The Obedient Servant Trusts the Lord While Zion Is Called to Walk in His Light

Isa 50:5-6 His calling is to save, not to destroy; and for this calling he has Jehovah as a teacher, and to Him he has submitted himself in docile susceptibility and immoveable obedience. Isa 50:5 “The Lord Jehovah hath opened mine ear; and I, I was not rebellious, and did not turn back. ” He put him into a position inwardly to discern His will, that he might become the mediator of divine revelation; and he did not set himself against this calling ( mârâh , according to its radical meaning stringere , to make one’s self rigid against any one, ἀντιτείνειν), and did not draw back from obeying the call, which, as he well knew, would not bring him earthly honour and gain, but rather shame and ill-treatment.

Ever since he had taken the path of his calling, he had not drawn timidly back from the sufferings with which it was connected, but had rather cheerfully taken them upon him. V. 6 “I offered my back to smiters, and my cheeks to them that pluck off the hair; I hid not my face from shame and spitting. ” He offered his back to such as smote it, his cheeks to such as plucked out the hair of his beard ( mârat as in Neh 13:25).

He did not hide his face, to cover it up from actual insults, or from being spit upon (on kelimmōth with rōq , smiting on the cheek, κολαφίζειν, strokes with rods, ῥαπίζειν, blows upon the head, τύπτειν εἰς τὴν κεφαλήν with ἐμπτύειν, compare Mat 26:67; Mat 27:30; Joh 18:22). The way of his calling leads through a shameful condition of humiliation. What was typified in Job (see Isa 30:10; Isa 17:6), and prefigured typically and prophetically in the Psalms of David (see Psa 22:7; Psa 69:8), finds in him its perfect antitypical fulfilment.

Isa 50:7 But no shame makes him faint-hearted; he trusts in Him who hath called him, and looks to the end. “But the Lord Jehovah will help me; therefore have I not suffered myself to be overcome by mockery: therefore did I make my face like the flint, and knew that I should not be put to shame. ” The ו introduces the thought with which his soul was filled amidst all his sufferings.

In נכלמתּי לא he affirms, that he did not suffer himself to be inwardly overcome and overpowered by kelimmâh . The consciousness of his high calling remained undisturbed; he was never ashamed of that, nor did he turn away from it. The two על־כּן stand side by side upon the same line. He made his face kachallâmı̄sh (from châlam , related to gâlam in Isa 49:21, with the substantive termination ı̄sh : see Jeshurun , p.

229), i. e. , he made it as unfelling as a flint-stone to the attacks of his foes (cf. , Eze 3:8-9). The lxx renders this ἔθηκα τὸ πρόσωπον μου ὡς στερεὰν πέτραν; but ἐστήριξα τὸ πρός, which is the rendering given to פני שׂים in Jer 21:10, would have been just the proper rendering here (see Luk 9:51). In “holy hardness of endurance,” as Stier says, he turned his face to his antagonists, without being subdued or frightened away, and was well assured that He whose cause he represented would never leave him in the lurch.

Isa 50:8-9 In the midst of his continued sufferings he was still certain of victory, feeling himself exalted above every human accusation, and knowing that Jehovah would acknowledge him; whereas his opponents were on the way to that destruction, the germ of which they already carried with them. “He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me?! We will draw near together!

Who is my adversary in judgment?! Let him draw near to me! Behold, the Lord Jehovah will help me; who is he that could condemn me?! Behold, they all shall fall to pieces like a garment; the moth shall eat them up. ” הצדּיו and הרשׁיע are forensic antitheses: the former signifies to set one forth, both practically and judicially, as righteous (2Sa 15:4; Psa 82:3); the latter as guilty, רשׁע (Deu 25:1; Psa 109:7).

נעמדה, which has lost the principal tone on account of the following יחד (יּהד), has munach instead of metheg in the antepenultimate. Ba‛al mishpâtı̄ means, “he who has a judicial cause of lawsuit against me,” just as in Roman law the dominus litis is distinguished from the procurator, i. e. , from the person who represents him in court (syn. ba‛al debhârı̄m , Exo 24:14, and 'ı̄sh rı̄bhı̄ in Job 31:35; compare Isa 41:11).

