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The Messianic interpretation of the chapter was universally acknowledged by the Jews until the time of Aben Ezra. It was also assumed as indisputable by the Christian Fathers. Almost all Christian expositors down to the commencement of the nineteenth century took the same view. It was only under the pressure of the Christian controversy that the later Jews abandoned the traditional interpretation, and applied the prophecy
(1) to Jeremiah;
(2) to Josiah;
(3) to the people of Israel.
In the present century a certain number of Christian commentators have adopted one or other of the late Jewish theories, either absolutely or with modifications. It is impossible to examine and refute their arguments here. We must be content to repeat what was urged in the introductory paragraph to Jer_42:1-22; namely:
(1) that the portraiture of "the Servant of the Lord" in this place has so strong an individuality and such marked personal features that it cannot possibly be a mere personified collective—whether Israel, or faithful Israel, or ideal Israel, or the collective body of the prophets; and
(2) that it goes so infinitely beyond anything of which a mere man was ever capable, that it can only refer to the unique Man—the God-Man—Christ. It is, moreover, applied directly to Christ in Mat_8:17; Mar_15:28; Luk_22:37; Joh_12:37, Joh_12:38; Act_8:32, Act_8:33; Rom_10:16; and 1Pe_2:24, 1Pe_2:25. The Messianic interpretation is maintained, among moderns, by Hengstenberg, Keil, Umbreit, (Ehler, Delitzsch, Kay, Cheyne, Henderson, Alexander, Urwick, and others.
Isa_53:1
Who hath believed? Isaiah felt that he spoke, mainly, to unbelieving ears (see above, Isa_28:9-15; Isa_29:10-15; Isa_30:9-11; Isa_42:23, etc.). The unbelief was likely to be intensified when so marvellous a prophecy was delivered as that which he was now commissioned to put forth. Still, of course, there is rhetorical exaggeration in the question, which seems to imply that no one would believe. Our report; literally, that which has been heard by us. But the word is used technically for a prophetic revelation (see Isa_28:9, Isa_28:19; Jer_49:14). Here it would seem to refer especially to the Messianic prophecies delivered by Isaiah. To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed? The "arm of the Lord," which has been "made bare in the eyes of all the nations" (Isa_52:10), yet requires the eye of faith to see it. Many Jews would not see the working of God's providence in the victories of Cyrus, or in the decision to which he came to restore the Jews to their own country. Unbelief can always assign the most plainly providential arrangements to happy accident.
Isa_53:2
For he shall grow up; rather, now he grew up. The verbs are, all of them, in the past, or completed tense, until Isa_53:7, and are to be regarded as "perfects of prophetic certitude." As Mr. Cheyne remarks, "All has been finished before the foundations of the world in the Divine counsels." Before him; i.e. "before Jehovah"—under the fostering care of Jehovah (comp. Luk_2:40, Luk_2:52). God the Father had his eye ever fixed upon the Son with watchfulness and tenderness and love. As a tender plant; literally, as a sapling, or as a sucker (comp. Job_8:16; Job_14:7; Job_15:30; Psa_80:12; Eze_17:4, Eze_17:22; Hos_14:6). The "branch" of Isa_11:1, Isa_11:10—a different word—has nearly the same meaning. The Messiah will be a fresh sprout from the stump of a tree that has been felled; i.e. from the destroyed Davidic monarchy. As a root (so Isa_11:10; Rev_5:5). The "sapling" from the house of David shall become the "root" out of which his Church will grow (comp. Joh_15:1-6). Out of a dry ground. Either out of the "dry ground" of a corrupt age and nation, or out of the arid soil of humanity. In the East it is not unusual to see a tall succulent plant growing from a soft which seems utterly devoid of moisture. Such plants have roots that strike deep, and draw their nourishment from a hidden source. He hath no form nor comeliness; rather, he had no form nor majesty. It is scarcely the prophet's intention to describe the personal appearance of our Lord. What he means is that "the Servant" would have no splendid surroundings, no regal pomp nor splendour—nothing about him to attract men's eyes, or make them think him anything extraordinary. It is impossible to suppose that there was not in his appearance something of winning grace and quiet majesty. but it was of a kind that was not adapted to draw the gaze of the multitude. And when we shall see him. Some connect this clause with the preceding, and translate, "He hath no form nor comeliness, that we should regard him; no beauty, that we should desire him" (Lowth, Vitringa, Gesenius, Ewald, Knobel, Henderson, Urwick. But Stier, Delitzsch, Kay, and Mr. Cheyne prefer the construction found in the Authorized Version). No beauty; literally, no sightliness; i.e. nothing to attract the eye or arrest it. The spiritual beauties of holy and sweet expression and majestic calm could only have ben spiritually discerned.
