Isaiah 61 commentary

ISAIAH 61 COMMENTARY
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
The Year of the LORD’s Favor
1 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,[a]
1.BARNES, “
The Spirit of the Lord God - Hebrew, The Spirit of the Lord Yahweh.’ The
Chaldee renders this, ‘The prophet said, the spirit of prophecy from the presence of Yahweh God
is upon me.’ The Syriac, ‘The Spirit of the Lord God.’ The Septuagint, Πνεሞµα Κυρίου Pneuma
Kuriou - ‘The Spirit of the Lord,’ omitting the word ‫אדני‬ 'adonay. So Luke quotes it in Luk_4:18.
That this refers to the Messiah is abundantly proved by the fact that the Lord Jesus expressly
applied it to himself (see Luk_4:21). Rosenmuller, Gesenius, and some others, suppose that it
refers to Isaiah himself, and that the idea is, that the prophet proclaims his commission as
authorized to administer consolation to the suffering exiles in Babylon. It cannot be denied that
the language is such as may be applied in a subordinate sense to the office of the prophet, and
that the work of the Redeemer is here described in terms derived from the consolation and
deliverance afforded to the long-suffering exiles. But in a much higher sense it refers to the
Messiah, and received an entire completion only as applied to him and to his work. Even
Grotius, who has been said to ‘find Christ nowhere in the Old Testament,’ remarks, ‘Isaiah here
speaks of himself, as the Chaldee observes; but in him we see not an obscure image of Christ.’
Applied to the Redeemer, it refers to the time when, having been baptized and set apart to the
work of the Mediatorial office, he began publicly to preach (see Luk_4:21). The phrase ‘the Spirit
of Yahweh is upon me,’ refers to the fact; that he had been publicly consecrated to his work by
the Holy Spirit descending on him at Iris baptism Mat_3:16; Joh_1:32, and that the Spirit of
God had been imparted to him ‘without measure’ to endow him for his great office (Joh_3:34;
see the notes at Isa_11:2).
Because the Lord hath anointed me - The word rendered ‘hath anointed’ (‫משׁח‬ mashach),
is that from which the word Messiah is derived (see the notes at Isa_45:1). prophets and kings
were set apart to their high office, by the ceremony of pouring oil on their heads; and the idea

here is that God had set apart the Messiah for the office which he was to bear, and had
abundantly endowed him with the graces of which the anointing oil was an emblem. The same
language is used in reference to the Messiah in Psa_45:7 (compare Heb_1:9).
To preach good tidings - On the meaning of the word (‫בשׂר‬ bas'ar) rendered here ‘to preach
good tidings,’ see the notes at Isa_52:7. The Septuagint renders it, Εᆒαγγελίσασθαι
Euangelisasthai - ‘To evangelize,’ to preach the gospel.
Unto the meek - The word rendered ‘meek’ (‫ענוים‬ ‛anaviym) properly denotes the afflicted,
the distressed, the needy. The word ‘meek’ means those who are patient in the reception of
injuries, and stands opposed to revengeful and irascible. This is by no means the sense of the
word here. It refers to those who were borne down by calamity in any form, and would be
particularly applicable to those who had been sighing in a long captivity in Babylon. It is not
improperly rendered by the Septuagint by the word πτωχοሏς ptochois, ‘poor,’ and in like manner
by Luke Luk_4:18; and the idea is, that the Redeemer came to bring a joyful message to those
who were oppressed and borne down by the evils of poverty and calamity (compare Mat_11:5).
To bind up the broken-hearted - (See the notes at Isa_1:6). The broken-hearted are those
who are deeply afflicted and distressed on any account. It may be either on account of their sins,
or of captivity and oppressionk, or of the loss of relations and friends. The Redeemer came that
he might apply the balm of consolation to all such hearts, and give them joy and peace. A similar
form of expression occurs in Psa_147:3 :
He healeth the broken in heart,
And bindeth up their wounds.
To proclaim liberty to the captives - This evidently is language which is taken from the
condition of the exiles in their long captivity in Babylon. The Messiah would accomplish a
deliverance for those who were held under the captivity of sin similar to that of releasing
captives from long and painful servitude. The gospel does not at once, and by a mere exertion of
power, open prison doors, and restore captives to liberty. But it accomplishes an effect
analogous to this: it releases the mind captive under sin; and it will finally open all prison doors,
and by preventing crime will prevent the necessity of prisons, and will remove all the sufferings
which are now endured in confinement as the consequence of crime. It may be remarked
further, that the word here rendered ‘liberty’ (‫דרור‬ de
ror) is a word which is properly applicable
to the year of Jubilee, when all were permitred to go free Lev_25:10 : ‘And ye shall hallow the
fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty (‫דרור‬ de
ror) throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants
thereof.’ So in Jer_34:8-9, it is used to denote the manumission of slaves: ‘To proclaim liberty
(‫דרור‬ de
ror) unto them; that every man should let his man-servant and every man his maid-
servant, being an Hebrew, or an Hebrewess, go free.’ So also Isa_61:1, of the same chapter.
So also in Eze_46:17, it is applied to the year in which the slave was by law restored to liberty.
Properly, therefore, the word has reference to the freedom of those who are held in bondage, or
to servitude; and it may be implied that it was to be a part of the purpose of the Messiah to
proclaim, ultimately, universal freedom, and to restore all people to their just rights. If this is the
sense - and I see no reason to doubt it - while the main thing intended was that he should deliver
people from the inglorious servitude of sin, it also means, that the gospel would contain
principles inconsistent with the existence of slavery, and would ultimately produce universal
emancipation. Accordingly it is a matter of undoubted fact that its influence was such that in less
than three centuries it was the means of abolishing slavery throughout the Roman empire; and
no candid reader of the New Testament can doubt that if the principles of Christianity were

universally followed, the last shackle would soon fall from the slave. Be the following facts
remembered:
1. No man ever made another originally a slave under the influence of Christian principle. No
man ever kidnapped another, or sold another, BECAUSE it was done in obedience to the laws of
Christ.
2. No Christian ever manumitted a slave who did not feel that in doing it he was obeying the
spirit of Christianity, and who did not have a more quiet conscience on that account.
3. No man doubts that if freedom were to prevail everywhere, and all men were to be regarded
as of equal civil rights, it would be in accordance with the mind of the Redeemer.
4. Slaves are made in violation of all the precepts of the Saviour. The work of kidnapping and
selling men, women, and children; of tearing them from their homes, and confining them in the
pestilential holds of ships on the ocean, and of dooming them to hard and perpetual servitude, is
not the work to which the Lord Jesus calls his disciples.
5. Slavery, in fact, cannot be maintained without an incessant violation of the principles of the
New Testament. To keep people in ignorance; to witchold from them the Bible; to prevent their
learning to read; to render nugatory the marriage contract, or to make it subject to the will of a
master; to deprive a man of the avails of Iris own labor without his consent; to make him or his
family subject to a removal against his will; to prevent parents from training up their children
according to their own views of what is right; to fetter and bind the intellect and shut up the
avenues to knowledge as a necessary means of continuing the system; and to make people
dependent wholly on others whether they shall hear the gospel or be permitted publicly to
embrace it, is everywhere deemed essential to the existence of slavery, and is demanded by all
the laws which rule over the regions of a country cursed with this institution. In the whole work
of slavery, from the first capture of the unoffending person who is made a slave to the last act
which is adopted to secure his bondage, there is an incessant and unvarying trampling on the
laws of Jesus Christ. Not one thing is done to make and keep a slave in accordance with any
command of Christ; not one thing which would be done if his example were followed and his law
obeyed. Who then can doubt that he came ultimately to proclaim freedom to all captives, and
that the prevalence of his gospel will yet be the means of universal emancipation? (compare the
notes at Isa_58:6).
And the opening of the prison - This language also is taken from the release of those who
had been confined in Babylon as in a prison; and the idea is, that the Redeemer would
accomplish a work for sinful and suffering people like throwing open the doors of a prison and
bidding the man who had been long lying in a dungeon to go free. On the grammatical structure
of the verb rendered here ‘opening of the prison’ (‫פקץ־קיץ‬ peqach-qoach), Gesenius (Lexicon) and
Rosenmuller may be consulted. According to Gesenius, it should be read as one word. So many
manuscripts read it. It occurs nowhere else. It means here deliverance. The Septuagint renders
it, ‘And sight to the blind,’ which is followed by Luke. The sentiment which is found in the
Septuagint and in Luke, is a correct one, and one which elsewhere occurs in the prophets (see
Isa_34:5): and as the sentiment was correct, the Saviour did not deem it necessary to state that
this was not the literal translation of the Hebrew. Or more properly the Saviour in the synagogue
at Nazareth Luk_4:19 used the Hebrew, and when Luke came to record it, he quoted it as he
found it in the version then in common use. This was the common practice with the writers of
the New Testament. The Evangelist wrote probably for the Hellenists, or the Greek Jews, who
commonly used the Septuagint version, and he quotes that version as being the one with which
they were familiar. The sense is not materially varied whether the Hebrew be followed, or the
version by the Septuagint. The Arabic version agrees nearly with the Evangelist. Horne
(Introduction, ii. 403) is of opinion that the Hebrew formerly contained more than we now find
in the manuscripts and the printed editions. Of that, however, I think there is no good evidence.

2. PULPIT COMMENTARY, “
THE MISSION OF THE SERVANT OF THE LORD. The words of
our Lord in Luk_4:21, "This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your ears," preclude the application of this
passage to any other than the Lord himself. It is simply astonishing that some Christian commentators
(Ewald, Hitzig, Knobel) have not seen the force of this argument, but, with the Jews, imagine the prophet
to be speaking of his own ministry. It is contrary to the entire spirit of Isaiah's writings so to glorify himself,
and specially unsuitable that, after having brought forward with such emphasis the Person of "the
Servant" (Isa_42:1-8; Isa_49:1-12;Isa_1:4-9; Isa_52:13-15; Isa_53:1-12), he should proceed to take his
place, and to "ascribe to himself those very same official attributes which he has already set forth as
characteristic features in his portrait of the predicted One" (Delitzsch). Hence most recent commentators,
whatever their school of thought, have acquiesced in the patristic interpretation, which regarded the
Servant of Jehovah as here speaking of himself.
Isa_61:1
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; literally, the Spirit of the Lord Jehovah (Adonai Jehovah) is upon
me. The Septuagint, the Vulgate, and one manuscript omit adonai. In the original announcement of "the
Servant" it was stated that God had "put his Spirit upon him" (Isa_42:1). The sanctification of our Lord's
human nature by the Holy Spirit is very explicitly taught in the Gospels. The Lord hath anointed me. The
"anointing" of Jesus was that sanctification of his human nature by the Holy Spirit, which commenced in
the womb of the blessed Virgin (Luk_1:35), which continued as he grew to manhood
(Luk_2:40, Luk_2:52), which was openly manifested at his baptism, and never ceased till he took his body
and soul with him into heaven. Of this spiritual anointing, all material unction, whether under the Law
(Le Isa_8:10-12, 30; 1Sa_10:1; 1Sa_16:13; 1Ki_1:39; 1Ki_19:15,1Ki_19:16, etc.) or under the gospel
(Mar_6:13; Jas_5:14), was symbolical or typical. To preach
good tidings (comp. Isa_40:9; Isa_41:27;Isa_52:7; and Nah_1:15). Unto the
meek (see Mat_5:5; Mat_11:29; and comp. Isa_11:4; Isa_29:19). To bind up the broken-hearted.
"Binding up" is an ordinary expression in Isaiah's writings for "healing" (see Isa_1:6; Isa_3:7; Isa_30:26).
To proclaim liberty to the captives. This was one of the special offices of "the Servant" (see Isa_42:7).
The "captivity'' intended is doubtless that of sin. And the opening of the prison to them that are
bound. St. Luke, following the Septuagint, has, "and recovering of sight to the blind." It is thought by
some that the original Hebrew text has been corrupted. Others regard the Septuagint rendering as a
paraphrase.

3. GILL, “
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,.... Not an exact year, but time in
general; for such are wrong, who from hence conclude that Christ's public ministry lasted but a
year, since it is certain, by the passovers he kept, that it must be at least three or four years; the
whole time of Christ on earth was an acceptable and desirable time, what many great personages
desired to see, and did not: this time may take in the whole Gospel dispensation, which was
ushered in by Christ: the allusion, as before observed, is to the year of jubilee, when there was a
proclamation of liberty; of release of debts; of restoration of inheritances, and of cessation from
work; all which must make it an acceptable year: and this proclamation was made on the day of
atonement; and Jarchi interprets the phrase here of a "year of reconciliation"; or "the year of
atonement to the Lord", as it maybe rendered (s); this was made by the sacrifice of Christ, and is
proclaimed in the Gospel, and makes a most considerable part of it. It may be rendered, "the
year of the good will of the Lord" (t); and such was the time of Christ's coming on earth, to save
men, and make peace and reconciliation for them, Luk_2:14 and was an "acceptable time"
indeed; acceptable to the Lord himself; as were the incarnation of Christ, his obedience and
righteousness, his sufferings and death, his sacrifice and satisfaction; since hereby the
perfections of God were glorified, his purposes fulfilled, his covenant confirmed, and his people
saved: acceptable to men; as were the birth of Christ; the things done by him; peace made,
pardon procured, righteousness brought in, and salvation wrought out; all which must be
acceptable to such who are lost, and know it, and are sensible that nothing of their own can save
them; see 1Ti_1:15.
the day of vengeance of our God; when vengeance was taken on sin, in the person of Christ;
when he destroyed the works of the devil, the devil himself, and spoiled principalities and
powers; when he abolished death, and was the plague and destruction of that and the grave;
when he brought wrath to the uttermost on the Jews for the rejection of him, who would not
have him to reign over them; and who will take vengeance on antichrist at his spiritual coming,
and upon all the wicked at the day of judgment. Kimchi understands this of the day when God
shall take vengeance on Gog and Magog.
To comfort all that mourn: that are under afflictions, and mourn for them; and under a
sense of sin, and mourn for that; who mourn for their own sins, indwelling sin, and their many
actual transgressions; and for the sins of others, of profane persons, and especially professors of
religion; these Christ comforts by his Spirit, by his word and ministers, by his promises, by his
ordinances, and by the discoveries, of pardoning grace and mercy,
4. HENRY 1-3, “
He that is the best expositor of scripture has no doubt given us the best
exposition of these verses, even our Lord Jesus himself, who read this in the synagogue at
Nazareth (perhaps it was the lesson for the day) and applied it entirely to himself, saying, This
day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears (Luk_4:17, Luk_4:18, Luk_4:21); and the gracious
words which proceeded out of his mouth, in the opening of this text, were admired by all that
heard them. As Isaiah was authorized and directed to proclaim liberty to the Jews in Babylon, so
was Christ, God's messenger, to publish a more joyful jubilee to a lost world. And here we are
told,
I. How he was fitted and qualified for this work: The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
Isa_61:1. The prophets had the Spirit of God moving them at times, both instructing them what
to say and exciting them to say it. Christ had the Spirit always resting on him without measure;
but to the same intent that the prophets had, as a Spirit of counsel and a Spirit of courage,
Isa_11:1-3. When he entered upon the execution of his prophetical office the Spirit, as a dove,

descended upon him, Mat_3:16. This Spirit which was upon him he communicated to those
whom he sent to proclaim the same glad tidings, saying to them, when he gave them their
commission, Receive you the Holy Ghost, thereby ratifying it.
II. How he was appointed and ordained to it: The Spirit of God is upon me, because the Lord
God has anointed me. What service God called him to he furnished him for; therefore he gave
him his Spirit, because he had by a sacred and solemn unction set him apart to this great office,
as kings and priests were of old destined to their offices by anointing. Hence the Redeemer was
called the Messiah, the Christ, because he was anointed with the oil of gladness above his
fellows. He has sent me; our Lord Jesus did not go unsent; he had a commission from him that
is the fountain of power; the Father sent him and gave him commandment. This is a great
satisfaction to us, that, whatever Christ said, he had a warrant from heaven for; his doctrine was
not his, but his that sent him.
III. What the work was to which he was appointed and ordained.
1. He was to be a preacher, was to execute the office of a prophet. So well pleased was he with
the good-will God showed towards men through him that he would himself be the preacher of it,
that an honour might thereby be put upon the ministry of the gospel and the faith of the saints
might be confirmed and encouraged. He must preach good tidings (so gospel signified) to the
meek, to the penitent, and humble, and poor in spirit; to them the tidings of a Redeemer will be
indeed good tidings, pure gospel, faithful sayings, and worthy of all acceptation. The poor are
commonly best disposed to receive the gospel (Jam_2:5), and it is likely to profit us when it is
received with meekness, as it ought to be; to such Christ preached good tidings when he said,
Blessed are the meek.
2. He was to be a healer. He was sent to bind up the broken-hearted, as pained limbs are
rolled to give them ease, as broken bones and bleeding wounds are bound up, that they may knit
and close again. Those whose hearts are broken for sin, who are truly humbled under the sense
of guilt and dread of wrath, are furnished in the gospel of Christ with that which will make them
easy and silence their fears. Those only who have experienced the pains of a penitential
contrition may expect the pleasure of divine cordials and consolations.
3. He was to be a deliverer. He was sent as a prophet to preach, as a priest to heal, and as a
king to issue out proclamations and those of two kinds: - (1.) Proclamations of peace to his
friends: He shall proclaim liberty to the captives (as Cyrus did to the Jews in captivity) and the
opening of the prison to those that were bound. Whereas, by the guilt of sin, we are bound over
to the justice of God, are his lawful captives, sold for sin till payment be made of that great debt,
Christ lets us know that he has made satisfaction to divine justice for that debt, that his
satisfaction is accepted, and if we will plead that, and depend upon it, and make over ourselves
and all we have to him, in a grateful sense of the kindness he has done us, we may be faith sue
out our pardon and take the comfort of it; there is, and shall be, no condemnation to us. And
whereas, by the dominion of sin in us, we are bound under the power of Satan, sold under sin,
Christ lets us know that he has conquered Satan, has destroyed him that had the power of death
and his works, and provided for us grace sufficient to enable us to shake off the yoke of sin and
to loose ourselves from those bands of our neck. The Son is ready by his Spirit to make us free;
and then we shall be free indeed, not only discharged from the miseries of captivity, but
advanced to all the immunities and dignities of citizens. This is the gospel proclamation, and it is
like the blowing of the jubilee-trumpet, which proclaimed the great year of release (Lev_25:9,
Lev_25:40), in allusion to which it is here called the acceptable year of the Lord, the time of our
acceptance with God, which is the origin of our liberties; or it is called the year of the Lord
because it publishes his free grace, to his own glory, and an acceptable year because it brings
glad tidings to us, and what cannot but be very acceptable to those who know the capacities and
necessities of their own souls. (2.) Proclamations of war against his enemies. Christ proclaims
the day of vengeance of our God, the vengeance he takes, [1.] On sin and Satan, death and hell,

and all the powers of darkness, that were to be destroyed in order to our deliverances; these
Christ triumphed over in his cross, having spoiled and weakened them, shamed them, and made
a show of them openly, therein taking vengeance on them for all the injury they had done both
to God and man, Col_2:15. [2.] On those of the children of men that stand it out against those
fair offers. They shall not only be left, as they deserve, in their captivity, but be dealt with as
enemies; we have the gospel summed up, Mar_16:16, where that part of it, He that believes shall
be saved, proclaims the acceptable year of the Lord to those that will accept of it; but the other
part, He that believes not shall be damned, proclaims the day of vengeance of our God, that
vengeance which he will take on those that obey not the gospel of Jesus Christ, 2Th_1:8.
4. He was to be a comforter, and so he is as preacher, healer, and deliverer; he is sent to
comfort all who mourn, and who, mourning, seek to him, and not to the world, for comfort.
Christ not only provides comfort for them, and proclaims it, but he applies it to them; he does by
his Spirit comfort them. There is enough in him to comfort all who mourn, whatever their sore
or sorrow is; but this comfort is sure to those who mourn in Zion, who sorrow after a godly sort,
according to God, for his residence is in Zion, - who mourn because of Zion's calamities and
desolations, and mingle their tears by a holy sympathy with those of all God's suffering people,
though they themselves are not in trouble; such tears God has a bottle for (Psa_56:8), such
mourners he has comfort in store for. As blessings out of Zion are spiritual blessings, so
mourners in Zion are holy mourners, such as carry their sorrows to the throne of grace (for in
Zion was the mercy-seat) and pour them out as Hannah did before the Lord. To such as these
Christ has appointed by his gospel, and will give by his Spirit (Isa_61:3), those consolations
which will not only support them under their sorrows, but turn them into songs of praise. He
will give them, (1.) Beauty for ashes. Whereas they lay in ashes, as was usual in times of great
mourning, they shall not only be raised out of their dust, but made to look pleasant. Note, The
holy cheerfulness of Christians is their beauty and a great ornament to their profession. Here is
an elegant paronomasia in the original: He will give them pheer - beauty, for epher - ashes; he
will turn their sorrow into joy as quickly and as easily as you can transpose a letter; for he
speaks, and it is done. (2.) The oil of joy, which make the face to shine, instead of mourning,
which disfigures the countenance and makes it unlovely. this oil of joy the saints have from that
oil of gladness with which Christ himself was anointed above his fellows, Heb_1:9. (3.) The
garments of praise, such beautiful garments as were worn on thanksgiving-days, instead of the
spirit of heaviness, dimness, or contraction - open joys for secret mournings. The spirit of
heaviness they keep to themselves (Zion's mourners weep in secret); but the joy they are
recompensed with they are clothed with as with a garment in the eye of others. Observe, Where
God gives the oil of joy he gives the garment of praise. Those comforts which come from God
dispose the heart to, and enlarge the heart in, thanksgivings to God. Whatever we have the joy of
God must have the praise and glory of.
5. He was to be a planter; for the church is God's husbandry. Therefore he will do all this for
his people, will cure their wounds, release them out of bondage, and comfort them in their
sorrows, that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that they may
be such and be acknowledged to be such, that they may be ornaments to God's vineyard and
may be fruitful in the fruits of righteousness, as the branches of God's planting, Isa_60:21. All
that Christ does for us is to make us God's people, and some way serviceable to him as living
trees, planted in the house of the Lord, and flourishing in the courts of our God; and all this that
he may be glorified - that we may be brought to glorify him by a sincere devotion and an
exemplary conversation (for herein is our Father glorified, that we bring broth much fruit),
that others also may take occasion from God's favour shining on his people, and his grace
shining in them, to praise him, and that he may be for ever glorified in his saints.

5. JAMISON, “
acceptable year — the year of jubilee on which “liberty was proclaimed to
the captives” (Isa_61:1; 2Co_6:2).
day of vengeance — The “acceptable time of grace” is a “year”; the time of “vengeance” but
“a day” (so Isa_34:8; Isa_63:4; Mal_4:1). Jesus (Luk_4:20, Luk_4:21) “closed the book” before
this clause; for the interval from His first to His second coming is “the acceptable year”; the day
of vengeance” will not be till He comes again (2Th_1:7-9).
our God — The saints call Him “our God”; for He cometh to “avenge” them (Rev_6:10;
Rev_19:2).
all that mourn — The “all” seems to include the spiritual Israelite mourners, as well as the
literal, who are in Isa_61:3 called “them that mourn in Zion,” and to whom Isa_57:18 refers.
5B. K&D
“The words of Jehovah Himself pass over here into the words of another, whom He
has appointed as the Mediator of His gracious counsel. “The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is over
me, because Jehovah hath anointed me, to bring glad tidings to sufferers, hath sent me to bind
up broken-hearted ones, to proclaim liberty to those led captive, and emancipation to the
fettered; to proclaim a year of grace from Jehovah, and a day of vengeance from our God; to
comfort all that mourn; to put upon the mourners of Zion, to give them a head-dress for ashes,
oil of joy for mourning, a wrapper of renown for an expiring spirit, that they may be called
terebinths of righteousness, a planting of Jehovah for glorification.” Who is the person
speaking here? The Targum introduces the passage with ‫א‬ָ ִ‫ב‬ְ‫נ‬ ‫ר‬ ַ‫מ‬ ֲ‫.א‬ Nearly all the modern
commentators support this view. Even the closing remarks to Drechsler (iii. 381) express the
opinion, that the prophet who exhibited to the church the summit of its glory in chapter 60, an
evangelist of the rising from on high, an apocalyptist who sketches the painting which the New
Testament apocalyptist is to carry out in detail, is here looking up to Jehovah with a grateful eye,
and praising Him with joyful heart for his exalted commission. But this view, when looked at
more closely, cannot possibly be sustained. It is open to the following objections: (1.) The
prophet never speaks of himself as a prophet at any such length as this; on the contrary, with the
exception of the closing words of Isa_57:21, “saith my God,” he has always most studiously let
his own person fall back into the shade. (2.) Wherever any other than Jehovah is represented as
speaking, and as referring to his own calling, or his experience in connection with that calling, as
in Isa_49:1., Isa_50:4., it is the very same “servant of Jehovah” of whom and to whom Jehovah
speaks in Isa_42:1., Isaiah 52:13-53:12, and therefore not the prophet himself, but He who had
been appointed to be the Mediator of a new covenant, the light of the Gentiles, the salvation of
Jehovah for the whole world, and who would reach this glorious height, to which He had been
called, through self-abasement even to death. (3.) All that the person speaking here says of
himself is to be found in the picture of the unequalled “Servant of Jehovah,” who is highly
exalted above the prophet. He is endowed with the Spirit of Jehovah (Isa_42:1); Jehovah has
sent Him, and with Him His Spirit (Isa_48:16); He has a tongue taught of God, to help the
exhausted with words (Isa_50:4); He spares and rescues those who are almost despairing and
destroyed, the bruised reed and expiring wick (Isa_42:7). “To open blind eyes, to bring out
prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison-house:” this is what
He has chiefly to do for His people, both in word and deed (Isa_42:7; Isa_49:9). (4.) We can
hardly expect that, after the prophet has described the Servant of Jehovah, of whom He
prophesied, as coming forward to speak with such dramatic directness as in Isa_49:1., Isa_50:4.
(and even Isa_48:16), he will now proceed to put himself in the foreground, and ascribe to
himself those very same official attributes which he has already set forth as characteristic
features in his portrait of the predicted One. For these reasons we have no doubt that we have
here the words of the Servant of Jehovah. The glory of Jerusalem is depicted in chapter 60 in the

direct words of Jehovah Himself, which are well sustained throughout. And now, just as in
Isa_48:16, though still more elaborately, we have by their side the words of His servant, who is
the mediator of this glory, and who above all others is the pioneer thereof in his evangelical
predictions. Just as Jehovah says of him in Isa_42:1, “I have put my Spirit upon him;” so here he
says of himself, “The Spirit of Jehovah is upon me.” And when he continues to explain this still
further by saying, “because” (‫ן‬ ַ‫ע‬ַ‫י‬ from ‫ה‬ָ‫נ‬ ָ‫,ע‬ intention, purpose; here equivalent to ‫ר‬ ֶ‫שׁ‬ ֲ‫א‬ ‫ן‬ ַ‫ע‬ַ‫)י‬
“Jehovah hath anointed me” (mas 'othı̄, more emphatic than me
shachanı̄), notwithstanding the
fact that mashach is used here in the sense of prophetic and not regal anointing (1Ki_19:16), we
may find in the choice of this particular word a hint at the fact, that the Servant of Jehovah and
the Messiah are one and the same person. So also the account given in Luk_4:16-22 viz. that
when Jesus was in the synagogue at Nazareth, after reading the opening words of this address,
He closed the book with these words, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears” - cannot be
interpreted more simply in any other way, than on the supposition that Jesus here declares
Himself to be the predicted and divinely anointed Servant of Jehovah, who brings the gospel of
redemption to His people. Moreover, though it is not decisive in favour of our explanation, yet
this explanation is favoured by the fact that the speaker not only appears as the herald of the
new and great gifts of God, but also as the dispenser of them (“non praeco tantum, sed et
dispensator,” Vitringa).
The combination of the names of God ('Adonai Yehovah) is the same as in Isa_50:4-9. On bisse
r, εᆒαγγελίζειν (-εσθαι). He comes to put a bandage on the hearts' wounds of those who are
broken-hearted: ְ‫ל‬ ‫שׁ‬ ַ‫ב‬ ָ‫ח‬ (‫שׁ‬ ֵ ִ‫)ח‬ as in Eze_34:4; Psa_147:3; cf., ְ‫ל‬ ‫א‬ ָ‫פ‬ ָ‫ר‬ ( ֵ ִ‫ר‬‫א‬ ); ְ‫ל‬ ‫ק‬ִ‫די‬ ְ‫צ‬ ִ‫.ה‬ ‫רוֹר‬ ְ‫ד‬ ‫א‬ ָ‫ר‬ ָ‫ק‬ is the
phrase used in the law for the proclamation of the freedom brought by the year of jubilee, which
occurred every fiftieth year after seven sabbatical periods, and was called she
nath hadde
ror
(Eze_46:17); de
ror from darar, a verbal stem, denoting the straight, swift flight of a swallow (see
at Psa_84:4), and free motion in general, such as that of a flash of lightning, a liberal self-
diffusion, like that of a superabundant fulness. Pe
qach-qoach is written like two words (see at
Isa_2:20). The Targum translates it as if pe
qach were an imperative: “Come to the light,”
probably meaning undo the bands. But qoach is not a Hebrew word; for the qı̄choth of the
Mishna (the loops through which the strings of a purse are drawn, for the purpose of lacing it
up) cannot be adduced as a comparison. Parchon, AE, and A, take pe
qachqoach as one word (of
the form ‫ּל‬ ְ‫ל‬ ַ‫ת‬ ְ , ‫ּר‬‫ח‬ ְ‫ר‬ ַ‫ח‬ ְ‫,)שׁ‬ in the sense of throwing open, viz., the prison. But as paqach is never
used like pathach (Isa_14:17; Isa_51:14), to signify the opening of a room, but is always applied
to the opening of the eyes (Isa_35:5; Isa_42:7, etc.), except in Isa_42:20, where it is used for the
opening of the ears, we adhere to the strict usage of the language, if we understand by pe
qachqoa
ch the opening up of the eyes (as contrasted with the dense darkness of the prison); and this is
how it has been taken even by the lxx, who have rendered it καᆳ τυφλοሏς ᅊνάβλεψιν, as if the
reading had been ‫י‬ ִ‫ר‬ְ‫ו‬ ִ‫ע‬ ַ‫ל‬ְ‫ו‬‫ם‬ (Psa_146:8). Again, he is sent to promise with a loud proclamation a
year of good pleasure (ratson: syn. ye
shu‛ah) and a day of vengeance, which Jehovah has
appointed; a promise which assigns the length of a year for the thorough accomplishment of the
work of grace, and only the length of a day for the work of vengeance. The vengeance applies to
those who hold the people of God in fetters, and oppress them; the grace to all those whom the
infliction of punishment has inwardly humbled, though they have been strongly agitated by its

long continuance (Isa_57:15). The 'abhelı̄m, whom the Servant of Jehovah has to comfort, are the
“mourners of Zion,” those who take to heart the fall of Zion. In Isa_61:3, ‫שׂוּם‬ ָ‫ל‬ ... ‫ת‬ ֵ‫ת‬ ָ‫,ל‬ he corrects
himself, because what he brings is not merely a diadem, to which the word sum (to set) would
apply, but an abundant supply of manifold gifts, to which only a general word like nathan (to
give) is appropriate. Instead of ‫ר‬ ֶ‫פ‬ ֵ‫,א‬ the ashes of mourning or repentance laid upon the head, he
brings ‫ר‬ ֵ‫א‬ ְ , a diadem to adorn the head (a transposition even so far as the letters are concerned,
and therefore the counterpart of ‫;אפר‬ the”oil of joy” (from Psa_45:8; compare also ֲ‫ח‬ ָ‫שׁ‬ ְ‫מ‬ָ‫ך‬ there
with ‫י‬ ִ‫ּת‬‫א‬ ‫ח‬ ַ‫שׁ‬ ָ‫מ‬ here) instead of mourning; “a wrapper (cloak) of renown” instead of a faint and
almost extinguished spirit. The oil with which they henceforth anoint themselves is to be joy or
gladness, and renown the cloak in which they wrap themselves (a genitive connection, as in
Isa_59:17). And whence is all this? The gifts of God, though represented in outward figures, are
really spiritual, and take effect within, rejuvenating and sanctifying the inward man; they are the
sap and strength, the marrow and impulse of a new life. The church thereby becomes
“terebinths of righteousness” (‫י‬ ֵ‫יל‬ ֵ‫:א‬ Targ., Symm., Jer., render this, strong ones, mighty ones;
Syr. dechre, rams; but though both of these are possible, so far as the letters are concerned, they
are unsuitable here), i.e., possessors of righteousness, produced by God and acceptable with
God, having all the firmness and fulness of terebinths, with their strong trunks, their luxuriant
verdure, and their perennial foliage - a planting of Jehovah, to the end that He may get glory out
of it (a repetition of Isa_60:21).
6. CALVIN, “
1.The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah. As Christ explains this passage with reference to
himself, (Luk_4:18) so commentators limit it to him without hesitation, and lay down this principle, that
Christ is introduced as speaking, as if the whole passage related to him alone. The Jews laugh at this, as
an ill application to Christ of that which is equally applicable to other prophets. My opinion is, that this
chapter is added as a seal to the former, to confirm what had hitherto been said about restoring the
Church of Christ; and that for this purpose Christ testifies that he has been anointed by God, in
consequence of which he justly applies this prophecy to himself; for he has exhibited clearly and openly
what others have laid down ill an obscure manner.
But this is not inconsistent with the application of this statement to other prophets, whom the Lord has
anointed; for they did not speak in their own name as individuals, or claim this authority for themselves,
but were chiefly employed in pointing out the office of Christ, to whom belongs not only the publication of
these things, but likewise the accomplishment of them. This chapter ought, therefore, to be understood in
such a sense, that Christ, who is the Head of the prophets, holds the chief place, and alone makes all
those revelations; but that Isaiah, and the other prophets, and the apostles, contribute their services to
Christ, and each performs his part in making known Christ’ benefits. And thus we see that those things

which Isaiah said would be accomplished by Christ, have now been actually accomplished.
On that account Jehovah hath anointed me. This second clause is added in the room of exposition; for
the first would have been somewhat obscure, if he had said nothing as to the purpose for which he was
endued with the Spirit of God; but now it is made far more clear by pointing out the use, when he declares
that. he discharges a public office, that he may not be regarded as a private individual. Whenever
Scripture mentions the Spirit, and says that he “ in us,” (Rom_8:11; 1Co_3:16) let us not look upon it as
something empty or unmeaning, but let us contemplate his power and efficacy. Thus, after having spoken
of the Spirit of God, the Prophet next mentions the “” by which he means the faculties which flow from
him, as Paul teaches that the gifts are indeed various, but the Spirit is one. (1Co_12:4)
This passage ought to be carefully observed, for no man can claim right or authority to teach unless he
show that he has been prompted to it by the Spirit of God, as Paul also affirms that “ man can call Jesus
Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.” (1Co_12:3) But, it will be said, we see that almost all men boast of having
the Spirit of God; for the Pope, and the Anabaptists, and other heretics and fanatics, have his name
continually in their mouth, as if they were governed by him. How, then, shall we judge that any man has
been sent by God, and is guided by his Spirit? By ““ that is, if he is endued with the gifts which are
necessary for that orate. If therefore, having been appointed by the Lord, he abound in the graces of the
Spirit and the ability which the calling demands, he actually has the Spirit. And if he wish to make
profession of enjoying that teacher, and if he have no doctrine, (165) let him be held as an impostor.
He hath sent me to preach. The Prophet does not claim for himself right and authority to teach, before he
has shown that the Lord “ sent him” The authority is founded on his having been “” that is, furnished by
God with necessary gifts. We ought not to hear him, therefore, as a private individual, but as a public
minister who has come from heaven.
To the afflicted. Some render it, “ the meek;“ and both ideas are conveyed by the word ‫ענוים‬ (gnanavim).
But I preferred to adhere to the former signification, because the Prophet is speaking of captives and
prisoners. Yet I think that he includes both; for he means those who, while they are altogether forsaken
and abandoned, are also wretched in themselves. Christ is promised to none but those who have been
humbled and overwhelmed by a conviction of their distresses, who have no lofty pretensions, but keep
themselves in humility and modesty. And hence we infer that Isaiah speaks literally of the Gospel; for the
Law was given for the purpose of abasing proud hearts which swelled with vain confidence, but the
Gospel is intended for “ afflicted,” that is, for those who know that they are destitute of everything good,
that they may gather courage and support. For what purpose were prophets, and apostles, and other
ministers, anointed and sent, but to cheer and comfort the afflicted by the doctrine of grace?

