1„Kdo je to, jenž přichází z Edomu, v rudém oděvu z Bosry, skvěje se ve svém rouchu a kráčí v plnosti síly?“ „Já to jsem, hlásám spravedlnost a dobývám hojnou spásu.“ 2„Proč však je červený tvůj oděv, tvůj šat jak toho, kdo šlape v lisu?“ 3„V lisu jsem šlapal sám, z národů nebyl se mnou nikdo. Rozšlapal jsem je ve svém hněvu, ve své nevoli jsem je zdeptal, až mi jejich krev stříkala na šaty a potřísnil jsem celý svůj oděv. 4Neboť jsem měl na mysli den pomsty, přišel rok mého vykoupení. 5Rozhlížel jsem se – nikdo nepomáhal, užasl jsem – nikdo nepodpíral. Tu mi pomohlo mé rámě a můj hněv mi přispěl. 6Rozdupal jsem národy ve svém hněvu, ve své nevoli jsem je zdrtil, na zem jsem vylil jejich krev.“ 7Hospodinovu lásku chci hlásat, Hospodinovy slavné činy, za všechno, co nám Hospodin udělil, za velkou štědrost pro dům Izraele, kterou ukázal podle svého smilování, podle množství své lásky. 8Řekl: „Je to můj vlastní lid, synové, kteří nikdy nezklamou.“ Proto se jim stal spasitelem. 9Ve všelikém jejich soužení nebyl to posel, nebyl to anděl, ale on sám je vysvobodil; ve své lásce, v útrpnosti on sám je vykoupil; zvedl je a nosil ve všech dávných dobách. 10Oni se však vzpírali a uráželi jeho svatého ducha; proto se jim změnil v nepřítele a sám s nimi válčil. 11Vzpomenul na dávné časy, na Mojžíše a jeho národ: Kde je ten, který je vyvedl z moře s pastýřem svého stáda? Kde je ten, který mu dal do nitra svého svatého ducha? 12Ten, který přivedl na Mojžíšovu pravici své slavné rámě, ten, který před nimi rozdělil vody, aby si zjednal jméno věčné, 13ten, který je vedl hlubinami bez úrazu jako koně na poušti. 14Jako stádo, které sestupuje údolím, vedl je Hospodinův duch na místo odpočinku; tak jsi vedl svůj lid, abys oslavil svoje jméno. 15Pohlédni z nebe a dívej se ze svého svatého a slavného sídla: Kde je tvá horlivost a tvá síla? Přestala tvá horoucí láska a tvé slitování se mnou. 16Vždyť tys přece náš otec! Abrahám nás nezná, Izrael o nás neví, ty, Hospodine, jsi náš otec; „náš vykupitel“ je tvoje dávné jméno. 17Proč jsi dopustil, Hospodine, že jsme zbloudili z tvých cest, že nám ztvrdlo srdce, abychom před tebou neměli bázeň? Usmiř se kvůli svým služebníkům pro kmeny, které jsou ti vlastní! 18Nakrátko ovládli bezbožní tvůj svatý lid, naši nepřátelé pošlapali tvoji svatyni. 19Stali jsme se lidem jako v dávné době, kdy jsi nám nevládl a kdy jsme neměli tvé jméno. Kéž bys protrhl nebe a sestoupil! Před tvou tváří by se rozplynuly hory.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 MESSIAH COMING AS THE AVENGER, IN ANSWER TO HIS PEOPLE'S PRAYERS. (Isa. 63:1-19)
Who--the question of the prophet in prophetic vision.
dyed--scarlet with blood (
Jes 63:2-
Jes 63:3;
Off 19:13).
Bozrah--(See on
Jes 34:6).
travelling--rather, stately; literally, "throwing back the head" [GESENIUS].
speak in righteousness--answer of Messiah. I, who have in faithfulness given a promise of deliverance, am now about to fulfil it. Rather, speak of righteousness (
Jes 45:19;
Jes 46:13); salvation being meant as the result of His "righteousness" [MAURER].
save--The same Messiah that destroys the unbeliever saves the believer.