מי־הוּא are connected, and form an emphatic τίς, Rom 8:34 (Ewald §325, a ). “All of them” ( kullâm ): this refers to all who are hostile to him. They fall to pieces like a worn-out garment, and fall a prey to the moth which they already carry within them - a figure which we meet with again in Isa 51:8 (cf. , Job 13:28; Hos 5:12), and one which, although apparently insignificant, is yet really a terrible one, inasmuch as it points to a power of destruction working imperceptibly and slowly, but yet effecting the destruction of the object selected with all the greater certainty.

Isa 50:8-9 In the midst of his continued sufferings he was still certain of victory, feeling himself exalted above every human accusation, and knowing that Jehovah would acknowledge him; whereas his opponents were on the way to that destruction, the germ of which they already carried with them. “He is near that justifieth me; who will contend with me?! We will draw near together!

Who is my adversary in judgment?! Let him draw near to me! Behold, the Lord Jehovah will help me; who is he that could condemn me?! Behold, they all shall fall to pieces like a garment; the moth shall eat them up. ” הצדּיו and הרשׁיע are forensic antitheses: the former signifies to set one forth, both practically and judicially, as righteous (2Sa 15:4; Psa 82:3); the latter as guilty, רשׁע (Deu 25:1; Psa 109:7).

נעמדה, which has lost the principal tone on account of the following יחד (יּהד), has munach instead of metheg in the antepenultimate. Ba‛al mishpâtı̄ means, “he who has a judicial cause of lawsuit against me,” just as in Roman law the dominus litis is distinguished from the procurator, i. e. , from the person who represents him in court (syn. ba‛al debhârı̄m , Exo 24:14, and 'ı̄sh rı̄bhı̄ in Job 31:35; compare Isa 41:11).

מי־הוּא are connected, and form an emphatic τίς, Rom 8:34 (Ewald §325, a ). “All of them” ( kullâm ): this refers to all who are hostile to him. They fall to pieces like a worn-out garment, and fall a prey to the moth which they already carry within them - a figure which we meet with again in Isa 51:8 (cf. , Job 13:28; Hos 5:12), and one which, although apparently insignificant, is yet really a terrible one, inasmuch as it points to a power of destruction working imperceptibly and slowly, but yet effecting the destruction of the object selected with all the greater certainty.

Isa 50:10-11 Thus far we have the words of the servant. The prophecy opened with words of Jehovah (Isa 50:1-3), and with such words it closes, as we may see from the expression, “this shall ye have at my hand,” in Isa 50:11 . The first word of Jehovah is addressed to those who fear Him, and hearken to the voice of His servant. Isa 50:10 “Who among you is fearing Jehovah, hearkening to the voice of His servant?

He that walketh in darkness, and without a ray of light, let him trust in the name of Jehovah, and stay himself upon his God. ” The question is asked for the purpose of showing to any one who could reply, “I am one, or wish to be such an one,” what his duty and his privileges are. In the midst of the apparent hopelessness of his situation ( chăshēkhı̄m the accusative of the object, and plural to chăshēkhâh , Isa 8:22), and of his consequent despondency of mind, he is to trust in the name of Jehovah, that firmest and surest of all grounds of trust, and to stay himself upon his God, who cannot forsake or deceive him.

He is to believe (Isa 7:9; Isa 28:16; Hab 2:4) in God and the word of salvation, for בטח and נשׁען are terms applied to that fiducia fidei which is the essence of faith. The second word of Jehovah is addressed to the despisers of His word, of which His servant is the bearer. Isa 50:11 “Behold, all ye that kindle fire, that equip yourselves with burning darts, away into the glow of your fire, and into the burning darts that ye have kindled!

This comes to you from my hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow. ” The fire is not the fire of divine wrath (Jer 17:4), but the fire of wickedness ( rish‛âh , Isa 9:17), more especially that hellish fire with which an evil tongue is set on fire (Jam 3:6); for the zı̄qōth (equivalent to ziqqōth , from zēq = zinq , from zânaq , to spring, to let fly, Syr. to shoot or hurl), i.

e. , shots, and indeed burning arrows (Psa 7:14), are figurative, and stand for the blasphemies and anathemas which they cast at the servant of Jehovah. It is quite unnecessary to read מאירי instead of מאזּרי, as Hitzig, Ewald, and Knobel propose, or even, contrary to all usage of speech, מאורי. The former is the more pictorial: they gird burning darts, accingunt malleolos , i.

e. , they equip or arm themselves with them for the purpose of attack (Isa 45:5). But the destruction which they prepare for the servant of Jehovah becomes their own. They themselves have to go into the midst of the burning fire and the burning darts, that they have set on fire. The hand of Jehovah suddenly inverts the position; the fire of wrath becomes the fire of divine judgment, and this fire becomes their bed of torment.

