Dear Friends,
Here are some notes on a wonderful and very practical passage in Isaiah which also gives you another block of prophecy concerning our Savior. God bless you.
Because of Calvary,
John Janney

Adult SS Elective: Isaiah 58:1-6111
November 20, 2016

1. Glory (58:1-66:24)
2. 1. Religion (58:1-14)
3. The voice of rebuke (58:1-12)

“The exposing word of God (1) comes to people who are very religious (2) but find no satisfaction in their religion (3). Somehow, God is not responding to them. Put bluntly, however, the religion which is exposed here rests on Canaanite rather than Yahwistic principles. The essence of Canaanite religion was to put the gods under pressure to perform their functions (hence, for example, what we would call orgiastic rites designed to stimulate Baal to acts of fertility). This is the spirit which verse 3 reveals. They act as if they were a nation that does what is right (2c), but the motive is to pressure the Lord into response, and hence the dismay (3) that so much afflictive piety has attracted no divine attention! The essence of Israelite religion, however, is response. Not doing things to influence the Lord but doing them to obey him; not works looking for reward but faith acting in obedience…. It is a real test of ‘heart’-religion to give a whole day to God and to do it with delight. The Sabbath is, first, a call to consecrate life’s timetable to God, to adopt a style for six days which allows the seventh day to be a day apart (Ex. 16:22-30); Nu. 15:32-26)…. The heart is so captivated by God that the day set apart is a joy. …It is the symbol of a whole life and heart devoted to the Lord.’ [Motyer, p. 478]

“…The Jews in Isaiah’s time, and again in the time of our Lord, were more zealous for externals than for inward holiness.” [Fausset, p. 743]

Even the righteous were unrighteous.

“Negatively (1-5), note the conjunction of meticulous religious observance (2, 5) and social ruthlessness (3b-4…cf. Mt. 23; Jas. 4:1-3)…which God finds nauseating (cf. 1:15). Positively (6-14) the redefinition of fasting as social reform (6), loving care (7), and a forgoing of the luxury of ‘pointing the finger’ (9), is a foretaste of our Lord’s constructive approach to the law.” [Kidner, p. 665]

1. What the Lord despises (58:1-5)

“First the prophet shows what true religion is not… True religion includes obedience to the law of God and a delight in the presence of God, but when sought for a reward it degenerates into formalism or pharisaism. The love of God must show itself in love of one’s neighbor. Godliness is shown not by appearing outwardly pious, but by being sensitive to the suffering of other people….

“Fasting as an act of humility and contrition can only be acceptable to God if it is an expression of love for God and neighbor.” [VanGemeren, p. 510]

“Is it not strange that men will often continue to take delight in the externals of religion, while they give their heart to their sins? Outwardly, they keep up with great regularity all the observances of religion; yet in heart they are far from God.” [Spurgeon, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit XLI, (1895), p. 214]

“They think to lay God under obligation by their fasting (Ps. lxxiii.13; Mal. iii.14).” [Fausset, p. 743]

“What seems to be the product of ‘delight’ (2bf) is actually a calculated policy aimed at producing a heavenly reaction (3a-d)…. There was much of the Pharisaic spirit of Luke 18:12 in which the element of ‘delighting’ in the Lord by responsive obedience changed into the performance of meritorious works.” [Motyer, p. 480]

“The people of Isaiah 58 had ritualized the whole exercise into the bowed head, sackcloth and ashes. The phrase like a reed exposes the formalism of the whole exercise; it was as automatic and uncomprehending as a reed before a wind.” [Motyer, p. 481]

“The mere appearance of sorrow, the outward garb of mortification, ― what is there in that to please the Lord?” [Spurgeon, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit XLI, (1895), p. 215]

“One of the great surprises of the human heart is that self-denial does not win merit or peace. But assuredly it does not, if love be not with it. Though I give my body to be burned and have not love, it profiteth me nothing. Self-denial without love is self-indulgence.” [George Adam Smith, p. 834]

1. What the Lord requires (58:6-12)

“According to 57:19, repentance is a creative work of the Lord, but the proclamation of his word is the means he uses to create penitents…” [Motyer, p. 479]

