1Povstaň, povstaň, sílu si oblékni, Sióne! Oblékni si svůj nádherný oděv, Jeruzaléme, svaté město, neboť už do tebe nevstoupí neobřezaný a poskvrněný. 2Z prachu se otřes, vstaň, zajatý Jeruzaléme! Zbav se okovů své šíje, zajatá siónská dcero! 3Ano, tak praví Hospodin: „Zadarmo jste byli prodáni a bez stříbra budete vykoupeni!“ 4Neboť tak praví Pán, Hospodin: „Do Egypta kdysi sestoupil můj lid, aby tam žil jako host. Potom ho Assur utiskoval bez příčiny. 5A nyní, co zde mám – praví Hospodin-když byl zadarmo odveden můj lid? Jeho vládci se zpupně chlubí – praví Hospodin – stále po všechny dni se mé jméno tupí. 6Proto v onen den můj lid pozná moje jméno, že já to jsem, který jsem řekl: Zde jsem!“ 7Jak je krásně vidět na horách nohy posla, který přináší radostnou zprávu, který zvěstuje pokoj, hlásá blaho a oznamuje spásu, který praví Siónu: „Bůh tvůj kraluje!“ 8Slyš! Tvoji strážní pozdvihují hlas a jásají spolu, neboť vidí na vlastní oči, jak se Hospodin vrací na Sión. 9Radujte se a jásejte vespolek, jeruzalémské trosky, neboť Hospodin utěšil svůj lid, vykoupil Jeruzalém. 10Obnažil Hospodin své svaté rámě před očima všech národů a všechny končiny země uzří spásu našeho Boha! 11Odejděte, odejděte, vyjděte odtamtud, nedotýkejte se ničeho nečistého! Vyjděte z jeho středu, očisťte se, všichni, kdo nesete Hospodinovy nádoby! 12Nevyjdete ve spěchu, nebudete v útěku prchat, vždyť Hospodin půjde před vámi, i v poslední řadě bude Bůh Izraele. 13Hle, můj Služebník dojde úspěchu, bude povýšen, povznesen k velké vznešenosti. 14Jak mnozí budou nad ním žasnout! Neboť jeho podoba byla nelidsky zohavena, vzhledem se nepodobá člověku. 15On přivede v údiv mnohé národy, králové před ním zavřou svá ústa, neboť spatřili, co se jim neřeklo, zpozorovali, co dříve neslyšeli.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 FIRST THROUGH THIRTEEN VERSES CONNECTED WITH FIFTY-FIRST CHAPTER. (Isa. 52:1-15)
strength--as thy adornment; answering to "beautiful garments" in the parallel clause. Arouse thyself from dejection and assume confidence.
the holy city-- (
Νεεμ. 11:1;
Αποκ. 21:2).
no more . . . unclean-- (
Ησ. 35:8;
Ησ. 60:21;
Ιωήλ 3:17;
Αποκ. 21:27). A prophecy never yet fulfilled.
uncircumcised--spiritually (
Ιεζ. 44:9;
Πράξ. 7:51).
2 from the dust--the seat of mourners (
Ιώβ 2:12-
Ιώβ 2:13).
arise, and sit--namely, in a more dignified place: on a divan or a throne [LOWTH], after having shaken off the dust gathered up by the flowing dress when seated on the ground; or simply, "Arise, and sit erect" [MAURER].
bands of . . . neck--the yoke of thy captivity.
3 As you became your foes' servants, without their paying any price for you (
Ιερ. 15:13), so they shall release you without demanding any price or reward (
Ησ. 45:13), (where Cyrus is represented as doing so: a type of their final restoration gratuitously in like manner). So the spiritual Israel, "sold under sin," gratuitously (
Ρωμ. 7:14), shall be redeemed also gratuitously (
Ησ. 55:1).
4 My people--Jacob and his sons.
went down--Judea was an elevated country compared with Egypt.
sojourn--They went there to stay only till the famine in Canaan should have ceased.