To bind up the broken in heart. Numerous are the metaphors which the Prophet employs for explaining
more clearly the same thing. By “ up,” he means nothing else than “” but now he expresses something
more than in the preceding clause; for he shows that. the preaching of the word is not an empty sound,
but a powerful medicine, the effect of which is felt, not by obdurate and hard men, but by wounded
consciences.
To proclaim liberty to the captives. This also is the end of the Gospel, that they who are captives may be
set at liberty. We are prisoners and captives, therefore, till we are set free (Joh_8:36) through the grace of
Christ; and when Christ wishes to break asunder our chains, let us not refuse the grace that is offered to
us. It ought to be observed in general, that the blessings which are here enumerated are bestowed upon
us by heavenly doctrine, and that none are fit for the enjoyment of them but those who, conscious of their
poverty, eagerly desire the assistance of Christ, as he himself says,
“ to me all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will relieve you.” (Mat_11:28)
7. PULPIT COMMENTARY, “The purposes of Messiah's mission.
We are not to suppose that the prophet unfolds to us in the present passage the whole purpose of God in
sending his Son into the world. Such logical exactness is alien to the spirit of prophecy, and especially
unsuited to the rhetorical tone which everywhere characterizes Isaiah. Still, as the subject is one of
transcendent interest, and as our Lord himself cites the passage as descriptive of his mission, it may be
useful to note how many, and what purposes, it sets before us as included in the counsels of the Father,
and intended to be realized by Christ's coming. They seem to be some nine or ten.
I. THE PREACHING OF GOOD TIDINGS. Christ "came not into the world to condemn the world, but that
the world through him might be saved" (Joh_3:17). The angels who announced his birth intimated that it
was a subject for joy and rejoicing—"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward
men" (Luk_2:14). His forerunner declared it to be the object of his coming, "that all flesh should see the
salvation of God" (Luk_3:6). He himself came with "gracious words" (Luk_4:22), and called men into his
kingdom. Hence from a very early date his message to man was known as the gospel, i.e. "the good
tidings." What could be better tidings than the announcement of free pardon on repentance, of salvation,
of atonement, of deliverance from sin, of a Comforter to support, and sustain, and cleanse the heart, and
give men peace and joy in believing? Man, lost without him, was by him sought and saved, and brought
out of darkness and misery into light and happiness.
II. THE HEALING OF THE BROKEN-HEARTED. By "the broken-hearted" seem to be meant,
not so much those whom misfortune and calamity have afflicted and reduced to despondency, as those
who are deeply grieved on account of their sins. Among the objects of Christ's coming was the healing, or
restoring to health, of such persons. He "healed the broken in heart, and bound up their wounds"
(Psa_147:3). He made atonement for their sins, and thus secured them forgiveness; he assured them of

God's mercy and readiness to pardon; he bade them "come to him," and promised to "give them rest"
(Mat_11:28). Through his actions and his teaching all the contrite in all ages have their wounds bound up;
are strengthened, sustained, and comforted; obtain, even in this life, a "peace that passeth all
understanding."
III. THE GIVING OF LIBERTY TO THE CAPTIVES. "The captives" are the servants of sin—the
unfortunates whom Satan has made his prisoners, and compels to labour in his service. Christ came to
"proclaim" to them "liberty," to make them an offer of release. "Christ Jesus," St. Paul tells us, "came into
the world to save sinners" (1Ti_1:15). He himself declared, "I came not to call ,he righteous, but sinners to
repentance" (Mat_9:18). It is one of his greatest glories that he delivers men "from the bondage of
corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God" (Rom_8:21). He offers to do this for all; but
unless his offer is accepted he can do nothing. Men must not only be sinners, but must pass into the
class of repentant sinners, before he can aid them. Then, however, his aid is effectual. All the bonds of
sin may be struck off; the service of Satan may be renounced and quitted; and the captives have only
thenceforth to "stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made them free" (Gal_5:1).
IV. THE GIVING OF SIGHT TO THE BLIND. (See Luk_4:18.) Our Lord, when-on earth, gave recovery of
sight, in the most literal sense, to several persons who were literally blind. But this is scarcely the
"giving of sight" which was one of the main purposes of his coming. He came to open the eyes of men's
understandings, to give them spiritual intelligence and spiritual insight, to enable them to discern between
right and wrong, between good and evil. Men at the time were so far gone from original righteousness,
that they were to a large extent blind to moral distinctions—"put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter,
darkness for light, and light for darkness' (Isa_5:20), were "vain in their imaginations,and had "their foolish
hearts darkened (Rom_1:21). Christ dispelled this spiritual darkness. He taught a pure and broad
morality, which re-established moral distinctions in the general conscience, and at the same time, through
his Spirit, he gave to each individual Christian an inward light, which man did not possess before, by
which he might direct his paths.
V. THE PROCLAIMING OF A TIME OF ACCEPTANCE. Christ proclaimed a "time of acceptance" in
various ways. To the Jews generally the three years of his ministry formed "the acceptable time," during
which, if they had received him (Joh_1:11), they would have maintained their position as a nation, and
have held pre-eminence in the Church of Christ. To individuals who heard him the "time of acceptance"
was that between such hearing and a hardening of the heart consequent on the rejection of his gracious
message. To mankind at large the "time of acceptance" is the time of their sojourn here below, during
which it is always possible for them to repent and turn to him, unless perchance they have been guilty of
the "sin against the Holy Ghost." Such sin is probably still possible; but it may be hoped that few have
committed it, and that the apostle's declaration, which he made to all his converts (2Co_6:2), may still be
repeated to professing Christians generally, "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of
salvation."
VI. THE PROCLAIMING OF A DAY OF VENGEANCE. It was among the purposes of our Lord's coming
that he should "proclaim a day of vengeance."
1. To the nation of the Jews, which by rejecting him caused its own rejection from the position assigned it
under the first covenant, and was delivered up for punishment to the Romans. This he did by a number of
remarkable prophecies (e.g. the following: Mat_21:40-43; Mat_24:4-28; Luk_13:34, 85; Luk_21:20-22),
which announced that Jerusalem was to be destroyed, and that there was to be "great wrath upon the
people" (Luk_21:23).
2. To the enemies of God universally. The general day of vengeance upon God's enemies is that "last
day," which our Lord announced so often, when he "will come again with glory to judge both the quick and
the dead" (see Mat_7:22, Mat_7:23; Mat_24:29-31; Mat_25:31-46; Mat_26:64, etc.). Then all his enemies
will be "put under his feet." Then will be fulfilled the apocalyptic vision, "I saw the dead, small and great,
stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life:
and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead that were in them:

and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of
fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the
lake of fire" (Rev_20:12-15).
VII. THE COMFORTING OF MOURNERS. It was indicative of the tenderness of Jesus, that in his life on
earth he had ever such great compassion for mourners. In his sermon on the mount he assigned to them
the second Beatitude, "Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted" (Mat_5:4). Thrice only in
his ministry does he seem to have come across actual death, and then each time he had such pity on
those who mourned their dead, that he worked miracles on their behalf, and comforted them by raising
their lost ones to life again (Mar_5:22-42; Luk_7:12-15; Joh_11:32-44). After his resurrection, he
hastened to comfort the women who mourned him, by special appearances to them. These, however,
were but samples of his power and of his good will. Through the long ages that have elapsed since he
founded his Church, mourners have ever found in him a true and potent Comforter. Through him it is that
Christians "sorrow not as they that have no hope" (1Th_4:13); through him that they have resignation,
and are able to say, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: blessed be the Name of the Lord;"
through him that they look to receive their dead again raised to life (Heb_11:35), and to be joined with
them in a land where there is no parting.
VIII. THE CROWNING OF THE SAINTS IN BLISS. "Henceforth," said St. Paul, as he approached the
end of his life, "there is laid. up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge,
shall give me at that day; and not to me only, but unto all them that love his appearing" (2Ti_4:8). We
shall receive, says St. James, "the crown of life" (Jas_1:12). "When the chief Shepherd shall appear,"
says St. Peter, "ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away" (1Pe_5:4). Such crowns were
seen by the beloved disciple as worn by the elders in the heaven]y region (Rev_4:4), and were promised
to all who should remain "faithful unto death" (Rev_2:10) by him that is "Faithful and True" (Rev_19:11). A
part of the intention of Christ's mission was to purify to himself a people to whom such crowns might
without unfitness be awarded in his heavenly kingdom. The term "crown" is, no doubt, a metaphor; but it
signifies some definite and positive degree of glory, having a substantial value, and forming a proper
object of the Christian's desire.
IX. THE ANNOINTING THEM WITH THE OIL OF JOY. Christ himself was to be "anointed with the oil of
gladness above his fellows" (Psa_45:7). His mission on earth was, in part, to extend the blessing of this
anointing to his disciples. The "oil of gladness," whatever else it may mean, cannot but primarily
symbolize the gift of the Holy Spirit, which is called by St. John an "unction from the Holy One"
(1Jn_2:20), and which was, in fact, the unction wherewith Christ himself was anointed (see the comment
on verse 1). To give the Holy Spirit to Christians was a very main object of his coming. The Spirit was
essential to the sanctification of Christians; and he must "send the Spirit," and he could not send him until
he himself was first "glorified" (Joh_7:39; Joh_16:7). St. Luke tells us how soon after his ascension the
Spirit was given (Act_2:4-33); and our Lord promised that, after he once came, he would abide with the
Church "for ever" (Joh_14:16). Of all the immediate consequences of our Lord's mission the gift of the
Spirit was perhaps the most precious, embracing as it did regeneration, sanctification, comfort, strength,
gladness.
X. THE CAUSING THEM TO BE CALLED, AND THEREFORE TO BE, RIGHTEOUS. All the other
objects had this final end in view. The good tidings were preached, and the brokenhearted healed, and
the captives set free, and the dull of sight given moral discernment, and the acceptable time proclaimed,
and the day of vengeance threatened, and the mourners comforted, and the crowns of glory promised,
and the Holy Spirit given, in order that "oaks of righteousness" might be planted in the garden of the
Lord—that men might burst the bonds of sin, and become righteous, "perfecting holiness in the fear of
God" (2Co_7:1). Christ "gave himself for us," says St. Paul, "that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and
purify to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works" (Tit_2:14). This was the principal object of our
Lord's coming—to "save men from their sins." Other objects were rather means to cuds. This was the
great end. Christianity is a success just so far forth as it weans man from sin, and creates and maintains
in the world a "company of faithful men," who deserve to "be called oaks of righteousness," who
persistently and determinately "eschew evil and do good," who lead holy lives, who "shine like lights in the
world," "adorning the doctrine of God their Saviour in all things" (Tit_2:10).

8. BI, 1-8, “The Speaker; probably the Servant of Jonah
Who is the speaker here?
The Targum prefaces the passage with the words, “The prophet says,” and, except a few, all
modern expositors make the author of this book of consolation to be the speaker who, after
having (in chap. 55.) let the Church behold the summit of her glory, now, with grateful look
directed to Jehovah and rejoicing in spirit, extols his grand commission. But this view is
objectionable, for the following reasons—
1. Nowhere has the prophet yet spoken of himself as such in lengthy utterances, but rather
(except in the closing words, “saith my God, in Isa_57:21) everywhere studiously kept
himself in the background.
2. On the other hand, whenever another than Jehovah began to speak, and made reference
to the work of his calling and his experiences connected therewith (as in Isa_49:1 ff;
Isa_50:4 ff.) it was in such eases this self-same Servant of Jehovah of whom and to whom
Jehovah speaks (see Isa_42:1 ff; Isa_52:13 on to end of 53.).
3. All that the person here speaking says of himself is again met with in the picture of the
one unique Servant of Jehovah; he has been endowed with the Spirit of Jehovah (Isa_42:1);
Jehovah has sent him, and with him sent His Spirit (Isa_48:16); he has a tongue that has
been taught ofGod, to assist with words him who is wearied (Isa_50:4); those whoare almost
despairing and destroyed he goes to spare and save, preserving the broken reed and expiring
wick (Isa_42:3); “to open blind eyes, to lead prisoners out of the prison, those who are
sitting in darkness out of the house of confinement,—this is what, above all, he has to do in
word and deed for his people (Isa_42:7; Isa_49:9).
4. After the prophet has represented the Servant of Jehovah, of whom he prophesies, as
speaking in such dramatic directness (as in Isa_49:1 ff; Isa_50:4 ff., and also 48:16 b.), one
could not expect that he would now place himself in the foreground and claim for himself
official attributes which he has set down as characteristic features in the picture of the
predicted One, who (as Vitringa well says) not merely proclaims but dispenses the new and
great gifts of God. For these reasons we (with Nagelsbach, Cheyne, Driver and Orelli)
consider that the Servant of Jehovah is the speaker here. (F. Delitzch, D. D.)
The speaker: probably the prophet himself
The speaker is not introduced by name. Therefore he may be the prophet himself, or he may be
the Servant. The present expositor, while feeling that the evidence is not conclusive against
either of these . . . inclines to think that there is, on the whole, less objection to its being the
prophet who speaks than to its being the Servant. But it is not a very important question which
is intended, for the Servant was representative of prophecy; and if it be the prophet who speaks
here, he also speaks with the conscience of the whole function and aim of the prophetic order.
That Jesus Christ fulfilled this programme does not decide the question one way or the other;
for a prophet so representative was as much the antetype and foreshadowing of Christ as the
Servant Himself was. On the whole, then, we must be content to feel about this passage, what we
must have already felt about many others in our prophecy, that the writer is more anxious to
place before us the whole range and ideal of the prophetic gift than to make clear in whom this
ideal is realized; and for the rest Jesus of Nazareth so plainly fulfilled it, that it becomes, indeed,
a very minor question to ask whom the writer may have intended as its first application. (Prof.
G. A. Smith, D. D.)

The lofty mission and its great results are not too lofty or great for our prophet, for Jeremiah
received his orifice in terms as large. That the prophet has not yet spoken at such length in his
own person is no reason why he should not do so now, especially as this is an occasion on which
he sums up and enforces the whole range of prophecy. (Prof. G. A. Smith, D. D.)
The Spirit in the Son of man
The fact that Christ’s earthly life became effectual through the ministry of the Holy Spirit within
Him, and not alone through the inherent virtue and power He brought with Him from His pre-
existent state, has become one of the commonplaces of theology; and yet how little do we realize
its true import, and cultivate that humility and dependence of soul which would distinguish us if
the great truth were ever in view! In spite of our formal adhesion to this doctrine, it seems still
strange to us that one whom we think of as holy and Divine should be indebted at every stage of
His earthly life to that inward mystic ministry which is so necessary to us because of our
sinfulness. We speak of the Holy Ghost as a Deliverer from inbred corruption, and are ready to
assume, quite unwarrantably, that where there is no corruption in the nature, the stimulating
forces and fervours of His benign indwelling are needless. We are accustomed to look upon this
ministry, which perpetuates in our souls the saving work of the Lord Jesus, as though it were a
special antidote to human depravity only. For the Spirit to abide moment by moment with Jesus
Christ, and work in His humanity, seems like painting the lily, gilding fine gold, and bleaching
the untrampled snow. But that is a mistaken view. When the universal Church shall have been
built up and consecrated to its high uses, it be “by the Spirit that God will dwell in the temple.
And the temple of Christ’s sacred flesh needed this same indwelling presence. The great
Sanctifier blends the essential forces of His personality into this Divinest type of goodness, to
show that goodness in even the only begotten Son is not self-originated. In the less mature
stages of Christ’s expanding humanity implicit and docile dependence on this inward leading
was the test of His entire acceptability to the Father. (T. G. Selby.)
The Spirit a compensation for the self-emptying of Jesus
The Spirit seems to have been given to compensate for that renunciation of power involved in
the mystery of the incarnation, and as an earnest of its coming restitution. The wonderful works
accomplished by the Son of Man took their rise, not so much in the superhuman qualities of His
personality as in the power of that Spirit with which He was anointed. Although there is no
clearly developed doctrine of the Spirit in the older portions of the Old Testament writings,
Isaiah at least in his day was made to see that the Messianic works of healing and deliverance
and redemption would flow out of that anointing by the Spirit which would single out the elect
Servant of the Lord from His fellows. And Peter enforces the same thought in the household of
Cornelius, declaring how that “God anointed Jesus with the Holy Ghost and with power, who
went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil.” His own experiences in
the Pentecost had taught Peter the secret of his Master’s power. Perhaps the discovery had come
to him through his own recent mastery over the pride and boastfulness of his nature, and may
have helped to confirm him in his new habits of childlike trust upon another. In the days of his
self-sufficiency it would have been quite impossible for Peter to believe that He who had been
supernaturally revealed as the very Son of God, and glorified by a strange transfiguration
splendour that seemed to make Him the fellow of the Most High, should need to achieve His
mighty, works by leaning upon another. Could Peter have been told that his Master’s marvellous

gifts were held upon this tenure, he might have looked upon it as an affront to the Divine dignity
of his hero, and have exclaimed, as about the death of shame, “Be it far from Thee, Lord.”
Sometimes Christ’s miracles are quoted as proofs of His Divine nature. They are certainly proofs
of His Divine authority, but they illustrate the energies of this attending Spirit rather than the
attributes of Christ’s own proper personality. Christ cast out devils and opened prison doors and
raised the dead, but it was by the power of the Holy Ghost alone. The tempter once tried to
induce Him to work in His own strength, in the power of His inherent Godhead, so that He
might undo and reverse the self-renouncing humility of His own incarnation, but in vain. All He
did was in loyalty to this inward Guide who made known to Him the will of the Father and gave
Him power for His appointed tasks. Fools that we are, we attempt much in our own strength,
but the Son in His humiliation received back His infinite forces of life and dominion only
through this Divine messenger from the Father. (T. G.Selby.)
A faithful Gospel ministry
I. THE ANOINTING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT MAKES A SUCCESSFUL GOSPEL MINISTRY. So
it was in Christ’s ministry.
II. THE SUBJECT-MATTER OF ALL FAITHFUL PREACHING.
1. A faithful minister preaches good tidings to all distressed consciences.
2. A faithful pastor comforts mourners in Zion.
3. A faithful watchman preaches a free Saviour to all the world. (R. M.McCheyne.)
A trite ministry
I. THE TRUE MINISTRY IS ALWAYS INSPIRED AND DIRECTED BY THE HOLY GHOST.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me.”
II. THE TRUE MINISTRY IS ANIMATED BY THE SUBLIMEST BENEVOLENCE. If you read
the statement given by the prophet, you will find throughout a tone of kindliness, benevolence,
sympathy, gentleness, pity, for all human sorrow. Therein may be known the true ministry of the
Gospel.
III. THE TRUE MINISTRY, WHETHER PUBLIC OR PRIVATE, NEVER SHRINKS FROM ITS
MORE AWFUL FUNCTIONS. Observe this sentence in the midst of the declarations of the text:
“To proclaim the day of vengeance of our God.” (J. Parker, D. D.)
To preach good tidings unto the meek
Jesus a Preacher of good tidings to the meek
I. THE WORK ITSELF IN WHICH THE SON OF GOD WAS EMPLOYED, and to which He was
called. “To preach good tidings.”
II. THE SPECIAL OBJECT OF THIS PART OF THE WORK. “The meek.” In the parallel place, it
reads “poor,” and the one explains the other. By the meek here is meant the poor in spirit, those
who, as being convinced by the law, have seen themselves to be poor, that they have nothing in
which they could stand before God as righteous, but look on themselves as wretched, and
miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked. And it is remarkable that our Saviour’s Sermon on
the Mount begins with good tidings to such persons (Mat_5:3). Our Lord preached to all who

heard Him promiscuously these good tidings, but in effect they were not good to any but to the
poor in spirit among them. (T. Boston.)
Jesus and the meek
I. CONSIDER THIS MEEKNESS AND POVERTY, AND SHOW WHO ARE THESE MEEK
POOR ONES. This meekness comprehends in it—
1. A pressing sense of utter emptiness in one’s self (Rom_7:18).
2. A pressing sense of sinfulness.
3. A pressing sense of misery by sin. Like the prodigal, they see themselves ready to perish
with hunger. Debt is a heavy burden to an honest heart, and filthiness to one that desires to
be clean. Their poverty presses them down.
4. A sense of utter inability to help one’s self. They find the sting in their conscience, but
cannot draw it out; guilt is a burden, but they cannot throw it off; lusts are strong and
uneasy, but they are not able to master them; and this presses them sore.
5. A sense of the absolute need of a Saviour, and of help from heaven.
6. A sense as to utter unworthiness of the Lord’s help; they see nothing which they have to
recommend them to the Lord’s help.
7. An earnest desire as to the supply of soul-wants (Mat_5:6).
8. A hearty contentment in submitting to any method of help which the Lord prescribes.
II. EXPLAIN THE GOOD TIDINGS OF THE GOSPEL, AND SHOW THAT THEY ARE GOOD
AND WELCOME TIDINGS TO SUCH PERSONS.
1. Gospel tidings are tidings of a complete salvation.
2. These tidings relate to a redemption, to a ransom paid (Gal_3:13).
3. To an indemnity, a pardon to criminals who will come to Jesus (Act_13:38-39).
4. To a glorious Physician of souls, who never fails to cure HIS patients.
5. These tidings are the tidings of a feast (Isa_25:6; Isa_55:2; Psa_22:26).
6. These tidings relate to a treasure (2Co_4:7).
7. To a marriage, a most happy match for poor sinners (Hos_2:19-20).
8. To a glorious victory (Isa_25:8; Rev_3:21).
9. To a most desirable peace (Eph_2:14).
III. SHOW HOW THIS GREAT WORK OF PREACHING IS, AND HATH BEEN, PERFORMED
BY CHRIST.
1. He performed this work under the Old Testament dispensation,
(1) Personally, by Himself in paradise (Gen_3:15).
(2) By His ambassador, in HIS name, the prophets, and ordinary teachers.
(3) By His written Word.
2. He preached, and preaches, under the New Testament dispensation.

(1) By His own personal preaching in the days of His flesh, when He went about among
the Jews, preaching to them as the Minister of the circumcision (Rom_15:8).
(2) By inspiring His apostles to preach and write the doctrines of salvation contained in
the New Testament, on whom He poured out His Spirit, and by their writings, they being
dead, yet speak to us from Him and by Him.
(3) By raising up and continuing always a Gospel ministry in the Church Eph_4:11-13;
Mat_28:20). (T. Boston.)
To bind up the broken-hearted
Jesus binds up the broken-hearted
I. INQUIRE WHAT IS THAT BROKENNESS OF HEART WHICH IS HERE MEANT. The
broken-heartedness is of two kinds.
1. Natural, arising from natural and carnal causes merely, which worketh 2Co_7:10). Many
who arc very whole-hearted in respect of sin, complain that their hearts and spirits are
broken by their crosses, afflictions, and ill-usage which they meet with in the world. Thus
Ahab, Haman, and Nabal, their hearts were broken with their respective crosses.
2. Religious, which arises from religious causes, namely, sin and its consequences. There is a
twofold religious breaking of heart.
(1) A mere legal one (Jer_23:29). When the heart is broken by the mere force of the law,
it is broken as a rock in pieces by a hammer, each part remaining hard and rocky still.
This breaks the heart for sin, but not from it.
(2) An evangelical one, when not only the law does its part, but the Gospel also breaks
the sinner’s heart (Zec_12:10).
II. INQUIRE WHAT IT IS IN AND ABOUT SIN WHICH BREAKS THE MAN’S HEART, WHO
IS THUS EVANGELICALLY BROKEN-HEARTED. There is—
1. The guilt of sin, by which he is bound over to the wrath of God.
2. The domineering power of sin, or its tyranny, by which he is led captive to 2:3. The
contrariety which is in sin to the holy nature and law of God.
4. The indwelling of sin, and, its cleaving so close to a person that he cannot shake it off
(Rom_7:24).
5. Sin’s mixing itself with all he does, even with his best duties Rom_7:21).
6. Frequent backslidings (Jer_31:18).
7. Desertions, hiding of the Lord’s face, and interruptions of the soul’s communion with God
(Isa_54:6; Lam_3:18; Lam_3:44).
8. A Christian’s sinfulness, with the bitter fruits springing from his sin Rom_7:19).
III. SHOW WHAT SORT OF A HEART A BROKEN HEART IS.
1. It is a contrite or bruised heart (Psa_51:17). Not only broken in pieces like a rock, but
broken to powder, and so fit to receive any impression. The heart is now kindly broken and
bruised betwixt the upper and nether mill-stones; the upper mill-stone of the law, a sense of
God’s wrath against sin; and the nether millstone of the Gospel, of Divine love, mercy, and
favour, manifested in word and providences.

2. An aching heart (Act_2:37).
3. A shameful heart (Ezr_9:6; Psa_40:12).
4. A tender heart (Eze_36:26).
5. A rent heart (Joe_2:13).
6. A pliable heart.
7. A humble heart (Isa_57:15).
IV. SHOW HOW THE LORD CHRIST BINDS UP AND HEALS THE BROKEN-HEARTED. The
great Physician uses two sorts of bands for a broken heart: He binds them up with inner and
with outward bands.
1. With inner bands, which go nearest the sore, the pained broken heart. And these are two.
(1) The Spirit of adoption.
(2) Faith in Christ (the band of the covenant), which He works in the heart by His Spirit.
Faith is a healing band, for it knits the soul.
2. Outward bands. There are also two.
(1) His own word, especially the promises of the Gospel.
(2) His own seals of the covenant (Act_2:38). (T. Boston.)
Jesus and the broken-hearted
I. THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF BROKEN HEARTS—THE NATURAL AND THE SPIRITUAL.
They may be united. Often they are divided. Every broken heart becomes the subject of Jesus’
care, and is dear to Him, if for no other reason in the world but for this—because it is unhappy.
II. CHRIST WAS HIMSELF WELL TRAINED IN THE SCHOOL OF SUFFERING HEARTS,
THAT HE MIGHT LEARN TO BIND THE MOURNERS. All which goes to break men’s hearts
He felt. No wonder, then, that the bindings are what they are.
1. Delicate.
2. Very wise.
3. Sure and thorough.
There is no such thing as a half-cure in that treatment. No heart which has not known a breaking
knows, indeed, what strength is. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
A broken heart
Many things are valuable when whole, which, being broken, are little worth; but it is otherwise
with the human heart. (R. Macculloch.)
To proclaim liberty to the captives
Jesus proclaims liberty to the captives
I. MEN’S NATURAL STATE. A state of captivity. They are captives to Satan 2Ti_2:26).

II. CHRIST’S WORK WITH RESPECT TO THEM. To proclaim liberty to them. (T. Boston.)
Liberty for Satan’s captives
I. SINNERS IN THEIR UNREGENERATE STATE ARE SATAN’S CAPTIVES.
II. JESUS CHRIST, WITH THE EXPRESS CONSENT OF HIS FATHER, HAS ISSUED HIS
ROYAL PROCLAMATION OF LIBERTY TO SATAN’S CAPTIVES. (R. Macculloch.)
The sinner’s captivity
The properties of it. It is—
1. A spiritual captivity, a captivity of the soul.
2. Universal. It extends to all the powers and faculties of the soul, the inner marl.
3. A hard and sore captivity.
4. A perpetual captivity. This conqueror will never quit his captives, unless they be taken
from him by Almighty power.
5. A voluntary captivity, and thus the more hopeless. Though they were taken in war, and
born captives, yet now he is their master by their own consent and choice, while they choose
to serve the devil, and cannot be brought to give themselves to the Lord. It is a bewitching
captivity. (R. Macculloch.)
The Gospel proclamation
1. It is a jubilee proclamation (Lev_25:10).
2. It is a conqueror’s proclamation to captives. Satan warred against mankind, he carried
them all captive into his own kingdom; and there was none to deliver out of his hand. But
King Jesus had engaged him, routed all his forces, overturned his kingdom, and taken the
kingdom to Himself Col_2:15; 1Jn_3:8). And now being settled on His throne, His royal
proclamation is issued, that Satan’s captives may again return into the kingdom of God. (R.
Macculloch.)
Liberty to the captive.
Our Lord Himself directs us to consider Him as speaking in these words.
I. THE DEPLORABLE OBJECTS HE REGARDS. Captives. This slavery—
1. So universal as to our species.
2. Dreadful in its operations upon the individual. Voluntary, and submitted to as though it
were a blessing rather than a curse.
4. Diversified as to the degree of its influence and the manner of its operations.
5. Cruel in its present effects and inconceivably more wretched in its final results. Men are
guilty as well as enslaved.

II. THE GRACIOUS DESIGN OF THE OFFICE WHICH HE SUSTAINS. To effect deliverance
for the captives. To this He is consecrated by the Spirit of the Lord.
1. By Him the claims of justice are perfectly satisfied.
2. Christ dissolves or breaks the power which leads us captive.
3. He induces the captive to accept deliverance when it is offered to him.
4. He renders their deliverance permanent, and prevents them from being again entangled
in the yoke of bondage.
III. THE CORRESPONDING MANNER IN WHICH HIS GRACIOUS DESIGN IS TO BE MADE
KNOWN. By proclamation.
1. It indicates that His office and its design are to be made universally known.
2. It is intended to excite universal attention—to create the most deep and lively interest. It
is a proclamation which at once demands and deserves attention.
3. It shows that deliverance is to be effected in a way perfectly consistent with the freedom of
human agency.
4. It is in such a way as to secure the glory of their deliverance to Him who thus proclaims it.
(Essex Congregational Remembrancer.)
Jesus the Liberator
It is a blessed name of Jesus, and as true as it is blessed—the Liberator. We can scarcely
conceive anything grander, or more delightful, than to be always going about making everything
free. To this end, Christ first liberated Himself.
1. As in Him there was no sin, He never indeed could know the worst of all bondage—the
bondage of the spirit to the flesh. But He did know the restraints of fear; He did feel the
harassing of indecision; He did experience the irksomeness of the sense of a body too narrow
for the largeness of His soul; and He did go through the contractions of all that is material,
and the mortifying conventionalities of life—for He was hungry, thirsty, weary, sad, and the
sport of fools. From all this Christ freed Himself—distinctly, progressively, He freed Himself.
Step by step, He led captivity captive. He made for Himself a spiritual body which, in its own
nature, and by the law of its being, soared at once beyond the trammels of humanity.
Therefore He is the Liberator, because He was once Himself the Prisoner.
2. And all Christ did, and all Christ was, upon this earth—His whole mission—was
essentially either to teach or to give liberty. His preaching was, for the most part, to change
the constraint of law into the largeness of love. Every word He said, in private or in public,
proved expansion.
3. When Christ burst through all the tombs—the moral tombs and the physical tombs in
which we all lay buried—and when He went out into life and glory, He was not Himself
alone—He was at that moment the covenanted Head of a mystical body, and all that body
rose with Him. If so be you have union with Christ, you are risen; bondage is past; you are
free. (J. Vaughan, M. A.)
The opening of the prison to them that are bound
Sinners worse than captives

1. They are also prisoners. Every captive is not a prisoner, but all natural men, being Satan’s
captives, are held prisoners.
2. They are prisoners in chains, bound in the prison.
3. They are blinded too in their prison (compare Luk_4:18). It was a custom much used in
the Eastern nations to put out the eyes of some of their prisoners, adding this misery to their
imprisonment. So the Philistines did with Samson (Jdg_16:21); and. Nebuchadnezzar with
Zedekiah2Ki 25:7). This, in a spiritual sense, is the case of all prisoners in their natural state.
(T. Boston.)
Causes of sinners’ imprisonment
1. As debtors to Divine justice.
2. As malefactors condemned in law (Joh_3:18). (T. Boston.)
Satan’s bands
1. The band of prejudices.
2. Of ill company.
3. Of earthly-mindedness.
4. Of unbelief.
5. Of slothfulness.
6. Of delays (Act_24:25).
7. Of delusion (Isa_44:20; Rev_3:17).
8. Of divers lusts (2Ti_3:6). (T. Boston.)
Isaiah 61:2
To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord
The year of Jubilee
It may be profitable to trace out the analogies between the year of jubilee which rejoiced the
hearts of Israel, and that more comprehensive era of which it was broadly typical, and which was
to bring gladness to all peoples unto the end of the dispensation, when the loving ministry of
God is finished.
1. The Jewish jubilee commenced at the close of the day of atonement. Is not this a very true
type of the way in which spiritual blessings are exclusively introduced to mankind? There
can be no jubilee for us, a race of lost and guilty rebels taken in arms, traitors convicted of
treason, unless an all-prevalent atonement had previously purchased our pardon.

