Isaiah 42 · The Lantern

Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect [in whom] my soul delighteth! I will put my Spirit upon him; he shall bring forth judgment to the nations.

And when he was departed thence, he went into their synagogue: And, behold, there was a man which had his hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the sabbath days? that they might accuse him.

Next is the fact of his being called Servant and serving many well, and that it is a great thing for him to be called the Child of God. For in truth he was in servitude to flesh and to birth and to the conditions of our life with a view to our liberation, and to that of all those whom he has saved, who were in bondage under sin.

817. Behold my servant. Here he shows divine love from the Son, whom he promised: God so loved the world, as to give his only begotten Son (John 3:16). And first, from such a benefit, he shows the love of God; second, the perversity of the Jews: these things have I done to them (Isa 42:16).

He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street.

A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment according to truth.

The prophets, therefore, did not openly behold the actual face of God, but [they saw] the dispensations and the mysteries through which man should afterwards see God.

[Isaiah] calls him "servant" or "slave," according to the other interpreters, in connection with his humanity. It is in relation to this that he has [also] given him the name of Jacob and Israel, seeing that it is from Jacob, who is also Israel, that [Christ] descended according to the flesh.

And in dissembling: the bruised reed, namely, the kingdom of the Jews, smoking flax, of the priests: that which was broken you have not bound up (Ezek 34:4). Third, he shows the truth of his judgment: he shall bring forth judgment unto truth: he shall judge the world with justice, and the people with his truth (Ps 95[96]:13).

He shall not faint nor be in haste, till he have set justice in the earth: and the isles shall wait for his law.

With truth and boldness to all, he proclaims the judgment of God, which has not ceased to operate. Rather, God's judgment is like light shining through the resurrection of the dead, which the prophetic word announced, saying, "He will give light and not be crushed." For those who planned Christ's death tried to crush him and extinguish him.

(Verse 4) He will not be sad or discouraged, until he establishes justice on earth: and the coastlands will wait for his law. LXX: he will shine and not be broken, until he establishes justice upon the earth: and the nations will hope in his name.

To which he joins his pleasantness: he shall not be sad, in his heart, nor troublesome, in his face, for he was always cheerful and pleasant, keeping evenness of mind, even if, as to the sensible part, there was the suffering of sadness, not indeed of necessity, but of will; thus, my soul is sorrowful even unto death (Matt 26:38); the joyfulness of the heart (Sir 30:23[22]).

Thus saithGod, Jehovah, he that created the heavens and stretched them out, he that spread forth the earth and its productions, he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:

I, Jehovah, have called thee in righteousness, and will take hold of thy hand; and I will preserve thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the nations,

And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God. But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.

Since, therefore, we were as though blind before, and when we sat as though enclosed by the prison house of foolishness in the darkness, not knowing God and his truth, we were enlightened by him who adopted us by his gracious treatment (his will in our favor).

Second, he foretells the sending, setting out the exaltation of the one sent: I the Lord have called you, my Son, from eternity predestining to the unity of the divine person, in justice, that is, that I may be just, fulfilling my promise: who was predestined the Son of God (Rom 1:4); and taken you by the hand, as to his working: the Father who abides in me, he doth the works (…

to open the blind eyes, to bring forth the prisoner from the prison, them that sit in darkness out of the house of restraint.

"The opened eyes of the blind" means [Christ] provided clear knowledge of the Father through the Son.

He calls "blind" here those who are impaired in their intellectual vision; he calls the same people imprisoned by the bonds of sin and held by the darkness of error. After having delivered them from the murk of ignorance and having broken the bonds of sin, he has led them to the light of truth.

He also shows the use of his office against faithlessness: that you might open the eyes of the blind: for judgment I am come into this world: that they who see not may see; and they who see may become blind (John 9:39); against the slavery of sin: and bring forth the prisoner out of prison: you also by the blood of your testament have sent forth your prisoners out of the pit (Z…

I am Jehovah, that is my name; and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

The same thing applies to the word Lord, which is also used as a name of God. "I am the Lord your God," he says. "This is my name," and "The Lord is his name." But we are making deeper enquiries into a nature that has absolute existence, independent of anything else.

There was no other way to honor the slave [i.e., humanity] except by making the characteristics of the slave his very own so that they could be illumined from his own glory. What is preeminent will always conquer, and the shame of the slavery is thus borne away from us. He who was above us became as we are. He who is naturally free took on the limitations of our life.

Third, from the sending he deduces the singularity of the divine majesty as to power: I the Lord: make a way for him who ascends upon the west: the Lord is his name (Ps 67:5[68:4]); my name Adonai (Exod 6:3); my glory, by which I am called Lord: glory to God in the highest (Luke 2:14).

Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth will I cause you to hear them.

Sing unto Jehovah a new song, his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein, the isles and their inhabitants.

Well, in as much as the Word was from the first, He was and is the divine source of all things; but in as much as He has now assumed the name Christ, consecrated of old, and worthy of power, he has been called by me the New Song.

Even as islands have been set in the midst of the sea, churches have been established in the midst of this world, and they are beaten and buffeted by different waves of persecution. Truly these islands are lashed by waves every day, but they are not submerged. They are in the midst of the sea, to be sure, but they have Christ as their foundation, Christ who cannot be moved.

822. Sing to the Lord. Here he invites to thanksgiving. And first, he enjoins praise, and especially upon the rustic, whether because of the distance of their habitation: from the ends of the earth, above: from the ends of the earth we have heard praises (Isa 24:16); or because of they are confined by the sea: you that go down to the sea, namely, sailors, and the fullness there…

Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up [their voice], the villages that Kedar doth inhabit; let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains:

let them give glory unto Jehovah, and declare his praise in the islands.

