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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comJamieson Fausset Brown Commentary - Isaiah 61:1 - 61:1
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Isa 61:1-11. Messiah’s offices: Restoration of Israel.
Messiah announces His twofold commission to bring gospel mercy at His first coming, and judgments on unbelievers and comfort to Zion at His second coming (Isa 61:1-9); the language can be applied to Isaiah, comforting by his prophecies the exiles in Babylon, only in a subordinate sense.
is upon me; because ... hath anointed me - quoted by Jesus as His credentials in preaching (Luk 4:18-21). The Spirit is upon Me in preaching, because Jehovah hath anointed Me from the womb (Luk 1:35), and at baptism, with the Spirit “without measure,” and permanently “abiding” on Me (Isa 11:2; Joh 1:32; Joh 3:34; Psa 45:7; with which compare 1Ki 1:39, 1Ki 1:40; 1Ki 19:16; Exo 29:7). “Anointed” as Messiah, Prophet, Priest, and King.
good tidings - as the word “gospel” means.
the meek - rather, “the poor,” as Luk 4:18 has it; that is, those afflicted with calamity, poor in circumstances and in spirit (Mat 11:5).
proclaim liberty - (Joh 8:31-36). Language drawn from the deliverance of the Babylonian captives, to describe the deliverance from sin and death (Heb 2:15); also from the “liberty proclaimed” to all bond-servants in the year of jubilee (Isa 61:2; Lev 25:10; Jer 34:8, Jer 34:9).
opening of the prison - The Hebrew rather is, “the most complete opening,” namely, of the eyes to them that are bound, that is, deliverance from prison, for captives are as it were blind in the darkness of prison (Isa 14:17; Isa 35:5; Isa 42:7) [Ewald]. So Luk 4:18 and the Septuagint interpret it; Luk 4:18, under inspiration, adds to this, for the fuller explanation of the single clause in the Hebrew, “to set at liberty them that are bruised”; thus expressing the double “opening” implied; namely, that of the eyes (Joh 9:39), and that of the prison (Rom 6:18; Rom 7:24, Rom 7:25; Heb 2:15). His miracles were acted parables.