The lxx has it correctly, ἐν λύπῃ κοιμηθήσεσθε. The Lamed indicates the situation (Ewald, §217, d ). תּשׁכּבוּן with the tone upon the last syllable gives a dictatorial conclusion. It has a terrible sound, but still more terrible (apart from the future state) is the historical fulfilment that presents itself to the eye.

Isa 50:10-11 Thus far we have the words of the servant. The prophecy opened with words of Jehovah (Isa 50:1-3), and with such words it closes, as we may see from the expression, “this shall ye have at my hand,” in Isa 50:11 . The first word of Jehovah is addressed to those who fear Him, and hearken to the voice of His servant. Isa 50:10 “Who among you is fearing Jehovah, hearkening to the voice of His servant?

He that walketh in darkness, and without a ray of light, let him trust in the name of Jehovah, and stay himself upon his God. ” The question is asked for the purpose of showing to any one who could reply, “I am one, or wish to be such an one,” what his duty and his privileges are. In the midst of the apparent hopelessness of his situation ( chăshēkhı̄m the accusative of the object, and plural to chăshēkhâh , Isa 8:22), and of his consequent despondency of mind, he is to trust in the name of Jehovah, that firmest and surest of all grounds of trust, and to stay himself upon his God, who cannot forsake or deceive him.

He is to believe (Isa 7:9; Isa 28:16; Hab 2:4) in God and the word of salvation, for בטח and נשׁען are terms applied to that fiducia fidei which is the essence of faith. The second word of Jehovah is addressed to the despisers of His word, of which His servant is the bearer. Isa 50:11 “Behold, all ye that kindle fire, that equip yourselves with burning darts, away into the glow of your fire, and into the burning darts that ye have kindled!

This comes to you from my hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow. ” The fire is not the fire of divine wrath (Jer 17:4), but the fire of wickedness ( rish‛âh , Isa 9:17), more especially that hellish fire with which an evil tongue is set on fire (Jam 3:6); for the zı̄qōth (equivalent to ziqqōth , from zēq = zinq , from zânaq , to spring, to let fly, Syr. to shoot or hurl), i.

e. , shots, and indeed burning arrows (Psa 7:14), are figurative, and stand for the blasphemies and anathemas which they cast at the servant of Jehovah. It is quite unnecessary to read מאירי instead of מאזּרי, as Hitzig, Ewald, and Knobel propose, or even, contrary to all usage of speech, מאורי. The former is the more pictorial: they gird burning darts, accingunt malleolos , i.

e. , they equip or arm themselves with them for the purpose of attack (Isa 45:5). But the destruction which they prepare for the servant of Jehovah becomes their own. They themselves have to go into the midst of the burning fire and the burning darts, that they have set on fire. The hand of Jehovah suddenly inverts the position; the fire of wrath becomes the fire of divine judgment, and this fire becomes their bed of torment.

The lxx has it correctly, ἐν λύπῃ κοιμηθήσεσθε. The Lamed indicates the situation (Ewald, §217, d ). תּשׁכּבוּן with the tone upon the last syllable gives a dictatorial conclusion. It has a terrible sound, but still more terrible (apart from the future state) is the historical fulfilment that presents itself to the eye.

Isa 51:1-3 The prophetic address now turns again from the despisers of the word, whom it has threatened with the torment of fire, to those who long for salvation. “Hearken to me, ye that are in pursuit of righteousness, ye that seek Jehovah. Look up to the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hollow of the pit whence ye are dug. Look up toe Abraham your forefather, and to Sara who bare you, that he was one when I called him, and blessed him, and multiplied him.

For Jehovah hath comforted Zion, comforted all her ruins, and turned her desert like Eden, and her steppe as into the garden of God; joy and gladness are found in her, thanksgiving and sounding music. ” The prophecy is addressed to those who are striving after the right kind of life and seeking Jehovah, and not turning from Him to make earthly things and themselves the object of their pursuit; for such only are in a condition by faith to regard that as possible, and in spirit to behold that as real, which seems impossible, and in spirit to behold that as real, which seems impossible to human understanding, because the very opposite is lying before the eye of the senses.

Abraham and Sarah they are mentally to set before them, for they are types of the salvation to be anticipated now. Abraham is the rock whence the stones were hewn, of which the house of Jacob is composed; and Sarah with her maternal womb the hollow of the pit out of which Israel was brought to the light, just as peat is dug out of a pit, or copper out of a mine.

