Isaiah 52
PATif I were either forgetful of them, or unable to help them. (See. the note upon xlviii. 11.)
Isaiah 52:6
Therefore my people shall know my name, &c. They shall know my power, that it is I have made this promise of restoring them, who am always ready athand to make good what I say: so some render the latter part of the verse, That I am he that doth speak, and lam ready at hand [to perform it].
Isaiah 52:7
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, &c. A poetical description of the messenger who first brought the good news of Cyrus’s decree for the people’s return home; whom the watchmen, mentioned ver. 8. aTe supposed to descry afar off from the’ tops of the mountains, making all possible haste to publish this happy news; a signal instance of God’s overruling providence, and of the peculiar care he hath for his church. This text is very fitly applied by St. Paul to the first preachers of the gospel> Rom. x. 15. the very word importing good tidings of peaco and salvation, whereby the kingdom of God was erected among men. Accordingly we may observe, that those Psalms wherein we find that expression, Tlie Lord reigneth, are by the generality of interpreters, both Jewish and Christian, expounded of the times of the Messias. (SeePsal. xciii. xcvi. xcvii.)
Isaiah 52:8
TJiy watchmen shall lift up the voice, &c. By watchmen are meant preachers or prophets. (See lvi. 10. Ezek. xxxiii. 7.) The words may be understood particularly of Haggai and Zechariah, with respect to the return from the captivity; and may be applied to the first preachers of the gospel in aftertimes." Tftey sliallsee eye to eye.’] That is, clearly and evidently; the phrase means the same as/ace to face.
Isaiah 52:9
Sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem. See xlix. 8. li. 3.
Isaiah 52:10
The Lord hath made bare his holy arm. He hath given evident tokens of his power and holiness. All the ends of the world shall see the salvation of our God.] The plain import of the words, and the parallel text, Psal. xcviii. 3. shew, that this must bo understood of the revelation of the gospel.
Isaiah 52:11
Depart, depart ye, go ye out from thence. See the note on xlviii. 20. Touch no unclean thing.] The expression is taken from thfc legal pollutions contracted by touching any thing that was unclean; (sec Lev. xxii. 4 — 6.) and is a command to God’s people, and the priests especially, to cleanse themselves from all those defilements they may have contracted. by living among the wicked. He ye clean, ye that bear the vessels of the Lord.] The priests under the law had the charge of the holy vessels, and all the furniture of the temple, committed to them: (see Numb. Hi. 8.) and they were particularly enjoined to keep themselves free from all manner of pollutions.. (See Lev. xxi. xxii.) The mystical sense of which command extendi to all Christians, (sec 2 Cor. vi. 17.) who arc called a holy priesthood, 1 Pet. ii. 5.
Isaiah 52:12
For ye shall not go out with haste, nor go by flight: for the Lord will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rereward. Your fathers were thrust out of Egypt in haste, (Exod. xii. 33.) but ye shall have sufficient notice of your departure out of Babylon, that ye may purify and prepare yourselves for it: and God himself shall be both in the head and rear of you, and, like the pillar of cloud in the wilderness, shall be both your guide and defence! (See Exod. xiv. 19, 20.).
Isaiah 52:13
Behold, my servant shall deal prudently. Or, shall prosper, as the margin reads, more agreeably to what follows. Here’ begins a new section, [the Chaldee paraphrase understands the person spoken of here, and to the end of the following chapter, to be the Messias,] which contains so clear a prophecy of the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow, that all Christian interpreters forsake Grotius here, even those that too servilely copy after him in other places, and think that this prophecy can be applied to none but Christ, who is here called God’s servant in an eminent sense. (See the note on xlii. 1.) He shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high.] He shall be exalted to be the head of a numerous offspring, to justify many, and to divide the spoil with the strong, (Iiii. 10 — 12.) The glories of the Messias are elsewhere in the prophets set forth in the most magnificent terms. And the Jews have a remarkable saying recorded in some of their oldest writers, That the Messias should be exalted above Abraham, be extolled above Moses, and be higher than the angels: a sentence that seems to have been derived to them from a more ancient tradition; for we find St. Paul, in the Epistle to the Hebrews, proves the supereminent dignity of Christ, by the same topics, by shewing him to be greater than Abraham: (Heb.vii. G, 7.) worthy of more honour than Moses, (iii. 3. 5, G.) and higher than the angels,. (i.4,&c.).’;l " /; -..
Isaiah 52:14
As many were astonished at thee. The prophet speaks of that surprise and astonishment men were seized with, by the unexpected change they, observed in Christ’s outwaTd appearance, at the time of his sufferings, and the strange alteration between him that was so lately followed by multitudes, with acclamations and hosannahs, and reverenced as the great Prophet that should come into the world, and the same person suffering on the cross, and treated as the scorn of men, and the outcast of the people. (See Matt, xxvii.39. 42.) His visage was so marred more than any man, &c] See liii. 2.
Isaiah 52:15
So shall ye sprinkle many nations. His sufferings, however they may render him despicable for the present, yet shall bring great benefit to others, and in the • end redound to* his own glory: he shall purify whole nations by his blood, and present them holy to God.’ The expression alludes to the legal aspersions, by which the people were sanctified. (Compare Ezek. xxxvi. 25. Heb. ix. 13,14. lPet.i.2.) The )cings shall shut their mouths at him.] The greatest kings and princes shall submit themselves to him, laying their hands upon (heir mouths, and hearkening to his instructions with the profoundest reverence and attention. (Compare Job xxix. 9, 10. xl. 4. and see above, xlix. 13.) For that which had not been told them shall they see; and that which they had not heard shall they consider.] Those nations and their kings shall be instructed in such heavenly truths, as human reason could never be able to discover. The gospel is called vnnystery lept secret from ages and generations, the knowledge of which could not be attained but by Divine revelation. (See Horn. xyi. 25. Eph. iii. 5. 9.)’ 4C2 Microsoft® [chap. lux.