Assyrian--Sennacherib. Remember how I delivered you from Egypt and the Assyrian; what, then, is to prevent Me from delivering you out of Babylon (and the mystical Babylon and the Antichrist in the last days)?
without cause--answering to "for naught" in
Ησ. 52:5; it was an act of gratuitous oppression in the present case, as in that case.
5 what have I here--that is, what am I called on to do? The fact "that My people is taken away (into captivity;
Ησ. 49:24-
Ησ. 49:25) for naught" (by gratuitous oppression,
Ησ. 52:4; also
Ησ. 52:3, and see on
Ησ. 52:3) demands My interposition.
they that rule--or "tyrannize," namely, Babylon, literal and mystical.
make . . . to howl--or, raise a cry of exultation over them [MAURER].
blasphemed--namely, in Babylon: God's reason for delivering His people, not their goodness, but for the sake of His holy name (
Ιεζ. 20:9,
Ιεζ. 20:14).
6 shall know in that day--when Christ shall reveal Himself to Israel sensibly; the only means whereby their obstinate unbelief shall be overcome (
Ψαλ. 102:16;
Ζαχ. 12:10;
Ζαχ. 14:5).
7 beautiful . . . feet--that is, The advent of such a herald seen on the distant "mountains" (see on
Ησ. 40:9;
Ησ. 41:27;
Ησ. 25:6-
Ησ. 25:7;
Άσμ. 2:17) running in haste with the long-expected good tidings, is most grateful to the desolated city (
Ναούμ 1:15).
good tidings--only partially applying to the return from Babylon. Fully, and antitypically, the Gospel (
Λουκ. 2:10-
Λουκ. 2:11), "beginning at Jerusalem" (
Λουκ. 24:17), "the city of the great King" (
Ματθ. 5:35), where Messiah shall, at the final restoration of Israel, "reign" as peculiarly Zion's God ("Thy God reigneth"; compare
Ψαλ. 2:6).
8 watchmen--set on towers separated by intervals to give the earliest notice of the approach of any messenger with tidings (compare
Ησ. 21:6-
Ησ. 21:8). The Hebrew is more forcible than English Version, "The voice of thy watchmen" (exclamatory as in
Άσμ. 2:8). "They lift up their voice! together they sing."
eye to eye--that is, close at hand, and so clearly [GESENIUS];
Αρ. 14:14, "face to face";
Αρ. 12:8, "mouth to mouth." Compare
1Κορ. 13:12;
Αποκ. 22:4, of which Simeon's sight of the Saviour was a prefiguration (
Λουκ. 2:30). The watchmen, spiritually, are ministers and others who pray for the peace of Jerusalem (
Ησ. 62:6-
Ησ. 62:7),
bring again--that is, restore. Or else, "return to" [MAURER].
9 (
Ησ. 14:7-
Ησ. 14:8;
Ησ. 42:11).
redeemed--spiritually and nationally (
Ησ. 48:20).
10 made bare . . . arm--metaphor from warriors who bare their arm for battle (
Ιεζ. 4:7).
all . . . earth . . . see . . . salvation of . . . God--The deliverance wrought by God for Israel will cause all nations to acknowledge the Lord (
Ησ. 66:18-
Ησ. 66:20). The partial fulfilment (
Λουκ. 3:6) is a forerunner of the future complete fulfilment.
11 (
Ησ. 48:20;
Ζαχ. 2:6-
Ζαχ. 2:7). Long residence in Babylon made many loath to leave it: so as to mystical Babylon (
Αποκ. 18:4).
ye . . . that bear . . . vessels of the Lord--the priests and Levites, whose office it was to carry the vessels of the temple (
Ιερ. 27:18). Nebuchadnezzar had carried them to Babylon (
2Χρ. 36:18). Cyrus restored them (
Εσδ. 1:7-
Εσδ. 1:11).
be . . . clean--by separating yourselves wholly from Babylonian idolaters, mystical and literal.