Isa_53:3
He is despised; rather, was despised (comp. Isa_49:7 and Psa_22:6). Men's contempt was shown, partly in the little attention which they paid to his teaching, partly in their treatment of him on the night and day before the Crucifixion. Rejected of men; rather, perhaps, forsaken of men—"one from whom men held themselves aloof" (Cheyne); comp. Job_19:14. Our Lord had at no time more than a "little flock" attached to him. Of these, after a time, "many went back, and walked no more with him" (Joh_6:66). Some, who believed on him, would only come to him by night (Joh_3:2). All the "rulers" and great men held aloof from him (Joh_7:48). At the end, even his apostles "forsook him, and fled" (Mat_26:56). A Man of sorrows. The word translated "sorrows" means also pains of any kind. But the beautiful rendering of our version may well stand, since there are many places where the word used certainly means "sorrow" and nothing else (see Exo_3:7; 2Ch_6:29; Psa_32:10; Psa_38:17; Ecc_1:18; Jer_30:15; Jer_45:3; Lam_1:12, Lam_1:18, etc.). Aquila well translates, ἄνδρα ἀλγηδόνων The "sorrows" of Jesus appear on every page of the Gospels. Acquainted with grief; literally, with sickness; but as aeger and aegritudo are applied in Latin both to the mind and to the body, so kholi, the word here used, would seem to be in Hebrew (see Jer_6:7; Jer_10:19).The translation of the Authorized Version may therefore be retained. We hid as it were our faces from him; literally, and there was as it were the hiding of the face from him. Some suppose the hiding of God's face to be intended; but the context, which describes the treatment of the Servant by his fellow-men, makes the meaning given in our version far preferable. Men turned their faces from him when they met him, would not see him, would not recognize him (comp. Job_19:13-17; Job_30:10). Despised. A repetition very characteristic of Isaiah (see Isa_1:7; Isa_3:12; Isa_4:3; Isa_6:11; Isa_14:25; Isa_15:8; Isa_17:12, Isa_17:13, etc.).
Isa_53:4
Surely he hath borne our griefs; or, surely they were our griefs which he bore. The pronouns are emphatic. Having set forth at length the fact of the Servant's humiliation (Isa_53:2, Isa_53:3), the prophet hastens to declare the reason of it. Twelve times over within the space of nine verses he asserts. with the most emphatic reiteration, that all the Servant's sufferings were vicarious, borne for him, to save him from the consequences of his sins, to enable him to escape punishment. The doctrine thus taught in the Old Testament is set forth! with equal distinctness in the New (Mat_20:28; Joh_11:50-52; Rom_3:25; Rom_5:6-8; Rom_8:3; 2Co_5:18-21; 2Co_8:9; Gal_3:13; Eph_1:7; 1Pe_2:24, etc.), and forms the hope, the trust, and the consolation of Christians. and carried our sorrows. The application which St. Matthew makes of this passage to our Lord's miracles of healing (Mat_8:17) is certainly not the primary sense of the words, but may be regarded as a secondary application of them. Christ's sufferings were the remedy for all the ills that flesh is heir to. Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God. They who saw Christ suffer, instead of understanding that he was bearing the sins of others in a mediatorial capacity, imagined that he was suffering at God's hands for his own sins. Hence they scoffed at him and reviled him, even in his greatest agonies (Mat_27:39-44). To one only, and him not one of God's people, was it given to see the contrary, and to declare aloud, at the moment of the death, "Certainly this was a righteous Man" (Luk_23:47).
Isa_53:5
But he was wounded for our transgressions. This verse contains four asseverations of the great truth that all Christ's sufferings were for us, and constituted the atonement for our sins. The form is varied, but the truth is one. Christ was "wounded" or "pierced"
(1) by the thorns;
(2) by the nails; and
(3) by the spear of the soldier.
The wounds inflicted by the nails caused his death, He was bruised; or, crushed (comp. Isa_3:15; Isa_19:10; Isa_57:15. Psa_72:4). "No stronger expression could be found in Hebrew to denote severity of suffering—suffering unto death" (Urwick). The chastisement of our peace was upon him; i.e. "the chastisement which brought us peace," which put a stop to the enmity between fallen man and an offended God—which made them once more at one (comp. Eph_2:15-17, "Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the Law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; and that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: and came and preached peace to you which were afar off;" Col_1:20, "Having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself"). With his stripes we are healed; rather, we were healed. Besides the blows inflicted on him with the hand (Mat_26:27) and with the reed (Mat_27:30), our Lord was judicially scourged (Mat_27:26). Such scourging would leave the "stripe-marks" which are here spoken of.
Isa_53:6
All we like sheep have gone astray. "All we" means either the whole nation of Israel, which "went astray" in the wilderness of sin (Psa_107:4; Psa_119:176; Eze_34:6), or else the whole race of mankind, which had wandered from the right path, and needed atonement and redemption even mere than Israel itself We have turned every one to his own way. Collectively and individually, the whole world had sinned. There was "none that did good" absolutely—"no, not one" (Psa_14:3). All had quitted "the way of the Lord" (Isa_40:3) to walk in their "own ways" (Isa_66:3). The Lord hath laid on him; literally, the Lord caused to light upon him. God the Father, as the primary Disposer of all things, lays upon the Son the burden, which the Son voluntarily accepts. He comes into the world to do the Father's will. He prays to the Father, "Let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt" (Mat_26:39). So St. John says that the Father "sent the Son to be the Propitiation for our sins" (1Jn_4:10). And St. Paul tells us that God (the Father) "made him to be sin for us who knew no sin" (2Co_5:21). It does not lessen the Son's exceeding mercy and loving-kindness in accepting the burden, that it was laid upon him by the Father. The iniquity of us all (compare the initial "All we"). The redemption is as universal as the sin, at any rate potentially. Christ on the cross made "a full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice … for the sins of the whole world."
