Isaiah 53

Isa 53:1-12.

MAN'S

UNBELIEF:

MESSIAH'S

VICARIOUS

SUFFERINGS, AND

FINAL

TRIUMPH FOR

MAN.

The speaker, according to HORSLEY,

personates the repenting Jews in the

latter ages of the world coming over to the faith of the Redeemer; the

whole is their penitent confession. This view suits the context

(Isa 52:7-9),

which is not to be fully realized until Israel is restored. However,

primarily, it is the abrupt exclamation of the prophet: "Who hath

believed our report," that of Isaiah and the other prophets, as to

Messiah? The infidel's objection from the unbelief of the Jews is

anticipated and hereby answered: that unbelief and the cause of it

(Messiah's humiliation, whereas they looked for One coming to

reign) were foreseen and foretold.

1. report--literally, "the thing heard," referring to which sense

Paul says, "So, then, faith cometh by hearing"

(Ro 10:16, 17).

arm--power

(Isa 40:10);

exercised in miracles and in saving men

(Ro 1:16;

1Co 1:18).

The prophet, as if present during Messiah's ministry on earth, is

deeply moved to see how few believed on Him

(Isa 49:4;

Mr 6:6; 9:19;

Ac 1:15).

Two reasons are given why all ought to have believed: (1)

The "report" of the "ancient prophets." (2) "The arm of Jehovah"

exhibited in Messiah while on earth. In HORSLEY'S

view, this will be the penitent confession of the Jews, "How few of our

nation, in Messiah's days, believed in Him!"

2. tender plant--Messiah grew silently and insensibly, as a sucker

from an ancient stock, seemingly dead (namely, the house of David, then

in a decayed state)

(see on

Isa 11:1).

shall grow . . . hath--rather, "grew up . . . had."

before him--before Jehovah. Though unknown to the world

(Joh 1:11),

Messiah was observed by God, who ordered the most minute

circumstances attending His growth.

root--that is, sprout from a root.

form--beautiful form: sorrow had marred His once beautiful form.

and when we shall see--rather, joined with the previous words, "Nor

comeliness (attractiveness) that we should look (with delight) on

Him."

there is--rather, "was." The studied reticence of the New

Testament as to His form, stature, color, &c., was designed to prevent

our dwelling on the bodily, rather than on His moral beauty, holiness,

love, &c., also a providential protest against the making and

veneration of images of Him. The letter of P. LENTULUS

to the emperor Tiberius, describing His person, is spurious; so also

the story of His sending His portrait to Abgar, king of Edessa; and the

alleged impression of His countenance on the handkerchief of Veronica.

The former part of this verse refers to His birth and childhood; the

latter to His first public appearance [VITRINGA].

3. rejected--"forsaken of men" [GESENIUS]. "Most abject of men." Literally, "He who

ceases from men," that is, is no longer regarded as a man

[HENGSTENBERG]. (See on

Isa 52:14;

Isa 49:7).

man of sorrows--that is, whose distinguishing characteristic was

sorrows.

acquainted with--familiar by constant contact with.

grief--literally, "disease"; figuratively for all kinds of

calamity

(Jer 6:14);

leprosy especially represented this, being a direct judgment

from God. It is remarkable Jesus is not mentioned as having ever

suffered under sickness.

and we hid . . . faces--rather, as one who causes men

to hide their faces from Him (in aversion)

[MAURER]. Or, "He was as

an hiding of the face before it," that is, as a thing before which a

man covers his face in disgust

[HENGSTENBERG]. Or, "as one before whom

is the covering of the face"; before whom one covers the face in

disgust [GESENIUS].

we--the prophet identifying himself with the Jews. See HORSLEY'S view (see on

Isa 53:1).

esteemed . . . not--negative contempt; the previous words express

positive.

4. Surely . . . our griefs--literally, "But yet

He hath taken (or borne) our sicknesses," that is,

they who despised Him because of His human infirmities ought rather to

have esteemed Him on account of them; for thereby "Himself took

OUR infirmities" (bodily diseases). So

Mt 8:17

quotes it. In the Hebrew for "borne," or took, there is

probably the double notion, He took on Himself vicariously (so

Isa 53:5, 6, 8, 12),

and so He took away; His perfect humanity whereby He was bodily

afflicted for us, and in all our afflictions

(Isa 63:9;

Heb 4:15)

was the ground on which He cured the sick; so that Matthew's quotation

is not a mere accommodation. See Note 42 of ARCHBISHOP MAGEE, Atonement.

