackcloth was the habit of mourners, and is put here for a dark, or black colour. (Compare Rev.-vi. 12.)

Isaiah 50:4

Tlie Lord God hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to himfhatis tveary. The prophet saith, that God hath appointed him to perform the office of an instructor and comforter to those that were weary under the yoke of captivity: wherein he was an exact type of Christ, whose, office it was to speak comfort to those who were wearied under the burden of their sins, (Matt. xi. 28.) • He wakeneth morning by morning; he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.] Every morning he putteth me in mind, of the discharge of my office, as masters, rouse up their scholars betimes to learn their lesson. The, words may bo rendered, lie wakeneth mine ear to hear, as scholars [tire awakened]: for the Hebrew limmudim signifies both teachers and disciples; and it is taken in the latter sense by our translators, viii. 16. If we take the word in this sense, the phrase which is translated the tongue of the learned, in the, foregoing sentence, will signify a docile or teachable tongue, which obeys the dictates of its instructor. (See the following verse.)

Isaiah 50:5

,77ie Lord God, hath opened mine ear, and. I was not rebellious. He hath given me instructions for the discharge of mine office, and I immediately complied with his

And kings shall be thy jiursing-fathers, and their queens thy nursing-mothers. Cyrus, Artaxerxes, and other Persiaii monarchs, shewed signal favour to the Jews; and Esther; JDarius’s queen, one of their own countrywomen, saved the nation from utter destruction. But this prophecy was more remarkably fulfilled in the favours which Constantine and his mcther Helen, and other Christian princes and princesses, have shewed to the church, taking it into their care and protection, and sheltering it under their government.. (Compare Numb. xi. 12.) Tliey shall bow down to thee with their face to the earth, and lick up the dost of thy feet.’] To lie prostrate at one’s feet was the highest act of adoration amongst the eastern nations: (see Gen*xlii.26. 2 Sam. xviii. 28. Lukexvii.lG.) and is applied here to denote the great honour and’ deference which the Christian emperors and kings should pay to the church, submitting themselves to its laws, and owning themselves its disciples; it being the custom of disciples to sit at their masters’ feet, and receive instructions from them in that posture. To the same custom the phrase of licking up the dust of thy feet may allude. (Compare xlv. 14. Hi. 15. lx. 14. Rev. iii. 9.).It may not be impertinent to observe farther, the great honour and respect paid by the first Christian emperors and empresses to the bishops of the church,, who always bowed down their heads to them, when they desired their blessing. (See Valesius’s notes upon Theodoret, lib. iv. cap. G.)

Sliall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered?. An objection urging the seeming impossibility of rescuing the Jews from such a powerful enemy as the Babylonish empire, who had made, an entire conquest over.them.

,-For I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, &c,. God answers this difficulty, by telling them, that he will take thi$ matter into his own-hands, and plead their cause with their enemies.

And I will feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh,; &c. Those that aTe allied to us, by country or kindred, or any other relation, are called our own flesh. (See.Judg. ix.2. 2Sam. v.l.Nehem. v. 5.) So the phrase here imports, that God will set these enemies of his people one against the other, and make them kill and destroy, each other. (Sec note on ix. 20.) Accordingly, Cyrus first conquered a great many of the allies of the Babylonians, and made them serviceable in reducing the capital city of that empire. _…