Isa_53:7
He was oppressed. As Israel under the Egyptian taskmasters (Exo_3:7). The cruel ill usage in the high priest's house, and before Herod is, perhaps, specially pointed at. He was afflicted; rather, he abased himself (comp. Isa_31:4 and Exo_10:3). The position of the emphatic pronoun (hu') between the first participle and the second detaches the second clause from the first and conjoins it with the third. Otherwise the rendering of the Authorized Version might stand. Translate, He was oppressed, but he abased himself and opened not his mouth. The silence of Jesus before his judges (Mat_26:22, Mat_26:23; Mat_27:14), when he could so easily have vindicated himself from every charge, was a self-abasement. It seemed like an admission of guilt. He opened not his mouth (comp. Psa_38:13, Psa_38:14; Psa_39:2, Psa_39:9). The contrast of the Servant's silence and passivity with men's ordinary vehemence of self-assertion under ill usage is most striking. Who was ever silent but he under such extremity of provocation? He is brought as a lamb; rather, as the lamb. The Paschal lamb is, perhaps, intended, or, at any rate, the lamb of sacrifice. The prophet has often seen the dumb, innocent lamb led in silence to the altar, to be slain there, and thinks of that touching sight. It was probably the use of this imagery here which caused the Baptist to term our Lord "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world" (Joh_1:29). As a sheep before her shearers. A second image, a reflex of the first, somewhat weaker, as so often in Isaiah (Isa_1:22, Isa_1:30; Isa_5:18, Isa_5:24; Isa_8:14; Isa_10:24, Isa_10:27, Isa_10:34; Isa_11:8; Isa_13:14; Isa_24:13; Isa_25:7, etc.).
Isa_53:8
He was taken from prison and from judgment; rather, by oppression and a judgment was he taken away; i.e. (us Dr. Kay says) "by a violence which cloaked itself under the formalities of a legal process." The Septuagint Version, which is quoted by Philip the deacon in the Acts (Isa_8:1-22 :33), must have been derived from quite a different text. It preserves, however, the right rendering of the verb, "was he taken away," i.e. removed from the earth. Who shall declare his generation? literally, his generation who considereth? The meaning is obscure. Dr. Kay understands by "his generation," his lifetime or his life, comparing Isa_38:12, "Mine age is departed," where the same word is used and accompanied by a pronominal suffix. Mr. Urwick suggests that it includes
(1) his origin;
(2) his earthly life; and
(3) his everlasting reign in heaven.
Others (Delitzsch, Gesenius, Cheyne) take "his generation'' to mean "the men of his generation," and join the clause with what follows: "As for those of his generation, which of them considered that he was cut off," etc.? He was cut off; i.e. taken away before his time, cut down like a flower (comp. Job_14:2; Lam_3:54; Eze_37:11). The land of the living. The present world, the earth (see Isa_38:11; and comp. Job_28:13; Psa_27:13; Psa_52:5; Psa_116:9; Psa_142:1-7 2; Jer_11:19). For the transgression of my people was he stricken. The sentiment is the same as in Isa_38:5, but with the difference that there it was suffering only, here it is death itself, which the Servant endures for man. "My people" may be either "God's people" or "the prophet's people," according as the speaker is regarded as Isaiah or Jehovah. Jehovah certainly becomes the Speaker in verses 11, 12.
Isa_53:9
And he made his grave with the wicked; rather, they assigned him his grave with the wicked. The verb is used impersonally. Those who condemned Christ to be crucified with two malefactors on the common execution-ground—"the place of a skull"—meant his grave to be "with the wicked," with whom it would naturally have been but for the interference of Joseph of Arimathaea. Crucified persons were buried with their crosses near the scene of their crucifixion by the Romans. And with the rich in his death; or, and (he was) with a rich one after his death. In the preceding clause, the word translated "the wicked" is plural, but in the present, the word translated "the rich" is singular. The expression translated "in his death" means "when he was dead," "after death". The words have a singularly exact fulfilment in the interment of our Lord (Mat_27:57-60). Because. The preposition used may mean either "because" or "although." The ambiguity is, perhaps, intentional. He had done no violence; or, no wrong (see Gen_16:5; 1Ch_12:17; Job_19:7; Psa_35:11 (margin); Pro_26:6). The LXX. give ἀνομία while St. Peter renders the word used by ἀμαρτία (1Pe_2:22). The sinlessness of Christ is asserted by himself (Joh_8:46), and forms the main argument in the Epistle to the Hebrews for the superiority of the new covenant over the old (Heb_7:26-28; Heb_9:14). It is also witnessed to by St. Peter (1Pe_2:22), by St. Paul (2Co_5:21), and by St. John (1Jn_3:5). As no other man was ever without sin, it follows that the Servant of the present chapter must be Jesus.
