Isaiah 51 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Isaiah 51

The Lord’s Comfort for Zion

51:1   “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness,
    you who seek the LORD:
  look to the rock from which you were hewn,
    and to the quarry from which you were dug.
2   Look to Abraham your father
    and to Sarah who bore you;
  for he was but one when I called him,
    that I might bless him and multiply him.
3   For the LORD comforts Zion;
    he comforts all her waste places
  and makes her wilderness like Eden,
    her desert like the garden of the LORD;
  joy and gladness will be found in her,
    thanksgiving and the voice of song.
4   “Give attention to me, my people,
    and give ear to me, my nation;
  for a law¹ will go out from me,
    and I will set my justice for a light to the peoples.
5   My righteousness draws near,
    my salvation has gone out,
    and my arms will judge the peoples;
  the coastlands hope for me,
    and for my arm they wait.
6   Lift up your eyes to the heavens,
    and look at the earth beneath;
  for the heavens vanish like smoke,
    the earth will wear out like a garment,
    and they who dwell in it will die in like manner;²
  but my salvation will be forever,
    and my righteousness will never be dismayed.
7   “Listen to me, you who know righteousness,
    the people in whose heart is my law;
  fear not the reproach of man,
    nor be dismayed at their revilings.
8   For the moth will eat them up like a garment,
    and the worm will eat them like wool,
  but my righteousness will be forever,
    and my salvation to all generations.”
9   Awake, awake, put on strength,
    O arm of the LORD;
  awake, as in days of old,
    the generations of long ago.
  Was it not you who cut Rahab in pieces,
    who pierced the dragon?
10   Was it not you who dried up the sea,
    the waters of the great deep,
  who made the depths of the sea a way
    for the redeemed to pass over?
11   And the ransomed of the LORD shall return
    and come to Zion with singing;
  everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
    they shall obtain gladness and joy,
    and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
12   “I, I am he who comforts you;
    who are you that you are afraid of man who dies,
    of the son of man who is made like grass,
13   and have forgotten the LORD, your Maker,
    who stretched out the heavens
    and laid the foundations of the earth,
  and you fear continually all the day
    because of the wrath of the oppressor,
  when he sets himself to destroy?
    And where is the wrath of the oppressor?
14   He who is bowed down shall speedily be released;
    he shall not die and go down to the pit,
    neither shall his bread be lacking.
15   I am the LORD your God,
    who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar—
    the LORD of hosts is his name.
16   And I have put my words in your mouth
    and covered you in the shadow of my hand,
  establishing³ the heavens
    and laying the foundations of the earth,
    and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.’”
17   Wake yourself, wake yourself,
    stand up, O Jerusalem,
  you who have drunk from the hand of the LORD
    the cup of his wrath,
  who have drunk to the dregs
    the bowl, the cup of staggering.
18   There is none to guide her
    among all the sons she has borne;
  there is none to take her by the hand
    among all the sons she has brought up.
19   These two things have happened to you—
    who will console you?—
  devastation and destruction, famine and sword;
    who will comfort you?⁴
20   Your sons have fainted;
    they lie at the head of every street
    like an antelope in a net;
  they are full of the wrath of the LORD,
    the rebuke of your God.
21   Therefore hear this, you who are afflicted,
    who are drunk, but not with wine:
22   Thus says your Lord, the LORD,
    your God who pleads the cause of his people:
  “Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering;
  the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more;
23   and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,
    who have said to you,
    ‘Bow down, that we may pass over’;
  and you have made your back like the ground
    and like the street for them to pass over.”

Footnotes

[1] 51:4 Or for teaching; also verse 7
[2] 51:6 Or will die like gnats
[3] 51:16 Or planting
[4] 51:19 Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate; Masoretic Text how shall I comfort you

Commentary

v1: Addressed to those who follow after righteousness, who seek the Lord. The Rock, Deut 32.15, to which Israel belonged, Ex 4.22. Since we are hewn from a rock, we should be like the rock. Isaiah implies that there are few who follow after righteousness.

v2: Abraham, called by God; God's only choice; therefore Israel is God's only nation. Abraham, as promised by God, was made many, and blessed abundantly. The great wealth he accumulated was no accident, for he enjoyed God's blessing. But Abraham provides an important example, in that his faith persevered over many years. Blessing was not immediate. He had to learn patience.

v3: Barrenness replaced by fruitfulness, 44.3. The theme of comfort for Zion, see v11-12, 16, 22.

v4-6: Promises of blessings to come; justice, righteousness, salvation; as the things around us vanish away, but the things of God are eternal; see 40.6-8; Ps 102.25-27; and these things are referred to in the NT, Heb 1; 1 Pet 1; 2 Pet 3.

v7-8: God's people endure the reproach of men now, but God's promises will never fail. Our part is to trust in Him. In Him alone are the blessings of righteousness and salvation.

v9-10: In response to the declarations of God's character, the prophet prayed, "Are you not the one...?" (See Judg 6.13) He asked the Lord to demonstrate His character again; just as He had defeated Egypt (Rahab, the serpent, Ps 89.10), and just as He made a road through the Red Sea. He acted in might on behalf of His redeemed people; will He not do the same again?

v11: The future promises are that those He has redeemed will return to Zion, full of joy, which can never be removed, expressed in singing. This is God's answer to the prayer; He has a future for His people, and will bring them to Zion in safety.

v12-13: In difficult times, Israel forgot God and His precious promises, and learned to fear mortal man. But God remained true. He urged His people not to be afraid.

v14-16: Times of fear and doubt, "For I am the Lord your God," He reminds them. Nothing is too hard for Him. In particular, He has made promises to His people, and set them apart, "I have put my words in your mouth and covered you with the shadow of my hand...'You are my people;'"

There are times when we endure fear and doubt, when we suffer for the cause of Christ. These verses encourage us to look to Him, the faithful One, the unchangeable One. We must be reminded of His promises towards us.

v17-20: God's fury finished; these words are future, looking back. Jerusalem will have drunk the cup of God's fury, will have suffered the loss of comfort (Lam 1.17), with no one to care; even her bravest "sons" faint and are captured, because of the Lord's anger, Lam 2.21. The nation bore the punishment deserved.

The testimony later was that they had been punished less than their sins deserved, see Ezra 9.13.

v21-23: The nation, once drunk with the cup of God's wrath, is once more restored to God, enjoying His protection. The nation will never again drink His wrath. Indeed, those who attack God's people will suffer His wrath.