“St. Gregory the Great says: ‘Fasting consists not merely in strict abstinence from lawful food, but in entire separation from sinful practices, and in the hearty doing of right things. If thou seest an enemy, be reconciled to him; if thou seest a poor man, take pity on him; if thou seest a neighbor prospering, thank God for him.’” [The Speaker’s Bible V, p. 169]

“The pointing of the finger is a gesture of derision.” [Alexander II, p. 360]

“What a difference it makes when we repent and return to the Lord…! We have light instead of darkness, healing instead of disease, righteousness instead of defilement, glory instead of disgrace; and life becomes a watered garden, not a dismal swamp.” [Wiersbe, With the Word, p. 488]

“This section describes the consequent personal blessings…. Four blessings are promised. First a new beginning to life (light will break forth like the dawn); secondly, personal restoration or healing…and thirdly, security, with righteousness as an advance guard and glory as a rear guard…. The Lord provides righteousness (53:11; 54:17), the believer wears it as armor…. The fourth blessing is free-flowing fellowship with the Lord (9ab).” [Motyer, p. 481-482]

“The promise Then you will call…looks back to the unanswered prayers of v 3 (cf. Jas. 4:3, 8-10), and its rich development in vs 9b-12.” [Kidner, p. 665-666]

“If you have cared for the needy, God will care for you when you are needy. Is it not his way to reward the gift of even a cup of cold water to one of his disciples? Has he not promised that he will give back again into our bosoms that which we have given to others for his sake?” [Spurgeon, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit XLI, (1895), p. 215-216]

“The beautiful simile of the well-watered garden reappears in Je. 31:12. The whole series of metaphors in vs 10-12 repays study.” [Kidner, p. 666]

1. The voice of promise (58:13-14)

“But lest it should seem that philanthropy is all, these verses describe the strictness and the gladness of the Sabbath-keeping God desires…. It will mean self-forgetfulness (13a) and the self-discipline of rising above the trivial (13:b).” [Kidner, p. 666] Cf. Isaiah 56:2.

“True godliness shows itself in a concern for justice and a love of the Sabbath…. The Sabbath was a day in which the people were to give themselves to the worship of the Lord…. To rest from one’s labors is, first, not to think about personal gain, and second, to do what is right.” [VanGemeren, p. 510]

“…Nowadays Sunday has become a second Saturday in each week.” [Motyer, p. 480]

“The observance of the Sabbath has, in all ages, been found essential to the maintenance and prosperity of spiritual religion.” [Henderson in Gray & Adams Bible Commentary III, p. 345]

“In a word, the Sabbath calls for careful, thoughtful living. It is not a day for doing as you please, because it is my holy day, the LORD’s holy day and ‘worthy to be honored’… Neither, however, is it a burden because, truly understood, it is an ‘exquisite delight’…” [Motyer, p. 483]

“We do not only keep a Sabbath, but love a Sabbath.” [Thomas Watson, A Divine Cordial, (Grand Rapids: Sovereign Grace Publishers, 1663), p. 59]

“God help us to be observant of the precepts of this chapter that its promises may be blessedly fulfilled in our experience! Amen.” [Spurgeon, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit XLI, (1895), p. 216]

2. Responsibility (59:1-21)

“The whole of this chapter is simply the expansion and enforcement of the first two verses, that keep clanging like the clangor of a great high bell: ‘Behold, Jehovah’s hand is not shortened that it cannot save, neither is His ear heavy that it cannot hear; but your iniquities have been separators between you and your God, and your sins have hidden His face from you, that He will not hear.’ There is but one thing that comes between the human heart and the Real Presence and Infinite Power of God; and that one thing is Sin.” [George Adam Smith, p. 835]

“The prophet merely pauses, as it were, for a moment, to exonerate his Master from all blame, before continuing his accusation of the people.” [Alexander II, p. 363]

“One of the great failures of modern non-biblical theology is its tendency to be unable to recognize the enormous barrier sin has erected between God and man.” [Peter Jeffrey, Bitesize Theology: An ABC of The Christian Faith, (Darlington, England: Evangelical Press, 2000), p. 73]

“They who cast God’s law behind their backs, God will cast their prayers behind his back.” [Watson, The Ten Commandments, p. 13]