Isa_53:10
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him (see the comment on Isa_53:6, ad fin.). The sufferings of Christ, proceeding from the "determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God" (Act_2:23), and being permitted by him; were in some sort his doing. It "pleased him," moreover, that they should be undergone, for he saw with satisfaction the Son's self-sacrifice, and he witnessed with joy man's redemption and deliverance effected thereby. He hath put him to grief; rather, he dealt grievously—a sort of hendiadys. "He bruised him with a grievous bruising." When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. It is proposed (Ewald, Cheyne), by the alteration of a letter, to make the passage run thus: "When he shall make his soul an offering," etc; and argued that "he who offers the Servant's life as a sacrifice must be the Servant himself, and not Jehovah" (Cheyne). No doubt the Servant did offer his own life (see Mat_20:28," He gave his soul a ransom for many"); but that fact does not preclude the possibility of the Father having also offered it. "Believest thou not," said our Lord to Philip, "that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works" (Joh_14:10). This perienchoresis, as the ancient theologians called it, makes it possible to predicate of the Father almost all the actions which can be predicated of the Son—all, in fact, excepting those which belong to the Son's humanity, or which involve obedience and subordination. As the Father had "laid on Christ the iniquity of us all" (Isa_53:6), as he had "bruised him and put him to grief," so he might be said to have "made his soul an offering for sin." All was settled in the Divine counsels from all eternity, and when the ideal became the actual, God the Father wrought with God the Son to effectuate it. "Offerings for sin," or "guilt offerings," were distinct from "sin offerings." The object of the former was "satisfaction," of the latter "expiation." The Servant of Jehovah was, however, to be both. "As in Isa_53:5 the Divine Servant is represented as a Sin Offering, his death being an expiation, so hero he is described as a Guilt Offering, his death being a satisfaction ". He shall see his seed. The "seed" of a teacher of religion are his disciples. St. Paul speaks of Onesimus as one whom he had "begotten in his bends" (Phm_1:10). He calls himself by implication the "father" of his Corinthian converts (1Co_4:15). Both he and St. John address their disciples as "little children" (Gal_4:19; I Joh_2:1, Joh_2:18, Joh_2:25; Joh_3:7, Joh_3:18; Joh_4:4; Joh_5:21). It had long previously been promised that "a seed should serve" Messiah (Psa_22:30). Our Lord himself occasionally called his disciples his "children" (Mar_10:24; Joh_21:4). He has always "seen his seed" in his true followers. He shall prolong his days. A seeming contradiction to the statement (verse 8) that he should be "cut off" out of the land of the living; and the more surprising because his death is made the condition of this long life: "When thou shalt make his soul an offering [or, 'sacrifice'] for sin," then "he shall prolong his days." But the resurrection of Christ, and his entrance upon an immortal life (Rom_6:9), after offering himself as a Sacrifice upon the cross, exactly meets the difficulty and solves the riddle (comp. Rev_1:18). The pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. "In his hand" means "by his instrumentality." The "pleasure of the Lord" is God's ultimate aim and end with respect to his universe. This would "prosper"—i.e. be advanced, wrought out, rendered effectual—by the instrumentality of Christ. "Taking the verse as a whole, it sets forth
(1) the origin,
(2) the nature, and
(3) the result of the Saviour's sufferings.
Taking the last clause by itself, we have
(1) the Divine complacency in the purpose of human salvation; and
(2) the successful issue of that purpose as administered by the Messiah".
Isa_53:11
He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied; rather, because of the travail of his soul he shall see, and be satisfied (comp. Php_2:7-11, "He made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men; and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a Name which is above every name: that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father"). No cross—no crown. First, suffering, then glory. Because Christ suffered, and was bruised, and put to grief, and made a sacrifice for sin; because of all this "travail of his soul,"—therefore it was given him to see the happy results of his sufferings—the formation of that Church which will live with him for ever in heaven (Rev_7:4-17), and therewith to be "satisfied." By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; i.e. "by his knowledge of the Divine counsels and purpose, which he will impart to his disciples, shall my righteous Servant justify many" (literally, the many), or, in other words, "turn them from sin to righteousness" (comp. Dan_12:3). Nothing is so effectual in turning men to righteousness as teaching them the true knowledge of God—his nature, his purposes with regard to them, his feelings towards them. Christ, from his own knowledge, gave men this knowledge, and so did all that could be done to draw them to his Father. And his efforts were not without result. The fruit of his teaching has been the justification of many—ay, of "the many," as both Isaiah and St. Paul (Rom_5:19) testify. For he shall bear their iniquities; rather, and their iniquities he himself shall bear. The initial part of the clause is not "causal," but merely connective. There are two main things which Christ does for his people—he makes them righteous by infusing into them of his own righteousness; and he bears the burden of their iniquities, taking them upon himself, ,and by his perpetual intercession obtaining God's forgiveness of them. As Delitzsch says, "His continued taking of our trespasses upon himself is merely the constant presence and presentation of his atonement, which has been offered once for all. The dead yet living One, because of his one self-sacrifice, is an eternal Priest, who now lives to distribute the blessings which he has acquired".
Isa_53:12
Therefore (see the comment on Isa_53:11, sub init.). Will I divide him a portion with the great; i.e. "I will place him among the great conquering ones of the earth"—an accommodation to human modes of thought analogous to the frequent comparison of Christ's kingdom with the kingdoms of the earth (Dan_2:44; Dan_7:9-14. etc.). The apostle goes deeper into the true nature of things when he says, "Therefore also hath God highly exalted him, and given him a Name which is above every name" (Php_2:9). He shall divide the spoil with the strong. A repetition of the thought in the preceding clause (comp. Pro_16:19). Because he hath poured out his soul unto death. Christ not only died for man, but, as it were, "poured out his soul" with his own hand to the last drop. The expression emphasizes the duration and the voluntariness of Messiah's sufferings. And he was numbered with the transgressors; rather, and he was reckoned with transgressors (see Luk_22:37, Μετὰ ἀνόμων ἐλογίσθη where our Lord applies the words to himself). Christ was condemned as a "blasphemer" (Mat_26:65), crucified with malefactors (Luk_23:32), called "that deceiver" (Mat_27:63), and regarded generally by the Jews as accursed (Deu_21:23). And he bare the sin of many; rather, and himself bare the sin of many (compare the last clauses of Isa_53:6 and Isa_53:11; and see also Heb_9:27). And made intercession for the transgressors. The future is used, with van conversive, instead of the preterite, to mark that the act, though begun in the past, is inchoate only, and not completed. The "intercession for transgressors" was begun upon the cross with the compassionate words, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (Luk_23:34). But it has continued ever since, and will continue until the last day (see Rom_8:34; Heb_7:25).