2. There was rest from exhausting labour. By a providential arrangement similar to that
which secured a double supply of manna on the sixth day, the land had unusual fertility in
the sixth year, so that in the seventh, which was the ordinary, and in the fiftieth, which was
the special sabbatical year, there was a suspension of the common duties of husbandry. Both
the land and labourers had rest, and yet the supply did not fail, for there was plenty in every
barn, and there was gladness in every heart. And, in a spiritual sense, is not rest for the
weary just what our spirits so fervently require—just what the Gospel has been itself inspired
to provide
3. The next blessing pertaining to the year of jubilee was the restoration of alienated
property. When a man, through misfortune or extravagance, had contracted liabilities that
were beyond his means, and had sold his possessions to discharge them, if he were not
himself able to redeem them, and if none of his kindred were at once wealthy and willing,
these possessions remained as the property of the creditor until the year of jubilee, and then
it was provided by the law that they should return to him who had parted from them for a
season. We, the whole race of us, had a bright inheritance once—God’s favour, God’s
fellowship, God’s image, all were ours by birth—but, alas! we alienated it by sin. We are not
ourselves able to redeem it. But, through infinite compassion, this our inheritance has not
been suffered to pass out of the family. Christ our kinsman, our elder brother, has paid down
the price, and has rescued this our heritage from the fangs of the harpies who would fain
have usurped it for their own. We had sold our birthright as a common thing, but it has been
redeemed, and it is offered to us without a price by a love that is surely without parallel. The
acceptable year did dawn upon the world indeed when it witnessed the birth of the Messiah,
and that sun, like that of Gideon, stood still at His bidding, and hasted not to go down until
now.
4. Another blessing which is mentioned in the history is the restoration of freedom. It seems
to have been a custom among the Hebrews, as among other Eastern nations, for a debtor
who had become hopelessly involved to sell himself to his creditors, in order that by his
personal service he might discharge the debt that he was otherwise unable to pay. Of course,
it was provided that for the amelioration of his condition, and for its termination in the year
of jubilee, the man was not to be a slave, but a hired servant and a soldier, and he was to
remain until the year of jubilee, and then he and his children should all go out and return
unto their possession. All sinners are in bondage, bound with the chain of their sins, led
captive by the devil at his will. How I delight to proclaim it in your hearing, “The year of
jubilee is come.” If the Son make you free, ye shall be free indeed. (W. M. Punshon.)
No light without a shadow
There is a tremendous alternative before men—acceptation or vengeance. When we speak of
vengeance in this connection, and as a Divine act, it must be understood not in a malignant and
revengeful sense, but in a judicial. It must be regarded as an act of eternal justice. We propose to
interrogate Nature and ask her what she has to tell us of this alternative. We would greatly
prefer to present Christ as the light of the world, but we know of no light without a shadow.
Observe, however, the terms in which the light and the shadow are expressed in the prophet’s
language. It is the “year” of acceptation, and only the “day” of vengeance. This is a very natural
description. The light always attracts us most: we scarcely think of the shadow. The idea of hell
is in accordance with the laws of nature, and cannot be eliminated from thought.
I. ANTITHESES BELONG TO THE FUNDAMENTAL NATURE OF THINGS; HENCE, ARE TO
BE FOUND EVEN IN FINALITIES. All positive things involve a corresponding negative; and are
comprehensible only by contrast with their negative. If you paint a picture all white, you have

nothing but a white washed canvas and no picture; it is only by contrast between lights and
shadows that you can give it expression and form. What is there in the world that has not its
corresponding negative? If there is light there is also darkness; if there is height there is also
depth; if there is joy there is also sorrow; if there is perfection there is also deformity; if there is
beauty there is also ugliness; if there is upward there is also downward; if there is heat there is
also cold; if there is good tilers is also bad; if there is reward there is also punishment; if there is
heaven there is also hell.
II. ALTERNATIVES ARE NECESSARY TO MORAL BEINGS. A moral being is one who has
power of choice; and there can be no choice except as between alternatives. Our whole life is a
choosing between alternatives. It would then, indeed, be singular if this choice was only possible
in matters of secondary importance, but eliminated from matters of the highest importance. If
there is no alternative over against heaven, then heaven is not a matter of choice; if not matter of
choice, then it must be arbitrarily conferred, and, there being no alternative, it must of necessity
be conferred arbitrarily upon good and bad alike.
III. THE LAW OF CONSEQUENCES REVEALS A HELL. Who can compute the consequences
of an act? It may be but momentary, yet consequences of the most momentous character are
entailed upon the world.
IV. THE LAW OF GROWTH REVEALS A HELL. Growth is of two kinds: by assimilation of
things without, and by development from within: the first, scientific people call by involution;
the second, by evolution. Sin grows, and grows by this double process. It assimilates with itself
the elements of evil around it. This is the law of its existence, which forecloses any prospect of
remedy from within. Moreover, sin grows by evolution. Sin propagates, and it propagates
nothing but itself. Hence it cannot become extinct. It must propagate itself in the soul for ever
unless some external power shall eliminate it. It cannot outgrow itself. The soul, therefore,
which is identified with sin, must partake of this eternal process. That there is an external
remedy we will confess: but we can readily perceive that the growing processes of sin must more
and more repel this remedy. The history of a sinning soul, then, unfolds an ever-diminishing
hope of reclamation.
V. THE EVIDENT TENDENCY OF CHARACTER TO ASSUME STABILITY IS INDICATIVE OF
A HELL. This final stability is what we call second nature—the outcome and ultimate form of the
plastic powers of the soul. Hence the welfare of the creature demands a limited probation. Man’s
happiness demands that he should be able to work towards an assured future: but the laws
which facilitate stability in goodness must also facilitate stability in evil. Hence it will be seen
why it is that the ambassadors of God are for ever proclaiming: “Now is the day of salvation,”
and warning you to “seek the Lord while He may be found.” Hence it is we are telling you that
the fittest time for giving yourselves to God is in your youth.
VI. CONCLUSION. Nature has told us there is a hell. Thus nature is a school-master to bring us
to Christ. (Southern Pulpit.)
Proclamation of acceptance and vengeance
Notice well the expression, “to proclaim, because a proclamation is the message of a king, and
where the word of a king is there is power. The Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to
announce the will of the King of kings. Nor let it be forgotten that a proclamation must be
treated with profound respect, not merely by receiving attention to its contents, but by gaining
obedience to its demands. There are three points in the proclamation worthy of our best
attention.

I. JESUS PROCLAIMS THE ACCEPTABLE YEAR OF THE LORD. There can be very little
question that this relates to the jubilee year. The reason for all the jubilee blessings was found in
the Lord.
II. THE DAY OF VENGEANCE OF OUR GOD.
1. Whenever there is a day of mercy to those who believe, it is always a day of responsibility
to those who reject it, and if they continue in that state it is a day of increased wrath to
unbelievers.
2. Another meaning of the text comes out in the fact that there is appointed a day of
vengeance for all the enemies of Christ, and this will happen in that bright future day for
which we are looking.
3. However, I consider that the chief meaning of the text lies in this—that “the day of
vengeance of our God” was that day when He made all the trangressions of His people to
meet upon the head of our great Surety.
Look at the instructive type by which this truth was taught to Israel of old. The year of jubilee
began with the day of atonement.
4. The day of vengeance, then, is intimately connected with the year of acceptance; and
mark, they must be so connected experimentally in the heart of all God’s people by the
teaching of the Holy Ghost, for whenever Christ comes to make us live, the law comes first to
kill us.
III. THE COMFORT FOR MOURNERS DERIVABLE FROM BOTH THESE THINGS. “To
comfort all that mourn.” Oh, ye mourners, what joy is here, joy because this is the year of
acceptance, and in the year of acceptance, or jubilee, men were set free and their lands were
restored without money. No man ever paid a penny of redemption money on the jubilee
morning: every man was free simply because jubilee was proclaimed: no merit was demanded,
no demur was offered, no delay allowed, no dispute permitted. Jubilee came, and the bondman
was free. And now, to-day, whosoever believeth in Jesus is saved, pardoned, freed, without
money, without merit, without preparation, simply because believeth. An equal joy-note rings
out from the other sentence concerning the day of vengeance. I f the day of vengeance took place
when our Lord died, then it is over. (C. H.Spurgeon.)
Preaching God’s judgment on sin
A member of the congregation, at the close of a sermon that lasted for an hour, and had been
preached amid a stillness most painful, nothing heard but the tones of the preacher, and during
the pauses the ticking of the clock—a sermon on the sad and awful issues of a sinful life, and the
glory and the joy of a life lived in Christ—and, if Dr. Dale intends to preach like that I shall not
come and hear him, for I cannot stand it; it goes through me.” I spoke to Dr. Dale afterwards
about the stillness and said it was simply awful. “Ah! yes, he said; “but it was more awful to me;
it is hard to preach like that, but it must be done.” (Gee. Barber, in Dr. Dale’s Life.)
To comfort all that mourn
Tears dried
Some seek to comfort by telling us that sorrow is wrong. They say that we should be brave and
not allow our feelings to become so deep. It is true there may be excessive grief, and so grief may
become sinful. But to say that we must not sorrow is to try to induce us to outrage our nature

and to deprive us of one of the most effectual means whereby God educates and purifies. Christ
is not come to deliver us from suffering, but to enable us to derive good from the suffering. How
does Christ “comfort all that mourn”?
I. BY HIMSELF BECOMING THE SUFFERER FOR US, TO TAKE AWAY SIN. Christ bore the
curse of it for us, and in doing this He removed the root of our mourning.
II. BY HIS SYMPATHY. He feels with us and for us, and by oneness with us in sorrow gives us
comfort. Sympathy means suffering along with another. Job spoke of it when he said, “Did I not
weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?”
III. By showing us THE ORIGIN AND PURPOSE OF SUFFERING. Nowhere except in God’s
revelation in Christ do we learn how and why affliction and sorrow come upon us. Our Lord
Jesus Christ explains all. And His explanation goes down to the very root of the matter.
Suffering is necessary in order that we enter into the fulness of God’s love in the gift of His Son.
He who has received Christ as his Saviour is instructed, sanctified, made more meet for the
Master’s use, becomes more heavenly minded, by means of all the affliction through which his
Heavenly Father causes him to pass. To suffer in Christ is to live more deeply. “Love and sorrow
are the two conditions of a profound life.”
IV. BY ASSURING THOSE WHO BELIEVE THAT THEY SHALL BE EVERLASTINGLY WITH
HIM TO BEHOLD HIS GLORY. We learn—
1. That the comfort Christ imparts is effectual. It is not limited or partial. See how fully this
is set forth in the passage with which the text is connected. What variety of imagery is used
to picture to us the fulness and perfection of the remedy Christ brings for human guilt and
misery. The healing He effects is for our whole nature, for heart, mind and conscience. He
completely redeems and blesses.
2. The comfort Christ gives is enduring. It is no momentary or temporary assuaging of grief.
It will never fail, it will increase in its influence and power.
3. The comfort Christ bestows is offered to all and is adapted to all. “To comfort all that
mourn.” “All ye that labour,” etc. Whatever burden, whatever sorrow, there is in Him
comfort for all. (G. W.Humphreys, B. A.)
8. SBC 1-3, “Observe the breadth and comprehensiveness of this great announcement. It includes
all forms and classes of sorrow: "the poor"—the world’s sad and uniform majority; "the
brokenhearted"—all the children of sorrow; "the captives"—all upon whose soul ignorance or sin
had bound fetters; "the blind "—all who were insensible to the light and joy with which Christ’s
mercy had filled the world. He came to teach all who needed teaching, to heal all who needed
healing, to liberate all who were deprived of freedom. The misery that selfish men traded on,
that sentimental pity turned away from because it could not bear to look upon it, His strong,
healthy compassion went amongst; His hand was firm as His heart was tender. He had no
professional narrowness that excluded the pariahs of life. He assumed no Pharisaic superiority.
He seemed as if unconscious of Himself—a pure, ministering angel of God, bent only upon
pitying and saving others. Let us distinctly note His principles and motives.
I. Can we suppose that His natural tastes and sympathies were not hurt by such association? He
had no preference for squalor and poverty and misery for their own sakes. We may be sure that
all the human sensibilities and refinements of our Lord would be jarred and pained by His
contact with the poor, and yet we never hear of Him borrowing an excuse from His sensibilities.
II. Nor can we think of Him as insensible to the vices, the moral loathsomeness, of those to
whom He ministered. His sinless sensitive soul came into direct contact with the world’s

reprobates, whose every word was a blasphemy and every act a sin. He subjected Himself to the
unspeakable moral anguish of this: "endured the contradiction of sinners against Himself."
III. Nor did He throw the glamour of romance about the vices of the poor. He spake to them,
and of them, with a calm, clear, righteous judgment, without favour and without partiality. They
were not interesting because they were wicked. His pity was perfectly holy. Their misery touched
not His sentimentalism, but His deep, strong, holy compassion.
IV. In proclaiming His mission to the poor, our Lord began at the root of the world’s misery and
sin. All the mightiest social influences come from beneath, upwards. If we would make the tree
good, we must mend its root, not its upper branches. The religious system which is strong
enough and purifying enough to sanctify the poor will thereby most effectually influence the
rich.
H. Allon, Sermons at the Dedication of Union Chapel, Islington, p. 175.
I. The text declares that the true ministry is always inspired and directed by the Holy Ghost.
"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me." The minister does not speak in his own name, or work
in his own strength. A ministry without the Holy Ghost is a cloud without water; a Church
without the Holy Ghost is a tree twice dead, that cannot too soon be plucked up by the roots.
That our service may be animated by the Holy Spirit, and should express Divine ideas and
purposes, is clear from the consideration that ours is not an earthly ministry contemplating
earthly matters. When we are working not for this world only, but for worlds we have never
seen, and which have been revealed to us by a Spirit which is not of this world, we have to be
careful that we work not in our own strength or after our own imagination, but clearly, steadily,
and constantly along the line of Divine inspiration.
II. The text shows us that the true ministry is animated by the sublimest benevolence. If you
read the statement given by the prophet, you will find throughout the statement a tone of
kindliness, benevolence, sympathy, gentleness, pity, for all human sorrow. Therein may be
known the true ministry of the Gospel. Suspect every ministry that is gloomy. The keynote of the
Gospel is joy; the watchword of the Gospel is liberty. Any ministry, public or private, that
increases our gloom is a ministry that never came out of yonder central Light that is the light of
the universe.
III. The text shows that the true ministry, whether public or private, never shrinks from its more
awful functions. Observe this sentence in the midst of the declarations of the text: "To proclaim
the day of vengeance of our God." There must yet be a day of vengeance in human history.
Without a day of vengeance human history would not be merely poetically incomplete, but
morally imperfect.
Parker, City Temple, 1870, p. 397.
References: Isa_61:2.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxiii., No. 1369; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. v.,
p. 44, and vol. ix., p. 50.
8. Charles Simeon, “CHRIST’S COMMISSION
Isa_61:1-3. The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good
tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the

day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mount in Zion, to give
unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.
IMPORTANT as these words evidently are on account of the blessed truths contained in them, they come
recommended to us with double force, from their having been made the subject of our Lord’s first
discourse after his entrance on his prophetic office. The interpretation of them, which he has suggested,
leaves us no doubt respecting the propriety of applying them to him [Note: Luk_4:17-22.]. While therefore
we “begin at this Scripture, and preach unto you Jesus,” we may truly say, “This day is this Scripture
fulfilled in your ears.” May the rehearsal of it excite amongst us, not merely a transient admiration, but a
deep and permanent desire to enjoy the blessings revealed in it. The prophet, speaking of the Messiah,
declares,
I. His call to his office—
Our Lord was consecrated to his prophetic office by a visible unction of the Holy Spirit.
[As the priests and kings were separated to their respective offices by pouring oil upon their heads, so, on
some occasions, were the prophets also [Note: 1Ki_19:16.]. Our Lord, who, in all his offices, infinitely
excelled all that had gone before him, was consecrated by an unction, of which the anointing oil was but a
type and shadow. “The Spirit of the Lord God” was poured out upon him at the time of his baptism; and
the descent of the Spirit in a visible shape, like a dove, upon him, marked him as divinely commissioned
to execute the work and office of the Messiah [Note: Joh_1:32-34.]. Indeed, he was called Messiah, and
Christ, from that very circumstance of his being “anointed with the oil of gladness above all that ever had
partaken” of that heavenly gift [Note: Ô ï ὺ ò ì å ô ü ÷ ï õ ò ó ï õ . Heb_1:9. withPsa_45:7.].]
By that unction too he was qualified for the discharge of the office committed to him.
[Though, as God, our Saviour was incapable of improvement, yet, as man, “he grew in wisdom as he
grew in stature,” and needed to be furnished with those gifts and graces, which were proper for the
discharge of his mediatorial office. Accordingly we read, that the “Spirit was given to him, not by
measure,” as to other prophets, but in all his fulness [Note: Joh_3:34.]; and that it rested on him as a spirit
of wisdom and understanding, a spirit of counsel and of might, a spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the
Lord [Note: Isa_11:2-3.]. Thus was he both called and qualified at the same time: for though he was
destined for his work from eternity, and prepared for it from his first conception in the virgin’s womb, yet
were not his qualifications completed till the great seal of heaven was affixed to his commission, and he
was openly consecrated to the service of God.]
The prophet proceeds to open at large,
II. The commission given him—
The terms, in which his commission are expressed, have especial reference to the jubilees that were
proclaimed every fiftieth year. He was sent,
1. To offer salvation to all who needed it—
[At the time of jubilee all who had by any means been reduced to sell their estates, and to surrender up
themselves and families as slaves to their creditors, were liberated from their bondage, and restored to

the full possession of their inheritance, the very instant the trumpet sounded
[Note: Lev_25:10; Lev_25:41]. The Gospel is that trumpet, and it proclaims “liberty to the captives, and
the opening of the prison to them that are bound;” and our Lord’s office was to sound this trumpet, to
announce these glad tidings, to declare that this acceptable year was arrived, and that the “day” was
come wherein God would take “vengeance” on all their enemies and oppressors. These are glad tidings
indeed to those who are sensible of their bondage to sin and Satan, and who know that they have sold
the inheritance of heaven for the pleasures of sin: but to those who are unconscious of their guilt and
misery, the sound of the trumpet seems an empty noise, or rather, an insult, as implying a state of
degradation, which they do not feel and will not acknowledge. Hence our Lord’s commission, though
extending to all, was more particularly to “the meek:” for it is to them only, who are humbled under their
wretched condition, that the offer of a free salvation contains any welcome news.]
2. To impart salvation to all who desired it—
[To “the broken hearted, and the mourners in Zion” he came to “appoint” and to “give” the blessings they
desired. He was expected as “the consolation of Israel;” and, in that character, he particularly appeared.
Were any bowed down with “a spirit of heaviness,” and “mourning in” dust and “ashes!” he came to “bind
up their broken hearts,” and to exhilarate their souls; that they might be comforted, and become as
persons anointed with oil, and arrayed in gayest apparel for some great festivity [Note: There is in the
original a paronomasia which cannot be expressed in a translation; he will give Phear for Ephar, that is,
“beauty for ashes.”]. We may conceive the feelings of a man who in one instant has been restored, from
the lowest degree of servitude and want, to affluence and honour; but we must experience the
blessedness of salvation, before we can form any adequate idea of the joy and gladness which Christ
infuses into the contrite and believing soul.]
Thus far our Lord himself applied the passage: but the prophet adds,
III. The ends for which he executes this commission—
Our Lord in every part of his work connected two great ends:
1. The benefit of man—
[Though “once we were planted a noble vine, we are become the degenerate plants of a strange vine;
and instead of producing good fruit, we bring forth nothing but grapes of Sodom, and clusters of
Gomorrha [Note: Jer_2:21. Deu_32:32.].” But Christ desires to rectify our fallen nature, and to make us
“trees of righteousness;” that, “instead of the thorn may come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier the
myrtle-tree [Note: Isa_55:13.],” that so we may be as trees “planted and watered by the hand of God.”
This was the end of his mission; and it is invariably the effect of his ministration. Let us only view the
converts on the day of Pentecost, and in them we shall behold a just specimen of the effects produced by
the preached Gospel: and, to whomsoever the word of Christ comes with power, the same blessings are
given; they are transplanted from the wilderness into the garden of the Lord, and “they have their fruit
unto holiness, and their end everlasting life.”]
2. The glory of God—
[This could not but be the great end which Jesus ever had in view: he had sinned if there had been any
consideration in his mind superior or even comparable to this. And how well was his commission
calculated to promote it! View him as undertaking our cause, and coming from heaven to redeem us; can

we fail of admiring the love and condescension of that God who sent him? Hear the tidings he proclaims;
a full, a free, an everlasting salvation to perishing sinners: are we not filled with wonder at such
stupendous mercy? See the myriads whose broken hearts he has healed; see them rejoicing on earth, or
shouting their hallelujahs in heaven; are we not ready to clap our hands for joy, and to break forth into
acclamations and hosannahs? There is not any part of Christ’s work, whether as performed by him, or
enjoyed by us, but what calls upon us to glorify God with our whole hearts: and to all eternity will the
praises of God resound from myriads of the redeemed, who, with united voices will exclaim, “Blessing,
and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and
ever [Note: Rev_5:13.].]
This subject may be improved,
1. For conviction—
[All profess to hope for salvation through Christ, even though they be insensible of their lost and helpless
state. But, if it be to the meek, the mourners, and the broken-hearted, that Christ came, what can they
have to do with him, whose hearts are whole, and who are unhumbled before him? “They that are whole
need not a physician, but they that are sick: nor did he come to call the righteous (those who fancy
themselves righteous), but sinners to repentance.” Let none then expect to participate his salvation,
unless they feel their need of it, and consent to receive it as his free unmerited gift.]
2. For consolation—
[They who are sensible that they have sold heaven and their own souls “for a thing of nought,” are ready
to say, “Can such a lawful captive ever be delivered [Note: Isa_49:24-25.]?” We answer, You may
instantly cast off your bonds and assert your liberty, if you will but accept the preferred mercy. Only
believe in Christ, and the forfeited inheritance of heaven shall be yours. Arise then, and sing, thou that
sittest in the dust; put off thy sackcloth, and gird thee with gladness. Be not afraid, us though the tidings
were too good to be true: the jubilee is come, and the trumpet now sounds by the command of God
himself: you have not to pay any thing for your deliverance; but to receive it freely: you have nothing to
fear from your enemies; for “the day of God’s vengeance is come,” and he will bruise all your enemies
under your feet. Let but these tidings sink into your hearts; and God will glorify himself in your eternal
happiness.]
9. GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE, “As we speak of the “The Lord’s Prayer” we may call this “The
Lord’s Sermon.” He adopted it as His own (Luk_4:16-22) as He did not the Lord’s Prayer. It is the model
of all sermons. It contains all that a sermon need or can contain—(1) The Audience, (2) the Message, (3)
the Preacher.
I
The Audience

There are four classes.
1. The meek, or “the poor.”—It is the same word that is applied to Moses in Num_12:3, and it means the
opposite of self-seeking. In Luk_4:18 it is given as “the poor,” the same word being used as Jesus uses
when He says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Mat_5:3). “Blessed be ye poor” (Luk_6:20). Perhaps its
meaning is best expressed by the phrase, “poor and needy.” The “poor” may not be blessed as such, and
the rich may; but the poor are more likely to be blessed because more likely to feel their need. It is a
gospel to them that need and know it. It is for all the young, all the helpless, all but the self-sufficient.
The Hebrew word has just a shade of ambiguity between “poor” simply and “poor in spirit,” and we can
easily imagine it susceptible of both renderings. It is a word, too, which comes into one of those central
passages of the Old Testament which our Lord took up most directly as His own teaching. It will be
observed that, in the Revised Version of Isa_61:1, the old rendering is retained: “The spirit of the Lord
God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek”: but “poor” is
given in the margin as an alternative for “meek”; and in the quotation of this passage in St. Luk_4:18,
“poor” “is the rendering both in the Greek and in the English. In Psa_9:18, “The expectation of the poor
shall not perish for ever,” the Revised Version has “poor” in the text, “meek” in the margin. There can be
little doubt that the Hebrew (or Aramaic) corresponding to this was the word originally used in the first
beatitude, and that the evangelist has represented it to us by an apt and just paraphrase.
1 [Note: W. Sanday in
The Expositor, 4th series, iii. p. 313.]
When ‘ânâw is translated “the poor” or “the afflicted, oppressed,” or “the helpless, the meek,” its exact
significance will be best understood if we bear in mind the traits in the character of the toil-worn man, his
poverty of spirit, his slowness to insist upon his rights, his patient forbearance, his long enduring of any
number of wrongs. It may be said that this is introducing into the slow-moving, tranquil Eastern world the
conditions of life which pertain only to Western civilisation. But an enslaved nation, as the Israelites were
more than once in the earlier part of their history, would be likely to know something of the wearing effect
of laborious toil on both the body and the mind, and that knowledge has left its impression on the plastic
surface of their language.
2 [Note: A. T. Burbridge in The Preacher’s Magazine, 1901, p. 542.]
The Rev. Thomas Guthrie, fresh from his Forfarshire parish, bounded by the restless North Sea, with
singing larks and decent peasants, looked down through the iron gratings on George iv. Bridge on the
one he had come to cultivate. It was before the age of the City Improvement Commission, and the
Cowgate showed battered humanity in a state not now visible there. High-flatted houses, each having the
population of a village, with windows innocent of glass and stuffed with dirty rags, some of these
tenements were the scene of domestic tragedies, for in one of their upper flats five families had been
made fatherless through the fever. But the dwellers did not mind, for Guthrie noted women lying over
window-sills, and others at close mouths with children in arms, chaffing passers-by, or screaming each
other down. It looked to the new minister a venture into the darkness of a coal-pit from the light of day. A
hand was laid on his shoulder. Then the voice of Dr. Chalmers, whose face glowed with enthusiasm as,
waving his arm, he exclaimed, “A beautiful field, sir, a very fine field of operation.”
1 [Note: T. Cochrane, Home
Mission Field, p. 7.]
2. The broken-hearted.—These have more than a general sense of need. They have learned in the
school of suffering. They can recall loss, perhaps betrayal, at least disappointment. They cannot help
recalling it. For its scar is on them. They bear about in their hearts the marks of wrong—wrong which they
have suffered, and, yet more deeply, wrong which they have done. They are broken-hearted; they cannot
receive or they cannot give restitution.
The exact significance of shâbhar is “to break in pieces”; thus there is contained in it the idea of
destruction, with its resultants, “helplessness, uselessness, inactivity.” For instance, shâbhar is used of
ships broken by the storm, of the tearing asunder of wild beasts, of the dismembering of corporate
bodies, e.g. a kingdom, a city, a people. And the verb must suffer no impoverishment of meaning if the
exact significance of the now familiar expression, “the broken-hearted,” is to be retained. The phrase, “a
broken heart,” is descriptive not simply of an organ full of aching and suffering, but of an organ which,

while it is racked with pain, is also helpless, unable to do what is required of it. That which can happen to
any physical organ or limb of the body can happen also to the heart conceived of as the centre of man’s
emotional life. Struck with a sudden blow, the arm is broken, hangs down suffering and useless.
Overtaken by a sudden calamity the heart is broken, suffering intensely, but amid all its suffering useless.
The broken heart can still feel, it is not dead or hardened like the heart of the wicked or the stubborn, but
it can no longer prompt, purpose inspire, urge on to fresh effort, to victory or death; its vitol strength is
gone. Some forms of suffering act as a stimulus, they arouse new energy in a man, but the suffering of
the broken-hearted is accompanied by a listlessness, an apparent inability to do anything but suffer, an
utter helplessness not simply of body but also of mind and soul. It is this element of helplessness which
constitutes the tragedy of a broken heart, and it is this element of helplessness which is emphasised in
the Hebrew term nishberç-lçbh. Yet even in this most disastrous effect of human trouble, when sorrow
robs the heart of its last resources and strength, the Bible discovers an opportunity for the coming of God:
“The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart,” “a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt
not despise.” Is not every form of human helplessness a recommendation to the Deity? Must not this
extreme form be so most of all?
1 [Note: A. T. Burbridge.]
An old woman came into the city from the country to buy medicine at a native medicine vendor’s. While
the man was preparing the medicine, his wife came into the shop, and noticing the old woman looking
very sad and unhappy, asked her the reason. The old woman replied, “Last year I lost my husband. Now
my eldest son is ill at home, and I am afraid he is going to die, and I am taking this medicine to see if it
will do him any good.” “Ah,” replied the shopman’s wife, “I am sorry for you. I wish I could help you. If you
want the words that comfort men’s hearts, go to the Gospel Hall across the way there. They have the
words that comfort men’s hearts.”
3. The captives.—The description grows denser. These are more needy than even the broken-hearted.
They are the victims of habit, evil habit, ill-regulated deeds settling or settled down into an ill-regulated
life. If women, they are such as St. Paul describes (2Ti_3:6), “silly women laden with sins, led captive with
divers lusts.”
The word does not describe those whose condition is a woeful one by reason of bonds and imprisonment.
It has nothing to do with either gaol or dungeon. By paying attention to the exact significance of the
original meaning we shall best know how to interpret the Hebrew. The term means literally “those carried
off as booty.” It depicts what must have been one of the bitterest moments in the experience of the
prisoner of war, the moment when the power of the conqueror dragged him away from home and native
city, when he saw for the last time loved walls and ways and faces without which life was without joy.
Thus, as generally used, it denotes the ever present bitterness of the enslaved among strange faces in a
strange country; the sad memories, the troublous longings which would haunt him even when the
treatment he experienced was the kindest and his lot was of the easiest and pleasantest.
Crouched in the corner of every house sat a thing, without home, without rights, without hope, called the
slave; the victim of every caprice, the safety-valve of every passion, the tool of every lust. The work of
construction Christianity wrought out. It restored the family life by restoring the marriage relation. It made
every Christian home a retreat where purity might repose in the bosom of order. It created that type of
Christian gentleness which we see in our mothers and sisters and wives. It touched the brow and heart of
the slave—not just snapping the chains and then leading him forth to a freedom he could not use. It first
touched the slave’s soul, and taught him to raise his branded brow, and to know that he was a free man,
that Christ had made free—free from the yoke of sin, and therefore free one day to walk as king.
1[Note:
Archbishop Alexander, Primary Convictions.]
4. Them that are bound.—The proper and more general sense of the verb ’asâv is “to bind,” but in its
special sense as applied to prisoners the original meaning seems to have faded out. The history of the
word presents us with an excellent illustration of the elasticity of the Hebrew language. In earliest times
one can understand how “a prisoner” and “a bound-man” were synonymous terms. But when
arrangements for confining a person guilty of some offence were rendered more secure, the bonds might
be dispensed with and a man might be shut up in prison without being pinioned. However, the old word

was still used, and such a man was known as ’âsîr, literally “one bound,” properly “a prisoner.” The place
where he was confined was known as “the house of the bound,” “the prison house.” Illustrations of this
can be found in the histories of Joseph and of Samson (Gen_40:3; Gen_39:20; Jdg_16:21). A reference
to the context will make it clear that though referred to as ’âsîr Joseph and Samson were evidently not
pinioned. But, while losing its old significance, ’âsîr gathered about itself a fresh meaning. One of the
most dreadful horrors of the prison house was its darkness, and, if this were not absolute, its sunless
gloom. Thus the word came to signify a prisoner, as one to whom light was denied. In several passages
“prisoners” are classed in the same category with “the blind” and “them that sit in darkness”
(Isa_42:7; Isa_49:9; Psa_146:7-8). It is evident that it would be a mistake to adhere strictly to the original
significance of the word. The literal meaning “the bound” is no longer applicable, and there must be
substituted for it, as characteristic of “the prisoner,” “one who is longing for the light.” In the interpretation
of Isa_61:1, it is quite possible that even the idea expressed in the term “the prisoner” may be dismissed,
and only the broader significance of “one who is longing for the light” retained.
It is their eyes that are bound. And so these are in worst case of all, for they cannot see their condition.
They are as good as dead—dead in trespasses and sins. “She that liveth in sin is dead while she liveth.”
When Lazarus came forth from the tomb his face was bound about with a napkin, for that was the way
they did with the dead. The eyes were closed and bound. These are they who say, “I am rich, and
increased with goods, and have need of nothing,” and do not know that they are “wretched and miserable
and poor and blind and naked.”
A spirit lay bound in a house of clay,
Closed to the light of God alway,
Dark with the gloom of mortal sin,—
Earth without and a Spirit within.
But how can Earth with Spirit agree?
Or Death with Immortality?
There moved a Form in the shadows dim,
And a tender radiance flowed from Him;
But the light disclosed in the prison cell
Ignorance, Pride, and Hate as well.
His voice was sweet, and soft, and low,
And the poor dumb Spirit loved it so;
But Ignorance, Pride, and Hate unite,
To drown the voice, and hide the light.
O who will set the Spirit free,

