Isaiah 42 · The Lantern

Here Is My Servant

See, my servant, whom I uphold; my chosen one, in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him; he will bring out justice 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 will not cry out and he will not lift up, and he will not make his voice heard in the street.

A crushed reed he will not break, and a dim wick he will not quench; for truth he will bring out justice.

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 will not grow dim and he will not be crushed until he sets justice in the earth; and for his instruction the coastlands wait.

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 says the God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spread out the earth and what comes from it, who gives breath to the people upon it and spirit to those who walk in it:

I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness, and I will hold your hand and keep you; and I will make you a covenant of a people, a light of 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 blind eyes, to bring out the prisoner from the dungeon, from the prison house those sitting in darkness.

"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 the LORD; that is my name. And my glory I will not give to another, nor my praise to carved 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).

The former things — see, they have come; and new things I am telling. Before they spring up I make you hear them.

A New Song of Praise

Sing to the LORD a new song, his praise from the end of the earth — you who go down to the sea and its fullness, the coastlands 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.

(Verse 10) Sing to God a new song: his praise from the ends of the earth: you who descend into the sea, and its fullness; islands and their inhabitants. LXX: Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the end of the earth, you who go down to the sea, and sail on it; the islands and those who inhabit them.

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 its cities lift up their voice, the settlements where Kedar dwells. Let the inhabitants of Sela sing for joy; from the top of the mountains let them cry out.

Let them set glory for the LORD, and declare his praise in the coastlands.

The LORD goes out like a mighty man; like a man of wars he rouses jealousy. He shouts, indeed he raises a war cry; against his enemies he shows himself mighty.

I have kept silent from of old, I have been still, I have restrained myself. Like a woman giving birth I groan, I gasp 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.

(Verses 14-15) I have always kept silent, I have been quiet, I have been patient: like a woman in labor, I will speak. I will scatter and devour together. I will make mountains and hills desolate, and I will dry up all their vegetation, and I will turn rivers into islands, and I will dry up ponds. LXX: Have I been silent from the beginning, will I always be silent and endure?

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 all their vegetation I will dry up; and I will make rivers into coastlands, and pools I will dry up.

And I will lead the blind by a way they did not know; in paths they did not know I will make them walk. I will make darkness before them into light, and rough places into level ground. These are the things I have done, and I have not forsaken 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 are turned back, utterly ashamed with shame, those trusting in a carved image, those saying to a cast image, You are our gods.

Israel Is Deaf and Blind

Deaf ones, hear! And blind ones, look, that you 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 like my messenger whom I send? Who is blind like the one at peace with me, and blind like the servant of the LORD?

Seeing many things, but you do not keep them; opening the ears, but he does not hear.

The LORD delighted, for the sake of his righteousness, to make instruction great and glorious.

But this is a people plundered and despoiled, all of them trapped in holes and hidden away in prison houses. They have become plunder with none to deliver, spoil with none to say, 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, will listen and hear for the time to come?

Who gave Jacob for spoil, and Israel to plunderers? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned? And they were not willing to walk in his ways, and they did not listen to his instruction.

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 poured out upon him the fury of his anger and the force of war; and it blazed around him and he did not know, and it burned in him and he did not set it on his heart.

Isaiah42

Here Is My Servant

A New Song of Praise

Israel Is Deaf and Blind