{"commentary":{"id":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","website":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamieson-Fausset-Brown_Bible_Commentary","licenseUrl":"https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/","licenseNotes":null,"licenseNotice":null,"englishName":"Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary","language":"eng","textDirection":"rtl","sha256":"db3d4c8b3c1f32ef9d1430a57392e02bda3a17aac1f9bbe398461de021a3cb13","availableFormats":["json"],"listOfBooksApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/books.json","listOfProfilesApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/profiles.json","numberOfBooks":66,"totalNumberOfChapters":1187,"totalNumberOfVerses":17056,"totalNumberOfProfiles":0,"languageName":"English","languageEnglishName":"English"},"book":{"id":"ISA","commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","name":"Isaiah","commonName":"Isaiah","introduction":"ISAIAH, son of Amoz (not Amos); contemporary of Jonah, Amos, Hosea, in Israel, but younger than they; and of Micah, in Judah. His call to a higher degree of the prophetic office (Isa 6:1-13) is assigned to the last year of Uzziah, that is, 754 B.C. The first through fifth chapters belong to the closing years of that reign; not, as some think, to Jotham's reign: in the reign of the latter he seems to have exercised his office only orally, and not to have left any record of his prophecies because they were not intended for all ages. The first through fifth and sixth chapters are all that was designed for the Church universal of the prophecies of the first twenty years of his office. New historical epochs, such as occurred in the reigns of Ahaz and Hezekiah, when the affairs of Israel became interwoven with those of the Asiatic empires, are marked by prophetic writings. The prophets had now to interpret the judgments of the Lord, so as to make the people conscious of His punitive justice, as also of His mercy. Isa. 7:1-10:4 belong to the reign of Ahaz. The thirty-sixth through thirty-ninth chapters are historical, reaching to the fifteenth year of Hezekiah; probably the tenth through twelfth chapters and all from the thirteenth through twenty-sixth chapters, inclusive, belong to the same reign; the historical section being appended to facilitate the right understanding of these prophecies; thus we have Isaiah's office extending from about 760 to 713 B.C., forty-seven years. Tradition (Talmud) represents him as having been sawn asunder by Manasseh with a wooden saw, for having said that he had seen Jehovah (Exo 33:20; Kg2 21:16; Heb 11:37). Ch2 32:32 seems to imply that Isaiah survived Hezekiah; but \"first and last\" is not added, as in Ch2 26:22, which makes it possible that his history of Hezekiah was only carried up to a certain point. The second part, the fortieth through sixty-sixth chapters, containing complaints of gross idolatry, needs not to be restricted to Manasseh's reign, but is applicable to previous reigns. At the accession of Manasseh, Isaiah would be eighty-four; and if he prophesied for eight years afterwards, he must have endured martyrdom at ninety-two; so Hosea prophesied for sixty years. And Eastern tradition reports that he lived to one hundred and twenty. The conclusive argument against the tradition is that, according to the inscription, all Isaiah's prophecies are included in the time from Uzziah to Hezekiah; and the internal evidence accords with this.\n\nHis WIFE is called the prophetess [Isa 8:3], that is, endowed, as Miriam, with a prophetic gift.\n\nHis CHILDREN were considered by him as not belonging merely to himself; in their names, Shearjashub, \"the remnant shall return\" [Isa 7:3, Margin], and Maher-shalal-hash-baz, \"speeding to the spoil, he hasteth to the prey\" [Isa 8:1, Margin], the two chief points of his prophecies are intimated to the people, the judgments of the Lord on the people and the world, and yet His mercy to the elect.\n\nHis GARMENT of sackcloth (Isa 20:2), too, was a silent preaching by fact; he appears as the embodiment of that repentance which he taught.\n\nHis HISTORICAL WORKS.