The Hebrew there may mean to overwhelm with darkness;

Messiah's time of darkness was temporary

(Mt 27:45),

answering to the bruising of His heel; Satan's is to be eternal,

answering to the bruising of his head (compare

Isa 50:10).

carried . . . sorrows--The notion of substitution strictly.

"Carried," namely, as a burden. "Sorrows," that is, pains of the mind; as "griefs" refer to pains of the body

(Ps 32:10; 38:17).

Mt 8:17

might seem to oppose this: "And bare our sicknesses." But he

uses "sicknesses" figuratively for sins, the cause of them.

Christ took on Himself all man's "infirmities;" so as to remove them;

the bodily by direct miracle, grounded on His participation in human

infirmities; those of the soul by His vicarious suffering, which did

away with the source of both. Sin and sickness are ethically

connected as cause and effect

(Isa 33:24;

Ps 103:3;

Mt 9:2;

Joh 5:14;

Jas 5:15).

we did esteem him stricken--judicially

[LOWTH], namely, for His sins;

whereas it was for ours. "We thought Him to be a leper"

[JEROME, Vulgate], leprosy

being the direct divine judgment for

guilt

(Le 13:1-59;

Nu 12:10, 15;

2Ch 26:18-21).

smitten--by divine judgments.

afflicted--for His sins; this was the point in which they so erred

(Lu 23:34;

Ac 3:17;

1Co 2:8).

He was, it is true, "afflicted," but not for His sins.

5. wounded--a bodily wound; not mere mental sorrow; literally,

"pierced"; minutely appropriate to Messiah, whose hands, feet, and side

were pierced

(Ps 22:16).

The Margin, wrongly, from a Hebrew root, translates,

"tormented."

for . . . for--

(Ro 4:25;

2Co 5:21;

Heb 9:28;

1Pe 2:24; 3:18)

--the cause for which He suffered not His own, but our

sins.

bruised--crushing inward and outward suffering

(see on

Isa 53:10).

chastisement--literally, the correction inflicted by a

parent on children for their good

(Heb 12:5-8, 10, 11).

Not punishment strictly; for this can have place only where

there is guilt, which He had not; but He took on Himself the

chastisement whereby the peace (reconciliation with our Father;

Ro 5:1;

Eph 2:14, 15, 17)

of the children of God was to be effected

(Heb 2:14).

upon him--as a burden; parallel to "hath borne" and "carried."

stripes--minutely prophetical of His being scourged

(Mt 27:26;

1Pe 2:24).

healed--spiritually

(Ps 41:4;

Jer 8:22).

6. Penitent confession of believers and of Israel in the last days

(Zec 12:10).

sheep . . . astray--

(Ps 119:176;

1Pe 2:25).

The antithesis is, "In ourselves we were scattered; in Christ we are

collected together; by nature we wander, driven headlong to

destruction; in Christ we find the way to the gate of life" [CALVIN]. True, also, literally of Israel before its

coming restoration

(Eze 34:5, 6;

Zec 10:2, 6;

compare with

Eze 34:23, 24;

Jer 23:4, 5;

also

Mt 9:36).

laid--"hath made to light on Him"

[LOWTH]. Rather, "hath made to

rush upon Him" [MAURER].

the iniquity--that is, its penalty; or rather, as in

2Co 5:21;

He was not merely a sin offering (which would destroy the antithesis

to "righteousness"), but "sin for us"; sin itself vicariously; the

representative of the aggregate sin of all mankind; not sins in

the plural, for the "sin" of the world is one

(Ro 5:16, 17);

thus we are made not merely righteous, but righteousness,

even "the righteousness of God." The innocent was punished as

if guilty, that the guilty might be rewarded as if innocent.

This verse could be said of no mere martyr.

7. oppressed--LOWTH

translates, "It was exacted, and He was made

answerable." The verb means, "to have payment of a debt sternly exacted"

(De 15:2, 3),

and so to be oppressed in general; the exaction of the

full penalty for our sins in His sufferings is probably alluded to.

and . . . afflicted--or, and yet He suffered, or

bore Himself patiently, &c.

[HENGSTENBERG and

MAURER].

