---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible"
author: "Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Commentaries"
section: 354 of 927
url: https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/354/
cite: "Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, section 354. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/354/"
---

# Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

*Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown*

The Victorian standard commentary, critical and practical, from Genesis to Revelation.

## 354. Isaiah · 57 of 79

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/354/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/354/#p-N

[¶0] wast called--as thine appropriate appellation ([Is 9:6]).

[¶1] from the womb--from the beginning of Israel's national existence ([Is 44:2]).

[¶2] 9. refrain--literally, "muzzle"; His wrath, after the return, was to be restrained a while, and then, because of their sins, let loose again ([Psa 78:38]).

[¶3] for thee--that is, mine anger towards thee.

[¶4] 10. (See on [Is 1:25]).

[¶5] with silver--rather, "for silver." I sought by affliction to purify thee, but thou wast not as silver obtained by melting, but as dross [Gesenius]. Thy repentance is not complete: thou art not yet as refined silver. Rosenmuller explains, "not as silver," not with the intense heat needed to melt silver (it being harder to melt than gold), that is, not with the most extreme severity. The former view is better ([Is 1:25]; 42:25; [Eze 22:18-20, 22]).

[¶6] chosen--or else [Lowth], tried ... proved: according to Gesenius, literally, "to rub with the touchstone," or to cut in pieces so as to examine ([Zec 13:9]; Mal 3:3; [1Pe 1:7]).

[¶7] 11. how should my name--Maurer, instead of "My name" from [Is 48:9], supplies "My glory" from the next clause; and translates, "How (shamefully) My glory has been profaned!" In English Version the sense is, "I will refrain ([Is 48:9], that is, not utterly destroy thee), for why should I permit My name to be polluted, which it would be, if the Lord utterly destroyed His elect people" ([Eze 20:9])?

[¶8] not give my glory unto another--If God forsook His people for ever, the heathen would attribute their triumph over Israel to their idols; so God's glory would be given to another.

[¶9] 12-15. The Almighty, who has founded heaven and earth, can, and will, restore His people.

[¶10] the first ... last--([Is 41:4]; ).

[¶11] 16. not ... in secret--([Is 45:19]). Jehovah foretold Cyrus' advent, not with the studied ambiguity of heathen oracles, but plainly.

[¶12] from the time, &c.--From the moment that the purpose began to be accomplished in the raising up of Cyrus I was present.

[¶13] sent me--The prophet here speaks, claiming attention to his announcement as to Cyrus, on the ground of his mission from God and His Spirit. But he speaks not in his own person so much as in that of Messiah, to whom alone in the fullest sense the words apply ([Is 61:1]; [Joh 10:36]). Plainly, [Is 49:1], which is the continuation of the forty-eighth chapter, from [Is 48:16], where the change of speaker from God ([Is 48:1], ) begins, is the language of Messiah. [Lu 4:1], [14, 18], shows that the Spirit combined with the Father in sending the Son: therefore "His Spirit" is nominative to "sent," not accusative, following it.

[¶14] 17. teacheth ... to profit--by affliction, such as the Babylonish captivity, and the present long-continued dispersion of Israel ([He 12:10]).

[¶15] 18. peace--([Psa 119:165]). Compare the desire expressed by the same Messiah ([Mt 23:37]; [Lu 19:42]).

[¶16] river--([Is 33:21]; ), a river flowing from God's throne is the symbol of free, abundant, and ever flowing blessings from Him ([Eze 47:1]; [Zec 14:8]; [Re 22:1]).

[¶17] righteousness--religious prosperity; the parent of "peace" or national prosperity; therefore "peace" corresponds to "righteousness" in the parallelism ([Is 32:17]).

[¶18] 19. sand--retaining the metaphor of "the sea" ([Is 48:18]).

[¶19] like the gravel thereof--rather, as the Hebrew, "like that (the offspring) of its (the sea's) bowels"; referring to the countless living creatures, fishes, &c., of the sea, rather than the gravel [Maurer]. Jerome, Chaldee, and Syriac support English Version.

[¶20] his name ... cut off--transition from the second person, "thy," to the third "his." Israel's name was cut off "as a nation" during the Babylonish captivity; also it is so now, to which the prophecy especially looks ([Ro 11:20]).

[¶21] 20. Go ... forth ... end of the earth--Primarily, a prophecy of their joyful deliverance from Babylon, and a direction that they should leave it when God opened the way. But the publication of it "to the ends of the earth" shows it has a more world-wide scope antitypically; [Re 18:4] shows that the mystical Babylon is ultimately meant.

[¶22] redeemed ... Jacob--([Is 43:1]; , ).