(1) that the Messiah would be a suffering Messiah;
(2) that his sufferings would be vicarious; and
(3) that they would have a propitiatory or atoning character.
I. THE MESSIAH A SUFFERING MESSIAH. Hitherto Isaiah had looked upon the promised Redeemer on the side of his glories and his triumphs. His names were to be "Immanuel," or "God with us" (Isa_7:14), "Wonderful," "Counsellor," "The Mighty God," "The Everlasting Father," "The Prince of Peace" (Isa_9:6). "Of the increase of his government and peace there was to be no end, upon the throne of David, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever" (Isa_9:7). "The Spirit of the Lord was to be upon him … and with righteousness was he to judge the poor, and to reprove with equity for the meek of the earth, and to smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips to slay the wicked" (Isa_11:2-4). He was to "bring forth judgment to the Gentiles" (Isa_42:1); he was not to "fail nor be discouraged" (Isa_42:4); he was to be "upheld ever by God's hand" (Isa_42:6); "the isles were to wait for his Law" (Isa_42:4). But now the prophet has to speak in another strain. Psalms probably written before his time (as Psa_2:1-12; Psa_22:1-31; Psa_31:1-24; Psa_40:1-17; Psa_49:1-20; etc.) had partially drawn aside the veil, and given indications that the career of the Deliverer would not be all glory or all triumph. But it was difficult to determine how far they were historical, how far prophetic. It was a part of Isaiah's mission to reveal, in language that could scarcely be mistaken, the darker aspect of Messiah's coming, the "contradiction of sinners" which he would encounter, and its consequences. Messiah was to be "despised," "forsaken" (verse 8), "pierced," "crushed," made sore with "stripes" (verse 5), "oppressed" (verse 7), "cut off" before his time, "stricken" (verse 8), "dealt with grievously" (verse 10). He was to be condemned by an iniquitous "judgment" (verse 8), to be "brought as a lamb to the slaughter" (verse 7), to be "assigned his grave with the wicked" (verse 9), and "reckoned with transgressors" (verse 12). His earthly life was to be such as would be best summed up in the brief phrase, "A Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief" (verse 3).
II. THE SUFFERINGS OF MESSIAH VICARIOUS. Men make a difficulty about vicarious suffering; but half the suffering in the world is of this nature. Who that watches by a sick-bed, and supports and props the sufferer, and stays unmoved in a cramped position not to disturb the sick one's snatch of slumber, but suffers to assuage or remove another's pain? Who that, hungry himself, passes on to another the food that he might eat himself, but does the same? What mother but bears a thousand discomforts to shield her child from them? What soldier but tries to take himself the blow which he sees must otherwise prostrate his chief? How are the young, who rush into ruinous extravagance which would cripple them for life, saved but by a father or a guardian taking on him the grievous trouble of paying the debts incurred? What do not refined ladies undergo to rescue and recover those among their sisters who have fallen? Men's and women's kindness of heart is continually leading them to undergo vicarious suffering; nor is there often any other way by which the sufferings of our fellow-creatures can be removed. If I take the load that is galling another's back and put it on my own, I do it with the full knowledge that my back will soon ache. If I transfer my wraps to a sick fellow-traveller on a wintry day, I am quite aware that the cold will clutch me instead of him. The vicarious character of Messiah's sufferings is the direct subject of seven distinct assertions:
(1) "He hath borne our griefs;"
(2) "He hath "carried our sorrows;"
(3) "He was wounded for our transgressions;
(4) "He was bruised for our iniquities;"
(5) "The chastisement of our peace was upon him;"
(6) "With his stripes we are healed" (verses 4, 5);
(7) "For the transgression of my people was he stricken" (verse 8).
It is indirectly implied in four others:
(1) "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all;"
(2) "Thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin;"
(3) "He shall bear their iniquities;"
(4) "He bare the sins of many" (verses 6, 10-12).
III. THE SUFFERINGS OF MESSIAH PROPITIATORY. The idea of propitiation is implied in the three passages where Messiah is said to have borne the sins of men. No otherwise can one man bear the sin of another than by doing something which propitiates him whom the sin has offended. But it is further distinctly asserted in verse 10, when it is said that the soul of the Servant should be "made an offering for sin." As the whole notion of offering for sin was grounded on the idea of expiation, so it was now made plain that the real expiation, the real atonement, the real propitiation, to which the entire ritual system of the Israelitish nation pointed, was the offering up of that "righteous Servant" of the Lord, who, "having done no wrong," having been guilty of no "guile," nevertheless was made sin for man, and became a willing and meritorious Sacrifice. "It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin" (Hos_10:4). It is impossible for sinful man to redeem his fellow-man (Psa_49:7, Psa_49:8). Only One who was without sin, "holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners" (Hos_7:1-16 :26), could make atonement for others' sins; only One who was perfectly pure himself could purify them; only One who needed none to intercede for him could intercede for his brethren. It is strange how men dislike, and kick against, and endeavour to explain away, the doctrine of vicarious suffering and substitution, and of atonement made for man by the blood of Christ. Yet why should this be? "The doctrine," as Mr. Urwick says, "is in perfect keeping with all that the Jewish ceremonial embodied, and with the teaching alike of the Redeemer himself (Mat_20:28; Joh_10:11; Luk_22:20) and his apostles, St. Paul (Rom_3:24-26), St. Peter (1Pe_2:24, 1Pe_2:25), and St. John (1Jn_2:2). It satisfies the Divine holiness, and the demands of the sinner's own conscience. It fully recognizes the reality of sin and its exceeding sinfulness, whereas all other attempted explanations tend to make light of sin, or at least to represent it more or less as a matter of human weakness, which a good-natured God will readily pass over and forgive without a ransom. It presents the way of salvation as simple and straightforward; all can understand it; whereas other attempted explanations of the efficacy of Christ's redemptive work are cloudy, indefinite, mystified, abstruse, and difficult of apprehension even by the learned".