And save her from the hideous three?
The Light has pierced the gloom of sin,
The Word has silenced the strife and din,
The Saviour has broken the house of clay,
And borne the ransomed Spirit away.
O hidden Life! O Christ within!
Break Thou the fetters of my sin!
My soul from mortal limits free
And bear me up to Heaven with Thee.
1 [Note: H. Marwick.]
II
The Message
The message is determined by the audience. It is fitted to be good tidings to each class, each person.
1. To the poor and needy it is simply a Gospel. What they need most is hope. It is the hopelessness of
the poor that is the most striking, the most characteristic thing about them. Watch the faces of the
tramps—they are all hopeless. This is a message of hope. And it is a hope that does not die out, “that
maketh not ashamed.” To poor shepherds, working lads, came the first Gospel sermon: “To you is born
this day a Saviour.” Jesus is a Saviour from hopelessness.
(1) First of all, this Gospel goes to the very root of the matter, in its cause and in its history. “Know you
certainly that it is God’s visitation.” It is the will of God that you should be poor. Suppose that your poverty
be even the result of folly, misconduct, or sin, still it is now, for you, the will of God. There is repose, there
is satisfaction, at once. Whatever second causes have been at work—sickness or misfortune, wrongdoing
of another, wrong doing of your own—this, to-day, in fact, is the will of God concerning you; poverty—
poverty as a providence, or else poverty as a chastisement. It is the will of God.
(2) Again, the Gospel of Jesus Christ says this to me. The life that is, is the mere porch and vestibule of
the life that shall be. I must walk by faith. I must claim and I must practise already that equality of being
which is mine, in God’s sight, not only with the greatest of earth’s heroes, but even with just men already
made perfect. These distinctions of birth and rank, of fortune and station, are absolutely unrecognised in
heaven. It is difficult, I know, to see it so: it is of the very nature of these inequalities to strut and parade
themselves; it is natural to us, it is even our duty, to feel and to own these varieties below; it is a part of
Christian virtue to order myself lowly and reverently towards those who are here above me. But let mine
be a willing subordination—willing, because it is also erect, independent, dignified. Let me live already as
one whose citizenship is in heaven—whose fellow-citizens are saints and angels, the souls of the faithful
here, the spirits of the righteous in glory. There is no degradation in that poverty which, within a few
years, will be transfigured and recreated into glory.
1 [Note: C. J. Vaughan.]
2. It heals the broken-hearted. Macbeth said to the physician, “Canst thou not minister to

a mind diseased?” and the physician answered, No. This Physician can bind up a broken heart, can heal
a wounded spirit. He came as a Physician to the sick. “They that are whole need not a physician, but they
that are sick; I came to call sinners.” He healed the “woman that was a sinner,” broken-hearted perhaps
through men’s sins. He healed Zacchæus, whose extortions had broken others’ hearts, and sent him to
restore what yet was in his power.
A great thinker has said that Christianity first taught man the reverence for things beneath him. It is
profoundly true. The Spirit of Christ can say distinctively, “He hath sent me to bind the broken heart.” It
has come through other channels for other purposes, but through this channel it has had but one
purpose. Sometimes its mission has been to teach me God’s majesty, sometimes to reveal His beauty,
sometimes to proclaim His law. But here in the heart of Jesus the mission of the Spirit is to show me a
new exhibition of God’s power—His power of infinite stooping.
2 [Note: G. Matheson.]
3. It is a message of liberty to the captives. Jesus did not loose any one’s chain, so far as we know, when
He was on earth. He sent John’s messengers back to John in prison, not with a message to open the
prison door, but with “Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me.” But He gave liberty to the
captive in sin. He said to the paralytic, “Son, thy sins are forgiven thee.” He did more than break the
chains of sin for the moment. He set in a large place, gave liberty to go in and out, victory over the very
temptation that it became no temptation longer. He brought His banished home again, with the Father’s
welcome and the Son’s place.
I do not know whether you generally read the daily newspaper. I think we might get up a “Society for the
Suppression of Useless Knowledge.” A great deal that appears in the newspapers amounts only to that,
and much time is wasted thereon; but sometimes we get a gem amongst the news, and to my mind there
was a gem contained in a Reuter’s telegram from Rio Janeiro, 10th May:—“The Brazilian Chamber of
Deputies has voted the immediate and unconditional abolition of slavery in Brazil.”
1 [Note: C. H. Spurgeon, The
Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, 1894, p. 349.]
The island of Capri in the Bay of Naples is a very tiny island, only about three and a half miles square. But
it is a very beautiful island, for small though it is, it has upon it two mountains, connected with each other
by a ridge or saddle. And the sides of these mountains are covered with gardens and trees. There are
orange trees and lemons and olives and vines. And the air in the summer time is heavy with the sweet
fragrance they send forth. There are remains also upon the island of Roman villas and baths and
temples. And on one side of the island is a wonderful grotto, which can be reached only from the sea.
Now if we were in the island of Capri on Easter morning we might see a very curious sight. Rising early,
we should climb the long flight of steps that lead upward from the shore, past the quaint old houses, by
the vineyards and the orange groves, until we reached the church. There we should find a crowd of
people waiting; dark-eyed boys and girls with jet black hair; women wearing the many-coloured costume
of the island; men with their faces sunburnt from their daily exposure to the rays of the hot, fierce sun.
By and by there comes the priest, with the boy acolytes behind him, chanting as they come. First they
enter the church, where they hold a service; then, after a while, they reappear outside the church, and
people and priests and boys all stand together on the great open square in front, with the wide sea below
and the great broad dome of the blue sky above. But what are those people carrying in their hands?
Cages. And what are in the cages? Birds. Let us watch. See, there is a signal given. What does it mean?
The doors of the cages are being opened; and the men, or the boys, or the girls who hold them are
putting in their hands. And now they are taking out the birds. They must be about to set them free. And so
they are. Another moment and there is a little cloud of birds just above the people’s heads, and in another
the birds which a minute ago were captives in their cages are flying upward, here and there and
everywhere, into the wide sky beyond. They, every one of them, are free. This is what may be seen every
Easter morning on the island of Capri, and it may be seen also, I believe, in other places, especially in
Russia.
1 [Note: J. Byles, The Boy and the Angel, p. 191.]
Conquering kings their titles take

From the foes they captive make.
Jesus by a nobler deed
From the thousands He hath freed.
4. And it is a message of the opening of the eyes to the blind. None of Christ’s miracles astonished more
than His making the blind to see; none cost Him more. In the spiritual sphere it verges on the impossible.
The blindness of ignorance is removable: we are to blame if we do not remove that. But who so blind as
he that will not see? Whose eyes are so hard to open as theirs who say, “we see,” while yet their sin
remaineth? But the things which are impossible with men are possible with God. This Worker is anointed
for His work. Therefore He has the Spirit, and the Spirit will stay with Him till his work is done—even to the
opening of the eyes of the blind.
Lo! the light cometh that shall never cease;
Soon shall the veil be lifted; be at peace!
Light, and more light, shines from the eternal shore,
Light of the life that dieth nevermore.
2 [Note: Walter C. Smith.]
III
The Preacher
In a dialogue between a Christian and a Jew, which was written in the beginning of the second century,
but published in English only a few years ago (Expos. 5th ser. v. 302, 443), the Christian quotes this
prophecy of Isaiah, upon which the Jew remarks, “All this is to be in the future, though the time is not yet.”
That is the Jew’s admission of the extraordinary wealth of promise this prophecy contains. He does not
acknowledge Jesus Christ, but he sees that no one else has yet come to fulfil it. We acknowledge Jesus
Christ. We know that He took this sermon and made it His. We believe that
He comes the broken hearts to bind,
The bleeding souls to cure;
And with the treasures of His grace
To enrich the humble poor.
The majority of people do not think of Christ as a great preacher. They look at Him as a man of supreme
love, gentleness of spirit, kindness of manner, and as thoroughly good and unselfish in all He did; but
they do not think of Him as possessing the qualities which we think necessary to make what we call a
great preacher. The wonderful gift of language, the skilful choice of words, the ability to gather His
arguments and focus His thought so as to carry His audience to the point of decision, most people, I say,
do not thus think of Christ. When the great preachers of history are named, people speak of Brooks,
Beecher, Finney, and Edwards in America; Spurgeon, Chalmers, Whitefield, and Wesley in Britain;
Luther, Savonarola, and Chrysostom of the old world. But did you ever hear any one put Christ in this
category?
1. That Christ was a great preacher is evident from our text, for the requisites, which all concede as

necessary, are here set forth as being in His possession.
(1) First, He had the right qualification for His work, namely, the anointing of the Holy Spirit. “The Lord
hath anointed me to preach.” Christ received this special qualification at the time of His baptism, with the
declaration, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” It was this anointing for the work that
gave Christ His power. The account in Luke closes with the suggestive sentence, “His word was with
power,” and immediately following the text occurs the statement, “And they wondered at the gracious
words which proceeded out of His mouth.”
The fact that Christ’s earthly life became effectual through the ministry of the Holy Spirit within Him, and
not alone through the inherent virtue and power He brought with Him from His pre-existent state, has
become one of the commonplaces of theology; and yet how little do we realise its true import, and
cultivate that humility and dependence of soul which would distinguish us if the great truth were ever in
view! In spite of our formal adhesion to this doctrine, it seems still strange to us that one whom we think of
as holy and Divine should be indebted at every stage of His earthly life to that inward mystic ministry
which is so necessary to us because of our sinfulness. We speak of the Holy Ghost as a Deliverer from
inbred corruption, and are ready to assume, quite unwarrantably, that where there is no corruption in the
nature, the stimulating forces and fervours of His benign indwelling are needless. We are accustomed to
look upon this ministry, which perpetuates in our souls the saving work of the Lord Jesus, as though it
were a special antidote to human depravity only. For the Spirit to abide moment by moment with Jesus
Christ, and work in His humanity, seems like painting the lily, gilding fine gold, and bleaching the
untrampled snow.
But that is a mistaken view. When the universal Church shall have been built up and consecrated to its
high uses, it will be “by the Spirit” that God will dwell in the temple. And the temple of Christ’s sacred flesh
needed this same indwelling presence. It was imperative that to the Son in His humiliation the Father
should give the Spirit, and give Him, too, upon no grudging scale—give Him for His own sake as well as
for ours, whom He came to represent and to save. The great Sanctifier blends the essential forces of His
personality into this divinest type of goodness, to show that goodness in even the only begotten Son is
not self-originated. In the less mature stages of Christ’s expanding humanity implicit and docile
dependence on this inward leading was the test of His entire acceptability to the Father.
(2) He had also the second requisite of a preacher, whose sermon must always be about Christ. Christ’s
sermon in Nazareth was about Himself. “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, He has sent me.” The
personal pronoun runs through all He has to say. The subject of His discourse was, in a word, Himself.
Just after the resurrection, when Christ was on the road to Emmaus with two of the disciples, we are told
that, “Beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the thing
concerning Himself.” Again, He said: “I am the Vine.” “I am the Resurrection and the Life.” “I am the Son
of God.” “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”
More than that, Christ’s sermon was Himself. He gave His life a ransom, His soul an offering for sin. That
day this Scripture was fulfilled. He preached the sermon in Nazareth by anticipation; for He delighted to
do the Father’s will,—and it was as good as done already, even to the last agony.
I once heard a prayer of a rough ploughman in a village schoolroom; and this was in his prayer—“Dear
Lord, if there be any poor stricken one in this room to-night, come and bind him up, and bind Thyself,
Lord, into the binding.”
1 [Note: J. Vaughan, Sermons, viii., No. 729.]
2. It is because Christ is this sermon, not because He preached it, that the prophet could preach it, and
that we can preach it now. The Cross of Christ looks before and after. One arm stretches backward and
gives this prophet the right to preach a sermon he has no power himself to fulfil; the other stretches
forward and gives the same right to us. For the Spirit of the Lord is not straitened by time or circumstance.
As the prophet spoke, the Cross of Christ was already raised in His sight, and it stands erected in His
sight to-day.
Thus the preacher can say, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach

glad tidings to the meek.” This is his work. It is a special work. Like every work for which one is anointed,
it is honourable and glorious. He has been chosen to accomplish it. And because he has been chosen to
accomplish this work, the Spirit of the Lord will be with him as long as he gives himself to its
accomplishment.
The question very naturally arises, if one of the offices of Christ was that of physician, and He healed the
sick and made the lame to walk, and gave sight to the blind, will He not do these same things to-day? In
other words, it is asked, have we not here Scripture which supports the theory known as Divine healing,
or faith cure? Christ undoubtedly could heal the sick to-day, and give sight to the blind, just as much as
when He was here upon earth, for He has the same power now that He had then. “Jesus Christ, the same
yesterday, and to-day, and for ever.” But what He can do and what He will do are two different things, and
while many would willingly concede that He could do these things, yet most Christians believe that He will
not now work miracles of physical restoration.
The reason for this is that such miracles are not needed. God could inspire men to prophecy, but the
probability is that He will not. Simply because Christ has come, the acme of all prophecy has been
fulfilled, and the necessity does not now exist. So God could inspire men to write a Bible, for He has the
same power as when He spoke to Isaiah, and Paul, and James; but the probability is that He will not thus
inspire men to-day, for we have a Bible, and such inspired writings are not needed. On the same basis do
we believe that Divine healing is not to be expected in present times. The purpose of Christ’s physical
miracles was to support His authority as a spiritual healer. He restored the sight of the blind that the world
might be more easily convinced that He had the power to heal spiritual blindness. He bound up the
broken-hearted that people might be taught to trust Him as the physician of the soul.
2
to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
1.BARNES, “
To appoint unto them - Hebrew, ‘To place;’ that is, to place happiness
before them; to give them joy arid consolation.
That mourn in Zion - (See the notes at Isa_1:8). The mourners in Zion mean those who
dwelt in Jerusalem; then all those who are connected with the church of God - his poor and
afflicted people.
To give unto them beauty for ashes - In the Hebrew there is here a beautiful
paronomasia, which cannot be transferred to our language - ‫אפר‬ ‫תחת‬ ‫פאר‬ pe'er tachath 'epher. The
word rendered ‘beauty’ (‫פאר‬ pe'er) means properly a head-dress, turban, tiara, or diadem; and
the idea is, that the Redeemer would impart to his mourning people such an ornament instead
of the ashes which in their grief they were accustomed to easy on their heads. For the use of the
word, see Isa_3:20; Isa_61:10; Exo_39:29; Eze_24:17-23. It was common among the Orientals
to east dust and ashes upon their heads in time of mourning, and as expressive of their grief
(compare the notes at Isa_57:5; 2Sa_13:19).

The oil of joy - The oil of joy denotes that which was symbolic or expressive of joy. Oil or
ointment was employed on occasions of festivity and joy (see the notes at Isa_57:9); but its use
was abstained from in times of public calamity or grief (see 2Sa_14:2).
The garment of praise - That is, the garment or clothing which shall be expresive of praise
or gratitude instead of that which shall indicate grief.
For the spirit of heaviness. - Instead of a heavy, burdened, and oppressed spirit. The word
used here (‫כהה‬ kehah), usually means faint, feeble, weak (see the notes at Isa_42:3). It is applied
to a lamp about to go out Isa_42:3; to eyes bedimmed, or dull 1Sa_3:2; to a faint or pale color
Lev_13:39. Here it denotes those of a faint and desponding heart. These expressions are
figurative, and are taken from the custom which prevailed more in Oriental countries than
elsewhere - and which is founded in nature - of expressing the emotions of the mind by the
manner of apparel. These customs are stated in the book of Judith. She ‘pulled off the sackcloth
which she had on, and pus off the garments of her widowhood, and washed her body all over
with water, and anointed herself with precious ointment, and braided the hair of her head, and
put on a tire upon it (Greek, µιτρε mitre), and put on her garments of gladness wherewith she
was clad during the life of Manasses her husband. And she took sandals upon her feet, and put
about her her bracelets, and her chains, and her rings, and her ear-rings, and all her ornaments,
and decked herself bravely to allure the eyes of all men that should see her’ Isa_10:3-4.
That they might be called - That is, those who had mourned in Zion.
Trees of righteousness - In the Hebrew, ‘Oaks,’ or terebinth trees. By their being oaks of
righteousness is meant people distinguished for righteousness or justice. The Septuagint renders
it, Γενεαᆳ Geneai - ‘Generations;’ Jerome, Fortes - ‘Strong;’ the Chaldee, ‘Princes;’ the Syriac,
‘Rams;’ but the word properly denotes the oak, or the terebinth tree - a lofty, strong, and
magnificent tree. It is not uncommon to represent people by trees (see Isa_1:29-30; Psa_92:12-
14):
The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree;
He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon,
Those that be planted in the house of the Lord,
Shall flourish in the courts of our God.
They shall still bring forth fruit in old age;
They shall be fat and flourishing.
See also the beautiful description in Psa_1:3, and in Jer_17:8. The idea here is, that they who
had been oppressed and borne down by calamity and by a sense of sin, would become vigorous
and strong; and would be such as aptly to be compared to majestic trees with far-spreading
branches - an image everywhere of that which is truly beautiful.
The planting of the Lord - Those whom Yahweh had truly planted; that is, those who were
under his care and culture (see the notes at Isa_60:21). The same figure is used by the Saviour.
‘Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up’ Mat_15:13.
That he might be glorified - (See the notes at Isa_60:21).
2. CLARKE, “
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion “To impart gladness to
the mourners of Zion” - A word necessary to the sense is certainly lost in this place, of which

the ancient Versions have preserved no traces. Houbigant, by conjecture, inserts the word ‫ששון‬
sason, gladness, taken from the line next but one below, where it stands opposed to ‫אבל‬ ebel,
sorrow or mourning, as the word lost here was to ‫אבלי‬ abeley, mourners: I follow him. - L.
Beauty for ashes “A beautiful crown instead of ashes” - In times of mourning the
Jews put on sackcloth, or coarse and sordid raiment, and spread dust and ashes on their heads;
on the contrary, splendid clothing and ointment poured on the head were the signs of joy. “Feign
thyself to be a mourner,” says Joab to the woman of Tekoah, “and put on now mourning apparel,
and anoint not thyself with oil,” 2Sa_14:2. These customs are at large expressed in the Book of
Judith: “She pulled off the sackcloth which she had on, and put off the garments of her
widowhood, and washed her body all over with water and anointed herself with precious
ointment, and braided the hair of her head, and put on a tire [mitre, marg.] upon it; and put on
her garments of gladness;” chap. 10:3. - L.
‫פאר‬‫תחת‬‫אפר‬ peer tachath ephar, glory for ashes; a paronomasia which the prophet often uses: a
chaplet, crown, or other ornament of the head (for so the Vulgate renders the word here and in
the both verse; in which last place the Septuagint agree in the same rendering), instead of dust
and ashes, which before covered it; and the costly ointments used on occasions of festivity,
instead of the ensigns of sorrow. - L.
Trees of righteousness “Trees approved” - Hebrews oaks of righteousness or truth; that
is, such as by their flourishing condition should show that they were indeed “the scion of God’s
planting, and the work of his hands;” under which images, in the preceding chapter, Isa_60:21,
the true servants of God, in a highly improved state of the Church, were represented; that is,
says Vitringa on that place, “commendable for the strength of their faith, their durability, and
firmness.”
3. GILL, “
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion,.... Or, "to the mourners of Zion"
(u); such who are of Zion, belong to the church of God, and mourn for the corruptions in Zion's
doctrines; for the perversion, abuse, and neglect of Zion's ordinances; for the disorders and
divisions in Zion; for the declensions there, as to the exercise of grace, and the power of
godliness; for the few instances of conversions there, or few additions to it; for the carelessness,
ease, and lukewarmness of many professors in Zion; and for their unbecoming lives and
conversations. Now one part of Christ's work is to "appoint" comfort to such; he has appointed it
in counsel and covenant from eternity; made provision for it in the blessings and promises of his
grace; he has "set" (w) or put it in the ministry of the word; be has ordered his ministering
servants to speak comfortably to his people; yea, by his Spirit he "puts" comfort into the hearts
of them, who through their unbelief refuse to be comforted; and he has fixed a time when he will
arise and have mercy on Zion, and bring her into a better state than she is now in, when there
will be none of these causes of complaint and mourning:
to give unto them beauty for ashes; in the Hebrew text there is a beautiful play on words,
which cannot be so well expressed in our language, "to give peer for epher" (x); in times of
mourning, it was usual to put on sackcloth and ashes, Est_4:1, instead of this, Christ gives his
mourners the beautiful garments of salvation, and the robe of his righteousness, and the graces
of his Spirit, and his gracious presence, together with his word and ordinances, and sometimes a
large number of converts; all which, as they are ornamental to his people, they yield them joy,
peace, and comfort: and this is a beauty that is not natural to them, but is of grace; not acquired,

but given; not fictitious, but real; is perfect and complete, lasting and durable, and desired by
Christ himself, who gives it:
the oil of joy for mourning; oil used to be poured on the heads of persons at entertainments
and festivals, and at times of rejoicing; and so is opposed to the state of mourners, who might
not be anointed, as the Jewish commentators observe; see Psa_23:5 the grace of the Spirit
without measure, with which Christ was anointed, is called "the oil of gladness", Psa_45:7 and of
the same nature, though not of the same measure, is the grace which saints have from Christ;
the effect of which is joy and gladness, even joy unspeakable, and full of glory; which is had in
believing in Christ, and through a hope of eternal life by him; hence we read of the joy of faith,
and of the rejoicing of hope: this oil is Christ's gift, and not to be bought with money; this holy
unction comes from him; this golden oil is conveyed from him, through the golden pipes of the
word and ordinances; is very valuable, of great price, and to be desired; and, being had, cannot
be lost; it is the anointing that abides:
the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; such as is in persons under afflictions,
or under a sense of sin, a load of guilt, and expectation of wrath; such as have heavy hearts,
contrite and contracted (y) ones, as the word is observed to signify; for as joy enlarges the heart,
sorrow contracts it; instead of which, a garment of praise, or an honourable one, is given;
alluding to persons putting on of raiment suitable to their characters and circumstances, at
seasons of rejoicing, such as weddings, and the like, Ecc_9:7 by which may be meant here the
robe of Christ's righteousness later mentioned, Isa_61:10 so called because worthy of praise, for
the preferableness of it to all others, being the best robe; for its perfection and purity; for the
fragrancy and acceptableness of it to God, and for its eternal duration; also, because it occasions
and excites praise in such on whom it is put; and such likewise shall have praise of God
hereafter, when on account of it they shall be received into his kingdom and glory:
that they might be called trees of righteousness; that is, that the mourners in Zion,
having all these things done for them, and bestowed on them, might be called, or be, or appear
to be, like "trees" that are well planted; whose root is in Christ, whose sap is the Spirit and his
grace, and whose fruit are good works; and that they might appear to be good trees, and of a
good growth and stature, and be laden with the fruits of righteousness, and be truly righteous
persons, made so by the imputation of Christ's righteousness to them: "the planting of the
Lord"; planted by him in Christ, and in his church, and so never to be rooted out:
that he might be glorified; by their fruitfulness and good works, Joh_15:8 or that he might
glorify himself, or get himself glory by them; See Gill on Isa_60:21.
(u) ‫לאבלי‬‫ציון‬ "lugentibus Sionis", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator Vitrtnga. So Syr. (w) ‫לשום‬ "ad
ponendum" Montanus; "ut ponerem" Munster Pagninus. (x) ‫פאר‬‫תחת‬‫אפר‬ the Targum and
Vulgate Latin version render it a "crown for ashes" and the word is used for the tire of the head
in Eze_24:17. The Syriac and Arabic versions read, "for ashes sweet ointment", or "oil of
gladness", joining it to the next clause; and mention being made of oil or ointment there,
Fortunatus Scacchus thinks the allusion is to crowns of roses and, lilies moistened with,
ointment of myrrh, and like ointment, which used to be wore at nuptial solemnities; and so
opposed to ashes put on the head in times of mourning, which falling from thence, and
moistened with tears on the cheeks, were clotted there, and so expressed the miserable
condition they were in; but these things the reverse. See his Sacror. Eleaoehr. Myrothec. I. 1. c.
28. col. 139. (y) ‫תחת‬‫רוח‬‫כהה‬ "pro spiritu stricto", Montanus, Paganinus; "loco spiritus contracti",
Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "constricto", Vatablus.

To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. An "acceptable
year," or "year of acceptance," is a space of time during which God would be pleased to accept such as
repented and turned to him. It is, of course, not intended to limit the space to a "year." The space is rather
the term of our sojourn here below. The day of vengeance. The "day" of vengeance is contrasted with
the "year" of acceptance, to indicate God's long-suffering and patience towards sinners (comp. Isa_34:8;
and see also Exo_20:5, Exo_20:6). To comfort all that mourn; i.e. all who "sorrow after a godly sort"
(2Co_7:11)—all who mourn their transgressions and shortcomings, their "sins, negligences, and
ignorances," with a hearty desire to be rid of them, and to serve God truly in the future.
5. JAMISON, “
To appoint ... to give — The double verb, with the one and the same
accusative, imparts glowing vehemence to the style.
beauty for ashes — There is a play on the sound and meaning of the Hebrew words, peer,
epher, literally, “ornamental headdress” or tiara (Eze_24:17), worn in times of joy, instead of a
headdress of “ashes,” cast on the head in mourning (2Sa_13:19).
oil of joy — Perfumed ointment was poured on the guests at joyous feasts (Psa_23:5;
Psa_45:7, Psa_45:8; Amo_6:6). On occasions of grief its use was laid aside (2Sa_14:2).
garment of praise — bright-colored garments, indicative of thankfulness, instead of those
that indicate despondency, as sackcloth (Joh_16:20).
trees of righteousness — Hebrew, terebinth trees; symbolical of men strong in
righteousness, instead of being, as heretofore, bowed down as a reed with sin and calamity
(Isa_1:29, Isa_1:30; Isa_42:3; 1Ki_14:15; Psa_1:3; Psa_92:12-14; Jer_17:8).
planting of ... Lord — (See on Isa_60:21).
that he might be glorified — (Joh_15:8).
6. CALVIN, “
2.To proclaim the year of the good-pleasure of Jehovah. Here he expressly mentions
the time of bestowing such distinguished grace, in order to remove the doubts which might arise. We
know by daily experience how numerous and diversified are the anxious cares which distract the heart,.
He affirms that he is the herald of future grace, the time of which he fixes from the “” of God; for, as he
was to be the Redeemer of the Church by free grace, so it was in his power, and justly, to select the
time.
Perhaps he alludes to the Jubilee, (Lev_25:10) but undoubtedly he affirms that we must wait calmly and

gently till it please God to stretch out his hand. Paul calls this year “ time of fullness.” (Gal_4:4) We have
likewise seen that the Prophet says, “ now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.”
(Isa_49:8) Paul applies this to his own preaching; for, while the Lord addresses us by the Gospel, the
door of heaven is thrown open to us, that we may now, as it were, enter into the possession of God’
benefits. (2Co_6:2) We must not delay, therefore, but must eagerly avail ourselves of the time and the
occasion when such distinguished blessings are offered to us.
And the day of vengeance to our God. But those expressions appear to be inconsistent with each other,
namely, “ day of good” and “ day of vengeance.” Why did Isaiah join together things so opposite?
Because God cannot deliver his Church without showing that he is a just judge, and without taking
vengeance on the wicked. He therefore employs the term “” with reference to the elect, and the term “ of
vengeance,” with reference to the wicked, who cease not to persecute the Church, and consequently
must be punished when the Church is delivered. In like manner Paul also says, that “ is righteous with
God to grant relief to the afflicted, (2Th_1:6) and to reward the enemies of believers who unjustly afflict
them;” and the Jews could not expect a termination of their distresses till their enemies had been
destroyed.
Yet we ought to observe the cause of our deliverance; for to his mercy alone, and not to our merits, or
excellence, or industry, must it be ascribed, he appears, indeed, as I briefly remarked a little before, to
allude to the Jubilee; but above all things we should attend to this, that our salvation lies entirely in the
gracious will of God.
To comfort all that mourn. We ought to keep in remembrance what we formerly remarked, that the end of
the Gospel is, that we may be rescued from all evils, and that, having been restored to our former
freedom, and all tears having been wiped from our eyes, we may partake of spiritual joy. And if we are not
partakers of so great a benefit, it must be ascribed to our unbelief and ingratitude, by which we refuse and
drive away God, who freely offers himself to us.
7. MACLAREN, “THE JOY-BRINGER
In the little synagogue of Nazareth Jesus began His ministry by laying His hand upon this great
prophecy and saying, ‘It is Mine! I have fulfilled it.’ The prophet had been painting the ideal
Messianic Deliverer, with special reference to the return from the Babylonian captivity. That was
‘the liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound,’ and about
which he was thinking. But no external deliverance of that sort could meet the needs, nor satisfy
the aspirations, of a soul that knows itself and its circumstances. Isaiah, or the man who goes by
his name, spoke greater things than he knew. I am not going to enter upon questions of
interpretation; but I may say, that no conception of Jewish prophecy can hold its ground which
is not framed in the light of that great saying in the synagogue of Nazareth. So, then, we have

here the ‘Man of Sorrows,’ as this very prophet calls Him in another place, presenting Himself as
the Transformer of sorrow and the Bringer of joy, in regard to infinitely deeper griefs than those
which sprang in the heart of the nation because of the historical captivity.
There is another beautiful thing in our text, which comes out more distinctly if we follow the
Revised Version, and read ‘to give unto them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the
garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.’ There we have two contrasted pictures suggested:
one of a mourner with grey ashes strewed upon his dishevelled locks, and his spirit clothed in
gloom like a black robe; and to him there comes One who, with gentle hand, smoothes the ashes
out of his hair, trains a garland round his brow, anoints his head with oil, and, stripping off the
trappings of woe, casts about him a bright robe fit for a guest at a festival. That is the miracle
that Jesus Christ can do for every one, and is ready to do for us, if we will let Him. Let us look at
this wonderful transformation, and at the way by which it is effected.
The first point I would make is that-
I. Jesus Christ is the Joy-bringer to men because He is the Redeemer of men.
Remember that in the original application of my text to the deliverance from captivity, this gift
of joy and change of sorrow into gladness was no independent and second bestowment, but was
simply the issue of the one that preceded it, viz., the gift of liberty to the captives, and the
opening of the prison to them that were bound. The gladness was a gladness that welled up in
the heart of the captives set free, and coming out from the gloom of the Babylonian dungeon
into the sunshine of God’s favour, with their faces set towards Zion ‘with songs and everlasting
joy upon their heads.’
Now you have only to keep firm hold of this connection between these two thoughts to come to
the crown and centre-point of this great prophecy, as far as it applies to us, and that is that it is
Christ as the Emancipator, Christ as the Deliverer, Christ as He who brings us out of the prison
of bondage of the tyranny of sin, who is the great Joy-Giver. For there is no real, deep,
fundamental and impregnable gladness possible to a man until his relations to God have been
rectified, and until, with these rectified relations, with the consciousness of forgiveness and the
divine love nestling warm at his heart, he has turned himself away from his dread and his sin,
and has recognised in his Father God ‘the gladness of his joy.’
Of course, there are many of us who feel that life is sufficiently comfortable and moderately
happy, or at least quite tolerable, without any kind of reference to God at all. And in this day of
growing materialism, and growing consequent indifference to the deepest needs of the spirit and
the claims of religion, more and more men are finding, or fancying that they find, that they can
rub along somehow, and have a fair share of gladness and satisfaction, without any need for a
redeeming gospel and a forgiving Christ. But about all that kind of surface-joy the old words are
true, ‘even in laughter the heart is sorrowful,’ and hosts of us are satisfied with joys which Jesus
has no part in bringing, simply because our truest self has never once awakened. When it does-
and perhaps it will do so with some of you, like the sleeping giant that is fabled to lie beneath the
volcano whose sunny slopes are smiling with flowers-then you will find out that no one can
bring real joy who does not take away guilt and sin.
Jesus Christ is the Joy-bringer, because Jesus Christ is the Emancipator. And true gladness is
the gladness that springs from the conscious possession of liberty from the captivity which holds
men slaves to evil and to their worst selves. Brethren, let us not fancy that these surface-joys are
the joys adequate to a human spirit. They are ignoble, and they are infinitely foolish, because a
touch of an awakened conscience, a stirring of one’s deeper self, can scatter them all to pieces.
So then, that is my first thought.
Let us suggest a second, that-

II. Jesus Christ transforms sorrow because He transforms the mourner.
In my text, all that this Joy-bringer and Transmuter of grief into its opposite is represented as
doing is on the man who feels the sorrow. And although, as I have said, the text, in its original
position, is simply a deduction from the previous great prophecy which did point to a change of
circumstances, and although Jesus does bring the ‘joy of salvation’ by a great change in a man’s
relations, yet in regard to the ordinary sorrows of life, He affects these not so much by an
operation upon our circumstances as by an operation upon ourselves, and transforms sorrow
and brings gladness, because He transforms the man who endures it. The landscape remains the
same, the difference is in the colour of the glass through which we look at it. Instead of having it
presented through some black and smoked medium, we see it through what the painter calls a
‘Claude Lorraine’ glass, tinged golden, and which throws its own lovely light upon all that it
shows us. It is possible-the eye that looks being purged and cleansed, so as to see more clearly-
that the facts remaining identical, their whole aspect and bearing may be altered, and that which
was felt, and rightly felt, to be painful and provocative of sadness and gloom, may change its
character and beget a solemn joy. It would be but a small thing to transform the conditions; it is
far better and higher to transform us. We all need, and some of us, I have no doubt, do especially
need, to remember that the Lord who brings this sudden transformation for us, does so by His
operation within us, and, therefore, to that operation we should willingly yield ourselves.
How does He do this? One answer to that question is-by giving to the man with ashes on his
head and gloom wrapped about his spirit, sources of joy, if he will use them, altogether
independent of external circumstances.’ Though the fig-tree shall not blossom, and there be no
fruit in the vine . . . yet will I rejoice in the Lord.’ And every Christian man, especially when days
are dark and clouds are gathering, has it open to him, and is bound to use the possibility, to turn
away his mind from the external occasions of sadness, and fix it on the changeless reason for
deep and unchanging joy-the sweet presence, the strong love, the sustaining hand, the infinite
wisdom, of his Father God.
Brethren, “the paradox of the Christian life” is, ‘as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.’ Christ calls
for no hypocritical insensibility to ‘the ills that flesh is heir to.’ He has sanctioned by His
example the tears that flow when death hurts loving hearts. He commanded the women of
Jerusalem to ‘weep for themselves and for their children.’ He means that we should feel the full
bitterness and pain of sorrows which will not be medicinal unless they are bitter, and will not be
curative unless they cut deep. But He also means that whilst thus we suffer as men, in the depths
of our own hearts we should, at the same time, be turning away from the sufferings and their
cause, and fixing our hearts, quiet even then amidst the distractions, upon God Himself. Ah! it is
hard to do, and because we do not do it, the promise that He will turn the sorrow into joy often
seems to be a vain word for us.
It is not ours to rejoice as the world does, nor is it ours to sorrow as those who have no hope, or
as those who have no God with them. But the two opposite emotions may, to a large extent, be
harmonised and co-existent in a Christian heart, and, since they can be, they should be. The
Christian in sorrow should be as an island set in some stormy sea, with wild waves breaking
against its black, rocky coast, and the wind howling around it, but in the centre of it there is a
deep and shady dell ‘that heareth not the loud winds when they call,’ and where not a leaf is
moved by the tempest. In a like depth of calm and central tranquillity it is possible for us to live,
even while the storm hurtles its loudest on the outermost coasts of our being; ‘as sorrowful, yet
always rejoicing,’ because the Joy-bringer has opened for us sources of gladness independent of
externals.
And then there is another way by which, for us, if we will use our privileges, the sorrows of life
may be transmuted, because we, contemplating them, have come to a changed understanding of
their meaning. That is, after all, the secret charm to be commended to us at all times, but to be

commended to us most when our hearts are heavy and the days are dark around us. We shall
never understand life if we class its diverse events simply under the two opposite categories of
good- evil; prosperity-adversity; gains-losses; fulfilled expectations- disappointed hopes, Put
them all together under one class-discipline and education; means for growth; means for
Christlikeness. When we have found out, what it takes a long while for us to learn, that the
lancet and the bandage are for the same purpose, and that opposite weathers conspire to the
same end, that of the harvest, the sting is out of the sorrow, the poison is wiped off the arrow.
We can have, if not a solemn joy, at least a patient acquiescence, in the diversities of operation,
when we learn that the same hand is working in all for the same end, and that all that
contributes to that end is good.
Here we may suggest a third way by which a transformation wrought upon ourselves transforms
the aspect of our sorrows, and that is, that possessing independent sources of joy, and having
come to learn the educational aspect of all adversity, we hereby are brought by Jesus Christ
Himself to the position of submission. And that is the most potent talisman to transform
mourning into praise. An accepted grief is a conquered grief; a conquered grief will very soon be
a comforted grief; and a comforted grief is a joy. By all these means Jesus Christ, here and now,
is transmuting the lead and iron of our griefs into the gold of a not ignoble nor transient
gladness.
And may I say one last word? My text suggests not only these two points to which I have already
referred-viz. that Jesus Christ is the Joy-bringer because He is the Emancipator, and that He
transforms sorrow by transforming the mourner-but, lastly, that III. Jesus gives joy after
sorrow.
‘Nevertheless, afterward’ is a great word of glowing encouragement for all sad hearts. ‘Fools and
children,’ says the old proverb, ‘should not see half-done work ‘; at least, they should not judge
it. When the ploughshare goes deep into the brown, frosty ground, the work is only begun. The
earth may seem to be scarped and hurt, and, if one might say, to bleed, but in six months’ time
‘you scarce can see’ the soil for waving corn. Yes; and sorrow, as some of us could witness, is the
forecast of purest joy. I have no doubt that there are men and women here who could say, ‘I
never knew the power of God, and the blessedness of Christ as a Saviour, until I was in deep
affliction, and when everything else went dark, then in His light I saw light.’ Do not some of you
know the experience? and might we not all know it? and why do we not know it?
Jesus Christ, even here and now, gives these blessed results of our sorrows, if they are taken to
the right place, and borne in right fashion. For it is they ‘that mourn in Zion’ that He thus
blesses. There are some of us, I fear, whose only resource in trouble is to fling ourselves into
some work, or some dissipation. There are people who try to work away their griefs, as well as
people who try feverishly to drink them away. And there are some of us whose only resource for
deliverance from our sorrows is that, after the wound has bled all it can, it stops bleeding, and
the grief simply dies by lapse of time and for want of fuel. An affliction wasted is the worst of all
waste. But if we carry our grief into the sanctuary, then, here and now, it will change its aspect
and become a solemn joy.
I say nothing about the ultimate result where every sorrow rightly borne shall be represented in
the future life by some stage in grace or glory, where every tear shall be crystallised, if I might
say so, into a flashing diamond, which flings off the reflection of the divine light, where ‘there
shall be no sorrow nor sighing, nor any more pain, for the former things are passed away.’ When
the lesson has been learned, God burns the rod.
But, brethren, there is another sadder transformation. I have been speaking about the
transformation of sorrow into joy. There is also the transformation of joy into sorrow. I spoke a
little while ago about the ‘laughter’ in which the heart is ‘sorrowful,’ and the writer from whom I

quoted the words goes on to say, ‘The end of that mirth is heaviness.’ ‘Thereof cometh in the end
despondency and madness.’ I saw, on a hilltop, a black circle among the grass and heather.
There had been a bonfire there on Coronation Night, and it had all died down, and that was the
end-a hideous ring of scorched barrenness amidst the verdure. Take care that your gladnesses
do not die down like that, but that they are pure, and being pure are undying. Union with Jesus
Christ makes sorrow light, and secures that it shall merge at last into ‘joy unspeakable and full of
joy.’ I believe that separation from Christ makes joy shallow, and makes it certain that at last,
instead of a garland, shall be ashes on the head, and that, instead of a festal robe, the spirit shall
be wrapped in a garment of heaviness.
3
and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
a planting of the LORD
for the display of his splendor.
1.BARNES, “
To appoint unto them - Hebrew, ‘To place;’ that is, to place happiness
before them; to give them joy arid consolation.
That mourn in Zion - (See the notes at Isa_1:8). The mourners in Zion mean those who
dwelt in Jerusalem; then all those who are connected with the church of God - his poor and
afflicted people.
To give unto them beauty for ashes - In the Hebrew there is here a beautiful
paronomasia, which cannot be transferred to our language - ‫אפר‬ ‫תחת‬ ‫פאר‬ pe'er tachath 'epher. The
word rendered ‘beauty’ (‫פאר‬ pe'er) means properly a head-dress, turban, tiara, or diadem; and
the idea is, that the Redeemer would impart to his mourning people such an ornament instead
of the ashes which in their grief they were accustomed to easy on their heads. For the use of the

word, see Isa_3:20; Isa_61:10; Exo_39:29; Eze_24:17-23. It was common among the Orientals
to east dust and ashes upon their heads in time of mourning, and as expressive of their grief
(compare the notes at Isa_57:5; 2Sa_13:19).
The oil of joy - The oil of joy denotes that which was symbolic or expressive of joy. Oil or
ointment was employed on occasions of festivity and joy (see the notes at Isa_57:9); but its use
was abstained from in times of public calamity or grief (see 2Sa_14:2).
The garment of praise - That is, the garment or clothing which shall be expresive of praise
or gratitude instead of that which shall indicate grief.
For the spirit of heaviness. - Instead of a heavy, burdened, and oppressed spirit. The word
used here (‫כהה‬ kehah), usually means faint, feeble, weak (see the notes at Isa_42:3). It is applied
to a lamp about to go out Isa_42:3; to eyes bedimmed, or dull 1Sa_3:2; to a faint or pale color
Lev_13:39. Here it denotes those of a faint and desponding heart. These expressions are
figurative, and are taken from the custom which prevailed more in Oriental countries than
elsewhere - and which is founded in nature - of expressing the emotions of the mind by the
manner of apparel. These customs are stated in the book of Judith. She ‘pulled off the sackcloth
which she had on, and pus off the garments of her widowhood, and washed her body all over
with water, and anointed herself with precious ointment, and braided the hair of her head, and
put on a tire upon it (Greek, µιτρε mitre), and put on her garments of gladness wherewith she
was clad during the life of Manasses her husband. And she took sandals upon her feet, and put
about her her bracelets, and her chains, and her rings, and her ear-rings, and all her ornaments,
and decked herself bravely to allure the eyes of all men that should see her’ Isa_10:3-4.
That they might be called - That is, those who had mourned in Zion.
Trees of righteousness - In the Hebrew, ‘Oaks,’ or terebinth trees. By their being oaks of
righteousness is meant people distinguished for righteousness or justice. The Septuagint renders
it, Γενεαᆳ Geneai - ‘Generations;’ Jerome, Fortes - ‘Strong;’ the Chaldee, ‘Princes;’ the Syriac,
‘Rams;’ but the word properly denotes the oak, or the terebinth tree - a lofty, strong, and
magnificent tree. It is not uncommon to represent people by trees (see Isa_1:29-30; Psa_92:12-
14):
The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree;
He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon,
Those that be planted in the house of the Lord,
Shall flourish in the courts of our God.
They shall still bring forth fruit in old age;
They shall be fat and flourishing.
See also the beautiful description in Psa_1:3, and in Jer_17:8. The idea here is, that they who
had been oppressed and borne down by calamity and by a sense of sin, would become vigorous
and strong; and would be such as aptly to be compared to majestic trees with far-spreading
branches - an image everywhere of that which is truly beautiful.
The planting of the Lord - Those whom Yahweh had truly planted; that is, those who were
under his care and culture (see the notes at Isa_60:21). The same figure is used by the Saviour.
‘Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up’ Mat_15:13.
That he might be glorified - (See the notes at Isa_60:21).

2. CLARKE, “
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion “To impart gladness to
the mourners of Zion” - A word necessary to the sense is certainly lost in this place, of which
the ancient Versions have preserved no traces. Houbigant, by conjecture, inserts the word ‫ששון‬
sason, gladness, taken from the line next but one below, where it stands opposed to ‫אבל‬ ebel,
sorrow or mourning, as the word lost here was to ‫אבלי‬ abeley, mourners: I follow him. - L.
Beauty for ashes “A beautiful crown instead of ashes” - In times of mourning the
Jews put on sackcloth, or coarse and sordid raiment, and spread dust and ashes on their heads;
on the contrary, splendid clothing and ointment poured on the head were the signs of joy. “Feign
thyself to be a mourner,” says Joab to the woman of Tekoah, “and put on now mourning apparel,
and anoint not thyself with oil,” 2Sa_14:2. These customs are at large expressed in the Book of
Judith: “She pulled off the sackcloth which she had on, and put off the garments of her
widowhood, and washed her body all over with water and anointed herself with precious
ointment, and braided the hair of her head, and put on a tire [mitre, marg.] upon it; and put on
her garments of gladness;” chap. 10:3. - L.
‫פאר‬‫תחת‬‫אפר‬ peer tachath ephar, glory for ashes; a paronomasia which the prophet often uses: a
chaplet, crown, or other ornament of the head (for so the Vulgate renders the word here and in
the both verse; in which last place the Septuagint agree in the same rendering), instead of dust
and ashes, which before covered it; and the costly ointments used on occasions of festivity,
instead of the ensigns of sorrow. - L.
Trees of righteousness “Trees approved” - Hebrews oaks of righteousness or truth; that
is, such as by their flourishing condition should show that they were indeed “the scion of God’s
planting, and the work of his hands;” under which images, in the preceding chapter, Isa_60:21,
the true servants of God, in a highly improved state of the Church, were represented; that is,
says Vitringa on that place, “commendable for the strength of their faith, their durability, and
firmness.”
3. GILL, “
To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion,.... Or, "to the mourners of Zion"
(u); such who are of Zion, belong to the church of God, and mourn for the corruptions in Zion's
doctrines; for the perversion, abuse, and neglect of Zion's ordinances; for the disorders and
divisions in Zion; for the declensions there, as to the exercise of grace, and the power of
godliness; for the few instances of conversions there, or few additions to it; for the carelessness,
ease, and lukewarmness of many professors in Zion; and for their unbecoming lives and
conversations. Now one part of Christ's work is to "appoint" comfort to such; he has appointed it
in counsel and covenant from eternity; made provision for it in the blessings and promises of his
grace; he has "set" (w) or put it in the ministry of the word; be has ordered his ministering
servants to speak comfortably to his people; yea, by his Spirit he "puts" comfort into the hearts
of them, who through their unbelief refuse to be comforted; and he has fixed a time when he will
arise and have mercy on Zion, and bring her into a better state than she is now in, when there
will be none of these causes of complaint and mourning:
to give unto them beauty for ashes; in the Hebrew text there is a beautiful play on words,
which cannot be so well expressed in our language, "to give peer for epher" (x); in times of
mourning, it was usual to put on sackcloth and ashes, Est_4:1, instead of this, Christ gives his
mourners the beautiful garments of salvation, and the robe of his righteousness, and the graces

of his Spirit, and his gracious presence, together with his word and ordinances, and sometimes a
large number of converts; all which, as they are ornamental to his people, they yield them joy,
peace, and comfort: and this is a beauty that is not natural to them, but is of grace; not acquired,
but given; not fictitious, but real; is perfect and complete, lasting and durable, and desired by
Christ himself, who gives it:
the oil of joy for mourning; oil used to be poured on the heads of persons at entertainments
and festivals, and at times of rejoicing; and so is opposed to the state of mourners, who might
not be anointed, as the Jewish commentators observe; see Psa_23:5 the grace of the Spirit
without measure, with which Christ was anointed, is called "the oil of gladness", Psa_45:7 and of
the same nature, though not of the same measure, is the grace which saints have from Christ;
the effect of which is joy and gladness, even joy unspeakable, and full of glory; which is had in
believing in Christ, and through a hope of eternal life by him; hence we read of the joy of faith,
and of the rejoicing of hope: this oil is Christ's gift, and not to be bought with money; this holy
unction comes from him; this golden oil is conveyed from him, through the golden pipes of the
word and ordinances; is very valuable, of great price, and to be desired; and, being had, cannot
be lost; it is the anointing that abides:
the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; such as is in persons under afflictions,
or under a sense of sin, a load of guilt, and expectation of wrath; such as have heavy hearts,
contrite and contracted (y) ones, as the word is observed to signify; for as joy enlarges the heart,
sorrow contracts it; instead of which, a garment of praise, or an honourable one, is given;
alluding to persons putting on of raiment suitable to their characters and circumstances, at
seasons of rejoicing, such as weddings, and the like, Ecc_9:7 by which may be meant here the
robe of Christ's righteousness later mentioned, Isa_61:10 so called because worthy of praise, for
the preferableness of it to all others, being the best robe; for its perfection and purity; for the
fragrancy and acceptableness of it to God, and for its eternal duration; also, because it occasions
and excites praise in such on whom it is put; and such likewise shall have praise of God
hereafter, when on account of it they shall be received into his kingdom and glory:
that they might be called trees of righteousness; that is, that the mourners in Zion,
having all these things done for them, and bestowed on them, might be called, or be, or appear
to be, like "trees" that are well planted; whose root is in Christ, whose sap is the Spirit and his
grace, and whose fruit are good works; and that they might appear to be good trees, and of a
good growth and stature, and be laden with the fruits of righteousness, and be truly righteous
persons, made so by the imputation of Christ's righteousness to them: "the planting of the
Lord"; planted by him in Christ, and in his church, and so never to be rooted out:
that he might be glorified; by their fruitfulness and good works, Joh_15:8 or that he might
glorify himself, or get himself glory by them; See Gill on Isa_60:21.
(u) ‫לאבלי‬‫ציון‬ "lugentibus Sionis", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator Vitrtnga. So Syr. (w) ‫לשום‬ "ad
ponendum" Montanus; "ut ponerem" Munster Pagninus. (x) ‫פאר‬‫תחת‬‫אפר‬ the Targum and
Vulgate Latin version render it a "crown for ashes" and the word is used for the tire of the head
in Eze_24:17. The Syriac and Arabic versions read, "for ashes sweet ointment", or "oil of
gladness", joining it to the next clause; and mention being made of oil or ointment there,
Fortunatus Scacchus thinks the allusion is to crowns of roses and, lilies moistened with,
ointment of myrrh, and like ointment, which used to be wore at nuptial solemnities; and so
opposed to ashes put on the head in times of mourning, which falling from thence, and
moistened with tears on the cheeks, were clotted there, and so expressed the miserable

condition they were in; but these things the reverse. See his Sacror. Eleaoehr. Myrothec. I. 1. c.
28. col. 139. (y) ‫תחת‬‫רוח‬‫כהה‬ "pro spiritu stricto", Montanus, Paganinus; "loco spiritus contracti",
Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "constricto", Vatablus.
To appoint to give. The latter expression is a correction of the
former, which was not wide enough. Messiah is sent to give to the godly mourners
(1) beauty for ashes; or "a crown for ashes," i.e. a crown of glory in lieu of the ashes of repentance
which it was customary to sprinkle upon the head;
(2) the oil of joy for mourning; or the anointing of the Spirit in lieu of that plenteousness of tears which
naturally belonged to mourners; and
(3) the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, or a glad heart inclined to praise God, in lieu of a
heavy one inclined to despair. Christian experience witnesses to the abundant accomplishment of all
these purposes. That they might be called trees of righteousness; literally, oaks of righteousness, or
strong and enduring plants in the garden of God, planted by him, in order that through them he might be
glorified. Nothing gives so much glory to God as the proved righteousness of his saints. The planting of
the Lord; i.e. "which he has planted" and caused to grow, and rendered righteous. The righteousness,
though it is their own, an indwelling quality, has nevertheless come from him (comp. Isa_60:21).
4B. PULPIT, “Comfort and cheer.
"To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion," etc. There is a triple exchange spoken of in these words,
which ought to quicken thought.
I. CHARACTER. "Beauty for ashes." The penitent is uplifted from the dust. Instead of standing before
God in sad confession, with all the stains of sin upon his heart and the liturgy of woe upon his lips, he has
new life. The beauty of the Lord is given to him—there is transformation.
II. EMOTION. "The oil of joy for mourning." No longer looking at the dark side of personal history and
personal prospect. The very countenance is anointed with fresh oil—a type of what has taken place within
the man. Because you cannot force joy, nor can yon pretend it. Nature sets herself against all forgeries.
Such joy as a godly man experiences can only come from the good treasure of his heart.
III. EXPRESSION. "The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness." The outward life is all so different.

As God is said to clothe himself with light as with a garment, so the Easterns understood the garment of
light to be the expression of the man himself, even as we now look to the habiliments of the mourner as
testifying to his grief. The spirit of heaviness is distressing. It is not a thankful spirit, nor a hopeful spirit,
nor an inspiring spirit. But the garment of praise is like the melody of the temple choir; like the music of
the river; like the "lark that sings at heaven's gate." "Awake, psaltery and harp; I myself will awake right
early."—W.M.S.
4C. “Christ our Comforter.
We think of our Lord as of our Divine Friend; and there is no way in which any one can show himself so
true a friend as in the time of trouble. Well says the old adage, "A friend in need is a friend indeed."
I. OUR URGENT NEED OF HIS DIVINE SUCCOUR. "Them that mourn in Zion." In virtue of his relation to
us as our Saviour, Jesus Christ delivers ,s from the power and bondage of sin, and so from the remorse
which attends its presence and constitutes a principal part of its penalty. But there are other things from
which he does not profess to save his people in this world; these are suffering and sorrow. His very best
disciples may inherit a bodily constitution which has in it the seeds of feebleness and pain, and which
may develop these evils in their acutest form; or they may be the victims of some terrible accident or of
human cruelty; or they may be called on to pass through trying straits, or to bear hitter disappointment, or
to endure grievous losses and long-continued loneliness. There is no mark on the lintel of their doors to
tell the angel of sorrow to pass by. He enters every home; he has a message for every heart, and the
children of the kingdom hear his voice, and feel the touch of his hand, even as do the citizens of the
worldly kingdom.
II. THE SUFFICIENCY OF OUR SAVIOUR'S SUCCOUR. Christ saves us in suffering and sorrow, though
he does not here deliver us from it. Such is the transforming power of his mighty touch, that he converts it
into another thing; under his hand it changes its aspect and is something else; the disfiguring ashes
become a diadem of beauty; instead of the signs of mourning there is seen the anointing with the oil of
joy; divested of the spirit of heaviness, the soul is clothed in the blessed garment of praise. The power of
the wonderful Worker (Isa_9:6) has transfigured everything—has turned the curse into a blessing. And
how?
1. By a sense of his gracious presence. The sorrowing spirit rejoices to feel that its Lord is near—is
nearer than closest relative, than dearest friend.
2. By a consciousness of his tender pity. The known and felt compassion, the assured sympathy of the

Lord of love, fills the heart with peace.
3. By the direct, sustaining influences of his Holy Spirit.
4. By the assurance that he is seeking our highest good; that things are not happening by accident or
mistake; that the gracious and wise Lord of all hearts and lives is working out an issue, dark and afar off,
perhaps, but kind and good, righteous and beneficent; that he is planting and nourishing "trees of
righteousness," and that these can only be grown with drenching rains and searching winds as well as
with sweet sunshine and balmy airs.
5. By the promise of unshadowed blessedness a little further on.—C.
5. JAMISON, “
To appoint ... to give — The double verb, with the one and the same
accusative, imparts glowing vehemence to the style.
beauty for ashes — There is a play on the sound and meaning of the Hebrew words, peer,
epher, literally, “ornamental headdress” or tiara (Eze_24:17), worn in times of joy, instead of a
headdress of “ashes,” cast on the head in mourning (2Sa_13:19).
oil of joy — Perfumed ointment was poured on the guests at joyous feasts (Psa_23:5;
Psa_45:7, Psa_45:8; Amo_6:6). On occasions of grief its use was laid aside (2Sa_14:2).
garment of praise — bright-colored garments, indicative of thankfulness, instead of those
that indicate despondency, as sackcloth (Joh_16:20).
trees of righteousness — Hebrew, terebinth trees; symbolical of men strong in
righteousness, instead of being, as heretofore, bowed down as a reed with sin and calamity
(Isa_1:29, Isa_1:30; Isa_42:3; 1Ki_14:15; Psa_1:3; Psa_92:12-14; Jer_17:8).
planting of ... Lord — (See on Isa_60:21).
that he might be glorified — (Joh_15:8).
6. CALVIN, “
3.To appoint to the mourners in Zion. He proceeds with the same subject; for he means
that the punishment which was to be inflicted on the people shall be such as still to leave room for
forgiveness. And, in order more fully to convince them of it, he says that the Lord has charged him with
this office, that he may proclaim this deliverance; and not to himself only, but also to others, till the chief
messenger arrive, namely, Christ, who actually bestows and exhibits what God at that time commanded
to be made known for a future period. Yet he means that the “” shall not hinder God from giving ground of
joy, when he shall think proper; for “ appoint” has the same meaning as “ fix the time,” that the

tediousness of delay may not discourage them.
That I may give to them beauty for ashes. By the word, give he speaks with commendation of the efficacy
of the prediction, that they may be fully convinced of the event. The allusion is to the ancient customs of
the Jews, who, when any calamity pressed hard upon them, sprinkled ashes on their heads, and wore
sackcloth. (Est_4:3) By these he denotes the filth and mourning which necessarily attend the wretched
condition of the people, and contrasts them with the joy and gladness which they shall have when they
are restored to liberty. I think that we ought not to pass by the allusion contained in the words‫פאר‬ (peer)
and ‫אפר‬ (epher;) for, by the mere transposition of letters, he intended to denote very different things, and,
by an elegant inversion, a change of condition.
Trees of righteousness. By these words he points out the restoration of the people; as if he had said, “
they had formerly been rooted out and resembled a dry stock, they shall be planted and settled.” Thus he
reminds them that they ought to contemplate the divine power, so that, though they are slain and dead,
still they may confidently hope that they shall be restored so as to take root and to receive strength and
increase. From this ought to be drawn a universal doctrine, namely, that there is no other way in which we
are restored to life than when we are planted by the Lord. We are indeed called his “” because he elected
us from the beginning. (Eph_1:4) But there is also another kind of “” which follows the former, namely, the
Calling, by which we are ingrafted through faith into Christ’ body. The Lord does this by the agency and
ministry of the Gospel; but it must be wholly ascribed to him, for “ is he alone that giveth the increase.”
(1Co_3:7) We must always bear in mind the emblematical meaning of the first deliverance as illustrating
the spiritual kingdom of Christ,.
He gives the appellation of “ of righteousness” to those in whom the justice of God or good order shines
forth. Yet let us know that the Lord adopts us on this condition, that we shall become new creatures, and
that true righteousness shall reign in us. And hence it follows that we are by nature depraved and
corrupted, and cannot yield fruit in any other way than by being changed and planted by the Lord. This
sets aside the vain and haughty opinion of the Papists, who, by contriving either preparations or the aids
of free will, claim what belongs to God alone; for if we are planted by the Lord, it follows that we are by
nature dry and unfruitful.
To glorify him. This is the design of our ““ but we have already spoken of these things in expounding the
twenty-first verse of the preceding chapter.

4
They will rebuild the ancient ruins
and restore the places long devastated;
they will renew the ruined cities
that have been devastated for generations.
1.BARNES,
“And they shall build the old wastes - (See the notes at Isa_58:12).
2. CLARKE,
“And they that spring from thee” - A word is lost here likewise. After ‫ובנו‬
ubanu, “they shall build,” add ‫ממך‬ mimmecha, they that spring from thee. Four MSS. have it so,
(two of them ancient), and one of mine has it in the margin, and it is confirmed by Isa_58:12,
where the sentence is the very same, this word being here added. Kimchi makes the same
remark: “the word ‫ממך‬ mimmecha is omitted here; but is found in Isa_58:12.”
The desolations of many generations - It seems that these words cannot refer to the
Jews in the Balbylonish captivity, for they were not there many generations; but it may refer to
their dispersions and state of ruin since the advent of our Lord; and consequently this may be a
promise of the restoration of the Jewish people.
3. GILL, “
And they shall build the old wastes,.... The captives set at liberty, and who are
called trees of righteousness, and the planting of the Lord; righteous and good men, who shall be
employed in the spiritual building of the church in Gospel times, and especially in the latter day;
for here begins an account of the benefits and blessings the church of Christ should partake of,
particularly at the time of the calling and conversion of the Jews: after having described the
work and office of the Messiah, and his fitness for it, the Holy Ghost returns to the same subject
with the preceding chapter, and which is carried on in the next. What is here said was literally
true, when the Jews returned from Babylon, and built their ruined houses and cities; or, at least,
there is an allusion to it: but it respects either the setting up of the interest of Christ, and
forming churches in the Gentile world, where nothing but blindness and ignorance reigned;
where there were no preaching nor ordinances, but all things were in ruin and confusion; as they

were before the ministry of the Gospel by the apostles, who were wise master builders, and
instruments of converting multitudes, and of raising churches to the honour of the great
Redeemer there: or rather it respects the building up of the tabernacle of David, that is fallen
down, or the church of God among the Jews, which will be in the latter day, when they are
turned to the Lord, Amo_9:11 and the same sense have all the following expressions,
they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities,
the desolations of many generations; setting forth the desolate state and condition of the
Jews; their long continuance in it, age after age; and their recovery and restoration, when they
shall become a flourishing people again, both in civil and spiritual things.
4. HENRY, “
Promises are here made to the Jews now returned out of captivity, and settled
again in their own land, which are to be extended to the gospel church, and all believers, who
through grace are delivered out of spiritual thraldom; for they are capable of being spiritually
applied.
I. It is promised that their houses shall be rebuilt (Isa_61:4), that their cities shall be raised out
of the ruins in which they had long lain, and be fitted up for their use again: They shall build the
old wastes; the old wastes shall be built, the waste cities shall be repaired, the former
desolations, even the desolations of many generations, which it was feared would never be
repaired, shall be raised up. The setting up of Christianity in the world repaired the decays of
natural religion and raised up those desolations both of piety and honesty which had been for
many generations the reproach of mankind. An unsanctified soul is like a city that is broken
down and has no walls, like a house in ruins; but by the power of Christ's gospel and grace it is
repaired, it is put in order again, and fitted to be a habitation of God through the Spirit. And
they shall do this, those that are released out of captivity; for we are brought out of the house of
bondage that we may serve God, both in building up ourselves to his glory and in helping to
build up his church on earth.
5. JAMISON, “
old wastes — Jerusalem and the cities of Judah which long lay in ruins (see
on Isa_58:12).
5B. “
Even in Isa_61:3 with ‫ם‬ ֶ‫ה‬ ָ‫ל‬ ‫א‬ ָ‫ּר‬‫ק‬ְ‫ו‬ a perfect was introduced in the place of the infinitives of
the object, and affirmed what was to be accomplished through the mediation of the Servant of
Jehovah. The second turn in the address, which follows in Isa_61:4-9, continues the use of such
perfects, which afterwards pass into futures. But the whole is still governed by the
commencement in Isa_61:1. The Servant of Jehovah celebrates the glorious office committed to
him, and expounds the substance of the gospel given him to proclaim. It points to the
restoration of the promised land, and to the elevation of Israel, after its purification in the
furnace of judgment, to great honour and dignity in the midst of the world of nations. “And they

will build up wastes of the olden time, raise up desolations of the forefathers, and renew
desolate cities, desolations of former generations. And strangers stand and feed your flocks,
and foreigners become your ploughmen and vinedressers. But ye will be called priests of
Jehovah; Servants of our God, will men say to you: ye will eat the riches of the nations, and
pride yourselves in their glory.” The desolations and wastes of ‛olam and dor vador, i.e., of ages
remote and near (Isa_58:12), are not confined to what had lain in ruins during the seventy years
of the captivity. The land will be so thickly populated, that the former places of abode will not
suffice (Isa_49:19-20); so that places must be referred to which are lying waste beyond the
present bounds of the promised land (Isa_54:3), and which will be rebuilt, raised up, and
renewed by those who return from exile, and indeed by the latest generations (Isa_58:12, ְၲ‫ם‬ ִ‫;מ‬ cf.,
Isa_60:14). Chorebh, in the sense of desolation, is a word belonging to the alter period of the
language (Zeph., Jer., and Ezek.). The rebuilding naturally suggests the thought of assistance on
the part of the heathen (Isa_60:10). But the prophet expresses the fact that they will enter into
the service of Israel (Isa_61:5), in a new and different form. They “stand there” (viz., at their
posts ready for service, ‛al-mish-martam, 2Ch_7:6), “and feed your flocks” (‫ּאן‬‫צ‬ singularetantum,
cf., Gen_30:43), and foreigners are your ploughmen and vinedressers. Israel is now, in the
midst of the heathen who have entered into the congregation of Jehovah and become the people
of God (ch Isa_19:25), what the Aaronites formerly were in the midst of Israel itself. It stands
upon the height of its primary destination to be a kingdom of priests (Exo_19:6). They are called
“priests of Jehovah,” and the heathen call them “servants of our God;” for even the heathen
speak with believing reverence of the God, to whom Israel renders priestly service, as “our God.”
This reads as if the restored Israelites were to stand in the same relation to the converted
heathen as the clergy to the laity; but it is evident, from Isa_66:21, that the prophet has no such
hierarchical separation as this in his mind. All that we can safely infer from his prophecy is, that
the nationality of Israel will not be swallowed up by the entrance of the heathen into the
community of the God of revelation. The people created by Jehovah, to serve as the vehicle of
the promise of salvation and the instrument in preparing the way for salvation, will also render
Him special service, even after that salvation has been really effected. At the same time, we
cannot take the attitude, which is here assigned to the people of sacred history after it has
become the teacher of the nations, viz., as the leader of its worship also, and shape it into any
clear and definite form that shall be reconcilable with the New Testament spirit of liberty and
the abolition of all national party-walls. The Old Testament prophet utters New Testament
prophecies in an Old Testament form. Even when he continues to say, “Ye will eat the riches of
the Gentiles, and pride yourselves in their glory,” i.e., be proud of the glorious things which have
passed from their possession into yours, this is merely colouring intended to strike the eye,
which admits of explanation on the ground that he saw the future in the mirror of the present, as
a complete inversion of the relation in which the two had stood before. The figures present
themselves to him in the form of contrasts. The New Testament apostle, on the other hand, says
in Rom_11:12 that the conversion of all Israel to Christ will be “the riches of the Gentiles.” But if
even then the Gentile church should act according to the words of the same apostle in
Rom_15:27, and show her gratitude to the people whose spiritual debtor she is, by ministering
to them in carnal things, all that the prophet has promised here will be amply fulfilled. We
cannot adopt the explanation proposed by Hitzig, Stier, etc., “and changing with them, ye enter
into their glory” (hithyammer from yamar = mur, Hiph.: hemı̄r, Jer_2:11; lit., to exchange with one
another, to enter into one another's places); for yamar = ‛amar (cf., yachad = 'achad; yasham = 'a
sham; yalaph = 'alaph), to press upwards, to rise up (related to tamar, see at Isa_17:9; samar,
Symm. ᆆρθοτριχεሏν, possibly also ‛amar with the hithpael hith‛ammer, lxx καταδυναστεύειν), yields

a much simpler and more appropriate meaning. From this verb we have hith'ammer in Psa_94:4,
“to lift one's self up (proudly),” and here hithyammer; and it is in this way that the word has been
explained by Jerome (superbietis), and possibly by the lxx (θαυµασθήσεσθε, in the sense of
spectabiles eritis), by the Targum, and the Syriac, as well as by most of the ancient and modern
expositors.
Restoration.
"They shall build the old wastes." All waste is wicked. It is so in war. Even taken at its lowest estimate,
think of the ruin of glorious temples, and exquisite sculptures, and works of art,—all ground to dust, as Mr.
Ruskin says, by mere human rage. Florence, and many of the Southern cities, have been the war-fields
of Europe. What waste! There genius toiled; there multitudes, in sweat of brow, built the aqueduct and
decorated the capitol; and there, from time to time, the rude hand of the despoiler has come. History has
made record of victories and glorified conquerors, and some minstrel has caught the infection and sung
the lay of the wasters. What a satire on man! Why smile at the child who builds houses for the sea to
smite down? Man builds, and then with the waves of maddened war-lust dashes to pieces his own best
works. So it is. The history of Europe has been, in this sense, a history of waste, and instead of the
glorious works of Phidias to gaze upon, we have broken arms, fractured columns. In devastated districts
we dig for relics. This is only the material side of the waste of war. I say all waste is wicked. And I have to
speak of human hearts and lives. Much more precious these than sculptured column or lofty fane. Yes;
do not let us forget that the words of Christ refer to life present as well as life to come. "What shall it profit
a man, if he gain the whole world and lose his own life?"
I. ALL LIVES WERE DESIGNED TO HAVE A DIVINE IDEAL IN THEM. We cannot understand the "why"
of creation at all apart from that. "Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they
have sought out many inventions'' (Ecc_7:29). They have, in fact, invented many ideals for themselves,
and have wasted in these inventions the fine God-created faculties of their souls. If the end is missed all
is missed. If the column does not stand erect and uphold the building, it is nothing to me that you
decorate it when on the ground. That is not its place, its use; it is a pillar or nothing. So man was made in
this highest end to glorify God; and his life is blighted—if it is rich in cultivation, elevated in taste, artistic in
style, comprehensive in erudition, useful in applied mechanics—if he does not glorify God. Our Saviour
said, "My meat and my drink is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work."
1. Lives are blighted, if certain seasons of spring and seed-time, which cannot return, pass idly by. Men
may be saved; for the precious blood of Christ can cleanse from all sin, even in old age. But they cannot
bear the fruit of a spiritual manhood, or of a Christian childhood.

2. Lives are blighted, if not filled with the power of immortality. However noble and glorious they may
appear, their fruits wither; there is no deep soil; the roots do not strike into the eternal life.
3. Lives are blighted, if not influential as good soil to be used for harvests. Man does not live for the mere
enjoyment and admiration of spiritual beauty in hours of meditation. There must be fruit in the tree
forothers to gather. It is disappointing in the autumn to lift the leaves and find no rich bloom of purple fruit,
"Abide in me." "So," says Christ, "shall ye bear much fruit."
II. ALL WASTING OF LIFE IS TRACEABLE. What to? Well, you can trace the blight to something in the
atmosphere, something at the root, or some confinement from the free breath of heaven. So you can
trace human waste and moral waste.
1. Sometimes it comes from absence of faith. There has been energy or heroic determination to conquer
evil, to pursue the good, but this has been mere doing, not being; men need faith to win Christ; to have
him in them, the Hope of glory. "If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered."
2. Sometimes it comes from absence of love. It is love that makes the other graces grow and bring forth
fruit. Love is warmth and life when inspired by Christ. Let me say also that I wanted to speak of lives in a
human sense blighted, and there are some such. Why? Because love is absent; they are treated coldly,
contemptuously, cruelly; the fire of love, at first damped, has now died out in their hearts; they know, they
feel it is. Mated to coarseness and rudeness, with the first thin superficial refinement and tenderness all
worn away, they find life worse than a blank—it is a bitter, bitter bondage to the selfishness and tyranny of
others. Poor heart! God help thee wherever thou art. Love can bear much and hope on. But when love's
ashes are white, life is blighted indeed.
3. Sometimes it comes from indifference. Let it alone. That is enough. Leave religion to take care of itself.
Then, like the best garden, it soon becomes desolate.
III. WASTED LIVES ARE REPARABLE ONLY BY REDEMPTION. In the body there is a kind of self-
healing after sickness. Not so with the soul; that requires a Divine Physician.
1. Christ does more than forgive. He renews and restores. Perhaps you desire now that God should
restore unto you the joy of salvation. You are sad about your own fruitlessness. So little peace and joy in
the Holy Ghost. Then, just as spring—sweet spring—comes in time, and the tender herb appears, and
Nature puts on her new garment of beauty, rejoicing to have her incense-cup filled again by the hand of

the Most High, so you desire that new graces should spring forth. Christ can make you abound with life
through the abundant grace which he is waiting to bestow.
2. Christ does wore than teach. He will live in you. The fruit is not yours, but Christ's. He is the Vine, we
are the branches. A closer union with him is what we need. If we seek to be grafted into the true Vine,
then, and then only, shall we bring forth fruit in our season. Christ is sometimes tailed the great Teacher.
So he is! All his teaching is that of the infinite mind. "In him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and
knowledge." What, then, is his first teaching? Believe on me! Then we become one with him, and our
character has life in it.
3. Christ does more even than commence this life. He completes it. He carries it on to perfection. So that
we, sinful and weak as we are, are made perfect in every good work. Waste, then, is not to be mourned
over only; it is to be restored. The satirist speaks scornfully of evil when seen and lived out. The optimist
says all is the best possible in the best of worlds, could we but understand all. The Christian says, "No;
evil is here, and evil is not of God." And then by the aid of the Holy Ghost he seeks to have the old man
crucified with Christ, and to live unto God. May renewal come to us all! May blight and waste give place to
life and fruit!—W.M.S.
7. CALVIN, “
4.And they shall build the deserts of the age. He goes on to describe more largely that
restoration of the Church; and chiefly with this view, that the Jews may entertain confident hope of
deliverance, because those promises appeared to be altogether incredible. And this is the reason why he
adorns with extensive and magnificent terms that benefit of redemption. It is a mistake to suppose that
these words, “ age” and “ ages, relate to a future period; as if he had said that the building of which he
speaks shall be firm and permanent. The Prophet’ meaning was widely different; for he shows (as I have
explained at another passage) that the long ruins of the city shall not prevent it from rising anew. When
the inhabitants of any city, scattered in all directions, have been absent for a very long time, there can be
no hope of rebuilding it; just as no person in the present day takes any concern about rebuilding Athens.
Thus, when the Jews had been banished into a distant country, and Jerusalem had been forsaken for
seventy years, who would have hoped that it would be built by the citizens themselves?
For this reason Isaiah employs the designations of “ of the age, ancient wildernesses, cities of desolation,
wildernesses of many ages,” in order to show that all this cannot prevent the Lord from restoring the city
to be inhabited by his elect at the proper time. Yet these statements ought also to be accommodated to
our time, so that, although the Lord permits his Church, when it has fallen down, to lie long in ruins, and

though there is no remaining hope of rebuilding it, yet we may strengthen our heart by these promises; for
it is God’ peculiar office to raise up and renew what had formerly been destroyed, and devoted as it were
to eternal rottenness. But we have formerly treated of these matters at the fifty chapter.
5
Strangers will shepherd your flocks;
foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.
1.BARNES, “
And strangers shall stand - (See the notes at Isa_14:1-2; Isa_60:10).
And feed your flocks - The keeping of flocks constituted a very considerable part of the
husbandry of those who dwelt in Palestine. Of course, any considerable prosperity of a spiritual
nature would be well represented by an accession of foreigners, who should come to relieve
them in their toil. It is not necessary to suppose that this is to be taken literally, nor that it
should be so spiritualized as to suppose that the prophet refers to churches and their pastors,
and to the fact, that those churches would be put under the care of pastors from among the
pagan. The idea is, that it would be a time of signal spiritual prosperity, and when the accession
would be as great and important as if foreigners were to come in among a people, and take the
whole labor of attending their flocks and cultivating their fields.
Your plowmen - Hebrew, ‫אכר‬ 'ikkar, from which probably is derived the Greek ᅊγρός agros;
the Gothic akr; the German acker; and the English acre. It means properly a digger or cultivator
of the soil, or farmer Jer_51:26; Amo_5:16.
And vine-dressers - The sense here accords with that which has been so repeatedly said
before, that the pagan world would yet become tributary to the church (see the notes at Isa_9:5-
7, Isa_9:9-10).
2. CLARKE, “
Strangers shall - feed your flocks - Gentiles shall first preach to you the
salvation of Christ, and feed with Divine knowledge the Jewish congregations.
3. GILL, “
And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks,.... The several congregated
churches of Christ, which shall be set among them, compared to flocks of sheep, as they often

are; and which shall be fed with knowledge and understanding, with the words of faith and
sound doctrine, by pastors of the Gentile race; who shall be raised up by Christ, and shall freely,
and faithfully, and constantly perform the office they are called unto; see Act_20:28,
and the sons of the alien shall be your ploughmen, and your vinedressers: the sons
of Gentiles, who were aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of
promise, Eph_2:12, but now being converted and brought to the knowledge of Christ, and gifted
by him, will be of eminent service in his church; which, as it is "God's husbandry", 1Co_3:9 shall
be filled and cultivated by them; the fallow ground of men's hearts shall be ploughed up by
them, with the plough of the Gospel the Lord succeeding their labours; and the seed of the word
sown in them, which, by the blessing of God, shall take root, spring up, and bring forth fruit.
And whereas the church of God is compared to a vineyard, and particular churches of Christ to
vines; such men as are called by grace from among the Gentiles, and have received gifts from
Christ, shall be the keepers and dressers of these vines, plant, and prune, and water them, and
do everything requisite unto them; see Son_2:15.
4. HENRY, “
Those that were so lately servants themselves, working for their oppressors and
lying at their mercy, shall now have servants to do their work for them and be at their command,
not of their brethren (they are all the Lord's freemen), but of the strangers, and the sons of the
alien, who shall keep their sheep, till their ground, and dress their gardens, the ancient
employments of Abel, Cain, and Adam: Strangers shall feed your flocks, Isa_61:5. When, by the
grace of God, we attain to a holy indifference as to all the affairs of this world, buying as though
we possessed not - when, though our hands are employed about them, our hearts are not
entangled with them, but reserved entire for God and his service - then the sons of the alien are
our ploughmen and vine-dressers.
5. JAMISON,
“stand — shall wait on you as servants (Isa_14:1, Isa_14:2; Isa_60:10).
6. CALVIN, “
5.And strangers shall stand. He means that foreigners and strangers shall be ready to
yield obedience to them; for, in consequence of their being at that time separated from the rest of the
nations, none was willing to assist them, and therefore he says that “ stand;“ that is, are ready to meet
and assist them. As to what follows, about “ sheep” and “ fields and vines,” these are metaphorical
expressions; for the Prophet treats of the kingdom of Christ, which is spiritual, but by means of these
figures describes its perfect happiness, that we may understand it better from examples drawn from those
things which are known to us. Let us therefore understand that we shall be truly happy when Christ shall
exercise his dominion over us; for in this way shall we likewise obtain, beyond expectation, many
advantages of which the children of Adam are justly deprived.

6
And you will be called priests of the LORD,
you will be named ministers of our God.
You will feed on the wealth of nations,
and in their riches you will boast.
1.BARNES, “
But ye shall be named - The idea here literally is, ‘There will be no need of
your engaging in the business of agriculture. All that will be done by others; and you, as
ministers of God, may engage wholly in the duties of religion. The world shall be tributary to
you, and you shall enjoy the productions of all lands; and you may, therefore, devote yourselves
exclusively to the service of Yahweh, as a kingdom of priests.’ A similar promise occurs in
Exo_19:6 : ‘And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.’ The idea is, that
there would be a degree of spiritual prosperity, as great as if they were permitted to enjoy all the
productions of other climes; as if all menial and laborious service were performed by others; and
as if they were to be entirely free from the necessity of toil, and were permitted to devote
themselves exclusively to the services of religion.
Ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles - (See the notes at Isa_60:5-11).
And in their glory - In what constitutes their glory, or what they regard as valuable; that is,
their wealth, their talents, and their power.
Shall you boast yourselves? - There has been considerable variety of interpretation in
regard to the meaning of the word used here. Jerome renders it, Et in gloria earum superbietis.
The Septuagint, ‘In their wealth ye shall be admired’ (θαυµασθήσεσθε thaumasthesesthe). The
Chaldee and Syriac render it, ‘In their splendor ye shall glory.’ The word used is ‫ימר‬ yamar. It
occurs nowhere else, it is believed, except in Jer_2:11, twice, where it is tendered ‘changed.’
‘Hath a nation changed (‫ההימיר‬ haheymiyr) their gods, which are yet no gods? But my people
have changed ( ‫המיר‬ hemiyr) their glory for that which doth not profit.’ In the passage before
us, it is used in Hithpael, and means properly to exchange oneself with anyone. Here it means,
‘In their splendor we shall take their places,’ that is, we shall enjoy it in their stead. We shall
avail ourselves of it as if we were to enter into their possessions, and as if it were our own. The
sense is, it shall come to enrich and adorn the church. It shall cleavage places, and shall all
belong to the penple of God - in accordance with that which has been so often said by Isaiah,
that the wealth of the world would become tributary to the church.

But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord. By the covenant
made at Sinai, Israel was to be "a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation" (Exo_19:6). Had they risen to
the height of their calling when our Lord and his disciples offered them salvation before offering it to the
Gentiles, they might have "been in the midst of the heathen who had entered into the congregation of
Jehovah and become the people of God, what the Aaronites farmerly were in the midst of Israel itself"
(Delitzsch). Will they ever now obtain this position? Ye shall eat the riches of the
Gentiles (comp. Isa_60:5-9 and Isa_60:16). The Gentiles, when they came in, would freely offer to the
Church of their substance.
3. GILL, “
But ye shall be named the priests of the Lord,.... Or, "and ye shall be named",
&c. which Jerom understands of the builders of cities, pastors of flocks, the ploughmen and
vinedressers, the strangers and the sons of the alien, that these also should be called priests: but
rather it designs the Jews, when they shall be called and converted, and when there will be no
more the distinction of priests and common people, but they shall all be kings and priests unto
God, a royal priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices to him, all ceremonial ones being at an end:
men shall call you the ministers of our God; Christian men shall call, own, and
acknowledge you to be the servants of Christ, of Immanuel, God with us, having professed faith
in him, and submitted to his ordinances:
ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles; converted Gentiles, who shall join themselves with
Jewish converts in the same church state; who shall bring their wealth with them, and with it
support the interest of Christ; see Isa_60:5, or this may be understood of their spiritual riches,
the unsearchable riches of Christ revealed in the Gospel, which the Gentiles have long possessed,
but now the Jews shall have a share with them:
and in their glory shall you boast yourselves; not in being the seed of Abraham, as
formerly; in birth privileges, in carnal rites and ceremonies, such as circumcision and others;
but in what is the glory of the Gentiles, Christ himself, who is their glory, and of whom they
glory; as also his Gospel, and the ordinances of it, which are the glory of every nation possessed
of them: or, "ye shall delight yourselves" (z); in the Lord; in communion and conversation with
his people, and in the enjoyment of the privileges of his house with them: or, "ye shall lift up or
exalt yourselves", or "be exalted" (a); to the same degree of honour and glory, being all kings and
priests unto God.
4. HENRY, “
The wealth and honour of the Gentile converts shall redound to the benefit and
credit of the church, Isa_61:6. The Gentiles shall be brought into the church. Those that were
strangers shall become fellow-citizens with the saints; and with themselves they shall bring all
they have, to be devoted to the glory of God and used in his service; and the priests, the Lord's
ministers, shall have the advantage of it. It will be a great strengthening and quickening, as well
as a comfort and encouragement, to all good Christians, to see the Gentiles serving the interests

of God's kingdom. 1. They shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, not which they have themselves
seized by violence, but which are fairly and honourably presented to them, as gifts brought to
the altar, which the priests and their families lived comfortably upon. It is not said, “You shall
hoard the riches of the Gentiles, and treasure them,” but, “You shall eat them;” for there is
nothing better in riches than to use them and to do good with them. 2. They shall boast
themselves in their glory. Whatever was the honour of the Gentiles converts before their
conversion - their nobility, estates, learning, virtue, or places of trust and power - it shall all turn
to the reputation of the church to which they have joined themselves; and whatever is their glory
after their conversion - their holy zeal and strictness of conversation, their usefulness, their
patient suffering, and all the displays of that blessed change which divine grace has made in
them - shall be very much for the glory of God and therefore all good men shall glory in it.
5. JAMISON, “
But ye — as contrasted with the “strangers.” Ye shall have no need to attend
to your flocks and lands: strangers will do that for you; your exclusive business will be the
service of Jehovah as His “priests” (Exo_19:6, which remains yet to be realized; compare as to
the spiritual Israel, Isa_66:21; 1Pe_2:5, 1Pe_2:9; Rev_1:6; Rev_5:10).
Ministers — (Eze_44:11).
eat ... riches of ... Gentiles — (Isa_60:5-11).
in their glory ... boast yourselves — rather, “in their splendor ye shall be substituted in
their stead”; ye shall substitute yourselves [Maurer].
6. CALVIN, “
6.But ye shall be called the priests of Jehovah. This verse sheds somewhat more light
on the preceding; for in the second part of it the Prophet foretells that believers shall enjoy the riches of
the Gentiles, and shall be raised to glory as their successors. The Jews, indeed, seize eagerly on such
declarations, and already devour by covetousness the wealth of all the nations, as if they would one day
possess it, and vaunt as if the glory of the whole world would become their own.
But there are chiefly two things that ought to be observed in these words, that we may more fully
understand them. First, the prophets, when they wish to describe the glory and happiness of the Kingdom
of Christ, borrow comparisons from human affairs. Secondly, when they speak of the Church, they
connect the Head with the members in such a manner that sometimes they look more at the Head than at
the members. We must not understand the enjoyment of the wealth of others to mean that they who are
converted to Christ shall seize on the wealth, or glory, or rank of others, which is most inconsistent with
true religion; but because all things shall be brought under the dominion of Christ, so that he alone shall
hold authority and rule. And that is what I have already said, that he looks both at the members and the
Head. But when they come into the power of Christ, they are called ours, because Christ possesses
nothing separate from his Church.

In the same manner it is said elsewhere, (Isa_45:14) that the enemies of Christ “ kiss his feet and
supplicate pardon,” although this is done in the Church, in which they acknowledge Christ and yield to his
doctrine. Thus Isaiah shows what the Father will give to the Son, who has lawful authority over the whole
world, (Mat_28:18) and to whom
“ things must be made subject.” (Heb_2:8)
Yet we must not omit what I mentioned a little before, that God gives large and kind support to his elect in
the world, in order that they may feel that their condition is far better than that of unbelievers; for, though
they are in want of many things, yet, being content with a little, they cheerfully give thanks to God, so that
their hunger is better than all the abundance of unbelievers.
Priests of Jehovah. By this term he shows that the condition of the people shall be far more excellent than
formerly; as if he had said, “ the Lord had chosen you to be his heritage; but he will adorn you with gifts
much more excellent, for he will elevate you to the honor of the priesthood.” Although the whole people
was “ kingdom of priests,” (Exo_19:6; Deu_33:10) yet we know that the tribe of Levi only discharged this
office; but the Prophet declares that in future it shall be common to all. This was not manifested but under
the reign of Christ. The restoration of the Church, indeed, began at the time when the people returned
from Babylon; but at the coming of Christ believers were at length adorned and honored by this dignity;
for all the saints have been consecrated to Christ, and discharge that office. To this belong the words of
Peter,
“ are a holy nation, a royal priesthood.” (1Pe_2:9)
What is the nature of this kind of priesthood ought to be carefully observed; for we must no longer offer to
God earthly sacrifices, (166) but men must be offered and slain in obedience to Christ, as Paul declares
that he slew the Gentiles by the sword of the Gospel, that thenceforth they might obey the
Lord. (167) (Rom_15:16)
Hence infer how childish is the folly of the Papists, who abuse this passage to prove their priesthood; for
the Pope and his lackeys ordain priests to sacrifice Christ, not to teach the people. But Christ offered
himself “ eternal redemption,” (Heb_9:12) and he alone has once exercised this priesthood, and
commands that the priest of the sacrifice shall be offered to us by the doctrine of the Gospel. Those
persons, therefore, who usurp this office, and wish to repeat what he has completed, are guilty of
sacrilege.

But every person ought to offer himself, (Rom_12:1) and all that he has, in sacrifice to God, that he may
exercise this lawful priesthood; and next, ministers, who have been specially called to this office of
teaching, ought to make use of the sword of the word to slay men and consecrate them to God. Lastly,
those are lawful ministers who do not of themselves attempt or undertake anything, but faithfully and
diligently execute the commands which they have received from God.
(166) “Il ne faut plus offrir a Dieu des bestes brutes.” “ must no longer offer to God brute beasts.”
(167) See our author’ exposition of that remarkable passage. Ed.
7
Instead of your shame
you will receive a double portion,
and instead of disgrace
you will rejoice in your inheritance.
And so you will inherit a double portion in your land,
and everlasting joy will be yours.
1.BARNES, “
For your shame - That is, instead of the reproach and humiliation which
you have been called to experience.
You shall have double - A double inheritance or reward (see the notes at Isa_40:2).
And for confusion - The word ‘confusion’ here means the same as a blush of shame, and
refers to the scenes of humiliation and sorrow which the nation had passed through on account
of its sins.
They shall rejoice - There is here a change from the second to the third person - a change
which is not unfrequent in Isaiah. The same persons, however, are intended.

In their portion - That is, you shall be permitted to rejoice in the augmented privileges
which you shall enjoy. They will be more than a compensation for all the calamities which you
have been called to endure.
Therefore in their land - This is to be regarded as addressed to the exiles in Babylon, and
the promise is, that the people of God would be restored again to their own land, and to more
than their former privileges and blessings there.
The double - Double of what they formerly possessed; that is, their blessings would be
greatly increased and multiplied. Applied to the times of the Messiah, to which the prophet
undoubtedly refers, it means that the privileges of the friends of God would be far greater than
had been enjoyed even in the most favored times under the former dispensation.
Everlasting joy - (See the notes at Isa_35:10).
2. CLARKE, “
For your shame “Instead of your shame” - The translation of this
verse, which is very confused, and probably corrupted in the Hebrew, is taken from the Syriac
Version; except that the latter has not expressed the word ‫משנה‬ mishneh, double, in the first
place. Five MSS. add the conjunction ‫ו‬ vau to ‫שמחת‬ simchath. The Syriac reads ‫תרנו‬ taronnu, and
‫תירשו‬ tirashu, in the second person, “ye shall rejoice, ye shall inherit. “And for ‫להם‬ lahem, to
them, two MSS., (one of them ancient), three of De Rossi’s, and the Syriac, read ‫לכם‬ lachem, to
you, in the second person likewise.
The Version of the Septuagint is imperfect in this place; the first half of the verse is entirely
omitted in all the printed copies. It is supplied by MSS. Pachom. and 1. D. 2 in the following
manner: -
Αντι της αισχυνης ᆓµων της διπλης,
Και αντι της εντροπης αγαλλιασεται ᅧ µερις αυτων·
∆ια τουτο την γην αυτων εκ δευτερου-
“Instead of your shame ye shall have double,
And instead of your confusion their portion shall rejoice;
Therefore, they shall possess their land a second time.”
In which the two MSS. agree, except that 1. D. 2 has by mistake ᅧµερας, day, for ᅧ µερις, the
part. And Cod. Marchal., in the margin, has pretty nearly the same supplement as from
Theodotion. - L.
3. GILL, “
For your shame you shall have double,.... Or, "for your double shame" (b);
instead of being a reproach, a proverb, a taunt, and a curse, as the Jews now are everywhere;
being converted, they will have double honour, both in things civil and religious, be in great
esteem with Christ, and all his people:

and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion; instead of the confusion and
reproach they have long lain under; or of that they shall be thrown into, when first awakened
and convinced of their sin, of unbelief and rejection of the Messiah; they shall rejoice in Christ
their portion, and in all those spiritual blessings they will see themselves blessed with in him;
they will now have the double portion of the firstborn, they once were, and to which there may
be an allusion, as some think; or, as others, to the double portion of the spirit of Elijah on Elisha;
they shall now have the spirit of grace and supplication poured upon them, and all the gifts and
graces of the Spirit bestowed on them, all which will be cause of joy and rejoicing to them:
therefore in their land they shall possess the double; not only in the land of the
Gentiles, where they have suffered reproach, shall they have double honour; but in their own
land, the land of Israel, to which they shall be restored; they shall enjoy great plenty of all kind
of blessings, temporal and spiritual:
everlasting joy shall be unto them; for after this they shall no more be carried captive, or be
dispossessed either of their civil or religious privileges; see Isa_35:10.
4. HENRY, “
They shall have abundance of comfort and satisfaction in their own bosoms,
Isa_61:7. The Jews no doubt were thus privileged after their return; they were in a new world,
and now knew how to value their liberty and property, the pleasures of which were continually
fresh and blooming. Much more do all those rejoice whom Christ has brought into the glorious
liberty of God's children, especially when the privileges of their adoption shall be completed in
the resurrection of the body. 1. They shall rejoice in their portion; they shall not only have their
own again, but (which is a further gift of God) they shall have the comfort of it, and a heart to
rejoice in it, Ecc_3:13. Though the houses of the returned Jews, as well as their temple, be much
inferior to what they were before the captivity, yet they shall be well pleased with them and
thankful for them. It is a portion in their land, their own land, the holy land, Immanuel's land,
and therefore they shall rejoice in it, having so lately known what it was to be strangers in a
strange land. Those that have God and heaven for their portion have reason to say that they
have a worthy portion and to rejoice in it. 2. Everlasting joy shall be unto them, that is, a joyful
state of their people, which shall last long, much longer than the captivity had lasted. Yet that joy
of the Jewish nation was so much allayed, so often interrupted, and so soon brought to an end,
that we must look for the accomplishment of this promise in the spiritual joy which believers
have in God and the eternal joy they hope for in heaven. 3. This shall be a double recompence to
them, and more than double, for all the reproach and vexation they have lain under in the land
of their captivity: “For your shame you shall have double honour, and in your land you shall
possess double wealth, to what you lost; the blessing of God upon it, and the comfort you shall
have in it, shall make an abundant reparation for all the damages you have received. You shall
be owned not only as God's sons, but as his first-born (Exo_4:22), and therefore entitled to a
double portion.” As the miseries of their captivity were so great that in them they are said to
have received double for all their sins (Isa_40:2), so the joys of their return shall be so great that
in them they shall receive double for all their shame. The former is applicable to the fulness of
Christ's satisfaction, in which God received double for all our sins; the latter to the fulness of
heaven's joys, in which we shall receive more than double for all our services and sufferings.
Job's case illustrates this: when God turned again his captivity, he gave him twice as much as
he had before.

5. JAMISON, “
double — Instead of your past share, ye shall have not merely as much, but
“double” as much reward (Isa_40:2; Zec_9:12; compare the third clause in this verse).
confusion — rather, “humiliation,” or “contumely.”
rejoice — They shall celebrate with jubilation their portion [Maurer]. Transition from the
second to the third person.
in their land — marking the reference to literal Israel, not to the Church at large.
everlasting joy — (Isa_35:10).
5B. K&D, “
The shame of banishment will then be changed into an excess of joy, and
honourable distinction. “Instead of shame ye will have double, and (instead) of insult they
rejoice at their portion: thus in their land they will possess double; everlasting joy will they
have. For I Jehovah love right, hate robbery in wickedness; and give them their reward in
faithfulness, and conclude an everlasting covenant with them. And their family will be known
among the nations, and their offspring in the midst of the nations: all who see them will
recognise them, for they are a family that Jehovah hath blessed.” The enigmatical first half of
Isa_61:7 is explained in Isa_61:2, where mishneh is shown to consist of double possession in the
land of their inheritance, which has not only been restored to them, but extended far beyond the
borders of their former possession; and yaronnu chelqam (cf., Isa_65:14) denotes excessive
rejoicing in the ground and soil belonging to them (according to the appointment of Jehovah):
chelqam as in Mic_2:4; and mishneh as equivalent not to ‫בוֹד‬ ָ‫כ‬ ‫ה‬ֵ‫נ‬ ְ‫שׁ‬ ִ‫,מ‬ but to ‫ה‬ ָ ֻ‫ר‬ְ‫י‬ ‫ה‬ֵ‫נ‬ ְ‫שׁ‬ ִ‫.מ‬ Taking this to
be the relation between Isa_61:7 and Isa_61:7, the meaning of lakhen is not, “therefore, because
they have hitherto suffered shame and reproach;” but what is promised in Isa_61:7 is unfolded
according to its practical results, the effects consequent upon its fulfilment being placed in the
foreground; so that there is less to astonish us in the elliptically brief form of Isa_61:7 which
needed explanation. The transition from the form of address to that of declaration is the same as
in Isa_1:29; Isa_31:6; Isa_52:14-15. ‫ה‬ ָ ִ‫ל‬ ְ‫וּכ‬ is a concise expression for ‫כלמה‬ ‫ת‬ ַ‫ח‬ ַ‫ת‬ְ‫,ו‬ just as ִ‫תי‬ ָ ִ‫ה‬ ְ‫וּת‬ in
Isa_48:9 is for ‫תהלתי‬ ‫ן‬ ַ‫ע‬ ַ‫מ‬ ְ‫.וּל‬ Chelqam is either the accusative of the object, according to the
construction of ‫ן‬ֵ ֶ‫,ר‬ which occurs in Psa_51:16; or what I prefer, looking at ‫ה‬ ָ‫מ‬ ֵ‫ח‬ in Isa_42:25, and
‫י‬ ֶ‫ח‬ ָ‫ב‬ְ‫וּז‬ָ‫ך‬ in Isa_43:23, an adverbial accusative = ‫חלקם‬ ְ‫.ב‬ The lxx, Jerome, and Saad. render the
clause, in opposition to the accents, “instead of your double shame and reproach;” but in that
case the principal words of the clause would read ‫ם‬ ֶ‫כ‬ ְ‫ק‬ ְ‫ל‬ ֶ‫ה‬ ‫וּ‬ ּ‫ר‬ ָ . The explanation adopted by the
Targum, Saad., and Jerome, “shame on the part of those who rejoice in their portion,” is
absolutely impossible. The great majority of the modern commentators adopt essentially the
same explanation of Isa_61:7 as we have done, and even A. E. Kimchi does the same. Hahn's
modification, “instead of your shame is the double their portion, and (instead) of the insult this,
that they will rejoice,” forces a meaning upon the syntax which is absolutely impossible. The
reason for the gracious recompense for the wrong endured is given in Isa_61:8, “Jehovah loves
the right,” which the enemies of Israel have so shamefully abused. “He hates ‫ה‬ ָ‫עוֹל‬ ְ ‫זֵל‬ָ‫,ג‬ i.e., not
rapinam in holocausto (as Jerome, Talmud b. Succa 30a, Luther, and others render it; Eng. ver.
“robbery for burnt-offering”) - for what object would there be in mentioning sacrifices here,
seeing that only heathen sacrifices could be intended, and there would be something worse than

gazel to condemn in them? - but robbery, or, strictly speaking, “something robbed in or with
knavery” (lxx, Targ., Syr., Saad.), which calls to mind at once the cruel robbery or spoiling that
Israel had sustained from the Chaldeans, its boze
zı̄m (Isa_42:24) - a robbery which passed all
bounds. ‫ה‬ ָ‫עוֹל‬ is softened from ‫ה‬ ָ‫ל‬ְ‫ו‬ ַ‫ע‬ (from ‫ל‬ַ‫ו‬ ָ‫,ע‬ ‫ל‬ַ‫ו‬ ֲ‫,)ע‬ like ‫ה‬ ָ‫ת‬ ָ‫ּל‬‫ע‬ in Job_5:16, and ‫ּת‬‫ל‬‫עוֹ‬ in Psa_58:3 and
Psa_64:7; though it is doubtful whether the punctuation assumes the latter, as the Targum does,
and not rather the meaning holocaustum supported by the Talmud. For the very reason,
therefore, that Israel had been so grievously ill-treated by the instruments of punishment
employed by Jehovah, He would give those who had been ill-treated their due reward, after He
had made the evil, which He had not approved, subservient to His own salutary purposes. ‫ה‬ ָ ֻ‫ע‬ ְ
is the reward of work in Lev_19:13, of hardship in Eze_29:20; here it is the reward of suffering.
This reward He would give ‫ת‬ ֶ‫מ‬ ֱ‫א‬ ֶ , exactly as He had promised, without the slightest deduction.
The posterity of those who have been ill-treated and insulted will be honourably known (‫ע‬ ַ‫נוֹד‬ as
in Pro_31:23) in the world of nations, and men will need only to catch sight of them to recognise
them (by prominent marks of blessing), for they are a family blessed of God. ‫י‬ ִⅴ, not quod
(because), although it might have this meaning, but nam (for), as in Gen_27:23, since hikkı̄r
includes the meaning agnoscere (to recognise).
For your shame ye shall have double. Instead of the shame and
confusion of face which were the portion of Israel during the Captivity
(see Isa_51:7, Isa_51:23; Isa_54:4; Dan_9:7, Dan_9:8, etc.), they should after their restoration to
Palestine "have double" their former glory and double their former territory. An increase of territory had
been already prophesied (Isa_49:18-21)—an increase which, however, was not so much an extension of
the bounds of Palestine as a spread of the Church over the whole earth (comp. Zec_9:12). For confusion;
rather, as for disgrace. So far from feeling disgraced, they will rejoice, or exult, in their portion; i.e. in the
territory assigned them. It will be ample; and their life in it will be one of everlasting joy. The speaker
passes on in his thought to the time of the "new heavens and the new earth," which he regards as
continuous with that of Israel's return.
7. CALVIN, “
7.Instead of your shame. He confirms the former statement, in which he said that
believers who, clothed with sackcloth and covered with ashes, mourned, shall be sprinkled with the oil of
gladness. This change of mourning into joy is again promised.
There shall be a double reward. Some interpret the word double as meaning that they who have been
redeemed by God shall be happy both before God and before men. But I do not know that there are solid

grounds for that interpretation. I choose rather to adopt a more simple view; as if the Prophet had said, “
prosperity of the Church shall be so great as togo far beyond all the calamities and afflictions by which
she is now oppressed.” If, therefore, she is now weary of her condition, she ought to look to that day
when she shall be most happy, as Paul contrasts “ eternal weight of glory” with “ momentary lightness of
afflictions.” (2Co_4:17)
And instead of disgrace they shall rejoice in their portion. Wicked men vaunt over us and indulge in
wantonness, because they think that they have the superiority; but the Lord promises that ere long he will
cause good men, rescued from their tyranny, to obtain their portion. This began to be done, indeed, when
the people returned from captivity; but a clearer proof has been exhibited in Christ, and is exhibited every
day, and will at length be completed at his last coming, when all things shall be fully renewed, and the
wicked shall be thrown down, that we may obtain the inheritance of the world. This is the reason why he
says, by way of acknowledgment, that the earth is the portion of those wicked men; for they now boast
that they are the lords of the world, but they shall at length feel that it belongs peculiarly and specially to
the children of God.
And they shall have everlasting joy. This may relate to the outward condition of the Church; ibr he daily
supplies his people with ground of thanksgiving; but as they must also devour many griefs, and are
surrounded by manifold sorrow, this prediction is not fulfilled but when joy of spirit reigns and holds the
pre-eminence in our hearts, accompanied by that “ which (as Paul says) surpasses all understanding,”
(Phi_4:7,) which the children of God alone enjoy when they have the testimony of adoption, He calls it
everlasting, in order to shew how greatly it differs from the joy of wicked men, which is momentary and
quickly passes away, and is even changed into “ of teeth.” (Mat_8:12.)
8
“For I, the LORD, love justice;
I hate robbery and wrongdoing.
In my faithfulness I will reward my people
and make an everlasting covenant with them.