--History, as written by the prophets, is retroverted prophecy. As the past and future alike proceed from the essence of God, an inspired insight into the past implies an insight into the future, and vice versa. Hence most of the Old Testament histories are written by prophets and are classed with their writings; the Chronicles being not so classed, cannot have been written by them, but are taken from historical monographs of theirs; for example, Isaiah's life of Uzziah, Ch2 26:22; also of Hezekiah, Ch2 32:32; of these latter all that was important for all ages has been preserved to us, while the rest, which was local and temporary, has been lost.\n\nThe INSCRIPTION (Isa 1:1) applies to the whole book and implies that Isaiah is the author of the second part (the fortieth through sixty-sixth chapters), as well as of the first. Nor do the words, \"concerning Judah and Jerusalem\" [Isa 1:1], oppose the idea that the inscription applies to the whole; for whatever he says against other nations, he says on account of their relation to Judah. So the inscription of Amos, \"concerning Israel\" [Amo 1:1], though several prophecies follow against foreign nations. EWALD maintains that the fortieth through sixty-sixth chapters, though spurious, were subjoined to the previous portion, in order to preserve the former. But it is untrue that the first portion is unconnected with those chapters. The former ends with the Babylonian exile (Isa 39:6), the latter begins with the coming redemption from it. The portion, the fortieth through forty-sixth chapters, has no heading of its own, a proof that it is closely connected with what precedes, and falls under the general heading in Isa 1:1. JOSEPHUS (The Antiquities of the Jews, 11. 1, sec. 1, 2) says that Cyrus was induced by the prophecies of Isaiah (Isa 44:28; Isa 45:1, Isa 45:13) to aid the Jews in returning and rebuilding the temple Ezr 1:1-11 confirms this; Cyrus in his edict there plainly refers to the prophecies in the second portion, which assign the kingdoms to him from Jehovah, and the duty of rebuilding the temple. Probably he took from them his historical name Cyrus (Coresh). Moreover, subsequent prophets imitate this second portion, which EWALD assigns to later times; for example, compare Jer. 50:1-51:64 with Isaiah's predictions against Babylon [Isa. 13:1-14:23]. \"The Holy One of Israel,\" occurring but three times elsewhere in the Old Testament [Kg2 19:22; Psa 78:41; Psa 89:18; Jer 50:29; Jer 51:5], is a favorite expression in the second, as in the first portion of Isaiah: it expresses God's covenant faithfulness in fulfilling the promises therein: Jeremiah borrows the expression from him. Also Ecclesiasticus 48:22-25 (\"comforted\"), quotes Isa 40:1 as Isaiah's. Luk 4:17 quotes Isa 61:1-2 as Isaiah's, and as read as such by Jesus Christ in the synagogue.\n\nThe DEFINITENESS of the prophecies is striking: As in the second portion of isaiah, so in Mic 4:8-10, the Babylonian exile, and the deliverance from it, are foretold a hundred fifty years before any hostilities had arisen between Babylon and Judah. On the other hand, all the prophets who foretell the Assyrian invasion coincide in stating, that Judah should be delivered from it, not by Egyptian aid, but directly by the Lord. Again Jeremiah, in the height of the Chaldean prosperity, foretold its conquest by the Medes, who should enter Babylon through the dry bed of the Euphrates on a night of general revelry. No human calculation could have discovered these facts. EICHORN terms these prophecies \"veiled historical descriptions,\" recognizing in spite of himself that they are more than general poetical fancies. The fifty-third chapter of Isaiah was certainly written ages before the Messiah, yet it minutely portrays His sufferings: these cannot be Jewish inventions, for the Jews looked for a reigning, not a suffering, Messiah.