LOWTH'S

translation, "He was made answerable," is hardly admitted by the

Hebrew.

opened not . . . mouth--

Jer 11:19;

and David in

Ps 38:13, 14; 39:9,

prefiguring Messiah

(Mt 26:63; 27:12, 14;

1Pe 2:23).

8. Rather, "He was taken away (that is, cut off) by oppression and

sentence" [LOWTH and

HENGSTENBERG].

GESENIUS not so well, "He was

delivered from oppression and punishment" only by death.

English Version also translates, "from . . . from," not "by . . . by."

But "prison" is not true of Jesus, who was not incarcerated; restraint and bonds

(Joh 18:24)

more accord with the Hebrew.

Ac 8:33;

translate as the Septuagint: "In His humiliation His judgment

(legal trial) was taken away"; the virtual sense of the Hebrew

as rendered by LOWTH and sanctioned by the

inspired writer of Acts; He was treated as one so mean that a fair

trial was denied Him

(Mt 26:59;

Mr 14:55-59).

HORSLEY translates, "After condemnation and

judgment He was accepted."

who . . . declare . . . generation--who can set forth (the wickedness

of) His generation? that is, of His contemporaries

[ALFORD on

Ac 8:33],

which suits best the parallelism, "the wickedness of His generation"

corresponding to "oppressive judgment." But LUTHER, "His length of life," that is, there shall be

no end of His future days

(Isa 53:10;

Ro 6:9).

CALVIN includes the days of His Church,

which is inseparable from Himself. HENGSTENBERG,

"His posterity." He, indeed, shall be cut off, but His race

shall be so numerous that none can fully declare it.

CHYRSOSTOM, &c., "His eternal sonship and

miraculous incarnation."

cut off--implying a violent death

(Da 9:26).

my people--Isaiah, including himself among them by the word "my"

[HENGSTENBERG]. Rather,

JEHOVAH speaks in the person of His prophet,

"My people," by the election of grace

(Heb 2:13).

was he stricken--Hebrew, "the stroke (was laid) upon Him."

GESENIUS

says the Hebrew means "them"; the collective body, whether of the

prophets or people, to which the Jews refer the whole prophecy. But

JEROME, the Syriac, and Ethiopiac versions translate it "Him"; so

it is singular in some passages;

Ps 11:7,

His;

Job 27:23,

Him;

Isa 44:15,

thereto. The Septuagint, the Hebrew, lamo, "upon

Him," read the similar words, lamuth, "unto death," which would

at once set aside the Jewish interpretation, "upon them." ORIGEN, who laboriously compared the Hebrew with

the Septuagint, so read it, and urged it against the Jews of his

day, who would have denied it to be the true reading if the word had

not then really so stood in the Hebrew text [LOWTH]. If his sole authority be thought insufficient,

perhaps lamo may imply that Messiah was the representative of

the collective body of all men; hence the equivocal

plural-singular form.

9. Rather, "His grave was appointed," or "they appointed Him His

grave" [HENGSTENBERG]; that is, they

intended (by crucifying Him

with two thieves,

Mt 27:38)

that He should have His grave "with the wicked." Compare

Joh 19:31,

the denial of honorable burial being accounted a great ignominy (see on

Isa 14:19;

Jer 26:23).

and with . . . rich--rather, "but He was with a rich man," &c.

GESENIUS, for the parallelism to "the wicked," translates "ungodly" (the

effect of riches being to make one ungodly); but the Hebrew everywhere means "rich," never by itself ungodly; the parallelism, too,

is one of contrast; namely, between their design and the fact, as it was ordered by God

(Mt 27:57;

Mr 15:43-46;

Joh 19:39, 40);

two rich men honored Him at His death, Joseph of Arimathæa, and

Nicodemus.

in his death--Hebrew, "deaths."

LOWTH translates, "His tomb";

bamoth, from a different root, meaning "high places," and so mounds

for sepulture

(Eze 43:7).

But all the versions oppose this, and the Hebrew hardly admits

it. Rather translate, "after His death" [HENGSTENBERG]; as we say, "at His death." The

plural, "deaths," intensifies the force; as Adam by sin "dying

died"

(Ge 2:17,

Margin); that is, incurred death, physical and spiritual. So

Messiah, His substitute, endured death in both senses; spiritual,

during His temporary abandonment by the Father; physical, when He gave

up the ghost.

because--rather, as the sense demands (so in

Job 16:17),

"although He had done no," &c.

[HENGSTENBERG],

(1Pe 2:20-22;

1Jo 3:5).

violence--that is, wrong.