II. THE VICARIOUS NATURE OF THE SUFFERING. He bore our sicknesses; "the first of twelve distinct assertions in this one chapter of the vicarious character of the sufferings of the Servant." They are "because of our rebellions" and of "our iniquities." The punishment which is the means of "our peace" and welfare fell upon him; we have been healed through his stripes. The iniquity of all has been made to light upon him. "As the avenger of blood pursues the murderer, so punishment by an inner necessity overtakes the sinner (Psa_40:12; Num_32:23; cf. Deu_27:15). And inasmuch as the Servant, by Jehovah's will, has made himself the Substitute of the Jewish nation, it follows that the punishment of the latter must fall upon him." After all that has been written for ages upon this difficult subject of vicarious suffering or punishment, there remain difficulties not to be surmounted by our reason. How can punishment be transferred? How can the suffering due to the sinner be imposed upon an innocent person? How can any honest mind admit such a confusion of relation, even were it offered, as a means of escape from penalty? The answers to these questions are given in poetic metaphors, and analogies which do not reach to the heart of the matter, and forensic quibbles which are not lovely in connection with spiritual matters. For all that, there is something the heart of all men fixes upon as lovely, Divine, adorable, in the idea of a man laying down his life for his brethren, a patriot for his country. Much of this deep feeling enters into the old legends, often of a woman—an Alkestis, a Makaria, an Hesione; often of a man—a son of Mesa, King of Moab, a Menoikeus, a Curtius. If we begin to criticize, we lose the sense and spirit of these sweet stories. So with the great tradition of the Servant of Jehovah, and with the still greater tradition by which our lives and hearts have been formed.
III. APPLICATION. Every Christian thinks of Christ when he reads these beautiful words. Who but he can inspire us with the willingness to "crucify the flesh, with the affections and lusts"? "Nature, indeed, cannot, will not, prompt it; but Christianity, which rises many strains above nature, must and will. The best sacrifice to a crucified Saviour is a crucified lust, a bleeding heart, and a dying corruption. Let the ambitious man lay his pride in the dust, the covetous man deposit his treasures in the banks of charity and liberality, and let the voluptuous epicure renounce his cups and his whores,—and this will be a present to Heaven better than a whole hecatomb; nor could the fruit of his body fall so grateful a sacrifice upon God's altar as the sin of his soul" (South).—J.
Isa_53:7-12
I. AN EXAMPLE OF SUBMISSION TO WRONG. The slave-driver (Exo_3:7; Job_3:18), or the exactor of a tax or a debt (Deu_15:2, Deu_15:3; 2Ki_23:35), is the image of oppression in its urgency and its contumely· And the silence of the suffering One eloquently speaks of his resignation (Psa_38:14; Psa_39:9). The gentle uncomplaining lamb may well set him forth "with power at his disposal, yet as meek as if he had no power; with consciousness of impending fate, yet calm as if ignorant of it" (cf. Jer_11:19; 1Pe_2:23). The idea of the Lamb of God in the New Testament rests in part upon this passage "The two or three who can win it may be called victors in life's conflict; to them belongs the regnum et diadema tutum." His was the lot represented by our great poet as tempting in its extreme anguish to thoughts of suicide. But from another source the Servant obtains his quietus. He was not supported by the thought that the meaning of his sufferings was understood and laid to heart by his contemporaries. They did not see that for the rebellion of the people he was stricken. And even after death insult pursued his memory (cf. Jer_26:23). They buried his body, not amidst the remains of his departed friends, but with the wicked and the criminal, the proud deniers of God, or with the rich and haughty Gentiles. This was the last mark of an ignominy (Isa_14:19), and it was all undeserved. How mighty the contrast of appearances and results! The despised of men is in reality the eternally honoured of God.
II. THE DIVINE PURPOSE AND DECREE. There was no cruel accident or misunderstanding in all this; it was the result of Divine deliberate will—the pleasure of Jehovah. The Servant was to lay down his life as a guilt offering. He was to fulfil and crown the idea of all sacrifice in his own Person. Restitution was to be made for injured rights of property. Israel had become de-consecrated. Her life had been forfeited, and satisfaction must be rendered. And this is provided in the self-dedication of the Servant. And the result will be that he will become the Head of a spiritual posterity (cf. Psa_22:30). His piety will be rewarded by length of days. Both these are figures of highest blessing among the Hebrews (Gen_12:2; Deu_6:2; Psa_91:16; Psa_127:5; Psa_128:6; Pro_3:2; Pro_17:6). He will be promoted to a scene of high spiritual employment (Isa_52:13), the "pleasure of Jehovah" prospering under his conduct. His former spiritual agony and toil of spirit, his travail (Psa_110:1-7 :10; Job_3:10; Jer_20:18; Ecc_2:11-20; Ecc_4:4-6 for the word), will be abundantly compensated by the joy of contemplation of the progressing work of salvation, as the husbandman is satisfied with the sight of the harvest, for which he has "sown in tears." On the foundation of his sacrifice and his teaching many will be redeemed from sin and become a righteous and a holy people. And so, without bloodshed and the din of battle, he will become a glorious Conqueror, and the spiritual kingdom of the Eternal will be among the world-subduing powers. All this because he humbled himself, because he was devoted, because he loved.