“Man’s sin is expressed by this, that he turns his back to God and not his face. His punishment is expressed by God turning His back to him and not His face. God behaves not like a friend but a stranger.” [Venning, The Plague of Plagues, p. 68]

“As we would have God hear all our words when we pray, so we must hear all his words when he speaks.” [Watson, The Ten Commandments, p. 14]

“God’s ‘arm is not shortened, that he cannot save’; neither is it shortened, that he cannot punish.” [Samuel Johnson, The Quotable Johnson: A topical Compilation of His Wit and Moral Wisdom compiled by Stephen C. Danckert, (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1992), p. 134]

“There is the same problem of unanswered prayer and a similar reply (1-2). But whereas ch. 58 describes true righteousness and its blessings, ch. 59 depicts sin (3-8) and its obliteration of all values (9-15) (cf. v 10 of each chapter). The end is chaos, with human life (in Hobbes’s phrase) ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short.’” [Kidner, p. 666]

1. Judgment (59:1-8) On 59:1-2 cf. 58:9; James 4:1-3; Psalm 66:18; I Peter 3:7

“It is guilty of murder, untruth, and injustice, and buried in all kinds of evil. Israel looks like the nations instead of God’s people. The people are like mothers of evil who hatch vipers and cover sin with a veneer as thin as cobwebs.” [VanGemeren, p. 510]

“The fault to which 58:3-4 called attention does not lie in the Lord but in rebellion and sin, which have caused a separation (2ab) and alienation (2cd). In particular, there are personal sins of action (3ab) and speech (3cd) and sins in the public domain (4ab). In summary, life lacks a solid foundation (rely) and personal integrity (lies); its ambitions and motivations (conceive) and its effect and outworking (give birth) are alike wrong (4).” [Motyer, p.  484]

“…They stood in their own light a put a bar in their own door. God was coming towards them in ways of mercy and they hindered him.” [Matthew Henry’s Commentary IV, p. 270]

“…All their members are active in evil; in v. 3 the ‘hands, fingers, lips, and tongue’ are specified.” [Fausset, p. 746]

“Paul drew on these verses in Rom. 3:15-17 in building up to his climax concerning our universal guilt.” `[Kidner, p. 666]

“they trust, ‘Trusting in emptiness and speaking vanity! Conceiving mischief and bringing forth evil.” [Cambridge Bible in Gray & Adams Bible Commentary III, p. 345-346]

“The way of peace they know not ― whether in relation to God, to their own conscience, or to their fellow-man (ch. lvii.20, 21).” [Fausset, p. 746]

1. Confession (59:9-15a)

“The community lament contains a moving confession of sin and an expression of Israel’s longing for the day of redemption.” [VanGemeren, p. 510]

“The secret work of divine enabling (57:19a) and the effect of the preaching of God’s law (58:1-14) has brought them to the place where they are prepared to confess the darkness (9), helplessness (10), bitterness (11ab), hopelessness (11cd) and personal guiltiness –12-13) of sin. In verses 9-11 the stress is on need; in verse 12 on guilt.” [Motyer, p. 486]

“It is dark. The pedestrians on the streets are blind and are acting like beasts. Truth has fallen in the street and progress has ceased. The ‘traffic officers’ (justice and righteousness) are standing far off because the people will not let them exercise authority.” [Wiersbe, With the Word, p. 489]

“The groping in broad daylight is the judgment that Jesus’ contemporaries courted (cf. Jn. 3:19) and suffered (cf. Jn. 12:25-40).” [Kidner, p. 666]

“The promised coming of ‘righteousness’ (56:1) is about to take place, but our understanding of what it implied in this has been enriched by chapters 56-59 and their description of the state of the Lord’s worldwide people threatened and oppressed by opponents, harassed and defeated by sin. Hence the Lord set himself to the task of salvation on the one hand and vengeance on the other. The heart of 59:14-63:6 is, however, the emergence of an unexpected individual…endowed with the Spirit and word of the Lord and sharing this endowment with your (masculine singular) ‘children/’seed’…. Further, an individual speaking in his own person appears at 61:1. He cannot be broadly identified with the Zion people for he comes confessedly to comfort Zion’s mourners (61:3). Who is he?…

“The individual of 61:1, like the Servant, is endowed with the Lord’s Spirit (42:1; 59:21; 6:1) and both have a priority ministry of the word (42:1-4; 49:1-2; 59:21; 61:1) and specifically a word of comfort (50:4; 61:2-3)….