10. Transition from His humiliation to His exaltation.

pleased the Lord--the secret of His sufferings. They were voluntarily

borne by Messiah, in order that thereby He might "do Jehovah's will"

(Joh 6:38;

Heb 10:7, 9),

as to man's redemption; so at the end of the verse, "the pleasure of

the LORD shall prosper in His hand."

bruise--(see

Isa 53:5);

Ge 3:15,

was hereby fulfilled, though the Hebrew word for "bruise,"

there, is not the one used here. The word "Himself," in Matthew,

implies a personal bearing on Himself of our maladies, spiritual

and physical, which included as a consequence His ministration

to our bodily ailments: these latter are the reverse side of sin; His

bearing on Him our spiritual malady involved with it His bearing

sympathetically, and healing, the outward: which is its fruits and its

type. HENGSTENBERG rightly objects to MAGEE'S translation, "taken away," instead of "borne,"

that the parallelism to "carried" would be destroyed. Besides, the

Hebrew word elsewhere, when connected with sin, means to

bear it and its punishment

(Eze 18:20).

Matthew, elsewhere, also sets forth His vicarious atonement

(Mt 20:28).

when thou, &c.--rather, as Margin, "when His soul (that

is, He) shall have made an offering," &c. In the English Version

the change of person is harsh: from Jehovah, addressed in the second

person

(Isa 53:10),

to Jehovah speaking in the first person in

Isa 53:11.

The Margin rightly makes the prophet in the name of Jehovah

Himself to speak in this verse.

offering for sin--

(Ro 3:25;

1Jo 2:2; 4:10).

his seed--His spiritual posterity shall be numerous

(Ps 22:30);

nay, more, though He must die, He shall see them. A numerous

posterity was accounted a high blessing among the Hebrews; still more

so, for one to live to see them

(Ge 48:11;

Ps 128:6).

prolong . . . days--also esteemed a special blessing among the Jews

(Ps 91:16).

Messiah shall, after death, rise again to an endless life

(Ho 6:2;

Ro 6:9).

prosper--

(Isa 52:13,

Margin).

11. Jehovah is still speaking.

see of the travail--He shall see such blessed fruits resulting from

His sufferings as amply to repay Him for them

(Isa 49:4, 5; 50:5, 9).

The "satisfaction," in seeing the full fruit of His travail of soul in

the conversion of Israel and the world, is to be realized in the last

days

(Isa 2:2-4).

his knowledge--rather, the knowledge (experimentally) of Him

(Joh 17:3;

Php 3:10).

my . . . servant--Messiah

(Isa 42:1; 52:13).

righteous--the ground on which He justifies others, His own

righteousness

(1Jo 2:1).

justify--treat as if righteous; forensically; on the ground of

His meritorious suffering, not their righteousness.

bear . . . iniquities--

(Isa 53:4, 5),

as the sinner's substitute.

12. divide--as a conqueror dividing the spoil after a victory

(Ps 2:8;

Lu 11:22).

him--for Him.

with . . . great--HENGSTENBERG translates, "I will give Him the

mighty for a portion"; so the Septuagint. But the parallel clause,

"with the strong," favors English Version. His triumphs shall be not

merely among the few and weak, but among the many and mighty.

spoil . . . strong--

(Col 2:15;

compare

Pr 16:19).

"With the great; with the mighty," may mean, as a great and mighty

hero.

poured out . . . soul--that is, His life, which was considered as

residing in the blood

(Le 17:11;

Ro 3:25).

numbered with, &c.--not that He was a transgressor, but

He was treated as such, when crucified with thieves

(Mr 15:28;

Lu 22:37).

made intercession, &c.--This office He began on the cross

(Lu 23:34),

and now continues in heaven

(Isa 59:16;

Heb 9:24;

1Jo 2:1).

Understand because before "He was numbered . . . He

bare . . . made intercession." His meritorious death and

intercession are the cause of His ultimate triumph. MAURER, for the parallelism, translates, "He was put on

the same footing with the transgressors." But English Version

agrees better with the Hebrew, and with the sense and fact as to

Christ. MAURER'S translation would make a

tautology after "He was numbered with the transgressors"; parallelism

does not need so servile a repetition. "He made intercession

for," &c., answers to the parallel, "He was numbered with," &c.,

as effect answers to cause, His intercession for sinners

being the effect flowing from His having been numbered with them.