2 The prophet asks why His garments are "dyed" and "red."
winefat--rather, the "wine-press," wherein the grapes were trodden with the feet; the juice would stain the garment of him who trod them (
Off 14:19-
Off 14:20;
Off 19:15). The image was appropriate, as the country round Bozrah abounded in grapes. This final blow inflicted by Messiah and His armies (
Off 19:13-
Off 19:15) shall decide His claim to the kingdoms u surped by Satan, and by the "beast," to whom Satan delegates his power. It will be a day of judgment to the hostile Gentiles, as His first coming was a day of judgment to the unbelieving Jews.
3 Reply of Messiah. For the image, see
Klgl 1:15. He "treads the wine-press" here not as a sufferer, but as an inflicter of vengeance.
will tread . . . shall be . . . will stain--rather preterites, "I trod . . . trampled . . . was sprinkled . . . I stained."
blood--literally, "spirited juice" of the grape, pressed out by treading [GESENIUS].
4 is--rather, "was." This assigns the reason why He has thus destroyed the foe (
Zeph 3:8).
my redeemed--My people to be redeemed.
day . . . year--here, as in
Jes 34:8;
Jes 61:2, the time of "vengeance" is described as a "day"; that of grace and of "recompense" to the "redeemed," as a "year."
5 The same words as in
Jes 59:16, except that there it is His "righteousness," here it is His "fury," which is said to have upheld Him.
6 Rather, preterites, "I trod down . . . made them drunk." The same image occurs
Jes 51:17,
Jes 51:21-
Jes 51:23;
Ps 75:8;
Jer 25:26-
Jer 25:27.
will bring down . . . strength to . . . earth--rather, "I spilled their life-blood (the same Hebrew words as in
Jes 63:3) on the earth" [LOWTH and Septuagint].
7 Israel's penitential confession and prayer for restoration (
Ps 102:17,
Ps 102:20), extending from Isa. 63:7-64:12.
loving-kindnesses . . . praises . . . mercies . . . loving-kindnesses--The plurals and the repetitions imply that language is inadequate to express the full extent of God's goodness.
us--the dispersed Jews at the time just preceding their final restoration.
house of Israel--of all ages; God was good not merely to the Jews now dispersed, but to Israel in every age of its history.
8 he--Jehovah "said," that is, thought, in choosing them as His covenant-people; so "said" (
Ps 95:10). Not that God was ignorant that the Jews would not keep faith with Him; but God is here said, according to human modes of thought to say within Himself what He might naturally have expected, as the result of His goodness to the Jews; thus the enormity of their unnatural perversity is the more vividly set forth.
lie--prove false to Me (compare
Ps 44:17).
so--in virtue of His having chosen them, He became their Saviour. So the "therefore" (
Jer 31:33). His eternal choice is the ground of His actually saving men (
Eph 1:3-
Eph 1:4).
9 he was afflicted--English Version reads the Hebrew as the Keri (Margin), does, "There was affliction to Him." But the Chetib (text) reads, "There was no affliction" (the change in Hebrew being only of one letter); that is, "In all their affliction there was no (utterly overwhelming) affliction" [GESENIUS]; or, for "Hardly had an affliction befallen them, when the angel of His presence saved them" [MAURER]; or, as best suits the parallelism, "In all their straits there was no straitness in His goodness to them" [HOUBIGANT], (
Ri 10:16;
Mich 2:7;
2.Kor 6:12).
angel of his presence--literally, "of His face," that is, who stands before Him continually; Messiah (
2.Mo 14:19;
2.Mo 23:20-
2.Mo 23:21;
Spr 8:30), language applicable to no creature (
2.Mo 32:34;
2.Mo 33:2,
2.Mo 33:14;
4.Mo 20:16;
Mal 3:1).
bare them-- (
Jes 46:3-
Jes 46:4;
Jes 40:11;
2.Mo 19:4;
5.Mo 32:11-
5.Mo 32:12).
10 vexed--grieved (
Ps 78:40;
Ps 95:10;
Apg 7:51;
Eph 4:30;
Heb 3:10,
Heb 3:17).
he fought--rather, "He it was that fought," namely, the angel of His presence [HORSLEY], (
Klgl 2:5).
