Isaiah 42

Isa 42:1-25.

MESSIAH THE

ANTITYPE OF

CYRUS.

God's description of His character

(Isa 42:1-4).

God addresses Him directly

(Isa 42:5-7).

Address to the people to attend to the subject

(Isa 42:8, 9).

Call to all, and especially the exile Jews to rejoice in the coming

deliverance

(Isa 42:10-25).

1. my servant--The law of prophetic suggestion leads Isaiah from

Cyrus to the far greater Deliverer, behind whom the former is lost sight

of. The express quotation in

Mt 12:18-20,

and the description can apply to Messiah alone

(Ps 40:6;

with which compare

Ex 21:6;

Joh 6:38;

Php 2:7).

Israel, also, in its highest ideal, is called the "servant" of God

(Isa 49:3).

But this ideal is realized only in the antitypical Israel, its

representative-man and Head, Messiah (compare

Mt 2:15,

with Ho 11:1).

"Servant" was the position assumed by the Son of God throughout His

humiliation.

elect--chosen by God before the foundation of the world for an

atonement

(1Pe 1:20;

Re 13:8).

Redemption was no afterthought to remedy an unforeseen evil

(Ro 16:25, 26;

Eph 3:9, 11;

2Ti 1:9, 10;

Tit 1:2, 3).

In

Mt 12:18

it is rendered "My beloved"; the only beloved Son, beloved in a

sense distinct from all others. Election and the love of

God are inseparably joined.

soul--a human phrase applied to God, because of the intended union of

humanity with the Divinity: "I Myself."

delighteth--is well pleased with, and accepts, as a propitiation. God could have "delighted" in no created being as a mediator (compare

Isa 42:21; 63:5;

Mt 3:17).

spirit upon him--

(Isa 11:2; 61:1;

Lu 4:18;

Joh 3:34).

judgment--the gospel dispensation, founded on justice, the canon

of the divine rule and principle of judgment called "the law"

(Isa 2:3;

compare

Isa 42:4; 51:4; 49:6).

The Gospel has a discriminating judicial effect: saving

to penitents; condemnatory to Satan, the enemy

(Joh 12:31; 16:11),

and the wilfully impenitent

(Joh 9:39).

Mt 12:18

has, "He shall show," for "He shall bring forth," or "cause

to go forth." Christ both produced and announced His

"judgment." The Hebrew dwells most on His producing it;

Matthew on His announcement of it: the two are joined in

Him.

2. Matthew

[Mt 12:19]

marks the kind of "cry" as that of altercation by quoting it,

"He shall not strive"

(Isa 53:7).

street--the Septuagint translates "outside." An image from an

altercation in a house, loud enough to be heard in the street outside: appropriate of Him who "withdrew Himself" from the public fame

created by His miracles to privacy

(Mt 12:15;

Mt 12:34,

there, shows another and sterner aspect of His character, which is also

implied in the term "judgment").

3. bruised--"It pleased the Lord to bruise Him"

(Isa 53:5, 10;

Ge 3:15);

so He can feel for the bruised. As

Isa 42:2

described His unturbulent spirit towards His violent enemies

(Mt 12:14-16),

and His utter freedom from love of notoriety, so

Isa 42:3,

His tenderness in cherishing the first spark of grace in the penitent

(Isa 40:11).

reed--fragile: easily "shaken with the wind"

(Mt 11:7).

Those who are at best feeble, and who besides are oppressed by calamity

or by the sense of sin.

break--entirely crush or condemn. Compare "bind up the broken-hearted"

(Isa 50:4; 61:1;

Mt 11:28).

flax--put for the lamp-wick, formed of flax. The believer is the

lamp (so the Greek,

Mt 5:15;

Joh 5:35):

his conscience enlightened by the Holy Ghost is the wick.