“Matching the King in chapters 1-37 and the Servant in chapters 38-55, there is the Anointed Conqueror to provide the Messianic focus of the concluding chapters of Isaiah…. In 59:15c-20 the Lord himself dons garments appropriate to the task of salvation and vengeance. Then the Anointed One appears, endowed with Spirit and word (59:21), and his coming dates the advent of the day of favor and vengeance (61:2). It is on him that the Lord puts the garments of salvation and the robe of righteousness (61:10) so that he may make righteousness sprout for the nations (61:11) and salvation for Zion (62:1). Finally, the wearer of the robes announces the completion of the work of vengeance and redemption (63:1-6).” [Motyer, p. 489-490]

1. Redemption (59:15b-21)
2. The Moral Situation (59:14-15b)

“This is how things are: moral absolutes have disappeared (14ab), public morality has collapsed (14cd) and individual moral character is under threat (15ab)…. There are forces of immorality at work constituting a threat to those who would even as much as stand aloof from what is wrong (cf. Am. 5:13).” [Motyer, p. 491]

“And why are right and righteousness ― that united pair so pleasing to God and beneficial to man ― thrust out of the nation, and why do they stand without? Because there is no truth or uprightness in the nation. Truth wanders about, and stands no longer in the midst of the nation; but upon the open street, the broad market-place where justice is administered, and where she ought above all to stand upright and be preserved upright, she has stumbled and fallen down…” [Delitzsch, p. 564]

“Perhaps the most revealing touch is the victimizing of the decent man, the only one out of step. …Not only public justice has warped, but public opinion with it.” [Kidner, p. 666]

1. The Divine Reaction (59:15c-16)

“Displeased should be ‘appalled’, as in 63:5.” [Kidner, p. 666]

iii. The Divine Action (59:17-18)

“Because of the absolute bankruptcy of the people no one is able to deliver them. Only the Lord whose arm is strong to deliver can deal with his people…. The Lord is described as a warrior readying himself to aid the godly. He puts on the breastplate, representative of ‘righteousness,’ the helmet representative of ‘salvation,’ and the garments signifying his ‘vengeance’ and ‘zeal’ (v. 17; cf. Eph 6:14-17)…. The Lord may delay his judgment, but he sees everything, including the affliction of his people and the evil done to those who call on his name….

“Paul cites these words in his argument that God will redeem apostate Israel, which has rejected the Messiah (Rom. 11:27).” [VanGemeren, p. 511]

“When the prophet describes this garment of light as changed into a suit of armor….the pieces of Jehovah’s armor stand for the manifold self-manifestations of His holy nature, which consists of a mixture of wrath and love. He does not arm Himself from any outward armory, but the armory is His infinite wrath and His infinite love… He puts on righteousness as a coat of mail…so that His appearance on every side is righteousness; and on His head He sets the helmet of salvation, for the ultimate object for which He goes into the conflict is the redemption of the oppressed, salvation as the fruit of the victory gained by righteousness. And over the coat of mail He draws on clothes of vengeance…and wraps Himself in zeal as a war-cloak. The inexorable justice of God is compared to an impenetrable brazen coast of mail; His joyful salvation, to a helmet that glitters from afar; His vengeance, with its manifold inflictions of punishment, to the clothes worn above the coat of mail… No weapon is mentioned…for his own arm procures Him help, and this alone.” [Delitzsch, p. 566]

1. The New Situation (59:19-20)

“No place of origin will disqualify (19) or qualify (20) a man for membership; the test is spiritual (19a, 20b; cf. Mt. 8:10-12), and the covenant is recognizably the new covenant, whose participants will not only ‘all know’ the Lord (Je. 31:34) but all speak for him as a nation of prophets (cf. Nu. 11:29; Joel 2:28).” [Kidner, p. 666]