III. LESSONS. How mighty the power of patience! The hero of God is not clothed in purple, nor fed on sweets; "daily his own heart he eats." His hope sets not with the setting of suns; his faith is earlier in its rising than the stars. Amidst all his seeming weakness he cannot be crushed; and the blows of his adversaries miss their aim. The spiritual element is immortal, indefeasible, finally victorious.
"They say, through patience, chalk
Becomes a ruby stone;
Ah, yes! but by the true heart's blood
The chalk is crimson grown."
Who was originally meant by the servant of Jehovah may remain obscure. We at least cannot but apply the representation to the Captain of salvation, the Leader and Finisher of faith, who endured the cross for the joy set before him. And also to every true servant of the Eternal, who feels that he was brought into the world to witness for the truth and devote himself in the cause of love.
"This is he who, felled by foes,
Sprang harmless up, refreshed by blows;
He to captivity was sold,
But him no prison-bars would hold;
Though they sealed him in a rock,
Mountain-chains he can unlock;
Thrown to lions for their meat,
The crouching lion kissed his feet;
Bound to the stake, no flames appalled,
But arched o'er him an honouring vault.
This is he men miscall fate,
Threading dark ways, arriving late,
But e'er coming in time to crown
The truth, and hurl wrong-doers down."
—J.
I. THE EYE ADMIRES ONLY WHAT THE HEART LOVES. The beauty that eye desired was quite different. It was superficial and carnal, not inward and spiritual.
II. THE WORLD DOES NOT ALTER ITS TASTE. The classic virtues of paganism—pride, self-reliance, honour—are more prized by men of the world than patience, gentleness, pity, forbearance, and charity. Christ is not beautiful to the proud, nor to the selfish, nor to the ambitions and the vain. Only the pure in heart admire and love him!—W.M.S.
Isa_53:3
I. THIS REVEALS TO US WHAT THE HEBREW CHURCH WAS. Christ was the "touchstone" of that Church. Its conduct to him made manifest to what a condition they had come. Think of the contrast. Pharisaism was triumphant—Christ was despised. The outward, the formal, the ritual, was preferred before the holy, the inward, and the spiritual. Christ was "rejected." They had the first opportunity of welcoming the "Lord from heaven." "To the Jew first." How learned men may be in tradition! how well acquainted with the 'Mishna' and the 'Gemara,' and yet know ail of ancient revelation except its meaning! The great gates of prophecy open wide to lot the true King through; and then treat him as a Pretender, and crown him with thorns.
II. THIS REVEALS TO US WHAT CHRIST WAS ON THE HUMAN SIDE. "A Man of sorrows." Think of his exquisite moral sensitiveness in a world of sin. Think of his tender human sympathies in a world of sorrow. "Acquainted with grief." Not in one special form, but in all its spheres, that he might be a Brother born for adversity. Acquainted with it. So that he had daily fellowship with it; not passing through its transient experiences, but familiar with it as the companion of his life.—W.M.S.
Isa_53:5
I. THIS IS THE REVELATION OF DIVINE SACRIFICE. "He gave himself." But he was more than wounded by the treatment of his character, and by the contempt of his claims, and by the forsakings of his own disciples. It is not enough to say that the pride of the Jew and the scorn of the Greek and the power of the Roman crucified him. He was "delivered up for our offences." So here "the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed."
II. THIS IS THE SUBJECT OF ETERNAL SONG. Heaven rings with the grateful acclaim, "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,… to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever." And the presence of the redeemed there at all is distinctly stated to rest upon the sacrifice of Christ. Because "they have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, therefore are they before the throne of God." This, at all events, has been the Catholic teaching of Christendom in all ages; and fill the hymnology of the Church in all its various branches. Roman and Anglican, Lutheran and Puritan, have united in a common adoration of the cross and passion, thus antedating the praises of eternity.—W.M.S.
I. THE UNATTRACTIVE IN JESUS CHRIST. He grew up as a tender twig or as a sprout that struggles for life in a dry ground; he lacked the beauty that draws attention, the comeliness which wins regard, in that:
1. He came of a fallen family.
2. He was a native of a despised and detested nation, probably the moat hated and contemned of all nations.
3. He was brought up in a disreputable village, and the reproach of its dishonour fell on him.
4. He was untrained in the learning which is held in the highest regard among men.
5. He made no pretence to be a deliverer of the kind popularly desired; he dispensed with military arms, officers, honours; he made no attempt to effect a political revolution; he disregarded and even shunned mere popular favour.
6. He taught truth which was above the appreciation and against the prejudices of his hearers; his thought was too profound for their understanding, his aims were too broad and liberal for their liking. His truth still cuts across the prejudices, passions, and lowest interests of men; and his purpose is to establish a kingdom which is far too spiritual to meet the sympathies of the selfish and the worldly. Nevertheless, he accomplished his purpose. That little shoot has become a strong tree, the strongest and fairest that has ever grown, the leaves of which are for the healing of all the nations. That One in whom was no beauty that men should desire him is proving to be "altogether lovely."