\n\nRationalists are so far right that THE PROPHECIES ARE ON A GENERAL BASIS whereby they are distinguished from soothsaying. They rest on the essential idea of God. The prophets, penetrated by this inner knowledge of His character, became conscious of the eternal laws by which the world is governed: that sin is man's ruin, and must be followed by judgment, but that God's covenant mercy to His elect is unchangeable. Without prophetism, the elect remnant would have decreased, and even God's judgments would have missed their end, by not being recognized as such: they would have been unmeaning, isolated facts. Babylon was in Isaiah's days under Assyria; it had tried a revolt unsuccessfully: but the elements of its subsequent success and greatness were then existing. The Holy Ghost enlightened his natural powers to discern this its rise; and his spiritual faculties, to foresee its fall, the sure consequence, in God's eternal law, of the pride which pagan success generates--and also Judah's restoration, as the covenant-people, with whom God, according to His essential character, would not be wroth for ever. True conversion is the prophet's grand remedy against all evils: in this alone consists his politics. Rebuke, threatening, and promise, regularly succeed one another. The idea at the basis of all is in Isa 26:7-9; Lev 10:3; Amo 3:2.\n\nThe USE OF THE PRESENT AND PRETERITE in prophecy is no proof that the author is later than Isaiah. For seers view the future as present, and indicate what is ideally past, not really past; seeing things in the light of God, who \"calls the things that are not as though they were.\" Moreover, as in looking from a height on a landscape, hills seem close together which are really wide apart, so, in events foretold, the order, succession, and grouping are presented, but the intervals of time are overlooked. The time, however, is sometimes marked (Jer 25:12; Dan 9:26). Thus the deliverance from Babylon, and that effected by Messiah, are in rapid transition grouped together by THE LAW OF PROPHETIC SUGGESTION; yet no prophet so confounds the two as to make Messiah the leader of Israel from Babylon. To the prophet there was probably no double sense; but to his spiritual eye the two events, though distinct, lay so near, and were so analogous, that he could not separate them in description without unfaithfulness to the picture presented before him. The more remote and antitypical event, however, namely, Messiah's coming, is that to which he always hastens, and which he describes with far more minuteness than he does the nearer type; for example, Cyrus (compare Isa 45:1 with Isa 53:1-12). In some cases he takes his stand in the midst of events between, for example, the humiliation of Jesus Christ, which he views as past, and His glorification, as yet to come, using the future tense as to the latter (compare Isa 53:4-9 with Isa 53:10-12). Marks of the time of events are given sparingly in the prophets: yet, as to Messiah, definitely enough to create the general expectation of Him at the time that He was in fact born.\n\nThe CHALDÆISMS alleged against the genuineness of the second portion of Isaiah, are found more in the first and undoubted portion. They occur in all the Old Testament, especially in the poetical parts, which prefer unusual expressions, and are due to the fact that the patriarchs were surrounded by Chaldee-speaking people; and in Isaiah's time a few Chaldee words had crept in from abroad.\n\nHis SYMBOLS are few and simple, and his poetical images correct; in the prophets, during and after the exile, the reverse holds good; Haggai and Malachi are not exceptions; for, though void of bold images, their style, unlike Isaiah's, rises little above prose: a clear proof that our Isaiah was long before the exile.\n\nOf VISIONS, strictly so called, he has but one, that in the sixth chapter; even it is more simple than those in later prophets. But he often gives SIGNS, that is, a present fact as pledge of the more distant future; God condescending to the feebleness of man (Isa 7:14; Isa 37:30; Isa 38:7).\n\nThe VARIETIES IN HIS STYLE do not prove spuriousness, but that he varied his style with his subject. The second portion is not so much addressed to his contemporaries, as to the future people of the Lord, the elect remnant, purified by the previous judgments. Hence its tenderness of style, and frequent repetitions (Isa 40:1): for comforting exhortation uses many words; so also the many epithets added to the name of God, intended as stays whereon faith may rest for comfort, so as not to despair. In both portions alike there are peculiarities characteristic of Isaiah; for example, \"to be called\" equivalent to to be: the repetition of the same words, instead of synonyms, in the parallel members of verses; the interspersing of his prophecies with hymns: \"the remnant of olive trees,\" &c., for the remnant of people who have escaped God's judgments. Also compare Isa 65:25 with Isa 11:6.