"Smoking" means "dimly burning," "smouldering," the flame not quite

extinct. This expresses the positive side of the penitent's religion;

as "bruised reed," the negative. Broken-hearted in himself, but not

without some spark of flame: literally, "from above." Christ will

supply such a one with grace as with oil. Also, the light of nature

smouldering in the Gentiles amidst the hurtful fumes of error. He not

only did not quench, but cleared away the mists and superadded the

light of revelation. See JEROME, To

Algasia, Question 2.

truth--Mt 12:20

quotes it, "send forth judgment unto victory." Matthew, under

the Spirit, gives the virtual sense, but varies the word, in order to

bring out a fresh aspect of the same thing. Truth has in itself the

elements of victory over all opposing forces. Truth is the

victory of Him who is "the truth"

(Joh 14:6).

The gospel judicial sifting ("judgment") of believers and

unbelievers, begun already in part

(Joh 3:18, 19; 9:39),

will be consummated victoriously in truth only at His second

coming;

Isa 42:13, 14,

here, and

Mt 12:32, 36, 41, 42,

show that there is reference to the judicial aspect of the

Gospel, especially finally: besides the mild triumph of Jesus coming in

mercy to the penitent now

(Isa 42:2),

there shall be finally the judgment on His enemies, when the

"truth" shall be perfectly developed. Compare

Isa 61:1-3,

where the two comings are similarly joined

(Ps 2:4-6, 8;

Re 15:2, 4; 19:11-16).

On "judgment," see on

Isa 42:1.

4. fail--faint; man in religion may become as the almost

expiring flax-wick

(Isa 42:3),

but not so He in His purposes of grace.

discouraged--literally, "broken," that is, checked in zeal by

discouragements (compare

Isa 49:4, 5).

ROSENMULLER not so well translates, "He shall not

be too slow on the one hand, nor run too hastily on the other."

judgment--His true religion, the canon of His judgments and righteous

reign.

isles . . . wait, &c.--The distant lands beyond sea shall put their

trust in His gospel way of salvation.

Mt 12:21

virtually gives the sense, with the inspired addition of another aspect

of the same thing, "In his name shall the Gentiles trust"

(as "wait for" here means,

Isa 30:18).

"His law" is not something distinct from Himself, but is indeed

Himself, the manifestation of God's character ("name") in

Christ, who is the embodiment of the law

(Isa 42:21;

Jer 23:6;

Ro 10:4).

"Isles" here, and in

Isa 42:12,

may refer to the fact that the populations of which the Church was

primarily formed were Gentiles of the countries bordering on the

Mediterranean.

5. Previously God had spoken of Messiah; now

(Isa 42:5-7)

He speaks to Him. To show to all that He is able to sustain the

Messiah in His appointed work, and that all might accept Messiah as

commissioned by such a mighty God, He commences by announcing Himself as

the Almighty Creator and Preserver of all things.

spread . . . earth--

(Ps 136:6).

6. in righteousness--rather, "for a righteous purpose"

[LOWTH]. (See

Isa 42:21).

God "set forth" His Son "to be a propitiation (so as) to declare His

(God's) righteousness, that God might be just, and (yet) the

justifier of him which believeth in Jesus"

(Ro 3:25, 26;

compare see on

Isa 41:2;

Isa 45:13; 50:8, 9).

hold . . . hand--compare as to Israel, the type of Messiah,

Ho 11:3.

covenant--the medium of the covenant, originally made between God

and Abraham

(Isa 49:8).

"The mediator of a better covenant"

(Heb 8:6)

than the law (see

Isa 49:8;

Jer 31:33; 50:5).

So the abstract "peace," for peace-maker

(Mic 5:5;

Eph 2:14).

the people--Israel; as

Isa 49:8,

compared with

Isa 42:6,

proves

(Lu 2:32).

7. blind--spiritually

(Isa 42:16, 18, 19;

Isa 35:5;

Joh 9:39).

prison--

(Isa 61:1, 2).

darkness--opposed to "light"

(Isa 42:6;

Eph 5:8;

1Pe 2:9).

