Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Isaiah 51:12 - 51:23
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
The Loosing of the Exiles
v. 12. I, even I, am He that comforteth you, so Jehovah Himself announces in taking up the topic of the chapter once more. Who art thou that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, why should Zion as such or any individual believer fear any mortal enemy, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass, withering after a very brief life,
v. 13. and forgettest the Lord, thy Maker, the almighty Creator of the universe, that hath stretched forth the heavens, 40:22; 42:5, and laid the foundations of the earth, established it most firmly; and hast feared continually every day because of the fury of the oppressor, of the tyrant among men, of whom Babylon is a type, as if he were ready to destroy? And where is the fury of the oppressor? This rebuke of the Lord may well be applied in the case of all His children; for their occasional fear of the enemies is equivalent to a lack of trust in the power of Jehovah. The rage of the tyrant is unable to hinder the deliverance which God has planned for those who believe in Him.
v. 14. The captive exile hasteneth that he may be loosed, literally, Soon the one bowed down (as captive) shall be loosed, the heavy fetters which bore him down to the ground being removed, and that he should not die in the pit, nor that his bread should fail, that is, he should be delivered from prison and have all the bread that he needs.
v. 15. But I am the Lord, thy God, the gracious Sovereign, that divided the sea, whipping it into fury, whose waves roared. The Lord of hosts is His name, He who has command of both the heavenly and the earthly powers, He who directs the elements at His will.
v. 16. And I have put My words in thy mouth, entrusting them to His people, and I have covered thee in the shadow of Mine hand, sustaining Israel in faith and in His grace, that I may plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the earth, as the Creator of the universe, and say unto Zion, with whom He is united by the bonds of His merciful love, Thou art My people. The entire description pictures the perfection of the new order which was to be established by Christ in His spiritual kingdom.
v. 17. Awake, awake, stand up, O Jerusalem, this call being intended for the time immediately after the taking of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, which hast drunk at the hand of the Lord the cup of His fury, namely, in the punishment meted out by the Babylonian army. Thou hast drunken the dregs of the cup of trembling, the terror brought about by the wrath of the Lord, and wrung them out, drained the dregs to the last drop. The misery of the situation is intensified by the fact that the sufferer is all alone in her tribulation.
v. 18. There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she hath brought forth, none to direct her while she was in this helpless state of drunken terror; neither is there any that taketh her by the hand, to uphold and strengthen her, of all the sons that she hath brought up. It is impossible to bring salvation to mankind by a mere outward morality, by a mere social uplift as it is proclaimed in our days. The wrath of God over the sins of mankind may be appeased only by the atonement of the Savior, which turns the wrath into grace.
v. 19. These two things are come unto thee, things of two kinds which are presently mentioned; who shall be sorry for thee? Not one showed sympathy with Zion in her deep disgrace. The two varieties of affliction are now named. Desolation and destruction, on the one hand, and the famine and the sword, on the other, the first pair striking the city, the second its inhabitants; by whom shall I comfort thee? There was none to comfort her in her misery.
v. 20. Thy Sons have fainted, all the inhabitants of Jerusalem being overcome; they lie at the head of all the streets, at the intersection of all thoroughfares, as a wild bull in a net, as a gazelle which is helplessly enmeshed; they are full of the fury of the Lord, the rebuke of thy God, for this invariably brings about death and destruction. But now the Lord turns to Jerusalem with the fullness of His mercy.
v. 21. Therefore hear now this, thou afflicted, one who has experienced the depths of misery and tribulation, and drunken, but not with wine, the wrath of God alone being the cause of her miserable condition:
v. 22. Thus saith thy Lord, the Husband and Sovereign of Jerusalem, the Lord, the God of the covenant, and thy God, that pleadeth the cause of His people, taking their part against the tyrants, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, the terror being induced by the wrath of the Lord over the sins of His people, even the dregs of the cup of My fury, which Zion was just represented as draining; thou shalt no more drink it again, since the Lord now promised His merciful deliverance,
v. 23. but I will put it into the hand of them that afflict thee, who had brought all this tribulation upon her, which have said to thy soul, Bow down that we may go over, their backs thus serving to be trampled under foot by the enemies, and thou hast laid thy body as the ground and as the street, like a pavement, to them that went over. So great had been the humiliation of Zion-Jerusalem, representing the Church of God. But the Lord was determined to bring salvation to His people through the work of the Messiah.