1. The Covenant Mediator (59:21)

“According to 49:8 and 54:10 it is through the Servant that the people of Jacob/Zion enter into the blessings of restoration and peace; according to 42:6 and 55:3, blessings are covenanted worldwide through the Servant…. Divine action has secured a worldwide reverential people and a company of penitents in Jacob, and there is a person whom we may call the Anointed One, for the Lord’s Spirit is upon him, through whom their relationship with the Lord is eternally secure. Like the Servant (53:10), those to whom he secures these covenant blessings are his ‘seed’…. My covenant is as 54:10. It is the Lord’s because it is his idea that there should be a covenanted relationship and because it contains nothing, whether promises or stipulations, except what is his… The Anointed One partakes of the divine life and lives under the divine truth, and what he enjoys he holds in trust to share with his ‘seed’…. Children/’your seed’ and their descendants/’your seed’s seed’ link not only with 53:10 but reach back to Genesis 22:18 and further back to the ‘seed of the woman’ in Genesis 3:15 (cf. Zion’s ‘seed’ in 54:3 and the Spirit-endowed ‘seed’ in 44:3).” [Motyer, p. 492-493]

3. Reassurance (60:1-61:11)

“‘Grace is but glory begun,’ said Jonathan Edwards, ‘and glory is but grace perfected.’… Isaiah began his ‘Book of Consolations’ (chaps. 40-66) by promising that ‘the glory of the Lord shall be revealed’ (40:5). Now he concludes by describing that glory for us. In these seven chapters he used the word ‘glory’ in one form or another at least twenty-three times. When God’s glory is on the scene, everything becomes new.” [Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary IV, p. 67]

1. The Dawning of a New Day (60:1-22)

“This sixtieth chapter is one of the most perfectly beautiful pieces of literature in the Bible.” [The Speaker’s Bible V, p. 188]

“Chap. 40. is a prophecy as complete in itself as chap. 54. The City, which in 54 was hailed and comforted from afar, is in chap. 60 bidden rise and enjoy the glory that has at last reached her. Her splendors, hinted at in chap. 54, are seen in full and evident display. {George Adam Smith, p. 836]

“Having repeatedly and fully shown that the national pre-eminence of Israel was not to be perpetual, that the loss of it was the natural consequence and righteous retribution of iniquity, and that this loss did not involve the destruction of the true church, or spiritual Israel, the Prophet now proceeds to show that to the latter the approaching change would be a glorious and blessed one.” [Alexander II, p. 379]

“…Rev. 21 draws freely on ch. 60 for its picture of the radiant city from heaven; and the interpretation of that vision…must affect that of the present prophecy. …The return of dispersed Israelites to Jerusalem is made the model of a far greater movement, the worldwide inflow of converts into the church, and…the vision repeatedly looks beyond this to the end, the state of ultimate glory.” [Kidner, p. 666]

“In this famous chapter we have a vision of the City of God which all the nations will assemble to honor, the eternal home of peace and justice, the chosen abode of God Himself, who will illuminate it with His own light brighter than the beams of the sun.” [The Speaker’s Bible V, p. 181]

“Zion is summoned to enter into the light that is hers and then to observe and react to the nations as they gather to the same light.” [Motyer, p. 494]

1. The Lord (60:1-5)

“The glory of Jehovah is his manifested presence, with allusion to the cloudy pillar and the Shechinah.” [Alexander II, p. 380]

“While Zion is in the light the rest of the world is yet in darkness.” [Gray & Adams Bible Commentary III, p. 348]

“This is not merely a Zion experience, it is aimed at a world need (2ab), which is met by the Lord’s ‘rising’…, the breaking out of the Lord’s light in Zion. The Lord’s glory, i.e. the Lord in all the glory of his person and majesty, will appear and will then magnetize the nations (2:3; 49:7gh; 55:5) out of darkness into your light…” [Motyer, p. 494]

1. The Nations (60:6-7)

“To confine a prophecy like this to the return from Babylon is to fail to listen to what Isaiah is saying. He looks for a worldwide re-gathering…” [Motyer, p. 495]

“In what terms do the nations gather? On their side they come ‘telling the good news of the Lord’s praises’ (6e); on the Lord’s side, he fully accepts their offerings (7c) and their gifts (7d).” [Motyer, p. 495]

iii. The Home (60:8-9)

“The nations who come submissively (4-5), joyously (6) and with acceptance (7) find their natural home (8ab) and the fulfillment of their longings (9a) in the Lord (9e) and in his beautiful city (9fg). We stand, as it were, on a headland to watch the approaching fleet (9b); they come with the speed of flying clouds (8a) and the naturalness of homing pigeons (8b).”  [Motyer, p. 495]