11 remembered--Notwithstanding their perversity, He forgot not His covenant of old; therefore He did not wholly forsake them (
3.Mo 26:40-
3.Mo 26:42,
3.Mo 26:44-
3.Mo 26:45;
Ps 106:45-
Ps 106:46); the Jews make this their plea with God, that He should not now forsake them.
saying--God is represented, in human language, mentally speaking of Himself and His former acts of love to Israel, as His ground for pitying them notwithstanding their rebellion.
sea--Red Sea.
shepherd--Moses; or if the Hebrew be read plural, "shepherds," Moses, Aaron, and the other leaders (so
Ps 77:20).
put . . . Spirit . . . within him--Hebrew, "in the inward parts of him," that is, Moses; or it refers to the flock, "in the midst of his people" (
4.Mo 11:17,
4.Mo 11:25;
Neh 9:20;
Hag 2:5).
12 The right hand of Moses was but the instrument; the arm of God was the real mover (
2.Mo 15:6;
2.Mo 14:21).
dividing the water-- (
Neh 9:11;
Ps 78:13).
13 deep--literally, "the tossing and roaring sea."
wilderness--rather, the "open plain" [HORSLEY], wherein there is no obstacle to cause a horse in its course the danger of stumbling.
14 As a beast . . . rest--image from a herd led "down" from the hills to a fertile and well-watered "valley" (
Ps 23:2); so God's Spirit "caused Israel to rest" in the promised land after their weary wanderings.
to make . . . name--(So
Jes 63:12;
2.Sam 7:23).
15 Here begins a fervent appeal to God to pity Israel now on the ground of His former benefits.
habitation of . . . holiness-- (
Jes 57:15;
5.Mo 26:15;
2.Chr 30:27;
Ps 33:14;
Ps 80:14).
zeal . . . strength--evinced formerly for Thy people.
sounding of . . . bowels--Thine emotions of compassion (
Jes 16:11;
Jer 31:20;
Jer 48:36;
Hos 11:8).
16 thou . . . father--of Israel, by right not merely of creation, but also of electing adoption (
Jes 64:8;
5.Mo 32:6;
1.Chr 29:10).
though Abraham . . . Israel--It had been the besetting temptation of the Jews to rest on the mere privilege of their descent from faithful Abraham and Jacob (
Mt 3:9;
Joh 8:39;
Joh 4:12); now at last they renounce this, to trust in God alone as their Father, notwithstanding all appearances to the contrary. Even though Abraham, our earthly father, on whom we have prided ourselves, disown us, Thou wilt not (
Jes 49:15;
Ps 27:10). Isaac is not mentioned, because not all his posterity was admitted to the covenant, whereas all Jacob's was; Abraham is specified because he was the first father of the Jewish race.
everlasting--an argument why He should help them, namely, because of His everlasting immutability.
17 made us to err--that is, "suffer" us to err and to be hardened in our heart. They do not mean to deny their own blameworthiness, but confess that through their own fault God gave them over to a reprobate mind (
Jes 6:9-
Jes 6:10;
Ps 119:10;
Röm 1:28).
Return-- (
4.Mo 10:36;
Ps 90:13).
18 people of . . . holiness--Israel dedicated as holy unto God (
Jes 62:12;
5.Mo 7:6).
possessed--namely, the Holy Land, or Thy "sanctuary," taken from the following clause, which is parallel to this (compare
Jes 64:10-
Jes 64:11;
Ps 74:6-
Ps 74:8).
thy--an argument why God should help them; their cause is His cause.
19 thine . . . never--rather, "We are Thine from of old; Thou barest not rule over them" [BARNES]. LOWTH translates, "We for long have been as those over whom Thou hast not ruled, who are not called by Thy name"; "for long" thus stands in contrast to "but a little while" (
Jes 63:18). But the analogy of
Jes 63:18 makes it likely that the first clause in this verse refers to the Jews, and the second to their foes, as English Version and BARNES translate it. The Jews' foes are aliens who have unjustly intruded into the Lord's heritage.