The marriage of Abraham and Sarah was for a long time unfruitful; it was, as it were, out of hard stone that God raised up children to Himself in Abraham and Sarah. The rise of Israel was a miracle of divine power and grace. In antithesis to the masculine tsūr , bōr is made into a feminine through maqqebheth , which is chosen with reference to neqēbhâh . to חצּבתּם we must supply ממּנּוּ ...

אשׁר, and to נקּרתּם, ממּנּה ... אשׁר. Isa 51:2 informs them who the rock and the hollow of the pit are, viz. , Abraham your forefather, and Sarah techōlelkhem , who bare you with all the pains of childbirth: “ you ,” for the birth of Isaac, the son of promise, was the birth of the nation. The point to be specially looked at in relation to Abraham (in comparison with whom Sarah falls into the background) is given in the words quod unum vocavi eum (that he was one when I called him).

The perfect קראתיו relates the single call of divine grace, which removed Abraham from the midst of idolaters into the fellowship of Jehovah. The futures that follow (with Vav cop. ) point out the blessing and multiplication that were connected with it (Gen 12:1-2). He is called one ( 'echâd as in Eze 33:24; Mal 2:15), because he was one at the time of his call, and yet through the might of the divine blessing became the root of the whole genealogical tree of Israel, and of a great multitude of people that branched off from it.

This is what those who are now longing for salvation are to remember, strengthening themselves by means of the olden time in their faith in the future which so greatly resembles it. The corresponding blessing is expressed in preterites ( nicham , vayyâsem ), inasmuch as to the eye of faith and in prophetic vision the future has the reality of a present and the certainty of a completed fact.

Zion, the mother of Israel (Isa 50:1), the counterpart of Sarah, the ancestress of the nation-Zion, which is now mourning so bitterly, because she is lying waste and in ruins - is comforted by Jehovah. The comforting word of promise (Isa 40:1) becomes, in her case, the comforting fact of fulfilment (Isa 49:13). Jehovah makes her waste like Eden (lxx ὡς παράδεισον), like a garden, as glorious as if it had been directly planted by Himself (Gen 13:10; Num 24:6).

And this paradise is not without human occupants; but when you enter it you find joy and gladness therein, and hear thanksgiving at the wondrous change that has taken place, as well as the voice of melody ( zimrâh as in Amo 5:23). The pleasant land is therefore full of men in the midst of festal enjoyment and activity. As Sarah gave birth to Isaac after a long period of barrenness, so Zion, a second Sarah, will be surrounded by a joyous multitude of children after a long period of desolation.

Isa 51:1-3 The prophetic address now turns again from the despisers of the word, whom it has threatened with the torment of fire, to those who long for salvation. “Hearken to me, ye that are in pursuit of righteousness, ye that seek Jehovah. Look up to the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hollow of the pit whence ye are dug. Look up toe Abraham your forefather, and to Sara who bare you, that he was one when I called him, and blessed him, and multiplied him.

For Jehovah hath comforted Zion, comforted all her ruins, and turned her desert like Eden, and her steppe as into the garden of God; joy and gladness are found in her, thanksgiving and sounding music. ” The prophecy is addressed to those who are striving after the right kind of life and seeking Jehovah, and not turning from Him to make earthly things and themselves the object of their pursuit; for such only are in a condition by faith to regard that as possible, and in spirit to behold that as real, which seems impossible, and in spirit to behold that as real, which seems impossible to human understanding, because the very opposite is lying before the eye of the senses.

Abraham and Sarah they are mentally to set before them, for they are types of the salvation to be anticipated now. Abraham is the rock whence the stones were hewn, of which the house of Jacob is composed; and Sarah with her maternal womb the hollow of the pit out of which Israel was brought to the light, just as peat is dug out of a pit, or copper out of a mine.

The marriage of Abraham and Sarah was for a long time unfruitful; it was, as it were, out of hard stone that God raised up children to Himself in Abraham and Sarah. The rise of Israel was a miracle of divine power and grace. In antithesis to the masculine tsūr , bōr is made into a feminine through maqqebheth , which is chosen with reference to neqēbhâh . to חצּבתּם we must supply ממּנּוּ ...

