Isaiah 42:14 Kommentar

The prophet seems here to launch out yet further into the prophecy of the Messiah and his kingdom under the type of Cyrus; and, having the great work of man's salvation by him yet more in view, he almost forgets the occasion that led him into it and drops the return out of Babylon; for indeed the prospect of this would be a greater comfort and support to the believing pious Jews, in their captivity, than the hope of that. And (as Mr. Gataker well observes) in this and similar prophecies of Christ, that are couched in types, as of David and Solomon, some passages agree to the type and not to the truth, other to the truth and not to the type, and many to the type in one sense and the truth in another. Here is, I. A prophecy of the Messiah's coming with meekness, and yet with power, to do the Redeemer's work (Isa 42:1-4). II. His commission opened, which he received from the Father (Isa 42:5-9). III. The joy and rejoicing with which the glad tidings of this should be received (Isa 42:10-12). IV. The wonderful success of the gospel, for the overthrow of the devil's kingdom (Isa 42:13-17). V. The rejection and ruin of the Jews for their unbelief (Isa 42:18-25).

INTRODUCTION TO ISAIAH 42 This chapter begins with a prophecy concerning the Messiah, under the character of the servant of the Lord, and his elect, whom he supported, and was well pleased with; whose work is pointed at, and for which he was well qualified with the Spirit without measure, Isa 42:1 and is described by his humility and meekness, Isa 42:2, by his tenderness to weak and ignorant persons, Isa 42:3 and by his courage and resolution, Isa 42:4 then follow his call to his work, and the several parts of it, introduced with setting forth the greatness of God that called him, as the Creator of the heavens and of the earth, and of men upon it, Isa 42:5, whose name is Jehovah, and whose glory is incommunicable to a creature, and whose knowledge reaches to future things, which are predicted by him, Isa 42:8, and then Gentiles are called upon to praise the Lord, and give glory to him, partly for the above promises concerning the Messiah, Isa 42:10, and partly for the destruction of his enemies, Isa 42:13, and also for his gracious regard to such who had been blind and ignorant, Isa 42:16, the confusion of idolaters is prophesied of, and an exhortation is given them to make use of the means of light and knowledge, Isa 42:17, and the blindness, ignorance, and stupidity of the Jews, are exposed, though there was a remnant among them with whom the Lord was well pleased, for the sake of the righteousness of his Son, Isa 42:19, but as for the body of the people, they were to be given up to the spoilers and robbers for their sins and disobedience, and be the butt of the divine wrath and vengeance, Isa 42:22.

I have long time holden my peace,.... For many hundred years the Lord suffered the Gentile world to walk in their own ways, to worship their idols, and took no notice of them; he winked at and overlooked their times of ignorance, and did not bring down his vengeance upon them, nor stir up all his wrath; nor indeed did he send any among them, to reprove and convince them of their errors, and threaten them with "ruin", in case of their continuance in them: I have been still, and refrained myself; had been silent, and said nothing against them in a providential way, but curbed and kept in his wrath and displeasure at their idolatry, as a woman in travail "holds in" (y) her breath as long as she can; to which the allusion is, as appears by what follows: now will I cry like a travailing woman; when sharp pains are upon her, and just going to be delivered; and that so loud as to be heard all over the house. This may be taken in a good sense; the ministers of the Gospel travail in birth, and Christ in them, until he is formed in the hearts of men by regenerating and converting grace, Gal 4:19 and in an ill sense; for swift and sudden destruction, which should come on his enemies, as travail on a woman with child. So the Targum, "as pains on a woman with child, my judgment shall be revealed (or exposed) upon them.'' I will destroy and devour at once; all enemies that should oppose him in the spread of the Gospel, in the destruction of Paganism, and establishment of Christianity in the Roman empire, who are described in the next verse. (y) "continebam me", Pagninus, Montanus; "continui me", Junius & Tremellius, Vitringa; "diu continui iram meam sicut halitum foeminae parturientis", Grotius.

