Isaiah 55

Isa 55:1-13.

THE

CALL OF THE

GENTILE

WORLD TO

FAITH THE

RESULT OF

GOD'S

GRACE TO THE

JEWS

FIRST.

1. every one--After the special privileges of Israel

(Isa 54:1-17)

there follow, as the consequence, the universal invitation to

the Gentiles

(Lu 24:47;

Ro 11:12, 15).

Ho--calls the most earnest attention.

thirsteth--has a keen sense of need

(Mt 5:6).

waters . . . wine and milk--a gradation. Not merely water, which

is needed to maintain life at all, but wine and milk to strengthen,

cheer, and nourish; the spiritual blessings of the Gospel are meant

(Isa 25:6;

So 5:1;

Joh 7:37).

"Waters," plural, to denote abundance

(Isa 43:20; 44:3).

no money--Yet, in

Isa 55:2,

it is said, "ye spend money." A seeming paradox. Ye are really

spiritual bankrupts: but thinking yourselves to have money, namely, a

devotion of your own making, ye lavish it on that "which is not bread,"

that is, on idols, whether literal or spiritual.

buy . . . without money--another paradox. We are bought, but not

with a price paid by ourselves

(1Co 6:20;

1Pe 1:18, 19).

In a different sense we are to "buy" salvation, namely, by parting with

everything which comes between us and Christ who has bought it for us

and by making it our own

(Mt 13:44, 46;

Lu 12:33;

Re 3:18).

2. not bread--

(Hab 2:13).

"Bread of deceit"

(Pr 20:17).

Contrast this with the "bread of life"

(Joh 6:32, 35;

also

Lu 14:16-20).

satisfieth not--

(Ec 1:8; 4:8).

hearken . . . and eat--When two imperatives are

joined, the second expresses the consequence of obeying the

command in the first

(Ge 42:18).

Isa 55:1,

"buy and eat." By buying, and so making it your own, ye shall eat, that

is, experimentally enjoy it

(Joh 6:53).

Compare the invitation

(Pr 9:5, 6;

Mt 22:4).

fatness--

(Ps 36:8; 63:5).

3. me . . . live--by coming to me ye shall live: for "I am the life"

(Joh 14:6).

everlasting covenant--

(Jer 32:40;

2Sa 23:5).

with you . . . David--God's covenant is with the antitypical David,

Messiah

(Eze 34:23),

and so with us by our identification with Him.

sure--answering to "everlasting," irrevocable, unfailing, to be relied

on

(Ps

89:2-4, 28, 29, 34-36;

Jer 33:20, 21;

2Sa 7:15, 16;

2Co 1:18-20).

mercies of David--the mercies of grace

(Isa 63:7;

Joh 1:16)

which I covenanted to give to David, and especially to Messiah, his

antitype. Quoted in

Ac 13:34.

4. him--the mystical David

(Eze 37:24, 25;

Jer 30:9;

Ho 3:5).

Given by God

(Isa 49:6).

witness--He bore witness even unto death for God, to His law, claims,

and plan of redeeming love

(Joh 18:37;

Re 1:5).

Revelation is a "testimony"; because it is propounded to be received on

the authority of the Giver, and not merely because it can be proved by

arguments.

commander--"preceptor" [HORSLEY]; "lawgiver"

[BARNES].

to the people--rather, "peoples."

5. thou--Jehovah addresses Messiah.

call . . . run--God must call, before man can, or will, run

(So 1:4;

Joh 6:44).

Not merely come, but run eagerly.

thou knowest not--now as thy people (so in

Mt 7:23).

nation . . . nations--gradation; from Israel, one nation, the

Gospel spread to many nations, and will do so more fully on Israel's

conversion.

knew not thee--

(Isa 52:15;

Eph 2:11, 12).

because of . . . thy God . . . glorified thee--

(Isa 60:5, 9;

Zec 8:23);

where similar language is directed to Israel, because of the

identification of Israel with Messiah, who is the ideal Israel

(Mt 2:15;

compare with

Ho 11:1;

see

Ac 3:13).