1.BARNES, “
For I the Lord love judgment - That is, ‘I shall delight in rendering to my
people what is right. It is right that they should enjoy my protection, and be favored with the
tokens of my kindness. Loving justice and right, therefore, I will confer on them the privileges
and blessings which they ought to enjoy, and which will be a public expression of my favor and
love.’
I hate robbery for burnt-offering - There has been great variety in the interpretation of
this phrase. Lowth renders it, ‘Who hate rapine and iniquity.’ Noyes, ‘I hate rapine and iniquity.’
Jerome, as in our translation, Et odio habens rapinam in holocausto. The Septuagint, Μισራν ᅋρ
άγµατα ᅚξ ᅊδικίας Mison harpagmata ech adikias - ‘Hating the spoils of injustice.’ The Chaldee, ‘Far
from before me be deceit and violence.’ The Syriac, ‘I hate rapine and iniquity.’ This variety of
interpretation has arisen from the different views taken of the Hebrew ‫בעולה‬ be
‛olah. The Syriac
evidently prefixed the conjunction, ‫ו‬ (v), “and,” instead of the preposition, ‫ב‬ (b), “with” or “for”;
and, perhaps, also the Septuagint so read it. But this change, though slight, is not necessary in
order to give a consistent rendering to the passage. The connection does not necessarily lead us
to suppose that any reference would be made to ‘burnt-offering,’ and to the improper manner in
which such offerings were made; but the idea is rather, that God hated rapine and sin; he hateth
such acts as those by which his people had been removed from their land, and subjected to the
evils of a long and painful captivity. And this is undoubtedly the sense of the passage. The
Hebrew word ‫עולה‬ ‛olah, usually without the ,‫ו‬ means properly “a holocaust,” or “what is made to
ascend” (from ‫עלה‬ ‛alah, to ascend) from an altar. But the word here is the construct form for
‫עולה‬ ‛avı lah, “evil, wickedness”; whence our word “evil” (see Job_24:20; Psa_107:42). And the
sense here is, hate rapine or plunder (‫גזל‬ gazel) with iniquity;’ that is, accompanied, as it always
is, with iniquity and sin. And hating that as I do, I will vindicate my people who have been
plundered in this way; and who have been borne into captivity, accompanied with deeds of
violence and sin.
And I will direct their work in truth - literally, ‘I will give them work in truth or
faithfulness;’ that is, I will give them the reward of their work faithfully. They shall be amply
recompensed for all that they have done and suffered in my cause.
And I will make - (See the notes at Isa_55:3).
2. CLARKE, “
I hate robbery for burnt-offering “Who hate rapine and iniquity” -
The Syriac, and Chaldee prefix the conjunction ‫ו‬ vau, instead of the preposition ‫ב‬ beth, to ‫עולה‬
olah, which they render iniquity or oppression; and so the Septuagint, αδικιας. The difference
lies in the punctuation; ‫בעולה‬ beolah, in a burnt-offering ‫בעולה‬ beavelah, in iniquity. The letters
are the same in both words. Five of De Rossi’s MSS. confirm this reading.
3. GILL, “
For I the Lord love judgment,.... To do that which is right and just himself, and
to see it done by others, and therefore he will right the wrongs of his people; and whereas the

Jews, though they have justly suffered his vengeance for their sins, yet being reproached and
abused beyond measure by the Gentiles, among whom they are dispersed; the Lord will look in
mercy upon them, and will deliver and save them, and bestow favours plentifully on them, as in
the preceding verse: or the Lord loves strict justice and real righteousness, and will not be put
off with an imperfect righteousness in the room of a perfect one, and much less an insincere and
hypocritical one, such as that of the unbelieving Jews, the pharisaical sect of them; nothing less
is acceptable to God than a perfect righteousness, which is adequate to the demands of law and
justice; and such a righteousness is not to be found among men, only in his Son Jesus Christ,
and with which he is well pleased, Isa_42:21,
I hate robbery for burnt offering; that which is stolen, though it be converted into a burnt
offering: or, "with a burnt offering" (c); all immorality, this being put for the whole, along with
ceremonial sacrifices; as if it could be atoned for by them, or would be connived at on account of
them: or,
by burnt offering; expiation of theft, or any other sin, by the sacrifices of the law, being
offered up without faith in Christ; and especially since the great sacrifice, the antitype of them, is
offered up; and therefore God will have no more offered up, they are displeasing and hateful to
him, Isa_1:12,
and I will direct their work in truth; appoint them work and service of a spiritual nature,
and direct them, and enable them to perform it in spirit and in truth, in opposition to the carnal
and shadowy ordinances of the ceremonial law; see Joh_4:23,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with them; that is, renew the everlasting
covenant of grace with them, make it manifest unto them; apply the grace and bestow the
blessings of it to and on them, Rom_11:25.
4. HENRY, “
God will be their faithful guide and a God in covenant with them (Isa_61:8): I
will direct their work in truth. God by his providence will order their affairs for the best,
according to the word of his truth. He will guide them in the ways of true prosperity, by the rules
of true policy. He will by his grace direct the works of good people in the right way, the true way
that leads to happiness; he will direct them to be done in sincerity and then they are pleasing to
him. God desires truth in the inward parts; and, if we do our works in truth, he will make an
everlasting covenant with us; for to those that walk before him and are upright he will
certainly be a God all-sufficient. Now, as a reason both of this and of the foregoing promise, that
God will recompense to them double for their shame, those words come in, in the former part of
the verse, I the Lord love judgment. He loves that judgment should be done among men, both
between magistrates and subjects and between neighbour and neighbour, and therefore he hates
all injustice; and, when wrongs are done to his people by their oppressors and persecutors, he is
displeased with them, not only because they are done to his people, but because they are wrongs,
and against the eternal rules of equity. If men do not do justice, he loves to do judgment himself
in giving redress to those that suffer wrong and punishing those that do wrong. God pleads his
people's injured cause, not only because he is jealous for them, but because he is jealous for
justice. To illustrate this, it is added that he hates robbery for burnt-offering. He hates injustice
even in his own people, who honour him with what they have in their burnt-offerings, much
more does he hate it when it is against his own people; if he hates robbery when it is for burnt-
offerings to himself, much more when it is for burnt-offerings to idols, and when not only his
people are robbed of their estates, but he is robbed of his offerings. It is a truth much to the

honour of God that ritual services will never atone for the violation of moral precepts, nor will it
justify any man's robbery to say, “It was for burnt-offerings,” or Corban - It is a gift. Behold, to
obey is better than sacrifice, to do justly and love mercy better than thousands of rams; nay,
that robbery is most of all hateful to God which is covered with this pretence, for it makes the
righteous God to be the patron of unrighteousness. Some make this a reason of the rejection of
the Jews upon the bringing in of the Gentiles (Isa_61:6), because they were so corrupt in their
morals, and, while they tithed mint and cummin, made nothing of judgment and mercy
(Mat_23:23), whereas God loves judgment and insists upon that, and he hates both robbery for
burnt offerings and burnt-offerings for robbery too, as that of the Pharisees, who made long
prayers that they might the more plausibly devour widows' houses. Others read these words
thus: I hate rapine by iniquity, that is, the spoil which the enemies of God's people had unjustly
made of them; God hated this, and therefore would reckon with them for it.
VII. God will entail a blessing upon their posterity after them (Isa_61:9): Their seed (the
children of those persons themselves that are now the blessed of the Lord, or their successors in
profession, the church's seed) shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation, Psa_22:30. 1.
They shall signalize themselves and make their neighbours to take notice of them: They shall be
known among the Gentiles, shall distinguish themselves by the gravity, seriousness, humility,
and cheerfulness of their conversation, especially by that brotherly love by which all men shall
know them to be Christ's disciples. And, they thus distinguishing themselves, God shall dignify
them, by making them the blessings of their age and instruments of his glory, and by giving
them remarkable tokens of his favour, which shall make them eminent and gain them respect
from all about them. Let the children of godly parents love in such a manner that they may be
known to be such, that all who observe them may see in them the fruits of a good education, and
an answer to the prayers that were put up for them; and then they may expect that God will
make them known, by the fulfilling of that promise to them, that the generation of the upright
shall be blessed. 2. God shall have the glory of this, for every one shall attribute it to the blessing
of God; all that see them shall see so much of the grace of God in them, and his favour towards
them, that they shall acknowledge them to be the seed which the Lord has blessed and doth
bless, for it includes both. See what it is to be blessed of God. Whatever good appears in any it
must be taken notice of as the fruit of God's blessing and he must be glorified in it.
5. JAMISON, “
judgment — justice, which requires that I should restore My people, and
give them double in compensation for their sufferings.
robbery for burnt offering — rather, from a different Hebrew root, the spoil of iniquity
[Horsley]. So in Job_5:6. Hating, as I do, the rapine, combined with iniquity, perpetrated on
My people by their enemies, I will vindicate Israel.
direct ... work in truth — rather, “I will give them the reward of their work” (compare
Isa_40:10, Margin; Isa_49:4, Margin; Isa_62:11, Margin) in faithfulness.
For I the Lord love judgment. Either "the Servant" here identifies
himself with Jehovah, or he cites a declaration of Jehovah which he has authority to announce. Jehovah
will restore the Israelites to their land because he "loves judgment" (equivalent to "justice") and hates
injustice. The Babylonian conquest, though a judgment sent by him, is, so far as the Babylonians are

concerned, a wrong and a "robbery." I hate robbery for burnt offering; rather, I hate robbery with
wickedness (comp. Job_5:16; Psa_58:3; Psa_64:7; 92:16). The transplantation of nations was a gross
abuse of the rights of conquest. I will direct their work in truth; rather, I will give them their recompense
faithfully. As they have been wronged, they shall be righted; they shall be faithfully and exactly
compensated for what they have suffered. Nay, more—over and above this, God will give them the
blessing of an "everlasting covenant" (comp. Isa_55:3).
7. CALVIN, “
8.For I Jehovah love judgment. He not only confirms what he promised in the name of
the Lord, but likewise exhorts the Jews to repent, and shews whence they ought to expect salvation, and
what and how great is the Judge with whom we have to do; for lie reasons from the nature of God in what
manner they ought to regulate their life, that they may not by their wickedness reject the grace that is
offered to them.
Under the wordjudgment he includes all that is just and equitable; for he contrasts this word with the
useless inventions of the Jews, by which they thought that they satisfied God, and at the same time
concealed their malice. The Lord cares not, as we have often seen, for such masks and vain pretences,
but demands true cleanness of heart and hands pure from all unrighteousness. He who wishes to obtain
the approbation of God for himself and for all that he does must have an upright heart and an
unblemished life.
And hate robbery in the burnt-offering. By a single part he figuratively denotes all hypocritical worship of
God; and under “” is included every kind of sacrifice. Nothing is more abominable than when men, from
cheating and robbery, sacrifice to God, or when they mingle their lies, hypocrisy, and impurity of heart,
with their sacrifices, or corrupt the worship of God by basely defrauding him. This vice abounds not only
in a single age, but at all times; for all men pretend to worship God, and even the wicked are ashamed of
not having an appearance of religion, the impression of a Divine Ruler being so deeply engraven on the
hearts of all that it cannot be erased. Yet the greater park of men sport with God, and endeavor to satisfy
him by childish trifles.
Isaiah therefore condemns and abhors this hypocrisy, and teaches that the Lord demands from us “
rather than sacrifice.” (Hos_6:6; Mat_9:13.) We cannot worship God in a right manner, if we do not
observe the Second Table, and abstain from all dishonesty and violence; for he who defrauds or injures
his neighbors does violence also to God. In a word, the design of the Prophet is to teach what is the true
character of repentance; namely, when, laying aside hypocrisy, and dismissing all inventions, the

worshippers of God cherish natural kindness to one another.
And I will establish their work in truth. Some explain it to mean the “” of work. But I rather think that it
denotes all the undertakings of life, to which the Lord promises a prosperous issue. The undertakings of
men succeed very ill; because they do not choose to ask counsel of God, or attempt anything under his
guidance. Thus they are justly punished for their rashness; because they trust in their own counsels, or
depend on a blind stroke of fortune, in which there is no reality whatever, but only a deceitful shadow. But
that they who are guided by the Spirit of God, and who commit themselves wholly to his protection,
should succeed prosperously and to their wish, is not at all wonderful; for all prosperity flows from his
blessing alone.
By the word truth is meant a uniform course; for even unbelievers are often puffed up with transitory joy,
but it speedily vanishes away.
And will make an everlasting covenant with them. In the conclusion of the verse he assigns the cause of
the stability. It is because God is pleased not once only to stretch out his hand to them, but to be the
continual guide of the journey. And the true support of our perseverance is, that he deigns to enter into an
everlasting covenant with us, in which he voluntarily makes himself our debtor, and freely bestows upon
us all things, though he owes us nothing whatever.
9
Their descendants will be known among the nations
and their offspring among the peoples.
All who see them will acknowledge
that they are a people the LORD has blessed.”
1.BARNES, “
And their seed - The figure here is taken from the feelings of a parent who
desires his children to be esteemed, and who regards it as an honor that they become so
distinguished that their fame extends to distant lands.
Shall be known - Shall be distinguished or honored. For this use of the word ‘known,’ see
Psa_67:2; Psa_76:1; Psa_79:10.
And their offspring - (See the notes at Isa_48:19). The Chaldee and the Syriac render this,
‘Their children’s children.’ The sense is, that the true friends of the church shall be everywhere

honored. Distant lands shall be acquainted with them, and shall be disposed to show them
distinguished respect.
Among the people - The people of distant lands.
All that see them shall acknowledge them - The time shall come when the true friends
of the Redeemer will be universally honored. They shall be regarded as the favored of the Lord;
and instead of being persecuted and despised, the nations of the earth will regard them as
worthy of their confidence and esteem.
2. CLARKE, “
Their seed shall be known among the Gentiles - Both Jews and
Gentiles are to make but one fold under one shepherd, Christ Jesus. But still, notwithstanding
this, they may retain their peculiarity and national distinction; so that though they are known to
be Christians, yet they shall appear to be converted Jews. After their conversion to Christianity
this will necessarily be the case for a long time. Strange nations are not so speedily
amalgamated, as to lose their peculiar cast of features, and other national distinctions.
3. GILL, “
And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring
among the people,.... Not only the Jews will be converted as a body in the latter day, but there
will be a succession of converts among them in later ages, and will be known among Christian
Gentiles by their faith and love, and good works and holy conversation; and will be taken notice
of and acknowledged by them as brethren, and will be famous among them for religion and
godliness:
all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord
hath blessed; that they are the spiritual seed of Abraham, as well as his carnal seed, and are
blessed with him; blessed with all spiritual blessings in Christ, with faith in him, and with every
other grace.
4. HENRY, “
God will entail a blessing upon their posterity after them (Isa_61:9): Their seed
(the children of those persons themselves that are now the blessed of the Lord, or their
successors in profession, the church's seed) shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation,
Psa_22:30. 1. They shall signalize themselves and make their neighbours to take notice of them:
They shall be known among the Gentiles, shall distinguish themselves by the gravity,
seriousness, humility, and cheerfulness of their conversation, especially by that brotherly love by
which all men shall know them to be Christ's disciples. And, they thus distinguishing
themselves, God shall dignify them, by making them the blessings of their age and instruments
of his glory, and by giving them remarkable tokens of his favour, which shall make them
eminent and gain them respect from all about them. Let the children of godly parents love in
such a manner that they may be known to be such, that all who observe them may see in them
the fruits of a good education, and an answer to the prayers that were put up for them; and then
they may expect that God will make them known, by the fulfilling of that promise to them, that

the generation of the upright shall be blessed. 2. God shall have the glory of this, for every one
shall attribute it to the blessing of God; all that see them shall see so much of the grace of God in
them, and his favour towards them, that they shall acknowledge them to be the seed which the
Lord has blessed and doth bless, for it includes both. See what it is to be blessed of God.
Whatever good appears in any it must be taken notice of as the fruit of God's blessing and he
must be glorified in it.
5. JAMISON, “
known — honorably; shall be illustrious (Psa_67:2).
people — rather, “peoples.”
seed ... blessed — (Isa_65:23).
Privilege, reputation, hope.
We have here—
I. AN OPEN PRIVILEGE to be eagerly employed. "Ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord." Under the
Law the priesthood was limited to one family of one tribe; the rest of the nation had rights and duties
outside and inferior. There stand, indeed, the ancient words, "Ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests,"
but this promise finds no complete fulfilment in the history of Israel. It is realized only in the kingdom of
Christ. Under him the whole community is a "holy priesthood," a "royal priesthood." Christ "has made us
(all) kings and priests unto God." It is open to every one of us to draw nigh unto God in closest spiritual
communion; to intercede with him in earnest, believing prayer; to present unto him "spiritual sacrifices" of
obedience, of resignation, of consecration. The way is open now into the holiest of all, and they please
God most who approach him most frequently, and offer to him most continually the sacrifice which comes
from clean hands and a pure and loving heart.
II. AN ENVIABLE REPUTATION to be greatly coveted. "Men shall call you the Ministers [servants] of our
God." What is it that we would have men say about us? By what do we most desire to be distinguished
and remembered? By our bodily strength or muscular skill? By our intellectual powers? By our
possessions? These things "profit a little;" they "have their reward" in momentary satisfaction, in pleasure
that lives awhile and dies. But they are not significant of the best and worthiest, of that which endures
amid the wreck and passage of the things which perish. The one reputation worth possessing is that of
being a true "servant of God." It is worth while doing much and endeavouring much, if need be, that the
thing which our contemporaries shall associate with our name, and by which those who survive us shall

distinguish us from others, is our faithful and devoted service of the Divine Master. So let us live that the
first thought which will arise in men's minds concerning us is that we are servants of our God.
III. AN INVALUABLE HOPE to be devoutly cherished. "All that see them [their offspring] shall
acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed." What are our deepest solicitudes
concerning our children? That they will rise, will be enriched, will be honoured of men? These might prove
curses rather than blessings. The wise parent will hope, will live and strive, will pray that his children may
be such in spirit, in character, in behaviour, that all who see them will feel about them that the blessing of
God is in their heart and upon their head.—C.
7. CHARLES SIMEON, “
BLESSEDNESS OF THE LORD’S PEOPLE
Isa_61:9. All that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed.
IN the different countries of the world, the inhabitants are characterized by distinctive differences in their
features; and from generation to generation, notwithstanding the vast diversity of countenances, that
peculiarity of cast pervades them all. Nevertheless, amidst all the nations where they are scattered, the
descendants of Abraham may be clearly discerned from the original inhabitants of the soil: they all shew,
by their countenances, their relation to their common parent. And may we not say respecting his spiritual
children also, that they may be distinguished from others? True it is, that in outward appearance they
resemble those around them; but in heart, in spirit, and in life, they are different from all the world; and
yet, however distant from each other in climate, in education, and in habits, they all resemble each other,
and bear the stamp and character of God, as their common Father.
In the passage before us, which foretells the increase of the Church in the Apostolic and Millennial
periods, this circumstance is noticed: a peculiar blessedness is said to belong to the people of the Lord,
even such a blessedness as should be visible to all who beheld them, and should distinguish them from
all other persons on the face of the earth. In confirmation of this singular fact, we propose to shew,
I. That the Lord’s people are pre-eminently blessed—
1. They are so—
[Consult the names given to them in the Holy Scripture: they are “the children of light,” “the children of

obedience,” “the children of God;” whilst all others are the children of darkness, of disobedience, of the
wicked one — — — Consider the state into which they are brought, a state of pardon, of peace, of
holiness, of joy: whilst the whole world besides lieth in wickedness, and are utter strangers to all the
blessings of the New Covenant — — — Consider further their prospects in the future world, they being
made heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ; whilst to all others there is nothing but “a certain fearful
looking-for of judgment and fiery indignation” to consume them — — — Are not such persons then “a
blessed seed?”]
2. They were so, in God’s purpose, before they came into the world—
[We are astonished that many who profess to approve of the Articles of the Church of England, should be
so averse to hear the smallest mention made of the counsels and decrees of God. That it is not profitable
to be always insisting upon them, we readily admit; and that to dive too curiously into them, as though we
were capable of comprehending the deepest mysteries in them, is highly presumptuous: but we must not
on that account keep them wholly out of view, or be afraid of speaking as the Scripture speaks. God did
most assuredly know from all eternity who were, or should be, his: and he did “choose them in Christ
before the foundation of the world,” and “predestinate them to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
himself [Note: Eph_1:4-5.];” and “he gave them to Christ [Note: Joh_17:2; Joh_17:6.],” to be redeemed by
his blood, to be saved by his grace, and to be made heirs of his glory [Note: 2Th_2:13-14.]: yea, he
“wrote their names in the Lamb’s book of life before the foundation of the world [Note:Rev_13:8.].” How
truly blessed then must they be! — — —]
3. They will be so to all eternity—
[All their present privileges and blessings are only preparatory to their future state, when their happiness
will be perfect, unchangeable, and everlasting. They are to be “made meet for their inheritance” in this
world; and, when they are completely ready for their nuptials with their heavenly Bridegroom, he will come
and take them to himself, that they may live for ever in the perfect fruition of his love [Note:Rev_19:7.] —
— — To bring them to this, was God’s original design in choosing them. To fit them for it, is the end of all
his dispensations, both of providence and grace. And to possess it, is the one object which they have in
view, in all their labours, in all their sufferings, in all their conflicts.]
Moreover, our text asserts that this their blessedness is visible to others, even to all who know them. We
proceed therefore to inquire,
II. Whence it is that all who know them acknowledge this—

The world at large do not know them [Note: 1Jn_3:1.]: they stand at so great a distance from the Lord’s
people, that they cannot properly be said to “see” them: and hence, from the indistinctiveness of their
views, they imagine that these people are either vile hypocrites or deluded enthusiasts. But those who
have an opportunity of ascertaining their real character, are constrained to acknowledge them as the
blessed of the Lord. This conviction is wrought on the minds of others by,
1. Their delight in God—
[Their happiness is altogether in God, even in that God and Saviour who bought them with his blood: they
delight in a sense of his favour, in the enjoyment of his presence, and in the performance of his will — —
— In this respect they differ from all other men on the face of the earth. Others may render unto God
some external services; but the believer alone “loves the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity,” so as to serve
him with all the powers and faculties of his soul — — — Hence there arises to the believer a peculiarity of
character which elevates him above all other men, and makes it manifest that “he is of the seed which the
Lord hath blessed.”]
2. Their superiority to the world—
[Believers, though in the world, “are not of it, even as Jesus Christ himself was not of the world:” they rise
above its maxims, its pleasures, its interests, its honours: “they are crucified to it, and consider it as
crucified to them” — — — But all other people are of the world: whether they live immersed in its cares, or
secluded from its society, they still have their affections placed on things below, and not on things above;
and, however they may pretend to despise the world, they are in reality its votaries, as much as if they
were following it in the more accustomed way. The monk in his cell lives to himself and to the flesh, as
much as the voluptuary or the man of business — — — Now here is another visible mark of distinction
between the children of God and others: they may possess, and may enjoy, much of this world; but
“though they use this world, they do not abuse it;” though they discharge their duties in it, they are in no
respect in bondage to it: and this also elevates their character in the eyes of all who know them, and
distinguishes them as pre-eminently favoured of their God.]
3. Their activity in doing good—
[Like their Divine Master, they “go about doing good.” This is, as it were, the element in which they delight
to move: and, though they themselves are a very “little flock” in comparison of those around them, it will
be found that almost every great and extensive charity has proceeded from them. Of the charities which

relate to the souls of men and their edification in the faith of Christ, they, under God, are the sole authors:
others may contribute to the spread of the Bible, the establishment of missions, and the promotion of
religion in various ways; but the proposals that first set on foot those charities will be found, perhaps
universally, to have originated with men of real piety. Here again they differ from all around them; for
though we thankfully acknowledge that there is a considerable portion of benevolence in many who are
not truly devoted to God, yet there is no real zeal in them for the diffusion of the Gospel, and the salvation
of a ruined world.]
4. The whole consistency of their conduct—
[Times and circumstances make no change in them. At all times, and under all circumstances, they are
glad in non-essentials to consult the weakness of others: but in things essential they are equally unmoved
by hopes or fears. They know not to please men, unless it be for their good to edification. They have but
one rule, the written word of God; and to that they are determined to adhere in life and death. But this is a
character peculiar to them. All other persons, how pertinacious soever they may be in some things, will
relax in others, according as inclination or interest may lead them. In regard to honour and probity indeed
a worldly man may be as immovable as others; but in things relating either to the exercise or
encouragement of vital godliness, he cannot possibly maintain an uniform tenour of conduct: he wants the
principle which alone can produce a firm, uniform, and decided character: consequently where
consistency in true religion is, there it will commend itself to all who are able to appreciate its value, and
will stamp its possessor as a child of God.]
Advice—
1. Let all be ambitious to attain this honour—
[To be acknowledged as the friends and favourites of earthly monarchs were no honour at all in
comparison of that which is mentioned in our text. Yet this is within the reach of all. As for that common
objection, “If God has not chosen me, how can I help myself?” it is impious in the extreme
[Note: Rom_9:19-20.]. We have nothing to do with the decrees of God, any farther than to refer all good
to him, as its true and only source: our duty is, not to dispute, but to obey: and if, in obedience to God’s
command, we will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be numbered amongst his spiritual seed, and
be “blessed in him with all spiritual and eternal blessings.”]
2. Let those who possess it endeavour to walk worthy of it—

[Remarkable is that exhortation of St. Paul, in his Epistle to Timothy, “The foundation of God standeth
sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his: but [Note: 2Ti_2:19. The word Ê á é has this
meaning, in this and many other places.], Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from
iniquity.” Do we profess to be of the seed which the Lord has blessed? let us shew that we are so by our
conduct and conversation. If we are “sons of God, we must be blameless and harmless, shining as lights
in the world, and holding forth in our conduct the word of life [Note: Php_2:15-16.].” It is in this way only
that we can approve ourselves to be God’s chosen people; and in this way only can we constrain our
fellow-creatures to acknowledge the justice of our pretensions.]
8. CALVIN, “
9.And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles. Here the Prophet treats more
clearly of the extension of the Church, which at that time might be said to be confined within a narrow
corner of the earth, and afterwards, as we have already seen, was exceedingly diminished and impaired.
(Isa_1:9.) Isaiah therefore discourses concerning the Church, which, after having suffered so great a
diminution, would be spread throughout the whole world, so as to be visible to all the nations. And yet this
did not happen even in the reign of Solomon, when the Jews flourished most in wealth and splendor.
(1Kg_10:21.) Now this appeared to be altogether incredible; and that is the reason why the prophets take
such pains to convince men of it, and repeat it very frequently, that the Jews may not measure this
restoration by their own understanding or by the present appearance of things.
A question now arises, When did these things happen? I reply (as I have often done before) that they
began when the people returned to their native country; for at that time, and in uninterrupted succession,
they experienced the manifold kindness of God towards them. But as nothing more than feeble sparks
appeared, the full brightness shone forth in Christ, in whose reign those things are entirely accomplished;
for where there was the utmost barrenness of godliness, the offspring of Abraham sprouted, because
foreigners were ingrafted by faith into the elect people. Thus foreign and barbarous nations
acknowledged that the Jews were the blessed seed of God, (Gen_22:18,) when they united with them in
the same confession of faith; nor was this fulfilled but once only, but is in course of being fulfilled every
day.
As to the Jews going before, and holding the first rank in God’ covenant, this ought to be ascribed to the
mercy of God, and not to their own excellence, as Paul (Rom_3:2) teaches; for, after having shown that
by nature they differ nothing at all from the Gentiles, and after having subjected them to the same

condemnation, he likewise teaches that they hold this privilege of pre-eminence, because they were the
very first that received the word of God and the promises. But this proceeded from God’ undeserved
kindness, and not from their merits or excellence.
10
I delight greatly in the LORD;
my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
1.BARNES, “
I wilt greatly rejoice in the Lord - This is the language of the prophet in
the name of the church; or, as Vitringa supposes, the language of a chorus introduced here by
the prophet. The Chaldee regards it as the language of Jerusalem, and renders it, ‘Jerusalem
said, I will surely rejoice in the Lord.’ The sentiment is, that the prosperity and enlargement of
Zion is an occasion of joy, and should lead to thanksgiving and praise. The phrase, ‘I will rejoice
in the Lord,’ means that the joy would arise from the view of the faithfulness and perfections of
Yahweh manifested in the redemption of his people. See similar expressions of joy in the song of
Mary Luk_1:46-47.
For he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation - That is, Jerusalem or the
church.
He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness - The word rendered ‘robe’ here
means mantle, or a large and loose garment thrown over the other parts of the dress. Such
garments are for protection and for ornament, and the image is that of the church defended and
ornamented by God (see the notes at Isa_49:18).
As a bridegroom decketh himself - Margin, ‘As a priest.’ The Hebrew is, ‘As a bridegroom
adorns himself as a priest’ (‫יכהן‬ ye
kahen); that is, as he makes splendid his head-dress in the
manner of a priest.