Christ suffered shame for humanity’s sake in order to set people free from death. This he exclaimed, as in the words of the prophet, “I have endured as a woman in childbirth.” In very deed Christ endured for our sakes sorrow, ignominy, torment, even death itself, and burial. For thus he says himself by the prophet, “I went down into the deep.” Who made him thus to go down? The ungodly.… They suspended him on the tree—the One who stretches out the earth. They transfixed him with nails who laid firm the foundation of the world. They circumscribed him who circumscribed the heavens. They bound him who frees sinners. They gave him vinegar to drink who has enabled them to drink of righteousness. They fed him with gall who has offered to them the bread of life. They caused corruption to come on his hands and feet who healed their hands and feet. They violently closed his eyes who restored sight to them. They gave him over to the tomb who raised their dead to life both in the time before his passion and also while he was hanging on the tree.

Still, the saying of Isaiah has come to my mind: “I have kept silence; I shall not always keep silence and endure, shall I? I have been as patient as a woman in labor.” May it be that we both receive the reward for our silence and acquire some power for refuting, so that, when we have given our proofs, we may dry up this bitter torrent of falsehood poured out against us. May we say, “Our souls have passed through a torrent,” and, “If it has not been that the Lord was with us, when people rose up against us, perhaps they had swallowed us up alive, perhaps the waters had swallowed us up.”

(Verses 14-15) I have always kept silent, I have been quiet, I have been patient: like a woman in labor, I will speak. I will scatter and devour together. I will make mountains and hills desolate, and I will dry up all their vegetation, and I will turn rivers into islands, and I will dry up ponds. LXX: Have I been silent from the beginning, will I always be silent and endure? As one in labor, I have acted with patience; I will burst forth and dry up together, I will lay waste the mountains and hills, and I will dry up all their grass. And I will turn rivers into islands, and I will dry up marshes. And with loud voice proclaiming: I have been silent, I have always kept silent, I have been patient, or as the Septuagint translated: I have been silent, will I always be silent? (Ecclesiastes 3:7) That which is said through Solomon may be fulfilled: A time to keep silent, and a time to speak. And the meaning is: I have often borne with you as you have transgressed for a long time; but because I remained silent before, I will by no means keep silent any longer. And just as a woman giving birth brings forth a child into the light and makes what was previously hidden in the depths of her womb open and visible, so too I will reveal my pain and the deceit that I have always harbored regarding your crimes, and I will expose your plans. And at once I will devour the entire nation and all the pride of your mountains and the swelling of your hills. And the grass, of which it was said: Truly the grass is the people, that is, both the leaders and the common people, I will reduce to a desert. What is added in the edition of Theodotion of the Septuagint, who had omitted these words (See above, Chapter IV, 7). And when I have dried you up from head to toe and wiped you out, then I will make the rivers of my teaching flow in the islands of the nations, and I will turn your lakes or marshes into dry land, so that there may be knowledge of the Scriptures among the nations and dryness of teaching among you.

The one who speaks is now keeping quiet. He speaks in commandments; he keeps quiet in judgment.… How has he kept quiet, seeing that he spoke to say this very thing? He says, “I have kept quiet,” and yet he does not keep quiet, because just by saying “I have kept quiet,” God has not kept quiet. So then, Lord, I hear you speaking in so many commandments, as many sacred signs, so many pages, so many books. And then I hear you saying this, “I have kept quiet, will I keep quiet always?” So how have you kept quiet? Because I am not yet saying, “Come, you blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom.” And I am not yet saying to the others, “Go into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels.” And while I am not yet saying these things, I am already warning you that I am going to say them.

“Sweet and righteous is the Lord.” You love [him] because he is sweet. You fear [him] because he is righteous. In a gentle voice, he said, “I have kept silence.” But as a just person, “shall I always be silent?” “A Lord compassionate and merciful.” Yes, indeed. Yet add, patient; yet add, and very compassionate.

Which same truth he conveys by the Prophet in few words, saying, "I have long time holden my peace, I have been still and refrained myself; now will I cry like a travailing woman." For as we have already before said, a woman in travail with pain gives forth that which she bore for long in her inner parts, He then that for long time held his peace, 'crieth like a travailing woman,' in that the Judge that shall come, who for long bore with the deeds of men without taking vengeance, sooner or later brings to light with hotness of examination, as if with pain of mind, the sentence of direful visiting which He kept within. Therefore let none despise this Lamp, when it is out of sight, lest He burn up His despisers when He shineth from heaven. For to whomsoever He does not now burn to give pardon, He shall then assuredly burn to award punishment. Therefore because by grace from above we are vouchsafed the season of our calling, whilst there is still the room left, let us by altering our ways for the better flee from the wrath of Him, Who is every where present. For him alone that visitation fails to find, whom correction keeps in hiding.