12 not . . . with haste--as when ye left Egypt (
Έξ. 12:33,
Έξ. 12:39;
Δευτ. 16:3; compare Note, see on
Ησ. 28:16). Ye shall have time to cleanse yourselves and make deliberate preparation for departure.
Lord--Jehovah, as your Leader in front (
Ησ. 40:3;
Έξ. 23:20;
Μιχ. 2:13).
rereward--literally, "gather up," that is, to bring up the rear of your host. The transition is frequent from the glory of Messiah in His advent to reign, to His humiliation in His advent to suffer. Indeed, so are both advents accounted one, that He is not said, in His second coming, to be about to return, but to come.
13 Here the fifty-third chapter ought to begin, and the fifty-second chapter end with
Ησ. 52:12. This section, from here to end of the fifty-third chapter settles the controversy with the Jews, if Messiah be the person meant; and with infidels, if written by Isaiah, or at any time before Christ. The correspondence with the life and death of Jesus Christ is so minute, that it could not have resulted from conjecture or accident. An impostor could not have shaped the course of events so as to have made his character and life appear to be a fulfilment of it. The writing is, moreover, declaredly prophetic. The quotations of it in the New Testament show: (1) that it was, before the time of Jesus, a recognized part of the Old Testament; (2) that it refers to Messiah (
Ματθ. 8:17;
Μάρκ. 15:28;
Λουκ. 22:37;
Ιωάν. 12:38;
Πράξ. 8:28-
Πράξ. 8:35;
Ρωμ. 10:16;
1Πέτ. 2:21-25). The indirect allusions to it still more clearly prove the Messianic interpretation; so universal was that interpretation, that it is simply referred to in connection with the atoning virtue of His death, without being formally quoted (
Μάρκ. 9:12;
Ρωμ. 4:25;
1Κορ. 15:3;
2Κορ. 5:21;
1Πέτ. 1:19;
1Πέτ. 2:21-25;
1Ιωάν. 3:5). The genuineness of the passage is certain; for the Jews would not have forged it, since it is opposed to their notion of Messiah, as a triumphant temporal prince. The Christians could not have forged it; for the Jews, the enemies of Christianity, are "our librarians" [PALEY]. The Jews try to evade its force by the figment of two Messiahs, one a suffering Messiah (Ben Joseph), the other a triumphant Messiah (Ben David). HILLEL maintained that Messiah has already come in the person of Hezekiah. BUXTORF states that many of the modern Rabbins believe that He has been come a good while, but will not manifest Himself because of the sins of the Jews. But the ancient Jews, as the Chaldee paraphrast, Jonathan, refer it to Messiah; so the Medrasch Tauchuma (a commentary on the Pentateuch); also Rabbi Moses Haddarschan (see HENGSTENBERG, Christology of the Old Testament). Some explain it of the Jewish people, either in the Babylonish exile, or in their present sufferings and dispersion. Others, the pious portion of the nation taken collectively, whose sufferings made a vicarious satisfaction for the ungodly. Others, Isaiah, or Jeremiah [GESENIUS], the prophets collectively. But an individual is plainly described: he suffers voluntarily, innocently, patiently, and as the efficient cause of the righteousness of His people, which holds good of none other but Messiah (
Ησ. 53:4-
Ησ. 53:6,
Ησ. 53:9,
Ησ. 53:11; contrast
Ιερ. 20:7;
Ιερ. 15:10-
Ιερ. 15:21;
Ψαλ. 137:8-
Ψαλ. 137:9).
Ησ. 53:9 can hold good of none other. The objection that the sufferings (
Ησ. 53:1-
Ησ. 53:10) referred to are represented as past, the glorification alone as future (
Ησ. 52:13-
Ησ. 52:15;
Ησ. 53:11-
Ησ. 53:12) arises from not seeing that the prophet takes his stand in the midst of the scenes which he describes as future. The greater nearness of the first advent, and the interval between it and the second, are implied by the use of the past tense as to the first, the future as to the second.