8. God turns from addressing Messiah to the people.

Lord--JEHOVAH:

God's distinguishing and incommunicable name,

indicating essential being and immutable faithfulness (compare

Ex 6:3;

Ps 83:18; 96:5;

Ho 12:5).

my--that is due to Me, and to Me alone.

9. former things--Former predictions of God, which were now fulfilled,

are here adduced as proof that they ought to trust in Him alone as God;

namely, the predictions as to Israel's restoration from Babylon.

new--namely, predictions as to Messiah, who is to bring all nations

to the worship of Jehovah

(Isa 42:1, 4, 6).

spring forth--The same image from plants

just beginning to germinate occurs in

Isa 43:19; 58:8.

Before there is the slightest indication to enable a sagacious

observer to infer the coming event, God foretells it.

10. new song--such as has never before been sung, called for by a new

manifestation of God's grace, to express which no hymn for former

mercies would be appropriate. The new song shall be sung when the Lord

shall reign in Jerusalem, and all "nations shall flow unto it"

(Isa 2:2; 26:1;

Re 5:9; 14:3).

ye that go down to the sea--whose conversion will be the means of

diffusing the Gospel to distant lands.

all . . . therein--all the living creatures that fill the sea

(Ps 96:11)

[MAURER]. Or, all sailors and voyagers

[GESENIUS]. But these were already mentioned in

the previous clause: there he called on all who go upon the sea;

in this clause all animals in the sea; so in

Isa 42:11,

he calls on the inanimate wilderness to lift up its voice. External

nature shall be so renovated as to be in unison with the moral

renovation.

11. cities--in a region not wholly waste, but mainly so, with an

oasis here and there.

Kedar--in Arabia-Deserta

(Isa 21:16;

Ge 25:13).

The Kedarenians led a nomadic, wandering life. So Kedar is here put in

general for that class of men.

rock--Sela, that is, Petra, the metropolis of Idumea and the

Nabathœan Ishmaelites. Or it may refer in general to those in

Arabia-Petræa, who had their dwellings cut out of the rock.

the mountains--namely, of Paran, south of Sinai, in

Arabia-Petræa [VITRINGA].

12. glory . . . islands--

(Isa 24:15).

13-16. Jehovah will no longer restrain His wrath: He will go forth as

a mighty warrior

(Ex 15:3)

to destroy His people's and His enemies, and to deliver Israel (compare

Ps 45:3).

stir up jealousy--rouse His indignation.

roar--image from the battle cry of a warrior.

14. long time--namely, during the desolation of Israel

(Isa 32:14).

holden my peace--(Compare

Ps 50:21;

Hab 1:2).

cry like a travailing woman, &c.--Like a woman in parturition,

who, after having restrained her breathing for a time, at last,

overcome with labor pain, lets out her voice with a panting sigh; so

Jehovah will give full vent to His long pent-up wrath. Translate,

instead of "destroy . . . devour"; I will at once breathe

hard and pant, namely, giving loose to My wrath.

15. I will destroy all My foes.

mountains--in Palestine usually planted with vines and olives in

terraces, up to their tops.

islands--rather, "dry lands." God will destroy His foes, the heathen,

and their idols, and "dry up" the fountains of their oracles, their

doctrines and institutions, the symbol of which is water, and their

schools which promoted idolatry [VITRINGA].

16. blind--God's people, Israel, in captivity, needing a guide. In

the ulterior sense the New Testament Church, which was about to be led

and enlightened by the Son of God as its leader and shepherd in the

wilderness of the Roman empire, until it should reach a city of

habitation. "A way . . . they knew not," refers to the various means

ployed by Providence for the establishment of the Church in the world,

such as would never have occurred to the mind of mere man. "Blind," they

are called, as not having heretofore seen God's ways in ordering His

Church.

make darkness light, &c.--implies that the glorious issue would

only be known by the event itself [VITRINGA].

The same holds good of the

individual believer

(Isa 30:21;

Ps 107:7;

compare

Ho 2:6, 14;

Eph 5:8;

Heb 13:5).

17. turned back . . . ashamed--disappointed in their trust; the same

phrase occurs in

Ps 35:4.

