let him trust in the name of the Lord--as Messiah did ([Is 50:8], ).
11. In contrast to the godly ([Is 50:10]), the wicked, in times of darkness, instead of trusting in God, trust in themselves (kindle a light for themselves to walk by) ([Ec 11:9]). The image is continued from [Is 50:10], "darkness"; human devices for salvation ([Pr 19:21]; , ) are like the spark that goes out in an instant in darkness (compare [Job 18:6]; , with [Psa 18:28]).
sparks--not a steady light, but blazing sparks extinguished in a moment.
walk--not a command, but implying that as surely as they would do so, they should lie down in sorrow ([Jr 3:25]). In exact proportion to mystic Babylon's previous "glorifying" of herself shall be her sorrow ([Mt 25:30]; ; [Re 18:7]).
Chapter 51
Is 51:1-23. Encouragement to the Faithful Remnant of Israel to Trust in God for Deliverance, Both from Their Long Babylonian Exile, and from Their Present Dispersion
1. me--the God of your fathers.
ye ... follow after righteousness--the godly portion of the nation; [Is 51:7] shows this ([Pr 15:9]; [1Ti 6:11]). "Ye follow righteousness," seek it therefore from Me, who "bring it near," and that a righteousness "not about to be abolished" ([Is 51:6], ); look to Abraham, your father ([Is 51:2]), as a sample of how righteousness before Me is to be obtained; I, the same God who blessed him, will bless you at last ([Is 51:3]); therefore trust in Me, and fear not man's opposition ([Is 51:7], [8, 12], ). The mistake of the Jews, heretofore, has been, not in that they "followed after righteousness," but in that they followed it "by the works of the law," instead of "by faith," as Abraham did ([Ro 9:31], ; , ; [4:2-5]).
hole of ... pit--The idea is not, as it is often quoted, the inculcation of humility, by reminding men of the fallen state from which they have been taken, but that as Abraham, the quarry, as it were (compare [Is 48:1]), whence their nation was hewn, had been called out of a strange land to the inheritance of Canaan, and blessed by God, the same God is able to deliver and restore them also (compare [Mt 3:9]).
2. alone--translate, "I called him when he was but one" ([Eze 33:24]). The argument is: the same God who had so blessed "one" individual, as to become a mighty nation ([Ge 12:1]; ), can also increase and bless the small remnant of Israel, both that left in the Babylonish captivity, and that left in the present and latter days ([Zec 14:2]); "the residue" ([Is 13:8], ).
3. For--See for the argument, see on [Is 51:2].
the garden of the Lord--restoration of the primeval paradise ([Ge 2:8]; [Eze 28:13]; [Re 2:7]).
melody--Hebrew, "psalm." God's praises shall again be heard.
4. my people--the Jews. This reading is better than that of Gesenius: "O peoples ... nations," namely, the Gentiles. The Jews are called on to hear and rejoice in the extension of the true religion to the nations; for, at the first preaching of the Gospel, as in the final age to come, it was from Jerusalem that the gospel law was, and is, to go forth ([Is 2:3]).
law ... judgment--the gospel dispensation and institutions ([Is 42:1], "judgment").
make ... to rest--establish firmly; found.
light, &c.--([Is 42:6]).
5. righteousness ... near--that is, faithful fulfilment of the promised deliverance, answering to "salvation" in the parallel clause ([Is 46:13]; ; [Ro 10:8], ). Ye follow after "righteousness"; seek it therefore, from Me, and you will not have far to go for it ([Is 51:1]).
arms--put for Himself; I by My might.
judge--([Is 2:3], ; [Psa 98:9]).
isles, &c.--([Is 60:9]).
arm--([Ro 1:16]), "the power of God unto (the Gentiles as well as the Jews) salvation."
6. ([Is 40:6], ; [Psa 102:26]; [He 1:11], ).
vanish away--literally, "shall be torn asunder," as a garment [Maurer]; which accords with the context.
in like manner--But Gesenius, "Like a gnat"; like the smallest and vilest insect. Jerome translates, as English Version, and infers that "in like manner" as man, the heavens (that is, the sky) and earth are not to be annihilated, but changed for the better ([Is 65:17]).
righteousness--My faithfully fulfilled promise (see on [Is 51:5]).
7. know righteousness--(See on [Is 51:1]).
8. (See on [Is 50:9]; [Job 4:18-20]). Not that the moth eats men up, but they shall be destroyed by as insignificant instrumentality as the moth that eats a garment.
9. Impassioned prayer of the exiled Jews.
ancient days--([Psa 44:1]).
Rahab--poetical name for Egypt (see on [Is 30:7]).
dragon--Hebrew, tannin. The crocodile, an emblem of Egypt, as represented on coins struck after the conquest of Egypt by Augustus; or rather here, "its king," Pharaoh (see on [Is 27:1]; [Psa 74:13], ; [Eze 32:2], Margin; [Eze 29:3]).
10. it--the arm.
Art not Thou the same Almighty power that ... ? dried the sea--the Red Sea ([Is 43:16]; [Ex 14:21]).
11. ([Is 35:10]).
Therefore--assurance of faith; or else the answer of Jehovah corresponding to their prayer. As surely as God redeemed Israel out of Egypt, He shall redeem them from Babylon, both the literal in the age following, and mystical in the last ages ([Re 18:20], ). There shall be a second exodus (Is 11:11-16; 27:12, 13).
singing--image from the custom of singing on a journey when a caravan is passing along the extended plains in the East.
everlasting joy--(Jude 24).
sorrow ... flee away--([Re 21:4]).
12. comforteth--([Is 51:3]; [Is 40:1]).
thou--Zion.
son of man--frail and dying as his parent Adam.
be made as grass--wither as grass ([Is 40:6], ).
13. ([Is 40:12], 26, 28), the same argument of comfort drawn from the omnipotence of the Creator.
as if ... ready, &c.--literally, "when he directs," namely, his arrow, to destroy ([Psa 21:12]; ; ) [Maurer].