Third, he sets out justice, for it is just that when he has long waited for the impenitent, he should swallow them all up at once: I have always held my peace: have I not dissembled? Have I not kept silence? (Job 3:26), I have been patient, above: therefore the Lord waits that he may have mercy on you (Isa 30:18); as a woman in labor, I will bring forth hidden pain, as a woman brings forth the infant she has conceived, or because as a woman in labor, I will be pained at such a grave penalty.

Johanan and the remnant of the people desire Jeremiah to ask counsel of God what they should do, Jer 42:1-3. The prophet assures them of safety in Judea, but destruction in Egypt, Jer 42:4-18; and reproves their hypocrisy in asking counsel with which they had no intention to comply, Jer 42:19-22.

I have been still "Shall I keep silence for ever" - After מעולם meolam, in the copy which the Septuagint had before them, followed the word הלעולם, heleolam, εσιωπησα απ' αιωνος· Μη και αει σιωπησομαι· according to MSS. Pachom. and 50. D. 2 and Edit. Complut., which word, הלעולם haleolam, has been omitted in the text by an easy mistake of a transcriber, because of the similitude of the word preceding. Shall I always keep silences like that of Juvenal: Semper ego auditor tantum? Shall I always be a hearer only?

MESSIAH THE ANTITYPE OF CYRUS. (Isa. 42:1-25) my servant--The law of prophetic suggestion leads Isaiah from Cyrus to the far greater Deliverer, behind whom the former is lost sight of. The express quotation in Mat 12:18-20, and the description can apply to Messiah alone (Psa 40:6; with which compare Exo 21:6; Joh 6:38; Phi 2:7). Israel, also, in its highest ideal, is called the "servant" of God (Isa 49:3). But this ideal is realized only in the antitypical Israel, its representative-man and Head, Messiah (compare Mat 2:15, with Hos 11:1). "Servant" was the position assumed by the Son of God throughout His humiliation. elect--chosen by God before the foundation of the world for an atonement (Pe1 1:20; Rev 13:8). Redemption was no afterthought to remedy an unforeseen evil (Rom 16:25-26; Eph 3:9, Eph 3:11; Ti2 1:9-10; Tit 1:2-3). In Mat 12:18 it is rendered "My beloved"; the only beloved Son, beloved in a sense distinct from all others. Election and the love of God are inseparably joined. soul--a human phrase applied to God, because of the intended union of humanity with the Divinity: "I Myself." delighteth--is well pleased with, and accepts, as a propitiation. God could have "delighted" in no created being as a mediator (compare Isa 42:21; Isa 63:5; Mat 3:17). spirit upon him-- (Isa 11:2; Isa 61:1; Luk 4:18; Joh 3:34). judgment--the gospel dispensation, founded on justice, the canon of the divine rule and principle of judgment called "the law" (Isa 2:3; compare Isa 42:4; Isa 51:4; Isa 49:6). The Gospel has a discriminating judicial effect: saving to penitents; condemnatory to Satan, the enemy (Joh 12:31; Joh 16:11), and the wilfully impenitent (Joh 9:39). Mat 12:18 has, "He shall show," for "He shall bring forth," or "cause to go forth." Christ both produced and announced His "judgment." The Hebrew dwells most on His producing it; Matthew on His announcement of it: the two are joined in Him.

long time--namely, during the desolation of Israel (Isa 32:14). holden my peace--(Compare Psa 50:21; Hab 1:2). cry like a travailing woman, &c.--Like a woman in parturition, who, after having restrained her breathing for a time, at last, overcome with labor pain, lets out her voice with a panting sigh; so Jehovah will give full vent to His long pent-up wrath. Translate, instead of "destroy . . . devour"; I will at once breathe hard and pant, namely, giving loose to My wrath.