With ornaments - (‫פאי‬ pe'er). With a tiara, head-dress, diadem. See the word explained in
Isa_61:3. The Septuagint renders it, Μίτραν Mitran - ‘Mitre.’ The allusion is to the dress of the
Jewish high - priest when he discharged the functions of his office, and particularly to the mitre
and the plate or crown of gold which he wore in front of it Exo_29:6. It is not easy to give full
force to the metaphor of the prophet in another language. The Hebrew, as near as we can
express it, is, ‘As a bridegroom attires himself as a priest with a crown or mitre.’ The version by
Aquila and Symmachus comes nearest to it - ᆦς νυµφιον ᅷερατευοµενον στεφανሩ Hos numphion
hierateuomenon stephano. The sense is, that the church should be adorned with the highest
ornament and beauty; not for the mere purpose of decoration, but as if it were a priest engaged
in offering continually the sacrifice of prayer and praise.
And as a bride - See this explained in the notes at Isa_49:18. The word rendered ‘jewels’
here (‫כלי‬ ke
lı y) does not of necessity mean merely jewels. It properly means an apparatus,
implement, utensil, vessel; and then dress, ornament of any kind; and would be better rendered
here, in a more general sense, bridal ornaments.
2. CLARKE, “
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord - These may be the words of the Jews
now converted, and brought into the Church of Christ, and with the Gentiles made fellow heirs
of the blessings of the new covenant.
As a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments “As the bridegroom decketh
himself with a priestly crown” - An allusion to the magnificent dress of the high priest,
when performing his functions; and particularly to the mitre, and crown or plate of gold on the
front of it, Exo_29:6. The bonnet or mitre of the priests also was made, as Moses expresses it,
“for glory and for beauty, “Exo_28:40. It is difficult to give its full force to the prophet’s
metaphor in another language. The version of Aquila and Symmachus comes nearest to it: ᆞς νυ
µφιον ᅷερατευοµενον στεφανሩ· “as a bridegroom decked with a priestly crown.” - L.
3. GILL, “
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,.... These are not the words of the prophet
spoken in his own person, rejoicing in the goodness of the Lord to his people and countrymen;
nor of Christ; but of the church, especially the Jewish church, expressing her joy for benefits
received, as declared in the preceding verses. The Targum is,
"Jerusalem said, rejoicing I will rejoice in the Word of the Lord;''
not in his word of promise, but in his essential Word, his Son the Messiah; in his person, offices,
fulness, righteousness, and salvation:
my soul shall be joyful in my God; in Christ, in that he is God, and so able to save to the
uttermost, and keep from a final and total falling, and to preserve safe to his kingdom and glory:
hence his person is excellent; his blood precious; his righteousness valuable; and his sacrifice

efficacious; and all matter of joy to the believer: and who also rejoices in that he is his God, "my
God"; God in our nature; Immanuel, God with us; the God-man and Mediator, through whom
there is access to God and acceptance with him; and who stands in near relation to his people,
and has all fullness to supply their wants, and makes all he has theirs; so that, they have great
reason to rejoice in him indeed. The Targum is,
"my soul shall rejoice in the salvation of my God;''
the nature of this joy may be collected from the text itself: it is not a carnal one, or the joy of a
carnal man in carnal things, it is spiritual; nor a pharisaical joy, a rejoicing in a man's self, in his
own works of righteousness, for this "is in the Lord"; nor is it a hypocritical one, or only
externally, for it is the soul that rejoices; and it is the joy of faith, or in the Lord, as "my God";
and a very great one it is, joy unspeakable, and full of glory; and is what continues, as the matter
and ground of it always does, as follows: "for he hath clothed me with the garments of
salvation"; with salvation as garments; the salvation of Christ, which, like garments, is without
men, being wrought out by Christ; and is brought near, and applied by the spirit of Christ; and is
all around, and encompasses the saints as such, and like them beautifies and adorns them, and
keeps them warm and comfortable, when they have the joys of it; and which secures them from
the storms of divine wrath and vengeance; and the plural number being used may denote the
fulness and completeness of this salvation, from all sin, from wrath, hell, and damnation, and
from every enemy: and this is matter of joy to the believer interested in it, and clothed with it;
since it is a salvation so great; a garment so fitting and suitable, and had at free cost; and in
which the glory of all the divine perfections is so conspicuous, as well as it being so full,
complete, and perfect, and an everlasting one:
he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness: not with her own, that is a rag, and
not a robe, and a filthy one too, Isa_64:6 and no covering, and is indeed no righteousness,
properly speaking; but the righteousness of Christ, the best robe, the wedding garment, and
change of raiment, which, like a robe, is upon believers, but not in them; it in Christ, and
imputed to them; it covers their persons and their nakedness, and all their sins, so as not to be
seen with the eye of avenging justice: to clothe and cover with it is God's act of imputation, and
Christ's application of it by his Spirit, Zec_3:4, which, perceived by the believer, causes great
joy; it being all of a piece, like Christ's seamless robe, and so pure and spotless, so perfect and
complete, and so rich and glorious:
as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments; or, "adorns" himself
in a princely or priestly manner (d); for the word used signifies both. The sense is, as a
bridegroom puts on the best clothes he has on his wedding day, and makes the appearance of a
prince in his richest robes, or as the high priest when he had on all his sacerdotal garments; so
the Targum,
"as a bridegroom that flourishes in his bridechamber, and as the high priest who is adorned with
his garments:''
and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels; or "implements" (e); and makes herself
as fine as she can, to recommend herself to her spouse and her friends: thus richly and
magnificently arrayed is the church of Christ, and every believer, being clothed with his
righteousness; he and they are in the same relation; he is the bridegroom, they the bride; and
they are clothed alike with the garment down to the foot; and are righteous as he is righteous;
and are herewith as a bride adorned and made ready for her husband; and the joy at such a

solemnity fitly expresses the mutual joy of Christ and his church; see Rev_19:7 so Christ's
righteousness is compared to a wedding garment, Mat_22:12.
4. HENRY, “
Some make this the song of joy and praise to be sung by the prophet in the
name of Jerusalem, congratulating her on the happy change of her circumstances in the
accomplishment of the foregoing promises; others make it to be spoken by Christ in the name of
the New Testament church triumphing in gospel grace. We may take in both, the former as a
type of the latter. We are here taught to rejoice with holy joy, to God's honour, 1. In the
beginning of this good work, the clothing of the church with righteousness and salvation,
Isa_61:10. Upon this account I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. Those that rejoice in God have
cause to rejoice greatly, and we need not fear running into an extreme in the greatness of our joy
when we make God the gladness of our joy. The first gospel song begins like this, My soul doth
magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour, Luk_1:46, Luk_1:47. There
is just matter for this joy, and all the reason in the world why it should terminate in God; for
salvation and righteousness are wrought out and brought in, and the church is clothed with
them. The salvation God wrought for the Jews, and that righteousness of his in which he
appeared for them, and that reformation which appeared among them, made them look as
glorious in the eyes of all wise men as if they had been clothed in robes of state or nuptial
garments. Christ has clothed his church with an eternal salvation (and that is truly great) by
clothing it with the righteousness both of justification and sanctification. The clean linen is the
righteousness of saints, Rev_19:8. Observe how these tow are put together; those, and those
only, shall be clothed with the garments of salvation hereafter that are covered with the robe of
righteousness now: and those garments are rich and splendid clothing, like the priestly
garments (for so the word signifies) with which the bridegroom decks himself. The brightness of
the sun itself is compared to them. Psa_19:5, He is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber,
completely dressed. Such is the beauty of God's grace in those that are clothed with the robe of
righteousness, that by the righteousness of Christ are recommended to God's favour and by the
sanctification of the Spirit have God's image renewed upon them; they are decked as a bride to
be espoused to God, and taken into covenant with him; they are decked as a priest to be
employed for God, and taken into communion with him
5. JAMISON, “
Zion (Isa_61:3) gives thanks for God’s returning favor (compare Luk_1:46,
Luk_1:47; Hab_3:18).
salvation ... righteousness — inseparably connected together. The “robe” is a loose mantle
thrown over the other parts of the dress (Psa_132:9, Psa_132:16; Psa_149:4; Rev_21:2;
Rev_19:8).
decketh himself with ornaments — rather “maketh himself a priestly headdress,” that is,
a magnificent headdress, such as was worn by the high priest, namely, a miter and a plate, or
crown of gold worn in front of it [Aquila, etc.]; appropriate to the “kingdom of priests,”
dedicated to the offering of spiritual sacrifices to God continually (Exo_19:6; Rev_5:10;
Rev_20:6).
jewels — rather, “ornaments” in general [Barnes].

5B. K&D, “
This is the joyful calling of the Servant of Jehovah to be the messenger of such
promises of God to His people. “Joyfully I rejoice in Jehovah; my soul shall be joyful in my
God, that He hath given me garments of salvation to put on, hath wrapped me in the robe of
righteousness, as a bridegroom who wears the turban like a priest, and as a bride who puts on
her jewellery. For like the land which brings forth its sprouts, and as a garde which causes the
things sown in it to sprout up; so the Lord Jehovah bringeth righteousness to sprouting, and
renown before all nations.” The Targum precedes this last turn with “Thus saith Jerusalem.”
But as Isa_61:4-9 are a development of the glorious prospects, the realization of which has to be
effected through the instrumentality of the person speaking in Isa_61:1-3 both in word and
deed, the speaker here is certainly the same as there. Nor is it even the fact that he is here
supposed to commence speaking again; but he is simply continuing his address by expressing at
the close, as he did at the beginning, the relation in which he stands in his own person to the
approaching elevation of His people. Exalted joy, which impels him to exult, is what he
experiences in Jehovah his God ( ְ denoting the ground and orbit of his experience): for the
future, which so abounds in grace, and which he has to proclaim as a prophet and as the
evangelist of Israel, and of which he has to lay the foundation as the mediator of Israel, and in
which he is destined to participate as being himself an Israelite, consists entirely of salvation
and righteousness; so that he, the bearer and messenger of the divine counsels of grace, appears
to himself as one to whom Jehovah has given clothes of salvation to put on, and whom He has
wrapped in the robe of righteousness. Tse
daqah (righteousness), looked at from the evangelical
side of the idea which it expresses, is here the parallel word to ye
shu‛ah (salvation). The figurative
representation of both by different articles of dress is similar to Isa_59:17 : ya‛at, which only
occurs here, is synonymous with ‛atah, from which comes ma‛ateh, a wrapper or cloak (Isa_61:3).
He appears to himself, as he stands there hoping such things for his people, and preaching such
things to his people, to resemble a bridegroom, who makes his turban in priestly style, i.e., who
winds it round his head after the fashion of the priestly migba‛oth (Exo_29:9), which are called
‫ים‬ ִ‫ר‬ ֵ‫א‬ ְ in Exo_39:28 (cf., Eze_44:18). Rashi and others think of the mitsnepheth of the high priest,
which was of purple-blue; but ‫יכהן‬ does not imply anything beyond the migba‛ah, a tall mitra,
which was formed by twisting a long linen band round the head so as to make it stand up in a
point. ‫ן‬ ֵ‫ה‬ ִⅴ is by no means equivalent to konen, or hekhı̄n, as Hitzig and Hahn suppose, since the
verb kahan = kun only survives in kohen. Kı̄hen is a denom., and signifies to act or play the priest;
it is construed here with the accusative ‫ר‬ ֵ‫א‬ ְ , which is either the accusative of more precise
definition (“who play the priest in a turban;” A. ᆞς νύµφιον ᅷερατευόµενον στεφάνሩ), or what
would answer better to the parallel member, “who makes the turban like a priest.” As often as he
receives the word of promise into his heart and takes it into his mouth, it is to him like the
turban of a bridegroom, or like the jewellery which a bride puts on (ta‛deh, kal, as in Hos_2:15).
For the substance of the promise is nothing but salvation and renown, which Jehovah causes to
sprout up before all nations, just as the earth causes its vegetation to sprout, or a garden its seed
(‫כ‬ as a preposition in both instances, instar followed by attributive clauses; see Isa_8:22). The
word in the mouth of the servant of Jehovah is the seed, out of which great things are developed
before all the world. The ground and soil ('erets) of this development is mankind; the enclosed
garden therein (gannah) is the church; and the great things themselves are tse
daqah, as the true

inward nature of His church, and te
hillah as its outward manifestation. The force which causes
the seed to germinate is Jehovah; but the bearer of the seed is the servant of Jehovah, and the
ground of his festive rejoicing is the fact that he is able to scatter the seed of so gracious and
glorious a future.
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord (comp. Hab_3:18). The promises
made were such as naturally to call forth on the part of Israel the most heartfelt joy and rejoicing—
including, as they did, restoration, rule over the Gentiles, a universal priesthood, a wide territory,
"everlasting joy," a high renown, and an "everlasting covenant. He hath clothed me with the garments
of salvation (comp. Isa_59:17 and Isa_61:3). The metaphor occurs also in the Psalms
(Psa_71:6; Psa_109:18). God clothes Israel with "righteousness" derived from himself (Isa_54:17, ad
fin.), and then with its natural consequence—"salvation." The result is to make Israel as a bridegroom
who decketh himself with a priestly crown, and as a bride who adornoth herself with her jewels. That
bridegrooms ordinarily wore crowns appears from the Mishna.
6B. PULPIT, “Rejoicing in the Lord.
"Rejoice in the Lord alway," says the apostle: "and again I say, Rejoice" (Php_4:4). It reflects shame on
Christians that their religion should appear, so much as it does, to those without as a religion of gloom
and melancholy. In Scripture true religion wears a wholly different aspect. Faithful Israel rejoices
constantly in the Lord, is perpetually joyful in its God. The Book of Psalms is one almost continuous
jubilation. The worship of David, of Solomon, of Hezekiah, of the Old Testament saints generally, is a glad
worship (2Sa_6:12; 1Ch_29:9-22; 2Ch_5:2-13; 2Ch_29:20-36; 2Ch_30:21-26, etc.). In the Gospels we
find Christ's coming on earth the immediate occasion of canticles of praise (Luk_1:46-55, Luk_1:68-
79; Luk_2:14, Luk_2:29-32). The apostolic practice is delivered to us in the following words: "They,
continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their
meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God, and having favour with all the people"
(Act_2:46,Act_2:47). And such gladness and rejoicing will certainly appear to be reasonable, if we
consider—
I. THE CAUSES THAT CHRISTIANS HAVE FOR SUCH REJOICING.
1. In the past. The whole scheme of redemption is a thing to be joyful and thankful for, including as it does
atonement, forgiveness, reconciliation, renewal of the Divine image in man, revelation of saving truth,
assisting grace, etc. The bringing them within the scheme, so as to make its blessings theirs, is a ground

for special thankfulness and joy, since the privilege has been granted to them without being deserved by
any merit of their own, and has not been taken from them despite their subsequent demerits. The
granting of a written revelation, and the preservation of that precious deposit in purity, is another special
ground for rejoicing; as also is the institution and continuation of the Church to the present day as an
organized corporate body.
2. In the present. Christians have abundant ground for rejoicing in God's goodness to them individually—in
his providential care of them, in the patience and long-suffering which he has shown towards their
shortcomings, in their enjoyment of Christian privileges, and in the many other temporal and spiritual
blessings vouchsafed to them.
3. In the future. They have an imperishable hope, a confident expectation of eternal life through the merits
of Christ, an assurance of an inheritance that is "incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away,
reserved in heaven for them" (1Pe_1:4).
II. THE RESULTS THAT NATURALLY FLOW FROM SUCH REJOICING.
1. Such rejoicing is good for Christians themselves. It makes them realize their blessings and their
privileges, and take as it were a firmer hold on them. It helps them to make light of the small trials and
hindrances that more or less beset every one, and that, if dwelt upon exclusively, may be magnified until
they assume very undue proportions. It actually increases the feeling of joy, and so the feeling of
happiness, for every active principle within us is strengthened by being exercised.
2. Such rejoicing has a beneficial effect on others. It attracts them to Christianity in the same degree that
a gloomy presentation of the Christian religion repels them. It wakes responsive echoes in their hearts. It
stirs up latent and undefined longings in their souls. It leads sometimes to inquiry and conversion.
3. Such rejoicing is, further, for the glory of God. God wills that his saints should praise him and rejoice in
him. Such rejoicing sets forth his power and his goodness. It is a proclamation to angels and to men that
"the Lord is good, and that his mercy endureth for ever" (Psa_136:1). It is borne through the empyrean,
and enters into the courts of heaven, and wakes angelic sympathies and intensifies angelic devotions. It
is an offering of a sweet savour to God.
6C. PULPIT, “Spiritual joy in the Eternal.

We may regard the city as the speaker, and the city may typify the Church.
I. HER CLOTHING. As garments are for protection and ornament, so it may stand as a figure of a
community arrayed in the strength and righteousness of Jehovah. And so the Church still sings—
"Jesus, thy robe of righteousness
My beauty is, my glorious dress."
There is an allusion to the dress of the bridegroom and of the priest; for at one time the bridegroom wore
a crown, and the priest wore a mitre, with the plate or crown of gold in front of it (Exo_29:6). Such
portions of the dress mark out the wearer in his sacred character and in his solemn functions. They are
not for mere ornament. The Church, the saints in general, are designated as a" royal priesthood," to offer
praise and prayer continually.
II. NATURE'S PARABLE OF SPIRITUAL JOY.
(cf. Isa_42:9; Isa_43:19; Isa_45:8; Isa_55:10, Isa_55:11; Isa_58:11.) The joy with which we see the earth
becoming all "one emerald" with the new verdure of spring; the burgeoning of the trees, the disclosure of
the rudiments of future leaves and flowers, is in a sense prophetic of some analogous process in the
spiritual world. For self-fulfilling is the power of the Divine Word. And even when the aspect of Church and
state is most dark and depressing, life is stirring, seeds of better development are germinating, and
events are being set in motion which shall stir men up to praise Israel and the God of Israel.—J.
6D. PULPIT, “Fulness of joy.
"I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God." This does not certainly seem like the
ease with the anchorite and the ascetic and the hermit. A religion that fails in the direction of felicity would
seem to lose claim, at all events, to be considered a true ideal of the gospel. Mediaevalism rejoiced in
pictures of the saints, who could not fairly be said to have an aureole, of gladness about their heads.
I. THERE ARE GREAT REASONS FOR REJOICING.
1. God has forgiven and forgotten our sin. He has blotted it out of his book of remembrance. "He hath
clothed me with the garments of salvation."
2. God has made us one with himself. The highest pleasures are those of fellowship with mind. To know

the author is more than to read the book; to know the heart of a beautiful nature is to discover a greater
world than Columbus did. What, then, is it to walk as Enoch did with God, and to know him whom to know
is life eternal! Here we have introduced the relation of bride and bridegroom—so condescending is the
love of Christ.
II. THERE ARE GREAT DEPTHS OF REJOICING. "My soul." Joy may be superficial. It is idle to deny the
fact that there are pleasures which have their root in the passions, or in the imagination, or in the
accumulative faculty. But all these joys have their reactions, their limitations, their exhaustions. But
spiritual joy is connected with the soul, and as such it is
(1) ever capable of increase;
(2) never liable to exhaustion;
(3) and immortal in its sphere of development.
At God's right hand there are pleasures for evermore.—W.M.S.
7. CHARLES SIMEON, “
THE BELIEVER CLAD WITH THE GARMENTS OF SALVATION
Isa_61:10.—I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me
with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of rightteousness, as a Bridegroom
decketh himself with ornaments, and as a Bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
THE abruptness of this passage cannot but strike every one who reads it. But this is common in the
prophetic writings. The prophets are wont to pass over hundreds or even thousands of years, as though
they were already past; and to represent as existing before their eyes, the things which shall exist at
periods the most remote. It is in this way that they express their confidence in the truth of their own
predictions, and encourage us also to look forward to the accomplishment of them with the fullest
assurance.
The words are uttered, as it were, by the Jewish Church at the period of their conversion to Christianity. In
the three first verses of this chapter the Lord Jesus Christ declares his commission to save the world
[Note: ver. 1–3. with Luk_4:17-21.]. In the three next, the Jews, notwithstanding their desolate condition

previous to that time, are assured of their participation in his benefits, being themselves restored to their
own country, and converted to the faith of Christ. In the three next verses they are informed, that they
shall be pre-emimently blessed, far above all that ever their nation experienced in its most favoured
seasons; insomuch, that they shall be objects of admiration and envy through the whole Gentile world.
These things being predicted, the Jewish Church is introduced as exulting in the actual experience of
them: “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall be joyful in my God.” But it is as members of the
Christian Church that they use this language: and therefore without confining our attention to them, we
shall consider our text as expressing,
I. The believer’s boast—
To boast in any thing of our own would be absurd and impious: but to boast in God is highly becoming; as
David says, “In God we boast all the day long, and praise thy name for ever [Note: Psa_44:8.].”
The mercy vouchsafed to him is exceeding great—
[He is “clothed with the garments of salvation, and covered with a robe of righteousness,” that has been
formed for him by God himself. In the 6th verse of this chapter the Jews are informed, that “they (not the
tribe of Levi only, but their whole nation) shall be named the priests of the Lord, and the ministers of their
God.” Now for the priests there were certain garments appointed, wherein they were to minister,
especially the linen ephod; which was intended to intimate to them the purity that became their high
office. For the high priest there were some other “garments for glory and for beauty [Note: Exo_28:2.].” In
reference to these it is that the believer says, “He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation;” for
every believer under the Christian dispensation is “a king and a priest unto his God [Note: Rev_1:6.]:” the
whole body of them are “a royal priesthood [Note: 1Pe_2:9.]:” and for them a robe of righteousness is
prepared, which shall be to them a garment of salvation. This robe of righteousness may be understood
of that righteousness which the Lord Jesus Christ hath wrought out for his people by his own obedience
unto death, and “which is unto all, and upon all, them that believe in him [Note: Rom_3:22.].” This is the
righteousness which the Prophet Daniel speaks of as to be brought in by the Messiah [Note: Dan_9:24.],
and which St. Paul desired to possess, “not having his own righteousness which was of the law, but the
righteousness which was of God by faith in Christ [Note: Php_3:9.].” It is by imparting this righteousness
to the believer that “Christ is made righteousness unto him [Note: 1Co_1:30.],” and that he acquires that
title which is given him by all his people, “The Lord our Righteousness [Note: Jer_23:6.].”
But these garments of salvation may also be understood of that righteousness which the Holy Spirit
imparts to all who believe in Christ. He forms them anew: he enables them to “put on the Lord Jesus

Christ [Note: Rom_13:14.];” or, in other words, to “put off the old man, and to put on the new, which after
God is created in righteousness and true holiness [Note: Eph_4:24.].” This is the idea which the priestly
garments were more immediately intended to convey: for though they were an outward covering, they
were chiefly emblematic of inward purity; in reference to which it is said, “Ye shall be unto me a kingdom
of priests, and an holy nation [Note: Exo_19:6.].” And this may well be called “a garment of salvation:” for,
though it is not that which justifies us before God, it constitutes our meetness for the heavenly inheritance
[Note: Col_1:12.], and is that “without which no man shall see the Lord [Note: Heb_12:14.].”
With these garments and this robe is the believer clothed: the very moment he comes to Christ, the one is
imputed to him, so that he is “accepted in the Beloved [Note: Eph_1:6.];” and the other is begun within
him, to be progressively advanced and “perfected unto the day of Christ [Note: Php_1:6.].”]
In this he may well boast—
[So far is it from being an act of presumption to boast in this, it is the believer’s duty to do so: for the
Prophet Isaiah expressly says, “Surely shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength. In
the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory [Note: Isa_45:24-25.].” The
believer ought to contemplate the mercies he has received, and to acknowledge the goodness of God in
conferring them upon him. If he did not give glory thus unto his God, “the very stones would cry out
against him.”]
Such being the believer’s experience, we shall not wonder at,
II. His determination—
When the blessed Virgin was congratulated on the mercy vouchsafed to her, she burst forth into this
devout acknowledgment, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour
[Note: Luk_1:46-47.].” So every believer, reviewing the mercies conferred on him, says, “I will greatly
rejoice in the Lord: my soul shall be joyful in my God.” And this determination is,
1. Highly reasonable—
[Contemplate the comparison which the prophet himself institutes between the ornaments thus put on the
believer, and those in which persons are wont to deck themselves at the celebration of their nuptials: for
“he is covered with a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and a bride
adorneth herself with her jewels.” Are they happy in the prospect of their union, and shall not he be happy

in the union which has already taken place between Christ and his soul? For it is not only to serve his
God that he is now brought, but to enjoy him; and that too in an union the most intimate and endeared
that can possibly be conceived. A man and his wife are one flesh; but “he that is joined to the Lord is one
spirit [Note: 1Co_6:17.].” Nor is this union in prospect merely, but in actual existence. From the moment
that the believer is clothed with the garments of salvation, he is espoused to his God: he is set apart for
God; and God reserves himself, as it were, for him [Note: Hos_3:3.]: and in due time the union will be
perfected in glory. And does not this call for joy and thanksgiving? See what feelings it will create in
heaven, the very instant that the period shall have arrived when the Spouse shall be presented to her
Lord, to be happy for ever in more immediate fellowship with him: “A voice came out of the throne, saying,
Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him both small and great. And I heard, as it were, the
voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth! Let us be glad and
rejoice, and give honour to him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself
ready. And to her was granted, that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen
is the righteousness of saints [Note: Rev_19:5-8.].” Shall the believer then stay till he arrives in heaven
before he begins his joy? No: the language of his heart and lips should be that of David; “I will bless the
Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord:
the humble shall hear thereof and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me; and let us exalt his name
together [Note: Psa_34:1-3.].” Thus will he not be contented with praising God himself: he will stir up all
around, to join him in this delightful, this reasonable service.]
2. Most pleasing to God—
[The command of God to every Believer is, “Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, Rejoice
[Note: Php_4:4.].” “Let Israel rejoice in Him that made him; and the children of Zion be joyful in their king
[Note: Psa_149:2.].” Indeed it is in this way only that we can give him the honour due unto his name. It
may appear as if our feeble praises were nothing: and it is true that they can add nothing to the Lord: but
still it is true, that they are the tribute which he requires, and by which he considers himself as honoured:
“Whoso offereth me praise, glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the
salvation of God [Note: Psa_50:23.].”]
Application—
1. Let none put away this honour, as too great for them to expect—
[It is not uncommon for persons of a desponding frame to think that such privileges and blessings are not
for them. But can any one be in a more hopeless state than the Jews? View them in any light, and say

whether there is, humanly speaking, any probability of their being brought to the state described in the
preceding context, and to the frame expressed in our text? Yet that shall be: nor shall all the powers of
darkness ever prevent it. Be strong then, and of good courage, thou desponding soul; and go unto thy
God with the prayer of faith. Then, though thou hast been like the prodigal in extravagance and sin, thou
shalt be clothed in the best robe that is in thy Father’s house, and “be presented faultless before the
presence of his glory with exceeding joy [Note: Jude, ver. 24.].”]
2. Let none abuse this honour to the purposes of licentiousness—
[There are those who “turn the very grace of God into licentiousness;” and who pervert the doctrine of
imputed righteousness to sanction and to justify their continuance in sin. But it is a certain fact, “that
Christ is never made righteousness to any man, without being made his sanctification also
[Note: 1Co_1:30.].” If Christ have redeemed you by his blood, it is that you may be mude “a peculiar
people, zealous of good works [Note: Tit_2:14.].” Without this inward change, all your joy and glorying will
be an empty boast: and “every sacrifice which you offer to your God, will be an abomination to him
[Note:Pro_15:8.].” You well know the fate of him who presumed to sit down at the marriage supper, not
having on a wedding garment: and if he, a mere guest, “was cast out into outer darkness,” what must be
the fate of one who should claim the privileges of the Bride herself, whilst yet she possessed not the only
qualities that could endear her to the Lord? Be assured, you must be “all glorious within, and have your
clothing also of wrought gold,” if you would find acceptance with the King of kings, and “be brought with
gladness and rejoicing to the palace” of the heavenly Bridegroom [Note: Psa_45:13-15.].]
8. CALVIN, “
10.Rejoicing I shall rejoice in Jehovah. He represents the Church as giving thanks to
God, in order to convince them more fully of the truth of what he formerly said. It may be regarded as
( ὑποτύτωσις) a lively description, by which the thing is, as it were, painted and laid before the eyes of
men, so as to remove all doubt; for by nature we are prone to distrust, and so fickle, that we place
confidence rather in the inventions of men than in the word of God. As to this form of confirmation, we
have spoken at chapter 12:1; 26:1, and at other passages.
For he hath clothed me. These things were still, indeed, at a great distance, but must have been seen
and understood by the eyes of faith; as the eyes should undoubtedly be raised to heaven, when the
Prophet discourses concerning salvation and righteousness. Nothing is visible here, and much less could
so great happiness have been perceived by the senses, while everything tended to destruction. But
because even now we do not see any such beauty of the Church, which is even contemptible in the eyes

of the world under the revolting dress of the cross, we need faith, which comprehends heavenly and
invisible things.
With the garments of salvation. He connects “” with “” because the one cannot be separated from the
other. “” and “” are well-known metaphors. It is as if he had said, that righteousness and salvation had
been bestowed upon them. Since the Lord bestows these benefits, it follows that from him alone we
should seek and expect them.
He hath adorned me. The metaphor is supposed to be drawn from priestly ornament; and accordingly
there are some who speculate here about the priesthood of Christ. But I do not think that the Prophet
spoke so ingeniously; for he brings forward the comparison of the bridegroom and the
bride (168) Formerly the Church lay in filth and rags, and was universally despised, as a forsaken woman;
but now, having been received into favor with her husband, she shines with amazing lustre. A parallel
passage occurs in Hos_2:20. This was accomplished at the coming of Christ; but it is also bestowed upon
us daily, when the Lord adorns his people with righteousness and salvation. But all these things, as we
have often said already, shall be accomplished at Christ’ last coming.
(168) “‘ a bridegroom halloweth himself with ornament,’ that is, maketh himself respectable, as a priest in
his secret vestments.” —Stock.
“ reference is, no doubt, to the sacerdotal mitre, which was probably regarded as a model of ornamental
head-dress, and to which ‫פאר‬ (peer) is explicitly applied.” —Alexander.
7. SBC, "The robe of righteousness" is a familiar phrase with evangelical Christians. Adopted,
undoubtedly, from the passage just read, it is used to denote that righteousness of the Lord
Jesus which they who believe in Him are supposed to have attributed to them by God, so that
their actual personal imperfections and defects disappear before Him, like some foul or ugly
object beneath the overspreading of a fair white mantle; and He is enabled to accept them for
what they are not—to regard and deal with them as sinless.
I. Now here is, first, an assumption—the false and cruel assumption—that the great Father,
while waiting the gradual accomplishment of our complete purification from sin, requires to
have our existing sinfulness hidden from Him, requires to have it veiled and concealed; that He
must not be revolted nor disturbed by the spectacle; that we must be made somehow, nay
anyhow, at least to look clean to Him, whatever our actual uncleanness may be; that He is not
capable of enduring the sight of His children as they are, but needs that a mask shall be worn by
them, to smile between Him and their unseemliness. Is it conceivable that God should ever be
content to be blind to that which is, that He should ever endure to have any reality disguised to
Him? Can aught be hidden from Him, the All-seeing One?

II. Turn now to the prophet, whose noble figure has been so miserably perverted, so falsely
applied, and observe how different his idea of the robe of which he speaks. "The Lord hath
covered me," he says, "as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride
adorneth herself with her jewels," which seems to imply certainly a putting on from without, and
nothing more; yet, if we consider, the writer may well have discerned, in the lavish decoration of
themselves on the part of the bridegroom and the bride, something more than that—not a mere
imposition, but an expression, the natural expression, of what was within. But then, as if
apprehensive of mistakes—as if anxious to guard against the conclusion that the robe of which
he sang was only flung over him from without—the prophet hastens on to a further and more
complete illustration (Isa_61:11), as though He had said: While in the self-adorning of the
bridegroom and the bride on their wedding-day, I find an image of the grace with which my
Lord clothes me, and of the joy that belongs to it, yet this fails to represent the whole of the
matter—fails, indeed, to represent the profoundest and most important part of it, viz., the
modus operandi—the way in which my clothing is effected. That is adumbrated, in the world of
material nature, in the vernal decking of the bare brown fields, and the winter-stripped pleasure
grounds. What is it, and whence comes it? Is it not just a growth from within—an efflux upon
the surface of life that throbs below—a bursting through and running over of the earth’s own
germ-charged bosom? And God’s robe of righteousness is the forth-flowing upon me of His
hidden movement and working in my soul—not a robe laid on, but a robe coming out—not a
robe assumed, but a robe issuing; it is the holy character and the holy living that are begotten of
His Divine inbreathing.
S. A. Tipple, Echoes of Spoken Words, p. 107.
Reference: Isa_61:10.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. xvi., p. 17.
8. BI, The garments of salvation
I.
Here is a GLAD RESOLVE. “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God.
1. Where there is a will there is generally a way, and sad though you be, something is gained
if you will resolve to rejoice.
2. It is always “in the Lord” that we must rejoice. Friends are dying, helps are failing, hopes
are being blasted. Rejoice in the Lord.
3. I further admire this resolve because we are by it determining to rejoice “greatly” in the
Lord. If He is worth rejoicing in at all, He is worth rejoicing in greatly.
4. We are bidden to rejoice as to our inmost souls. “My soul” shall be joyful in my God. Soul-
joy is the soul of joy, and there is no other joy worth the having.
5. The joy is in a personal God. “My soul shall be joyful in my God.” I think the secret lies
just there. It is one thing to rejoice in God, the God of nature, the God of providence, or, for
that matter, the God of grace; but it is quite another thing to rejoice in “my God.”
II. There are RIGHT GOOD REASONS, the best of reasons, for this glad resolve. “He hath
clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness.”
1. “He hath” done it. We may well say “I will,” if we can already say “He hath.” It is because
“He hath” that we will.
2. “He hath clothed me.”
3. “He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation.” This is an effectual way of saying,
“He hath saved me.”

Isaiah 61 commentary

Isaiah 61 commentary

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Isaiah 61 commentary