6. The condition and limit in the obtaining of the spiritual benefits

(Isa 55:1-3):

(1) Seek the Lord. (2) Seek Him while He is to be found

(Isa 65:1;

Ps 32:6;

Mt 25:1-13;

Joh 7:34; 8:21;

2Co 6:2;

Heb 2:3; 3:13, 15).

call--casting yourselves wholly on His mercy

(Ro 10:13).

Stronger than "seek"; so "near" is more positive than "while He may be

found"

(Ro 10:8, 9).

near--propitious

(Ps 34:18; 145:18).

7. unrighteous--Hebrew, "man of iniquity"; true of all men. The

"wicked" sins more openly in "his way"; the "unrighteous" refers to the

more subtle workings of sin in the "thoughts." All are guilty in the

latter respect, thought many fancy themselves safe, because not openly

"wicked in ways"

(Ps 94:11).

The parallelism is that of gradation. The progress of the penitent is

to be from negative reformation, "forsaking his way," and a farther

step, "his thoughts," to positive repentance, "returning to the Lord"

(the only true repentance,

Zec 12:10),

and making God his God, along with the other children of God

(the crowning point; appropriation of God to ourselves:

"to our God"). "Return" implies that man originally walked with

God, but has apostatized. Isaiah saith, "our God," the God of

the believing Israelites; those themselves redeemed desire others to

come to their God

(Ps 34:8;

Re 22:17).

abundantly pardon--Literally, "multiply to pardon," still more than

"have mercy"; God's graciousness is felt more and more the longer one

knows Him

(Ps 130:7).

8. For--referring to

Isa 55:7.

You need not doubt His willingness "abundantly to pardon" (compare

Isa 55:12);

for, though "the wicked" man's "ways," and "the

unrighteous man's thoughts," are so aggravated as to seem

unpardonable, God's "thoughts" and "ways" in pardoning are not

regulated by the proportion of the former, as man's would be towards

his fellow man who offended him; compare the "for"

(Ps 25:11;

Ro 5:19).

9.

(Ps 57:10; 89:2; 103:11).

"For" is repeated from

Isa 55:8.

But MAURER, after the negation, translates,

"but."

10. The hearts of men, once barren of spirituality, shall be made,

righteousness

(Isa 5:6;

De 32:2;

2Sa 23:4;

Ps 72:6).

snow--which covers plants from frost in winter; and, when melted in

spring, waters the earth.

returneth not--void; as in

Isa 55:11;

it returns not in the same shape, or without "accomplishing" the

desired end.

bud--germinate.

11.

(Mt 24:35).

Rain may to us seem lost when it falls on a desert, but it fulfils some

purpose of God. So the gospel word falling on the hard heart; it

sometimes works a change at last; and even if so, it leaves men without

excuse. The full accomplishment of this verse, and

Isa 55:12, 13,

is, however, to be at the Jews' final restoration and conversion of the

world

(Isa 11:9-12; 60:1-5, 21).

12. go out--from the various countries in which ye (the Jews) are

scattered, to your own land

(Eze 11:17).

led--by Messiah, your "Leader"

(Isa 55:4;

Isa 52:12;

Mic 2:12, 13).

mountains . . . trees, &c.--images justly used to express the seeming

sympathy of nature with the joy of God's people. For, when sin is

removed, the natural world shall be delivered from "vanity," and be

renewed, so as to be in unison with the regenerated moral world

(Isa 44:23;

Ps 98:8;

Ro 8:19-22).

13. thorn--emblem of the wicked

(2Sa 23:6;

Mic 7:4).

fir tree--the godly

(Isa 60:13;

Ps 92:12).

Compare as to the change wrought,

Ro 6:19.

brier--emblem of uncultivation

(Isa 5:6).

myrtle--Hebrew, Hedes, from which comes Hedassah, the original

name of Esther. Type of the Christian Church; for it is a lowly, though

beautiful, fragrant, and evergreen shrub

(Ps 92:13, 14).

for a name . . . everlasting sign--a perpetual memorial to the glory

of Jehovah

(Jer 13:11; 33:9).