Isaiah 12:2 Komentář

The salvation promised in the foregoing chapter was compared to that of Israel "in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt;" so that chapter ends. Now as Moses and the children of Israel then sang a song of praise to the glory of God (Exo 15:1) so shall the people of God do in that day when the root of Jesse shall stand for an ensign of the people and shall be the desire and joy of all nations. In that day, I. Every particular believer shall sing a song of praise for his own interest in that salvation (Isa 12:1, Isa 12:3). "Thou shalt say, Lord, I will praise thee." Thanksgiving-work shall be closet-work. II. Many in concert shall join in praising God for the common benefit arising from this salvation (Isa 12:4-6): "You shall say, Praise you the Lord." Thanksgiving-work shall be congregation-work; and the praises of God shall be publicly sung in the congregations of the upright.

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 12 This chapter contains a song of praise and thanksgiving for redemption and salvation by Christ, of which the preceding chapter Isa 11:1 is a famous prophecy. It begins with an account of the church's former uncomfortable and now comfortable state and condition, Isa 12:1 the foundation of whose comfort was Christ her salvation and strength, and so her song, which engaged her trust, and dispelled her fears, Isa 12:2 hence encouragement to others to apply to the fulness of Christ for grace, and fresh supplies of it, to be had with joy, Isa 12:3 and then follow certain mutual exhortations to praise, exalt, and glorify Christ, with reasons enforcing them, Isa 12:4.

Behold, God is my salvation,.... Or Saviour; that is, Christ, who is God, the great God, and so fit to be a Saviour, and is one, was appointed by the Father, provided in covenant, promised in the word, sent in the fulness of time, and is become the author of salvation, which a creature could not be; and this the church saw her interest in, and which was the ground of her comfort before declared; and to which she prefixed the word "behold", as a note of asseveration, affirming him to be her Saviour; and of admiration, wondering at it; and of exclusion of all others from being concerned therein; and of attention and direction to others, pointing him out as the only one to look unto. I will trust, and not be afraid; "trust" in Christ for salvation, be confident of enjoying it, and look upon myself safe and secure from all wrath and condemnation, and from every enemy; and not be "afraid" of sin, Satan, the world, death, hell, and wrath to come. The Targum joins this and the preceding clause together, "behold, in the word of God my salvation I trust, and shall not be moved:'' for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; the author of her spiritual strength; the "strength" of her life, and of her heart, which maintained the one, and supported the other; the strength of her graces, and of her duties, by which she exercised the one, and performed the other: and the subject matter of her "song" were his person, and the fulness and fitness of it, his righteousness, and salvation by him; this clause, and the following one, are taken out of Exo 15:2, he also is become my salvation; salvation is wrought out by Christ, and believers have it in him, and they know it, and believe it, and so are already saved in him.

And you shall say on that day: I will praise you, O Lord, for you were angry with me, but your anger has turned away, and you have comforted me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation. You who were the first to speak in the wilderness, when you came out of the land of Egypt, and when the Red Sea was dried up before you: Let us sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea (Exodus 15:1), and the rest of the verse. Now with the tongue of the Egyptian sea struck, and its river dried up and cut off, and humiliated, glorify the Lord, and say: I will praise you, O Lord, for I have obtained mercy after deserving your wrath and fury; for you are my Savior, that is, Jesus, and I have no confidence in idols, nor will I fear what is not to be feared; but you are my strength and my praise, who have become my salvation. Let the most wicked heresy be heard, that the Lord was made by those who are saved, and that he was not previously Lord, so that we may understand in the holy scriptures both creation and making, not always the condition of those things that were not, but sometimes the grace that is bestowed on those who have deserved to become God.

386. Against the second evil, he confesses confidence in God: behold, God is my savior, freeing the people from the slavery of Babylon, or more truly, who will save his people: for he shall save his people from their sins (Matt 1:21); fear you not, my servant Jacob, says the Lord, neither be dismayed, O Israel: for behold, I will save you from a country afar off (Jer 30:10). Against the third evil, the power of divine strength: my strength, by which I subsist, and my praise, which I praise, having abandoned idols: I will love you, O Lord, my strength (Ps 17:2[18:1]).

