Chapter 50
50:1 Thus says the Lord: what is this bill of the divorce of your mother, with which I have put her away? Or who is my creditor, to whom I sold you: behold you are sold for your iniquities, and for your wicked deeds have I put your mother away.
50:2 Because I came, and there was not a man: I called, and there was none that would hear. Is my hand shortened and become little, that I cannot redeem? Or is there no strength in me to deliver? Behold at my rebuke I will make the sea a desert, I will turn the rivers into dry land: the fishes shall rot for want of water, and shall die for thirst.
50:3 I will clothe the heavens with darkness, and will make sackcloth their covering.
50:4 The Lord has given me a learned tongue, that I should know how to uphold by word him that is weary: he wakens in the morning, in the morning he wakens my ear, that I may hear him as a master.
50:5 The Lord God has opened my ear, and I do not contradict: I have not gone back.
50:6 I have given my body to the strikers, and my cheeks to them that plucked them: I have not turned away my face from them that rebuked me, and spit upon me.
50:7 The Lord God is my helper, therefore am I not confounded: therefore have I set my face as a most hard rock, and I know that I shall not be confounded.
50:8 He is near that justifies me, who will contend with me? Let us stand together. Who is my adversary? Let him come near to me.
50:9 Behold the Lord God is my helper: who is he that shall condemn me? Lo, they shall all be destroyed as a garment, the moth shall eat them up.
50:10 Who is there among you that fears the Lord, that hears the voice of his servant, that has walked in darkness, and has no light? Let him hope in the name of the Lord, and lean upon his God.
50:11 Behold all you that kindle a fire, girded with flames, walk in the light of your fire, and in the flames which you have kindled: this is done to you by my hand, you shall sleep in sorrows.
909 . Thus says the Lord: what is this . Here he begins to remove the impediments to their liberation.
And first, he removes the impediments;
second, he applies the remedies: who has believed our report (ch. 53).
Concerning the first, he removes three impediments:
first, the lack of divine benefits;
second, the dejection of persons: give ear to me, you that follow (ch. 51);
third, poverty of goods: arise, arise (ch. 52).
Concerning the first, he does three things:
first, he excludes the impediment;
second, he gives himself as an example: the Lord has given (Isa 50:4);
third, he deduces salutary counsel: who is there among you that fears the Lord (Isa 50:10).
Concerning the first, he does two things:
first, he excludes the lack of divine benefits on the part of the divine will;
second, on the part of the divine power: is my hand shortened (Isa 50:2).
910 . Concerning the first, he does three things.
First, he excludes the lack of divine will, as though of his own accord God did not wish to benefit them, excluding a twofold manner of alienation, namely, the manner of alienating a wife, which occurred through a bill of divorce, as is said in Deuteronomy 24:1, which indeed was permitted to them because of the hardness of their hearts (Matt 19:8). What is this bill of the divorce of your mother?
But, on the contrary, Jeremiah 3:8 says, because Israel had played the harlot, I had put her away .
And to this is to be said that the Lord, considered in himself, did not repudiate them, but rather they, through their sins, put God away. He also excludes the manner of alienating a possession: or who is my creditor, to whom I sold you , as if to say: if I should sell you, who are my inheritance (Isa 19:25), to him, what should I repay, not having anything else? Thus it is clear, because I did not alienate you from my dominion, that I am ready to benefit you of my own accord.
911 . Second, he shows the sin of human will: behold you are sold for your iniquities : but I am a carnal man, sold under sin (Rom 7:14).
Third, he sets out the argument: because I came , through inspiration, I called , through the prophets: I called, and you refused (Prov 1:24).
912 . Is my hand shortened? Here he excludes lack on the part of divine power, first excluding lack of power: shortened , that I cannot subject them to me even from afar; little , against the powerful, below: behold the hand of the Lord is not shortened (Isa 59:1).
Second, he sets out a sign of divine power: behold ,
first, in the waters: at my rebuke , that is, my command, I will make the sea a desert , if I wish, as I did when Israel came forth from Egypt (Exod 14:15–31); I will turn the rivers into dry land , like the Arnon (Num 21:13–20) and the Jordan (Josh 4); the fishes shall rot , as in Exodus 7:16–21, when the waters were turned into blood: he rebuked the Red Sea and it was dried up (Ps 105[106]:9).
Second, he shows signs of his power in the heavens: I will clothe the aerial heavens with darkness , as in Egypt (Exod 10:21); who covers the heaven with clouds (Ps 146[147]:8).
913 . The Lord has given me . Here he gives himself as an example.
And first, as to the grace of the benefit he received, both as to eloquence: a learned tongue, that I should know how to uphold , with encouragements: your words have confirmed them that were staggering (Job 4:4); and as to wisdom: he wakens my ear , to listen, in the morning , from the beginning of my preaching, or from the beginning of his life, or because he was then alone to pray: I will meditate on you in the morning (Ps 62:7[63:6]). The Lord God has opened my ear , to understand: I will hear what the Lord God will speak in me (Ps 84:9[85:8]); one is your master, Christ (Matt 23:10).
914 . Second, he gives himself as an example as to obedience, setting out his perfect obedience: and I do not resist , but I receive and accept his inspiration; I have not gone back , from my good intention, above: woe to him that gainsays his maker (Isa 45:9). He also sets out the constancy of his obedience, that he did not abandon his obedience for any danger: I have given my body , that is, I exposed myself that I should suffer such things; or perhaps he literally suffered these things, but in Christ this was completely fulfilled (Matthew 26 and 27): I have given my dear soul into the hand of enemies (Jer 12:7).
915 . Third, he gives himself as example as to the trust which he had in God,
first, setting out his ready defense: the Lord God is my helper : the Lord is with me as a strong warrior (Jer 20:11);
second, the security of his trust: and I set my face as a most hard rock , that I might be moved by neither fear nor shame: I have made your face like an adamant and like flint (Ezek 3:9);
third, he assigns the reason for this security from the power of the one who helps him: he is near that justifies me , namely, God. Who will contend with me , with words; let us stand together : set me beside you, O Lord, and let any man’s hand fight against me (Job 17:3); who is my adversary , with deeds. Who is he that shall condemn me , with false judgments: God is he that justifies: who is he that shall condemn? (Rom 8:33–34);
again, he assigns the reason for this security from the weakness of those who attack him: lo, they shall all be destroyed as a garment , with old age, in which is signified natural defect, the moth , in which is signified the violent man: who am to be consumed as rottenness, and as a garment that is moth-eaten (Job 13:28); as if to say: from all these things, just as I, after the benefits I received, obey God and trust in him, so should you also.
916 . Who is there among you? Here he deduces salutary counsel from his own example.
And first, he sets out the counsel;
second, he sets out their contempt of this counsel: behold all you (Isa 50:11).
Now, he gives counsel that they should trust in God, and thus he does three things.
First, he seeks after the fittingness of trust, which is from fear and obedience: that fears the Lord, that hears the voice of his servant , Isaiah, or any other servant: who is the man that fears the Lord? (Ps 24[25]:12);
second, he shows the necessity of trust: that has walked in darkness , of error, or adversity: he who walks in the night, stumbles (John 11:10);
third, he sets out the counsel itself: let him hope in the name of the Lord , above: the remnant of Israel (Isa 10:20).
917 . Behold all you . Here he sets out their contempt of this counsel, setting out three things.
First, their fault: you that kindle , by your sins, a fire , meriting it for yourselves, girded , as though bound by your sins, or ready for sin, above: and your strength shall be as the ashes of tow (Isa 1:31);
second, he sets out the punishment: walk in the light of your fire , as if to say: receive your punishment: the sinner has been caught in the works of his own hands (Ps 9:17[16]);
third, he sets out the power of the one who punishes: by my hand , namely, by the power of God; you shall sleep , in the sleep of death.
918 . Note on the words, you are sold for your iniquities (Isa 50:1), that man sells many things for sins:
first, the virtue of his soul: they have given all their precious things for vile things (Lam 1:11);
second, his heavenly inheritance: the Lord be merciful to me, and not let me sell the inheritance of my fathers (1 Kgs 21:3);
third, the liberty of his soul: there is not a more wicked thing than to love money (Sir 10:10);
fourth, the honor of divine love: the Lord loves the children of Israel (Hos 3:1).
919 . Also, on the words, and I do not contradict (Isa 50:5), note that they contradict God,
who, first, are unfaithful to divine truth: in nowise contradict the truth (Eccl 4:30);
second, those who are impatient with divine correction: who contradict him, and has had peace? (Job 9:4);
third, those who are impenitent toward the divine goodness, above: they shall be as nothing, and the men shall perish that contradict thee (Isa 41:11);
fourth, those who are disobedient toward divine authority: your people are as they that contradict the priest (Hos 4:4).
920 . Note also on the words, you shall sleep in sorrows (Isa 50:11), that sinners are sorrowful in death:
first, because of the loss of bodily things: the rich man when he shall sleep shall take away nothing with him (Job 27:19);
second, because of the contradiction of their conscience: repenting, and groaning for anguish of spirit (Wis 5:3);
third, because of the despair of future glory: the crown is fallen from our head: woe to us, because we have sinned (Lam 5:16);
fourth, because of the fear of punishment: there were pains as of a woman in labor (Ps 47:7–8[48:6–7]).