“According to verse 3 they came because Zion was alight with the glory of the Lord; according to verse 9e they came ‘for the name of the Lord’, the revelation of the Lord to be found in Zion. Verse 3 is pictorial, verse 9 is general, verse 10 is specific…. God’s anger was real (I struck you)…. But the Lord’s passionate love restored them to his favor.” [Motyer, p. 496]

“The rest of the chapter, from ver. 10 onwards, is occupied with the rebuilding and adornment of Jerusalem, and with the establishment of the people in righteousness and peace.” [George Adam Smith, p. 837]

1. The Service (60:10-14)

“To enter is too be blessed; to stand aloof is to perish ― understandably so, for Zion alone is the place where divine wrath has become divine compassion…. It is not their alien status…which condemns them but their attitude to Zion, i.e. whether they are drawn to the Lord’s light (3), his name (9) and his love (10).” [Motyer, p. 496-497]

1. The Transformation (60:15-18)

“The Redeemer-God will restore the fortunes of Zion…. His governance will not only be just, but glorious as well.: [VanGemeren, p. 511]

“Instead of being shunned and hated by all nations, Zion shall become the joy of the whole earth, her wants being abundantly supplied from the best and the nations can bestow.” [Cambridge Bible in Gray & Adams Bible Commentary III, p. 350]

“In verses 15-16, Zion is transformed in experience, with three items of rejection (forsaken, hated, no-one traveling) followed by three items of transformation (pride and joy, milk, Savior)/ In verses 17-18b Zion is transformed in material and spiritual circumstances, the base replaced by the best (17a-d) and society renewed from the leadership down (17e-18b)…. All is due to the fact that the Lord has identified himself with and taken as his own the needs of his people.” [Motyer, p. 497-498]

“The time shall come when every evil thing from being and remembrance both shall die. The world is one solid temple of pure gold.” [Bailey in Gray & Adams Bible Commentary III, p. 350-351]

1. The Light (60:19-22)

“The old, physical forms of light (19ab) are replaced by new, spiritual light (19cd) and changes and fluctuations are past (20ab), due to the perpetual divine presence bringing with it unbroken joy (20:cd). There will be full enjoyment of the great salvation God has accomplished…eternal security.” [Motyer, p. 498]

“It is not implied that the sun and moon shall cease to exist; all that is said is that the new Jerusalem shall not be dependent on these natural luminaries.” [Cambridge Bible in Gray & Adams Bible Commentary III, p. 351]

1. The Beginning of a New Life (61:1-11)

”If chap. lx. showed us the external glory of God’s people, chap. lxi. opens with the program of their inner mission. There we had the building and adornment of the Temple, that ‘Jehovah might glorify His people:’ here we have the binding of broken hearts and the beautifying of soiled lives, that ‘Jehovah may be glorified’ But this inner mission also issues in external splendor, in a righteousness which is like the adornment of a bride and like the beauty of spring.” [George Adam Smith, p. 838]

1.   The Lord speaks (61:1-9)

“These opening words of Isa. 61 are not usually reckoned along with the ‘Servant Songs’ of Isa. 42-53, but they do express the same ideas and, in fact, speak of the same person. The servant, when first introduced by God in Isa. 42:1, is described as God’s chosen one upon whom He has put His Spirit: this brings him into relation with the predicted ruler of David’s line in Isa. 11:1ff., upon whom ‘the Spirit of Jehovah shall rest’.” [Bruce, “The Book of the Acts,” The New International Commentary on the New Testament, p. 227]

“The Anointed One now appears for the second time. As in the second Servant Song (49:1-6), he speaks in his own person about himself and his God-given ministry. His testimony (1-3) is followed by a tailpiece (4-9) The common theme of both is transformation…. This transference of the Lord’s work to the Anointed One is important in the light of what is yet to be revealed (10-11). In the same way, what the Lord pledges in the metaphor of ‘planting’ (60:21) is achieved through the renewing work of the Anointed One (61:3h-j).” [Motyer, p. 499]

