isaiah-42:1-9,-luke-9:28-36

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 42:2

(2) He shall not cry . . .—Isaiah’s ideal of a teacher, but partly realised in himself, is that of one exempt from the violence of strong feelings, calm in the sereneness of authority, strong in his far-reaching and pitying sympathy. False prophets might rave as in orgiastic frenzy. We are reminded of Solon affecting the inspiration of a soothsayer in order to attract attention to his converts. Even true prophets might be stirred to vehement and incisive speech, but it should not be so with... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 42:3

(3) A bruised reed shall he not break . . .—Physical, moral, spiritual weakness are all brought under the same similitude. In another context the image has met us in Isaiah 36:6. The simple negative “he shall not break” implies, as in the rhetoric of all times, the opposite extreme, the tender care that props and supports. The humanity of the servant of the Lord was to embody what had been already predicated of the Divine will (Psalms 51:17). The dimly burning flax, the wick of a lamp nearly... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 42:4

(4) He shall not fail nor be discouraged . . .—Both verbs in the Hebrew point back to those of the previous verse, He shall not burn dimly nor be crushed, as if to teach that in helping others to strength and light, the servants of the Lord, after the pattern of the Servant, gain light and strength for themselves.The isles shall wait for his law.—The relation of “the servant” to the far off Gentile world is still dominant in the prophet’s mind. The LXX. Version, given in Matthew 12:21, “In His... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 42:5

(5) He that created.—The accumulation of Divine attributes, as enhancing the solemnity of a revelation, has an earlier parallel in Amos 5:8; a later one in Zechariah 12:1. read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 42:6

(6) Have called thee in righteousness . . .—The words apply to the personal servant. His call was in accordance with the absolute righteousness of God, manifesting itself in love.A covenant of the people.—The context limits the “people” to Israel. The “servant of the Lord” is to be in Himself not only the mediator of the covenant, but the covenant, the meeting-point between God and man, just as He is the “peace” as well as the peacemaker (Micah 5:5; Ephesians 2:14). The words may well have... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 42:7

(7) To open the blind eyes.—The prophet must have felt the contrast between this and his own mission (Isaiah 6:10). The words all point to spiritual blessings. (Comp. St. Paul’s call in Acts 26:18.) The “prison” is that of the selfishness and sin which hinder men from being truly free. In the “prisoners of hope” of Zechariah 9:11, and the “spirits in prison” of 1 Peter 3:18, we have different aspects of the same thought. read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 42:8-9

(8, 9) I am the Lord. . . .—The prophet grasps the full meaning of the name revealed in Exodus 3:15. It follows from that meaning that God cannot look with indifference on the transfer to the “graven image” of the worship due to Him. With his vision of Cyrus still present to his thoughts, the prophet again presses the unique point of prediction as distinguishing the religion of Israel from that of the heathen. The “former things” refer probably not to the remote past, but to Isaiah’s earlier... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Isaiah 42:1-25

The Smoking Flax Isaiah 42:3 Let us try to gather up the thoughts contained in these two images. They are slightly different, but one thought underlies them both. The one refers chiefly to God, the other to man. I. The idea of the first is taken from one of the shepherd's pipes one of those little musical pipes crushed and trampled under foot. The other picture is taken from the lamp in the temple, burning feebly and dimly, giving forth black smoke rather than light. 1. The 'bruised reed'. A... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Isaiah 42:1

-20BOOK 3THE SERVANT OF THE LORDHAVING completed our survey of the fundamental truths of our prophecy, and studied the subject which forms its immediate and most urgent interest, the deliverance of Israel from Babylon, we are now at liberty to turn to consider the great duty and destiny which lie before the delivered people- the Service of Jehovah. The passages of our prophecy which describe this are scattered both among those chapters we have already studied and among those which lie before... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Isaiah 42:1-7

CHAPTER XVIIITHE SERVICE OF GOD AND MANIsaiah 42:1-7WE now understand whom to regard as the Servant of the Lord. The Service of God was a commission to witness and prophesy for God upon earth, made out at first in the name of the entire nation Israel. When their unfitness as a whole became apparent, it was delegated to a portion of them. But as there were added to its duties of prophecy, those of martyrdom and atonement for the sins of the people, our prophet, it would seem, saw it focussed in... read more

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 42:2

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 42:3

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 42:4

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 42:5

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 42:6

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 42:7

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Isaiah 42:8-9

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Isaiah 42:1-25

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Isaiah 42:1

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Isaiah 42:1-7

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