II. THE ATTRACTIVE IN JESUS CHRIST. What is there in him that draws the eyes and wins the hearts of men?
1. Elements of attraction in his character. His patient dignity in moments of trial and provocation; his gentleness toward the young and the feeble; his interest in the unworthy and unbefriended; his magnanimity toward his enemies, his stainless purity of heart and life; his compassion for the suffering and the sorrowful, etc.
2. Elements of attraction in his gospel. He offers forgiveness of sin to those burdened with a sense of guilt; rest of heart to those who are spiritually weary; holy and fruitful activity to the earnest and energetic; an unfailing friendship to the troubled and the lonely; a heavenly home to the tired travellers along the path of life.—C.
Isa_53:3
I. THE SOURCES OF HIS SORROW. These were, among others:
1. The failure on the part of his own best friends to understand and appreciate him. "They who knew him best could hardly be said to know him;" they entered only a very little way into his purpose, and could not sympathize with him in his deeper disappointments; "he trod the wine-press alone." But for his Father's presence he often was absolutely alone (Joh_16:32).
2. The frailty and even the treachery of his disciples. Those who followed him and called him Master had but little care for his truth or love for himself. In a moment of simple perplexity of mind they fell away from him, and abandoned his cause (Joh_6:66). One of his disciples grieved his spirit by distinct denial, and another pierced his heart by utter and open treachery.
3. The malignity of his enemies. There are men who do not care that their brethren whose confidence they have tried to win are cherishing toward them the bitterest hatred; not such was he of the tender heart and loving spirit.
4. The rejection of the people. He was rejected of men. Several men and women, in most places whither he went, may have flocked to hear him; and the common people heard him gladly, we know. But he had to acknowledge to himself that his principles made no way, that his truth was not apprehended and loved, that citizens did not enrol themselves in his spiritual kingdom.
5. The near presence of human suffering and sorrow. By partaking of our humanity as he did, Jesus came into the closest contact with the pains, the privations, the deformities, the diseases, and the sorrows of mankind. And by the power of an intense and living sympathy he made these his own (Mat_8:17; Joh_11:33, Joh_11:35). He bore them on his own heart; they weighed upon his spirit as a heavy burden.
6. A deep sense of human sin,culminating in a sacrifice for it. If the near presence of sorrow grieved and troubled him, how much more that of human sin in all its forms! With our lesser purity, we cannot tell how painful to his heart was the sight of all the selfishness, hypocrisy, greed, worldliness, malignity, corruption which he beheld, most of it affecting the language and the bearing of devotion. Yet with all these sources of sorrow, there were not wanting—
II. SPRINGS OF SACRED JOY IN THE HEART AND LIFE OF OUR LORD.
1. Unbroken communion with the heavenly Father.
2. The sincere attachment of many who, though they were imperfect disciples, yet trusted and loved him as their Teacher and Friend.
3. The gratitude of many whom he healed, and the deeper gratitude of many whom he saved.
4. The consciousness of faithful fulfilment of his great mission.
5. A calm, profound assurance of victory through death and shame (Joh_12:24, Joh_12:32). In the heart of the Man of sorrows were deep springs of joy, such as they who wounded him and triumphed over him knew not of. In our case, as in his, there may be the light of a blessed peace and even of heavenly joy in a soul that moves under darkest skies through a clouded life.—C.
Isa_53:4, Isa_53:5
I. A SAD AND STRIKING PICTURE. It is the picture of the Servant of the Lord, wounded, bruised, chastened, stricken. We cannot fail to see in it the sufferings of the holy Saviour. We see him:
1. Wounded in body; not only a-hungered and athirst, not only weary with long-continued labours and without the promise of the soft pillow. of rest when the day was done, but suffering, beyond this, the laying on him the hard, rough hand of a brutal soldiery, the cruel smiting and scourging, the piercing of hand and foot with the remorseless nail, the pains and pangs of crucifixion. But beyond this, immeasurably more serious and more severe than this, we see him:
2. Wounded in spirit; bruised in soul by the shortcoming, the inconstancy, even the treachery of his own friends, by the superficiality and frailty of the outer band of his disciples, by the intense and inappeasable malignity of his enemies, by the sight of sickness and sorrow, by the pressure and burden of human sin; all this weight of evil crushing his holy and tender spirit.
II. A NATURAL BUT A FALSE CONCLUSION. "We did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted," i.e. on account of his own sins. It was natural that men should think thus; there are facts which go to support though they do not justify it.
1. It is true that sin and suffering are very closely and causally connected. All sinners are, as such, sufferers.
2. It is true that, as a rule, great sinners are great sufferers. It was not accidental that Antiochus Epiphanes, Herod the Great, Philip II. of Spain, and other men, who, like them, committed enormities of wrong-doing, endured terrible pains of body and fearful remorse of spirit. But it does not follow that a very great sufferer is a very great sinner. For it is also true
(1) that some of the purest and saintliest of mankind have been visited with severest bodily pains, or have passed through most trying troubles, or been called to endure heaviest afflictions.
(2) And that the great Teacher warned us against pushing this doctrine to a perversion of the truth (Luk_13:3).
(3) And we know that it was wholly inapplicable to the Lord himself. He who suffered mere than any other of the children of men was that one Son of man who "did no sin, and in whose mouth no guile was found;" he was the innocent, the pure, the just, the righteous One.
III. THE DIVINE ACCOUNT OF IT. "Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows &he