Commentary on the Old Testament Volume 2-4, Biblical commentary 7 · Isaiah · Chapter 49
CHAP. XLIX.
LIsten ye Isles, and hearken ye people from far, &c. Having spoken in the former Vers. 1.Chapter to Israel, to comfort the Jews in respect of their deliverance to come out of Babylon; now he speaks to the people of all Countries and Nations, of another greater deliverance to come by Christ Jesus, because it concerned all Nations, as is plain, vers. 6. I will give thee a light to the Gentiles, that thou maiest be my salvation to the ends of the earth. Yet the Hebrews, saith Lyra, Lyra.apply it to Cyrus, but Paul and Barnabas to Christ, Act. 13 47. And Simeon, Luk. 2. 32. And therefore all Christian Expositours agree about it, amongst whom Calvin saith, that they who divide the Prophecies of Isaiah into Books, Calvin.make the sixth and last to begin here, wherein Christ is plainly spoken of, who was before set forth more obscurely. Yet R. Solomon agreeth that the Messiah is here prophesied of, but not he in whom we beleeve, but one who they imagine is yet to come. But Jerom divideth these Prophecies not into six, but into Hieronym. Junius.eighteen Books. Junius saith, that two deliverances are spoken of by this Prophet, one from the Babylonish Captivity, chap. 40. and hitherto; the other by Christ, from hence to the end of the Prophecie. Howsoever I assent not to him in the first, because both deliverances are touched in the premises; yet I do in the latter. And with him I take these words, Listen ye Isles, as spoken in the person of Christ, intimating, that his Gospel should be preached to all Nations, even the furthest off from Judea, as well as the nearest; that is, to the Islands, for they were furthest off: And therefore Musculus noteth, that by the Islands and those afar off, are meant the same, and not divers people: see the like compellation, chap. 41. 1, 5. 34. 1. From the bowels of my mother he hath made mention of my Name. For so it was said by the Angel to Joseph, the husband of Mary, when she was with childe, Thou shalt call his Name Jesus.Matth. 1. 18. Vers. 2.
And he hath set my mouth as a sharp sword. Christ is here set forth by two comparisons, 1. Of a sharp sword. 2. Of a bright and sharp arrow, to shew that his words should not be vain, but piercing into mens hearts, galling the malicious wicked, as the Scribes and Pharisees, and pricking others to their conversion. Of the Pharisees see Matth. 21. Of others Joh. 7. 36. So the word is also compared, Heb. 4. 12. and it appeared to be so in the mouth of his servant Peter, Act. 2. 37. when his hearers were pricked in their hearts: and out of Christs mouth is said to come a two-edged sword, Revel. 1. 16. And, as for a sword, there is a scabbard; for arrows, a quiver to hide them in: so Christ was sheltered under Gods protection, till that voluntarily he went to his passion; thus Calvin and Musculus. But Jerom expounds his hiding of his Divinity, Calvin. Muscul.hidden under the flesh, which he took, as in a quiver; see chap. 45. 25. Thou art a God that hidest thy self. And he saith that the Apostles were arrows to wound the hearts of them to whom they preached, but he a chosen arrow above Hieron.them all; and that there are more arrows, is implied by saying, a chosen arrow; that is, one more excellent amongst many, and Ps. 45. Thy arrows are sharp, and thy enemies shall be subdued unto thee. And he is a sword to divide between the good and the bad, for which he saith, I came not to send peace, but a sword.
Thou art my servant (O Israel) in whom I will be glorified. Here God the Vers. 3.Father speaks to his Son, calling him his servant; for so Christ said of himself, that he came to minister, Matth. 20. or to serve; and Phil. 2. 6. he came in the form of a servant; and Israel, because he came of Israel, and was most worthy of this name of all others; for not all that come of Israel according to the flesh, are Israel, though of Israel, Rom. 9. 6. But one specially is honoured with this name, and who can this be but he, who is singularly said to be the seed of Abraham, that is, Christ, Gal. 3. 16. and in and through him all the truly faithfull, being his members; who yet I cannot think are together with him here meant, as Calvin contendeth; and this the next words evince, vers. 4. I said I have laboured in vain. Wherein the Son and not the whole body of the Vers. 4.faithfull, answereth to the Father, saying before, My servant in whom I will be glorified: But alas, saith he, how shall this be, seeing I labour for this indeed, but in vain, seeing so few were converted to the faith by his teaching. And few, saith Sasbont, to this day, will take time to consider his labour in preaching, in prayer and fasting, and suffering a cruel death for us; for if they Ad. Sasbont.did, they would be more affected with love towards him that loved them so dearly. Yet my judgement is with the Lord, &c. That is, to judge betwixt me and the people, with whom my labour takes none effect for their conversion, pronouncing on my side that I have done all that could be done for their salvation; and denouncing against them damnation, who would not be moved to repent and beleeve, what pains soever I took to bring them hereunto. By which words, saith Jerom, he intimateth a liberty of will in them, which because they abused to make them averse from Christ, they shall be most justly Hieron.condemned. And my work with my God. That is, the reward of my work; for although the Jews, through the hardness of their hearts beleeved not, his labour was not lost, but highly rewarded, when he had a Name given him above all names, Phil. 2. 6. Neither shall the labour of any faithfull Minister of his be lost, although uneffectuall to those amongst whom, through their own malice.
That I should bring Jacob to him, and that Israel should not be gathered. Hereby, Vers. 5. Hieron.saith Jerom, is meant that Christ should first preach only to the Jews, and seek their conversion; according to which he saith, I am not sent, but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. But when they in stead of imbracing his doctrine, sought to kill him and did kill him, as is set forth in the parable, Matth. 21. of the husbandmens having the Vineyard let unto them, then this doom against them took effect; that he intended the gathering of them no more, but he sent his Apostles to the Gentiles. And whereas the Septuagint hath it, and I Israel shall be gathered, And Aquila, so skilfull in the Hebrew, That Israel should be gathered to him; he censureth both, as eluding a most pregnant testimony against the Jews, of their obduration and being forsaken, after that they had been a while by Christ preached unto; saying that it is foreign not, and not foreign to him, which is here used: and therefore Symmachus and Theodotion render it not also. The Hebrews say that there be fifteen places in the Bible, in which foreign is put for foreign, and this is one, and therefore in the margin it is foreign; hereby Aquila is thought by Jerom to have been deceived; but we must take heed how we be led about all the rules of the Jews; so Sasbont. Retain we therefore Ad. Sasbont.the reading in the text in the sense before going, and yet neglect not that in the margin, being haply apposed to intimate their future conversion, when they shall cease to be abdurated any longer, Rom. 11. 2 Cor. 3. I shall be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, that is, Although Israel be not gathered, as in our N. Tr. foreign and, being rendred by although. These words are added to shew how Christ should not lose his labour, of which it was spoken before, vers. 4. for he should be glorious notwithstanding, and of great power amongst other Nations; as is immediatly shewed, vers. 6. Having turned some of the Jews first, he shall be a light to lighten the Gentiles, &c. upon which I have spoken Vers. 6.before, vers. 1.
Thus saith the Lord to him whom man despiseth, &c. Here, as vers. 5. the Lord Vers. 7.replieth to his Son Christ again, comforting him in this, that although he were contemptible to man, yea to the Nation of the Jews, and used like a servant by their Princes, Herod, Annas, Caiphas, and Pontius Pilat; that is, basely; yet Kings and Princes should see and rise and worship him; that is, saith Jerom, Hieron.first, at the day of judgement; but by and by better, imbracing his faith, and so doing him reverence, as the Son of God. But some, he saith, by the despised here, understand the Jews, whom he also calleth an abominated Nation, and this is followed by Musculus and Calvin, referring it to the contempt Muscul. Calvin.wherein the Jews were had under the Babylonish Kings in the time of their Captivity, being made their servants: But when Cyrus the Persian was King over all, the King himself and his Princes rose up for honours sake to them, and in so doing they are said to worship him, that is, God. But he preferreth the former, as there is good reason. Junius is also for Christ, here understood Junius.by the contemptible soul; for so it is Hebr. and whereas Calvin renders the next words, The abominable Nation, he whom the Nation abominates, meaning the Nation of the Jews; but Calvins reading being admitted, as agreeable to the Hebrew, and followed by the Vulg. Lat. yet it is not necessary to understand the Jewish Nation here spoken of: But as Lyra hath it, The Christian had in Lyra.abomination by the Jews, for beleeving in Christ, and made servants by being condemned to the mines by Heathen Emperours, for Christ and his Church are one. But when the whole current of the Prophecie is touching Christ, it is altogether from the purpose to bring the Jew in here delivered by Cyrus, especially their obduration being before prophesied of, vers. 5. It is therefore undoubtedly spoken of Christ and his Church, the miracles done wherein when Kings should see, they should rise up and turn Christian also, and worshippers of Christ, as Constantine the great and other Emperours after him. But Christ might well be called a contemptible soul or man, because so hated by the Jews; that, as Jerom saith, they cursed him in their Synagogues three times in a day.
Thus saith the Lord, in an acceptible time I have heard thee, &c. Here the Prophet Vers. 8.goeth on to speak more comfort to Christ, who was by the wicked Jews despised, and in despight crucified. The Lord saith, that he heard him in an acceptable time; that is, saith Jerom, when hanging upon the Crosse he cried out, Hieronym.My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? For God made it appear, that he heard him and forsook him not, in that he raised him from the dead, and gave him for a Covenant to the people, that he should raise up the earth, &c. For thus St Paul applieth it, 2 Cor. 6. 2. Having chap. 5. 2. said, He made him to be sin for us, that knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousnesse of God through him. He here to prove it to be so saith, For in an acceptable time I have heard thee, &c. That is, through thy death to be so reconciled to all that beleeve, as to justifie them by thy righteousnesse, and to save them. For accordingly he gave him for a Covenant to the people, that is, to such of the Jews as beleeved: And stirred up the earth, that is, men of other parts of the earth, who lay buried in the errour of idolatry, And possessed the dissipated inheritances, or desert inheritances: So called because they had not God dwelling in them, but now he takes them into his possession when they are converted. And he saith to them that are bound, Go out; that is, bound with sin and in darknesse of ignorance as in a dark dungeon; Be refreshed with the light of saving knowledge. They shall be fed in the way, That is, with wholsome instructions out of the world whilst they live in this world, for here we are in the way, and afterwards in heaven they shall neither hunger nor thirst any more, but enjoy perpetuall satiety of joyes and pleasures unspeakable; see the same, Revel. 7. And I will set all my mountains for a way for them. That is, heightening low places, that all their way may be plain and so delightfull. Lastly, shewing who they be with whom he will deal thus, he saith, Behold these shall come from farre, these from the north, and the sea, or west, and these from the land of Sinim, that is, the South; and then those from afarre, are from the East. But the Septuagint, for the Land of Sinim, hath, the land of the Persians, which is East, and then they from afar must be South. Thus Jerom, saying, that it is here prophesied of the conversion of peoples in all parts, East, West, North and South, and consequently of their salvation according to that of our Lord, Luk. 13. 29. They shall come from the East, West, &c. and sit down in the Kingdom of heaven. Lyra differs little from Jerom, and whereas it is said, They shall be fed in all plain Lyra.places. He saith, hereby are meant the good examples of the Saints, which are more available to teach simple people then the instructions of the word: And he is said to be a Covenant to the people, because they came by him to be in Covenant with God. They shall be brought to the fountains of water. This implieth full rest in the good attained in heaven: So Calvin applieth all this from, v. 8. to v. 13. Christ, that he draweth almost all first to the Jews delivered out of Babylon, and generally to all Gods faithfull people, both Jews and Gentiles. For first, In an acceptable time I have heard thee. This is manifestly spoken to the comfort of every beleever, and to Christ in relation to his Church, the good whereof he sought and not his own continually; and so it is applied by the Apostle, 2 Cor. 6.
Neither sun nor heat shall smite them. This is spoken in allusion to the pillar Vers. 10.of a cloud shadowing them in the wildernesse: And whereas he speaks of their feeding upon high places, he assimulates them to sheep, and Christ to a shepherd, leading his sheep into divers pastures; intimating that every where there should be pasture enough, even upon the tops of hils. Here the Vulg. having it, In plain places, is to be amended, for the worn foreign here used is high places. Vers. 11. I will make all my mountains waies, That is, I will remove all impediments from before them. Vers. 12. Some by Sinis understand mount Sinai, and hereby the South, because it was southward; some Siene, under the tropick of Cancer: But without contending further about it, we may rest in that which hath been already said.
Sing O heavens, &c. Of this see before, chap. 44. 23. being the same almost Vers. 13.verbatim.
Can a woman forget her sucking childe? In the former verse Zion is brought Vers. 15.in complaining, The Lord hath left me, &c. to that it is here replied. Now Zion or Jerusalem, saith Jerom, is taken four waies; 1. For the place properly so Hieron.called. 2. For the Congregation of Saints, both of Jews and Gentiles; of which it is said, the Lord loveth the gates of Zion more then all the habitations of Jacob: For hereby cannot be meant Zion properly, which was long ago destroyed, but that Zion which God loves cannot be destroyed. 3. For the company of Angels, according to Heb. 12. 22. Ye are come to mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of Angels. 4. For that Jerusalem which shall be, spoken of Revel. 21. and 22. of which our Judaizers speak many things which they understand not, and upon the description of it, Ezek. 44. Here, by Zion, of which God will be so mindfull, the Congregation of Saints is to be understood. Thy builders came, which destroyed thee, they shall go out of thee. Who were the builders but the Scribes and Pharisees? for they were the builders which refused the Stone, which is the chief Stone of the corner, building by traditions of men, and so destroying those that were thus built by them; for they compassed sea and land to make one Proselyte, and then he is twofold more the childe of hell then themselves. But now they shall go out from the true Zion, the Church of Christ, and so shall all hereticks, for the Church shall not follow such any more in their teaching, but separate from them. Lift up thine eies and see, all these are gathered to thee. To this our Lord alludeth, when he saith, Lift up your eies and see, the regions are already white unto the harvest. As I live, saith the Lord, thou shalt be clad with all these as with an ornament. Here for more assurance the Lord confirms by oath, that the faithfull Jews, that is, Apostles and other preachers shall convert the Gentiles to the true faith, and the great multitudes of them that they converted shall be as an ornament making them glorious in all the world in the eyes of beleevers, as a brides ornaments doth her of the spouse of Christ, the Church thus adorned, see Ps. 45. Her cloathing is of gold, wrought about with divers colours, For thy desolate places and wildernesses shall be streight for thy inhabitants. That is, The Gospel being so readily every where received by so many. And they that devoured thee shall be driven far away; that is, false teachers before said to destroy her, And the children of thy barrennesse shall say in thine ears, the place is too streight, &c. That is, whereas thou wert formerly barren and despairedst of ever having any children, thou shalt now have so many as that it shall drive thee into an admiration how thou camest by them. Calvin and Musculus understanding Zion literally of the inhabitants of Zion; the Calvin. Muscul.Jews say, that this is spoken for their comfort, although their City should be destroyed and lie long desolate; yet God did not all this time forget it, no more then a man doth the signet upon his finger, the continuall seeing whereof maketh him that he cannot forget it. Wherein it is alluded to that precept which God gave of binding the commandments to their right hand. And because he also addeth [Thy wals are continually before me] But when they should afterwards see the City lie in ruinous heaps seventy years together, they might despair of this promise, saying, Alas our wals are all down and lying in ruinous heaps: He saith, vers. 17. Thy builders make haste, thy destroyers shall depart far from thee. That is, The Persians taking care to build the Temple and City again, when the time which God hath appointed shall come, shall provide for the doing of it with all speed; and the Caldees their enemies, who destroyed and kept them under, shall go out of their Countrey, as having nothing to do there any more. Here the reading of the text, I confesse, is more according to the Hebrew then that of Ierom, so that it needs to be corrected. But being thus corrected, the sense will be good of the Evangelical Church, Thy builders hasten; for the Apostles went preaching from place to place, and being persecuted in one City, went to another; and false teachers, who had formerly misled the people, and so indeed were their destroyers, continued not in any credit amongst the faithfull any longer, which is meant by their going out of thee. But whereas he speaks of the people returning to Zion in great Vers. 18.multitudes, as an ornament unto her; Calvin noteth rightly, that when the Church of Christ hath many children, that imbrace the truth from their hearts and live accordingly, she is adorned and beautified indeed, but not when the Temple is decked with glorious Images, which the Papists count great ornaments. So St Paul calleth the Corinthians his crown, and Cornelia a great Lady in Rome, as I remember, her two sons, the Scipio's her ornaments; saying to a noble man that shewed her the costly furniture of his house, they coming in in the interim, Et haec sunt ornamenta mea. And vers. 19. finding that the Vers. 19.great multitudes of children making that Jerusalem was too little to contain them, cannot be applied to the Jews returning from Captivity, for Jerusalem had so few inhabitants, that they were constrained for a supply to provide by laws for the peopling thereof out of the Countrey, he applieth it with Jerom to the times of the Gospel, and likewise ver. 20. where the Church is brought in admiring at her own so numerous a brood, all true children that any knew of, failing, and the means of begetting them, true doctrine, till Christ and his fore-runner and Apostles came. Whence note how vain the Papists are in Note. making the perpetual visibility of the Church a mark thereof, seeing at Christs coming she was so destitute of children, and so shall be at his second coming, of which he saith, When the son of man cometh, shall he finde faith upon the earth? And the Churches lying hid in the wildernesse before that 1260 dayes argueth the same, that none be deceived hereby.
I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and set up a Standard to the people. This Vers. 22.is spoken in answer to the Church complaining of her barrennesse, but comforted with a Promise of a most numerous off-spring. Here it is shewed, how this shall be, even as a King by setting up his Standard, gathers multitudes of men about him to encrease his Army; so he saith, that he would by the Gospel lifted up by his hand of miracles, and made so glorious that Nations should desire it, draw innumerable multitudes out of the Nations to the faith of Christ herein set forth. Jerom thinks the sign of the Crosse to be meant by this Standard. Of lifting up an ensign, but for another end, see before Chap. 5. 22. Sasbont, the first sign lifted up was the Gospel, the second, the whole Ad. Sasbont.word of God, the third, the sign of the Crosse. And they shall bring thy sons in their arms, &c. That is, saith Lyra, their children to be baptized, and thus to be made sons of the Church, for which he saith, Thy sons and thy daughters, he meaneth, that they should first by hearing believe, and be admitted into Note. the Church by Baptism, and then all their little ones also, as it is commonly Act. 16.said, Believe and thou shalt be saved and all thy house, and he was baptized and all his house. A plain place against them that deny the baptizing of Infants; for to whom is salvation promised, but to him and all his family upon his believing? and what were his children but of his family? When he was baptized then, and all his house, who can deny that his children were baptized also? If any man shall say, haply he had none, we may more certainly affirm, if he had, they should have been baptized, because otherwise all his house should not have been saved, because not all baptized; and yet I say not, that all are saved that are baptized, but whomsoever we would have saved, we ought to baptize upon this ground. And Parents cannot say of their children to the Church, They are thy children, unlesse they bring them in their arms to be so made by Baptism. I know that it is by some expounded metaphorically, as Deut. 32. 10. God is said to have carried the Hebrews in his bosom, Hos. 11. 3. But it is a rule in Theology, That when any sentence of Scripture may be taken properly without absurdity, it is so to be understood; as when children were brought to Christ to be blessed, and he took them up in his arms; so here there being no absurdity to say that Parents carry their children in their arms to be baptized, the literal sense is to be taken, and no need to flee to a metaphorical. If it be objected, he saith not Theirs, but Thy children, speaking to the Jew; Sol. He saith Thine by anticipation, meaning such as I will presently making them to be of Israel, whereby the children of Zion, that is, the mother-Church of the Jews shall be so wonderfully encreased, as hath been said.
And Kings shall be thy nursing Fathers, and Queens thy nursing Mothers. The Vers. 23.children of the Church growing so wonderfully numerous, as hath been said, if she shall begin to take care how to nourish and maintain so many; here that Query is satisfied, Kings shall be thy nursing Fathers, &c. Now the Nurse feeds the childe, and defends it from harm, so it is hereby intimated, That Kings and Queens should do by the faithfull under the Gospel, 1. Providing that the Preachers thereof may have sufficient maintenance, that they may not need to trouble themselves about worldly things. 2. For the maintenance of Schools of good literature, as Seminaries of godlinesse and learning, that the Church may thence have a continual supply of able Pastors. 3. For the relief of poor Widows and Orphans, and other impotent persons, that none may be suffered for want to wander as vagabonds, which is a disgrace to Christianity: and to this end to build Hospitals and Alms-houses, and indowing them with means. 4. Defending the innocent from oppressors by judging righteously, and the Church in general from enemies, that seek to overthrow it, either by force of arms, or to corrupt it by any kinde of heresie. They shall worship thee with their faces bowed to the ground, &c. That is, Christ Jesus, believing him to be the Sonne of God and very God. For although the speech be directed to Zion, that is, the Church, yet when any thing of adoration is brought in, it is to be referred to the Head thereof, who cannot be considered as separate, but joyned as one with his Church. Wherefore it is meant first, That Kings and Queens, as well as common people should serve Christ with all reverence. 2. Bow to the truth taught by his Ministers becoming in all things obedient unto it, and submitting themselves to hear it with fear and reverence, and such Kings as do not these things are unworthy of Christ, and the inestimable benefits coming by him. But this is not to be applied to any man of the Church or men, though never so eminent, as if Kings and Queens were bound thus out of their piety to bow to him or them, as the proud Bishops of Rome apply it to Peter, and to themselves: But if they Note. would look into Act. 10. and see how Peter would not endure Cornelius to bow to him, they would be greatly ashamed of this their pride, whereby they rather represent Heathen Emperours who were ambitious of divine honours, then Christs Ministers, whose greatest glory is humility towards one Joh. 13.another; and therefore much more towards Kings and Princes. Neither can it be hence commended for Kings to be profuse towards any of Christs Mininisters in respect of worldly honours or riches, because he saith, They should be nursing Fathers, and honours of this kinde, are plainly interdicted, Matth. 20. and a Bishop must not be given to filthy lucre, 1 Tim. 3.
Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the captive justly taken delivered? Vers. 24.Having spoken hitherto of the deliverance of the faithfull by Christ, that it shall certainly be, and of their glorious condition after this deliverance, now he removeth an objection against it, and so seeks further to confirm it. Although it be not commonly done, that the prey is taken from the mighty, or the captive taken in warre justly without agreeing upon a price, yet as the Jews had this performed to them, when they were pluckt out of the hands of the King of Babylon, who had made a prey of them, and delivered out of Captivity gratis, so Gods chosen people of all Countreys and Nations being before made a prey by the devil, whilst they lived in Idolatry, and so justly taken captive, although held by a strong man armed, were taken away by a Matth. 12.stronger, and by him delivered, he being destroyed in respect of all his strength against them by his death. And he renders a reason hereof, vers. 25. I will Heb. 2. 15. Vers. 25.contend with him that contends with thee, &c. And the Lords power is irresistible.
And I will feed thy spoilers with their own flesh, &c. That is, as they had destroyed Vers. 26.his people the Jews, thus feeding, as it were, upon their flesh, and drinking their bloud, so they should be destroyed, their feeding upon the flesh of others according to this sense being turned into feeding upon their own flesh, when they should be slain in great multitudes, as they had slain others in most cruel manner: they are then threatned Lege talionis, and it is not necessary as Musculus and Calvin do, to expound it of their falling together by the ears amongst themselves, thus by their swords mutually devouring one another, as sometime the Edomites and Moabites did 2 Chron. 20. For God makes them to feed upon their own flesh, to whose ravenous desire to eat the flesh of others, he putteth an end by destroying them by whomsoever, and making them to fall thick one upon another, and to lie deep in their own bloud. For the Babylonians never ate so their own flesh that we read of, but this was done when the Persians overcame Babylon, and according to this Thomiris the Scythian Queen did sometime to Cyrus, when having cut off his head she put it into a vessel filled with his and his mens bloud, with this exprobation, Satia te sanguine quem diu sitisti, Fill thy self with bloud which thou hast long thirsted after. Neither did the Heathen afterwards, who had shed the bloud of innumerable Saints under the New Testament, pay for it by destroying one another, but the Christians under Constantine overcoming Lycinius, and his Army, and under Theodosius the idolatrous people that came against them.