“Proclaim freedom…makes a particular link with Leviticus and the great manumission of the Jubilee Year…” [Motyer, p. 500] Cf. Leviticus 25:10; Jeremiah 34:8

“A year for joy ― a day for vengeance.” [Gray & Adams Bible Commentary III, p. 352]

“This is the passage the Lord Jesus deliberately sought out as the starting point of his public ministry (Lk. 4:16-22)…. In his reading, the Lord Jesus stopped at the words the LORD’s favor (2:a) and did not proceed to the day of vengeance. Thus he expressed his own understanding of his mission at that point, not to condemn but to save the world (Jn. 3:17). He was also aware, however, of a coming day when he would execute the judgment committed to him (Jn. 5:22-29). In other words, what Isaiah sees as a double-faceted ministry the Lord Jesus apportions respectively to his first and second comings.” [Motyer, p. 499-500]

“If the end of one mercy were not the beginning of another, we were undone.” [Philip Henry in Gray & Adams Bible Commentary III, p. 352]

“…Penitence brings transformations. First, a crown of beauty instead of ashes…. Oil was for times of gladness (Ps. 23:5) not of sorrow (2 Sa. 14:2). In Psalm 45:7…’oil of gladness’ explains the different sort of life evident in the king. So the Anointed One replaces mourning with fresh life…. The infusion of new life expresses itself in responsive praise, replacing depression and lowspiritedness.” [Motyer, p. 501]

“The ashes of lamentation for sin will be taken from their heads, and they will be crowned with a bridal diadem.” [Wordsworth in Gray & Adams Bible Commentary III, p. 352]

“Trees of righteousness” is translated “terebinths of saving justice” in the New Jerusalem Bible.  “A terebinith is a beautiful tree from which turpentine is derived.” [Ronald Lello, The Beatitudes: Living with Blessings, Meditation and Prayer, (Rockport, MA: Element Books, 1997), p. 32]

“Under the figure of a priestly Israel served by foreigners (5-6) and enriched by its former plunderers (7-8), the reality is the people of God (whose status is not national; cf. 1 Pet. 2:10; Rev. 7:9), vindicated and enjoying their full inheritance as kings and priests (cf. 1 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 1:6), while the pride of man is humbled and his power harnessed.” [Kidner, p. 667]

“‘And as for you, you will be called’ priests refers to the hitherto unrealized ideal of Exodus 19:6 (cf. the further extension to Gentiles in 66:21; both passages are anticipatory of the ‘priesthood of all believers’ in the New Testament).” [Motyer, p. 502]

“The picture is not of a slave-state or a second-class citizenship but of glad co-operation, of former aliens taking their place in the life of the people…” [Motyer, p. 502]

“The new era is ‘forever,’ because the covenant is forever… God knows how his people can be unpredictable and faithless; therefore, the outworking of the covenant is not dependent on them. He is faithful.” [VanGemeren, p. 512]

“Here is another choice expression: ‘everlasting joy.’ Theirs is not a transient joy, like the mirth of fools, which is as the crackling of thorns under a pot, but ‘everlasting joy shall be unto them.’” [Spurgeon, Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit XLII, (1896), p. 395]

“It is a truth much to the honor 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.” [Matthew Henry’s Commentary IV, p. 284-285]

“Satan was the first that practiced falsehood under saintly show, deep malice to conceal, couched with revenge.” [John Milton in Gray & Adams Bible Commentary III, p. 353]

1. The Prophet speaks (61:10-11)

“Like the third Servant Song, the third Song of the Anointed One is a testimony centering on personal commitment, but while 50:4-9 faces the cost of obedience (61:10-62:7…exults in what will be achieved. This sense of swelling joy continues into the tailpiece (62:8-12), the Lord’s confirmatory oath that Zion will enjoy what is it own and the summons to the world to set out on its grand march to Zion. This delightful section gives us an insight into something of the ‘joy that was set before him’ (Heb. 12:2).” [Motyer, p. 504]

”The glory prepared for God’s people is likened to the adornments of a bride, bridegroom, and priest… She will serve the Lord in the presence of the nations as a priest adorned with ‘a crown of beauty’ (v. 3), anointed with ‘oil of gladness’ (v. 3) and clothed in ‘a garment of praise’ (v. 3).” [VanGemeren, p. 512]