Behold--awakening attention to the striking picture of Messiah that follows (compare
Ιωάν. 19:5,
Ιωάν. 19:14).
my servant--Messiah (
Ησ. 42:1).
deal prudently--rather, "prosper" [GESENIUS] as the parallel clause favors (
Ησ. 53:10). Or, uniting both meanings, "shall reign well" [HENGSTENBERG]. This verse sets forth in the beginning the ultimate issue of His sufferings, the description of which follows: the conclusion (
Ησ. 53:12) corresponds; the section (
Ησ. 52:13;
Ησ. 53:12) begins as it ends with His final glory.
extolled--elevated (
Μάρκ. 16:19;
Εφεσ. 1:20-
Εφεσ. 1:22;
1Πέτ. 3:22).
14 Summary of Messiah's history, which is set forth more in detail in the fifty-third chapter. "Just as many were astonished (accompanied with aversion,
Ιερ. 18:16;
Ιερ. 19:8), &c.; his visage, &c.; so shall He sprinkle," &c.; Israel in this answers to its antitype Messiah, now "an astonishment and byword" (
Δευτ. 28:37), hereafter about to be a blessing and means of salvation to many nations (
Ησ. 2:2-
Ησ. 2:3;
Μιχ. 5:7).
thee; his--Such changes of persons are common in Hebrew poetry.
marred--Hebrew, "disfigurement"; abstract for concrete; not only disfigured, but disfigurement itself.
more than man--CASTALIO translates, "so that it was no longer that of a man" (compare
Ψαλ. 22:6). The more perfect we may suppose the "body prepared" (
Εβρ. 10:5) for Him by God, the sadder by contrast was the "marring" of His visage and form.
15 sprinkle many--GESENIUS, for the antithesis to "be astonished," translates, "shall cause . . . to exult." But the word universally in the Old Testament means either to sprinkle with blood, as the high priest makes an expiation (
Λευ. 4:6;
Λευ. 16:18-
Λευ. 16:19); or with water, to purify (
Ιεζ. 36:25; compare as to the Spirit,
Πράξ. 2:33), both appropriate to Messiah (
Ιωάν. 13:8;
Εβρ. 9:13-
Εβρ. 9:14;
Εβρ. 10:22;
Εβρ. 12:24;
1Πέτ. 1:2). The antithesis is sufficient without any forced rendering. Many were astonished; so many (not merely men, but) nations shall be sprinkled. They were amazed at such an abject person claiming to be Messiah; yet it is He who shall justify and purify. Men were dumb with the amazement of scorn at one marred more than the lowest of men, yet the highest: even kings (
Ησ. 49:7,
Ησ. 49:23) shall be dumb with awe and veneration ("shut . . . mouths";
Ιώβ 29:9-
Ιώβ 29:10;
Μιχ. 7:16).
that . . . not . . . told them--the reason why kings shall so venerate them; the wonders of redemption, which had not been before told them, shall then be announced to them, wonders such as they had never heard or seen parallelled (
Ησ. 55:1;
Ρωμ. 15:21;
Ρωμ. 16:25-
Ρωμ. 16:26).
The speaker, according to HORSLEY, personates the repenting Jews in the latter ages of the world coming over to the faith of the Redeemer; the whole is their penitent confession. This view suits the context (
Ησ. 52:7-
Ησ. 52:9), which is not to be fully realized until Israel is restored. However, primarily, it is the abrupt exclamation of the prophet: "Who hath believed our report," that of Isaiah and the other prophets, as to Messiah? The infidel's objection from the unbelief of the Jews is anticipated and hereby answered: that unbelief and the cause of it (Messiah's humiliation, whereas they looked for One coming to reign) were foreseen and foretold.