אשׁר, and to נקּרתּם, ממּנּה ... אשׁר. Isa 51:2 informs them who the rock and the hollow of the pit are, viz. , Abraham your forefather, and Sarah techōlelkhem , who bare you with all the pains of childbirth: “ you ,” for the birth of Isaac, the son of promise, was the birth of the nation. The point to be specially looked at in relation to Abraham (in comparison with whom Sarah falls into the background) is given in the words quod unum vocavi eum (that he was one when I called him).

The perfect קראתיו relates the single call of divine grace, which removed Abraham from the midst of idolaters into the fellowship of Jehovah. The futures that follow (with Vav cop. ) point out the blessing and multiplication that were connected with it (Gen 12:1-2). He is called one ( 'echâd as in Eze 33:24; Mal 2:15), because he was one at the time of his call, and yet through the might of the divine blessing became the root of the whole genealogical tree of Israel, and of a great multitude of people that branched off from it.

This is what those who are now longing for salvation are to remember, strengthening themselves by means of the olden time in their faith in the future which so greatly resembles it. The corresponding blessing is expressed in preterites ( nicham , vayyâsem ), inasmuch as to the eye of faith and in prophetic vision the future has the reality of a present and the certainty of a completed fact.

Zion, the mother of Israel (Isa 50:1), the counterpart of Sarah, the ancestress of the nation-Zion, which is now mourning so bitterly, because she is lying waste and in ruins - is comforted by Jehovah. The comforting word of promise (Isa 40:1) becomes, in her case, the comforting fact of fulfilment (Isa 49:13). Jehovah makes her waste like Eden (lxx ὡς παράδεισον), like a garden, as glorious as if it had been directly planted by Himself (Gen 13:10; Num 24:6).

And this paradise is not without human occupants; but when you enter it you find joy and gladness therein, and hear thanksgiving at the wondrous change that has taken place, as well as the voice of melody ( zimrâh as in Amo 5:23). The pleasant land is therefore full of men in the midst of festal enjoyment and activity. As Sarah gave birth to Isaac after a long period of barrenness, so Zion, a second Sarah, will be surrounded by a joyous multitude of children after a long period of desolation.

Isa 51:1-3 The prophetic address now turns again from the despisers of the word, whom it has threatened with the torment of fire, to those who long for salvation. “Hearken to me, ye that are in pursuit of righteousness, ye that seek Jehovah. Look up to the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hollow of the pit whence ye are dug. Look up toe Abraham your forefather, and to Sara who bare you, that he was one when I called him, and blessed him, and multiplied him.

For Jehovah hath comforted Zion, comforted all her ruins, and turned her desert like Eden, and her steppe as into the garden of God; joy and gladness are found in her, thanksgiving and sounding music. ” The prophecy is addressed to those who are striving after the right kind of life and seeking Jehovah, and not turning from Him to make earthly things and themselves the object of their pursuit; for such only are in a condition by faith to regard that as possible, and in spirit to behold that as real, which seems impossible, and in spirit to behold that as real, which seems impossible to human understanding, because the very opposite is lying before the eye of the senses.

Abraham and Sarah they are mentally to set before them, for they are types of the salvation to be anticipated now. Abraham is the rock whence the stones were hewn, of which the house of Jacob is composed; and Sarah with her maternal womb the hollow of the pit out of which Israel was brought to the light, just as peat is dug out of a pit, or copper out of a mine.

The marriage of Abraham and Sarah was for a long time unfruitful; it was, as it were, out of hard stone that God raised up children to Himself in Abraham and Sarah. The rise of Israel was a miracle of divine power and grace. In antithesis to the masculine tsūr , bōr is made into a feminine through maqqebheth , which is chosen with reference to neqēbhâh . to חצּבתּם we must supply ממּנּוּ ...

אשׁר, and to נקּרתּם, ממּנּה ... אשׁר. Isa 51:2 informs them who the rock and the hollow of the pit are, viz. , Abraham your forefather, and Sarah techōlelkhem , who bare you with all the pains of childbirth: “ you ,” for the birth of Isaac, the son of promise, was the birth of the nation. The point to be specially looked at in relation to Abraham (in comparison with whom Sarah falls into the background) is given in the words quod unum vocavi eum (that he was one when I called him).

The perfect קראתיו relates the single call of divine grace, which removed Abraham from the midst of idolaters into the fellowship of Jehovah. The futures that follow (with Vav cop. ) point out the blessing and multiplication that were connected with it (Gen 12:1-2). He is called one ( 'echâd as in Eze 33:24; Mal 2:15), because he was one at the time of his call, and yet through the might of the divine blessing became the root of the whole genealogical tree of Israel, and of a great multitude of people that branched off from it.

