First Upload: Wednesday March 13, 2019
Last Modified: Thursday March 21, 2019
Author: Eduardo Freire Canosa
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1 This is what the Lord says: "Where is your mother's certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of my creditors did I sell you? Because of your sins you were sold; because of your transgressions your mother was sent away.
2 When I came, why was there no one? When I called, why was there no one to answer? Was my arm too short to ransom you? Do I lack the strength to rescue you? By a mere rebuke I dry up the sea, I turn rivers into a desert; their fish rot for lack of water and die of thirst.
3 I clothe the sky with darkness and make sackcloth its covering."
4 The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.
5 The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears, and I have not been rebellious; I have not drawn back.
6 I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting.
7 Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.
8 He who vindicates me is near. Who then will bring charges against me? Let us face each other! Who is my accuser? Let him confront me!
9 It is the Sovereign Lord who helps me. Who is he that will condemn me? They will all wear out like a garment; the moths will eat them up.
10 Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the word of his servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God.
11 But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go, walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze. This is what you shall receive from my hand: You will lie down in torment.
This canonical chapter introduces Isaiah the servant of the Lord, the third servant mentioned thus far. The first two were "The Servant In Whom The Lord Delights" (Revised Chapter 42) and "Israel The Servant of The Lord" (Revised Chapter 49). Cyrus (Revised Chapter 45) is not deemed to be a servant of the Lord in the tenor of the other three.
"The Servant In Whom The Lord Delights" is not given a literary platform to speak for himself, but "Israel The Servant of The Lord" is (Isaiah 49:1-3). Verse 4, "The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue," resembles Isaiah 49:2, but verse 5 demands that the speaker of verse 4 be an individual, and since the discourse is in first person singular, that individual can only be Isaiah the prophet himself.
Revised Chapter 50 enrols verses 4-9 of the canonical chapter, imports twelve more from four chapters and carries the title, "Isaiah The Servant of The Lord."
1-3. This is what the Lord says: "Where is your mother's certificate of divorce with which I sent her away? Or to which of my creditors did I sell you? Because of your sins you were sold; because of your transgressions your mother was sent away. 2 When I came, why was there no one? When I called, why was there no one to answer? Was my arm too short to ransom you? Do I lack the strength to rescue you? By a mere rebuke I dry up the sea, I turn rivers into a desert; their fish rot for lack of water and die of thirst. 3 I clothe the sky with darkness and make sackcloth its covering."
Analysis: The Lord's two questions on verse 1 require a prior complaint by the Daughter of Zion about being an outcast sold to foreigners. The most proximate verse is Isaiah 49:14, "The Lord has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me."
Destination: Revised Chapter 49, "Israel The Servant of The Lord."
10-11. Who among you fears the Lord and obeys the word of his servant? Let him who walks in the dark, who has no light, trust in the name of the Lord and rely on his God. 11 But now, all you who light fires and provide yourselves with flaming torches, go, walk in the light of your fires and of the torches you have set ablaze. This is what you shall receive from my hand: You will lie down in torment.
Analysis: These two verses are not the continuation of Isaiah's monologue (verses 4-9). That monologue enumerates the privileges (v 4) the trials (v 6) and the sustenance (v 9) of the prophet. Verse 10 is the Lord's offer of enlightenment and succour to "him who walks in the dark." Verse 11 is the Lord's guarantee that everyone who dies having rejected the offer will lie down in torment.
Destination: Revised Chapter 30, "The Oracle About King Ahaz."
28:23-29. Listen and hear my voice; pay attention and hear what I say. 24 When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually? Does he keep on breaking up and harrowing the soil? 25 When he has leveled the surface, does he not sow caraway and scatter cummin? Does he not plant wheat in its place, barley in its plot, and spelt in its field? 26 His God instructs him and teaches him the right way. 27 Caraway is not threshed with a sledge, nor is a cartwheel rolled over cummin; caraway is beaten out with a rod, and cummin with a stick. 28 Grain must be ground to make bread; so one does not go on threshing it forever. Though he drives the wheels of his threshing cart over it, his horses do not grind it. 29 All this also comes from the Lord Almighty, wonderful in counsel and magnificent in wisdom.
42:19. Who is blind but my servant, and deaf like the messenger I send? Who is blind like the one committed to me, blind like the servant of the Lord?
49:4-6. But I said, "I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing. Yet what is due me is in the Lord's hand, and my reward is with my God." 5 And now the Lord says—he who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord and my God has been my strength— 6 he says: "It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth."
51:16. I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand—I who set the heavens in place, who laid the foundations of the earth, and who say to Zion, "You are my people."
42:19 "Who is blind but my servant, and deaf like the messenger I send? Who is blind like the one committed to me, blind like the servant of the Lord?
51:16 "I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand—I who set the heavens in place, who laid the foundations of the earth, and who say to Zion, 'You are my people.'"
49:4 But I said, "I have labored to no purpose; I have spent my strength in vain and for nothing. Yet what is due me is in the Lord's hand, and my reward is with my God."
49:5 And now the Lord says—he who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself, for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord and my God has been my strength— 49:6 he says: "It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth."
4 The Sovereign Lord has given me an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary. He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being taught. 5 The Sovereign Lord has opened my ears, and I have not been rebellious; I have not drawn back.
6 I offered my back to those who beat me, my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard; I did not hide my face from mocking and spitting. 7 Because the Sovereign Lord helps me, I will not be disgraced. Therefore have I set my face like flint, and I know I will not be put to shame.
8 He who vindicates me is near. Who then will bring charges against me? Let us face each other! Who is my accuser? Let him confront me! 9 It is the Sovereign Lord who helps me. Who is he that will condemn me? They will all wear out like a garment; the moths will eat them up.
28:23 Listen and hear my voice; pay attention and hear what I say. 28:24 When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually? Does he keep on breaking up and harrowing the soil? 28:25 When he has leveled the surface, does he not sow caraway and scatter cummin? Does he not plant wheat in its place, barley in its plot, and spelt in its field?
28:26 His God instructs him and teaches him the right way. 28:27 Caraway is not threshed with a sledge, nor is a cartwheel rolled over cummin; caraway is beaten out with a rod, and cummin with a stick. 28:28 Grain must be ground to make bread; so one does not go on threshing it forever. Though he drives the wheels of his threshing cart over it, his horses do not grind it.
28:29 All this also comes from the Lord Almighty, wonderful in counsel and magnificent in wisdom.
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