... in it the revelation of Jehovah's glory to all flesh- Arise, shine, for the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee, and the nations shall come to thy light' (lx. 1). It was not Israel alone that this event concerned: "With a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the ends of the earth: say ye, The Lord hath redeemed His servant Jacob. Listen, ye isles, unto me. The Lord hath said unto me, It is too light a thing that thou shouldst be My servant to restore the tribes of Jacob, I will also make thee the light of the nations, that My salvation may be unto the end of the earth' (xlviii. 20 ff.). The event is of such meaning that all creation utters a jubilant cry over it: 'Sing, O ye heavens, for the Lord hath done it; shout, ye lower parts of the earth; break forth into singing, ye moun tains, O forest and every tree therein; for the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and will glorify Himself in Israel' (xliv. 23). Around this event of Israel's Restoration by Cyrus, or into it, the prophet pours out all the fulness of his religious thought. And religion is to him the only thing that exists. Jehovah, God of Israel, is a purely redemptive idea. He is infinite in power and mind; He is the First and the Last-History is a Theophany; He is all and in all, but all that He is is stated when it is said that He is the Saviour of mankind. Israel too is now a purely religious idea. It is exhausted in its mission, which is to be the 'Servant' of its God in that operation which exhausts HimRedemption. But it is the 'people' Israel that is His servant, not mere missionary individuals out of the people. Israel can fulfil its mission only as a people among the peoples, shining with a Divine light which draws the nations, who come to it say. ing, Surely God is in thee, and there is none else, no God! (xlv. 14). Here lies the necessity and the meaning of its Restoration. Thus, though the prophecies all circle round the Restoration, their subject is nothing else than the bringing in by Jehovah of His univeral kingdom. It is this that fills the prophet's mind, and it is this event which he seems to see being accomplished before his eyes. It is Jehovah who accomplishes it, but He employs agents. The operation has both an external and an internal movement. In the external movement Cyrus is His agent, in the internal the Servant of the Lord. Cyrus overthrows Babylon, the idolatrous world, and eternally discredits idolatry; he also restores the captives, rebuilds Jerusalem, and founds the Temple. So the external movement reaches its end (chaps. xl. -xlviii.). The other movement is inward, being the adjustment of the people's relation to God, the forgiveness of their sins, and the diffusion through all the members of the true spirit of the religion of Jehovah. In all this the agent is the Servant of the Lord. It is true that God blots out the people's transgressions for His name's sake (xliii. 25), but He also lays on the Servant the iniquity of them all (liii. 6). It is also true that He changes them by pouring out His spirit upon them (xliv. 3), but the Servant also labours and endures reproach in his calling (1. 4-9). The external and internal movements are not kept distinct, for the prophet seems to cherish the hope that Cyrus himself will embrace the faith of Jehovah. The Lord leads him to his victories (1) that he may know that it is the God of Israel who inspires him and girds him; (2) that Israel may be restored; and (3) that men may know from the rising of the sun and from its going down that there is no God but Jehovah (xlv. 1-7). The Servant of the Lord. There are two questions which the reader of Isaiah should keep well apart. The first is, In whom have the prophet's ideas of the Servant, his sinlessness, vicarious suffering and spiritual power, been verified in fact and history? And the answer of all interpreters is, In Jesus the Messiah. This answer was given by the contemporaries of Christ, and it was given by His own consciousness. The other question is, What subject had this prophet in his own mind when he spoke of the Servant? Very various answers have been given to this question. What is of moment is the prophet's ideas, which enriched and deepened the religious thought of mankind before the Lord came, and were seen to be verified in Him when He came. TH The Book of the Prophet Isaiah HE vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which Perversehe saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in ness of the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, God's kings of Judah. Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth : I have nourished and brought up children, And they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's But Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. A seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: People 5 ΤΟ They have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, 15 Why should ye be stricken more any Ye will revolt more and more: And the whole heart faint. ? * The beginning of each chapter of the Authorised Version is indicated by an asterisk. 20 |