This is what those who are now longing for salvation are to remember, strengthening themselves by means of the olden time in their faith in the future which so greatly resembles it. The corresponding blessing is expressed in preterites ( nicham , vayyâsem ), inasmuch as to the eye of faith and in prophetic vision the future has the reality of a present and the certainty of a completed fact.

Zion, the mother of Israel (Isa 50:1), the counterpart of Sarah, the ancestress of the nation-Zion, which is now mourning so bitterly, because she is lying waste and in ruins - is comforted by Jehovah. The comforting word of promise (Isa 40:1) becomes, in her case, the comforting fact of fulfilment (Isa 49:13). Jehovah makes her waste like Eden (lxx ὡς παράδεισον), like a garden, as glorious as if it had been directly planted by Himself (Gen 13:10; Num 24:6).

And this paradise is not without human occupants; but when you enter it you find joy and gladness therein, and hear thanksgiving at the wondrous change that has taken place, as well as the voice of melody ( zimrâh as in Amo 5:23). The pleasant land is therefore full of men in the midst of festal enjoyment and activity. As Sarah gave birth to Isaac after a long period of barrenness, so Zion, a second Sarah, will be surrounded by a joyous multitude of children after a long period of desolation.

Isa 51:4-5 But the great work of the future extends far beyond the restoration of Israel, which becomes the source of salvation to all the world. “Hearken unto me, my people, and give ear unto me, O my congregation! for instruction will go forth from me, and I make a place for my right, to be a light of the nations. My righteousness is near, my salvation is drawn out, and my arms will judge nations: the hoping of the islands looks to me, and for mine arm is their waiting.

” It is Israel which is here summoned to hearken to the promise introduced with kı̄ . לאוּמּי is only used here of Israel, like גּוי in Zep 2:9; and the lxx (καὶ οἱ βασιλεῖς) have quite misunderstood it. An address to the heathen would be quite out of harmony with the character of the whole prophecy, which is carried out quite consistently throughout. עמי and לאומי, therefore, are not plurals, as the Syriac supposes, although it cannot be disputed that it is a rare thing to meet with the plural form apocopated thus, after the form of the talmudic Aramaean; and see also at Psa 45:9).

What Isa 42:1. describes as the calling of the servant of Jehovah, viz. , to carry out justice among the nations, and to plant it on the earth, appears here as the act of Jehovah; but, as a comparison of מאתּי with מצּיּון (Isa 2:3) clearly shows, as the act of the God who is present in Israel, and works from Israel outwards. Out of Israel sprang the Saviour; out of Israel the apostleship; and when God shall have mercy upon Israel again, it will become to the whole world of nations “life from the dead.

” The thorâh referred to here is that of Sion, as distinguished from that of Sinai, the gospel of redemption, and mishpât the new order of life in which Israel and the nations are united. Jehovah makes for this a place of rest, a firm standing-place, from which its light to lighten the nations streams forth in all directions. הרגּיע as in Jer 31:2; Jer 50:34, from רגע, in the sense of the Arabic rj‛ , to return, to procure return, entrance, and rest; a different word from רגע in Isa 51:15, which signifies the very opposite, viz.

, to disturb, literally to throw into trembling. צדק and ישע, which occur in Isa 51:5 , are synonyms throughout these prophecies. The meaning of the former is determined by the character of the thorah , which gives “the knowledge of salvation” (Luk 1:77), and with that “the righteousness of God” (Rom 1:17; cf. , Isa 53:11). This righteousness is now upon the point of being revealed; this salvation has started on the way towards the fullest realization.

The great mass of the nations fall under the judgment which the arms of Jehovah inflict, as they cast down to the ground on the right hand and on the left. When it is stated of the islands, therefore, that they hope for Jehovah, and wait for His arm, the reference is evidently to the remnant of the heathen nations, which outlives the judgment, and not only desires salvation, and is susceptible of it, but which actually receives salvation (compare the view given in Joh 11:52, which agrees with that of Isaiah, and which, in fact, is the biblical view generally, e.

g. , Joe 3:5). To these the saving arm (the singular only was suitable here; cf. , Psa 16:11) now brings that salvation, towards which their longing was more or less consciously directed, and which satisfied their inmost need. Observe in Isa 51:5 the majestic and self-conscious movement of the rhythm, with the effective tone of yeyachēlûn .