18. deaf--namely, to the voice of God.

blind--to your duty and interest; wilfully so

(Isa 42:20).

In this they differ from "the blind"

(Isa 42:16).

The Jews are referred to. He had said, God would destroy the heathen

idolatry; here he remembers that even Israel, His "servant"

(Isa 42:19),

from whom better things might have been expected, is tainted with this

sin.

19. my servant--namely, Israel. Who of the heathen is so blind?

Considering Israel's high privileges, the heathen's blindness was as

nothing compared with that of Israelite idolaters.

my messenger . . . sent--Israel was designed by God to be the herald

of His truth to other nations.

perfect--furnished with institutions, civil and religious, suited to

their perfect well-being. Compare the title, "Jeshurun," the

perfect one, applied to Israel (compare

Isa 44:2),

as the type of Messiah [VITRINGA]. Or translate,

the friend of God, which Israel was by virtue of descent from

Abraham, who was so called

(Isa 41:8),

[GESENIUS]. The language, "my servant" (compare

Isa 42:1),

"messenger"

(Mal 3:1),

"perfect"

(Ro 10:4;

Heb 2:10;

1Pe 2:22),

can, in the full antitypical sense, only apply to Christ. So

Isa 42:21

plainly refers to Him. "Blind" and "deaf" in His case refer to His

endurance of suffering and reproach, as though He neither saw nor heard

(Ps 38:13, 14).

Thus there is a transition by contrast from the moral blindness

of Israel

(Isa 42:18)

to the patient blindness and deafness of Messiah [HORSLEY].

20. observest--Thou dost not keep them. The "many things" are

the many proofs which all along from the first God had given Israel of

His goodness and His power

(De 4:32-38; 29:2-4;

Ps 78:1-72; 105:1-45).

he--transition from the second to the third person. "Opening . . .

ears," that is, though he (Israel) hath his ears open

(see on

Isa 6:10).

This language, too (see on

Isa 42:19),

applies to Messiah as Jehovah's servant

(Isa 50:5;

Ps 40:6).

21. his righteousness--not His people's, but His own;

Isa 42:24

shows that they had no righteousness

(Isa 45:24; 59:16).

God is well pleased with His Son ("in whom My soul

delighteth,"

Isa 42:1),

"who fulfils all righteousness"

(Mt 3:15)

for them, and with them for His sake (compare

Isa 42:6;

Ps 71:16, 19;

Mt 5:17;

Ro 10:3, 4;

Php 3:9).

Perhaps in God's "righteousness" here is included His faithfulness

to His promises given to Israel's forefathers [ROSENMULLER]; because of this He is well pleased with

Israel, even though displeased with their sin, which He here reproves;

but that promise could only be based on the righteousness of

Messiah, the promised seed, which is God's

righteousness.

22. holes--caught by their foes in the caverns where they

had sought refuge [BARNES]. Or bound in

subterranean dungeons [MAURER].

prison-houses--either literal prisons, or their own houses, whence

they dare not go forth for fear of the enemy. The connection is:

Notwithstanding God's favor to His people for His righteousness'

sake

(Isa 42:21),

they have fallen into misery (the Babylonish and Romish captivities and

their present dispersion), owing to their disregard of the divine law:

spiritual imprisonment is included

(Isa 42:7).

none saith, Restore--There is no deliverer

(Isa 63:5).

23. A call that they should be warned by the past judgments of God to

obey Him for the time to come.

24. Who--Their calamity was not the work of chance, but

God's immediate act for their sins.

Jacob . . . Israel . . . we--change from the third to the first person;

Isaiah first speaking to them as a prophet, distinct from them; then

identifying himself with them, and acknowledging His share in the

nation's sins (compare

Jos 5:1).

25. him--Israel

(Isa 42:24).

strength of battle--violence of war.

it--the battle or war (compare

Isa 10:16).

knew not--knew not the lesson of repentance which the judgment was

intended to teach

(Isa 5:13; 9:13;

Jer 5:3).