\n\nThe CHRONOLOGICAL ARRANGEMENT favors the opinion that Isaiah himself collected his prophecies into the volume; not Hezekiah's men, as the Talmud guesses from Pro 25:1. All the portions, the dates of which can be ascertained, stand in the right place, except a few instances, where prophecies of similar contents are placed together: with the termination of the Assyrian invasion (the thirty-sixth through thirty-ninth chapters) terminated the public life of Isaiah. The second part is his prophetic legacy to the small band of the faithful, analogous to the last speeches of Moses and of Jesus Christ to His chosen disciples.\n\nThe EXPECTATION OF MESSIAH is so strong in Isaiah, that JEROME To Paulinus calls his book not a prophecy, but the gospel: \"He is not so much a prophet as an evangelist.\" Messiah was already shadowed forth in Gen 49:10, as the Shiloh, or tranquillizer; also in Psalms 2, 45, 72, 110. Isaiah brings it out more definitely; and, whereas they dwelt on His kingly office, Isaiah develops most His priestly and prophetic office; the hundred tenth Psalm also had set forth His priesthood, but His kingly rather than, as Isaiah, His suffering, priesthood. The latter is especially dwelt on in the second part, addressed to the faithful elect; whereas the first part, addressed to the whole people, dwells on Messiah's glory, the antidote to the fears which then filled the people, and the assurance that the kingdom of God, then represented by Judah, would not be overwhelmed by the surrounding nations.\n\nHis STYLE (HENGSTENBERG, Christology of the Old Testament,) is simple and sublime; in imagery, intermediate between the poverty of Jeremiah and the exuberance of Ezekiel. He shows his command of it in varying it to suit his subject.\n\nThe FORM is mostly that of Hebrew poetical parallelism, with, however, a freedom unshackled by undue restrictions.\n\nJUDAH, the less apostate people, rather than Israel, was the subject of his prophecies: his residence was mostly at Jerusalem. On his praises, see Ecclesiasticus 48:22-25. Christ and the apostles quote no prophet so frequently. \n\n\n\nNext: Isaiah Chapter 1\n\n","order":23,"numberOfChapters":66,"sha256":"05afbc35163ce25bd06467062226b36d66e6285d8ca85b4815540db57d9466be","firstChapterNumber":1,"firstChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/ISA/1.json","firstChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"ISA","chapter":1},"lastChapterNumber":66,"lastChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/ISA/66.json","lastChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"ISA","chapter":66},"totalNumberOfVerses":1200},"chapter":{"number":63,"content":[{"type":"verse","number":2,"content":["The prophet asks why His garments are \"dyed\" and \"red.\" \n\nwinefat--rather, the \"wine-press,\" wherein the grapes were trodden with the feet; the juice would stain the garment of him who trod them (Rev 14:19-20; Rev 19:15). The image was appropriate, as the country round Bozrah abounded in grapes. This final blow inflicted by Messiah and His armies (Rev 19:13-15) shall decide His claim to the kingdoms u surped by Satan, and by the \"beast,\" to whom Satan delegates his power. It will be a day of judgment to the hostile Gentiles, as His first coming was a day of judgment to the unbelieving Jews.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":3,"content":["Reply of Messiah. For the image, see Lam 1:15. He \"treads the wine-press\" here not as a sufferer, but as an inflicter of vengeance. \n\nwill tread . . . shall be . . . will stain--rather preterites, \"I trod . . . trampled . . . was sprinkled . . . I stained.\" \n\nblood--literally, \"spirited juice\" of the grape, pressed out by treading [GESENIUS].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":4,"content":["is--rather, \"was.\" This assigns the reason why He has thus destroyed the foe (Zep 3:8). \n\nmy redeemed--My people to be redeemed. \n\nday . . . year--here, as in Isa 34:8; Isa 61:2, the time of \"vengeance\" is described as a \"day\"; that of grace and of \"recompense\" to the \"redeemed,\" as a \"year.