The hēn (behold) in Isa 41:29 is now followed by a second hēn. With the former, Jehovah pronounced sentence upon the idolaters and their idols; with the latter, He introduces His "servant." In Isa 41:8 this epithet was applied to the nation, which had been chosen as the servant and for the service of Jehovah. But the servant of Jehovah who is presented to us here is distinct from Israel, and has so strong an individuality and such marked personal features, that the expression cannot possibly be merely a personified collective. Nor can the prophet himself be intended; for what is here affirmed of this servant of Jehovah goes infinitely beyond anything to which a prophet was ever called, or of which a man was ever capable. It must therefore be the future Christ; and this is the view taken in the Targum, where the translation of our prophecy commences thus: "Hâ' ‛abhdı̄ Meshı̄châ." Still there must be a connection between the national sense, in which the expression "servant of Jehovah" was used in Isa 41:8, and the personal sense in which it is used here. The coming Saviour is not depicted as the Son of David, as in chapters 7-12, and elsewhere, but appears as the embodied idea of Israel, i.e., as its truth and reality embodied in one person. The idea of "the servant of Jehovah" assumed, to speak figuratively, the from of a pyramid. The base was Israel as a whole; the central section was that Israel, which was not merely Israel according to the flesh, but according to the spirit also; the apex is the person of the Mediator of salvation springing out of Israel. And the last of the three is regarded (1.) as the centre of the circle of the promised kingdom - the second David; (2.) the centre of the circle of the people of salvation - the second Israel; (3.) the centre of the circle of the human race - the second Adam. Throughout the whole of these prophecies in chapters 40-66 the knowledge of salvation is still in its second stage, and about to pass into the third. Israel's true nature as a servant of God, which had its roots in the election and calling of Jehovah, and manifested itself in conduct and action in harmony with this calling, is all concentrated in Him, the One, as its ripest fruit. The gracious purposes of God towards the whole human race, which were manifested even in the election of Israel, are brought by Him to their full completion. Whilst judgments are inflicted upon the heathen by the oppressor of the nations, and display the nothingness of idolatry, the servant of Jehovah brings to them in a peaceful way the greatest of all blessings. "Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, whom my soul loveth: I have laid my Spirit upon Him; He will bring out right to the Gentiles." We must not render the first clause "by whom I hold." Tâmakh b' means to lay firm hold of and keep upright (sustinere). נפשׁי רצתה (supply בו or אתו, Job 33:26) is an attributive clause. The amplified subject extends as far as naphshii; then follows the predicate: I have endowed Him with my Spirit, and by virtue of this Spirit He will carry out mishpât, i.e., absolute and therefore divine right, beyond the circle in which He Himself is to be found, even far away to the Gentiles. Mishpât is the term employed here to denote true religion regarded on its practical side, as the rule and authority for life in all its relations, i.e., religion as the law of life, νομός.

The period of punishment has now lasted sufficiently long; it is time for Jehovah to bring forth the salvation of His people. "I have been silent eternally long, was still, restrained myself; like a travailing woman, I now breathe again, snort and snuff together." The standpoint of these prophecies has the larger half of the captivity behind it. It has already lasted a long time, though only for several decades; but in the estimation of Jehovah, with His love to His people, this time of long-suffering towards their oppressors is already an "eternity" (see Isa 57:11; Isa 58:12; Isa 61:4; Isa 63:18-19; Isa 64:4, cf., Isa 64:10, Isa 64:11). He has kept silence, has still forcibly restrained Himself, just as Joseph is said to have done to prevent himself from breaking out into tears (Gen 43:31). Love impelled Him to redeem His people; but justice was still obliged to proceed with punishment. Three real futures now take the place of imperfects regulated by החשׁיתי. They are not to be understood as denoting the violent breathing and snorting of a hero, burning with rage and thirsting for battle (Knobel); nor is אשּׁם to be derived from שׁמם, as Hitzig supposes, through a mistaken comparison of Eze 36:3, though the latter does not mean to lay waste, but to be waste (see Hitzig on Eze 36:3). The true derivation is from נשׁם, related to נשׁף, נפשׁ, נשׁב. To the figure of a hero there is now added that of a travailing woman; פּעה is short breathing (with the glottis closed); נשׁם the snorting of violent inspiration and expiration; שׁאף the earnest longing for deliverance pressing upon the burden in the womb; and יחד expresses the combination of all these several strainings of the breath, which are associated with the so-called labour-pains. Some great thing, with which Jehovah has, as it were, long been pregnant, is now about to be born.