[¶23] 21. Ezra, in describing the return, makes no mention of God cleaving the rock for them in the desert [Kimchi]. The circumstances, therefore, of the deliverance from Egypt ([Ex 17:6]; [Nu 20:11]; [Psa 78:15]; ) and of that from Babylon, are blended together; the language, while more immediately referring to the latter deliverance, yet, as being blended with circumstances of the former not strictly applicable to the latter, cannot wholly refer to either, but to the mystic deliverance of man under Messiah, and literally to the final restoration of Israel.

[¶24] 22. Repeated ([Is 57:21]). All the blessings just mentioned ([Is 48:21]) belong only to the godly, not to the wicked. Israel shall first cast away its wicked unbelief before it shall inherit national prosperity (Zec 12:10-14; 13:1, 9; 14:3, 14, 20, 21). The sentiment holds good also as to all wicked men (Job 15:20-25, 31-34).

### Chapter 49

### Is 49:1-26. Similar to Chapter 42:1-7 (Is 49:1-9)

[¶27] Messiah, as the ideal Israel ([Is 49:3]), states the object of His mission, His want of success for a time, yet His certainty of ultimate success.

[¶28] 1. O isles--Messiah is here regarded as having been rejected by the Jews ([Is 49:4], ), and as now turning to the Gentiles, to whom the Father hath given Him "for a light and salvation." "Isles" mean all regions beyond sea.

[¶29] from the womb--([Is 44:2]; [Lu 1:31]; [Joh 10:36]).

[¶30] from ... bowels ... mention of my name--His name "Jesus" (that is, God-Saviour) was designated by God before His birth ([Mt 1:21]).

[¶31] 2. my mouth ... sword--([Is 11:4]; [Re 19:15]). The double office of the Word of God, saving and damnatory, is implied ([Is 50:4]; [Joh 12:48]; [He 4:12]).

[¶32] shaft--([Psa 45:5]). "Polished," that is, free from all rust, implies His unsullied purity.

[¶33] in ... quiver ... hid me--Like a sword in its scabbard, or a shaft in the quiver, Messiah, before His appearing, was hid with God, ready to be drawn forth at the moment God saw fit [Hengstenberg]; also always protected by God, as the arrow by the quiver ([Is 51:16]).

[¶34] 3. Israel--applied to Messiah, according to the true import of the name, the Prince who had power with God in wrestling in behalf of man, and who prevails ([Ge 32:28]; [Ho 12:3], ). He is also the ideal Israel, the representative man of the nation (compare [Mt 2:15] with [Ho 11:1]).

[¶35] in whom ... glorified--([Joh 14:13]; [17:1-5]).

[¶36] 4. I--Messiah.

[¶37] in vain--comparatively in the case of the greater number of His own countrymen. "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not" ([Is 53:1-3]; [Lu 19:14]; [Joh 1:11]; ). Only a hundred twenty disciples met after His personal ministry was ended ([Ac 1:15]).

[¶38] yet ... my judgment ... with the Lord--Ultimately, God will do justice to My cause, and reward (Margin for "work," compare [Is 40:10]; ) My labors and sufferings. He was never "discouraged" ([Is 42:4]; , ). He calmly, in spite of seeming ill success for the time, left the result with God, confident of final triumph ([Is 53:10-12]; [1Pe 2:23]). So the ministers of Christ ([1Co 4:1-5]; [1Pe 4:19]).

[¶39] 5. The reason why He was confident that His work would be accepted and rewarded, namely, because He is "glorious in the eyes of Jehovah," &c.

[¶40] to bring Jacob again to him--([Mt 15:24]; [Ac 3:26]).

[¶41] Though Israel be not gathered--metaphor from a scattered flock which the shepherd gathers together again; or a hen and her chickens ([Mt 23:37]). Instead of the text "not," the Keri has the similar Hebrew word, "to Him," which the parallelism favors: "And that Israel may be gathered to Him."

[¶42] yet--rather, parenthetically. "For I am glorious, &c., and My God is My strength." Then ([Is 49:6]) resuming the words from the beginning of [Is 49:5], "He saith" (I repeat), &c. Horsley explains, "Notwithstanding the incredulity of the Jews, Messiah shall be glorified in the conversion of the Gentiles," reading as English Version: but if the Keri be read, "Israel shall at one time or other be gathered, notwithstanding their incredulity during Messiah's sojourn on earth."

[¶43] 6. It is a light thing--"It is too little that Thou shouldest," [Hengstenberg], that is, It is not enough honor to Thee to raise up Jacob and Israel, but I design for Thee more, namely, that Thou shouldest be the means of enlightening the Gentiles ([Is 42:6], ; ).

[¶44] the preserved--namely, those remaining after the judgments of God on the nation--the elect remnant of Israel reserved for mercy. Lowth, with a slight but needless change of the Hebrew, translates for "tribes" and "preserved," the "scions"--the "branches."