Jehovah will go forth as a mighty man, he will stir up jealousy like a man of war: he will cry, yea, he will shout; he will shew himself mighty against his enemies.

Long time have I holden my peace; I have been still, I have restrained myself: I will cry like a woman that travaileth; I will blow and pant at once.

It is sufficiently discovered that He suffered shame for man's sake, to set him free from death; and that He exclaimed, as in the words of the prophet, "I have endured as a travailing woman." In very deed did He endure for our sakes sorrow, ignominy, torment, even death itself, and burial.

The one who speaks is now keeping quiet. He speaks in commandments; he keeps quiet in judgment.… How has he kept quiet, seeing that he spoke to say this very thing? He says, "I have kept quiet," and yet he does not keep quiet, because just by saying "I have kept quiet," God has not kept quiet.

Third, he sets out justice, for it is just that when he has long waited for the impenitent, he should swallow them all up at once: I have always held my peace: have I not dissembled? Have I not kept silence?

I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up all their herbs; and I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the pools.

And I will bring the blind by a way that they know not, in paths that they know not will I lead them; I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them.

(Verse 16) And I will lead the blind on a path they do not know, and I will make them walk on paths they have not known. I will turn darkness into light in front of them, and I will make crooked paths straight. These are the things I will do for them, and I will not abandon them.

The apostle John teaches how this is fulfilled: "We know that the Son of God came and gave understanding to us, that we might know the truth and be in his true Son." And again, "Let us love, therefore, since God first loved us." By loving us, God restores us to be his image, so that he might find the form of his own goodness in us.

824. And I will lead. Here he sets out the resurrection of the good as to three things: first, as to the restoration of action: I will lead the blind, namely, the gentiles, into the way, Christ, or the precept of the law, or also the Jews, according to another explanation: I will lead you by the paths of equity (Prov 4:11); second, as to the illumination of the intellect: I wil…

They shall be turned back, they shall be covered with shame, that confide in graven images, that say to the molten images, Ye are ourgods.

— Hear, ye deaf; and look, ye blind, that ye may see.

Now the blind see when they see the world, and from the exceedingly great beauty of things that have been created they contemplate the Creator corresponding in greatness and beauty to them.

"Who is deaf but my servant?" And who is blind, but the one to whom I have sent my messengers?" And so that no one might ascribe their blindness to their nature instead of to their own will, he says elsewhere: "Bring forth the people that are blind and have eyes, that are deaf and have ears." And again he says, "You have eyes, but do not see, ears but do not hear."

826. Hear, you deaf. Here he shows that they are hard-hearted or disobedient toward his precepts. And first, he shows their hard-heartedness, calling them deaf and blind unitedly: for their own malice blinded them (Wis 2:21), though they may have the eyes and ears of the body, which shows that those who see take heed and those who have the ears of their hearts open obey.

Who is blind, but my servant? and deaf, as my messenger whom I sent? Who is blind as he in whom I have trusted, and blind as Jehovah's servant,

— seeing many things, and thou observest not? With opened ears, he heareth not.

Jehovah had delight [in him] for his righteousness' sake: he hath magnified the law, and made it honourable.

But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and hidden in prison-houses; they are become a prey, and none delivereth, — a spoil, and none saith, Restore.

(Verse 22) But the people are plundered and devastated: all the youth are trapped in snares, and hidden in prison houses. They have become a prey, and there is no one to deliver them; a spoil, and no one says, 'Restore them.' LXX: And I saw, and behold a people is destroyed and taken captive. For there was a snare in the hidden places, and a net over their houses.

He has taught us both the divine object and the free will of the human creature. Although he desires, he says, that you be justified by choosing godliness, you have, on the contrary, taken the opposite way and reaped death. "For there is a snare in the secret chambers everywhere, and in the houses also, where they have hidden them."

And he also shows their contradiction, because they sinned against themselves: but this is a people that is robbed, by demons through various sins, and therefore they are wasted, by enemies, above: from a people rent and torn in pieces (Isa 18:7); also by others who furnished the occasion of sin: the snare, that is, the occasion of sin, of young men, the foolish: you have been…

Who among you will give ear to this, [who] will hearken and hear what is to come?

Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? Did not Jehovah, he against whom we have sinned? And they would not walk in his ways, neither did they hearken unto his law.

In this part of the Lord's Prayer, [Christ] shows that the enemy is powerless against us without God's prior permission. During temptation, consequently, all our fear and devotion and attention should be focused on God, since evil has only such force as he himself permits. … Moreover, evil is given power over us according to our [willful] sins.

But Scripture declares that these evils are not by nature made by God but rather come from causes dwelling within humans. Sins against the Lord are the source of trials and pressures of various persecutions that with God's permission rise up against those sinning, as it is written, "who gives Israel up to the spoil." Is it not the Lord against whom they sinned and his ways in w…

Second, he determines the truth as to the doer of the punishment: who has given Jacob for a spoil, the Lord kills and makes alive (1 Sam 2:6); as to the fault: has not the Lord himself, against whom we have sinned: and they have not known his justices, nor walked by the ways of God's commandments (Bar 4:13).

And he hath poured upon him the fury of his anger, and the strength of battle: and it set him on fire round about, yet he knew not; and it burned him, yet he took it not to heart.

Isaiah42