\"\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":5,"content":["The same words as in Isa 59:16, except that there it is His \"righteousness,\" here it is His \"fury,\" which is said to have upheld Him.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":6,"content":["Rather, preterites, \"I trod down . . . made them drunk.\" The same image occurs Isa 51:17, Isa 51:21-23; Psa 75:8; Jer 25:26-27. \n\nwill bring down . . . strength to . . . earth--rather, \"I spilled their life-blood (the same Hebrew words as in Isa 63:3) on the earth\" [LOWTH and Septuagint].\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":7,"content":["Israel's penitential confession and prayer for restoration (Psa 102:17, Psa 102:20), extending from Isa. 63:7-64:12. \n\nloving-kindnesses . . . praises . . . mercies . . . loving-kindnesses--The plurals and the repetitions imply that language is inadequate to express the full extent of God's goodness. \n\nus--the dispersed Jews at the time just preceding their final restoration. \n\nhouse of Israel--of all ages; God was good not merely to the Jews now dispersed, but to Israel in every age of its history.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":8,"content":["he--Jehovah \"said,\" that is, thought, in choosing them as His covenant-people; so \"said\" (Psa 95:10). Not that God was ignorant that the Jews would not keep faith with Him; but God is here said, according to human modes of thought to say within Himself what He might naturally have expected, as the result of His goodness to the Jews; thus the enormity of their unnatural perversity is the more vividly set forth. \n\nlie--prove false to Me (compare Psa 44:17). \n\nso--in virtue of His having chosen them, He became their Saviour. So the \"therefore\" (Jer 31:33). His eternal choice is the ground of His actually saving men (Eph 1:3-4).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":9,"content":["he was afflicted--English Version reads the Hebrew as the Keri (Margin), does, \"There was affliction to Him.\" But the Chetib (text) reads, \"There was no affliction\" (the change in Hebrew being only of one letter); that is, \"In all their affliction there was no (utterly overwhelming) affliction\" [GESENIUS]; or, for \"Hardly had an affliction befallen them, when the angel of His presence saved them\" [MAURER]; or, as best suits the parallelism, \"In all their straits there was no straitness in His goodness to them\" [HOUBIGANT], (Jdg 10:16; Mic 2:7; Co2 6:12). \n\nangel of his presence--literally, \"of His face,\" that is, who stands before Him continually; Messiah (Exo 14:19; Exo 23:20-21; Pro 8:30), language applicable to no creature (Exo 32:34; Exo 33:2, Exo 33:14; Num 20:16; Mal 3:1). \n\nbare them-- (Isa 46:3-4; Isa 40:11; Exo 19:4; Deu 32:11-12).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":10,"content":["vexed--grieved (Psa 78:40; Psa 95:10; Act 7:51; Eph 4:30; Heb 3:10, Heb 3:17). \n\nhe fought--rather, \"He it was that fought,\" namely, the angel of His presence [HORSLEY], (Lam 2:5).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":11,"content":["remembered--Notwithstanding their perversity, He forgot not His covenant of old; therefore He did not wholly forsake them (Lev 26:40-42, Lev 26:44-45; Psa 106:45-46); the Jews make this their plea with God, that He should not now forsake them. \n\nsaying--God is represented, in human language, mentally speaking of Himself and His former acts of love to Israel, as His ground for pitying them notwithstanding their rebellion. \n\nsea--Red Sea. \n\nshepherd--Moses; or if the Hebrew be read plural, \"shepherds,\" Moses, Aaron, and the other leaders (so Psa 77:20). \n\nput . . . Spirit . . . within him--Hebrew, \"in the inward parts of him,\" that is, Moses; or it refers to the flock, \"in the midst of his people\" (Num 11:17, Num 11:25; Neh 9:20; Hag 2:5).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":12,"content":["The right hand of Moses was but the instrument; the arm of God was the real mover (Exo 15:6; Exo 14:21). \n\ndividing the water-- (Neh 9:11; Psa 78:13).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":13,"content":["deep--literally, \"the tossing and roaring sea.\" \n\nwilderness--rather, the \"open plain\" [HORSLEY], wherein there is no obstacle to cause a horse in its course the danger of stumbling.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":14,"content":["As a beast . . . rest--image from a herd led \"down\" from the hills to a fertile and well-watered \"valley\" (Psa 23:2); so God's Spirit \"caused Israel to rest\" in the promised land after their weary wanderings. \n\nto make . . . name--(So Isa 63:12; Sa2 7:23).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":15,"content":["Here begins a fervent appeal to God to pity Israel now on the ground of His former benefits. \n\nhabitation of . . . holiness-- (Isa 57:15; Deu 26:15; Ch2 30:27; Psa 33:14; Psa 80:14). \n\nzeal . . . strength--evinced formerly for Thy people. \n\nsounding of . . . bowels--Thine emotions of compassion (Isa 16:11; Jer 31:20; Jer 48:36; Hos 11:8).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":16,"content":["thou . . . father--of Israel, by right not merely of creation, but also of electing adoption (Isa 64:8; Deu 32:6; Ch1 29:10). \n\nthough Abraham . . . Israel--It had been the besetting temptation of the Jews to rest on the mere privilege of their descent from faithful Abraham and Jacob (Mat 3:9; Joh 8:39; Joh 4:12); now at last they renounce this, to trust in God alone as their Father, notwithstanding all appearances to the contrary. Even though Abraham, our earthly father, on whom we have prided ourselves, disown us, Thou wilt not (Isa 49:15; Psa 27:10). Isaac is not mentioned, because not all his posterity was admitted to the covenant, whereas all Jacob's was; Abraham is specified because he was the first father of the Jewish race. \n\neverlasting--an argument why He should help them, namely, because of His everlasting immutability.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":17,"content":["made us to err--that is, \"suffer\" us to err and to be hardened in our heart. They do not mean to deny their own blameworthiness, but confess that through their own fault God gave them over to a reprobate mind (Isa 6:9-10; Psa 119:10; Rom 1:28). \n\nReturn-- (Num 10:36; Psa 90:13).\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":18,"content":["people of . . . holiness--Israel dedicated as holy unto God (Isa 62:12; Deu 7:6). \n\npossessed--namely, the Holy Land, or Thy \"sanctuary,\" taken from the following clause, which is parallel to this (compare Isa 64:10-11; Psa 74:6-8). \n\nthy--an argument why God should help them; their cause is His cause.\n\n"]},{"type":"verse","number":19,"content":["thine . . . never--rather, \"We are Thine from of old; Thou barest not rule over them\" [BARNES]. LOWTH translates, \"We for long have been as those over whom Thou hast not ruled, who are not called by Thy name\"; \"for long\" thus stands in contrast to \"but a little while\" (Isa 63:18). But the analogy of Isa 63:18 makes it likely that the first clause in this verse refers to the Jews, and the second to their foes, as English Version and BARNES translate it. The Jews' foes are aliens who have unjustly intruded into the Lord's heritage.\n\n\n\n\nNext: Isaiah Chapter 64\n\n"]}],"introduction":"MESSIAH COMING AS THE AVENGER, IN ANSWER TO HIS PEOPLE'S PRAYERS. (Isa. 63:1-19)\n\nWho--the question of the prophet in prophetic vision. \n\ndyed--scarlet with blood (Isa 63:2-3; Rev 19:13). \n\nBozrah--(See on Isa 34:6). \n\ntravelling--rather, stately; literally, \"throwing back the head\" [GESENIUS]. \n\nspeak in righteousness--answer of Messiah. I, who have in faithfulness given a promise of deliverance, am now about to fulfil it. Rather, speak of righteousness (Isa 45:19; Isa 46:13); salvation being meant as the result of His \"righteousness\" [MAURER]. \n\nsave--The same Messiah that destroys the unbeliever saves the believer.\n\n"},"thisChapterLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/ISA/63.json","thisChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"ISA","chapter":63},"nextChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/ISA/64.json","nextChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"ISA","chapter":64},"previousChapterApiLink":"/api/c/jamieson-fausset-brown/ISA/62.json","previousChapterReference":{"commentaryId":"jamieson-fausset-brown","book":"ISA","chapter":62},"numberOfVerses":18}