This chapter is connected with the foregoing. The prophet expostulates with God concerning the ways of Providence in permitting the wicked to prosper, Jer 12:1-4. It is intimated to him that he must endure still greater trials, Jer 12:5, from his false and deceitful brethren, Jer 12:6; but that still heavier judgments awaited the nation for their crimes, Jer 12:7-13. That God, however, would at length have compassion on them; restore them to their land; and turn his judgments against those that oppressed them, if not prevented by their becoming converts to the true religion, Jer 12:14-17.

The Lord Jehovah - The word יה Yah read here is probably a mistake; and arose originally from the custom of the Jewish scribes, who, when they found a line too short for the word, wrote as many letters as filled it, and then began the next line with the whole word. In writing the word יהוה Jehovah, the line might terminate with יה Yah, the two first letters; and then at the beginning of the next line the whole word יהוה Yehovah would be written. This might give rise to יה יהוה Yah Yehovah. The Yah is wanting here in two of Dr. Kennicott's MSS., in one ancient MS. of my own, and in the Septuagint, Vulgate, Syriac, and Arabic. See Houbigant and De Rossi. My song - The pronoun is here necessary; and it is added by the Septuagint, Vulgate, and Syriac, who read זמרתי zimrathi, as it is in a MS. Two MSS. omit יה Yah, see Houbigant, not. in loc. Another MS. has it in one word, זמרתיה zimrathyah. Seven others omit יהוה Yehovah. See Exo 15:2, with Var. Lect. Kennicott.

THANKSGIVING HYMN OF THE RESTORED AND CONVERTED JEWS. (Isa 12:1-6) Lord JEHOVAH--Jah, Jehovah. The repetition of the name denotes emphasis, and the unchangeableness of God's character. strength . . . song . . . salvation--derived from Exo 15:2; Psa 118:14. The idea of salvation was peculiarly associated with the feast of tabernacles (see Isa 12:3). Hence the cry "Hosanna," "Save, we beseech thee," that accompanied Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem on that day (the fifteenth of the seventh month) (Mat 21:9; compare with Psa 118:25-26); the earnest of the perfected "salvation" which He shall bring to His people at His glorious second appearance at Jerusalem (Heb 9:28). "He shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation." Compare Rev 21:3, "The tabernacle of God is with men." Compare Luk 9:33, "three tabernacles: one for thee," &c. (the transfiguration being a pledge of the future kingdom), (Psa 118:15; Zac 14:16). As the Jew was reminded by the feast of tabernacles of his wanderings in tents in the wilderness, so the Jew-Gentile Church to come shall call to mind, with thanksgiving, the various past ways whereby God has at last brought them to the heavenly "city of habitation" (Psa 107:7).

As Israel, when redeemed from Egypt beyond the Red Sea, sang songs of praise, so also will the Israel of the second redemption, when brought, in a no less miraculous manner, across the Red Sea and the Euphrates. "And in that day thou wilt say, I thank Thee, O Jehovah, that Thou wast angry with me: Thine anger is turned away, and Thou hast comforted me. Behold, the God of my salvation; I trust, and am not afraid: for Jah Jehovah is my pride and song, and He became my salvation." The words are addressed to the people of the future in the people of the prophet's own time. They give thanks for the wrath experienced, inasmuch as it was followed by all the richer consolation. The formation of the sentence after כּי is paratactic; the principal tone falls upon 1b, where yâshōb is written poetically for vayyâshob (cf., Deu 32:8, Deu 32:18; Psa 18:12; Hos 6:1). We hear the notes of Psa 90:13; Psa 27:1, resounding here; whilst Isa 12:2 is the echo of Exo 15:2 (on which Psa 118:14 is also founded). עזי (to be read ‛ozzi, and therefore also written עזי) is another form of עזּי, and is used here to signify the proud self-consciousness associated with the possession of power: pride, and the expression of it, viz., boasting. Zimrath is equivalent in sense, and probably also in form, to zimrâti, just as in Syriac zemori (my song) is regularly pronounced zemōr, with the i of the suffix dropped (see Hupfeld on Psa 16:6). It is also possible, however, that it may be only an expansion of the primary form zimrath = zimrâh, and therefore that zimrath is only synonymous with zimrâti, as chēphetz in Sa2 23:5 is with chephtzi. One thing peculiar to this echo of Exo 15:2 is the doubling of the Jah in Jâh Jehōvâh, which answers to the surpassing of the type by the antitype.